Jacalitos Creek formerly known as Arroyo de Jacelitos (Creek of Little Huts), is a creek in Fresno County, California. William N. Abeloe, Mildred Brooke Hoover, H. E. Rensch, E. G. Rensch, Historic spots in California, 3rd Edition, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1966, p. 89
/ref> Its source is 0.96 km (0.6 mi) north of Andrews Peak, in the Diablo Range. From there it runs east then northeast between the

Jacalitos Hills The Jacalitos Hills are a low mountain range in western Fresno County, central California. They are in the Southern Inner California Coast Ranges. Habitats of the hills are in the California interior chaparral and woodlands sub-ecoregion. ' ...

and the Kreyenhagen Hills, then passes across Pleasant Valley to its confluence with Los Gatos Creek 4.2 km (2.6 mi) south of Coalinga Nose.

History

Jacalitos Creek, originally known as El Arroyo de Jacelitos, it was the location of watering places on

El Camino Viejo El Camino Viejo a Los Ángeles ( en, the Old Road to Los Angeles), also known as El Camino Viejo and the Old Los Angeles Trail, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Spanish colonial Las Californias (1769–1822) and Mexican Alta Cali ...

, between Los Gatos Creek to the north and Zapato Chino Creek to the south. Jacalitos is derived from a Spanish word,

jacal The jacal (həˈkɑːl; Mexican Spanish from Nahuatl ''xacalli'' contraction of ''xamitl calli''; literally "hut") is an adobe-style housing structure historically found throughout parts of the Southwestern United States and Mexico. This type o ...

, meaning a hut with a thatched roof and walls consisting of thin stakes driven into the ground close together and plastered with mud. Modified with the ending -ito, gives it the meaning "little huts".Jacal
from merriam-webster.com accessed November 21, 2019

References

Rivers of Fresno County, California Diablo Range Geography of the San Joaquin Valley El Camino Viejo Rivers of Northern California {{California-river-stub