Salt River (Gila River)
| Salt River | ||
 The Salt River as seen from Horse Mesa Dam in 1988 |
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| Data | ||
| Water code | US : 33995 | |
| location | Arizona , USA | |
| River system | Colorado River | |
| Drain over | Gila River → Colorado River → Gulf of California | |
| origin | Confluence of the White and Black Rivers 33 ° 44 ′ 20 ″ N , 110 ° 13 ′ 32 ″ W. |
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| muzzle | in the Gila River coordinates: 33 ° 22 ′ 52 " N , 112 ° 18 ′ 47" W 33 ° 22 ′ 52 " N , 112 ° 18 ′ 47" W.
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| length | 322 km | |
The Salt River ( O'Odham-Pima : On'k Akimel ) is a tributary of the Gila River ( O'Odham-Pima : Keli Akimel or simply Akimel , in Quechan : Haa Siʼil ) with a length of 322 km in central Arizona .
It arises in the east of Gila County at the confluence of the White River with the Black River at Mogollon Rim and Natanes Plateau . It forms the border between the Apache Indian Reservation in the north and the San Carlos Indian Reservation in the south. It flows northwest through the Salt River Canyon , then southwest through the Tonto National Forest . It flows through several reservoirs: Theodore Roosevelt Lake (formed by the Roosevelt Dam), Apache Lake (Horse Mesa Dam), Canyon Lake (Mormon Flat Dam) and Saguaro Lake (Stewart Mountain Dam).
The Verde River flows into the river near Fountain Hills . At the Granite Reef weir , which is about 4 miles below the confluence of the Salt and Verde Rivers, the Salt River has usually dried up because its water is diverted into the Arizona and South Canal . At Mesa there are many weirs that distribute the water into many channels. At Tempe it flows through Tempe Town Lake . The canals are 1609 km long.
The Salt River lay in the core of the settlement area of the prehistoric Hohokam culture between about the years 300 and 1500. The Hohokam built irrigation canals and diverted tributaries of the Salt River within their river bed in order to improve the soil quality through sediments. Along the Salt River and the Gila River lived two subgroups of the Akimel O'Odham (often referred to as the River Pima), who named themselves after the rivers on which their settlements were: the On'k Akimel O'Odham ('Salt River People ') and the Keli Akimel O'Odham (' Gila River People ').
