HikeArizona.COM

I must have missed the discussion. What's it about?

We're always the last to know.

I don't recall any discussion, but I think it's cool!

Alston Neal wrote:We're always the last to know.

Last to know what?

How come I can't clic on it and play the game?

Because I already won. ;)

@SuperstitionGuy
Speaking of which, isn't time you took another extended trip?
Or at least hook your computer up to dial-up.....

According to 10 hour trivia Geronimo had nine wives.

No wonder he gave up!

No wonder he was mean and pissy.

Arizona's Four Major Rivers are the Colorado, Little Colorado, Gila, and Bill Williams.

I can't seem to find a scientific definition of a major river, but these four seem like an incorrect choice to me.

In one way you could even argue that the Colorado isn't an Arizona river, though we might actually all agree that it is a major river.

The inclusion of the Bill Williams River is strange to me, without including others such as the Verde, San Pedro or Salt, which are longer or wider, or both.

But by one logical definition, only the Colorado would be considered major, since the other three mentioned each drain into it. Under that reasoning, numerous larger and longer rivers are unclassified because they drain into those three.

But then you have created a 4-tiered system:
Tier 1: Colorado River. Fed by the LCR, Bill Williams, and Gila.
Tier 2: a. LCR. Fed by a bunch of washes on the plateau plus Chevelon Creek, Clear Creek (east), San Fran River.
b. Bill Williams. Fed by Big Sandy and Santa Maria Rivers.
c. Gila. Fed by Hassayampa, Agua Fria, New, Salt, Santa Cruz, San Pedro, San Carlos, Blue.
Tier 3: Ignoring the LCR and BW, the dominant Gila tributary is the Salt, which is fed by the Verde, Tonto, Cherry, Canyon, Carrizo, White and Black.
Tier 4: And ignoring the others, the Verde itself is fed by a few pretty good water sources, East Verde, West Clear, Wet Beaver, Oak, Sycamore.

So in my opinion, there is only ONE major river in Arizona. That'd be the Colorado.
To break it down further, I could accept the LCR and Gila as secondary major rivers.
After that, I don't feel that the hierarchical tiered system above can be used to classify the others. I don't think that Bill Williams can be on any list that does not include Verde and Salt at a minimum, and quite likely not even then.

And since there's no actual definition of major river, this is all subjective. But I shared my thoughts. I'll enjoy reading yours!
(I'm attaching a map of 10 Arizona watersheds [even though I think there are some serious issues with it too!])

And the Colorado is only half a river.