The Concho River is a river in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. ''Concho'' is

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: ** Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Ca ...

for "shell"; the river was so named due to its abundance of freshwater

mussel Mussel () is the common name used for members of several families of bivalve molluscs, from saltwater and freshwater habitats. These groups have in common a shell whose outline is elongated and asymmetrical compared with other edible clams, whic ...

s, such as the Tampico pearly mussel (''

Cyrtonaias ''Cyrtonaias'' is a genus of freshwater mussels, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the family Unionidae The Unionidae are a family of freshwater mussels, the largest in the order Unionida, the bivalve molluscs sometimes known as river mussels, o ...

tampicoensis'').

Geography

The Concho River has three primary feeds: the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

, Middle, and

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

Concho Rivers. The North Concho River is the longest fork, starting in Howard County and traveling southeast for until merging with the South and Middle forks near

Goodfellow Air Force Base Goodfellow Air Force Base is a nonflying United States Air Force base located in San Angelo, Texas, United States. As part of Air Education and Training Command, Goodfellow's main mission is cryptologic and intelligence training for the Air Fo ...

San Angelo, Texas San Angelo ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Tom Green County, Texas, United States. Its location is in the Concho Valley, a region of West Texas between the Permian Basin to the northwest, Chihuahuan Desert to the southwest, Osage Pla ...

. The combined branches of the river flow east about until it eventually empties into the

Colorado River The Colorado River ( es, Río Colorado) is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The river drains an expansive, arid watershed that encompasses parts of seven U.S. s ...

within the waters of the

O.H. Ivie Lake O.H. Ivie Lake is a reservoir on the Colorado and Concho Rivers in Concho, Coleman, and Runnels counties, 55 miles east of San Angelo, Texas in the United States. The reservoir was formed in 1990 by the construction of S. W. Freese Dam at the Conc ...

about east of

Paint Rock, Texas Paint Rock is a town in and the county seat of Concho County, Texas, United States. The population was 273 at the 2010 census, down from 320 at the 2000 census. The town's name comes from Indian pictographs painted on cliffs overlooking the nea ...

History

Hernando de Ugarte y la Concha Hernando de Ugarte y la Concha was Governor of New Mexico from 1649 to 1653. Biography Hernando de Ugarte y la Concha was born in Fuenterabía in Guipúzcoa, Castile, son of Juan de Ugarte and Juana de Anguicia. After Martín de Zavala had ope ...

Governor of New Mexico , insignia = Seal of the Governor of New Mexico.svg , insigniasize = 110px , insigniacaption = Seal of the Governor , image = File:Michelle Lujan Grisham 2021.jpg , imagesize = 200px , alt = , incumbent = Michelle Lujan Grisham , inc ...

, dispatched an expedition from Santa Fe in 1650 led by Captain Diego del Castillo, to explore what is now north central Texas. The expedition reached the territory of the Tejas Indians, and reported finding pearls on the Concho River. The Diego de Guadalajara expedition was launched in 1654 to follow up on Castillo's findings. The Spanish explored the river for the gem-quality purple to pink

pearl A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium ca ...

s produced by that species. The mussels were systematically harvested for only a short time because they soon realized that the yield of pearls was too low for their harvest to be economically viable.

References

External links

*
Southwest Paddler report on Concho River
{{authority control Rivers of Texas Rivers of Howard County, Texas Rivers of Tom Green County, Texas Rivers of Glasscock County, Texas Rivers of Sterling County, Texas Rivers of Coke County, Texas Rivers of Schleicher County, Texas Rivers of Concho County, Texas Tributaries of the Colorado River (Texas)

Geography

History

See also

References

External links