Salt River Near Chrysotile

Perhaps the last remaining public vestige of Old Chrysotile is the Salt River USGS/SRP stream gage* located near the US 60 bridge at the bottom of Salt River Canyon.  It has always been customary tradition for the USGS to name a stream gage as "near" the nearest community.  Sometimes the nearest community would be many miles away but that didn't matter.  When this gage was first installed in 1924, Chrysotile, Arizona, was a "happening" place and so it made sense to name the gage "Salt River Near Chrysotile".

Untold thousands of river runners and water users watch spring runoff and monsoon flow data from this gage.  It's probably safe to speculate very few of those watching this gage have any idea why it is named "near Chrysotile".  As Old Chrysotile fades farther into the dust bin of history, at least there is one tangible structure that still bears the community's name.

Just in case you're curious, the straight line distance between Old Chrysotile and the USGS gage is about six miles.  It's roughly double that distance by road. If you'd like to learn more about Old Chrysotile, see the full blog here: https://chrysotilearizona.blogspot.com/

If you are interested in observing this stream gage in real time see:
https://waterdata.usgs.gov/monitoring-location/09497500/

* Note that the USGS uses the word "gage" and not "gauge". For an explanation of this archaic tradition see: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/why-does-usgs-use-spelling-gage-instead-gauge

Here is a 2019 view of the "Salt River near Chrysotile" gage during a high flow event.  Photo courtesy of the USGS Twitter account. The original USGS photo was very dark. Mark Severson adjusted it to look MUCH better.  THANKS, Mark!

This distant view of the gage is from a postcard offered for sale on eBay.  The view was most likely created in the late 1930's or early 1940's by famed photographer Burton Frasher.

This view of the gage is from the Salt River Project "Watershed Connection" webpage.