Brazos

 

(brăz'əs) , river, 870 mi (1,410 km) long (1,210 mi/1,947 km long with its main tributary), rising in E N.Mex. From its source it flows SE across Texas to enter the Gulf of Mexico at Freeport. The Brazos flows through a fertile farming area of N Texas, where cotton is produced in the irrigated river's valley. The Brazos supplies water to nearby cities; several dams provide flood control and hydroelectric power. The river is navigable upstream.

The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers, which can be translated as "The River of the Arms of God," is the 11th longest river in the United States at 2060 km (1280 miles) from its source of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico^[1] to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 116,000 km² (44,800 sq mi) drainage basin.^[2]

The Brazos proper begins at the confluence of its Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork (which rises west of Lubbock and passes through the city) flowing 840 miles through the middle of Texas. Its main tributaries are the Clear Fork of the Brazos, which passes by Abilene and joins the main river near Graham; Bosque River; Little River; Yegua Creek; and Navasota River. Initially running east towards Dallas-Fort Worth, the Brazos turns south, passing through Waco, further south to near Calvert, Texas then past Bryan and College Station, then through Richmond, Texas in Fort Bend County, and into the Gulf of Mexico in the marshes just south of Freeport.^[2]

The Brazos is dammed in three places, all north of Waco, forming Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Granbury, and Lake Whitney. Of these three, Granbury was the last to be completed, in 1969, and its proposed construction in the mid-1950s became the impetus for John Graves' book, Goodbye to a River. There is also a small municipal dam (Lake Brazos Dam) near the downstream city limit of Waco, which raises the level of the river through the city to form a town-lake. This impoundment of the Brazos through Waco is locally called Lake Brazos.[1] There are 19 major reservoirs along the Brazos.^[3]

It is unclear when it was first named by European explorers, since it was often confused with the Colorado River not far to the south, but it was certainly seen by La Salle. Later Spanish accounts call it Los Brazos de Dios (the arms of God), for which name there were several different explanations, all involving it being the first water to be found by desperately thirsty parties.

While the river was important for navigation before the American Civil War, it is primarily important today as a source of water for power and irrigation. The water is administered by the Brazos River Authority.

See also

• List of Texas rivers
• Stonewall County
• USS Brazos (AO-4) — a fleet oiler built in 1919.

External links

• Brazos River from the Handbook of Texas Online
• Map View of the Brazos
• Historic photos of Army Corps of Engineers lock and dam projects on the Brazos River, 1910-20s, from the Portal to Texas History
• See an 1858 map Preliminary chart of entrance to Brazos River, Texas / from a trigonometrical survey under the direction of A. Bache ; triangulation by J.S. Williams ; topography by J.M. Wampler ; hydrography by the parties under the command of E.J. De Haven & J.K. Duer., hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• Brazos River Authority

• http://www.arrowheadatlakewhitney.com
• http://www.lakewhitneyresorts.com

References

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