Panoche Creek

Last updated
Panoche Creek
Big Panoche
Panoche Creek Context (22277101999).jpg
Etymology Spanish
Native nameArroyo de Panoche Grande Error {{native name checker}}: parameter value is malformed (help)
Location
Country United States
State California
Region Fresno County
Physical characteristics
Source source
  locationDrains the higher portion of the Diablo Range west of Llanada., San Benito County
  coordinates 36°37′32″N121°00′30″W / 36.62556°N 121.00833°W / 36.62556; -121.00833 [1]
  elevation2,070 ft (630 m)
Mouth mouth
  location
empties into the San Joaquin Valley, 7.3 miles west of Mendota., Fresno County
  coordinates
36°44′55″N120°30′48″W / 36.74861°N 120.51333°W / 36.74861; -120.51333 Coordinates: 36°44′55″N120°30′48″W / 36.74861°N 120.51333°W / 36.74861; -120.51333 [1]
  elevation
259 ft (79 m) [1]

Panoche Creek is a creek in San Benito and Fresno Counties, California, in the United States.

Historical names include Arroyo de Panoche Grande (Big Sugarloaf Creek) [2] and the anglicized Big Panoche Creek. For a time its lower reaches were called "Silver Creek." [1]

The source of Panoche Creek is a pond just east of Panoche Pass in the Diablo Range. It flows to the east through the Panoche Valley into the San Joaquin Valley west of Mendota near the former site of Hayes Station. [1]

Panoche Creek has the largest drainage area of any stream on the east slope of the Diablo Range. [1]

History

Arroyo de Panoche Grande was part of a route between the Indian settlements of the central coast of California and the San Joaquin Valley. It was also a watering place on El Camino Viejo between Arroyita de Panoche (Little Sugarloaf Creek) and Arroyo de Cantua (Cantua Creek). [2]

Spanish soldiers followed Panoche Creek on expeditions to explore the region. It was an area of frequent conflict with local native peoples, who raided mission properties and were subject to conversion during the period of Indian Reductions. [3] Vaqueros and musteneros followed the creek into the San Joaquin Valley to round up cattle and horses, respectively.

Both Panoche Creek and Panoche Valley, are referred to as the "Big Panoche", distinguishing them from the Little Panoche Creek, and valley. [1]

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Panoche Hills

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Panoche Pass is a mountain pass within the Diablo Range in San Benito County, California connecting the southern extremity of the Santa Clara Valley in the west to the Panoche Valley and San Joaquin Valley in the east. The name Panoche Pass is used for the United States Geological Survey quadrangle map for the local area. County Route J1, also known as the Panoche Road, traverses the pass.

Panoche Valley is a grassland valley lying between the Diablo Range and the San Joaquin Valley, in San Benito County, California. The valley is bound on the north by Panoche Hills, on the east by Tumey Hills, on the south by the Griswold Hills and Cerro Bonito, and on the in west by Las Aguilas Mountains. The valley is known by naturalists as a hot spot for rare birds and mammals, and for providing a glimpse of old California.

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Ortigalita Creek, formerly Arroyo de Las Ortigalito is a tributary stream of the San Joaquin River, in Merced County, California. The source of Ortigalita Creek is at 3,520 ft (1,070 m) located near a peak on the Ortigalita Ridge of the Diablo Range. Its mouth is 7.2 mi (11.6 km) south southwest of Los Banos, California just as it emerges from the foothills before it reaches the California Aqueduct. Originally in years of heavy winter rainfall it may have reached the vicinity of the Mud Slough of the San Joaquin River.

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Bitterwater Creek, originally named Arroyo de Matarano, is a stream in eastern San Luis Obispo County and northwestern Kern County, central California.

La Vereda del Monte was a backcountry route through remote regions of the Diablo Range, one of the California Coast Ranges. La Vereda del Monte was the upper part of La Vereda Caballo,, used by mesteñeros from the early 1840s to drive Alta California horses to Sonora for sale.

County Line Road is an unimproved road between the San Antonio Valley and Fifield Ranch that closely follows the east-west divide of the Diablo Range and the County boundary of Santa Clara County, and Stanislaus County, California. This road followed the route called La Vereda del Monte, used by Californio mesteñeros and the gang of Joaquin Murrieta and other bandits and horse-thieves, and sites of three of their camps along the route are found along it. Two sites are now state park campgrounds, the last is at ranch dating back to the 1860s.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Panoche Creek
  2. 1 2 Mildred B. Hoover, et al. Historic Spots in California. 3rd edition. Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1966. p.89
  3. Henry D. Barrows and Luther A. Ingersoll, A Memorial and Biographical History of the Coast Counties of Central California, The Lewis Publishing Company, 1893, Chapter 3