Boulder Canyon (Colorado River)

Coordinates: 36°07′32″N 114°40′36″W / 36.12556°N 114.67667°W

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Boulder Canyon
Boulder Canyon (Colorado River) Location in Nevada–Arizona
Geography
Coordinates	36°07′32″N 114°40′36″W / 36.12556°N 114.67667°W / 36.12556; -114.67667

Boulder Canyon, originally Devils Gate Canyon,^[1] is a canyon on the Colorado River, above Hoover Dam, now flooded by Lake Mead. It lies between Clark County, Nevada and Mohave County, Arizona. It heads at western end of the Virgin River Basin of Lake Mead, at about 36°09′05″N 114°32′51″W / 36.15139°N 114.54750°W / 36.15139; -114.54750. Boulder Canyon divides the Black Mountains into the Black Mountains of Arizona, and the Black Mountains of Nevada. Its mouth is now under the eastern end of the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, between Canyon Point in Nevada and Canyon Ridge in Arizona. Its original mouth is now underneath Lake Mead between Beacon Rock and Fortification Ridge on the southern shore in Arizona.^[2]

History

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From 1879 to 1887, the Southwestern Mining Company mined large quantities of salt in the mountains along the Virgin River. The company leased steamboats from the Colorado Steam Navigation Company to ship the salt to the mill at Eldorado Canyon. In April 1883, Captain John Alexander Mellon took a small boat upriver to Devil's Gate Canyon to install six ring bolts; each of which are eight inches in diameter, four feet long, and made of 1.75-inch-diameter iron. These ring bolts were used to secure lines from the steamboats as they navigated the dangerous rapids of Devil's Gate Canyon during high water runs to the mouth of the Virgin River at Rioville, Nevada.^[1]

References

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^ ^a ^b The Arizona Sentinel, April 14, 1883 p. 3, col. 2
^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Boulder Canyon

Colorado River system

Jurisdictions

United States
- Arizona
- California
- Colorado
- Nevada
- New Mexico
- Utah
- Wyoming
Mexico
- Baja California
- Sonora

Canyons

Byers Canyon
Gore Canyon
Red Gorge
Glenwood Canyon
De Beque Canyon
Horsethief Canyon
Ruby Canyon
Westwater Canyon
Cataract Canyon
Narrow Canyon
Glen Canyon
Grand Canyon
- Marble Canyon
- Granite Gorge
- Middle Granite Gorge
- Lower Granite Gorge
Grand Wash Canyon
Iceberg Canyon
Virgin Canyon
Boulder Canyon
Black Canyon
Pyramid Canyon
Mohave Canyon

Natural features

Tributaries

Engineering

Mainstem dams	Shadow Mountain Granby Windy Gap Grand Valley Price-Stubb Glen Canyon Hoover Davis Parker Headgate Rock Palo Verde Imperial Laguna Morelos
Major reservoirs	Fontenelle Reservoir Flaming Gorge Reservoir Blue Mesa Reservoir Navajo Lake Lake Powell Lake Mead Lake Mohave Lake Havasu Imperial Reservoir Theodore Roosevelt Lake San Carlos Lake
Aqueducts and canals	Grand Ditch Colorado River Aqueduct San Diego Aqueduct Central Arizona Project All-American Canal Alamo Canal Coachella Canal
Water projects	Boulder Canyon Project Colorado–Big Thompson Project Colorado River Storage Project Grand Valley AVA Yuma Project

Designated areas