Bill Williams River
| Bill Williams River | ||
.jpg) The river in the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 1413 | |
| location | Arizona (USA) | |
| River system | Colorado River | |
| Drain over | Colorado River → Gulf of California | |
| source | from Big Sandy River and Santa Maria River 34 ° 18 ′ 38 " N , 113 ° 31 ′ 36" W |
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| Source height | 377 m | |
| muzzle | in the Colorado River dammed up to Lake Havasu coordinates: 34 ° 18 ′ 16 ″ N , 114 ° 8 ′ 7 ″ W 34 ° 18 ′ 16 ″ N , 114 ° 8 ′ 7 ″ W |
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| Mouth height | 138 m | |
| Height difference | 239 m | |
| Bottom slope | 3.7 ‰ | |
| length | 64 km | |
| Reservoirs flowed through | Alamo Lake | |
The Bill Williams River is a tributary of the Colorado River in western Arizona with a length of approximately 40 miles. It drains a rugged, remote area of the Sonoran Desert Plateau northwest of Phoenix and forms a river oasis in the parched area.
It is created by the confluence of the Big Sandy River and the Santa Maria River northwest of Wickenburg , then flows westward along the northern edge of the Buckskin Mountains and flows into Lake Havasu just above the Parker Dam . On this way it flows through the dammed Alamo Lake .
For a long time the river valley was characterized by extensive poplar and willow trees , which John C. Frémont , the discoverer of the area, described in the 19th century. The construction of the Alamo Dam in 1968 put an end to the natural flood periods, which caused the ancient ecosystems to lose their foundation. Only a small population of poplars has been preserved in the Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuge .
In the past, Indians of the Mojave and Chemehuevi tribes settled on the river and made artistic baskets from the willows. The Indians were resettled in reservations further east and north in the 19th century. The river is named after Bill S. Williams , who walked the area around 1800.