Temple Butte, in the Grand Canyon, Arizona, US is a prominence below the East Rim. The butte lies on the west bank of the south-flowing Colorado River. The outfall from the Little Colorado River, draining from the Painted Desert to the east and southeast, is about 2-mi upstream. Temple Butte is 5,308 feet (1,618 m) in elevation. It is the historical site of some wreckage of the 1956 Grand Canyon mid-air collision. It was first thought that smoke from Temple Butte, was due to a lightning strike fire, but later was found to be the result of the mid-air collision.