The Delaware River (Texas) or Delaware Creek is an intermittent stream that rises in
Guadalupe Mountains National Park
Guadalupe Mountains National Park is an American national park in the Guadalupe Mountains, east of El Paso, Texas. The mountain range includes Guadalupe Peak, the highest point in Texas at , and El Capitan used as a landmark by travelers on the ro ...
about west of
Pine Springs and north of
Guadalupe Peak
Guadalupe Peak, also known as Signal Peak, is the highest natural point in Texas, with an elevation of above sea level. It is located in Guadalupe Mountains National Park, and is part of the Guadalupe Mountains range in southeastern New Mexico a ...
in northwestern
Culberson County, Texas
Culberson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,188. The county seat is Van Horn. Culberson County was founded in 1911 and organized the next year. It is named for David B. Culberson ...
. It flows into the
Pecos River
The Pecos River ( es, Río Pecos) originates in north-central New Mexico and flows into Texas, emptying into the Rio Grande. Its headwaters are on the eastern slope of the Sangre de Cristo mountain range in Mora County north of Pecos, New Mexico ...
in
New Mexico
)
, population_demonym = New Mexican ( es, Neomexicano, Neomejicano, Nuevo Mexicano)
, seat = Santa Fe
, LargestCity = Albuquerque
, LargestMetro = Tiguex
, OfficialLang = None
, Languages = English, Spanish ( New Mexican), Navajo, Ker ...
, north of the border with Texas.
From its source in the
sky island
Sky islands are topographic isolation, isolated mountains surrounded by radically different lowland environments. The term originally referred to those found on the Mexican Plateau, and has extended to similarly isolated montane ecosystems, hi ...
of Guadalupe Mountains National Park, the Delaware River flows through the sparsely populated
Chihuahuan Desert
The Chihuahuan Desert ( es, Desierto de Chihuahua, ) is a desert ecoregion designation covering parts of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. It occupies much of far West Texas, the middle to lower Rio Grande Valley and the lower P ...
. There are no cities or towns along its course, and a few ranches and the small community of Pine Springs (population 51) are the only settlements. The land near the river is mostly used for
cattle ranching
A ranch (from es, rancho/Mexican Spanish) is an area of land, including various structures, given primarily to ranching, the practice of raising grazing livestock such as cattle and sheep. It is a subtype of a farm. These terms are most often ...
.
The Delaware River was named after the
Delaware Indians
The Lenape (, , or Lenape , del, Lënapeyok) also called the Leni Lenape, Lenni Lenape and Delaware people, are an indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands, who live in the United States and Canada. Their historical territory includ ...
who guided early American expeditions to this area, including that of
Randolph B. Marcy
Randolph Barnes Marcy (April 9, 1812 – November 22, 1887) was an officer in the United States Army, chiefly noted for his frontier guidebook, the ''Prairie Traveler'' (1859), based on his own extensive experience of pioneering in the west. This p ...
in 1849. The
Butterfield Stage
Butterfield Overland Mail (officially the Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service i ...
route, beginning in 1858, followed the Delaware River. A stagecoach station was established at Delaware Springs () where several springs, some with potable water and others mineralized, provided the only reliable source of water for many miles around.
["Delaware Springs", https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/rpd01, accessed 21 May 2018]
See also
*
List of rivers of Texas
The list of rivers of Texas is a list of all named waterways, including rivers and streams that partially pass through or are entirely located within the U.S. state of Texas. Across the state, there are 3,700 named streams and 15 major rivers acc ...
Notes
References
*
USGS Geographic Names Information Service*USGS Hydrologic Unit Map - State of Texas (1974)
{{authority control
Rivers of Texas
Bodies of water of Culberson County, Texas