The Chowchilla River is a

river A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

central California Central California is generally thought of as the middle third of the state, north of Southern California, which includes Los Angeles, and south of Northern California, which includes San Francisco. It includes the northern portion of the San J ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and a minor tributary of the

San Joaquin River The San Joaquin River (; es, Río San Joaquín) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through the rich agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suis ...

. It flows for from the western side of the Sierra Nevada Range to the San Joaquin River system in the

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; es, Valle de San Joaquín) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven c ...

. Most of the lower half of the river forms the border between

Merced Merced (; Spanish for "Mercy") is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California, United States, in the San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 86,333, up from 78,958 in 2010. Incorporated on April 1 ...

and

Madera County Madera County (), officially the County of Madera, is a county at the geographic center of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 156,255. The county seat is Madera. Madera County comprises the Madera, CA Metr ...

Course

The river begins as three separate forks in southern

Mariposa County Mariposa County () is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, the population was 17,131. The county seat is Mariposa. It is located in the western foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, north of Fresno, east of ...

West Fork

The West Fork (officially known as West Fork Chowchilla River) is formed by the confluence of Jones Creek and Snow Creek, north of the town of Bootjack, California. It flows roughly south from Bootjack, receiving Pegleg Creek, Humbug Creek, Italian Creek and Blade Creek before converging with the Middle Fork.

Middle Fork

The Middle Fork (officially known as Middle Fork Chowchilla River) is formed by the confluence of Magoon Creek and Fox Creek, on the east side of Magoon Hill in the Sierra Nevada. It flows roughly south along the west side of Stumpfield Mountain, receiving a few unnamed tributaries, before converging with the West Fork.

East Fork

The East Fork (officially known as East Fork Chowchilla River) is the longest of the three forks and is formed by the confluence of several small, unnamed streams on the south side of Chowchilla Mountain, in the

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of central Sierra Nevada in Central California and bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is kno ...

. It flows roughly south past the locality of Harris Ranch, receiving Oliver Creek and several other small, unnamed tributaries along the way. It converges with the West Fork south of Bailey Flats, and a few miles south of where the Middle and West Forks converge.

Main river

The Chowchilla River begins in name at the point where the West and East forks converge and flows southwest to Eastman Lake. The lake, which holds of water from the Chowchilla, was created in 1975 by the construction of Buchanan Dam, an earth and rockfill structure which is . The lake and dam's primary purpose is flood control and irrigation. In the summer months, Eastman Lake is a popular boating, fishing, camping and hiking destination for residents of the Madera and

Chowchilla The chowchilla (''Orthonyx spaldingii'') is a passerine bird in the family Orthonychidae. It is endemic to Australia. Taxonomy In their 1999 study, Schodde and Mason recognise two adjoining subspecies, ''O. s. spaldingii'' and ''O. s. melas ...

areas. Below Eastman Lake, the river continues roughly west, past the City of Chowchilla, to the San Joaquin River System.

Lower river

Seven miles downstream of Eastman Lake, the Chowchilla's water is diverted into both the Berenda and

Ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

sloughs, with excess water continuing down the main river channel. The river flows west-southwest for most of the rest of the journey before flowing west in the last few miles. The last of the river doubles as an irrigation canal for farms located along its banks. The main river channel ends abruptly about east of the San Joaquin River. The river has never had a defined natural outlet to the San Joaquin, as evidenced by the fact that the riverbed shrinks considerably in size as it travels west. A natural outlet never existed because the river only has a seasonal flow, and natural water flow would normally dry up before it had a chance to reach the San Joaquin. In rare years of torrential rains, there would still be water in the river at the end of the riverbed, at which point the water would simply flood the area past the end of the riverbed. Those floodwaters would eventually find their way into the San Joaquin River. As part of the Lower San Joaquin River Flood Control Project, a diversion canal was built to connect the end of the riverbed with the

Eastside Bypass East Side or Eastside may refer to: Places Australia * East Side, Northern Territory Canada * Eastside, Ontario, a neighborhood in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario * Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, British Columbia United Kingdom * Eastside, Bi ...

, allowing the Chowchilla's water a controlled outlet to the San Joaquin River during years of heavy rains. The Chowchilla River serves at the outlet of the

Madera Canal The Madera Canal is a -long aqueduct in the U.S. state of California. It is part of the Central Valley Project managed by the United States Bureau of Reclamation to convey water north to augment irrigation capacity in Madera County. It was also t ...

Tributaries

In addition to many small unnamed streams, the Chowchilla River receives the water from the following streams: *Rock Creek *Willow Creek *Split Rock Creek *Cow Creek

Towns

Towns along the Chowchilla River include: *

Harris Ranch Harris Ranch, or the Harris Cattle Ranch, feedlot is California's largest beef producer, producing of beef per year in 2010. It is located alongside Interstate 5 at its intersection with State Route 198 east of Coalinga, in the San Joaquin ...

(Unincorporated) * Bootjack (Unincorporated) *

Raymond Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...

(Unincorporated) *

Crossings

There are numerous crossings over the Chowchilla River in Madera and Merced Counties. Crossings are listed here beginning at the source and working downstream: *Madera County above Eastman Lake **Bailey Flats Road **Green Mountain Road *Madera County below Eastman Lake **Eastman Lake Park Access Road **Santa Fe Drive **

Santa Fe Railroad The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway , often referred to as the Santa Fe or AT&SF, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The railroad was chartered in February 1859 to serve the cities of Atchison and Topeka, Kansas, and S ...

next to Santa Fe Drive crossing **Road 19 **Road 15 ** State Route 99 **Road 13 **Avenue 26 **Road 11 **Hemlock Road **Road 8 **Avenue 25 **Road 5½ **Road 5 *Merced County **South Orchard Way ** State Route 59

References

External links

Wildernet - Eastman LakeSan Joaquin River White Paper
{{Sierra Nevada Rivers of the Sierra Nevada (United States) Tributaries of the San Joaquin River Rivers of Mariposa County, California Rivers of Madera County, California Rivers of Merced County, California Geography of the San Joaquin Valley Central Valley Project Chowchilla, California Rivers of Northern California Rivers of the Sierra Nevada in California