The Rio San Jose is a tributary of the

Rio Puerco The Rio Puerco is a tributary of the Rio Grande in the U.S. state of New Mexico. From its source on the west side of the Nacimiento Mountains, it flows about ,Calculated in Google Earth generally south to join the Rio Grande about south of ...

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 so ...

New Mexico New Mexico is a state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States. It is one of the Mountain States of the southern Rocky Mountains, sharing the Four Corners region with Utah, Colorado, and Arizona. It also ...

Course

The Rio San Jose's farthest tributary stream is Bluewater Creek; its headwaters are in the Zuni Mountains, near the

continental divide A continental divide is a drainage divide on a continent such that the drainage basin on one side of the divide feeds into one ocean or sea, and the basin on the other side either feeds into a different ocean or sea, or else is endorheic, not ...

in Cibola County, with about 400 feet of the course in McKinley County. Bluewater Creek is dammed to form Bluewater Lake, with a capacity of . The Rio San Jose proper starts at the confluence of Bluewater Creek and Mitchell Draw near Bluewater Village. Entering Valencia County, it flows southeast, through

Grants Grant or Grants may refer to: People * Grant (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Grant (surname), including a list of people and fictional characters ** Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885), the 18th president of the U ...

, then turning east near McCartys, flowing through the Acoma Indian Reservation and Laguna Pueblo. The remains of an ancient dam constructed by the Laguna people sometime between 1370–1750 AD is situated within Laguna Pueblo. Below Mesita the river turns southeast again, flowing through a narrow canyon before joining the

in Bernalillo County. The entire course of the river below Bluewater Creek is roughly paralleled by the

BNSF Railway BNSF Railway is the largest freight railroad in the United States. One of six North American Class I railroads, BNSF has 36,000 employees, of track in 28 states, and over 8,000 locomotives. It has three Transcontinental railroad, transcontine ...

tracks (formerly the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad, built around 1882, later absorbed into the

AT&SF The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the largest Class 1 railroads in the United States between 1859 and 1996. The Santa Fe was a pioneer in intermodal freight transport; at variou ...

). Between Bluewater Village and Mesita the river valley provides the route for old

U.S. Route 66 U.S. Route 66 or U.S. Highway 66 (US 66 or Route 66) is one of the original highways in the United States Numbered Highway System. It was established on November 11, 1926, with road signs erected the following year. The high ...

and I-40.

Hydrology

The

water level Water level, also known as gauge height or stage, is the elevation of the free surface of a sea, stream, lake or reservoir relative to a specified vertical datum. Over long distances, neglecting external forcings (such as wind), water level ten ...

and

streamflow Streamflow, or channel runoff, is the flow of water in streams and other channels, and is a major element of the water cycle. It is one runoff component, the movement of water from the land to waterbodies, the other component being ''surface runo ...

of the Rio San Jose has been measured at a number of sites in

Cibola County, New Mexico Cibola County is a county in the U.S. state of New Mexico. As of the 2020 census, the population was 27,172. Its county seat is Grants. It is New Mexico's youngest county, and the third youngest county in the United States, created on June ...

Stream gauge A stream gauge, streamgage or stream gauging station is a location used by hydrologists or environmental scientists to monitor and test terrestrial bodies of water. Hydrometric measurements of water level surface elevation (" stage") and/or v ...

s have been operated by the

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), founded as the Geological Survey, is an government agency, agency of the United States Department of the Interior, U.S. Department of the Interior whose work spans the disciplines of biology, geograp ...

near Laguna, Correo, and at Acoma Pueblo, near

. The gauge at Acoma Pueblo has a record that commenced in 1937, and is the only one still active. It measures flow from a contributing area of , from a larger

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of . The mean flow between 1937 and 2016 was , with the lowest daily flow recorded in July 2014 at . The highest river level recorded occurred in September 1963 with a height of through the gauge, giving a corresponding flow of , although this peak flow was affected by diversion or regulation. Since the 1870s the flow of the upper river has been substantially modified by demands for irrigation, groundwater abstraction and a dam on the Bluewater Creek. A report in 1982 showed that the natural flow was estimated to be between and , as opposed to the measured mean flow of .

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:San Jose, Rio Tributaries of the Rio Grande Rivers of New Mexico Rivers of Cibola County, New Mexico Rivers of Valencia County, New Mexico Rivers of Bernalillo County, New Mexico

Course

Hydrology

See also

References