Colorado River-Austin-Colorado (deal, interior, flooding)

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

We've been looking at our atlas lately and cannot seem to find where the Colorado River in Austin links to the Colorado River to the north/west. With all the flooding going on in Colorado it would seem diverting some of that to drought states would make sense but can't find a link.

What is the deal on the Austin Colorado River?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

We've been looking at our atlas lately and cannot seem to find where the Colorado River in Austin links to the Colorado River to the north/west. With all the flooding going on in Colorado it would seem diverting some of that to drought states would make sense but can't find a link.

What is the deal on the Austin Colorado River?

It doesn't. Colorado basically means "colored" (as in ruddy or reddish, ie muddy).
As you might imagine, there's a lot of muddy rivers out there, so the name got reused multiple times.

[G Grasshopper]

Correct. It isn't connected at all. Our Colorado River is completely contained in Texas. The other Colorado River crosses many states.

[Trainwreck20]

The Colorado river in Austin it not related to Colorado or to the Colorado river that flows to the west from Colorado.

Edit: oops, already mentioned above, I see .

Btw, the theory I have heard is that the Brazos and Colorado river names got reversed inadvertently sometime in the past, which makes since, since the Brazos is much muddier (and redder) than the Colorado.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

Hey, thanks for that information! As you can tell I never shy away from being termed a "dumbass" when I ask my questions.

The river didn't look red to me when we saw it...maybe in some spots?

[Novacek]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

The river didn't look red to me when we saw it...maybe in some spots?

As Trainwreck20 mentioned, it gets even more confusing because the names of the (Texas) Colorado and the Brazos got swapped at some point in the past (when maps sucked).

[scm53]

Originally Posted by Trainwreck20

Btw, the theory I have heard is that the Brazos and Colorado river names got reversed inadvertently sometime in the past, which makes since, since the Brazos is much muddier (and redder) than the Colorado.

I had always heard that it wasn't a reversal, or swap - but was rather a confusion over which was which. That some early explorers mistook one for the other in their journals, especially in the headwaters. Near the coast, the differences in the widths make the Brazos pretty unmistakable.

[oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots]

What came first...the Big Colorado or the Texas Colorado? Anyway, I think they should rename it "The Texas River".

[atxcio]

Originally Posted by oldtoiletsmkgdflrpots

What came first...the Big Colorado or the Texas Colorado? Anyway, I think they should rename it "The Texas River".

Well, the first Colorado river in the US must have been the Texas one, since the states which have the other Colorado all came in later than Texas.

But as for which one was named first... obviously, since they are both named Colorado they probably were named by Spanish explorers before the birth of the US. And it was more of a descriptor than a name. Which one was found first, I have no idea...

[Trainwreck20]

Cabeza de Vaca would have had to cross the TX Colorado river before any Spanish explorers ran into the western Colorado river, but I am not sure he (or his contemporaries) named it at the time or not. The Spanish were familiar with the gulf Coast much earlier than the Pacific or interior of the current SW U.S. If I had to gamble, I would say the Texas one, but it could be that it was just a random, unofficially named (or unnamed) river until after the much larger Colorado river was named.