The Carrizo Creek and Carrizo Wash in California are a stream and an arroyo in

San Diego County, California San Diego County (), officially the County of San Diego, is a county (United States), county in the southwest corner of the U.S. state of California, north to its Mexico-United States border, border with Mexico. As of the 2020 United States Cen ...

, and

Imperial County, California Imperial County is a county located on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, ranking as the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat and largest city is ...

. The stream, Carrizo Creek, arises in the mountains of San Diego County, California, and terminates in Carrizo Wash in Imperial County, a tributary in turn to San Felipe Creek that terminates in the

Salton Sea The Salton Sea is a shallow, landlocked, highly salinity, saline endorheic lake in Riverside County, California, Riverside and Imperial County, California, Imperial counties in Southern California. It lies on the San Andreas Fault within the S ...

. The source of California's Carrizo Creek is in San Diego County, 1.2 miles north of the California–Mexico State boundary, at at an elevation of 3,210 feet, on the west side of the divide between Jacumba Valley and the valley of upper Boulder Creek. Carrizo Creek flows west then north northwest through Jacumba Valley then north through

Carrizo Gorge Carrizo Gorge is a gorge in the Jacumba Mountains in San Diego County, California. Its mouth is at an elevation of , where it widens out to become Carrizo Canyon, northeast of Palm Grove. Its head is located in the Jacumba Mountains, north of Ro ...

and Carrizo Canyon, into Carrizo Valley where it is joined on the left by Vallecito Creek, as it turns east through the

Carrizo Badlands The Carrizo Badlands are a landform of badlands that lie within Anza-Borrego Desert State Park in eastern San Diego County, and in the Carrizo Impact Area in western Imperial County, in Southern California. Geography The badlands lie south of t ...

where 3 miles east of the site of the old Carrizo Creek Station, at an elevation of , it becomes Carrizo Wash. Carrizo Wash terminates at its confluence with San Felipe Creek at .

History

Carrizo Creek, its wash and its tributary, Vallecito Creek, were the watercourses that carved the pathway from the

Peninsular Ranges The Peninsular Ranges (also called the Lower California province) are a group of mountain ranges that stretch from Southern California to the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula; they are part of the North American Pacific Coast Range ...

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

through the

to the

Colorado Desert The Colorado Desert is a part of the larger Sonoran Desert located in California, United States, and Baja California, Mexico. It encompasses approximately , including the heavily irrigated Coachella, Imperial and Mexicali valleys. It is home to ...

. They provided a pathway and water for Native Americans travelers out into the desert and on to the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

along the course of the distributary

New New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

Alamo River The Alamo River () flows west and north from the Mexicali Valley (Baja California) across the Imperial Valley (California). The river drains into the Salton Sea. The New River, Alamo River, and the Salton Sea of the 21st century started in aut ...

s. Subsequently, from 1828 it was similarly used by Mexican travelers on the route of the Sonora Road to

Alta California Alta California (, ), also known as Nueva California () among other names, was a province of New Spain formally established in 1804. Along with the Baja California peninsula, it had previously comprised the province of , but was made a separat ...

, then by Americans on

Cooke's Wagon Road Cooke's Wagon Road or Cooke's Road was the first wagon road between the Rio Grande and the Colorado River to San Diego, through the Mexican provinces of Nuevo México, Chihuahua, Sonora and Alta California, established by Philip St. George Coo ...

and its successor the

Southern Emigrant Trail :''The Southern Emigrant Trail should not be confused with the Applegate Trail, which is part of the Emigrant Trail, Northern Emigrant Trails.'' The Southern Emigrant Trail, also known as the Gila Trail, the Kearny Trail, the Southern Trail and ...

. It was the route taken into California by the

San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line The San Antonio–San Diego Mail Line, also known as the Jackass Mail, was the earliest overland stagecoach and mail operation from the Eastern United States to California, in operation between 1857 and 1861. It was created, organized and financed ...

and

Overland Mail Company Butterfield Overland Mail (officially Overland Mail Company)Waterman L. Ormsby, edited by Lyle H. Wright and Josephine M. Bynum, "The Butterfield Overland Mail", The Huntington Library, San Marino, California, 1991. was a stagecoach service in ...

. Both companies used Carrizo Creek Station at the lower end if the creek in the badlands.

Carrizo Wash

Carrizo Wash is a

wash Wash or the Wash may refer to: Industry and sanitation * WASH or WaSH, "water, sanitation and hygiene", three related public health issues * Wash (distilling), the liquid produced by the fermentation step in the production of distilled beverages ...

with its head at the

mouth A mouth also referred to as the oral is the body orifice through which many animals ingest food and animal communication#Auditory, vocalize. The body cavity immediately behind the mouth opening, known as the oral cavity (or in Latin), is also t ...

of Carrizo Creek in the

located at , and its mouth at its confluence with San Felipe Creek, at an elevation of below sea level.

References

Rivers of San Diego County, California Rivers of Imperial County, California Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Rivers of Southern California {{California-river-stub