- Cañada del Oro
Infobox River | river_name = Cañada del Oro
caption =
origin =Mount Lemmon (north face)
mouth =Santa Cruz River
basin_countries =United States (Arizona )
length = 77.25 km (48 miles)
elevation = 2,768 m (9,080 ft)
discharge = 792.87 m³/s (28,000 ft³/s) (peak) [http://rfcd.pima.gov/news/pdfs/discharge.pdf]
watershed = N/A km² (N/A mi²)The Cañada del Oro (Spanish for "Canyon of Gold"), is a primary watershed channel in the valley of
Tucson ,Arizona , USA. The word "cañada" has atilde "(ñ )" and is pronounced|kaˈɲaða in Spanish; in English it is pronounced|kəˈnjɑːdə "kuh-NYAH-duh," not like the country ofCanada .The Cañada del Oro originates in the remote Canyon del Oro in the
Santa Catalina Mountains north ofTucson , fed byrainfall and meltedsnow from the northern face ofMount Lemmon and flows northward toward the town of Oracle. The Cañada del Oro is a perennial creek in Canyon del Oro while at higheraltitudes . The Cañada del Oro then curves from flowing northward to southward through the town of Oro Valley north of Tucson, where it is usually a dry riverbed. In Oro Valley the Cañada del Oro collects watershed from the western face of theSanta Catalina Mountains . The Cañada del Oro ultimately feeds into theSanta Cruz River just northwest of Tucson, the principal watershed channel in theTucson valley.Historically, the Cañada del Oro was the focus of significant interest in
gold mining , beginning with Spanish explorers in the 17th century. Following theMexican-American War , American gold-rushers continued the search for the valuablemineral through the 1930s. Prospectors discovered minimal amounts of gold in the Cañada del Oro throughplacer mining operations, and reportedly mined gold in the lost "Mine with the Iron Door " [http://www.arizonahandbook.com/catalina.htm] . The lost mine is the subject of a novel of the same name written byHarold Bell Wright in 1923 [http://www.hbw.addr.com/mine.htm] .External links
* [http://www.fs.fed.us/r3/coronado/forest/recreation/trails/cdo.shtml U.S. Forest Service Canada del Oro Trail Guide]
* [http://arizona.sierraclub.org/trail_guide/HIKE21.HTM Sierra Club Oracle Ridge-Canada del Oro Trail Guide]
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