Alamo River

Alamo
River
Alamo River north of Zenos Rd., near Holtville, California
Countries	Mexico, United States
Source	Colorado River
- location	Alamo, Baja California, Mexico
- elevation	36 m (118 ft)
- coordinates	32°40′58″N 114°45′06″W / 32.68269°N 114.7515656°W / 32.68269; -114.7515656
Mouth	Salton Sea
- coordinates	33°12′23″N 115°36′52″W / 33.206517°N 115.61433°W / 33.206517; -115.61433

Map showing path of the Alamo River in the United States

The Alamo River is a river flowing west and north from the Mexicali Valley (Baja California) across the Imperial Valley (California). The river drains into the Salton Sea.

The creation of the New River, Alamo River, and Salton Sea of today started in the autumn of 1904, when heavy rainfall and snow-melt caused the Colorado River to swell, overrunning a set of headgates for the Alamo Canal. The resulting flood poured down the canal and breached an Imperial Valley dike. The sudden influx of water and the lack of any drainage from the basin resulted in the formation of the Salton Sea; the rivers had re-created a great inland sea in an area that it had frequently inundated before, the Salton Sink. It took nearly two years to control the Colorado River’s flow and stop the flooding, but it was effectively dammed in the early part of 1907 and returned to its normal course. The Alamo and New Rivers continued to flow, but at a lesser rate.^[1] The river was named after the Fremont cottonwood that grows in the region.^[2]

In most places, the river is a vegetation-choked ravine with a small watercourse at the bottom.

References

See also

• Salton Sea