The Brazos River, called the Rio de los Brazos de Dios by early Spanish explorers (translated as "The River of the Arms of God"). The Brazos is the longest river in Texas and the 11th longest river in the United States at 2060 km (1280 miles) from its source at the head of Blackwater Draw, Curry County, New Mexico to its mouth at the Gulf of Mexico with a 116,000 km² (44,800 sq mi) drainage basin.

Geography

The Brazos proper begins at the confluence of its Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork (which rises west of Lubbock and passes through the city) flowing 840 miles through the middle of Texas. Its main tributaries are the Clear Fork Brazos River, which passes by Abilene and joins the main river near Graham; Bosque River; Little River; Yegua Creek; and Navasota River.Initially running east towards Dallas-Fort Worth, the Brazos turns south, passing through Waco, further south to near Calvert, Texas then past Bryan and College Station, then through Richmond, Texas in Fort Bend County, and into the Gulf of Mexico in the marshes just south of Freeport.

The Brazos is dammed in three places, all north of Waco, forming Possum Kingdom Lake, Lake Granbury, and Lake Whitney. Of these three, Granbury was the last to be completed, in 1969, and its proposed construction in the mid-1950s became the impetus for John Graves' book, Goodbye to a River. There is also a small municipal dam (Lake Brazos Dam) near the downstream city limit of Waco, which raises the level of the river through the city to form a town lake. This impoundment of the Brazos through Waco is locally called Lake Brazos. There are nineteen major reservoirs along the Brazos.

File:Brazos Double Mtn Fork 2009.jpg|North Fork Double Mountain Fork Brazos River in Yellow House Canyon at the eastern edge of the Llano EstacadoFile:Brazos Double Mtn Fork Clairemont 2009.jpg|Double Mountain Fork Brazos River as seen from Texas State Highway 208, 12 km southwest of Clairemont, Texas.File:Rath City Texas Brazos Bridge 2009.jpg|Collapsed bridge structure, Double Mountain Fork Brazos River at the site of former Rath City, Texas.File:Brazos River west of Bryan, TX IMG_0551.JPG|The Brazos crossed by Texas State Highway 21 west of Bryan, Texas.

History

It is unclear when it was first named by European explorers, since it was often confused with the Colorado River not far to the south, but it was certainly seen by La Salle. Later Spanish accounts call it Los Brazos de Dios (the arms of God), for which name there were several different explanations, all involving it being the first water to be found by desperately thirsty parties.

Brazos river was the scene of a battle between the Texas Navy and Mexican Navy during the Texas Revolution. Texas Navy ship Independence was defeated by two Mexican vessels.

While the river was important for navigation before the American Civil War, it is primarily important today as a source of water for power and irrigation. The water is administered by the Brazos River Authority.

The river also features prominently in a number of prison songs, because at one time nearly every prison in Texas was near the Brazos.

Cultural references

• John Graves' travel narrative Goodbye to a River takes place on the Brazos River.
• The Brazos river is mentioned in the Old Crow Medicine Show song "Take 'em away".
• The river is the setting of the American folk song "Ain't No More Cane."
• The John Hiatt song "The River Knows Your Name" from the album Walk On references the Brazos river.
• KR Wood's Fathers of Texas song "Brazos River Song" sang by the late Townes Van Zandt. [31725]
• The Brazos River is mentioned in the Lyle Lovett song "Texas River Song" on the "Step Inside This House" album and on "This Old Porch", which Lovett co-wrote with Robert Earl Keen, on Lovett's eponymous first recording.
• The river is mentioned in the Dub Miller song, "Livin on Lonestar Time".
• The song "There's No More Corn On The Brasos" was a hit in 70's with The Walkers.
• The river is forded by "The Kid" character in Cormac McCarthy's novel Blood Meridian
• The lukewarm headwaters of the Mighty Brazos River is the source of Alamo Beer in Fox Network's King of the Hill.
• Marty Robbins mentioned the Brazos in "Cross the Brazos at Waco"
• The former boomtown and subsequent virtual ghost town of Desdemona in Eastland County, founded in 1857, was the first Texas community located west of the Brazos River.
• The Brazos is the focal point of a song performed by Gov't Mule and Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top called "Broke Down on the Brazos".
• A funny version of "Ain't No More Cane on the Brazos" sung by Rick Danko, Janis Joplin, and others, can be seen on the music documentary Festival Express

See also

• List of Texas rivers
• White River
• Blanco Canyon
• Mount Blanco
• Double Mountain
• Stonewall County
• USS Brazos — a fleet oiler built in 1919.

Notes

The following are notes, which can cite reference works:

References

External links

• Map View of the Brazos
• Historic photos of Army Corps of Engineers lock and dam projects on the Brazos River, 1910-20s, from the Portal to Texas History
• See an 1858 map Preliminary chart of entrance to Brazos River, Texas / from a trigonometrical survey under the direction of A. Bache ; triangulation by J.S. Williams ; topography by J.M. Wampler ; hydrography by the parties under the command of E.J. De Haven & J.K. Duer., hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• Brazos River Authority