Rivers and creeks in Lake County, California are listed below by river basin and alphabetically. Unless otherwise stated, the information is taken from the Geographic Names Information System maintained by the United States Geological Survey. Coordinates, elevations and lengths from this source are approximate.
Lake County covers about 1,261 square miles (3,270 km2) in the California Coastal Range. The rugged topography includes hills, mountains and valleys. The largest waterbody is Clear Lake, at an elevation of about 1,320 feet (400 m) above sea level. The three main drainages are Eel River, Cache Creek and Putah Creek, each of which have their headwaters in the county. Eel River drains the north of the county and flows west into Mendocino County. The center of the county drains into Clear Lake, which drains into Cache Creek, which flows east into Yolo County. The south of the county drains into Putah Creek, which flows south into Napa County. [1] Eel River empties into the Pacific, while Cache Creek and Putah Creek flow into the Sacramento River valley.
Lake County has warm, dry summers, and cool, moist winters. In the summer, a continual tropical air mass typically creates high daytime temperatures and cool evening temperatures. In winter, a marine air mass typically keeps temperatures above 20 °F (−7 °C). Average monthly temperatures range from about 43°F during December through January to about 73°F during July through August. [2] There are greater levels of precipitation at higher elevations and in the north and southwest of the county. [3] Almost 90% of precipitation falls in winter, and there is very little rain from May to September. [4]
Clear Lake formed about 600,000 years ago as the land in the region began to subside when the Clear Lake Volcanic Field erupted. Its basin continues to move downward, while sedimentation keeps it shallow. [5] The Clear Lake basin lies between the watersheds of the Sacramento River and the Russian River. When it was formed it drained east into the Sacramento Valley. [6]
About 200,000 years ago the Clear Lake Volcanic Field blocked the lake's outlet. [6] The lake rose until it found a new outlet, draining west through the Blue Lakes into Cold Creek and the Russian River. [7] Clear Lake was almost 300 feet (91 m) higher than it is today, and Scotts Creek flowed into the lake from the west near where Lakeport is today. It formed a large delta there, which deposited the Lakeport ridge. [5]
At some time in the last 10,000 years a landslide at the west end of the Blue Lakes blocked Clear Lake's outlet to the Russian River watershed. The lake rose again, and created its present outlet via Cache Creek to the Sacramento River. [8] Cache Creek began eroding upstream to Clear Lake, and when it reached the lake the outflow along Cache Creek quickly eroded a channel through soft sediments. The lake dropped almost 300 feet (91 m) as a result. [5]
Eel River flows through the northern part of the County and drains through Lake Pillsbury into Mendocino County. [9] The Eel River’s drainage includes Corbin Creek, Anderson Creek, Cold Creek and Bear Creek. The drainage includes the highest point in Lake County, Snow Mountain. The Pacific Gas and Electric Company created Lake Pillsbury on the Eel River as part of its Potter Valley Project, which diverts water downstream on the Eel River to generate power, and releases the water into the East Fork Russian River. Diverted flows supplement Russian River water supplies in Mendocino and Sonoma Counties. Lake Pillsbury captures about one percent of the Eel River flow. [10]
Clear Lake is the largest freshwater lake wholly within the state of California. The lake has an average depth of about 26 feet (7.9 m). Many important tributary streams drain into Clear Lake, including Kelsey Creek, Adobe Creek, Scotts Creek and Middle Creek. The streams flow over permeable geologic formations and percolate into the subsurface as groundwater recharge. [9]
Cache Creek drains Clear Lake and flows eastward into Yolo County, then into the Sacramento River. [9] Cache Creek has two major reaches in Lake County: the north fork and the main branch. The north fork drains an area north of the Clear Lake watershed through Indian Valley Reservoir, and includes Long Valley Creek, Wolf Creek, and Bartlett Creek. The main branch drains Clear Lake and flows eastward into Yolo County. Kelsey Creek, Adobe Creek, Scott’s Creek, and Middle Creek drain through Clear Lake to the main stem of Cache Creek. [12]
Clear Lake and the Indian Valley Reservoir heavily influence the flow characteristics of Cache Creek. Unmanaged flows above the Indian Valley Reservoir on Cache Creek show a strong response to rainfall and low base flows. In contrast, managed flows on Cache Creek below the Indian Valley Reservoir and Clear Lake show a reduced influence of precipitation and increased base flows. [12]
Putah Creek drains the southwestern portion of Lake County, draining into Lake Berryessa in Napa County. [9] Putah Creek’s drainage includes Harbin Creek, Big Canyon Creek, St. Helena Creek and Soda Creek. The drainage also includes Collayomi Valley, Long Valley and the Coyote Valley. The Putah Creek drainage mostly consists of direct rainfall runoff with a very little snowmelt and base flow. The Putah Creek basin in Lake County has no reservoirs to provide surface storage and regulate flows. [13]
A few of the streams in Lake County are in the watershed of the Russian River to the west.
| Stream | GNIS id | Parent | Mouth | Length | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coords | Elev ft | Elev m | mi | km | |||
| all values are approximate | |||||||
| ←Cold Creek (East Fork Russian River) | 221320 | East Fork Russian River | 39°14′51″N123°07′44″W / 39.24750°N 123.12889°W | 833 | 254 | 8.5 | 13.7 |
| ←McDowell Creek | 228352 | Dooley Creek | 38°59′03″N123°00′04″W / 38.98417°N 123.00111°W | 1,821 | 555 | 7 | 11 |
| ←McClure Creek | 228303 | Mill Creek | 39°08′01″N123°10′40″W / 39.13361°N 123.17778°W | 594 | 181 | 7 | 11 |
| ←North Fork Mill Creek | 254984 | Mill Creek | 39°07′53″N123°09′24″W / 39.13139°N 123.15667°W | 646 | 197 | 5 | 8.0 |
| Coleman Creek | 221365 | Russian River | 38°55′18″N123°02′47″W / 38.92167°N 123.04639°W | 594 | 181 | 8 | 13 |
| ←←Wildhorse Creek | 237815 | Squaw Creek | 38°50′21″N122°50′31″W / 38.83917°N 122.84194°W | 1,552 | 473 | 2.25 | 3.62 |
| ←Vasser Creek | 237036 | Coleman Creek | 38°56′30″N123°02′40″W / 38.94167°N 123.04444°W | 801 | 244 | 5 | 8.0 |
Stony Creek is a tributary of the Sacramento River that drains a small part of northeast Lake County
| Stream | GNIS id | Parent | Mouth | Length | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Coords | Elev ft | Elev m | mi | km | |||
| all values are approximate | |||||||
| Bear Wallow Creek | 218903 | Middle Fork Stony Creek | 39°24′48″N122°42′42″W / 39.41333°N 122.71167°W | 3,373 | 1,028 | 3 | 4.8 |
| Middle Fork Stony Creek | 228603 | Stony Creek | 39°22′40″N122°39′07″W / 39.37778°N 122.65194°W | 1,480 | 450 | ||
Unless otherwise stated, the information above is derived from an extract from the GNIS database of features of class "stream" in Lake County, California. Some anomalies have been corrected:
This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain .
The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about 73 miles (117 km) long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over 210 miles (340 km). The main stem Feather River begins in Lake Oroville, where its four long tributary forks join—the South Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, and West Branch Feather Rivers. These and other tributaries drain part of the northern Sierra Nevada, and the extreme southern Cascades, as well as a small portion of the Sacramento Valley. The total drainage basin is about 6,200 square miles (16,000 km2), with approximately 3,604 square miles (9,330 km2) above Lake Oroville.
The Eel River is a major river, about 196 miles (315 km) long, of northwestern California. The river and its tributaries form the third largest watershed entirely in California, draining a rugged area of 3,684 square miles (9,540 km2) in five counties. The river flows generally northward through the Coast Ranges west of the Sacramento Valley, emptying into the Pacific Ocean about 10 miles (16 km) downstream from Fortuna and just south of Humboldt Bay. The river provides groundwater recharge, recreation, and industrial, agricultural and municipal water supply.
Tinker's Creek, in Cuyahoga, Summit and Portage counties, is the largest tributary of the Cuyahoga River, providing about a third of its flow into Lake Erie.
Cache Creek is an 87-mile-long (140 km) stream in Lake, Colusa and Yolo counties, California.
Putah Creek is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The 85-mile-long (137 km) creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flows east through two dams. First, Monticello Dam forms Lake Berryessa, below which Putah Creek forms the border of Yolo and Solano Counties, and then flows to the Putah Diversion Dam and Lake Solano. After several drought years in the late 1980s, the majority of Putah Creek went dry, prompting a landmark lawsuit that resulted in the signing of the Putah Creek Accord in 2000. The Accord established releases from the dams to maintain stream flows in Putah Creek, with natural flow regimes which spike in winter/spring and ebb in summer/fall. The restoration of natural flow regimes has resulted in a doubling of riparian bird species and a return of spawning native steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, as well as protecting the livelihood of farmers on the lower watershed.
The Russian River is a southward-flowing river that drains 1,485 sq mi (3,850 km2) of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (2.0 km3), it is the second-largest river flowing through the nine-county Greater San Francisco Bay Area, with a mainstem 115 mi (185 km) long.
Black Creek is a long source tributary of Nescopeck Creek so part of the Susquehanna River drainage basin. It is also the second & longer stream of the same name recognized by the USGS GNIS system in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, in the United States—compared to the Black Creek beyond the ridgeline of the drainage divide, so in the Lehigh River valley and Carbon County. The headwaters of both Black Creeks in Luzerne county are only a few miles apart, and both valleys were traversed by the Lausanne-Nescopeck Turnpike in the first half of the 19th-century.
Mehoopany Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Sullivan and Wyoming counties, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 26.8 miles (43.1 km) long. In Sullivan County the creek flows through Colley Township and in Wyoming County it flows through Forkston Township and Mehoopany Township. The stream's watershed has an area of 123 square miles (320 km2). Its major tributaries include Stony Brook and North Fork Mehoopany Creek.
Cobb Mountain is the tallest mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains of California.
East Fork Russian River is a 15 mi (24 km) long tributary of the Russian River in Mendocino County, California artificially connected to the Eel River via an interbasin diversion at the Potter Valley Project hydroelectric facility. It forms in the north of Potter Valley, flows south through this valley, then southwest through a mountain pass to Lake Mendocino, an artificial reservoir that empties into Russian River. At one time Clear Lake to the east drained through Cold Creek then along the lower part of East Fork Russian River through Coyote Valley to the Russian River proper. A few hundred years ago a massive landslide blocked this channel, and Clear Lake found a new outlet to the Sacramento River.
Spring Creek Debris Dam is an earthfill dam on Spring Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River, in Shasta County in the U.S. state of California. Completed in 1963, the dam, maintained by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, serves primarily to collect severe acid mine drainage stemming from the Iron Mountain Mine. The dam forms the Spring Creek Reservoir, less than 1 mile (1.6 km) long. Spring Creek and South Fork Spring Creek flow into the reservoir from a 16-square-mile (41 km2) watershed. The dam is directly upstream from the city of Keswick, California and the Keswick Reservoir. The operation is part of the Trinity River Division of the Central Valley Project.
The South Fork Eel River is the largest tributary of the Eel River in north-central California in the United States. The river flows 105 miles (169 km) north from Laytonville to Dyerville/Founders' Grove where it joins the Eel River. The South Fork drains a long and narrow portion of the Coast Range of California in parts of Mendocino and Humboldt counties. U.S. Route 101 follows the river for much of its length.
The Rice Fork is a 22.7-mile-long (36.5 km) tributary of the Eel River in Lake County, California. The Rice Fork begins on the upper northwest side of Goat Mountain, on the Colusa-Lake County line, at an elevation of over 6,000 feet (1,800 m). It quickly descends the steep western slope of the mountain, then bends northward, and flows northwesterly down a narrow winding steep walled canyon for about 18 miles (29 km), crossing two forest roads and adding many tributaries, ending its journey at the southern tip of Lake Pillsbury, at a varied elevation around 1,800 feet (550 m), depending on the lake level. Before the construction of Scott Dam in the 1920s, which formed Lake Pillsbury, the Rice Fork ran directly into the Eel River. It is one of Lake County's longest streams.
Buttermilk Creek is a tributary of the Susquehanna River in Lackawanna County and Wyoming County, in Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is approximately 6.8 miles (10.9 km) long and flows through Newton Township in Lackawanna County and Falls Township in Wyoming County. The watershed of the creek has an area of 26.1 square miles (68 km2). The creek is a perennial stream and is not designated as an impaired waterbody. Major geographical features in its watershed include the Buttermilk Falls in its lower reaches, as well as Fords Lake and Lake Winola.
Cottonwood Creek is a major stream and tributary of the Sacramento River in Northern California. About 68 miles (109 km) long measured to its uppermost tributaries, the creek drains a large rural area bounded by the crest of the Coast Ranges, traversing the northwestern Sacramento Valley before emptying into the Sacramento River near the town of Cottonwood. For its entire length, it defines the boundary of Shasta and Tehama counties. Because Cottonwood Creek is the largest undammed tributary of the Sacramento River, it is known for its Chinook salmon and steelhead runs.
Big Canyon Creek is a creek in Lake County, California. It is a tributary of Putah Creek.
Scotts Creek is a stream in Lake County, California, the largest tributary of Clear Lake. It rises to the south of Cow Mountain in the Mayacamas Mountains, then flows southeast towards Clear Lake, running through the fertile Scotts Valley and the seasonal Tule Lake before joining Middle Creek and flowing into the lake via Rodman Slough.
Cold Creek is a river of Mendocino County, California, a tributary of East Fork Russian River. In the past it may have connected Clear Lake to the Russian River before this route was blocked by a large landslide and Clear Lake began to drain into the Sacramento River watershed.
The Blue Lakes are a string of two or three lakes in Lake County, California, set in a deep canyon. At one time they seem to have been in the Russian River watershed, but a recent geological upheaval cut them off from that basin and they now drain via Scotts Creek into Clear Lake in the Sacramento River basin. In the 19th and early 20th centuries there were several resorts around the lakes. Their waters have been highly altered by human activity and most of their native fish are lost, but they have a healthy population of largemouth bass.
Middle Creek is a creek that drains through Rodman Slough into Clear Lake in Lake County, California. It supplies 21% of the streamflow to Clear Lake. The watershed vegetation has been drastically modified by European settlers through sheep and cattle grazing, logging and farming in the valley floors. The creek once flowed through extensive wetlands at its mouth, but these were mainly drained to create farmland, apart from Rodman Slough on the west side. There are now projects to restore the drained land to its original condition.