Река Вирджин: История и География Притока Колорадо

Tributary of the Colorado River in the southwestern United States
the Netflix TV series

The Virgin River is a tributary of the Colorado River in the U. S. states of Utah, Nevada, and Arizona. The river is about 162 mile (261 km) long. It was designated Utah's first wild and scenic river in 2009, during the centennial celebration of Zion National Park.

The first known Euro American party to encounter the Virgin was led by Jedediah Smith in 1826. Smith named it "Adams River", after then president John Quincy Adams. Later explorer and mapmaker John C. Fremont reported that it was called "Rio Virgen" but did not state the origin of the name. Hiram Chittenden speculated that Smith had later renamed the river after Thomas Virgin, who was badly wounded in an 1827 attack by Mohave people during the crossing of the Mojave Desert. Virgin recovered from his wounds but was later killed, along with most of Smith's companions, in an attack by Umpqua people (in present day Oregon). The Old Spanish Trail followed the Virgin River for part of its length from near St. George to the point it ascended the Mormon Plateau to cross to the Muddy River in present day Nevada.

Its origin is in Southwestern Utah, at the Navajo Reservoir in the Dixie National Forest, north of Zion National Park, and is formed by the confluence of the East Fork Virgin, that flows through Mount Carmel Junction on the east side of Zion National Park and Parunaweap Canyon, with the North Fork Virgin River, that flows from Navajo Lake through Zion Canyon in Zion National Park. The river flows in a southwesterly direction, passing south of the old townsite of St. George where the Santa Clara River joins the Virgin at a place the Paiutes called Tonaquint. The river then flows across the northwestern corner of Arizona through the Virgin River Gorge and past the towns of Beaver Dam and Littlefield. It enters southern Nevada near the town of Mesquite and empties into the Colorado at the Lake Mead reservoir, approximately 40 mile (64 km) east of Las Vegas. The last 30 mile (48 km) of the Virgin River forms the north arm of Lake Mead.

The scenic Virgin River Gorge is in northwest Arizona just south of the Utah state line. It is a popular winter rock climbing area noted for its steep and overhanging limestone walls. Interstate 15 follows the Virgin River for several miles through the Virgin River Gorge.