{{short description|River in Pueblo and Huefano counties in Colorado, United States}} {{Use American English|date=February 2025}} {{Infobox river | name = Cucharas River<ref name=GNIS>{{cite gnis|id= 192808 |name= Cucharas River|accessdate= 2011-01-30}}</ref> | image = Cucharas River.JPG | image_alt = | image_caption = The river in Walsenburg. | map = | map_alt = | map_caption = | source1_location = | source1_coordinates= {{coord|37|20|23|N|105|05|36|W}} | mouth_location = Confluence with Huerfano | mouth_coordinates = {{coord|37|54|58|N|104|31|56|W|display=inline,title}} | progression = Huerfano—Arkansas—Mississippi | length = | source1_elevation = | mouth_elevation = {{convert|5121|ft|m|abbr=on}} | discharge1_avg = | basin_size = | river_system = | tributaries_left = | tributaries_right = }}
'''Cucharas River''' is a {{convert|75|mi|km|adj=mid|-long}}<ref name=NHD>U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. [http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ The National Map] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120329155652/http://viewer.nationalmap.gov/viewer/ |date=2012-03-29 }}, accessed March 31, 2011</ref> tributary of the Huerfano River that flows from a source in Huerfano County, Colorado, southwest of the Spanish Peaks in San Isabel National Forest. The river passes through La Veta and Walsenburg before joining the Huerfano River in Pueblo County.
==Cucharas Canyon== [[File:Cucharas Canyon looking southwest.JPG|250px|thumb|left|A view from the canyon's east rim, looking southwest towards the Spanish Peaks.]] Northeast of Walsenburg, the river creates a deep, wild canyon called '''Cucharas Canyon'''.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://medium.com/blmwild/protecting-blmwild-places-in-eastern-colorado-80bfb576a73c |title= Protecting #BLMWild Places in Eastern Colorado |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=2017-03-30 |website=BLM Wild |publisher=Medium.com |access-date=2019-04-29 |quote=}}</ref> Much of the land in and adjacent to the canyon was purchased by the Bureau of Land Management in 1998 and is open to the public for recreational activities such as hiking, horseback riding, and hunting. Access to the canyon is via county roads, with trailheads on either side. There are few visitors, and opportunities for solitude are abundant.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.wildconnections.org/images/Cucharas_Canyon_LWC_Report_WC2015.pdf |title= Lands with Wilderness Characteristics: Cucharas Canyon |last= Sztukowski |first=John |date=2015-03-01 |website= |publisher=Wild Connections |access-date=2019-04-29 |quote=}}</ref>{{clear left}}
==Dams== {{anchor|Cucharas Number 5 Dam}} ===Cucharas Number 5 Dam removal=== The Cucharas #5 Dam was a {{convert|135|ft|adj=on}} tall irrigation dam on the Cucharas River {{convert|15|mi}} northeast of Walsenburg. Built in 1910, it experienced structural problems throughout its life, including a partial failure in 1987 which resulted in the emergency dynamiting of a spillway. Reconstruction of the dam was proposed in the 2010s but was deemed economically infeasible. Following years of litigation, the State Engineer took emergency control of the dam in 2017 for safety reasons. The state removed it in 2019, recovering the cost in court from the dam's owners.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Perry |first1=Mark |last2=McCormick |first2=Bill |last3=Bennington |first3=Paul |last4=Lopez |first4=Phillip |title=The Cucharas #5 Dam Removal; a Story of Determination, Persistence and Partners |url=https://damsafety-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/s3fs-public/files/The%20Cucharas%20%235%20Dam%20Removal%3B%20a%20Story%20of%20Determination%2C%20Persistence%20and%20Partners.pdf |website=Dam Safety 2020 Abstracts |access-date=9 October 2023}}</ref> At the time, it was the third-largest dam ever to be removed in the United States.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=East |first1=Amy E. |last2=Harrison |first2=Lee R. |last3=Smith |first3=Douglas P. |last4=Logan |first4=Joshua B. |last5=Bond |first5=Rosealea M. |title=Six years of fluvial response to a large dam removal on the Carmel River, California, USA |journal=Earth Surface Processes and Landforms |date=30 June 2023 |volume=48 |issue=8 |pages=1487–1501 |doi=10.1002/esp.5561 |url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/esp.5561 |language=en |issn=0197-9337|doi-access=free }}</ref>
==See also== {{portal|Rivers|Colorado}} * List of rivers of Colorado
==References== {{reflist|22em}}
==External links== {{commons category-inline|Cucharas River}}
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Category:Rivers of Colorado Category:Tributaries of the Arkansas River Category:Rivers of Huerfano County, Colorado Category:Rivers of Pueblo County, Colorado Category:Canyons and gorges of Colorado
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