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The Comal River is the shortest river in Texas, running entirely within the city limits of New Braunfels in southeast Comal County. It is a tributary of the Guadalupe River. The Comal begins at Comal Springs in Landa Park and flows 4 km (2.5 miles) until its junction with the Guadalupe.
The Comal was originally called the Guadalupe in early Spanish accounts. After Spaniard Pedro de Rivera y Villalón identified the longer river as the Guadalupe in 1727, the Comal was given its current name. The name means basin or flat dish in Spanish.
Historically the Comal was used to power mills and cotton gins by early German settlers, and later, to provide hydroelectric power. The river is primarily used for water recreation today, being the location of the original Schlitterbahn water amusement park. The water is administered by the Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority.
The river is also one of only two rivers to host the fountain darter, a fish now in danger of extinction (the other river is the San Marcos River).
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