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106-777: Construction of the Pardee Dam began in July 1927. It was completed in 1929 with the first release of water into the Mokelumne Aqueduct occurring on June 23, 1929. Camp Pardee was established nearby as a community to house employees who maintained the dam. The impounded water forms Pardee Reservoir , the primary source of water for the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) in the San Francisco Bay Area . Like all

212-544: A combined storage capacity of 155,150 acre-feet (0.19137 km ). The water is treated at the San Pablo, Sobrante and Upper San Leandro Treatment Plants before passing through the Claremont Tunnel, which emerges on the western side of the range between Berkeley and Oakland . Water not immediately put into the municipal system is stored in the reservoirs for use in times of low delivery or drought. Most of

318-683: 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

424-421: A height of 400 feet (120 m). This would expand the reservoir surface by 33 to 46 feet (10 to 14 m). The enlarged reservoir would cover 3,400 acres (1,400 ha), an increase of 62 percent, and the capacity would be about 300,000 acre-feet (0.37 km ), a roughly 50 percent increase. It would allow for more water to be provided during the dry season that would otherwise have been spilled over

530-477: 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

636-680: 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

742-520: 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

848-453: 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

954-658: 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,

1060-539: 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

1166-471: 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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1272-784: 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,

1378-428: 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),

1484-536: A single pipeline, were completed. The first deliveries to the Bay Area were made on June 23, 1929. At the time of completion, Pardee Dam was the tallest in the world (this record was surpassed one year later by Diablo Dam in Washington State). In 1949, a second pipeline was built and in 1963 the third pipeline was constructed, bringing the aqueduct to its present capacity. In 1964, the second major dam of

1590-421: 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

1696-537: 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

1802-614: 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

1908-404: 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

2014-508: Is located in a seismically active zone and is considered vulnerable to earthquakes, especially the 15-mile (24 km) stretch where it crosses the Sacramento–San Joaquin Delta, where an earthquake or storm-induced levee failure could damage the pipelines or any of three major river crossings here. A large earthquake (100 year return period or more) could put the aqueduct out of service from 18 months to three years, depending on

2120-782: 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

2226-551: Is supplied by the Mokelumne River and provides water to 35 municipalities in the East Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area . The aqueduct and the associated dams, pipelines, treatment plants and hydroelectric system are owned and operated by the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) and provide over 90 percent of the water used by the agency. The aqueduct is the sole water supply for about 1.4 million people in

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2332-399: Is the result of a joint project with EBMUD and California Department of Fish and Wildlife . There, about a fourth of the returning salmon are collected and harvested for egg production. Along with raising the salmon, scientists work to manipulate river flow to encourage more salmon to return. During times of low water level, the fish are at risk of being drawn into water pumps that lead towards

2438-542: Is transported from Pardee Reservoir across the Central Valley via the triple steel pipe Mokelumne Aqueduct to several storage reservoirs located in the hills east of San Francisco Bay which supply drinking water to the East Bay region. The water is also used to generate electric power and for recreation. Both the dam and its reservoir are named for George Pardee , a prominent Progressive Era politician in

2544-604: 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

2650-797: The Central Valley along the Calaveras River before crossing the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta . Near Lodi , the aqueduct is joined by an extension of the Folsom South Canal, which supplements the Mokelumne River supply. Once the water reaches the Berkeley Hills above the East Bay, it is channeled into a complex distribution system consisting of six terminal reservoirs ( Briones , Chabot , Lafayette , San Pablo and Upper San Leandro) with

2756-551: 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

2862-542: 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

2968-746: 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

3074-524: The Bay Area who also served as Governor of California. Due to the many dams along the Mokelumne River, salmon runs that used to cross through to the present location of the Pardee Reservoir are stopped short in lower sections of the river. In the Fall of 2014, the fifth largest Chinook salmon count recorded in the past 74 years took place, with over 12,118 salmon. Below the dam lies a hatchery that

3180-529: 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

3286-477: The East Bay. Under present water rights agreements, EBMUD can withdraw up to 325 million gallons (1,230,000 m ) per day, or 364,000 acre-feet (0.449 km ) per year, from the Mokelumne River. In addition, up to 98 million gallons (371,000 m ) per day or 110,000 acre-feet (0.14 km ) per year can be supplied via a branch from the Sacramento River . However, this supply is expected only to be used in

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3392-648: 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

3498-541: 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

3604-457: 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

3710-463: 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

3816-404: 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

3922-462: 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

4028-452: 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

4134-628: 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

4240-432: 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

4346-554: 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

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4452-648: 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,

4558-777: 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

4664-402: 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

4770-535: 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,

4876-436: 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

4982-399: 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

5088-457: The aqueduct consists of three separate buried steel pipelines, although there are also some aboveground segments. The pipelines, also known as Aqueducts No. 1, 2 and 3, have diameters of 61 inches (1.5 m), 67 inches (1.7 m) and 87 inches (2.2 m), respectively. Aside from the main facilities, the distribution system includes 4,000 miles (6,400 km) of pipes, 125 pump plants, and 168 local reservoirs/storage tanks. The aqueduct

5194-480: The aqueduct. However, Camanche allows for greater diversions into the aqueduct by storing winter floodwaters spilled from Pardee. During the dry season, water is released from Camanche in order to satisfy local water-rights holders, eliminating the need to draw water from Pardee. The aqueduct travels southwest for 95 miles (153 km) through the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada and then west across

5300-530: 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

5406-436: 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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5512-567: The dam during the winter. This project would have flooded between 2 and 3 miles (3.2 and 4.8 km) of the Mokelumne River. Due to environmental concerns, the project was shelved in 2011. 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] ) is the longest river of Central California . The 366-mile (589 km) long river starts in

5618-504: 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

5724-476: The driest 35% of years. In the early 20th century, due to a lack of reliable local water, Bay Area cities began to look to rivers in the Sierra Nevada , about 100 miles (160 km) east, as a potential new source. Although the city of San Francisco was already extending an aqueduct to the Tuolumne River , East Bay communities wanted to build an independent water system, fearing future " hegemony " of

5830-561: 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

5936-527: 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

6042-812: 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

6148-418: 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

6254-737: 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

6360-448: The extent of the damage. Levee failures in 1980 and 2004 (not caused by earthquakes) on Jones Tract have threatened the aqueduct. An aqueduct joint at the crossing of the Middle River also failed in 1992, nearly causing a washout of the levee. The aqueduct was shut down in time before an actual levee breach could occur. Because Pardee Reservoir is relatively small among California reservoirs, EBMUD has pursued to raise Pardee Dam to

6466-399: 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

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6572-411: 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

6678-431: 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 the San Joaquin Valley for more than 8,000 years, and it

6784-451: 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,

6890-404: 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

6996-404: 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

7102-422: 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

7208-478: 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

7314-481: 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

7420-548: 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

7526-417: 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

7632-615: 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

7738-602: The project, Camanche Dam , was completed below Pardee. In 1970, EBMUD signed a contract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) for supplemental water from the Folsom South Canal , which draws water from the American River near Sacramento . The USBR supply was delayed for nearly 40 years in part due to minimum flow requirements in the American River to protect salmon and steelhead populations. The Folsom South Canal Connection (FSCC), which links

7844-652: 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

7950-540: The reservoirs in the Sierra watershed, most of the water originates from the annual snowpack in the High Sierra. The reservoir normally covers 3 sq mi (7.8 km) with a 215,000 acre⋅ft (265,000,000 m) capacity and 37 miles (60 km) of shoreline. California state law prohibits human body to water contact within Pardee Reservoir, so water skiers, jet skis, and lake swimmers are forbidden, but boating and fishing remain popular activities. The water

8056-401: 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

8162-474: 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

8268-589: 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

8374-543: 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

8480-454: 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,

8586-472: 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

8692-480: 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

8798-652: 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

8904-451: 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

9010-428: The south past the delta. To avoid this, scientists truck the baby salmon from the hatchery to Sherman Island in the delta. The goal of the hatchery is that the baby salmon will imprint to the water in the Mokelumne River and return when it is time for them to mate. Mokelumne Aqueduct The Mokelumne Aqueduct is a 95-mile (153 km) water conveyance system in central California , United States. The aqueduct

9116-490: 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

9222-531: 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

9328-551: 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

9434-418: 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

9540-642: 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

9646-418: The two waterways, was finally completed in 2009. The aqueduct begins at Pardee Reservoir, which is formed by Pardee Dam on the Mokelumne River. The reservoir has a capacity of 197,950 acre-feet (0.24417 km ), or about a 10-month supply. Camanche Reservoir, located directly below Pardee, has a storage capacity of 417,120 acre-feet (0.51451 km ) – twice the size of Pardee – but is not directly linked to

9752-635: 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

9858-586: 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

9964-473: 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

10070-487: 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

10176-531: 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

10282-611: The water system by San Francisco. In 1923, the EBMUD was organized and in 1924 acquired water rights to the Mokelumne River, a major tributary in the San Joaquin River system. On November 4, 1924, residents approved $ 39 million in bonds to finance the project. Construction began in 1926 and by 1929, the 345-foot (105 m) high, concrete arch Pardee Dam and the First Mokelumne Aqueduct, consisting of

10388-544: 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

10494-518: 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

10600-545: 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

10706-422: 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

10812-468: 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

10918-436: 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

11024-418: 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

11130-480: 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

11236-512: 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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