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The Dirty Devil River is an
tributary A tributary, or affluent, is a stream or river that flows into a larger stream or main stem (or parent) river or a lake. A tributary does not flow directly into a sea or ocean. Tributaries and the main stem river drain the surrounding drainage ...
of the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
, located in the
U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...
of
Utah Utah ( , ) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. Utah is a landlocked U.S. state bordered to its east by Colorado, to its northeast by Wyoming, to its north by Idaho, to its south by Arizona, and to it ...
. It flows through southern Utah from the confluence of the
Fremont River The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near Ha ...
and Muddy Creek before emptying into the Colorado River at
Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...
.


Course

The Dirty Devil River is formed in Wayne County near Hanksville at the confluence of the
Fremont River The Fremont River is a long river in southeastern Utah, United States that flows from the Johnson Valley Reservoir, which is located on the Wasatch Plateau near Fish Lake, southeast through Capitol Reef National Park to the Muddy Creek near Ha ...
and Muddy Creek. It flows generally southward through a canyon in Wayne and
Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...
counties. Its lower flows through
Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Glen Canyon National Recreation Area (shortened to Glen Canyon NRA or GCNRA) is a national recreation area and conservation unit of the United States National Park Service that encompasses the area around Lake Powell and lower Cataract Canyon i ...
, where it finally disembogues into the
Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid drainage basin, watershed that encompasses parts of ...
at a point that is now submerged beneath
Lake Powell Lake Powell is an artificial reservoir on the Colorado River in Utah and Arizona, United States. It is a major vacation destination visited by approximately two million people every year. It is the second largest artificial reservoir by maximum ...
. The canyon carved by the river is particularly isolated and seldom visited compared to other natural areas in the region. The average discharge is approximately 446 cubic feet per second.


History

The Dirty Devil River was named by the 1869 Powell Geographic Expedition led by
John Wesley Powell John Wesley Powell (March 24, 1834 – September 23, 1902) was an American geologist, U.S. Army soldier, explorer of the American West, professor at Illinois Wesleyan University, and director of major scientific and cultural institutions. He ...
, which explored much of the Colorado River and its tributaries. It was named for the extreme salinity and turbidity of the water near its mouth. Powell later contrasted it with a much cleaner stream in the
Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...
, which he named
Bright Angel Creek Bright Angel Creek is an American body of water located at the bottom of the Grand Canyon National Park flowing into the Colorado River at the end of the North Kaibab Trail on the north side of the river. The creek originates from Roaring Spring ...
.Dirty Devil River
,
Bureau of Land Management The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is an agency within the United States Department of the Interior responsible for administering federal lands. Headquartered in Washington DC, and with oversight over , it governs one eighth of the country's la ...
The outlaw
Butch Cassidy Robert LeRoy Parker (April 13, 1866 – November 7, 1908), better known as Butch Cassidy, was an American train and bank robber and the leader of a gang of criminal outlaws known as the "Wild Bunch" in the Old West. Parker engaged in crimina ...
and his gang used tributary canyons of the Dirty Devil, such as
Robbers Roost The Robbers Roost was an outlaw hideout in southeastern Utah used mostly by Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch gang in the closing years of the Old West. The hideout was considered ideal because of the rough terrain. It was easily defended, dif ...
, as a hideout in the 1890s.


Geology

The Dirty Devil River and its tributaries contribute approximately 150,000 tons of salt to the Colorado River each year, with the Muddy Creek tributary contributing an annual average of 86,000 tons by itself. The Fremont River tributary does not contribute significant amounts of salt. The
United States Bureau of Reclamation The Bureau of Reclamation, and formerly the United States Reclamation Service, is a federal agency under the U.S. Department of the Interior, which oversees water resource management, specifically as it applies to the oversight and opera ...
has created a plan to reduce the salinity of the Dirty Devil River by collecting salty spring water and using deep-well injection to dispose of it. The plan, completed in 1987, has not been implemented due to its
marginal cost In economics, the marginal cost is the change in the total cost that arises when the quantity produced is incremented, the cost of producing additional quantity. In some contexts, it refers to an increment of one unit of output, and in others it r ...
effectiveness Effectiveness is the capability of producing a desired result or the ability to produce desired output. When something is deemed effective, it means it has an intended or expected outcome, or produces a deep, vivid impression. Etymology The ori ...
.Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Program, Dirty Devil, Utah
USBR


Bridges

The river is spanned by a bridge a few miles northwest of the
Hite Crossing Bridge The Hite Crossing Bridge is an arch bridge that carries Utah State Route 95 across the Colorado River northwest of Blanding, Utah, United States. The bridge informally marks the upstream limit of Lake Powell and the end of Cataract Canyon of the ...
, a steel arch bridge over the Colorado River on
State Route 95 Route 95, or Highway 95, may refer to routes in the following countries: __TOC__ International * European route E95 Australia * Great Northern Highway (Western Australia) * Fossickers Way (New South Wales) Canada * British Columbia Highway 95 * ...
near milepost 45 in Garfield County. It is also spanned by the Utah Hwy 24 bridge a few miles NE of Hanksville, UT, just downstream from the confluence of Muddy Creek and the Fremont river.


See also

*
List of Utah rivers This is a list of rivers in the U.S. state of Utah in the United States, sorted by watershed. Colorado River The Colorado River is a major river in the Western United States, emptying into the Gulf of California. Rivers are listed upstream by ...
*
List of tributaries of the Colorado River The principal tributaries of the Colorado River of North America are the Gila River, the San Juan River, the Green River, and the Gunnison River. Tributary tree The following is a tree demonstrating the points at which the major and minor trib ...


References

{{authority control Tributaries of the Colorado River in Utah Rivers of Utah Rivers of Wayne County, Utah Colorado Plateau Rivers of Garfield County, Utah