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Brazos

 
Dictionary: Braz·os   (brăz'əs) pronunciation

A river rising as a tributary in eastern New Mexico and flowing about 1,400 km (870 mi) generally southeast across Texas to the Gulf of Mexico southwest of Galveston.

 

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River, central Texas, U.S. Formed in eastern New Mexico, it flows southeast 1,280 mi (2,060 km) into the Gulf of Mexico. The city of Waco is one of the largest on the river. Near its mouth it connects with the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. The lower river valley was a major site of early Anglo-American settlement in Texas; one of the first English-speaking colonies there was founded by Stephen Austin at San Felipe de Austin in 1822. The river's original name was Brazos de Dios ("Arms of God").

For more information on Brazos River, visit Britannica.com.

US Military Dictionary: Brazos River
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A river that starts its course in eastern New Mexico and western Texas and flows southeast to the Gulf of Mexico. The river valley was a region where Anglo-Americans first settled in Texas. Texans declared their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836, at the settlement of Washington-on-the-Brazos, a ferry landing along the river. In 1842, President Sam Houston moved the capital briefly to Washington-on-the-Brazos, which is known today as the “birthplace of the Texas Republic.”

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

 
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.


Wikipedia: Brazos River
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Brazos River
Texas
A railroad bridge over the Brazos River
Country  United States
State  Texas
Source Llano Estacado
Source confluence Stonewall County, Texas
 - elevation 453 m (1,486 ft)
 - coordinates 33°16′2.96″N 100°0′37.66″W / 33.2674889°N 100.0104611°W / 33.2674889; -100.0104611
Mouth Gulf of Mexico
 - elevation m (0 ft)
 - coordinates 28°52′36.08″N 95°22′45.32″W / 28.8766889°N 95.3792556°W / 28.8766889; -95.3792556
Length 2,060 km (1,280 mi)
Basin 116,000 km2 (44,788 sq mi)
Map of the Brazos River Watershed
Website: Handbook of Texas: Brazos River

The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers (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]

Contents

Geography

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 nineteen major reservoirs along the Brazos.[3]

History

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.

Brazos river was the scene of a battle between the Texas Navy and Mexican Navy during the Texas Revolution. Texas Navy ship Independence was defeated by two Mexican vessels.

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.

The river also features prominently in a number of prison songs, because at one time nearly every prison in Texas was near the Brazos.

Cultural references

  • John Graves' travel narrative Goodbye to a River takes place on the Brazos River.
  • The Brazos river is mentioned in the Old Crow Medicine Show song "Take 'em away".
  • The river is the setting of the American folk song "Ain't No More Cane."
  • The John Hiatt song "The River Knows Your Name" from the album Walk On references the Brazos river.
  • KR Wood's Fathers of Texas song "Brazos River Song" sang by the late Townes Van Zandt. [2]
  • The Brazos River is mentioned in the Lyle Lovett song "Texas River Song" on the "Step Inside This House" album and on "This Old Porch", which Lovett co-wrote with Robert Earl Keen, on Lovett's eponymous first recording.
  • The river is mentioned in the Dub Miller song, "Livin on Lonestar Time".
  • The song "There's No More Corn On The Brasos" was a hit in 70's with The Walkers.
  • The river is forded by "The Kid" character in Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian
  • The lukewarm headwaters of the Mighty Brazos River is the source of Alamo Beer in Fox Network's King of the Hill.
  • Marty Robbins mentioned the Brazos in "Cross the Brazos at Waco"
  • The former boomtown and subsequent virtual ghost town of Desdemona in Eastland County, founded in 1857, was the first Texas community located west of the Brazos River.
  • The Brazos is the focal point of a song performed by Gov't Mule and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top called "Broke Down on the Brazos".
  • A funny version of "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos" sung by Rick Danko, Janis Joplin, and others, can be seen on the music documentary Festival Express

See also

Notes

The following are notes, which can cite reference works:

  1. ^ Kammerer, J.C. (1987) (HTML). Largest Rivers in the United States. United States Geological Survey. http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/1987/ofr87-242/. Retrieved 2006-07-15. 
  2. ^ a b Hendrickson, Kenneth E., Jr. (1999-02-15). "Brazos River" (HTML). The Handbook of Texas Online. The General Libraries at the University of Texas at Austin and the Texas State Historical Association. http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/BB/rnb7.html. Retrieved 2006-07-22. 
  3. ^ "River Basin Map of Texas" (JPEG). Bureau of Economic Geology, University of Texas at Austin. 1996. http://www.lib.utexas.edu/geo/pics/rivers.jpg. Retrieved 2006-07-15. 

References

External links


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Washington-on-the-Brazos (former city, Texas)
Navasota (river of east-central Texas)
West of the Brazos (1950 Western Film)

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. Britannica Concise Encyclopedia. © 2006 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
US Military Dictionary. The Oxford Essential Dictionary of the U.S. Military. Copyright © 2001, 2002 by Oxford University Press, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
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