They flow together: the tributaries that make the Brazos mighty

Everybody thinks the Brazos River Basin is just about the Brazos River, but it's more than a single river. It's much more. Many legends, songs and books have been written about the towns and rivers in the Brazos River Basin, and history has told us about the Spanish explorers, Native American tribes, and early settlers who relied on the Brazos River for fresh water. But the Brazos didn’t become that way on its own. It’s the result of dozens of creeks, streams and rivers, some famous, some barely noticed, that come together along the way. The Brazos River is about 937 river miles long. Though it officially begins in Stonewall County with the joining of the Salt and Double Mountain forks, the Brazos River draw or watershed begins about 80 miles west of the New Mexico/Texas border, draining southwesterly and flowing to the Intracoastal Waterway at the Gulf Coast. The Brazos River Basin covers over 42,830 square miles. There are three northern forks that form the mainstem of the Brazos River and seven major tributaries that slowly join the Brazos as it flows toward the Gulf of America. Let’s take a look at them and a bit of their history, from north to south.

Salt Fork of the Brazos River

The Salt Fork is the northernmost arm of the three forks that eventually make up the main stem of the Brazos River. Originating in Crosby County east of Lubbock, near the southern edge of the Llano Estacado, the tributary flows for about 186 river miles before it reaches the main stem of the Brazos River. Moving through ancient geological formations with extremely high salt content, a salt dome, this arm of the Brazos contributes to the elevated levels of dissolved minerals found downstream in the Brazos. During the Confederate era, a company called the Double Mountain Salt Works was established in Jayton, the county seat of Kent County, to obtain salt, which was scarce during the Civil War.

North Fork Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River

The Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River actually has a fork of its own. The North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork is the northwestern-most tributary of the Brazos, rising in Lubbock and flowing through Garza County. It joins the Double Mountain Fork southwest of Lubbock in Kent County.

The Double Mountain flows through a chain of narrow lakes, known collectively as the Canyon Lakes, including Buffalo Springs and Ransom Canyon, where Spanish and Anglo traders negotiated with the Comanches for the return of hostages. This part of the Brazos River is home to two endangered prairie fish species, the smalleye shiner and the sharpnose shiner.

The North Fork of the Double Mountain Fork runs near the towns of Slaton and Post, the county seat of Garza County. Slaton was established by German immigrants and became the westernmost German settlement in Texas. Geographically, the North Fork and Slaton lie on the flat plains of the Llano Estacado.

Post is on the edge of the Caprock Escarpment of the Llano Estacado, which is the southeastern edge of the Great Plains. The town was named after C.W. Post, the cereal innovator who later created Grape-Nuts and Post Toasties.

Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River

The Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River begins southeast of Lubbock in Lynn County, near the edge of the Llano Estacado. In 1993, the John T. Montford Dam was built on the Double Mountain Fork, forming Lake Alan Henry, an 11-mile-long water supply reservoir built by the Brazos River Authority. Ownership was transferred to the City of Lubbock in 2005 to serve as a water supply source.

The Double Mountain Fork flows through farmland and ranchland with little development, joining the North Fork of the Brazos southwest of Lubbock in Kent County. When it merges with the Salt Fork Brazos River in Stonewall County, it forms the Brazos River.

Clear Fork of the Brazos River

The Clear Fork begins its flow east of Snyder in Scurry County. It flows east, passing Abilene, Fort Phantom Hill Lake, and Lake Stamford. It flows past Hubbard Creek Reservoir and joins the Brazos River just south of Graham in Young County, around 70 miles upstream of Morris Sheppard Dam.

The Clear Fork is one of the longest tributaries of the Brazos River, beginning as a dry channel in Scurry County and flowing near the towns of Rotan, Anson (the county seat of Jones County), Hawley, Lueders, and Albany (the county seat of Shackelford County). According to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD), the Clear Fork has steep banks, and most notably a small three-foot waterfall located one mile upstream from the US 180 crossing. Between US 180 and US 380, a 4-mile-long lake is formed by a small dam that releases water through a series of dangerous stair-stepped falls where the water flows over two rock ledges, approximately 20 feet in height.

Fort Phantom Hill, located on the Clear Fork, is among the best-documented haunted and legendary sites in the Brazos River Basin. Stories of restless spirits, a “Lady in the Lake,” and the tradition of the “Lady of Fort Phantom” haunt the ruins and with a continual flow of folklore retellings.

The Brazos River

The headwaters of the Brazos River start at the confluence of the Salt Fork and Double Mountain Fork of the Brazos River in Stonewall County. It flows downstream through three dams on the mainstem: the Morris Sheppard Dam at Possum Kingdom Lake, the DeCordova Bend Dam at Lake Granbury, and the Lake Whitney Dam, meeting its first tributary, the Bosque River, near Waco

Bosque River

The North Bosque River is the largest river within Bosque River watershed and begins its journey downstream just northwest of Stephenville. The four major branches of the Bosque River join near Waco to form the US Army Corps of Engineers flood control reservoir, Lake Waco.

Like many other Texas rivers, legend surrounds the naming of this short, but important tributary of the Brazos. According to the Handbook of Texas, the word bosque is Spanish for "woods" or "woody lands," and it’s thought the name was applied to the stream by the Marqués de San Miguel de Aguayo in the early 1700s. Other authorities say that the river was named for a French trader, Juan Bosquet, who lived with the Tawakoni Indians in the area sometime in the 1770s.

The most notable and saddest fact associated with the Bosque River lies at the confluence of the Bosque and Brazos Rivers. In 1978, archeologists at Baylor University uncovered the bones of 19 Columbian mammoths. The herd, which included juvenile mammoths, is thought to have drowned in rapidly rising floodwater some 65,000 to 72,000 years ago. The site of the excavation is now part of the National Park System.

Leon River

The Leon River begins its 185-mile journey toward the Brazos near Eastland, flowing through Lake Leon, then on to Proctor Lake in Comanche County. It passes the towns of Gustine, Hamilton, and the old Fort Gates, a U.S. Army installation established in 1849, and skirts west of the city of Gatesville, the endpoint of the Texas and St. Louis Railway in 1882.

The Leon River continues through a scenic section of the Cross Timbers region of Central Texas, and into Belton Lake, a US Army Corps of Engineers flood control reservoir, continuing on until it meets the Lampasas River and Salado Creek to form the Little River in Bell County.

Lampasas River

The Lampasas River is thought to be named for the water lilies and cockleburs found in the area. The waterway begins northeast of Goldthwaite, flowing southeasterly for about 100 miles, past the town of Lampasas, and forming the US Army Corps of Engineers multi-purpose reservoir, Stillhouse Hollow Lake.

This river flows through limestone formations typical of the Edwards Plateau. There are many small rapids in the stretch between Rumley and Youngsport. Interestingly, the river is the northern- and westernmost river in the natural range of the American alligator. The river terminates as it joins the Leon River near Belton, then flows downstream to create the Little River.

San Gabriel River

The North Fork of the San Gabriel River begins north of the city of Burnet; while the South Fork begins southeast of Burnet. The North Fork of the San Gabriel wanders through eastern Burnet County into western Williamson County to form Georgetown Lake, another US Army Corps of Engineers multi-purpose reservoir. The two forks merge to become the San Gabriel just east of Interstate Highway 35 within the City of Georgetown. The river forms the popular “Blue Hole” swimming spot known for its clear, blue-green water fed by springs, then passes the city’s Courthouse Historic District and its 46 Victorian commercial and residential buildings listed in the National Register of Historic Places.

The San Gabriel River runs, in total, about 50 miles across the Balcones Fault, with the upper end of the river sporting small rapids and mini-canyons, while the lower end flows into the Blackland Prairie’s flatter terrain and deep clay soils. It flows into Granger Lake, another Corps flood control reservoir, joining Brushy Creek and the Little River just north of Rockdale in Milam County and eventually flowing into the Brazos River.

Little River

The Little River begins at the confluence of the Lampasas River and Leon River, west of the towns of Little River/Academy, flowing southeasterly for about 75 miles. Early Spanish explorers named the waterway the San Andreas or the Espiritu Santu. Later, during the days of the Republic of Texas, it earned the name Little River from early settlers who were familiar with the width of the Mississippi River and found this waterway to be quaint.

The Little River moves very slowly, winding through farmland and heavily vegetated banks along its entire length, flowing past the town of Cameron, where it meets the San Gabriel River north of Rockdale, and then joins the Brazos River near the ghost town of Port Sullivan in Milam County, near the intersection of the Brazos and present-day FM 485.

Port Sullivan was known for its historic steamboat port, once a thriving river port and college town (Port Sullivan College) in the 1850s. By the 1860s, with the promise of Steamboat navigation from the Port of Galveston, the town had grown to more than 1,400 people. It declined after the railroads bypassed the town and steamboat travel was abandoned. Ruins of the abandoned concrete locks built by the US Army Corps of Engineers in the early 1900s can be seen in the Brazos River nearby.

Navasota River

The Navasota River rises northeast of Mount Calm in Hill county, flowing about 125 miles south to join the Brazos River. The river is dammed in several areas, flowing through Lake Mexia and then through Lake Springfield in Fort Parker State Park. There are two smaller, low-water dams located at one-mile intervals below the park.

The Navasota was originally named San Cypriano or San Buenaventura by early Spanish explorers. Some believe the name “Navastoa” was derived from the Native American word meaning “prickly pear” or “muddy water,” according to the Texas State Historical Association.

Built on the banks of the Navasota River, Fort Parker was the site of the historic massacre of settlers that included the capture and kidnapping of Cynthia Ann Parker, who spent most of the rest of her life with the Comanche Nation. She married a chief and gave birth to Quanah Parker, the last chief of the Quahada Comanche Indians.

The Navasota River flows past Groesbeck into Lake Limestone, then meandering through miles of hardwood bottom and pastureland before merging with the Brazos River southwest of Navasota.

Yegua Creek

In 1690, the Spanish explorer, Alonso De Leon named his newly identified stream San Francisco as he blazed the trail of the original Old San Antonio Road. But Stephen F. Austin later marked it "Yegua” (pronounced YAY-wa) the Spanish word for mare, on his 1822 map, noting that mustang mares and foals grazed there.

Yegua Creek is now known for its diverse tributaries forming parts of Somerville Lake, despite being a creek that is often more like a river. The East, Middle, and West arms of Yegua Creek flow from Milam, Williamson, and Bastrop Counties, respectively, into Somerville Lake. A significant portion of East Yegua Creek forms the border between Lee and Burleson Counties.

After passing through Somerville Lake, a Corps of Engineers flood-control multipurpose reservoir, it joins the Brazos River west of Navasota at the junction of Brazos, Burleson, and Washington Counties.

Brazos River (Lower Basin)

South of Yegua Creek, the Brazos River joins the Navasota at Washington-on-the-Brazos. In March of 1836, this location became a historic site of the signing of the Texas Declaration of Independence, marking Texas's separation from Mexico. Washington-on-the-Brazos was a thriving river port in the 1850s.

As the seven tributaries slowly join the mainstem of the Brazos River, it travels south past the towns of Hempstead, Bellville, Sealy, San Felipe, Rosenberg, Brazos Bend State Park, West Columbia, Brazoria, and finally Freeport, where it empties into the Intracoastal Waterway.

The Brazos River wouldn't exist without the many smaller rivers, creeks, and streams that flow southward within the watershed. These vital tributaries help maintain the strength of the Brazos River by providing water, supporting wildlife, and shaping the surrounding land. From the Salt Fork to Yegua Creek, each one plays a unique role in the health and history of the Brazos River Basin.

To find public access points along the Brazos River and all Texas waterways, visit the TPWD’s site here.