Big Canyon Creek
Big Canyon Creek (Lake County) is located in California
Big Canyon Creek (Lake County)
Big Canyon Creek (Lake County) is located in the United States
Big Canyon Creek (Lake County)
Physical characteristics
Source 
 • coordinates38°51′29″N 122°43′52″W / 38.8579579°N 122.7311008°W / 38.8579579; -122.7311008
MouthPutah Creek
 • coordinates
38°48′22″N 122°36′54″W / 38.806144°N 122.615064°W / 38.806144; -122.615064
 • elevation
1,040 feet (320 m)
Length8 miles (13 km)

Big Canyon Creek is a creek in Lake County, California. It is a tributary of Putah Creek.

Hydrology

Big Canyon Creek is an 8 miles (13 km) long tributary of Putah Creek. Its mouth is at an elevation of 1,040 feet (320 m).[1] Big Canyon Creek supplies rainfall to the Putah Creek drainage with very little snowmelt or base flow. It does not contain any reservoirs to provide surface storage and regulate flows.[2] In 1912 Warden R. L. Sinkey wrote of Putah Creek, "Becomes dry anywhere below Winters during the summer months. Putah Creek is just a small stream in the summertime. St. Helena Creek, Anderson Creek, Dry Creek run just small streams. Big Canyon Creek runs more water, I think, than all the rest".[3]

Location

The Köppen climate classification is Csb : Warm-summer Mediterranean climate.[4]

Boggs Mountain is an elongated rolling highland.[5] It forms a topographical divide separating Big Canyon Creek to the east from Kelsey Creek to the west.[6] Adams Springs is beside the creek, near its head.[7] William Robert Prather, who developed Adams Springs, corresponded with Thomas Edison in the late 1890s, who told him how to build a Pelton wheel in Big Canyon Creek to generate electricity for the resort.[8]

Big Canyon Road (107) runs along the lower part of the creek. There is a 24.6 feet (7.5 m) steel bridge that carries the road across the creek below the point where it is joined by Bad Creek. It was built in 1930 and reconstructed in 1993. As of November 2017 it was in poor condition and its structure had been appraised as "basically intolerable requiring high priority of replacement".[9]

Tributaries

StreamGNIS idParentMouthLength
CoordsElev ftElev mmikm
Big Canyon Creek219152Putah Creek38°48′22″N 122°36′52″W / 38.80611°N 122.61444°W / 38.80611; -122.614441,040 3208 13
←Mill Creek (Big Canyon Creek)228668Big Canyon Creek38°51′02″N 122°42′02″W / 38.85056°N 122.70056°W / 38.85056; -122.700562,119 6461.5 2.4
←Spikenard Creek235198Big Canyon Creek38°50′59″N 122°40′31″W / 38.84972°N 122.67528°W / 38.84972; -122.675281,640 5002 3.2
←Bad Creek218510Big Canyon Creek38°50′55″N 122°40′00″W / 38.84861°N 122.66667°W / 38.84861; -122.666671,568 4781 1.6
←Malo Creek227987Big Canyon Creek38°49′54″N 122°38′41″W / 38.83167°N 122.64472°W / 38.83167; -122.644721,270 3902 3.2

See also

Notes

    1. ↑ Big Canyon Creek USGS.
    2. ↑ Lake County Water Inventory and Analysis, p. 2.7.
    3. ↑ Shapovalov 1947, p. 74.
    4. ↑ Big Canyon Creek ... Mindat.
    5. ↑ Lake County Planning Department 1989, p. 4.3.
    6. ↑ Draft Environmental Impact Report 1976, p. 20.
    7. ↑ Adams, California USGS.
    8. ↑ Wakefield 2020.
    9. ↑ Baughn 2017.

    Sources

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