Lees Ferry

Lees Ferry is a site on the Colorado River in Coconino County, Arizona in the United States, about 7.5 miles (12.1 km) southwest of Page and 9 miles (14 km) south of the Utah–Arizona border. It is located at the point where the Paria River joins the Colorado from the north. Lying in an open valley directly downstream from Glen Canyon and shortly above Marble Canyon (the uppermost section of the Grand Canyon), it is the only place in more than 260 miles (420 km) where the Colorado is not hemmed in by sheer canyon walls. Here, the Colorado River is also much smoother and calmer than the stretches that lie above and below, which made it an important river crossing. Starting in the mid-19th century, until the construction of Navajo and Glen Canyon Bridges in the 20th century, it was the site of a ferry operated by John Doyle Lee, for whom it is named. Lees Ferry served as a military outpost for 19th-century settlements in Utah, a center of limited gold seeking and since the 1920s the principal point at which river flow is measured to determine water allocations in the 246,000 square mile (640,000 km²) Colorado River basin. Lees Ferry demarcates the boundary between the Upper and Lower Basins of the Colorado River; the states which make up each basin are legally allocated one-half of the river's natural flow. Glen Canyon Dam impounds the Colorado a short distance upstream and completely regulates the river flow past Lees Ferry. Lees Ferry has long been a focal point of American Southwest water disputes, and has been called "both the physical and spiritual heart of water history in the arid West". Today Lees Ferry is a well-known fishing and boat launching point, including for whitewater rafting trips through the Grand Canyon and is considered the official beginning of Grand Canyon National Park on the Colorado River.