192-589: The Stanislaus River is a tributary of the San Joaquin River in north-central California in the United States . The main stem of the river is 96 miles (154 km) long, and measured to its furthest headwaters it is about 150 miles (240 km) long. Originating as three forks in the high Sierra Nevada , the river flows generally southwest through the agricultural San Joaquin Valley to join
384-618: A "water grab" that would take the extra water to meet obligations outside the Stanislaus River Basin. However, after the Christmas flood of 1964 caused massive destruction along the Stanislaus River, New Melones gained political support. After federal funding was approved, construction started in 1966. The New Melones project is well known for a legal battle between environmentalists, the state of California and
576-604: A Native American name for the river or surrounding area. Although the Spanish ultimately did not establish any missions in the Central Valley, they forcibly took thousands of Native Americans to missions along the coast, where they were converted to Catholicism and subjected to agricultural labor. Mission San José was the destination of many Miwok from the Laquisimes River area. American explorers also visited
768-766: A bigger 1.1 million acre foot (1.4 km) reservoir to replace the Melones Reservoir, but this project also never made it past the drawing board. The $ 52 million Tri-Dam project would mainly be financed by leasing hydro-power rights at these dams to Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) for a 50-year period. Like Melones, the Tri-Dam Project would be jointly owned and operated by the two districts. After almost ten years of construction, Donnells and Beardsley Dam were completed in 1957, and Tulloch Dam completed in 1958. The three dams combined could store 230,400 acre-feet (0.2842 km), more than tripling
960-616: A canyon to its confluence with the Middle Fork Stanislaus River near Forest Meadows , which forms the Stanislaus River. The river drains a mountainous, rugged watershed of about 196 square miles (510 km ). Since the 1980s, the river basin has been extensively developed for hydropower generation. Water from the North Fork is stored in Alpine, Utica, Union and New Spicer Meadows Reservoirs, which regulate
1152-647: A combined storage capacity of more than 2.8 million acre feet (3.5 km). The river irrigates some 213,000 acres (86,000 ha) of productive farmland, most of it in Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties. Fourteen hydroelectric plants on the river and its tributaries are operated by various local irrigation districts, private power companies and federal agencies. The river provides domestic and industrial water supply to nearby cities, including Manteca, Lathrop , Escalon and Tracy . Stanislaus River water flows are also
1344-683: 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
1536-614: A dam on the South Fork of the Stanislaus River collapsed, flooding the mining camps of Pine Log and Italian Bar, killing sixteen people. Only a few years later, most of the mining claims and infrastructure were destroyed by the 1862 flood. After the end of the Gold Rush, very few people visited the rugged Stanislaus River country above the Sierra foothills before the turn of the 20th century. Knights Ferry declined in influence as many of
1728-506: A draw. Vallejo set fire to vegetation along the river banks to draw out the opposition, but Estanislao and his fighters escaped, and continued to raid Mexican settlements through that winter. According to popular legend, Estanislao would carve an "S" in a tree after his attacks, and was an inspiration for the fictional character Zorro . In June 1829 Vallejo finally defeated him on the Laquisimes River. The vanquished Estanislao ultimately returned to Mission San Jose, where he confessed his sins and
1920-489: A greater degree of river control. Starting in the early 1900s, many dams were built to store and divert water; these were often paired with hydro-power systems, whose revenues covered the high cost of the water projects. In the 1970s the construction of the federal New Melones Dam incited major opposition from recreation and environmental groups ( documented on the Stanislaus River Archive ), who protested
2112-524: 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. North Fork Stanislaus River The North Fork Stanislaus River
SECTION 10
#17327656507492304-477: 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
2496-459: A hunter and trapper, established a ferry and trading post on the Stanislaus River, to serve the thousands of miners headed to the diggings at Sonora and other mining camps. Knight had previously accompanied John C. Frémont on expeditions in the 1840s, and "foresaw that Knights Ferry [via the Stanislaus] was Nature's pathway through the mountains." This was one of many ferries that operated on
2688-680: 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
2880-467: 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
3072-400: 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
3264-547: A number of camps and resorts were established along the river including the Douglas Resort (Douglas Station) in 1920, and the Dardanelle Resort in 1923 at the confluence of Eagle Creek and the Stanislaus River. The Dardanelle resort remained operational until 2018. The new Dardanelle Bridge was built in 1933 to replace an older span constructed in 1864 and provide better access to the tourist areas. This bridge
3456-658: 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,
3648-539: 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
3840-471: 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
4032-491: A river in this country has gone unopposed." Hydropower generation has generally taken second priority behind agriculture in the history of Stanislaus River water development; power facilities were attached to irrigation dams to take advantage of the river's steep fall from the Sierra Crest to the Central Valley. However, other projects were also built purely to take advantage of the river's great hydroelectric potential: in
SECTION 20
#17327656507494224-725: 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,
4416-428: 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),
4608-491: A short time and then leave these primitive conditions and return to their homes. There were numerous tents, good, bad, and indifferent, stores and gambling booths, shanties and open encampments; and miners busy everywhere." Initially, miners worked individual placer claims, but as the easily accessed gold played out, they teamed up to build extensive dam, ditch and flume systems that could more efficiently wash gold out of sediment, as well as supply water to gold-bearing areas without
4800-482: A single season but too small to provide carry-over storage for drought years. A severe drought in the 1930s demonstrated that Melones Reservoir, by itself, was too small to meet all the irrigation demands. The OID sank 25 deep wells between 1931 and 1938 to make up for the shortfall, but this depleted the local groundwater at an unsustainable rate. SSJID was better supplied throughout the 1930s, in part due to less water-intensive crops, but started experiencing shortages by
4992-421: 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
5184-516: A span of about 60 miles (97 km), the Stanislaus descends almost 10,000 feet (3,000 m) from the headwaters of the Middle Fork to the valley floor at Knight's Ferry. The North and South Forks of the river also experience similarly swift drops, although neither carry as much water as the Middle Fork. Hydro plants on the Stanislaus River have a total capacity of more than 780 megawatts and generate 1.7 billion kilowatt hours per year. With
5376-484: A vital resource to maintain fisheries and recreational activities, dilute pollution, recharge groundwater , and control saline intrusion in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta . The river is extremely over-allocated, meaning that claims to its water far exceed supply. There are more than 160 separate water rights to the Stanislaus River totaling 19.7 million acre feet (24.3 km), compared to
5568-452: A water source and provide water for irrigation. These represent some of the earliest water rights claims along the Stanislaus River. Many mining camps were established on the Stanislaus River including Tuttletown, also known as the "Mormon Camp" (some of the first prospectors came from the unsuccessful colony at Stanislaus City) and Melones, named for gold that was "so coarse" that it reminded the miners of "melon seeds". In 1849 William Knight,
5760-537: 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
5952-649: Is a 31.2-mile (50.2 km) tributary of the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada and Stanislaus National Forest of eastern California . The river flows southwest from Alpine County , through Calaveras County , to Tuolumne County . The river begins at the confluence of Silver Creek and Duck Creek near the western edge of the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness in the Sierra Nevada . From there it flows southwest through
Stanislaus River - Misplaced Pages Continue
6144-614: 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
6336-404: 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
6528-426: Is crossed by Highway 99 . Below Ripon the Stanislaus flows west-southwest through a low-lying area known as River Junction and past Caswell Memorial State Park . It joins the San Joaquin River at a point about 2 miles (3.2 km) northeast of Vernalis and 5 miles (8.0 km) south of Manteca , 75 miles (121 km) upstream (south) of the larger river's mouth at Suisun Bay . The average unimpaired runoff of
6720-663: 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
6912-616: Is one of the most productive agricultural regions of the United States; in 2014, Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties produced a combined $ 7.6 billion of crops. Shortly after their formation, the districts issued $ 1.9 million in revenue bonds to finance the dam and canal infrastructure that would supply the land. In 1913 the districts built Goodwin Dam, about 2.5 miles (4.0 km) upstream of Knights Ferry, to divert water into their respective canals. They filed claims for 600,000 acre-feet (0.74 km) of Stanislaus River water, divided evenly between
7104-674: Is required by federal law such as the 1972 Endangered Species Act and the 1991 Central Valley Project Improvement Act. In addition, the Melones Project is obligated to provide water to the Stockton East Water District, which irrigates an additional 51,000 acres (21,000 ha) north of the Stanislaus River, and the Central San Joaquin Water Conservation District which irrigates 48,000 acres (19,000 ha). In
7296-612: Is the largest tributary and is sometimes considered part of the main stem . It begins in the Emigrant Wilderness of the Stanislaus National Forest about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of 9,624-foot (2,933 m) Sonora Pass . It flows northwest then west, receiving the Clark Fork below Dardanelle , before feeding Donnell Lake and Beardsley Lake , both formed by hydroelectric power dams. Below
7488-530: 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
7680-690: Is the oldest known constructed dwelling (though not archaeological site) in North America. For at least several centuries before the arrival of Spanish explorers, the Stanislaus River basin was inhabited by the Central Sierra Miwok speakers of the Plains and Sierra Miwok . The Miwok had a predominantly hunter-gatherer lifestyle, although they also practiced some primitive agriculture and controlled burning of grassland to enhance their hunting grounds. The Miwok had their main settlements in
7872-587: The Bear Flag Revolt , after which California became part of the United States in 1848. In the same year, gold was discovered on the American River , starting the California Gold Rush . Although gold mining was initially concentrated on the American and other rivers to the north, attention was drawn to the Stanislaus in August 1848 after a Native American party under Charles Weber discovered gold on
Stanislaus River - Misplaced Pages Continue
8064-604: 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
8256-551: 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
8448-602: The Pleistocene , starting about 1 million years ago. During the ice ages California had a much wetter climate; average river flows in the past may have been as high as what is considered "flood stage" today. The climate was also cold enough to support large glaciers in the Sierra Nevada at elevations above 4,000 feet (1,200 m). These glaciers carved large U-shaped valleys in the high elevations, and supplied vast volumes of meltwater which accelerated erosion along
8640-542: 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
8832-478: The Sierra Railway 's Angels Branch, connected Jamestown to Angels Camp and required a series of switchbacks to traverse the deep canyon of the Stanislaus River, an area now flooded by New Melones Lake. The upper Stanislaus watershed was also used as a filming location. The Sierra Railway was a popular filming location starting around 1917 due to the "rugged countryside and quaint, ancient trains." During
9024-624: The Wright Act , and together own the oldest water rights on the Stanislaus River. The OID service area is located on both sides of the Stanislaus River in Stanislaus County, and the SSJID is located on the north side of the river, in Stanislaus and San Joaquin Counties. Today, the districts irrigate a combined 120,000 acres (49,000 ha), with the major crops being grapes, almonds, corn, rice, fruit orchards and pasture. Today, this area
9216-400: The sixth tallest dam in the U.S. , completed in 1979 for flood control, irrigation, hydropower generation and fisheries management. Below New Melones, the river flows through the smaller Tulloch Reservoir before reaching Goodwin Dam, the oldest dam on the river (completed 1913) where large volumes of water are diverted for irrigation. Reduced considerably in size, the Stanislaus River leaves
9408-542: The 11 megawatt Beardsley powerhouse were built as part of the Tri-Dam Project, in addition to an 18 megawatt plant at the Tulloch Dam further downstream. An added benefit was that the Donnells and Beardsley dams regulate water flow down the Middle Fork, allowing more consistent power generation at the older Stanislaus Powerhouse. During the spring snowmelt, these high-elevation hydro projects operate at full load around
9600-845: The 189,000-acre-foot (0.233 km) New Spicer Meadow Reservoir completed in 1989, the McKays Point diversion dam and tunnel on the North Fork, and the Collierville Powerhouse located near Hathaway Pines and the older Stanislaus Powerhouse. Water falls from a height of 2,270 feet (690 m) – more than at any other power station in the Stanislaus River system – to the powerhouse, where it generates up to 253 megawatts. 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] )
9792-620: 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
SECTION 50
#17327656507499984-645: The 1930s scenes for Robin Hood of El Dorado were filmed near the old Douglas Resort. In the 1970s several episodes of the Little House on the Prairie TV series were filmed at Donnell Vista, near Donnell Lake . The Stanislaus River is one of the most heavily dammed and diverted rivers in California, relative to its size. There are a total of 28 major dams on the Stanislaus River and its tributaries with
10176-505: The 1983 water year and a minimum of 155,000 acre-feet (0.191 km) or 210 cubic feet per second (5.9 m/s) in 1977. The highest monthly flow is typically in May or June with the peak of snowmelt, and the lowest in September or October before the arrival of autumn storms. Since the late 1800s, the timing of the spring melt has shifted two to six weeks earlier due to warming temperatures in
10368-586: The 21st century, which has been subject to extended drought, federal and local water agencies continue to seek a balanced solution. New Melones was a significant milestone in the history of American dam building. The battle over the Stanislaus River greatly increased the political influence of the river conservation movement, and public awareness of the environmental impact of large dam projects. Since New Melones' completion in 1978, "no structure as large or as significant has since been built on an American river. And since this date, virtually no structural modification to
10560-599: The Beardsley dam, it continues west to its confluence with the North Fork at Camp Nine, a popular swimming and fishing area near Hathaway Pines . The 31-mile (50 km)-long North Fork rises in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness and flows in a generally southwest direction to its confluence with the Middle Fork, passing through several small hydropower dams. For most of their lengths, both forks flow in deep canyons through rugged, heavily forested terrain. The total length of
10752-399: The Central Valley in 1832. Over the next few years successive waves of malaria swept this region, killing thousands of Native Americans in the Central Valley who had no natural immunity to European diseases. The spread of disease was exacerbated by both the massive numbers of mosquitoes in the Central Valley wetlands, and the densely packed Native American villages. As many as 80 percent of
10944-425: The Central Valley, which was difficult for heavily armed Spanish soldiers to traverse due to its swampy terrain. Around November 1828, a Yokuts man named Estanislao (christened after Saint Stanislaus ; his native name is believed to have been Cucunichi ) led a revolt at Mission San Jose and fled to the Laquisimes River country with many other natives. There he raised an army of Yokuts, Miwok and Chumash , who raided
11136-529: 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
11328-648: 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
11520-439: The Knights Ferry flour mill moved its operations to Oakdale in 1881. In 1895 Charles Tulloch acquired water rights to an old mining ditch near Knights Ferry and incorporated the Stanislaus Milling and Power Company, later the Stanislaus Water & Power Company. Tulloch converted the old flour mill into the first hydroelectric plant on the Stanislaus River. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, development slowly moved higher into
11712-440: The Laquisimes River country starting in the 1820s, in search of beaver and otter pelts. The fur trappers included renowned mountain men Jedediah Smith , William Henry Ashley , and Ewing Young , who explored the area in the period between 1825 and 1830. In the spring of 1827 Smith's party camped on the Laquisimes River near present-day Oakdale , having reportedly cached 1,500 pounds (680 kg) of beaver pelts nearby. Smith called
SECTION 60
#173276565074911904-463: The Melones site. The Flood Control Act of 1944 authorized the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to build a flood control structure with about four times the capacity of the irrigation districts' dam. However, they were unable to provide a sound economic justification for the project on flood control alone. In the 1950s, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation proposed a much larger dam with a capacity of 2.4 million acre feet (3.0 km), which would capture most of
12096-424: The Middle Fork. In 1939 PG&E completed the much larger Stanislaus Powerhouse near the confluence of the Middle and North Forks. Water was diverted from the Middle Fork at Sand Bar Dam, and a 11.4-mile (18.3 km) long tunnel was drilled through the mountains to carry it to the powerhouse. Because the water is diverted so far upstream, it affords a head of over 1,000 feet (300 m) to the Stanislaus Powerhouse;
12288-402: 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
12480-438: The Plains Miwok who had survived Spanish colonization died in the consequent epidemic. A smallpox epidemic struck around 1837, claiming even more lives, including that of Estanislao, who died at Mission San Jose in June 1838. During the 1840s, many American settlers emigrated to the Central Valley of what was still Mexican-controlled California, seeking to claim the area's fertile farmland. The first major American settlement along
12672-401: 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
12864-493: 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
13056-463: 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
13248-404: 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
13440-462: 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
13632-452: 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
13824-628: 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
14016-537: The San Joaquin south of Manteca , draining parts of five California counties. The Stanislaus is known for its swift rapids and scenic canyons in the upper reaches, and is heavily used for irrigation , hydroelectricity and domestic water supply. Originally inhabited by the Miwok group of Native Americans , the Stanislaus River was explored in the early 1800s by the Spanish , who conscripted indigenous people to work in
14208-432: 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
14400-554: 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
14592-648: 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,
14784-449: The Sierra Nevada. Water diversions for irrigation and regulation by reservoirs have significantly lowered the mean flow of the lower Stanislaus River, smoothed out seasonal variations, and increased the dry season baseflow . The United States Geological Survey (USGS) stream gage at Ripon, 15 miles (24 km) from the mouth, recorded an annual flow of 1,008 cubic feet per second (28.5 m/s) between 1941 and 1978; after New Melones Dam
14976-648: 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
15168-402: 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
15360-480: 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,
15552-436: 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
15744-431: The Stanislaus River country. The Stanislaus was as productive a gold-bearing stream as any in California; in the early days of the Gold Rush it was known as the " Southern Mines " because it was at the time the southernmost extent of the primary gold diggings. In 1848 William R. Ryan wrote that the mining camps along the Stanislaus River were "all of the poorest and most wretched description. Miners expected to profit within
15936-451: The Stanislaus River have traditionally been, and are still de jure subject to the prior appropriation method, where the oldest rights-holders get first priority. However, after the completion of New Melones Dam in 1979, and especially due to drought in recent years, federal and local agencies have often been forced to compromise in order to divide limited Stanislaus River supplies between the many demands. Farmers have been using water from
16128-432: The Stanislaus River in the following decades, including others at Byrne's Ferry (later replaced by a covered bridge ) and Taylor's Ferry near Oakdale. Although Knight was killed later that year (reportedly in a gunfight), the settlement had already become the principal supply point of the region, with daily stage coach service to Stockton , and was named Knights Ferry in his honor. After Knight's death, Lewis Dent took over
16320-468: The Stanislaus River since the Gold Rush, when water was diverted to small farms and vegetable gardens on homesteads. As the number of claimants on the river grew, farmers recognized they had to work together in order to effectively distribute the water. One of the first irrigation cooperatives formed on the Stanislaus River was formed by the Tulloch family in 1858, who built a diversion dam to supply farms in
16512-464: The Stanislaus River was founded in January 1847 by about 30 Mormon colonists under the direction of Samuel Brannan . Stanislaus City, alternately called "Mormon Ranch" or "New Hope", was established on the north bank of the river not far from its confluence with the San Joaquin. The settlers constructed a sawmill and began to plant the area in wheat and vegetables. Brannan envisioned Stanislaus City as
16704-432: The Stanislaus River was the "Walla" or "Wal-li" (a native term meaning "digger" or "toward the earth") who lived in the hills between the Stanislaus and Tuolumne Rivers . The "Walla Walla" term was also associated with other peoples in the region, because of their practice of digging in the earth for edible roots . With its annual floods, the Stanislaus River supported a wide area of perennial and seasonal wetlands, including
16896-712: The Stanislaus River was the North Fork project, officially known as the North Fork Stanislaus River Hydroelectric Development Project. It was built by a partnership between the Calaveras County Water District and the Northern California Power Agency for both hydropower and domestic water supply. Although proposed since the 1950s, the project was not built until the late 1980s. The primary features include
17088-518: The Stanislaus River were Gabriel Moraga 's 1806 expedition, who named the river Rio de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe , "River of Our Lady of Guadalupe ". Fray Pedro Muñoz, traveling with Moraga, wrote of "immense quantities of wild grape-vines" along the Guadalupe River. In 1808, Moraga returned to the area to search for suitable mission sites, but was not successful. The river later became known as Río de los Laquisimes , possibly derived from
17280-488: The Stanislaus River, as estimated at New Melones Dam, is 1,121,000 acre-feet (1.383 km) per year, or about 1,500 cubic feet per second (42 m/s). About two-thirds of the Stanislaus River flow originates as snowmelt between the months of April and July, although its highest peak flows tend to occur during winter rains. The water flow varies widely from year to year, with a historic maximum of 2,950,000 acre-feet (3.64 km) or 4,100 cubic feet per second (120 m/s) in
17472-571: The Stanislaus River, measured from its mouth to the head of Kennedy Creek in the Emigrant Wilderness, is about 150 miles (240 km). The confluence of the Middle and North Forks marks the start of the Stanislaus River proper. It flows southwest through a canyon to the 12,500-acre (5,100 ha) New Melones Lake reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills, forming the boundary between Calaveras County (west) and Tuolumne County (east). At
17664-565: The Stanislaus watershed in large part due to improvement of the Sonora Pass Highway. The former wagon trail up the Stanislaus canyon had operated since 1864 as a toll road (Sonora-Mono Toll Road) and was heavily traveled during the 1870s during the gold strike in Bodie . A number of trading posts and rest stops operated on both sides of Sonora Pass including Sugar Pine, Strawberry , Baker's Station, Leavitt's Station and Big Meadows. In
17856-508: The Tuolumne County Water Company was organized to divert water from the South Fork of the Stanislaus River; by 1853 it consisted of 80 miles (130 km) of canals serving as many as 1,800 miners and their claims. Water was supplied as far as Columbia and Sonora, 60 miles (97 km) to the south. The Columbia and Stanislaus River Company was formed in 1854 on the main stem of the Stanislaus River, in competition to
18048-399: 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
18240-624: The area around Knight's Ferry. The Stanislaus and San Joaquin Water Company, formed by H.W. Cowell and N.S. Harrold in 1895, improved on this system, building 47 miles (76 km) of canals along the north side of the Stanislaus River and supplying water to some 3,000 acres (1,200 ha) in Manteca and Oakdale. The Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) were created in 1909 under
18432-467: The center of the LDS church in California, eventually to attract thousands of Mormon emigrants. However the settlement did not grow significantly, ultimately dissolving the next year. At least one factor in its decline was a massive flood that winter; William Stout, one of the town's founders, wrote that the Stanislaus was "three miles wide" in January 1848. The influence of American settlement ultimately led to
18624-530: 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
18816-472: The clock; any river flow in excess of the powerhouse capacity must be spilled (bypassed) and becomes wasted energy. The irrigation districts and PG&E must coordinate operations at the reservoirs and powerhouses to maximize both water storage and power production. In late summer and autumn, river flows are lower and the power plants are typically only operated several hours a day, on a peaking basis. The 300 megawatt New Melones Dam power station, which replaced
19008-520: The colonial mission and presidio systems. The river is named for Estanislao , who led a native uprising in Mexican -controlled California in 1828, but was ultimately defeated on the Stanislaus River (then known as the Río de los Laquisimes ). During the California Gold Rush , the Stanislaus River was the destination of tens of thousands of gold seekers; many of them reached California via Sonora Pass , at
19200-481: The construction of New Melones. Prop 17 was defeated by a narrow margin of voters, in part due to heavy lobbying by water agencies. Afterwards, dam opponents focused on limiting the level of the new reservoir, even as dam construction was completed in 1978. In May 1979 environmental activist Mark Dubois chained himself to a boulder in the Stanislaus Canyon, forcing federal authorities to either stop filling
19392-436: 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
19584-508: The current location of the Sierra Nevada that has since eroded away. Huge lava flows moved down the ancestral canyon, filling it with volcanic rock and sediment. About 9 million years ago during the Pliocene , the most recent period of orogeny (uplift) occurred, tilting the predominantly granitic Sierra Nevada batholith to form a regional slope to the west. As the mountains rose the Stanislaus River established its modern course, carrying away
19776-504: 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
19968-575: The dam was owned by the irrigation districts. This model proved useful for financing irrigation projects on the Stanislaus River; hydropower sales contributed greatly to repaying the bonds issued for construction. The irrigation districts again entered into a contract with PG&E when they built the much more ambitious Tri-Dam Project. Two of the reservoirs, Donnells and Beardsley, were to be built at high elevations (4,900 feet (1,500 m) and 3,400 feet (1,000 m), respectively), affording huge hydroelectric potential. The 72 megawatt Donnell powerhouse and
20160-456: The departing miners settled around the farming community of Oakdale , several miles downstream. Historic records show that the majority of ranches and homesteads in the Stanislaus River area were established between the 1850s and 1890s by former gold seekers. The Southern Pacific Railroad arrived in Oakdale in 1872, bypassing Knights Ferry and drawing the valley's population to the former town;
20352-420: The distinctive "table mountains" around present day New Melones Lake. As both uplift and erosion continued, the Stanislaus River gradually carved the rugged canyons it flows through today, and contributed to the vast alluvial deposits that make up the flat floor of the Central Valley. Some of these fluvial sediments, originating from gold-bearing veins in the granite batholith, were deposited as placer gold in
20544-503: The dividing line between the upper and lower watersheds. Elevations in the watershed range from less than 15 feet (4.6 m) at the confluence with the San Joaquin River to over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the high Sierra Nevada. Annual precipitation varies from 20 inches (510 mm) in the valley regions to 50 inches (1,300 mm) or more at higher elevations; at elevations above 5,000 feet (1,500 m) most precipitation falls as snow. The upper watershed comprises 90 percent of
20736-561: 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
20928-476: The dry season, and a number of small off-stream reservoirs were built, including Woodward Reservoir in 1916, though their benefit was limited at best. In 1925 the districts issued $ 2.2 million of bonds to build a storage dam on the Stanislaus River. The original Melones Dam, completed 1926, was a 211-foot (64 m) tall concrete arch structure capable of storing 112,500 acre-feet (0.1388 km) of water, enough to irrigate 144,000 acres (58,000 ha) of land for
21120-527: 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
21312-812: 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
21504-426: The early 1940s. In 1948 the districts joined to increase water storage on the Stanislaus River by constructing the Tri-Dam Project, consisting of Donnells and Beardsley dams on the Middle Fork, Tulloch Dam between the existing Goodwin and Melones dams, and Columbia Dam below the junction of the Middle and North Forks (this fourth site was later dropped from the proposal). The districts had also contemplated building
21696-418: 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
21888-737: 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
22080-402: The emergency spillway. The floods demonstrated the value of the dam in preventing $ 50 million of property damage and capturing a huge volume of water that would otherwise have flowed into the ocean, prompting the state of California to lift the temporary limit. Since then, New Melones has struggled to fulfill its obligations to downstream water users; during droughts, the irrigation districts and
22272-427: The exception of small run-of-the-river projects such as Charles Tulloch's 1895 hydro plant, the first major hydroelectric project on the Stanislaus River was the 1916 Spring Gap Powerhouse near Strawberry , constructed by Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and still in operation today. Water diverted from the South Fork plunges more than 1,800 feet (550 m) down a mountainside to a seven megawatt power station on
22464-409: The extensive tule marshes ( tulares ) in the area of the San Joaquin River, which were host to an abundance of game animals, birds and migratory fish that in turn supported particularly high Native American populations. Fur trapper James Warner, who visited the area in 1832, wrote of "Indian villages above the mouth [of the Stanislaus], as also at or near the junction with the San Joaquin" and described
22656-537: The extra floodwaters that the existing small irrigation dams could not hold. It would be a multi-purpose unit of the Central Valley Project , providing irrigation, flood control, hydropower and fishery flows. Locals initially criticized the project, saying that it was too big, a waste of federal money, and the reservoir would never fill. There was also concern that the Bureau of Reclamation was attempting
22848-399: 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
23040-451: The federal government have frequently fought over its water. One of the conditions of New Melones' construction was that the OID and SSJID be guaranteed the 600,000 acre-feet (0.74 km) of water rights they had held since 1913. However, the Bureau of Reclamation has sometimes shorted the irrigation districts in favor of releasing water to support the ailing salmon and steelhead fisheries, which
23232-443: The federal government which began in the 1970s as recreational whitewater rafting exploded in popularity. The Stanislaus was for a time the most popular run in the western United States, and was valued for the spectacular scenery along its rugged limestone canyons. Friends of the River was formed to push a statewide ballot measure, Prop 17, that would have designated the Stanislaus as a National Wild and Scenic River and forestalled
23424-603: The ferry operations. In 1854 the ferry was replaced by a wooden covered bridge; within the next few years Knights Ferry also became the site of a hotel, court house, flour mill and the Tuolumne County jail. The settlement was largely destroyed during the Great Flood of 1862 , which washed away the bridge, but it and the rest of the town were soon rebuilt. Knights Ferry became the seat of Stanislaus County that same year, until Modesto took its position in 1872. In 1851
23616-463: 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
23808-421: The following decades, travel over Sonora Pass declined heavily. The road became part of the state highway system in 1901 and was improved in 1906 to service the construction of Relief Dam in the headwaters of the Stanislaus River. Today, most of the road has been replaced by the newer alignment of Highway 108. Tourists began to visit the high country with the advent of the automobile in the early 20th century and
24000-403: The foothill canyons of the Stanislaus River. During the last glacial period the main Stanislaus glacier was up to 30 miles (48 km) long; during previous ice ages it may have extended as far as 45 miles (72 km). Although glaciation did not have as dramatic an impact on the Stanislaus River watershed as it did further south (such as at Hetch Hetchy and Yosemite ), many major features of
24192-525: The foothills and enters agricultural Stanislaus County at the historic Gold Rush town of Knights Ferry . It is paralleled by State Route 120 as it flows west into the Central Valley, through Oakdale , the largest town on the river, and along the northern edge of the Modesto metro area. At Riverbank it begins to form the border of Stanislaus County (south) and San Joaquin County (north). At Ripon , it
24384-438: The headwaters of the Middle Fork. Many miners and their families eventually settled along the lower Stanislaus River. The farms and ranches they established are now part of the richest agricultural region in the United States. Early mining companies were formed to channel Stanislaus River water to the gold diggings via elaborate canal and flume systems, which directly preceded the irrigation districts formed by farmers who sought
24576-515: The high rates charged by Tuolumne. They built a ditch at a cost of $ 1.5 million (five times the original estimate), went bankrupt shortly after, and was ultimately sold to the Tuolumne County Water Company at a small fraction of the original cost. Massive amounts of lumber were required to build the mining flumes and aqueducts, leading to widespread deforestation in the lower elevations of the Stanislaus basin. These early waterworks were crudely built and often failed, sometimes with tragic results. In 1857,
24768-481: The lake or drown him. As a result, the state of California under Governor Jerry Brown (who also objected to New Melones on economic grounds) issued a temporary limit in November 1980 to keep the lake level below Parrott's Ferry Bridge, which marked the lower end of the Stanislaus whitewater. The California Department of Water Resources questioned whether the extra irrigation water was even necessary, and studies by
24960-454: The local economy, especially in years of drought. Water managers have struggled to find a balance between competing needs, which also include groundwater recharge , flood control, and river-based recreation such as fishing and whitewater rafting . The Stanislaus River headwaters consist of three forks in the high Sierra Nevada, in parts of Alpine County , Calaveras County and Tuolumne County . The Middle Fork , 46 miles (74 km) long,
25152-500: The loss of one of the last free-flowing stretches of the Stanislaus. Although New Melones was eventually built, its completion is considered to have marked the end of large dam building in the United States. Water rights along the Stanislaus River are a controversial topic, with the senior rights of farmers coming into conflict with federal and state laws protecting endangered salmon and steelhead trout . The Stanislaus irrigation districts contend that diverting water for fish damages
25344-451: 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,
25536-404: 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
25728-410: The lower elevations of foothills and the Central Valley, where they spent winters; during the summer they traveled into the Sierra Nevada via the Stanislaus and other nearby rivers to harvest vegetable foods in high elevations and escape the summer heat. Native Americans of the region did not form one large nation; rather, they lived in "tribelets" of between 100 and 500 people. One group associated with
25920-463: 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
26112-432: The lowest monthly mean was 139.1 cubic feet per second (3.94 m/s) in September 2016. The Stanislaus River watershed drains 1,075 square miles (2,780 km) and is divided into two distinct sections – the mountainous upper watershed, where the vast majority of its flow originates, and the narrow, heavily developed lower watershed where it flows across the San Joaquin Valley. Goodwin Dam has traditionally been considered
26304-608: 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
26496-500: The missions and large ranchos , stealing horses and cattle and freeing Native American laborers. The Mexican army, led by Mariano Vallejo , moved to crush the resistance, but was initially defeated by natives on the Laquisimes River, in a place believed to be near present-day Caswell Memorial State Park . After the initial defeat, Vallejo returned with a force of "107 soldiers, some citizens, and at least fifty mission Indian militiamen" armed with muskets and cannon, but again fought to
26688-546: 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
26880-587: 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
27072-548: 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
27264-498: The much heavier flow of the Middle Fork means that more power can be generated – about 91 megawatts at full capacity. PG&E also built the original 22 megawatt power station at the old 1926 Melones Dam, under a 40-year contract with the Oakdale and South San Joaquin Irrigation Districts. While the power company would be allowed to market and earn revenue on the hydroelectricity produced, it had to pay royalties since
27456-533: 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
27648-615: 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
27840-511: The natural floodplain no longer exists, and about half of the former riparian habitat has been lost. The river bed has been subjected to extensive gravel mining (mostly for construction purposes), with an estimated 6.3 million yd (4.8 million m) extracted between 1939 and 1999. The Stanislaus River is believed to have originally formed sometime during the Miocene period, about 23 million years ago, flowing down from an ancient mountain range in
28032-457: The new dam derided the decision, arguing that to not fill the already completed dam was a waste of money and water. Heated debate continued until the 1982–1983 water years, California's wettest back-to-back seasons on record, when massive storms and snowpack swelled the river and filled the reservoir in under two years, a process originally projected to take eight years. In June 1983 New Melones Lake hit its highest level on record, nearly flowing over
28224-400: The old Melones powerhouse in 1978, is also operated on a peaking schedule. The result is often wildly fluctuating water levels along the dam-controlled segments of these rivers. Tulloch Dam, located directly below New Melones, serves to re-regulate the river flow and ensure a consistent water level in the lower portion of the Stanislaus River. The last major hydroelectric project to be built on
28416-697: The private timber land has been subject to checker-board clearcutting , which has greatly fragmented wildlife habitat. The lower Stanislaus River watershed comprises only about one-tenth of the total area and is used mainly for agriculture (61 percent) and urban development (34 percent), with minimal open space. Major communities near the lower river include (from upstream to downstream) Copperopolis , Knights Ferry, East Oakdale , Oakdale, Riverbank, Escalon , Salida and Ripon. The 60-mile (97 km) long lower river has been modified extensively not only by water diversions, but by channelization and levee construction to drain wetlands and prevent floods. Most of
28608-601: 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
28800-576: The region as thus: "On no part of the Continent over which I had been or since have traveled was so numerous an Indian population subsisting upon the natural products of the soil and waters as in the San Joaquin Valley." Although the Spanish Empire claimed California in the 1770s, much of the Central Valley, then a huge expanse of swamps and rivers, remained unexplored by the Spanish for several decades thereafter. The first Spaniards to encounter
28992-495: The reservoir, it is joined by the smaller South Fork , which descends for 42 miles (68 km) from the Sierra Nevada to the east. Much of State Route 108 (the Sonora Pass Highway) runs parallel to the South Fork, as well as the upper part of the Middle Fork, linking a number of small communities in the upper Stanislaus basin. At the lower end of New Melones Lake is the 625-foot (191 m) tall New Melones Dam ,
29184-401: 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
29376-563: The river bed to be discovered later during the California Gold Rush. The lower course of the river is geologically young, dating to no earlier than the Holocene ; the river has continually cut new channels through its sediments and filled in older ones, creating a sequence of river terraces . Most of the erosion that shaped the modern Stanislaus River basin is believed to have occurred during glacial and interglacial periods in
29568-474: 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
29760-653: 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
29952-543: 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
30144-556: The river the "Appelamminy". On May 20, Smith and two other men set out along the Laquisimes to attempt a crossing of the Sierra Nevada. About a week later, after having made their way up the rugged North Fork canyon, they crossed Ebbetts Pass , becoming the first people of European descent to cross the Sierra. There was considerable native resistance to the Spanish mission program, which continued after Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1821. Most escaped Native Americans fled to
30336-454: 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,
30528-407: The river's normal flow of 1.1 million acre feet (1.4 km). About 3.9 million acre feet (4.8 km) are considered "consumptive use" water rights, meaning that the water would not be returned to the river. Most of the other rights are for "non-consumptive" uses such as hydropower generation. Not all of these rights are in use today (many belong to defunct mining or power companies). Water rights on
30720-408: 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
30912-550: The river. The entire mining camp of Dry Diggings (near today's Placerville ), about 200 men in all, packed up and headed south to the Stanislaus River, and as news spread throughout the Gold Country, hundreds more arrived. Many miners traveling from the eastern United States arrived in California via the Sonora Pass , at the headwaters of the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River. By 1849, as many as 10,000 miners had reached
31104-480: 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
31296-652: 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
31488-451: 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
31680-471: The state Department of Fish and Wildlife suggested that the dam would harm the fisheries it was intended to protect. The state and environmentalists agreed to compromise the lake level at 26 percent of its design capacity, which hydrological studies determined was the optimal volume for fulfilling demands along the Stanislaus without losing too much water to evaporation and flood releases. The federal government and some agencies which stood to benefit from
31872-490: 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
32064-531: 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
32256-551: 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
32448-418: 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
32640-410: The total area and supplies a commensurate proportion of the river flow. Stretching from the foothill to alpine regions of the Sierra Nevada, it consists of rugged narrow canyons and ridges with an average local relief of 2,000 feet (610 m) or more from river to rim. Much of the watershed is at high elevation, with 40 percent of the total area above winter snow line . The average precipitation in
32832-481: The two districts. In the early years, maintaining a sufficient water supply in the summer was nearly impossible, because the Sierra snowpack usually melts out by mid-June. Agriculture relied heavily on wells in the late summer when the river was low, and this could only support about 20,000 acres (8,100 ha) of crops. The lower Stanislaus River was often completely dry in the summertime due to water diversions. The irrigation districts desperately needed water storage for
33024-642: 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
33216-635: 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
33408-403: The upper Stanislaus were sculpted by ice, such as the Clark Fork valley and the Middle Fork valley at Donnell Lake. Humans first arrived in the Sierra Nevada of present-day California more than 10,000 years ago. The remains of a Native American dwelling near the Stanislaus River, an oval-shaped site about 12 feet (3.7 m) in width, is estimated by archaeologists to be about 9,500 years old and
33600-418: The upper basin as a whole is 46.8 inches (1,190 mm). The vast majority of the upper basin is either undeveloped or commercial timber land, with very small areas of agriculture, ranching, and mountain meadows above the tree line. The higher elevations are mostly federal Forest Service land and designated wilderness, while the middle elevations are a patchwork of state, federal and privately owned land. Much of
33792-586: 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
33984-473: 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
34176-487: 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
34368-531: 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
34560-415: The volcanic material that had filled the ancestral canyon. This orogeny coincided with a second period of volcanic activity, during which lava flows displaced the Stanislaus River course several times where it flows through the foothills, causing it to carve new canyons through underlying sedimentary rock. The lava flows are today known as the Stanislaus Formation, and are most visible as the caprock layer of
34752-410: The water storage capacity on the Stanislaus River, and increased the reliable annual supply to almost 570,000 acre-feet (0.70 km). These were the last major water projects completed on the river until 1972, when work began on the federal New Melones Dam which would replace and submerge the original 1926 Melones Dam. Starting in the 1940s, the federal government had also sought to build a high dam at
34944-409: 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
35136-401: 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
35328-486: 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
35520-422: 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
35712-429: Was believed to be the last known timber scissors truss in the United States. Both the resort and the bridge were destroyed in the 2018 Donnell Fire . There was also extensive logging done throughout the foothill area of the Stanislaus watershed, and several narrow gauge railroads penetrated into the foothills, including the Sugar Pine Railway or Strawberry Branch, which followed the Stanislaus' South Fork. Another line,
35904-404: Was built the annual flow between 1978 and 2013 was 855 cubic feet per second (24.2 m/s). The highest peak before 1978 was 62,500 cubic feet per second (1,770 m/s) on December 24, 1955, and the lowest monthly mean was 0.635 cubic feet per second (0.0180 m/s) in August 1977. After the dam was built, the highest peak was 7,320 cubic feet per second (207 m/s) on February 28, 1997, and
36096-407: 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
36288-423: Was pardoned by the Mexican government. However, the Mexicans never again attempted to control the eastern part of the San Joaquin Valley, and the Laquisimes River was renamed the Stanislaus in Estanislao's honor. An unintended, but destructive consequence of European arrival was the introduction of foreign diseases. It is believed that a Hudson's Bay Company trapping expedition inadvertently introduced malaria into
36480-418: 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
36672-480: 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
36864-457: 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
#748251