Our mighty and troubled olorado

20 million Westerners depend on it for drinking water, igation, electric power. Millions of us fish it, raft it, paddle it, play in it. history is one of high adventure, manmade wonders , endless litigation. fUture ~ contplex, drought-prone, worrisome, and will touch almost every on reading these pages.

Here LS a 14-page look at the River. Here ~ hat you can do ·on the river. And here ~ how you can understand all that we' ked this river to do for us

It is born among talus and snowpack in More recently, the Colorado has shoul­ longest, most-used playgrounds. a time-honored principle of Western wa­ River, which drains about an equal sur­ the Never Summer Mountains northwest dered a number of other tasks. It supplies When San Diego fills its bathtubs, when ter law- "First in time is first in right"­ face area, carries 13 times the water. of Denver, cold and clear and almost nar­ water to 15 million people. It annually Phoenix turns up its air conditioners, they and worry that if they don't expand their The relative paucity of its flow and the row enough for a man to leap across. In generates 12 billion kilowatt-hours of do so largely because of the Colorado. own water projects now they may never ruggedness of the terrain it traverses most years, it dies in the salt flats of Baja electricity- enough to Sul,)ply all of Los One can imagine a back-yard barbecue in, get another chance. meant that the Colorado never played the , 1,400 miles to the southwest, Angeles for more than half a year. rt say, Pasadena, in which almost every itein Other claimanis? Name almost any inter­ role rivers traditionally played in the de­ without reaching the sea. Between those irrigates a million acres of desert farm­ of importance- the water in the iced tea, est group in the West: farmers, rafters, velopment of this country. It wasn't a points, the has over the lands. And with six national parks and the beef roasting on the grill, the lettuce promoters of oil-shale developments and gateway to anywhere; nobody found eons sculpted some of the most superb recreation areas stretching along its and tomatoes in the salad, and the patio coal-slurry pipelines, Indian tribes. Nor riches along·its banks. When in 1540 one landscapes on the face of the earth. banks, it has become one of the West's lights turned on against the dusk- is the do the claims stop at the U.S. border. In of its earliest explorers, Hernando ·de product, direct or indirect, of the river. Yuma, , a $362-million desalting Alarc6n, attempted to sail upstream from The next few years will see important complex is being built in hopes that it can its mouth, he was nearly swamped by a ltttalu tower drinks changes in who gets how much of the help the U.S. fulfill its obligation to sup­ ferocious tidal bore; 200 years later the from Mead Colorado. Come 1985, the Bureau of Rec­ ply Mexico with 1.5 million acre-feet of Franciscan Fernando Garces cursed its to send water to power plant of lamation's $2.8-billior\ Central Arizona Colorado River water salt-free enough to terrain as ''a prison of cliffs and canyons." ; tour Project will begin to divect to P~oenix be suitable for agriculture. If, with the arrival of Americans in the boar cruises beyond {and by the early 1990s, Tucson) more Author Wallace Stegner has written, I 9th century, the Colorado occasionally than 1.2 million acre-fee.t of water, half of "The Colorado has an importance out of inspired mercantile dreams akin to those Whitewater soaks but doesn't spill dory riders which now goes to Southern California. proportion to its absolute flow." Indeed, already achieved on the Ohio or Missis­ How Southern Caluornia can replace that few civilizations have demanded so much sippi, it tended to demolish these dreams water and whether or not it truly needs to from a single body of water. And the the moment entrepreneurs tried to realize replace it are issues t~at arc likely to be question for the West is: can the Colorado them. Steamboats foundered on sandbars; settled with some difficulty- especially continue to meet these demands? an attempt to scout a rail route through because the effect~ of Arizona's diversion the Grand Canyon resulted in the drown­ will reach beyond Sdutherh California: in A wild river in a dry land ing of the railroad president. 1977 California's "extra" share of the Knowing what the Colorado is not is al­ The words of one explorer, Lt. Joseph Colorado River indirectly provided a most as important as knowing what it is. Ives, have often been cited for their lack measure of relief for the drought-stricken To begin with, the river isn't especially of prescience: " Ours has been the first, northern half of the state, and more re­ large. Though it drains a huge area- and doubtless will be the last party of cently the looming loss of that share has 244,000 square miles- these square miles whites to visit this profitless locality," he been a major point in debates over the are too dry to feed it much water: only wrote· in 1857. "It seems intended by na­ Peripheral Canal, Mono Lake, and the about 14 million acre-feet (maf) annual­ ture that the Colorado River along the North Coast rivers. ly. {An acre-foot of water contains almost greater part of its lonely and majestic Meanwhile, the Upper Basin states of 326,000 gallons- enough to supply a way, shall be forever unvisited and undis­ Colorado, , and remember family of five for a year.) The Columbia turbed." But at the time, few reasonable

Life-givittg ribbott of river water flows through canal to irrigate citrus grove in Arizona ~ THE MAGAZINE OF WESTERN UVING MAY 1983 95 set's map of ., .. it! High in the Rockies, te waterstled, its parks, cartyol'\s, da Fed by sttowmelt off Mount Richthofen the Colorado River miles from the Rockies to in the Never Summer Range, the Colorado . gathers for Its I .400-mi/e IS who gets journey. Fly-fisherman a trout stream casts for trout in riflly young river

people would have disagreed. nomic landscape of the West what it had began at neither headwaters but at the Not until the 20th century, with its dams done to the physical landscape so many confluence of the two rivers in Utah. That and aqueducts and other large-scale engi­ million years before. year, Colorado Congressman Edward neering feats, could the river be har­ Taylor suggested his state's tributary be awarded title to the whole river. True, he nessed, and then it was harnessed primar­ A mountain river conceded, the Green was a far longer ily for the benefit of· people living The Colorado doesn't spring from a single tributary (730 miles) than the Grand hundreds of miles from its banks. In a (340), but the Grand contributed more 1900 issue of Sunset (then published by source, but from two major headwaters­ each with a legitimate claim to being the water and thus deserved to be renamed the Southern Pacific Company), irriga­ the Colorado. Congress agreed. tion promoter William Smythe pro­ main stream. One, the Green River, starts claimed: "Whoever shall control the right high in the Wind River Range of western Colorado's Colorado Wyoming. The other, the river once SEA OF to divert these turbid waters will be mas­ While Rocky Mountain National Park is CORTEZ ter of this empire." Smythe was right. known as the Grand, is born of snowmelt a fine place for a grand river to begin, the When its waters were diverted, the Colo­ in the Colorado Rockies. Colorado's first few miles aren't very aus­ rado began to do for the social and eco- Until 1921 , the river called the Colorado picious. Barely has it melted from the

MAY 1983 97 The longest tributary, the Green winds its sometimes misty way down from Wyoming COLORADO

when some of the water goes into Browns Park, once a hideout for Butch Ditch, which transports it over the Cassidy and his gang, and now a national Continental Divide to eastern Colorado. wildlife refuge for migrating waterfowl Enough water makes it down from the and sandhill cranes. Never Summer Mountains to form the Where the refuge meets 211 ,000-acre Di­ North Fork of the Colorado. Soon it pours nosaur National Monument, the Green Grand Lake, one of a string of starts to prove its reputation as a Shadow Mountain and Granby. whitewater river. At the Gates of Lodore, bones exposed when the ancient sandbar lakes serve as storage facilities for the more than one river-runner has paused to on which the beasts died was unearthed Colorado - Big Thompson Project, which ponder his fate. On his descent in 1869, by eons of erosion. annually sends an average of 230,000 Major John Wesley Powell, the one­ Beyond the dinosaur bones, the Green acre-feet of water over the Divide to Front armed Union Army veteran who was the runs south to Canyonlands National Range users. (Denver imports nearly half first to explore much of the river by boat, Park, there to enrich the Colorado's flow its water from the Colorado Basin.) wrote darkly of Lodore, calling it "a black by nearly a third. Beyond the lakes, the Colorado bends portal to a region of gloom." westward to play tag with U.S. Highway On a recent float through Lodore, we A canyon nver 40 and later with Interstate 70. In Glen­ found the canyon cheeringly scenic and wood Canyon, the river crowds highway well provided with rapids, and the monu­ Like the Nile, the Colorado is, in the traffic and the Denver & Rio Grande ment's Dinosaur Quarry is rich with fossil parlance of geographers, an exotic river- Railroad against its banks, and pas­ sengers are likely to see rafts bobbing by. (For more about raft trips, see the box at right.) Nearby at Glenwood Hot Springs Lodge, guests come to bathe in a huge Parks, rafting on the upper Colorado, Green outdoor pool filled with natural mineral Here's a guide to recreational highlights Lodore Canyon rafting: II outfits hold water. The steamy, salt-laden stuff also on the upper Colorado aqd Green rivers. permits: trips range from I to 4 days; empties into the river. COLORADO RIVER season runs from mid-May to mid­ More saline now, the river keeps close September. For a list, write to Dinosaur Rocky Mountain National Park: 412 National Monument (address below). company with 1-70 all the way to Grand square miles of sawtoothed peaks and Junction, where the joins glacier-carved valleys. For a spectacular Dinosaur National Monument. In its 48-mile drive, take Trail Ridge Road, glass-encased quarry, you can watch it. Then the Colorado crosses into Utah, paleontologists unearthing petrified curving south to meet the Green. which runs at elevations up to 12,183 feet (the road usually opens Memorial bones (open daily 8 to 6; free). The monument also contains the scenic The Green: glacial headwaters Day weekend). In summer, hiking trails lead up into the Never Summer canyon junction of the Green and The Green's waters gather in a glacial Mountains. To check road or trail Yampa rivers, which you overlook on valley below Knapsack Col in the Bridger conditions, call the park at (303} 586- the 1-mile nature trail to Harpers Wilderness of Wyoming up on the edge of 2371; for a brochure-map. write to the Corner. There are two improved campgrounds- Green River and Split the Continental Divide. From there, the Superintendent, Rocky Mountain National Park, Estes Park, Colo. 80517. Mountain (open all year)- and several river makes a fishhook bend to the north, back-country campsites. For a brochure­ then twists southward across cattle Upper rin•r rafting. Many outfits run map, write to the Superintendent, country. Where it once ran free, it is now day trips on three mostly calm (class 2) Dinosaur National Monument, Box 210, stretches: Kremmling to Dotsero, the Dinosaur, Colo. 81610. plugged by . Com­ area, and Grand pleted in ! 962, the dam backs up a 90- Junction to the Utah border; season RiYer-running on the lower Green. mile-long reservoir whose cold waters fa­ begins in May. For a list of its members. A trio of canyons- Desolation, Gray, vor the growth of trophy-size trout. write to the Colorado River Outfitters and Labyrinth-provide popular float Association, Box 1032CR, Buena Vista, trips starting in May. Desolation and Below the

99 M udpackfor two in Canyonlands. and a replica paddle-wheeler on. - the Colorado supports The Colorado becomes a recreation from the strange to the sedate canyon river. Its masterwork is the Grand Canyon. Cliffside aerie used by Pueblo Indians See it at cliff or water level before II 50, Nankoweap ruins are frequent stop for groups rafting through a river that springs from a well-watered Salt Lake City or St. George. Grand Canyon region but flows through an arid one. The Even today the section of river that flows point where the Green and the Colorado through eastern Utah is not easily accessi­ meet, in Canyonlands, receives only 8 ble. Bridges cross at Hite Marina in Can­ inches of precipitation a year. yonlands National Park and at Moab, and These high, dry Utah and Arizona pla­ Utah highways 128 and 297 parallel the teaus do much to earn the Colorado its river for some miles above and below name. Sparse rainfall supports only sparse Moab. But the best way to see this stretch vegetation; sparse vegetation holds Little of Colorado is at river level, on one of the soil. Raindrops hit land at 9,000 feet with float trips that run through Canyonlands. more force than they hit land at sea level. A massive dam, the grandest canyon And so with each storm, layer after layer It is below Canyonlands that the river of soil washes into one of the river's tribu­ comes completely under the governance taries or into the river itself. The result? of man. Within National In Spanish, a rio colorado, a river red Recreation Area, you can see two exam­ with mud- 10 times as silty as the Nile, ples of this control: one of them impossi­ 17 times as silty as the muddy Mississippi. ble to miss, one of them not so obvious. "Too thick to drink, too thin to plow," was the more empirical judgment of the first To a casual visitor, Lee's Ferry, up a narrow road from Navajo Bridge, doesn't American settlers. look like much: a former ferry crossing . As the land shaped the river, the river run by John D. Lee, it now gives campers .. shaped the land into knotted canyons now and fishermen a place to spend the night --Ult- imate picnic spot: river-runners enshrined as parks: Dead Horse, Canyon­ and river rafters a place to begin their chow down in Grand Canyon's Inner Gorge lands, Grand Canyon. There is debate trips through the Grand Canyon. But to among geologists as to how and when the water lawyers and water engineers, .Lee's process occurred or whether a single river Ferry is one of the most important spots As the dam has turned the river above it was responsible for it all. But in general, on the river. into a lake, it has turned the river below it it's believed that the Colorado cut into the Since the of into a much more mannerly stream than land as the land rose under it. 1922, it has served as the dividing line nature origirially supplied. Maybe the The rise was high enough to give the river between the Upper Basin (Wyoming, most noticeable change is that after Glen an additional advantage as a sculptor: an Colorado, most of Utah, parts of Arizona Canyon Dam, the river is no longer aptly unusually steep descent. The Colorado and ) and the Lower Basin named: the dam does such a thorough job falls 2 miles over its 1,400-mile course; (California, , most of Arizona, of collecting silt that the Colorado gener­ the Mississippi, which flows 2,550 miles, parts of New Mexico and Utah). In the­ ally appears more green (from algae) falls only VJ mile. Propelled by gradient, ory, each basin is now allotted half the than red. The lack of silt has also nar­ the river has burrowed to expose earlier river's water (see map, page 96). The rowed the canyon's beaches, for the river and earlier sections of the earth. The compact didn't end the squabbles over the now carries sand away without replacing chasm we call the Grand Canyon is but I 0 Colorado, but it paved the way for future it. And banks that were once regularly million years old, the dark Vishnu schist agreements and engineering projects. cleansed of vegetation by high water and exposed in its Inner Gorge 2 billion. One of the largest of these projects lies 15 flash flood now are thick with tamarisk, willow, and other riparian growth. This country that rain and rjver formed miles upriver from Lee's Ferry: Glen Can­ was incomparably beautiful, but hard to yon Dam. The latest and, because of the Despite these changes, if you, like 12,815 explore and harder to settle. The Anasazi, beauty of the land it inundated, most others last year, were to board one of the who had once inhabited it, retreated by controversial dam completed on the river, dories or rafts at Lee's Ferry and float at A.D. 1300; they mixed with or were re­ 91en Canyon is second only to Hoover a steady 4.2 miles per hour (up to 19 mph placed by Paiute and Havasupai, and- on Dam in height and storage capacity. Its in rapids) down through Marble Gorge the fringes of the region- by Navajo and lake, Powell, backs up from the Arizona and into Grand Canyon, you might find it Hopi. Spanish and American forays into border 180 miles into Utah, and supi:x>rts difficult to believe that anything man the canyon country were timid and limit­ houseboats and a replica paddle-wheeler, could engineer could matter much. ed; most of the early white settlement was the Canyon King. (For more on Lake Of the Grand Canyon, what can one say? accomplished by Mormons sent out from Powell recreation, see page 103.) This is the Colorado's masterwork, and 100 SUNSET most attempts at description, no matter icy curve of concrete elegaht and austere how eloquent, end up sounding futile, like against a backdrop of burnt rock jlrld blue In the canyon, a concertgoer trying to whjstle along with water. the Brandenburg Concertos. Maybe it's Even by today's engineering standards, enough to say that this is a canyon grand Hoover is a grand achievement. As many side trips enough to inspire the most profound emo­ as 5,000 workers labored at once to build tions in those who view it. As one 1892 it by 1935; 96 of them died in the process. visitor exclaimed: "I have never witnessed off the river The dam's crest rises 726 feet and sp~fls anything like this. It scare~ me to even try I ,244 feet across Black Canyon td ,im­ to look down into it. My God, I am afraid pound some 28.5 maf of water, Ftom trat for fishing, the whole country will fall into this great water, 17 turbines generate 4 billion kilo­ hole in the ground." English author J.B. wqtt-hours of electricity each year. Priestley was more approving. " If I were waterfalls an American," he wrote, "I would make Today Hoover and the other nine dams on my remembrance of it the final test of the Colorado (plus 14 more on tributar­ men, art, and policies. I should ask my­ ies) can store 61.4 mltf of water. (For self: Is this good enough to exist in the details on touring the biggest dams, see same country as the canyon?" box on page 104.) Tied to them are more than il dozen major diversion projects. 1'ize at Vasey's Paradise: Among the earliest of these were the and cullhroat trout A river engineered Colorado River Aq)1c:duct and the All­ thrived in Grand Canyon American Canal, which together carry , Where the Grand Canyon ends at Grand releases of cold, Wash Cliffs, the Colorado again backs up most of California's' 4.4-lnaf allotmefll. water; has given trout to become a lake, this time 110-mile-long The newest is the Central Arizoria Proj­ hbitat in main river a.f well , created by Hoover Dam. If ect, whose 310 miles of aqueducts and the Grand Canyon is nature's masterwork tunnels will begin withdrawing up to 1.5 on the Colorado, Hoover Dam is man's. maf in 1985. gMiands of maidenhair Of all the dams built on the Colorado, it is Agriculture is by far the biggest consumer falling water make the most suggestive of the hopes and de­ of the river's diverted water. Over two­ Chasm one of the lushest mands man has placed on this river- an thirds of the water used in the Colorado ill the Grand Canyon Basin goes to grow produpe for people or feed for cattle, and most of th~ 5 maf annually exported outside tHe basin goes Whitewater, grand parks in canyon country to farmers and ranchers as well. (More water is diverted from the Coloriidd's ba­ u,er caayoa riYer-ntlnning: May Houseboats. Lake cruises on the Canyon through September, 19 outfits lead 1- 1.9 King and other boats depart daily from sin than from any river basin irt the na­ 7-day trips down the Colorado in ral'ts, Wahweap Marina (Box 1597, Page tion.) A full 80 percent of Calitornia's kayaks, and jet boats. MIJ,ior runs :fte 86040; 602/645-24~3). entitlement is used by four irrigation dis­ llong ard Fisfier , John Wtslty Powell Museum, Page, tricts in Imperial and Riverside counties; • Towers stretch upriver from ¥.s>ab, and Arizona, contains displays on Powell's the Imperial Irrigation District alone re­ in Canyonlahds Colorado voyages, other memorabilia. ceives nearly 3 maf a year, makin~ it the National Park. fur the 1983 Tour The museum, at Seventh Avenue and Gtdde to Utah, write to Utah Travel Navajo Drive, is open daily 9 to 5 until single largest -user. Council (for address, see box, page 99). May 16, 7 to 7 May 16 to September An error of optimism .Ardles Natioul Park: 80,000 acres of 15. Free admission . This seven-state water storage and trans­ rock eroded into ethereal shapes; 53 tent Grand Canyoa rinr-running. You should lites at Devil's Gardens Campground. still be able to book spaces on most portation system could never have been Write to Arches, cjo Canyon l and~ spring, su mmer, and fall trips; 22 outfits constructed without an enormous amdunt National Park, Moab 84532, or call float the river. Trips range from of arguing among the parties in~olved. (801 ) 259-8161. relatively placid 1-day jaunts below Glen Many of the arguments took place oefore DeM Horse Point State Park. Not Canyon Dam to 6- to 13-day oar- or judges: Arizona v. Ca/ifornih, a lawsuit ciUcctly on the Colorado, this Utah park motor-powered explorations of the rapid­ aonetbeless offers a stunning view of the rich 250 river miles from Lee's Ferry to filed in I ~52, was the lori~est in the his­ river, along with a 21-space the Grand Wash Cliffs. For a list, write tory of the U.S. Suprerpe Court. Its de­ \ campground. Write or 6tll the park, to Grand Canyon National Park cree in 1964 djvided the river's water Moab 84532; (801) 259-6511. (address below). between the Lower Basin states. C..yollluds Nacioul Parft. Much its or Grand Canyoa Natioul Park. South The argument~ have been made more in­ rugged 337,258 acres canbe seen by Rim and inner canyon are most raft, dory, horseback, or jeep. You'll tense because there is not as much river to temperate and least crowded before share as the states originally thought. The find campgrounds at Squaw ,Plat and Memorial Day and after Labor Day; the Willow Flat. Summer can get blistering; North Rim should open in mid-May and 1922 compact that divided up the 9olo­ consider a spring or fall 1isit. Write to remain pleasant through summer. For rado was arrived at after a series of wet the Superintendent, Canyonlands general information: Superintendent, years, optimistically apportioning a river National Park, 446 S. Main, Moab Grand Canyon National Park, Ariz. 84532; (801) 259-7167. with a flow of 16.4 maf. Unfortunately, 86023; (602) 638-241 1. For South Rim succeeding aecades have shown that the Qe. Caayoa National Recreadoa Area. lodge and Phantom Ranch Lakeshore holds 180 trailer siJes, 360 accommodations, and South Rim mule Colorado's actual flow is on the average improved campsites. Write to the trips: Grand Canyon National Park only 14 maf. The shortfall raises critical Superintendent, GCNRA, Box 1507, Lodges, Grand Canyon, Ariz. 86023; qu~stions for the future. Page. Ariz. 86040; (602) 645-2471. (602) 638-2401. For North Rim lodge: Current use of the river in both the U.S. Lake Powell llloasehoatiag, cruises. T.W.A. Services, 451 N. Main, Cedar and Mexico amounts to about 12 maf; the Houseboats and other craft can be City, Utah, 84720; (801) 586-7686. For rented at Wahweap, Bullfrog, Hall's North Rim mule trips: Grand Canyon Central Arizona P roject will raise that Crossing, and Hite Marina; for outfits, Scenic Rides, Box S Kanab, Utah 84741; to around 13. The Upper Basin now uses scan the S unset Travel Directory under (602) 638-2292 or \801)1 644-5171. slightly more than half of its 7.5 maf allotment; as it uses more, pressure on 103 popcorn, walk out to the marina dock, and lege kids who migrate here seasonally. We look in the water: herds of monstrous big­ happened to visit on Labor Day weekend mouthed carp are waiting to eat out of and can only describe the scene as some­ your hand. thing out of a Fellini film: souped-up The recreation area continues along the speedboats roared and rooster-tailed shores of 67-mile-long - its frightfulJy close to packs of bobbing in­ north end rimmed by Black Canyon, its ner-tubers, while at aptly named Idiot south end by . Rock, daredevils dove into the chaos of In a few miles, the Colorado meets Cali­ Lake Moovalya. In the midst of this, we fornia. South of Needles lies Topock sought refuge at small but scenic Buck­ Marsh, part of Havasu National Wildlife skin Mountain State Park. Refuge. If you'd like to see its waterfowl, The calmer, undammed stretch of river you can explore the marsh by canoe. Or from Blythe, California, to Martinez paddle downriver for some dozen miles Lake is popular with canoeists. Then, its through Topock Gorge, past the spires flow slowed by Imperial and Laguna named T he Needles, to Castle Rock. (For dams, the Colorado bends into Yuma. canoe rental firms, see page I 06.) Salty runs the river Havasu: lake, city, park Here the Bureau of Reclamation's Yuma ln 1825, the first stone of the New Lon­ Desalting Plant is scheduled to start up in don Bridge was laid on the bank of the 1989. For the Colorado is an increasingly Thames; in 1971, the entire bridge stood saline river, carrying some I 0 million tons on the shore of . In all of of various salts every year. Arizona, only the Grand Canyon succeeds Near its headwaters, the river runs rela­ in attracting more tourists than the bridge tively pure, containing only 25 to 50 parts Lake Havasu City imported stone by per million (ppm) of dissolved salts. Flow­ stone from England. The span manages to ing south, it picks up salts from agricul­ maintain a massive dignity despite its in­ tural and natural runoff, and these salts congruous setting. At one foot sits the are then concentrated as the river's water English VilJage, with false-front, Tudor­ supply is reduced by diversion and by style shops and eateries. evaporation. By the time the river reaches Havasu, the lake, is popular for speedboat , it bears more than 800 ppm- enough to exceed Environmental TIM FULLER racing and for the big striped bass it pro­ Concrete colossus: Hoover Dam Humming with energy, giant electric Electric tang/~ of towers carries duces. Hugging the shore south of town is Protection Agency criteria for potability. spans 1,244 feet across craggy turbines dwarf visitors on guided 1,124,000 kilowatts generated by Lake Havasu State Park, Arizona's larg- At this point, the saline water can still be Black Canyon. Nearly 726 feet walking tour through one tier Glen Canyon Dam's power plant used for agriculture. ln fact, more than 3 below. the river runs on of Hoover Dam's power plant Visiting the Colorado's JERRY FREDRICK maf of it nurtures nearly $1 bilJion worth great dams of crops in California's Coachella and Imperial valleys. But as the river travels Nowhere is man's control of the Manmade wonders ... Hoover Dam is south, continued evaporation and agricul­ Colorado more evident than at these five tural runoff (Arizona's Wellton-Mohawk dams. Four of them otTer free self­ guided tours; at Hoover, adults pay a Irrigation District alone discharges drain­ modest fee for a guided tour. legendary, Parker "deepest" age water loaded with 3,200 ppm of salts) Flaming Gorge. Its I ,285-foot span has make the water all but unusable by the flooded the Flaming Gorge of the Green time it reaches the Mexican border. Alfalfa by the acre River with a 90-mile-long reservoir. The the river will increase. water for the tribes, and a decision is In a 1973 agreement with Mexico, the power plant is open daily 8 to 4 from expected soon. Others, including the Na­ in California's Much of the pressure may come from U.S. promised to work toward solving the April I through October I . vajo, have not yet brought claims to court. Glen Canyon. A half-hour self-guided Upper Basin energy developments. 1hrives on river salinity problem. The Yuma plant is part tour takes you from the Carl Hayden Though the so-called oil glut has dam­ water delivered by of that effort. It will use the reverse­ Visitor Center down to the control room pened interest in oil shale for the present, A desert river the All-American osmosis process to partially desalinate the and eight turbines that lie deep within the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyom­ Canal and Wellton-Mohawk drainage water, then 4.9 million cubic yards of concrete. The ing still hold most of the nation's recover­ Today from Hoover Dam on down, the its arteries mix it with fresh water to make a 900- center is open daily 8:30 to 5. able high-grade deposits- and it's esti­ Colorado has rightly been compared to a ppm blend for release to Mexico. Hoover. If you explore no other dam, 340-mile-long plumbing system. Peer into mated that producing 50,000 barrels of Finally the river limps across the border, take one of the 30- to 45-minute guided a gauge-filled control room deep in the shale oil a day would consume 8,000 acre­ and reminders of all that is right and est at 13,000 acres. only to be blocked by Mexico's Morelos walking tours of Hoover. They ru~ concrete guts of one of its big dams­ continuously from 8:30 to 4:15 da1ly to feet of water a year. Those same states wrong with the river at large. Near the southwestern end of the 45-mile­ Dam. Some miles later- all its salty wa­ Hoover, Davis, or Parker- and you'll un· Memorial Day, 7:30 to 7:15 through also bold about 40 percent of the nation's long lake, the huge intake pump lift of the ter spent- the Colorado oozes to a stop in derstand the Bureau of Reclamation offi­ Mead and Mohave, cool pair of lakes Labor Day. Fee is S I for adults, free for bituminous and lignite coal. The pre­ climbs the Cal­ the sun-parched mudflats of its delta. Not those under 16. In t.he display build i ~g cial who stated: "The river's flow can be ferred way of transporting that coal re­ With 822 miles of shore, Lake Mead is ifornia shore to deliver water to the Los since 1961 has it regularly reached its beside the dam, a d1orama of the enure manipulated in the same fashion as tbe quires water to make a slurry that will big enough for all the houseboaters, sail­ Angeles area and San Diego. Nearby is natural outlet, the Sea of Cortez. Colorado River system is explained by a garden hose on the tap outside your home, move easily through a pipeline. ors, and striped bass anglers who seek the even bigger intake of the Central Ari­ I 0-minute narration. a nd is." That quote comes from Philip L Other groups with major claims to the their pleasure here. There are a lot of zona Project. Together, these intakes have Davis. This earthfill dam backs up Lake Fradkin's fine book, A River No Mort An uncertain future Mojave, which stores water ~or delivery river are Southwest Indian tribes, whose them: Lake Mead National Recreation the capacity to suck up a third of the (Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1981). to Mexico. The power plant IS open water rights are not subject to the Colora­ Area saw 5 Yl million visitors in 1982, Lower Basin states' annual water supply. At an 1893 irrigation conference, William daily 7:30 to 4. do River Compact. In the most notable Such complete control may be just as weD making it the busiest park along the whole Smythe, the man who promised an empire Parker. Bu reau brochures call Parker case, the lengthy Arizona v. California, for the thousands of visiting Las Vegans, Colorado. Marinas (many with houseboat Parker Strip, a world apart based on the Colorado, received a stinging the deepest dam in the world; the catch the Supreme Court awarded 900,000 Angelenos, and Phoenicians who on week· rentals) dot the shore; from Lake Mead Between and Parker, Ari­ rebuke from the river's greatest explorer. is that 235 of its 320 feel lie below the ends consider the calm waters of the lower Marina, boat tours depart on cruises to zona, the 14112-mile " Parker Strip" has riverbed. The power plant is open daily acre-feet annually to five tribes in Ne­ " I tell you gentlemen," John Wesley Hoover Darn. For a strange surprise be­ 7:30 to 4. vada, Arizona, and California; the U.S. Colorado their back-yard swimming pool been called "Fort Lauderdale West" for Powell warned, "you are piling up a heri­ has reopened the suit to request more But this stretch also offers natural beauty fore or after your cruise, buy a bag of the Hocks of bronzed teen-agers and col- tage of conflict and litigation over w~ter MAY 1983 104 SUNSET 105 Floating horde of inner-tubers. many of them towing coolers. bobs off 011 annual race at Parker. Arizona Finally, the Colorado becomes a. desert river. Los What's ahead? Water Angeles

I conservation is a must

MEXICO rights, for there is not sufficient water to show that just as the Colorado River Ba­ ply. After a pilot study indicated cloud­ supply the land." The coming decades sin is subject to periods of high precipita­ seeding could increase precipitation by 10 may show us which of these men was in tion (such as the 30 wet years that fooled percent, the bureau is planning a new ihe long run the more correct. the signers of the 1922 compact), it is program called the Colorado River En­ In about 25 years, the Bureau of Recla­ subject to prolonged dry spells that would hanced Snowpack Test (CREST), which mation estimates, all of the available put a severe strain on the river's ability to awaits $88 million in funding. Colorado River water will be in use. Cer­ supply aJI the water we need. Another augmentation scheme is vegeta­ tain unpredictable events- a renewed de­ Some water experts have proposed mea­ tion modification, now being tested by the mand for oil shale, a large-scale assign­ sures to ease the river's burden. One way U.S. Forest Service. Since this involves ment of water rights to lndian tribes­ would be to augment its supply, and the such practices as converting existing vege­ would hasten that day. So might a pro­ bureau bas a plan to do just that: through tation from forest to meadowland, it longed drought, a possibility that even in cloud-seeding to induce more snowfall raises serious environmental questions. this rain-laden year cannot be ignored; over the Colorado Rockies, thereby boost­ T he other way to ease the Colorado's studies of tree rings and historical records ing runoff and adding to the basin's sup- burden is to conserve its water: to save more of it, or to use less of it. Lining earthen canals with concrete, as Canoes, houseboats on the desert Colorado was recently done along 49 miles of the , will save some water. For Yebkular explorers, we recommend Trader (Route Box 350, Topock, Ariz. Improving irrigation practices (installing the Guide to Colorado River, published 86436; 602/ 768-4954), Amusement automated sprinkler systems, for exam­ by the Automobile Club of Southern Boats (Box 2319, Lake Havasu City, ple) can reduce consumption. California, which maps the river from Ariz. 86403; 602/855-6481 ), and Lake Mead to Yuma. (While May Trowbridge Canoe Trips (Bob Mann, " Banking water" is a promising possibil­ should be a clement month to visit, with Box 144, Lake Havasu City 86403; ity endorsed by the Metropolitan Water days in the 80s, summertime is red hot; 602/ 855-3506). District of Southern California, among 100°-plus days are so common that Houseboating on Hatasu. Rental craft others. Lake Mead would serve as the Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and are available at Park Moabi from water bank: in wet years, the MWDSC Needles, California, regularly vie for the Colorado River Houseboats (Box 798, would deposit surplus water; in dry years, nation's highest temperature.) Needles 92363; 619/326-4777). it could withdraw that water from its Lake Mead Natioaal Recreation Area. Loadoa Bridge, Lake Havasu City. For savings account. Stop by the Alan Bible Visitor Center details on them and a schedule of for a brochure-map, or write to Lake festivities during London Bridge Days Despite these attempts to increase and Mead NRA, 601 Nevada Hwy., Boulder (September 29 through October 9), conserve its water, the river's limits will City, Nev. 89005; (7b2) 293-4041 . wrjte to the Chamber of Commerce, become more apparent as the West grows Houseboating oa Mead and MojaYe. For 2074 McCulloch Blvd., Lake Havasu more populous and industrialized. At rental firms, consult the Sunset Travel City 86403; (602) 855-4115. some point, the Colorado becomes what Directory in this ahd recent issues. Lake HaYUU State Park offers a an economist might call a zero-sum game: Black Canyon rafting. A new outfit runs campground and boat-access-only 3-hour trips in motorized rafts from &sites; write to the park at Box 645, no player gains without another one los­ Hoover Dam to Willow Beach, daily uake Havasu City 86403. ing. If you need more water ·for oil-shale March to Thanksgiving. For rates: Jim Buckskia Mountain State Park has development, you may have to abandon Rowland's Black Canxon, Box 96, camping, picnicking on the Parker Strip; your coal-slurry project. If you water Boulder City 89005; (702) 293-3776. write to Box 664, Parker, Ariz. 85344. lawns in a new housing development, for­ Willow Beach offers access to Lake C~noeing from Blythe to Martinez Lake. get about irrigating cotton fields. This is Mojave's big rljinbow trout. Write to Two outfits rent canoes: Rio Canoe (Box not a situation that the West is familiar Willow Beach Resort, Box 187, Boulder 2725, Parker Star Route, Blythe, Calif. with. It will test our politicians and our­ City 89005; (602) 767-3311. 92225; 619/ 922-5567), and Pack 'n' HaYasu Natioaal Wildlife Refuge Paddle Canoe Rentals (Box 1790 , selves. What the Colorado could do embraces Topock Marsh and Topock Route 2, Blythe 92225; 619/ 922-8205 ). shaped the West in the 20th century; what Gorge. For details on bird-watching and Inner-tube racing at Yuma. July 2 is the it can't may shape it in the 21st. o fishing, write to the Refuge Manager, date of the World's ChampionsHip Inner Box A, Needles, Calif. 92363. Tube Race. For entry details, write to S undown calm cloaks the river Canoeing Topock Marsh and Gorge. the Chamber of Commerce, Box 230, of Blythe. California. Three firms rent canoes: Old Western Yuma, Ariz. 85364; (602) 782-2567. will camp ashore before cnn,,m... downstream tO Martinez 106