Tolay Creek is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 10, 2011 southward-flowing

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a stream ...

in southern

Sonoma County, California Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

, United States, which flows through

Tolay Lake Tolay Lake is a shallow freshwater lake in southern Sonoma County, California, United States. The lake, nestled within the southern vestiges of the Sonoma Mountains, is the site of significant Native American prehistoric seasonal settlement. In ...

and ends in north

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water ch ...

History

The Alaguali were a

Coast Miwok Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Point ...

community of northern

in the Tolay Creek region. Alaguali lands bordered the north edge of San Pablo Bay and the southern one third of their area was low tidal marshland at the mouth of Sonoma Creek and Napa Slough. Their strong marriage ties to the Petalumas suggest that the Alagualis held all of the valley of Tolay Creek to the north of

Sears Point Sears Point is a prominent landform that juts into the San Pablo Bay in Sonoma County, California, United States. This hill is the southernmost peak of the Sonoma Mountains and forms the southwestern ridge above Tolay Lake. Starting with European ...

up to the Sonoma Valley airport, consisting of about 56 square miles. In 1814 the Spanish authorities began to split up the Alaguali amongst different missions, baptizing 91 at

Mission Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to: * Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores * Dolores (given name) Dolores may also refer to: Film * ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt * ' ...

and 37 at

Mission San José Mission San José may refer to: *Mission San José (California), a Spanish mission in Fremont, California * Mission San Jose, Fremont, California, a neighborhood *Mission San Jose High School, a high school in Fremont, California *Mission San José ...

. Padre José Altimira, the founder of

Mission San Francisco Solano Mission San Francisco Solano was the 21st, last, and northernmost mission in Alta California. It was named for Saint Francis Solanus. It was the only mission built in Alta California after Mexico gained independence from Spain. The difficulty of ...

, wrote in his diary on June 27, 1823, "Tolay Lake so called for the Chief of the Indians". Tolay Creek was named for the lake.

Watershed

The Tolay 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 ...

lies between those of

Sonoma Creek , name_etymology = , image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg , image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009 , image_size = 300 , ma ...

and the

Petaluma River The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...

. It originates near Stage Gulch Road (part of State Route 116) about north of

Lakeville, California Lakeville is an unincorporated community in Sonoma County, California, United States. It is located near the Petaluma River about southeast of Petaluma. The main thoroughfare is Lakeville Road, which passes north–south through Lakeville on ...

. It feeds

, then descends to flow under State Route 121 north of the

Infineon Raceway Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the southern S ...

. It parallels State Route 121 southward to State Route 37 at Sears Point, California, feeds into the

Napa Sonoma Marsh The Napa Sonoma Marsh is a wetland at the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, which is a northern arm of the San Francisco Bay in California, United States. This marsh has an area of 48,000 acres (194 km2), of which 13,000 acres (53 km2) are ...

, and enters

west of Tubbs Island in the

San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge is a National Wildlife Refuge in California established in 1970. It extends along the northern shore of San Pablo Bay, from the mouth of the Petaluma River, to Tolay Creek, Sonoma Creek, and ending at Mar ...

. South of State Route 37, Tolay Creek marks part of the western boundary of the

Sonoma Valley AVA The Sonoma Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Sonoma County, California which centers on the Sonoma Valley in the southern portion of the county. The name 'Sonoma' means 'Valley of the Moon' in the local Native American dialect. The a ...

, a federally designated wine appellation.

References

External links

Tolay Creek Watershed
{{San Francisco Bay watershed Rivers of Sonoma County, California Sonoma Mountains Tributaries of San Pablo Bay Rivers of Northern California

History

Watershed

See also

References

External links