Purgatoire River

The Purgatoire River (Spanish: Río Purgatorio) is a river in southeastern Colorado, United States. The river is also known locally as the Purgatory River or the Picketwire River.[1] Purgatoire means Purgatory in French. French trappers named the river to commemorate Spanish explorers killed in a Native American attack.[3][4]

Purgatoire River[1]
The Purgatoire River has cut a canyon through the Great Plains.
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • locationConfluence of North Fork and Middle Fork
 • coordinates37°09′26″N 104°56′27″W
Mouth 
 • location
Confluence with Arkansas
 • coordinates
38°03′54″N 103°10′37″W
 • elevation
3,862 ft (1,177 m)
Basin size3,447 sq mi (8,930 km2)
Discharge 
 • locationLas Animas, Colorado
 • average60 cu/ft. per sec.[2]
Basin features
ProgressionArkansas—Mississippi

The Purgatoire River originates at the confluence of the North Fork Purgatoire and Middle Fork Purgatoire rivers near Weston in Las Animas County, Colorado. It flows generally east-northeastward 196 miles (315 km)[5] to a confluence with the Arkansas River in John Martin Reservoir State Park near Las Animas in Bent County, Colorado.

The Purgatoire River drains an area of 3,447 square miles (8,930 km2): 96.4 percent of this area is in Colorado, and the remaining 3.6 percent is in New Mexico.[6]

The Piñon Canyon Maneuver Site is a large military base located along the western bank of the Purgatoire River. Citizens groups opposed plans of the U.S. Army to expand the base. On November 25, 2013, the U.S. Army announced that its plan to expand the Piñon Canyon Maneuver site had been cancelled.[7]

The river is frequently referred to as the Picketwire River in the film The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), and once in the film True Grit (2010). This is a folk-etymologizing anglophone phonological approximation of the French pronunciation /pyʁ.ɡa.ˡtwaʁ/, developed by English-speaking settlers who later came to the area.

The Purgatoire River is also referenced in the 2017 Netflix miniseries Godless.

See also

References
  1. "Purgatoire River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey. Retrieved January 30, 2011.
  2. https://waterdata.usgs.gov/co/nwis/uv/?site_no=07128500&PARAmeter_cd=00065,00060
  3. "Legendary Trails of Southern Colorado". Sangres.com.
  4. Hook, J. N. (June 10, 2014). All Those Wonderful Names. Open Road Media. p. 292. ISBN 978-1-4976-1186-3.
  5. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 31, 2011
  6. Gustafson, Daniel L. (January 24, 2003). "Hydrologic Unit Project". Montana State University, Environmental Statistics Group. Archived from the original on February 10, 2012. Retrieved February 8, 2008.
  7. Mark Udall Welcomes the U.S. Army's Decision on the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site. KRDO-TV. November 26, 2013. Retrieved July 29, 2015.



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