Concho River

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Map of the Concho River and associated watershed

This article is about the river in western-central Texas, a tributary of the Colorado River. For the river in Mexico, tributary of the Rio Grande river, see Conchos River.

The Concho River is a river in the U.S. state of Texas. It has three primary feeds; the North, Middle, and South Concho rivers. The North Concho River is the longest fork, starting in Howard County and traveling southeast for eighty-eight miles until merging with the South and Middle forks near Goodfellow Air Force Base at San Angelo, TX. The combined branches of the river flow east about fifty-eight miles until it eventually empties into the Colorado River about twelve miles north of Paint Rock, Texas.

Concho is Spanish for "shell"; the river was so named due to a discovery of freshwater mussels which produced pearls, though not in sufficient economic quantities. The pearls are unique in that they often have have a distinct pink to purple hue. These are the only pearls in the world to display this distinct color change.[1]