McRae Canyon originally known as
Cañon del Muerto, is a
canyon
A canyon (from ; archaic British English spelling: ''cañon''), or gorge, is a deep cleft between escarpments or cliffs resulting from weathering and the erosion, erosive activity of a river over geologic time scales. Rivers have a natural tenden ...
in the southern
Fra Cristobal Range in
Sierra County, New Mexico
Sierra County is a county located in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 11,576. Its county seat is Truth or Consequences.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of w ...
. Its waters are tributary to the
Rio Grande
The Rio Grande ( and ), known in Mexico as the Río Bravo del Norte or simply the Río Bravo, is one of the principal rivers (along with the Colorado River) in the southwestern United States and in northern Mexico.
The length of the Rio G ...
, and today flow into the
Elephant Butte Reservoir at the head of an
inlet
An inlet is a (usually long and narrow) indentation of a shoreline, such as a small arm, bay, sound, fjord, lagoon or marsh, that leads to an enclosed larger body of water such as a lake, estuary, gulf or marginal sea.
Overview
In marine geogra ...
in the flooded lower canyon, at an elevation of . Its source is at , at an elevation of in the southern Fra Cristobal Range.
McRae Canyon has one major tributary the
Cañon del Muerto that has its confluence with McRae Canyon a short distance below that with an unnamed arroyo at . Just below this confluence is an
artesian
Artesian may refer to:
* Someone from the County of Artois
* Artesian aquifer, a source of water
* Artesian Builds, a former computer building company
* Artesian, South Dakota, United States
* Great Artesian Basin, Australia
* The Artesian Hotel ...
spring
Spring(s) may refer to:
Common uses
* Spring (season), a season of the year
* Spring (device), a mechanical device that stores energy
* Spring (hydrology), a natural source of water
* Spring (mathematics), a geometric surface in the shape of a ...
, that flows continuously from the
Jornada del Muerto
The name Jornada del Muerto translates from Spanish as "Single Day's Journey of the Dead Man" or even "Route of the Dead Man, though the modern literal translation is closer to "The Working Day of the Dead". It was the name given by the Spanish ...
basin aquifer.
[
McRae Canyon is the site of ]Fort McRae
Fort McRae was a Union Army post, established in 1863, then a U.S. Army post from 1866 and closed in 1876, in what is now Sierra County, New Mexico. The post was named for Alexander McRae (1829–1862) a slain hero of the 1862 Battle of Valverde.
...
manned by California Volunteers California State Volunteer Units 1861 – 1866
The following are California State Volunteer Units that were active between 1861 – 1866 serving in the Union Army, most west of the Rocky Mountains in place of Federal troops:
California Brigade
...
of the Union Army
During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...
from 1863 to 1866, and by U. S. Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
soldiers from 1866 to 1876.Fort McRae
from newmexicohistory.org accessed July 27, 2019
References
-
Landforms of Sierra County, New Mexico
Canyons and gorges of New Mexico
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