Eldorado Mountains

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Eldorado Mountains
El Dorado Mountains
Willow Beach (8199389901).jpg
(view of east flank, north)
From the Colorado River, downstream from Willow Beach, Lake Mohave.
Nevada is at right, and the prominence, forward. Arizona's (Black Mountains (Arizona) is on left bank. The view is downstream & slightly west-southwestwards.
Highest point
Peak Ireteba Peak [1] ,Eldorado Mountains
Elevation 5,060 ft (1,540 m)
Geography
Relief map of U.S., Nevada.png
Red triangle with thick white border.svg
Eldorado Mountains in Nevada [2]
CountryUnited States
StateNevada
District Clark County
Range coordinates 35°48′26.944″N114°46′57.927″W / 35.80748444°N 114.78275750°W / 35.80748444; -114.78275750 Coordinates: 35°48′26.944″N114°46′57.927″W / 35.80748444°N 114.78275750°W / 35.80748444; -114.78275750
Topo map USGS  Boulder City SE

The Eldorado Mountains, also called the El Dorado Mountains, are a north-south trending mountain range in southeast Nevada bordering west of the south-flowing Colorado River; the endorheic Eldorado Valley borders the range to the west, and the range is also on the western border of the Colorado River's Black Canyon of the Colorado, and El Dorado Canyon on the river. The range is 50 miles (80 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada; and the Eldorado Mountains connect with the Highland and Newberry mountains. [3]

Contents

The name El Dorado is taken from the name of a legendary gold mine, and the ghost town-mining location of Nelson in Nelson Canyon, transects the central portion of the range. The Nelson Overlook is a viewing point over the Colorado River's El Dorado Canyon.

Wilderness

The mountain range contains the El Dorado Wilderness of 320,060 acres (129,520 ha). Established in 2004, the area is jointly managed by the NPS and the BLM. The NPS manages the eastern section within the Lake Mead National Recreation Area and the BLM manages the western section. [4]

This desert wilderness is a rugged maze of hills, peaks, and winding canyons. The Eldorado Range is volcanic rock with basalt flows on a base of metamorphic rock. A bajada extends northwest of the mountains. Creosote bush, scrub oak, clump grass, and various cacti cover the mountains and foothills. This supports a significant population of bighorn sheep in the higher elevations. Abandoned mine sites are scattered among the region. Water is scarce, besides the Colorado River, and summer temperatures can reach 120 °F (48 °C). [5]

To the south, Ireteba Peaks Wilderness of 32,745 acres (13,251 ha) is composed of the Ireteba Ridge at 5,013 feet (1,528 m), [6] that overlooks to the east, the northern portions of Lake Mohave and the El Dorado Canyon. The high point of the Eldorado Mountains is Ireteba Peak at 5,060 feet (1,542 m), which is named for the Mohave Indian guide and tribal leader Irataba.

Some communities associated with the range, are in the south, Searchlight on US 95 and Cottonwood Cove, on the river. Nelson is in the center of the range, and the nearest community north is Boulder City.

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Nelson, Nevada Census-designated place in Nevada, United States

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Newberry Mountains (Nevada)

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Eldorado Valley

Eldorado Valley, or El Dorado Valley, is a Great Basin valley in the Mojave Desert southeast of Las Vegas and southwest of Boulder City, Nevada. The valley is endorheic, containing the Eldorado Dry Lake. The Great Basin Divide, transects ridgelines and saddles, on the north, northeast, east, and south around the valley, as the valley sits on the east of the McCullough Range, a Great Basin massif, on the Great Basin Divide at its north terminus and its south terminus.

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Piute Valley

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Poachie Range

The Poachie Range is a moderate length mountain range and massif in southeast Mohave County, Arizona, and the extreme southwest corner of Yavapai County; the range also abuts the northeast corner of La Paz County. The Poachie Range massif is bordered by the south-flowing Big Sandy River on its west, and the west-flowing Santa Maria River on its south; both rivers converge at the Poachie Range's southwest at Alamo Lake in Alamo Lake State Park.

El Dorado Canyon (Nevada)

El Dorado Canyon is a canyon in southern Clark County, Nevada famed for its rich silver and gold mines. The canyon was named in 1857 by steamboat entrepreneur Captain George Alonzo Johnson when gold and silver was discovered here. It drains into the Colorado River at the former site of Nelson's Landing.

Steamboats of the Colorado River Overview of steamboats on the Colorado River

Steamboats on the Colorado River operated from the river mouth at the Colorado River Delta on the Gulf of California in Mexico, up to the Virgin River on the Lower Colorado River Valley in the Southwestern United States from 1852 until 1909, when the construction of the Laguna Dam was completed. The shallow draft paddle steamers were found to be the most economical way to ship goods between the Pacific Ocean ports and settlements and mines along the lower river, putting in at landings in Sonora state, Baja California Territory, California state, Arizona Territory, New Mexico Territory, and Nevada state. They remained the primary means of transportation of freight until the advent of the more economical railroads began cutting away at their business from 1878 when the first line entered Arizona Territory.

El Dorado City, which is now a ghost town, was a mining camp in the Colorado Mining District at the mouth of January Wash at its confluence with El Dorado Canyon. It was located about a mile down the canyon from Huse Spring, at an elevation of 2382 feet. Its site was located nearby to the south southeast of the Techatticup Mine the primary source of the ore its mill processed.

Colorado City is now a ghost town, in Clark County, Nevada, located under Lake Mohave at the mouth of El Dorado Canyon.

References

  1. Nevada Atlas & Gazetteer, Delorme, c. 2010, p. 72.
  2. "Eldorado Mountains". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2009-05-04.
  3. Tracy, C. Richard; Hagerty, Bridgette E (6 April 2010). "Defining population structure for the Mojave desert tortoise". Conservation Genetics. 11 (5): 1803. doi:10.1007/s10592-010-0073-0. S2CID   23596038. Searchlight Pass, a connection point for the Eldorado, Newberry, and Highland mountain ranges.
  4. Eldorado Wilderness – Wilderness Connect
  5. Eldorado Wilderness Fact Sheet – BLM
  6. "Ireteba Peaks". Geographic Names Information System . United States Geological Survey . Retrieved 2009-05-04.