It heads at western end of the Virgin River Basin of Lake Mead, at about 36°09′05″N 114°32′51″W / 36.15139°N 114.54750°W / 36.15139; -114.54750.

Its mouth is now under the eastern end of the Boulder Basin of Lake Mead, between Canyon Point in Nevada and Canyon Ridge in Arizona.

Its original mouth is now underneath Lake Mead between Beacon Rock and Fortification Ridge on the southern shore in Arizona.

In April 1883, Captain John Alexander Mellon took a small boat upriver to Devil's Gate Canyon to install six ring bolts; each of which are eight inches in diameter, four feet long, and made of 1.75-inch-diameter iron.

These ring bolts were used to secure lines from the steamboats as they navigated the dangerous rapids of Devil's Gate Canyon during high water runs to the mouth of the Virgin River at Rioville, Nevada.