Texas Almanac, 1982-1983 Page: 91
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WATER RESOURCES 91
Colorado River ,
Measured by length and drainage area, the Colo-
rado is the largest river wholly in Texas. (This com-
parison excludes the Brazos whose drainage basin ex-
tends into New Mexico.) Rising .in Dawson County, the
Colorado flows about 600 miles to Matagorda Bay on
the Gulf. Its drainage area is 39,900 square miles. Its
runoff reaches a volume of more than 2,000,000 acre-
feet near the Gulf. Its name is a Spanish word meaning
"reddish." There is evidence that the name, Colorado,
was given originally by Spanish explorers to the
muddy Brazos and Spanish mapmakers later trans-
posed the two names. The river flows'through a roll-
ing, usually prairie terrain to the vicinity of San Saba
County where it enters the rugged Hill Country and
Burnet-Llano Basin. It. passes through a picturesque
series of canyons until it issues from the Balcones Es-
carpment at Austin and flows across the Coastal Plain
to the Gulf. In this area the most remarkable series of
reservoirs in Texas has been built. There are two large
reservoirs, Lake Buchanan in Burnet-Llano Counties
and Lake Travis in Travis County. Between these, in
Burnet County, are three smaller reservoirs: Inks,
Johnso (formerly Granite Shoals) and Marble Falls,
built to aid power production from water running over
the Buchanan Lake Spillway. Below Lake Travis is the
older Lake Austin, largely filled with silt, whose dam
maintains a head for production of power from waters
flowing down from the lakes above. Town Lake is in
the City of Austin. This area is known as the Highland
Lakes Country.
As early as the 1820s Anglo-Americans settled on
the-banks of the lower Colorado, and in 1839 the Capital
Commission of the Republic of Texas chose the pictur-
esque area where the river flows from the Balcones
Escarpment as the site of a new capital of the Republic
- now Austin, capital of the state. The early colonists
encouraged navigation along the lower channel with
some success and boats occasionally ventured as far
up stream as Austin. However, a natural log "raft" in
the channel near the Gul blocked river traffic, Con-
servation and utilization of'4he waters of the Colorado
are under jurisdiction of three agencies created by thestate Legislature, the Lower, Central and Upper Colo-
rade River Authorities.
The principal tributaries of the Colorado are the
several prongs of the Concho River on its upper course,
the Pecan Bayou (farthest west "bayou" in the United
States) and the Llano, San Saba and Pedernales
Rivers. All except the Pecan Bayou flow into the Colo-
rado from the Edwards Plateau and are spring-fed,
perennially flowing. In the nundrous mussels found
along these streams occasional pearls have been
found. The Middle Concho was designated on early
Spanish maps as Rio de las Perlas.
Brazos River
The Brazos is the largest river between the Rio
Grande and the Red River and third in size of all
rivers in Texas. It rises in three upper forks, the Dou-
ble Mountain, Salt and Clear Forks of the Brazos. The
Brazos River proper is considered as beginning where
the Double Mountain and Salt Forks flow together in
Stonewall County The Clear Fork joins this main
stream in Young County, just above Lake Possum
Kingdom. The Brazos'crosses most of the main physio-
graphic regions of Texas-High Plains, West Texas
Lower Rolling Plains, West Cross Timbers, Grand
Prairie and Gulf Coastal Plain.
The total length from the source of its longest
upper prong, the Double Mountain Fork, to the mouth
of the main stream at the Gulf, is about 840 miles and
the drainage area is about 42,800 square miles,
It flows directly into the Gulf near Freeport. Its
annual runoff at places along its lower channel ex-
ceeds 5,000,000 acre-feet.
The original name of this river was Brazos de Dios,
meaning "Arms of God." There are several legends as
to why. One is that the Coronado expedition wander-
ing on.the trackless Llano Estacado exhausted its
water ald was threatened with death from thirst.
Arriving at the bank of the river they gave it the name
of Brazos de Dios in thankfulness. Another is that a
ship exhausted its water supply and its crew was saved
when they fund the mouth of the Brazos. Still another
story is that miners on the San Saba were forced by
drouth to seek water near present-day Waco andT14R " COST
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Texas Almanac, 1982-1983, book, 1981; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113816/m1/93/?q=yaqui: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.