The Fuerte River is a river in the state of

Sinaloa Sinaloa (), officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Sinaloa ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sinaloa), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is d ...

, in northwestern Mexico. It flows from headwaters in the

Sierra Madre Occidental The Sierra Madre Occidental is a major mountain range system of the North American Cordillera, that runs northwest–southeast through northwestern and western Mexico, and along the Gulf of California. The Sierra Madre is part of the American C ...

to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the continen ...

in the

Gulf of California The Gulf of California ( es, Golfo de California), also known as the Sea of Cortés (''Mar de Cortés'') or Sea of Cortez, or less commonly as the Vermilion Sea (''Mar Bermejo''), is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean that separates the Baja Ca ...

Course

It begins at the junction of the Rio Verde (also called the Rio San Miguel) and

Urique River The Urique River is a river of Mexico, forming part of the Copper Canyon. See also *List of rivers of Mexico This is a list of rivers of Mexico, listed from north to south. There are 246 rivers on this list. Alternate names for rivers are given i ...

, in the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain range. It flows generally southwest for a distance of , with its

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

on the

at Lechuguilla Island, west of the city of

Los Mochis Los Mochis () is a coastal city in northern Sinaloa, Mexico. It serves as the municipal seat of the municipality of Ahome. As of the 2010 census, the population was 362,613, which was 61 percent of the municipality's population. Los Mochis is th ...

. Miguel Hidalgo

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...

impounds the river near the town of

El Fuerte El Fuerte (Spanish: "The Fort") may refer to: * El Fuerte de Samaipata, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bolivia * El Fuerte, Sinaloa, a city of Sinaloa, Mexico * El Fuerte, a character in the ''Street Fighter'' video game series Fuerte may also ...

creating the state's largest

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

, Embalse de Gustavo Diaz Ordaz.http://www.eosnap.com/?tag=fuerte-river Earth Snapshot website, accessed 17 September 2009 The water is used extensively for agricultural irrigation in northern

and southern

Sonora Sonora (), officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Sonora ( en, Free and Sovereign State of Sonora), is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the Administrative divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is d ...

states.

Features

The river is surrounded by large

mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

plantations which produce the fruits mainly for export to the United States. The former capitol of Sinaloa,

Sinaloa de Leyva Sinaloa de Leyva () is a town in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Its geographical location is . The town was founded on 30 April 1583 as Villa de San Felipe y Santiago de Sinaloa by Don Pedro de Montoya. In 1585 the second foundation of the town ...

, is on the river in the Fuerte River Valley, in the Sierra Madre Occidental foothills.

References

Rivers of Sinaloa Rivers of the Gulf of California Rivers of the Sierra Madre Occidental Rivers of Mexico {{Mexico-river-stub