Canyon Diablo (canyon)

Canyon Diablo
Near Interstate 40 and Two Guns
Near Meteor Crater
An image showing almost the full length
Floor elevationApprox. 4,712 ft (1,400 m)
Length≈ 81 miles (130 km)[1]
Width550 ft (170 m)
Geography
LocationArizona
Coordinates35°17′46″N 110°59′21″W / 35.29611°N 110.98917°W / 35.29611; -110.98917[2] 
Interactive map of Canyon Diablo

Canyon Diablo, previously named "Cañon Diablo", is a canyon that winds through the Colorado Plateau approximately 30 miles (48 km) east of Flagstaff in northern Arizona. It is an example of an incised meander, a river bend carved into the plateau by erosion, creating a gorge. Portions of the canyon experience an ephemeral stream and act as a tributary to the Little Colorado River. Archeologists have discovered evidence of settlements belonging to the Sinagua people near the canyon dating to the 12th century. The 81-mile (130 km) canyon lies within both Coconino County and the Navajo Nation.

Several Old West ghost towns are located near the canyon, including the towns of Canyon Diablo and Two Guns. Three bridges span the canyon today: a railroad bridge originally associated with the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway that connected the southern route of the first transcontinental railroad through Arizona across the canyon in 1882, but was later rebuilt and modernized in 1947; a former automobile bridge that once carried Route 66 over the canyon; and the current highway bridge that hosts Interstate 40.

History

Canyon Diablo is an 81-mile (130 km)[1] long canyon that is located 30 miles (48 km) east of Flagstaff in northern Arizona.[3] The canyon winds northeast to southwest through the high desert of the Colorado Plateau.[4] It is composed of yellow-gray limestone that formed during the Permian, the last period of the Paleozoic.[5] The canyon is an example of an incised meander, a river bend carved into the plateau by erosion, creating a gorge.[4]

River incision began in the late Pliocene, approximately 2-3 million years ago or earlier, and continued, along with weathering processes occurring after incision, for several hundred thousand years.[6] Kaibab Limestone dominates the rock formations, with an ephemeral stream within the canyon, often referred to as a wash or arroyo, acting as a tributary to the Little Colorado River.[7] The walls of the canyon have an average height of 131 feet (40 m),[6] spanning 550 feet (170 m) in width and reaching a depth of 225 feet (69 m) near the railway bridge.[8] At an elevation of around 4,712 feet (1,436 m),[9] its walls and channels have been compared to similar types of canyons and valleys observed on Mars.[6]

Archaeologists have found evidence of Sinagua people settlling in areas around the canyon from 1120-1225 CE, around the time of the Elden Pueblo.[10] In the 1850s, the Pacific Railroad Surveys were conducted in Arizona to find a route for a transcontinental railroad. Military officer Amiel Weeks Whipple participated in this survey for the U.S. Army along the 35th parallel. In mid-December 1853, Whipple found a steep canyon while riding west from a point near Winslow with a reconnaissance party, noting its name "Cañon Diablo" in his survey.[11] The name was not officially anglicized and changed to Canyon Diablo until the early 20th century.[12]

A cartographic map showing the new railway line crossing the canyon was published by the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad in 1881,[13] with the railroad bridge across the gorge completed in 1882 by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. A later automobile bridge, the Canyon Diablo Bridge, was constructed nearby in 1915 and once used by U.S. Route 66 to cross the canyon south of the present I-40 bridges. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[14] The railroad bridge was rebuilt in 1947 and is now known as the BNSF Canyon Diablo railroad bridge, a well-known railfan site.[15]

The canyon passes 2.5 miles (4.0 km) west of Meteor Crater,[6] and lies in the westernmost portion of the meteorite strewn field resulting from the impact that created the crater 50,000 years ago.[16] Fragments of the meteorite have been found near the canyon.[5] In 1891, American mineralogist Albert E. Foote was one of the first to formally study a fragment, naming it the Canyon Diablo meteorite.[16] The convention at the time was to name a meteorite after the closest post office where the fragment was found.[4] In 1956, American geochemist Clair Patterson notably used the meteorite to help date the age of Earth.[17]

Portions of the canyon are located in Coconino County and Navajo Nation lands today,[8] where it is referred to as Kin Łigaaí in the Navajo language.[18]

  • Canyon Diablo features
  • The original Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway bridge over Canyon Diablo, c. 1883–1903
  • The bridge was rebuilt in 1947 and is now known as the BNSF Canyon Diablo railroad bridge.
  • Canyon Diablo looking north from the railroad; the Kaibab Formation is evident (1910)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Parra, Ivan; Reed, Mickey; vanderLeeuw, Elisabeth; Guertin, D. Phillip; Levick, Lainie R.; Uhlman, Kristine (2006). NEMO Watershed Based Plan: Little Colorado Watershed (PDF) (Report). Tucson, Arizona: Arizona Department of Environmental Quality; University of Arizona Cooperative Extension; Water Resources Research Center. p. 2-11. Retrieved 2025-12-13.
  2. ^ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Canyon Diablo
  3. ^ Rabe, Don (October 29, 1989). "History hides in Diablo". Arizona Daily Sun. pp. 21, 22.
  4. ^ a b c Nations, Dale; Stump, Edmund (1981). Geology of Arizona. Kendall Hunt Publishing Company. p. 179-180. ISBN 9780840324757. OCLC 10503277.
  5. ^ a b Chronic, Halka (1996) [1983]. Roadside Geology of Arizona. Mountain Press Publishing Company. pp. 201–204. ISBN 9780878421473. OCLC 1035065696.
  6. ^ a b c d Hanson, Erik (2019) [2007]. Canyons (Revised ed.). New York: Infobase Holdings, Inc. pp. 170–188. ISBN 9781438182537. OCLC 1376194165.
  7. ^ Mason, Jon P.; Kennedy, Jeffrey R.; Macy, Jamie P.; Gungle, Bruce (2023). Hydrologic framework and characterization of the Little Colorado River alluvial aquifer near Leupp, Arizona (PDF) (USGS Scientific Investigations Report 2023–5052). Reston, VA: U.S. Geological Survey. pp. 5–9. doi:10.3133/sir20235052.
  8. ^ a b Darton, Nelson Horatio (1915). Guidebook of the Western United States. Part C, the Santa Fe Route, with a Side Trip to the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. Bulletin 613. United States Geological Survey. p. 113.
  9. ^ U.S. Geological Survey (1981). "Canyon Diablo (Feature ID: 27275)". Geographic Names Phase I data compilation (1976-1981). U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2025-12-11.
  10. ^ Snow, David R.; Wier, K. L. (1999). Archaeological Investigations at Wupatki National Monument: Archaeology at Wupatki 39 (PDF). National Park Service Anthropology Series. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service. pp. 37, 104.
  11. ^ Cline, Platt (1976). They Came to the Mountain: The Story of Flagstaff's Beginnings. Flagstaff: Northern Arizona University with Northland Press. pp. 24–28. ISBN 9780873581530. OCLC 2401565.
  12. ^ Ascarza, William (December 19, 2016). "Treacherous Canyon Diablo required series of intimidating railway bridges". Arizona Daily Star. pp. A2, A5.
  13. ^ Atlantic & Pacific Railroad Co. "Map of the Twelfth Twenty Five Miles of the Western Division Atlantic and Pacific Rail Road from the 276th to the 300th Mile Twelfth Land Grant Section. [engineers Station 271.36.5 to Engineers Station 1591.26.8, end of the 12th Land Grant Section.]". Arizona Memory Project. Retrieved 2025-12-19.
  14. ^ "Canyon Diablo Bridge - Archiplanet". Archived from the original on 2012-04-23. Retrieved 2008-07-28.
  15. ^ Route 66, Winslow Williams Diablo Canyon
  16. ^ a b "Meteor Crater". American Museum of Natural History. Retrieved 14 December 2025.
  17. ^ Lewis, Cherry (2000). The Dating Game: One Man's Search for the Age of the Earth. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521790512. OCLC 43615350.
  18. ^ Young, Robert W.; Morgan, William; Midgette, Sally (1992). Analytical Lexicon of Navajo (1st ed.). Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press. pp. 197, 1051, 1218. ISBN 9780826313560. OCLC 24467538.

Further reading

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