Calaveras River

This article is about the river in San Joaquin Valley, California. For other watercourses, seeCalaveras (disambiguation).

Calaveras River
New Hogan Lake, the main reservoir on the Calaveras River
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Physical characteristics
Source	Confluence of North and South Forks
• location	West ofSan Andreas
• coordinates	38°11′50″N120°43′12″W
• elevation	705 ft (215 m)
Mouth	San Joaquin River
• location	NearStockton
• coordinates	37°58′01″N121°22′04″W
Length	51.9 mi (83.5 km)
Basin size	470 sq mi (1,200 km2)
Discharge
• location	Jenny Lind, CA
• average	225 cu ft/s (6.4 m3/s)
• minimum	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
• maximum	50,000 cu ft/s (1,400 m3/s)

TheCalaveras Riveris ariverin theSan Joaquin ValleyofCalifornia.

It flows roughly southwest for 51.9 miles (83.5 km) from the confluence of its north and south forks inCalaveras Countyto its confluence with theSan Joaquin Riverin the city ofStockton.

The Spanish wordcalaverasmeans "skulls." The river was said to have been named by Spanish explorerGabriel Moragain 1806 when he found many skulls of Native Americans along its banks. He believed they had either died of famine or been killed in tribal conflicts over hunting and fishing grounds.

Later, human remains were of the nativeMiwukpeople killed by Spanish soldiers after they banded together to rise against Spanish missionaries. TheStanislaus Riveris named for Estanislau, a coastal Miwuk who escaped from Mission San Jose in the late 1830s. He is reported to have raised a small group of men with crude weapons, hiding in the foothills when the Spanish attacked. The Miwuk were quickly decimated by Spanish gunfire.

In 1836,John Marsh,Jose Noriega,and a party of men, went exploring in Northern California. They made camp along a river bed in the evening, and when they woke up the next morning, discovered that they had camped in the midst of a great quantity of skulls and bones. They also gave the river the appropriate name: Calaveras.

New Hogan Lakeis the onlylakeon the river. It is formed byNew Hogan Dam,which was completed in 1963. The dam was built by theUnited States Army Corps of Engineers,primarily forfloodcontrol. The dam also providesdrinking water,water forirrigation,hydroelectricityandrecreation,includingfishing,camping,swimmingandwater skiing.

The Mormon Slough, adistributaryof the Calaveras, splits away about five miles east ofLinden, California.In east Stockton, the Stockton Diverting Canal reconnects the Mormon Slough and the Calaveras.Downstreamfrom thisflood controlchannel, the often dryMormon Sloughcontinues on its southerly path, through downtown, to theStockton Channel.The Calaveras makes a northerly arc, passing through farmland, orchards, and theUniversity of the PacificStockton Campus, then alongside itsnamesakeBrookside district, before flowing into theDeepwater Channelabout three miles downriver from the Mormon Slough. Thus much of central Stockton, being completely surrounded by these waterways, is itself one of the manyriver islandswhich make up theSan Joaquin Delta.

View of the Calaveras River, looking upstream from the Baxter Way bridge at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, California. The building is the Don and Karen DeRosa University Center.

External links

• United States Army Corps of Engineers - New Hogan Lake
• Columbia Gazetteer of North America
• Friends of the Lower Calaveras River
• Calaveras River Watershed Stewardship Group
• Calaveras River Water Quality Study