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The Hassayampa River (
A local legend purports that anyone who drinks from the river can never again tell the truth. As an anonymous poet wrote:
:Those who drink its waters bright –
:Red man, white man, boor or knight,
:Girls or women, boys or men –
:Never tell the truth again''quoted in'': George Wharton James, ''Arizona the Wonderland'', Boston: Page Co., 1917, pp. 363–364.
This lush streamside habitat is home to some of the desert's most spectacular wildlife. Yet many of them have become dangerously imperiled as riparian areas have disappeared from the Arizona landscape.
In the Sonoran Desert, riparian areas nourish cottonwood-willow forests, one of the rarest and most threatened forest types in North America. An estimated 90 percent of these critical wet landscapes have been lost, damaged or degraded in the last century. This loss threatens at least 80 percent of Arizona wildlife, which depend upon riparian habitats for survival.
The Hassayampa River was the location of the 1890
Hassayampa River Preserve
at The Nature Conservancy. {{authority control Rivers of Arizona Tributaries of the Gila River Rivers of Maricopa County, Arizona Rivers of Yavapai County, Arizona Prescott National Forest
Yavapai
The Yavapai are a Native American tribe in Arizona. Historically, the Yavapai – literally “people of the sun” (from ''Enyaava'' “sun” + ''Paay'' “people”) – were divided into four geographical bands who identified as separate, i ...
: Hasaya:mvo or ʼHasayamcho:) is an intermittent river, the headwaters of which are just south of Prescott, Arizona
Prescott ( ) is a city in Yavapai County, Arizona, United States. According to the 2020 Census, the city's population was 45,827. The city is the county seat of Yavapai County.
In 1864, Prescott was designated as the capital of the Arizona T ...
, and flows mostly south towards Wickenburg
Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 7,474, up from 6,363 in 2010.
History
The Wickenburg area, along with much of the Southwest, became part of ...
, entering the Gila River
The Gila River (; O'odham ima Keli Akimel or simply Akimel, Quechan: Haa Siʼil, Maricopa language: Xiil) is a tributary of the Colorado River flowing through New Mexico and Arizona in the United States. The river drains an arid watershed of n ...
near Hassayampa. Although the river has only subsurface flow for much of the year, it has significant perennial flows above ground within the Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness
Hassayampa River Canyon Wilderness is an 11,840 acre (4,790 ha) National Wilderness Preservation System, wilderness area located in the U.S. state of Arizona. It lies north east of Wickenburg, Arizona, Wickenburg. The wilderness area was created ...
and the Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy (TNC) is a global environmental organization headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. it works via affiliates or branches in 79 countries and territories, as well as across every state in the US.
Founded in 1951, The Natu ...
's Hassayampa River Preserve, near Wickenburg
Wickenburg is a town in Maricopa and Yavapai counties, Arizona, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 7,474, up from 6,363 in 2010.
History
The Wickenburg area, along with much of the Southwest, became part of ...
. The river is about long, with a watershed of , most of it desert.
A local legend purports that anyone who drinks from the river can never again tell the truth. As an anonymous poet wrote:
:Those who drink its waters bright –
:Red man, white man, boor or knight,
:Girls or women, boys or men –
:Never tell the truth again''quoted in'': George Wharton James, ''Arizona the Wonderland'', Boston: Page Co., 1917, pp. 363–364.
This lush streamside habitat is home to some of the desert's most spectacular wildlife. Yet many of them have become dangerously imperiled as riparian areas have disappeared from the Arizona landscape.
In the Sonoran Desert, riparian areas nourish cottonwood-willow forests, one of the rarest and most threatened forest types in North America. An estimated 90 percent of these critical wet landscapes have been lost, damaged or degraded in the last century. This loss threatens at least 80 percent of Arizona wildlife, which depend upon riparian habitats for survival.
The Hassayampa River was the location of the 1890 Walnut Grove Dam
The Walnut Grove Dam was built north of Wickenburg, Arizona, United States, along the Hassayampa River. Its failure in 1890 killed over 100 people. Its construction from 1886 to 1888 was chiefly on the impetus of the Bates family, whose misman ...
failure, which led to over 100 fatalities along the river.
See also
*List of rivers of Arizona
List of rivers in Arizona (U.S. state), sorted by name.
By drainage basin
This list is arranged by drainage basin, with respective tributaries indented under each larger stream's name.
Colorado River
*Colorado River—(downstream-to-upstr ...
References
External links
Hassayampa River Preserve
at The Nature Conservancy. {{authority control Rivers of Arizona Tributaries of the Gila River Rivers of Maricopa County, Arizona Rivers of Yavapai County, Arizona Prescott National Forest