San Antonio Creek is a

creek A creek in North America and elsewhere, such as Australia, is a stream that is usually smaller than a river. In the British Isles it is a small tidal inlet. Creek may also refer to: People * Creek people, also known as Muscogee, Native Americans ...

flowing from the

Solomon Hills The Solomon Hills are a low mountain range in the western Transverse Ranges, in northern Santa Barbara County, California. The Hills separate the Santa Maria Valley and Santa Maria to the north, from the Los Alamos Valley and the Santa Ynez Vall ...

to the Pacific Ocean, located in Santa Barbara County, California.

Course

The creek originates about east of Los Alamos in the

. It flows westerly from the hills, through the Los Alamos Valley, the Barka Slough, and the San Antonio Valley, to its

river mouth A river mouth is where a river flows into a larger body of water, such as another river, a lake/reservoir, a bay/gulf, a sea, or an ocean. At the river mouth, sediments are often deposited due to the slowing of the current reducing the carrying ...

north of Purisima Point on the Pacific coast. It passes through the town of

Los Alamos, California Los Alamos (Spanish language, Spanish: ''Los Álamos'', meaning ''The Cottonwoods'') is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Although located in the Los Alamos V ...

and downstream flows through Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Water

The lower course through Vandenberg SFB has a perennial flow, in part because of irrigation tailwater, but primarily because of a geologic rift at Barka Slough which causes an upwelling. The principal crops grown within its watershed are vegetables in the flat fields, and winegrapes in the transitional upland slopes. All are irrigated from groundwater aquifer resources. In 1996 almost all of the water supply used by Vandenberg AFB was pumped from the San Antonio Aquifer. 36% of the San Antonio Creek Hydrological Unit is within Vandenberg.

Ecology

West of Barca Slough, San Antonio Creek is inhabited by the endangered Unarmored Three-spined stickleback (''Gasterosteus aculeatus williamsoni'') which, for all practical purposes, prohibits any stream maintenance. The endangered Tidewater goby (''Eucyclogobius newberryi'') is also found in the creek's brackish coastal lagoon and several miles upstream in sections of stream impounded by

California Golden beaver The North American beaver (''Castor canadensis'') is one of two extant beaver species, along with the Eurasian beaver (''Castor fiber''). It is native to North America and introduced in South America ( Patagonia) and Europe (primarily Finland a ...

s (''Castor canadensis subauratus'') which provide ideal slow-moving water habitat for gobies. San Antonio Creek, from Rancho del las Flores Bridge at State Highway 135 to the Railroad Bridge downstream, is impaired from boron, ammonia, and nitrite pollution.

History

The first European land exploration of

Alta California Alta California ('Upper California'), also known as ('New 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 ...

, the Spanish Portolà expedition, camped near the creek on August 31, 1769. Franciscan missionary Juan Crespi noted in his diary that they found "a large pond of fresh water" which has since mostly filled in, leaving a series of small ponds and marshy areas upstream of the creek mouth (Barka Slough). When

Mission La Purisima Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

was established in 1787, the San Antonio Creek area became part of the mission's pasture land. In 1837, following secularization of the mission, the area became part of the Rancho Lompoc Mexican land grant.

References

{{reflist Rivers of Santa Barbara County, California Vandenberg Space Force Base Rivers of Southern California

Course

Water

Ecology

History

See also

References