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There’s a river in Texas that has a confusing name. At first glance it’s not confusing, but it really is.
That would be the Colorado River. Simple, huh?
Not exactly. Mainly because it’s not the river you would think it is. You know, that one that starts way out West and forms the Grand Canyon.
To begin with, that one flows into the Pacific Ocean, a bit removed from the Gulf of Mexico, where all our rivers flow, one way or another.
Next, our Colorado starts out West somewhere near Lamesa. Including its drainage area even further West (into New Mexico), it is 865 miles long, the Texas Almanac says, making it the longest river in Texas that is entirely in Texas. (Does that even make sense? How does including New Mexico drainage area make it entirely in Texas? Never mind.) It's also the 11th longest river in the US. (Wikipedia)
(Colorado River in Colorado Bend State Park. Muddyish after recent rains. Photo by me)
OK, that’s the easy part.
Next is, why are there two Colorado Rivers in the US?
Thought you’d never ask.
The easy answer is, they were named by two different people at two different times and in two different areas of the country, without the knowledge of either. For that matter, there are also at least three Red Rivers in the US (Texas/Oklahoma, etc., New Mexico, (Oxford comma!) and Minnesota/North Dakota).
The Texas name came about a bit confusingly (is that a word? Word thinks it is, at least).
Colorado means red in Spanish, of course (you already knew that, right?), so it would make sense that the explorer who “discovered” a reddish river would call it that. (I usually put “discovered” in quotes in situations like these because Native Americans already found it a really long time ago.) But our Colorado isn’t red (muddy sometimes when it rains a lot, but not red. See photo. Disregard that reddish tinge, that was due to the lighting. I know, I was there.)
But I digress.
The explorer dude, Alonso de León in the 1690s, actually “discovered” what later became known as the Brazos River, a bit to the north, which is reddIsh. He called the actual Colorado Brazos de Dios. Confusion ensued and the two names weren't switched until much later.
By the by, our Colorado was named way back there before there was even a state of Colorado. For another, their Colorado River was originally named Grand River and was only renamed in 1921 to honor the state, according to Public radio station KUT in Austin. So, how come there’s a river named Colorado out there since the name obviously belongs to us, dang it? And notice, it wasn't named that because it was reddish. So there.
It gets worse.
Competing French and Spanish explorers had a royal mess of named rivers in the 1700s.
The April 2024 All Things Considered episode by Elisabeth Jimenez on KUT radio says “[L]ike many explorers back in the day (see: Christopher Columbus), the Spanish and French got confused about what bodies of water they were near.”
An 18th Century French map shows a river labeled Rio de San Marcos ou Colorado combining the San Marcos and Colorado rivers.
More confusing, a 1727 map shows a combined Rio Colorado o de los brazos de dios (“Colorado River or Arms of God River”) in Northeast Texas(!) Jimenez said.
Things apparently got settled by 1835 but by then the river that once was the Brazos was now the Colorado and the original Colorado (with muddy red waters) was now the Brazos.
Simple, see?
So really it’s our Colorado and that other one is a steal. And our Colorado is vital to our wellbeing (too). It’s regarded as the lifeblood of the state, according to Clara Tuma of the Lower Colorado River Authority via KUT radio.
She said such reservoirs as Lakes Travis, Buchanan and Austin, collectively known as the Highland Lakes, are formed by the Real Colorado. Eight other reservoirs are formed on the river's run.
But we can live in harmony, she said. Theirs is longer, but ours was first.
And finally, how do you pronounce Colorado? There is some support to call the Texas river the ColoRAYdo. That sounds more Texan anyway. I first heard it pronounced that way back in the last Millennium on a family vacation through West Texas. I’ll vote for it.
Obscure Fact Dept:
The upper Colorado River was controlled by Comanches from the early 18th century to the late 19th century. In 1757, Spanish Texans created the Mission Santa Cruz de San Saba on the tributary San Saba River, but which was summarily wiped out because it was considered an invasion.
Smart Alec Question of the Day:
What’s the name of the river that runs through undoubtedly the best known Fiesta in the state? (You should know this one). Answer below.
Notes:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorado_River_(Texas)#cite_note-ac-8
The Texas Almanac online is available here:
https://www.texasalmanac.com/
And the Answer:
The San Antonio River, of course, featuring the best river walk anywhere (change my mind).
Next: Plumb Big Eye
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