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109-518: The byway is currently closed because of damage from fires and storms. The US Forest Service anticipates completing repairs by the end of summer 2024. The byway begins on Forest Service Road 81 (FS 81) and continues north, loosely paralleling the San Joaquin River . The designation continues west on FS 7; the initial part of it is a dirt road. FS 7 eventually becomes paved again; however, the byway continues southwest onto Sky Ranch Road, which

218-669: A crow. As they were flying they came upon a duck and asked the duck to bring up mud from the water so there can be land again. The duck did as he was asked and this mud became the land of the Yokuts, more specifically the Sierra Nevada and the Coast Mountains . To this day the crow and the eagle continue to be symbolic figures in Yokuts religious ceremonies. Yokuts life was rather peaceful. There were more than 60 tribes with an estimated 400-600 or more people in each tribe at

327-683: A dam on Willow Creek, a tributary of the San Joaquin River, forming Bass Lake as part of the Crane Valley hydroelectric project. Water from Bass Lake was diverted to a powerhouse on the San Joaquin River beginning in 1917, and two more powerhouses were added in 1919, increasing the total generating capacity to about 28 MW. The Crane Valley project and San Joaquin Electric was purchased by San Joaquin Light and Power Company in 1909, which

436-619: A greater flow in the downstream river during the dry season. It would also give dam operators the advantage of being able to maintain the river to a lower temperature due to the reservoir's great depth. The new reservoir would provide an estimated annual yield of 208,000 acre⋅ft (257,000 dam ). In November 2014 the dam received $ 171 million of state funding from Proposition 1A, though project backers had sought $ 1 billion in funding. Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as Mariposas ) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California . Before European contact,

545-477: A high of 22.8 °C (73.0 °F) on Oct 4, 2014. This range is less extreme than the temperatures below Vernalis where the range is from 2°Celsius (35.6 °F)on Dec 26, 1987 to 35.5 °C (95.9 °F) on August 9, 1990. The river typically ends above the Mendota Pool. Larger flows in the fall may make it possible for the river to extend further towards the ocean, but for the last several years, this

654-680: A large water transport project. In 1931 California's Department of Water Resources came up with the State Water Plan , which entailed the construction of dams and canals to transport water from the Sacramento River to the rapidly dwindling San Joaquin. The project was still in its planning stages when the Great Depression hit the United States, and California was unable to raise the funds necessary for building

763-520: A low flow of 30 cu ft/s (0.85 m /s) was recorded on August 10, 1961. San Joaquin River monthly discharges at Vernalis In a geologic context, the San Joaquin River can be divided into two major segments. The upper 97 mi (156 km) above Friant Dam in the Sierra is characterized as a steep-gradient, rocky mountain stream. Over millions of years, the upper San Joaquin, as well as

872-453: A name, a language, and a territory. Of the about 63 known Yokuts tribes, 33 lived along or around the San Joaquin River and its tributaries. The staple food for San Joaquin Valley inhabitants was the acorn , which when ground, could be made into various foods such as cakes. Grinding the acorns was a simple process where they crushed the nuts using rocks in natural granite depressions. Many of

981-658: A pair of distributaries – the Old River and Middle River – split off from the main stem just above the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta , a huge inverted river delta formed by sediment deposits of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. About 40 mi (64 km) from the mouth, the river draws abreast to the western flank of Stockton , one of the basin's largest cities. From here to the mouth,

1090-539: A pair of canals still in use today. One of the most powerful early irrigation empires was the Kern County Land and Water Company, established in 1873 by land speculator James Ben Ali Haggin , which grew to supply over 400,000 acres (160,000 ha) through their canal system. Haggin soon ran into conflicts with other landowners over riparian water rights , as the larger districts, including his, had more financial reserves and engineering expertise, and were

1199-471: A result, commercial navigation began a decline starting in the late 19th century and was completely gone by 1911. With over 350,000 acres (140,000 ha) under irrigation along the river by 1900 – this figure has only grown hugely since then – the river and its tributaries became much narrower, siltier and shallower, with large consequences for the natural environment, for sustainability of water supplies in its valley, and also huge changes for water politics in

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1308-784: A settlement at the confluence of the San Joaquin and the Stanislaus, called New Hope or San Joaquin City . The real influx came in 1848, when a gold strike on the American set off the California Gold Rush . Within one year, the population of the San Joaquin Valley increased by more than 80,000. The city of Stockton, on the lower San Joaquin, quickly grew from a sleepy backwater to a thriving trading center,

1417-428: A short distance downstream. The Middle Fork is considered the largest of the 3 forks. From the mountainous alpine headwaters , the San Joaquin flows generally south into the foothills of the Sierra, passing through four hydroelectric dams . It eventually emerges from the foothills at what was once the town of Millerton , the location of Friant Dam since 1942, which forms Millerton Lake . Below Friant Dam (RM267),

1526-421: A smell of its own; it was a fresh and inviting smell. While something had to be done to control the flooding, it's a damn shame that they had to kill the river in the process." – Tony Imperatrice, Fresno resident, 1988 Even with the presence of Friant and numerous other flood control dams, large floods still caused significant damage along the San Joaquin River all the way through the late 1950s. The passage of

1635-559: A variety of local animals, such as game birds, waterfowl, rabbits, turtles, various fish, mussels, and wasp grubs. Big game was hunted less frequently, but included deer, elk, and antelope. Their staple food was derived from acorn mash, though they also gathered tule roots and iris bulbs to make flour. Other foraged food includes manzanita berries, pine nuts, and seeds. They used a form of horticulture to cultivate tobacco. Salt came from salt grass . The contemporary Wukchumni and Choinumni communities do not yet have federal recognition. As of

1744-537: A year before, Benjamin Davis Wilson "drove a herd of cattle from his Riverside rancho through the San Joaquin Valley to Stockton and reported seeing not a single white man". After the Americans took over, emigrants began trickling in increased numbers, establishing the towns of Kingston City , Millerton , and Fresno City . The newcomers also included a group of Mormons led by Samuel Brannan who established

1853-459: Is FS 10 and is initially unpaved. The byway ends at SR 41 . The route is generally open June through October and takes approximately 5 hours to drive. It was designated a National Forest Scenic Byway on July 14, 1989. Globe Rock is a large granodiorite , semispherical boulder resting atop a small granodiorite perch. It once served as a gathering place of the Mono Indians as seen by

1962-614: Is a rare occurrence. The water is largely held behind Friant Dam. The typical monthly flow of the San Joaquin River near the Sack Dam is 0. There have been seepage concerns below this part of the river, so current flows are restricted below the Sack Dam. The present annual flow of the San Joaquin River near Vernalis is about 5,110 cu ft/s (145 m /s), or 4.5 million acre-feet (5.6 million m ) per year. According to USGS stream gauge #11303500 at Vernalis , 78 miles (126 km) above Suisun Bay and 2.6 miles (4.2 km) below

2071-404: Is clean enough for human use. The aquifer receives in excess of 1,600,000 acre⋅ft (2,000,000 dam ) of inflow per year, mostly from precipitation and irrigation water seepage. Concentration of chloride and other minerals generally increases from east to west across the basin. Archaeological finds near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley suggested that humans first arrived in

2180-782: Is located in the Ansel Adams Wilderness , in the south-central Sierra Nevada at the confluence of three major affluents: the Middle Fork, which rises from Thousand Island Lake at almost 10,000 ft (3,000 m) above sea level, meets the North Fork, which starts 1.8 mi (2.9 km) southeast of Mount Lyell , and the South Fork , which begins at Martha Lake in Kings Canyon National Park and flows through Florence Lake , joins

2289-530: Is the longest river of Central California . The 366-mile (589 km) long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay , San Francisco Bay , and the Pacific Ocean . An important source of irrigation water as well as a wildlife corridor , the San Joaquin is among the most heavily dammed and diverted of California's rivers. People have inhabited

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2398-407: The 2010 census there are a total of 6,273 people who identify as Yokuts. Many of them live on reservations that have casinos, these casinos have been essential to providing the Yokuts with jobs, money, and healthcare. The Yokuts tribe of California are known to have engaged in trading with other California tribes of Native Americans in the United States including coastal peoples like, for example,

2507-604: The California Coast Ranges , more than 20,000 ft (6,100 m) of sediments were deposited at the foot of the Sierras by tidal activity, and the ancestral San Joaquin and its tributaries flowed west over this alluvial plain to the sea, dumping their own sediments onto the marine deposits. Compressional forces along the boundary of the North American and Pacific Plates between 2-4 MYA resulted in

2616-551: The Flood Control Act of 1944 included provisions for the construction of a levee system along part of the San Joaquin River, but valley farmers were not entirely satisfied. After years of lobbying, farmers convinced the state government to authorize a massive flood-control system of diversion channels and levees whose main component is the Eastside Bypass , so named because of its location east of and parallel to

2725-542: The Port of Stockton – a distance of 41 mi (66 km) by river. In 1926, Stockton pooled its finances with the federal and state governments for a total of $ 8.2 million. Construction on the channel, which included widening and deepening the riverbed and cutting off meanders and oxbow lakes , began in earnest in 1928. These included major cuts at Hog Island, Venice Island and Mandeville Island , plus five smaller straightening projects. The navigation project shortened

2834-693: The 18th century, the population of the San Joaquin Valley was estimated at more than 69,000, representing one of the greatest concentrations of native people anywhere in North America. Before European colonization, the Yokuts occupied the entire San Joaquin Valley, from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta south to the Tehachapi Mountains , including the adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada to

2943-529: The Chowchilla River, Owens Creek and Bear Creek. Near the terminus, the bypass channel has a capacity of roughly 18,500 cu ft/s (520 m /s). The Eastside Bypass ends just upstream of the Merced River confluence, where the San Joaquin levee system is better designed. However, the levees on the bypass channel are generally more well-built than those on the San Joaquin mainstem and thus

3052-603: The Chumash tribe of the Central California coast, and they are known to have traded plant and animal products. Other items part of Yokuts trade included salts, soap stones, and obsidian. They used marine shells as a form of money showing they had a functional monetary system in place. On April 5, 2015, it was reported that members of the Chukchansi tribe near Yosemite had been disenrolling other members from

3161-475: The Foothill Yokuts, Northern Valley Yokuts, and Southern Valley Yokuts . Another name used to refer to the Yokuts was Mariposans. The endonym "Yokuts" itself means "people." There are many stories, depending on the tribe, on how the Yokuts and their land came to be but most follow a similar form. Their creation story is such: Once the world was completely covered in water. Then came an eagle and

3270-648: The Fresno Slough, when the Kings River is flooding. From Mendota, the San Joaquin swings northwest, passing through many different channels, some natural and some man-made. Northeast of Dos Palos , it is only joined by the Fresno and Chowchilla Rivers when they reach flood stage. Fifty miles (80 km) downstream, the Merced River empties into an otherwise dry San Joaquin (RM118). The majority of

3379-541: The Miller and Lux Corporation. During that year, Huntington and Eastwood devised plans to utilize the water of the San Joaquin River and some of its headwaters tributaries in what would become one of the most extensive hydroelectric systems in the world, known as the Big Creek Hydroelectric Project . Construction of the system's facilities, which included Mammoth Pool and Redinger Dams on

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3488-457: The San Joaquin River, and during the "June Rise", as boat operators called the San Joaquin's annual high water levels during snowmelt, large craft could make it as far upstream as Fresno. During the peak years of the gold rush, the river in the Stockton area was reportedly crowded with hundreds of abandoned oceangoing craft, whose crew had deserted for the gold fields. The multitude of idle ships

3597-493: The San Joaquin Valley for more than 8,000 years, and it was one of the major population centers of pre-Columbian California. Starting in the late 18th century, successive waves of explorers then settlers, mainly Spanish and American , emigrated to the San Joaquin basin. When Spain colonized the area, they sent soldiers from Mexico, who were usually of mixed native Mexican and Spanish birth, led by Spanish officers. Franciscan missionaries from Spain came with expeditions to evangelize

3706-463: The San Joaquin Valley, Tulare Basin, and other regions of California. The court battle that resulted would change water laws and rights in the San Joaquin River valley, and ended up promoting large-scale agribusiness over small farmers. Miller and Lux were not any newer to the San Joaquin Valley than had been Haggin, but were the driving influence on valley agribusiness until well into the early 20th century. The corporation had begun acquiring land in

3815-404: The San Joaquin Valley, found itself increasingly landlocked because the San Joaquin River, its main connection to the sea, was rapidly silting up. The early 20th century saw proposals to maintain a minimum depth in the lower river by dredging , but these were interrupted by the onset of World War I . In 1925 the city put forth a $ 1.3 million bond for dredging the lower San Joaquin from its mouth to

3924-462: The San Joaquin Valley, most in the existing towns such as Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield but some establishing new settlements. These included San Joaquin City, near the confluence of the San Joaquin with the Stanislaus, probably the largest of these post-gold-rush boomtowns. Established in 1851, the town maintained considerable size until 1880, when trade competition from nearby Stockton caused it to diminish. Another notable but much smaller settlement

4033-452: The San Joaquin and four additional reservoirs on its tributaries with a total storage capacity of 560,000 acre⋅ft (690,000 dam ), started in 1911. A total of eight dams and tunnels, the longest of which stretches 21,600 ft (6,600 m), and nine powerhouses with a total installed capacity of 1,014 MW were built in stages spanning the 20th century, with the last powerhouse coming on line in 1987. The consistent use and reuse of

4142-628: The San Joaquin flows west-southwest out into the San Joaquin Valley – the southern part of the Great Central Valley – passing north of Fresno . With most of its water diverted into aqueducts, the river frequently runs dry in a 150-mile section. This lack of riverwater begins in the 60 mi (97 km) between Friant Dam and Mendota , where it is only replenished by the Delta-Mendota Canal (RM 205) and

4251-432: The San Joaquin valley. After crossing the mountains, he came upon the shore of Buena Vista Lake at the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley, and gave the name Buena Vista ("beautiful view") to the pass and a nearby Native American village. However, Fages did not venture farther north, and thus did not further explore the main stem of the San Joaquin River. The San Joaquin River region remained largely unknown except for

4360-554: The San Joaquin – the Fresno, Chowchilla, Merced, Tuolumne, Mariposa Creek, Calaveras, Mokelumne, and others – flowed freely across alluvial flood plains to join the river. All of the major tributaries of the river originate in the Sierra Nevada; most of the streams that start in the Coast Range are intermittent, and contribute little to the flow of the San Joaquin. During the winter, spring, and early summer, storms and snowmelt swell

4469-648: The San Joaquin. Groundbreaking of the huge project was in 1959 and construction was finished in 1966. The bypass system starts with the Chowchilla Canal Bypass, which can divert up to 5,500 cu ft/s (160 m /s) off the San Joaquin, a few miles above Mendota. After intercepting the flow of the Fresno River, the system is known as the Eastside Bypass, which runs northwest, crossing numerous tributaries: Berenda and Ash Sloughs,

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4578-777: The Sierra Nevada. They tried to summit the range by way of both the Kings River and the American River (a tributary of the Sacramento), but it was early spring and the snow was too deep. They crossed the mountains along the Stanislaus River canyon, becoming the first recorded whites to cross the Sierra Nevada on foot. It is still disputed over whether Smith's party discovered gold on the San Joaquin or one of its tributaries. Although some of his men confirmed it, Smith did not make any mention in his journal. In

4687-402: The Sierra and christened many place names that remain in use today. In 1807 and 1808, Moraga set out again to the San Joaquin Valley. It was during one of these expeditions that he gave the river its present name, after St. Joachim. He also gave names to many tributaries of the river, such as the Merced River ( El Río de Nuestra Señora de Merced , "River of our Lady of Mercy"). Relations between

4796-535: The Spanish and the Native Americans in the earlier expeditions to the valley were initially friendly, and the indigenous people began to grow accustomed to the Spanish that later came to the San Joaquin River region. As early as the 1807 Moraga expedition, it was reported that some natives were hostile and attempting to steal their horses. Indeed, when the natives began to rustle cattle and horses for food,

4905-436: The Spanish retaliated by burning camps and villages. Such conflict created enormous cultural loss, and violence continually escalated between the two sides, with no apparent end in sight. California became part of Mexico in 1821. The new government secularized the Spanish missions and as a result the conversos in the missions were no longer protected by the missionaries from exploitation. The Mexican government began to tax

5014-555: The Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts is both plural and singular; Yokut , while common, is erroneous. 'Yokut' should only be used when referring specifically to the Tachi Yokut Tribe of Lemoore . Some of their descendants prefer to refer to themselves by their respective tribal names; they reject the term Yokuts, saying that it is an exonym invented by English-speaking settlers and historians. Conventional sub-groupings include

5123-564: The Yokuts tribe were forced to move to the Fort Tejon Reservation. A few years later, the reservation was attacked by white vigilantes, leaving most of the inhabitants dead. By 1859, the reservation was completely abandoned. The Tule reservation was established in 1873 and many Yokuts moved to that reservation. Disease, violence, and relocation severely diminished the Yokuts population so much that today their numbers do not even come close to what they once were. Estimates for

5232-726: The adjacent foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountain range, which lies to the east. In the northern half of the Yokuts region, some tribes inhabited the foothills of the Coast Range to the west. There is evidence of Yokuts inhabiting the Carrizo Plain and creating rock art in the Painted Rock area. According to San Diego State University , the Yokutsan languages are members of the Penutian language family . Yokuts used spears, basket traps, and assorted other tools to hunt

5341-399: The air was filled with the stench of their decaying bodies." During the time Mexico was in control of California, the San Joaquin River region was only sparsely populated, and used almost exclusively for cattle ranching . When California won independence from Mexico in 1846 , becoming part of the United States the following month, a flood of American settlers descended upon the valley. Just

5450-530: The channel of the San Joaquin runs dry in some places where the entire flow has been diverted to the bypass system. Although fairly large with a capacity of 520,500 acre⋅ft (642,000 dam ), Millerton Lake , the reservoir of Friant Dam, is small compared to other reservoirs in the San Joaquin basin, such as Don Pedro and Pine Flat . The Bureau of Reclamation in conjunction with the California Department of Water Resources has proposed

5559-436: The construction of a new dam on the San Joaquin, Temperance Flat Dam , a few miles upstream of Friant. The proposed $ 1.2-3.5 billion dam would stand 665 ft (203 m) high and create a reservoir of 1,260,000 acre⋅ft (1,550,000 dam ), well over twice the capacity of Millerton Lake. Proponents of the project cite numerous benefits: flood control, increased storage, hydroelectric potential, and capacity to provide

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5668-639: The course of the next 50 years, settlers and eventually the California State Militia would wage war on the Yokuts and other native tribes in what became known as the California genocide . The Yokuts were reduced by around 93% between 1850 and 1900, with many of the survivors being forced into indentured servitude sanctioned by the so-called "California State Act for the Government and Protection of Indians ". A few Valley Yokuts remain,

5777-504: The dam in most years, except for releases serving farms in the immediate area downstream of Friant. A key point for irrigation water distribution on the San Joaquin, despite its small size, is Mendota Dam . Built in 1871 at the juncture of the San Joaquin River and Fresno Slough, it initially served to divert water into the Main Canal, an irrigation canal for the riverside bottomlands in the San Joaquin Valley. In 1951, Mendota became

5886-410: The death of many Yokuts. With their work force dwindling the missions moved further inland forcing those they encountered to convert and work. In 1833, malaria was brought by British fur traders, spreading through the native population through their use of the sweat houses. This decrease in population left the Yokuts weak in numbers when gold was discovered, bringing with it more foreigners. Gold

5995-561: The dry months – some accounts suggest over 50 percent. The present conditions of the San Joaquin River at Friant Dam, the average discharge was 324 cu ft/s (9.2 m /s), or 0.234 million acre-feet per year. The highest average discharge between 1941 and 2015 was in 1983 when the discharge was 4,385 cu ft/s (124.2 m /s), with an average of those years of 879 cu ft/s (24.9 m /s). The water temperature range from 7°Celsius (44.5 °F) in February 2006 to

6104-527: The dry season, when no water is flowing in from the Kings River. The latter sends water into the Tulare Basin through the natural channel of the slough, which in essence conveys water in either direction depending on the time of year – north into the San Joaquin during the rainy season, south into the Tulare during the dry months. "It was a beautiful river that ran clear and cold. In those days it even had

6213-812: The early 1830s, a few fur trappers from the Pacific Northwest exploring southwards into the San Joaquin Valley saw an epidemic of smallpox and malaria brought unintentionally by the Europeans that had swept down the San Joaquin River corridor during the summer of 1833, killing between 50 and 75 percent of the entire native population in the valley. The outbreak continued year after year with diminishing acuteness until about 50,000–60,000 indigenous people were dead. Explorer Kit Carson noted in 1839 that "... cholera or some other fearful scourge broke out among them and raged with such fearful fatality that they were unable either to bury or burn their dead, and

6322-418: The early 20th century, Californian cities as far south as Los Angeles were looking to new sources for electricity because of their rapidly growing populations and industries. Two visionaries, railroad baron Henry E. Huntington and engineer John S. Eastwood established a fledgling power company in 1902 today known as Southern California Edison , and acquired water rights to the upper San Joaquin River from

6431-737: The east and parts of the Coast Range to the west. In contrast, the Miwok occupied land deeper within the Sierra Nevada stretching north from the Merced River to the Mokelumne or the American , a tributary of the Sacramento, and west to the Delta region. Most of the Miwok people in the watershed were part of the appropriately named Sierra Miwok group. The Yokuts were unique among California natives in that they were divided into true tribes. Each had

6540-548: The eighteen treaties in a secret vote cast on July 8, 1852, with every member either abstaining or voting no. The result of the vote was not made public until 1905. The newly organized state government took a different approach. In 1851, California Governor Peter Burnett said that unless the Indians were moved east of the Sierras, "a war of extermination would continue to be waged until the Indian race should become extinct". Over

6649-463: The fact of its existence until 1806, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga led the first of several subsequent expeditions into the Central Valley, in order to find potential mission sites. Moraga started out from Mission San Juan Bautista , in present-day San Benito County , on September 21 of that year and traveled east into the San Joaquin Valley. The group skirted the western foothills of

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6758-463: The first to build dams and diversions on a large scale. This resulted in the drying out of streams and rivers before they reached downstream users and sparked conflict over how much water could be allotted to whom. In Haggin's case, his company ran into problems with the Miller & Lux Corporation , run by Henry Miller and Charles Lux , who owned more than 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) throughout

6867-499: The highest regional population densities in pre-contact North America. The federal government, which had recently acquired California after defeating Mexico in the Mexican–American War , signed a treaty (one of eighteen such treaties signed state-wide, setting aside seven and a half percent of California's land area) defining a proposed reservation and two hundred head of cattle per year. The US Senate failed to ratify any of

6976-451: The loss of over 95 percent of the wetlands adjoining the San Joaquin River and Tulare Basin. Henry Miller exercised enormous political power in the state, and most San Joaquin Valley inhabitants either were avid supporters of him or despised him. When Miller died in 1916, his company owned 900,000 acres (360,000 ha) in the San Joaquin Valley alone with hundreds of miles of well-developed, maintained irrigation canals. As said by Tom Mott,

7085-404: The lower San Joaquin River, which has hurt fish populations. This is believed to be a result of the combination of the abrupt geometry change from the shallow river upstream of Stockton to the deep water channel, in addition to pollution from the harbor and city and poor tidal mixing. As early as the 1870s, state and federal agencies were already looking at the Central Valley as an area in need of

7194-404: The lower section of the San Joaquin was Rio de San Francisco , which was the name Father Juan Crespí gave to the river he could see entering the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta from the south. A member of the Pedro Fages party in 1772, Crespi's vantage point was the hilltops behind modern Antioch. Another early name was Rio San Juan Bautista , the origin of which is unknown. The river's source

7303-457: The many acorn grinding mortars in the surrounding granite. Theodore Roosevelt was once photographed here. Globe Rock is a corestone that was formed in place by spheroidal weathering and later exposed by the erosion of the saprolite that once enclosed it. Jones Store is a historic, seasonal country store in the Sierra Nevada, located 14 miles from Bass Lake along Beasore Road, at an elevation of approximately 6,800 feet. Established in 1936,

7412-422: The millions of unemployed during the Depression. Construction of Friant Dam, the main dam on the San Joaquin River, began in 1937 and was completed in 1942. The dam serves for irrigation and flood control storage, but its main purpose is to divert water into the Madera Canal , which runs northwest along the San Joaquin Valley to the Chowchilla River, and the Friant-Kern Canal , which carries San Joaquin water all

7521-478: The missions excessively. From 1820, El Camino Viejo , a route between Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay along the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, brought settlements from the United States into the valley. During Mexican rule, the mission lands in the San Joaquin Valley were subdivided to wealthy landowners ( rancheros ). The mission lands that were supposed to be given to the natives were also fraudulently taken over by American settlers. A famous leader of

7630-404: The most prominent tribe among them being the Tachi Yokut. Kroeber estimated the population of the Yokuts in 1910 as 600. Today about 2,000 Yokuts are enrolled in the federally recognized tribe. An estimated 600 Yokuts are said to belong to unrecognized tribes. Yokuts tribes populated the San Joaquin Valley , from the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta ("the delta") south to Bakersfield and

7739-481: The mother of Jesus . The name Moraga chose was later applied to the entire river; it was in common use by 1810. In 1827, Jedediah Smith wrote in his journal that an unknown group of Native Americans called the river the Peticutry , a name which is listed as a variant in the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Geographic Names Information System . In the Mono language , the river is called typici h huu' , which means "important or great river." An earlier name for

7848-615: The mouth of the Stanislaus River, the average discharge of the San Joaquin River between 1924 and 2011 was 4,525 cu ft/s (128.1 m /s), or 3.3 million acre-feet (4.0 million m ) per year. The highest recorded annual mean was 21,280 cu ft/s (603 m /s), 15.4 million acre-feet (19.0 million m ), in 1983, while the lowest was 575 cu ft/s (16.3 m /s), 416,000 acre-feet (513,000,000 m ), in 1977. The maximum peak flow occurred on December 9, 1950, at 79,000 cu ft/s (2,200 m /s), and

7957-533: The natives by teaching them about the Catholic faith. Once an inland sea , most of the San Joaquin Valley has a very uniform topography, and much of the lower river formed a huge flood basin. In the 20th century, many levees and dams were built on the San Joaquin and all of its major tributaries. These engineering works changed the fluctuating nature of the river forever and cut off the Tulare Basin from

8066-615: The natives was the Yokuts Estanislao , who led revolts against the Mexicans in the late 1820s until finally defeated in 1829 on the Stanislaus River , which bears his name today. The first American known to see the San Joaquin River was likely Jedediah Smith , a renowned mountain man , fur trapper and explorer. In 1826, Smith arrived in Mission San Gabriel Arcángel , California, when the region

8175-478: The pre-contact populations of most native groups in California have varied substantially (See Population of Native California ). Alfred L. Kroeber in 1925 put the 1770 population of the Yokuts at 18,000. Several subsequent investigations suggested that the total should be substantially higher. Robert F. Heizer and Albert B. Elsasser 1980 suggested that the Yokuts had numbered about 70,000. They had one of

8284-652: The region as early as 12,000 but no later than 5,000 years ago. The two major ethnic groups were the Miwok people, who inhabited the northern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta region, and the Yokuts tribes, scattered around the more arid southern portion of the basin. During these pre-European times, the San Joaquin River flowed through rich grasslands and sprawling marshes, flooding every few years and transforming much of

8393-401: The rest of the San Joaquin watershed. Once a habitat for hundreds of thousands of spawning salmon and millions of migratory birds, today the river is subject to tremendous water supply, navigation, and regulation works by various federal agencies, which have dramatically reduced the flow of the river since the 20th century. The river was called many different names; at times different parts of

8502-474: The river flows through quiet agricultural bottom lands, and as a result its meandering course manages to avoid most of the urban areas and cities in the San Joaquin Valley. About 11 mi (18 km) west of Modesto , the San Joaquin meets its largest tributary, the Tuolumne . Near Vernalis , it is joined by another major tributary, the Stanislaus River . The river passes between Manteca and Tracy , where

8611-653: The river is dredged as part of a navigation project, the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel. Past the head of tide , amid the many islands of the delta, the San Joaquin is joined by two more tributaries: the Calaveras River and the larger Mokelumne . The river grows to almost 5,000 ft (1,500 m) wide before ending at its confluence with the Sacramento River, in Antioch , forming the head of Suisun Bay . The combined waters from

8720-543: The river length by 4 mi (6.4 km) and deepened it to 37 ft (11 m). Additional deepening work was carried out in 1968 and 1982. Today, the navigation channel, known as the Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel , can handle fully loaded vessels of up to 60,000 short tons (120,000,000 lb; 54,000,000 kg) and up to 900 ft (270 m) long. However, the navigation works have unexpectedly led to low dissolved oxygen levels in

8829-454: The river were known by different names. The southern Yokuts called the river, Tihshachu (Tih-shah-choo), meaning salmon-spearing place. The present name of the river dates to 1805–1808, when Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga was surveying east from Mission San José in order to find possible sites for a mission . Moraga named a tributary of the river (it is not known which one) for Saint Joachim , husband of Saint Anne and father of Mary,

8938-408: The river, in sharp contrast, is a meandering stream flowing over Cenozoic alluvial deposits (66 MYA-present), which together comprise the flat floor of the Central Valley. The tremendous volume of sediments that underlie the lower San Joaquin River ranges from 6 to 9.5 mi (9.7 to 15.3 km) deep, with distance to bedrock generally increasing in a northerly direction. Prior to the uplift of

9047-480: The river; in 1914 – before the development of major dams and irrigation diversions – the California Department of Engineering estimated the river's flow in full flood at 325,000 cu ft/s (9,200 m /s). In late summer and autumn, there is little water left over to replenish stream flow. Historically, groundwater seepage from Tulare Lake maintained a significant base flow in the river during

9156-530: The sick. However, shamans were able to use their power for good or evil, and depending on how they used their power they could be executed. The first time the Yokuts encountered Europeans was in 1772, when Spanish troops were in the area searching for soldiers. In the 19th century, missions were introduced by the Spaniards and as they expanded they forced the Yokuts to work the land for farming. The harsh working conditions along with disease and abuse led to

9265-652: The small local infrastructure led to the establishment of irrigation districts , which were formed to construct and maintain canals in certain areas of the valley. One of the first was the Robla Canal Company in the Merced River area, which went into operation in March 1876, but was soon surpassed by the Farmers Canal Company. The district built a diversion dam on the Merced, sending its water into

9374-451: The son of Miller and Lux' irrigation superintendent, "Miller realized you couldn't do anything with the land unless you had the water to go with it. Perhaps more than any other person, Miller had more of a lasting impact on the San Joaquin River than any other individual." By the early 20th century, so much water was being diverted off the San Joaquin River and its tributaries that the river was no longer suitable for navigational purposes. As

9483-490: The state. The San Joaquin and its tributaries seemed to give rise to just about every single possible argument over water, including such cases as "When is a river not a river?" referring to the difference between a slough and a marsh. It has been said that fights over the river have caused "some of the most bitter and longest running lawsuits ever to clog the courts. Arguably, it is the most litigated river in America." By

9592-531: The stopping-off point for miners headed to the gold fields in the foothills of the Sierra. Rough ways such as the Millerton Road which later became the Stockton - Los Angeles Road quickly extended the length of the valley, some following old cattle routes and Native American trails, and were served by mule teams and covered wagons. Riverboat navigation quickly became an important transportation link on

9701-555: The store originated to cater to the needs of cattle drivers during their seasonal migrations between valley and mountain grasslands. Fresno Dome is a large granite dome that rises from the forest above Soquel Meadow. It is the last designated landmark on the route. San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River ( / ˌ s æ n hw ɑː ˈ k iː n / SAN whah- KEEN ; Spanish : Río San Joaquín [ˈri.o saŋ xoaˈkin] )

9810-551: The surviving examples of acorn milling areas can still be found in the foothills, especially around the Kaweah River area. The first recorded non-indigenous person to see the San Joaquin River was Don Pedro Fages in 1772. Fages, accompanied by Father Juan Crespí, reached Mount Diablo near Suisun Bay on March 30 and there gazed upon the merging courses of the Sacramento, San Joaquin and Mokelumne Rivers. Another narrative does not mention Fages' name, but does say that Crespí

9919-418: The terminus of the Delta-Mendota Canal , a USBR project which conveys up to 4,600 cu ft/s (130 m /s) for 117 mi (188 km) from the mouth of the Sacramento River to the usually dry San Joaquin at that point. Water from Mendota is distributed in two directions: released into the San Joaquin for downstream diversions at the Sack Dam, another small diversion dam; and into Fresno Slough during

10028-519: The time of contact with the Spaniards in 1770. In Yokuts culture, men and women had different responsibilities. Men usually did the hunting, fishing, and building while the women gathered, maintained the home, and cared for the children. Divorce was not difficult to achieve and could be done for a number of reasons, including affairs, laziness, and infertility. Artistic expression among the Yokuts included music, singing, and painting. Basket making

10137-487: The tribe for decades, so that the tribe's casino profits would go to fewer people. In the autumn of 2014, several disenrolled Chukchansi tribe members (who were no longer receiving a share of casino profits) arrived at the Chukchansi Gold Resort & Casino armed with guns, and violence ensued. As a result, a federal judge ordered that the casino be shut down. The casino reopened on December 31, 2015, and

10246-642: The two rivers then flow west through the Carquinez Strait and San Francisco Bay into the Pacific. The natural annual discharge of the San Joaquin before agricultural development is believed to have been between 6–7.9 million acre feet (7.4–9.7 million m ), equaling a flow of roughly 8,300 to 10,900 cu ft/s (240 to 310 m /s). Some early estimates even range as high as 14 million acre-feet (17.3 million m ), or more than 19,300 cu ft/s (550 m /s). The numerous tributaries of

10355-635: The uplift of the Coast Ranges, creating an enclosed basin today known as the Central Valley and resulted in the San Joaquin's present path to the sea. Because of its highly permeable nature, the San Joaquin River's valley is underlain by one of the largest aquifers in the Western United States . The aquifer underlying the San Joaquin River and Tulare Basin is estimated to hold nearly 686,000,000 acre⋅ft (846,000,000 dam ) of water, of which about half can be pumped economically or

10464-586: The upper reaches of most of its tributaries, have eroded enormous amounts of rock and sediment from the mountains. Most of the Sierras are underlain by granitic igneous and metamorphic rock dating back to the Mesozoic Era (250-66 MYA ); in addition many of the San Joaquin's tributaries flow across a foothills region of metamorphosed volcanic rock more famously known as the Mother Lode Gold Belt. The 268 mi (431 km) lower part of

10573-473: The valley in 1858, eventually holding sway over an enormous swath reaching from the Kern River in the south to the Chowchilla River in the north. Much of the land that Miller and Lux acquired was swamp and marsh, which was considered virtually worthless. However, with their huge capital, they could afford to drain thousands of acres of it, beginning an enormous environmental change that eventually resulted in

10682-487: The valley into lakes. At the southern end of the valley lay the vast Tulare Lake , formerly the largest freshwater lake in the western United States, which connected with the San Joaquin through a series of marshes and sloughs. The rich vegetation and wildlife surrounding these bodies of water made the San Joaquin Valley a favored home as well as a stopping-off place for other nomadic peoples. The native people, mostly hunter-gatherers , lived off this land of abundance; during

10791-531: The various facilities. As a result, the project was transferred to the federal government and switched hands several times between the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) and U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) before finally being authorized in the Rivers and Harbors Act of 1937 as a USBR undertaking and part of the New Deal , a series of large-scale reforms and construction projects intended to provide jobs for

10900-544: The waters of the San Joaquin River, its South Fork, and the namesake of the project, Big Creek , over a vertical drop of 6,200 ft (1,900 m), have over the years inspired a nickname, "The Hardest Working Water in the World". Early 1900s hydroelectric development in the upper San Joaquin River basin was not limited to Southern California Edison. In 1910, the San Joaquin Electric Company built

11009-518: The way south into the Tulare Basin, terminating at the Kern River . Both are irrigation and municipal supply canals serving primarily agricultural interests. Water from the Friant Dam supplies almost 1,000,000 acres (400,000 ha) of farmland in Fresno , Kern , Madera , and Tulare counties. The diversion of water off the San Joaquin at Friant Dam leaves little more than a trickle below

11118-545: Was Las Juntas, near present-day Mendota . This was a haven for criminals and fugitives, and was frequented by the infamous bandits Joaquín Murrieta and Tiburcio Vásquez . It was in the mid-1860s that the San Joaquin River and its surrounds underwent a substantial change: the introduction of irrigated agriculture. As early as 1863, small irrigation canals were built in the Centerville area, southeast of Fresno, but were destroyed in subsequent floods. The vulnerability of

11227-422: Was added, bringing the total capacity to 193 MW. The San Joaquin was once navigable by steamboats as far upstream as Fresno, but agricultural diversions have greatly slowed and shallowed the river. In addition, this has caused the river to drop large amounts of silt that formerly washed out to sea in its bed, further reducing the depth. In the late 19th century, the city of Stockton, once an important seaport for

11336-455: Was also a way for the Yokuts to show their artistic skills by weaving designs and images into the baskets. Other forms of expression were done on the bodies of the Yokuts, such as tattoos and piercings. The Yokuts partook in two important religious ceremonies, the annual mourning rite and the first fruit rite. Shamans were important to the Yokuts as they were believed to have supernatural powers, helped conduct ceremonies, and were able to treat

11445-407: Was discovered in California in 19th century. The 1850s were a devastating time for California Indians due to the incursion of European settlers into their homelands, who enslaved or killed the natives in great number. The gold rush left the Yokuts with no land and a large decrease in their population. In 1853 malaria spread once again among the Yokuts, killing more natives. By 1854 what was left of

11554-468: Was in turn purchased by Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) in 1936. In 1920, Kerckhoff Dam was completed on the San Joaquin River about 10 mi (16 km) southwest of Big Creek as part of PG&E's Kerckhoff hydroelectric project. The dam initially operated with a capacity of 38 MW in the Kerckhoff No. 1 Powerhouse on Millerton Lake . In 1983, the 155 MW Kerckhoff No. 2 Powerhouse

11663-418: Was such a blockade that at several occasions they were burned just to clear a way for riverboat traffic. Although the gold rush attracted tens of thousands of newcomers to the San Joaquin River area, deposits of the precious mineral petered out within a few years, especially on the upper reaches of the San Joaquin and its tributaries which were only suitable for placer mining . Many of these people settled in

11772-480: Was the one who reached Suisun Bay in 1772. During this visit, Crespí called the San Joaquin River "El Rio de San Francisco", a name that was not used widely due to the river's remoteness but persisted until the early 19th century. In the autumn of 1772 Fages set out from Mission San Luis Obispo de Tolosa in pursuit of deserters from the Spanish army, and traveled east then north over the Tehachapi Mountains through Tejón Pass , which today carries Interstate 5 into

11881-512: Was under control of the Mexican government. As this was in violation of a law which prevented foreigners from entering California, and he could have been arrested for spying, he traveled north into the San Joaquin Valley, searching for populations of beaver . Smith noted the fertility and natural beauty of the area, and the apparent peace of the Native Americans living in the villages he passed. His expedition then turned east in an attempt to cross

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