Sevier River
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sevier River (suh-VEER) is a river, approximately 280 mi (450 km) long, in southwestern Utah in the United States. It drains an extended chain of farming valleys in the mountains separated by narrow canyons, emerging into the desert of western Utah to empty into the intermittent Sevier Lake.
[edit] Description
The river drains an area of 5,500 square miles (14,245 square km), forming a large horseshoe in southern Utah. It is the longest river entirely within the state.
It rises in northwestern Kane County along the western side of the Paunsaugunt Plateau, and flows northward into Garfield County through an extended valley beside the plateau past Hatch and Panguitch.
Along the Garfield-Piute county line it descends through the narrow 5 mi (8 km) Circleville Canyon, emerging into a second valley southwest of Junction, where it receives the East Fork from the east and passes through the Piute Reservoir. It flows north across Piute County to Marysvale then descends through 8 mi (13 km) Sevier Canyon, emerging south of Sevier. It then flows northeast past Richfield and Salina. Approximately 20 mi (32 km) southwest of Nephi it turns west, flowing around the north end of the Canyon Mountains into the Sevier Desert, flowing southwest past Delta and into Sevier Lake in central Millard County, along the western side of the Cricket Mountains.
It is impounded in southwestern Juab County at the north end of the valley to form the 20-mi (32 km) long Sevier Bridge Reservoir. The river is used extensively for irrigation in its upper valley in the mountains, resulting in a severe diminishing of the level of Sevier Lake, such that it is now essentially dry. The watershed demarcates the southeastern edge of the Great Basin.
The river was known to the Paiute who inhabited the region as Seve'uu. It was named "Rio Severo" (wild river) by early Spanish explorers.
