Cow Creek Cow Creek is a tributary of the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( es, Río Sacramento) is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–S ...

in Shasta County,

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. About long measured to its longest source, it drains a hilly, rural region at the northern end of the

Sacramento Valley , photo =Sacramento Riverfront.jpg , photo_caption= Sacramento , map_image=Map california central valley.jpg , map_caption= The Central Valley of California , location = California, United States , coordinates = , boundaries = Sierra Nevada (ea ...

east of Redding. The creek begins at Millville at the confluence of Old Cow and South Cow Creek and flows west to

Junction Junction may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Junction'' (film), a 2012 American film * Jjunction, a 2002 Indian film * Junction (album), a 1976 album by Andrew Cyrille * Junction (EP), by Basement Jaxx, 2002 * Junction (manga), or ''Hot ...

, where it turns south, joining the Sacramento near Anderson. Despite its name, Cow Creek is closer in size to a river, especially in winter when it is prone to large

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice or snow flowing o ...

s, accounting for up to 21 percent of the Sacramento's peak flows at Red Bluff. The Cow Creek

watershed Watershed is a hydrological term, which has been adopted in other fields in a more or less figurative sense. It may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, called a "watershe ...

of is approximately equally divided between agriculture, private residences, and commercial forestland, with very little public land. About 45 percent of the watershed is forested. Situated in the foothills of the southern

Cascade Range The Cascade Range or Cascades is a major mountain range of western North America, extending from southern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California. It includes both non-volcanic mountains, such as the North Cascades, ...

, elevations range from about at the tallest peaks to less than at the confluence with the Sacramento River. Because the creek has no major dams, it is an important spawning area for

Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus ''Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ve ...

and steelhead trout; however, diversions for irrigation and pollution from farm runoff have reduced the quality of native fish habitat. Although the

main stem In hydrology, a mainstem (or trunk) is "the primary downstream segment of a river, as contrasted to its tributaries". Water enters the mainstem from the river's drainage basin, the land area through which the mainstem and its tributaries flow.. A ...

is short at , the creek has an extensive network of tributaries that collectively drain a much larger area. The Old Cow Creek and South Cow Creek originate in the Lassen National Forest, as does Clover Creek, which joins Cow Creek a short distance below the confluence. The other major tributaries are Oak Run and Little Cow Creek, which drain a large area close to Shasta Lake.

References

Rivers of Shasta County, California Tributaries of the Sacramento River {{ShastaCountyCA-geo-stub

See also

References