The Tuolumne River flows for 149 miles (240 km) through Central California, from the high Sierra Nevada to join the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Originating at over 8,000 feet (2,400 m) above sea level in Yosemite National Park, the Tuolumne drains a rugged watershed of 1,958 square miles (5,070 km2), carving a series of canyons through the western slope of the Sierra. While the upper Tuolumne is a fast-flowing mountain stream, the lower river crosses a broad, fertile and extensively cultivated alluvial plain. Like most other central California rivers, the Tuolumne is dammed multiple times for irrigation and the generation of hydroelectricity.
State Route 49 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California that passes through many historic mining communities of the 1849 California gold rush and it is known as the Golden Chain Highway. The highway's creation was lobbied by the Mother Lode Highway Association, a group of locals and historians seeking a single highway to connect many relevant locations along the Gold Rush to honor the 49ers. One of the bridges along SR 49 is named for the leader of the association, Archie Stevenot.
New Melones Dam is an earth and rock filled embankment dam on the Stanislaus River, about 5 miles (8.0 km) west of Jamestown, California, United States, on the border of Calaveras County and Tuolumne County. The water impounded by the 625-foot-tall (191 m) dam forms New Melones Lake, California's fourth-largest reservoir, in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada east of the San Joaquin Valley. The dam serves mainly for irrigation water supply, and also provides hydropower generation, flood control, and recreation benefits.
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 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.
Melones is a former settlement in Calaveras County, California, now submerged beneath a reservoir named New Melones Lake. It lay at an elevation of 955 feet. Melones was founded on the site of a ferry operated from 1848 by John W. Robinson and Stephen Mead. The town initially took its name from the ferry.
Knights Ferry is an unincorporated historic community in Stanislaus County, California, United States. Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, it is about 30 miles (48 km) east of Modesto on the Stanislaus River. The Willms Ranch near the town was one of many filming locations for the television series Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie.
Area codes 209 and 350 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. Their service area includes Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Merced, Winton, Atwater, Livingston, Manteca, Ripon, Tracy, Lodi, Galt, Sonora, Los Banos, San Andreas, Mariposa, and Yosemite, the northern San Joaquin Valley, and the Sierra Foothills.
New Melones Lake is a reservoir on the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada foothills, within Calaveras County and Tuolumne County, California.
Cherry Lake is an artificial lake in the Stanislaus National Forest of Tuolumne County, California, U.S.A., about 25 miles (40 km) east of the city of Sonora. It is at an elevation of 4,700 feet (1,433 m) on the western side of the Sierra Nevada, and lies just outside the western boundary of Yosemite National Park. The lake has a capacity of 273,500 acre⋅ft (337,400,000 m3) and is formed by Cherry Valley Dam on Cherry Creek.
La Grange is a small unincorporated community in rural Stanislaus County, California. Its altitude is 249 feet (76 m). As of 2020 it has a population of 166. It is located at 37°39′49″N120°27′49″W along the Tuolumne River, and is near the La Grange Dam and the New Don Pedro Dam.
The Tuolumne River Regional Park is a large urban park under development along a seven-mile (11 km) stretch of the Tuolumne River between the cities of Ceres, California and Modesto, California consisting of 500 acres(.78 mi2, 2.02 km2) of public grounds in Stanislaus County, California.
Robinson's Ferry may refer to:
Pinecrest is an unincorporated community in the Stanislaus National Forest in Tuolumne County, California, United States. Pinecrest is located near Pinecrest Lake northeast of Mi-Wuk Village. Pinecrest Lake sits in what was once a meadow surrounded by granite outcroppings. Originally, Pinecrest Lake was called Strawberry Flat because of the wild strawberries that once grew there. In the 1960s the name was officially changed to Pinecrest. Pinecrest is a community of USFS Recreation Residences authorized by the United States Forest Service under the Occupancy Permits Act. The campground adjacent to the lake is under the white fir, cedar, and sugar pine trees.
The Empire City Historic Landmark is a California Historic Landmark in honor of the pioneer John C. Marvin who from 1850, settled on the south bank of the Tuolumne River and called the town "Empire City". Empire City was the head of navigation for small steamboats that could ascend the Tuolumne River carrying passengers and supplies. It was the shipping point for the large grain crops grown in the area. At its height, the town had three stores, a three-story hotel, two boarding houses, a blacksmith shop, a church, and a school house. Empire City was voted as the county seat of Stanislaus County from October 1854 to December 1855. The town was destroyed by flood waters during the Great Flood of 1862. A new railroad town was built 40 years later 1 mile north of the old town site, taking the name Empire.
Donnells Dam is a concrete arch dam located on the Middle Fork of the Stanislaus River in Tuolumne County, California. The water impounded by the 291-foot (89 m) high dam forms Donnell Lake in Stanislaus National Forest. The dam and reservoir are co-owned by the Oakdale Irrigation District and South San Joaquin Irrigation District, and the dam is one of three in the Tri-Dam Project. The other two dams in the project are Beardsley Dam and Tulloch Dam.
The Middle Fork Stanislaus River is a 45.7-mile (73.5 km) tributary of the Stanislaus River in the central Sierra Nevada and Stanislaus National Forest of eastern California.
The South Fork Stanislaus River is a major tributary of the Stanislaus River in Tuolumne County, California. The river flows for 48.5 miles (78.1 km) through rugged alpine and foothill areas of the Sierra Nevada.
The Byrne's Ferry bridge was a historic cantilevered covered bridge across the Stanislaus River between Calaveras County and Tuolumne County, California. Originally built during the California Gold Rush, the bridge was located on the O'Byrne's Ferry road between Chinese Camp and Copperopolis. Until the mid-20th century, it was one of the last remaining covered bridges in the state; the bridge was destroyed in 1957 to make way for the construction of Tulloch Dam.
Robinson's Ferry is a historical site in Angels Camp, California in Calaveras County. John W. Robinson and Stephen Mead founded a ferry in 1848. The ferry crossed the river, where New Melones Lake is now. The New Melones Lake Bridge now crosses where the ferry was. The ferry was used to move California Gold Rush miners, their cargo and animals across the river. Harvey Wood purchased the ferry in 1856. The fare to cross was 50 cents for each person or animal crossing. The site of Robinson's Ferry a California Historical Landmark No. 276. A marker is on California State Route 49 near the bridge across New Melones Lake. The historical marker was placed there in 1949 by California Centennial Commission, and the base was built Angels Camp Lions Club. The Marker is 5.6 miles south of Angels Camp and 0.3 miles north of New Melones Lake Reservoir.
New Hope Agricultural Colony is a historical site in Ripon, California in San Joaquin County. New Hope Agricultural Colony site is a California Historical Landmark No. 436, listed on June 2. 1942. In 1846, the first wheat in the San Joaquin Valley was planted about six miles west of Ripon by 20 Mormon pioneers that arrived from Brooklyn by ship. The crop was irrigated by the pole and bucket lifting method. The pioneers built three log homes, a sawmill and cable ferry across Stanislaus River, that became later Stanislaus City. On June 27, 1844, Mormons leader Joseph Smith was killed, follower of Joseph Smith moved west, most came west by wagon trains. The group at Ripon came by ship to San Francisco.
