Tujunga Wash is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 16, 2011

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 ...

Los Angeles County, California Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the List of the most populous counties in the United States, most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, ...

. It is a tributary of the

Los Angeles River , name_etymology = , image = File:Los Angeles River from Fletcher Drive Bridge 2019.jpg , image_caption = L.A. River from Fletcher Drive Bridge , image_size = 300 , map = LARmap.jpg , map_size ...

, providing about a fifth of its flow, and drains about . It is called a wash because it is usually dry, especially the lower reaches, only carrying significant flows during and after storms, which usually only occur between November and April. The name of the wash derives from a

Tongva The Tongva ( ) are an Indigenous people of California from the Los Angeles Basin and the Southern Channel Islands, an area covering approximately . Some descendants of the people prefer Kizh as an endonym that, they argue, is more historically ...

village name.

About

The name ''Tujunga'' or ''Tuxunga'' means "old woman's place" in both

Fernandeño The Tongva language (also known as Gabrielino or Gabrieleño) is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language formerly spoken by the Tongva, a Native American people who live in and around Los Angeles, California. It has not been a language of everyday conve ...

and

, where ''Tuxu'' means "old woman". The term is thought to relate to an ethnohistoric narrative, known as Khra'wiyawi, collected by Carobeth Laird from Juan and Juana Menendez at the

Leonis Adobe The Leonis Adobe, built in 1844, is one of the oldest surviving private residences in Los Angeles County and one of the oldest surviving buildings in the San Fernando Valley. Located in what is now Calabasas, California, the adobe was occupied ...

in 1916. In the narrative, the wife of Khra'wiyawi (the chief of the region) is stricken with grief over the untimely loss of her daughter. In her sadness, she retreats to the mountains and turns to stone. It is thought this event became the basis for the village name. In fact, there is a large rock in Little Tujunga Canyon which looks like an old woman in a sitting position. However, there was also a Fernandeño village in the vicinity of Big Tujunga Canyon called ''Muxúnga'', which means "place of shooting" in the Fernandeño dialect of the

Tongva language The Tongva language (also known as Gabrielino or Gabrieleño) is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language formerly spoken by the Tongva, a Native American people who live in and around Los Angeles, California. It has not been a language of everyday conve ...

. The name comes from the verb ''muxú,'' which means "shoot him." Tujunga Wash consists of two forks, both beginning in the

San Gabriel Mountains The San Gabriel Mountains ( es, Sierra de San Gabriel) are a mountain range located in northern Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County and western San Bernardino County, California, United States. The mountain range is part of the Tr ...

. The upper portion of Big Tujunga Wash is called Tujunga Creek, or

Big Tujunga Creek Big Tujunga Creek is a major stream in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. From its headwaters high in the San Gabriel Mountains, it flows generally southwest for ,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resoluti ...

. It travels roughly east to west, and several tributaries from the north and south join it as it flows to Big Tujunga Reservoir, formed by

Big Tujunga Dam Big Tujunga Dam is a concrete arch dam in Los Angeles County, California, spanning Big Tujunga Canyon northeast of Sunland, in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. Completed in 1931, it provides flood control and groundwater recharge for ...

. Below the dam, the stream is called Big Tujunga Wash. It continues its westward flow, enters

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

and is met by Little Tujunga Wash a mile before reaching Hansen Reservoir, which is formed by

Hansen Dam Hansen Dam is a flood control dam in the northeastern San Fernando Valley, in the Lake View Terrace neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, Los Angeles, California.Pitarre, Alyson. "Where country living sidles up to the city." ''Los Angeles Ti ...

. Little Tujunga Wash comes from the north, draining the portion of the San Gabriel Mountains immediately north of Hansen Reservoir. Downstream of the dam, Tujunga Wash flows roughly south and is met halfway to its confluence with the

Pacoima Wash Pacoima Wash, long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed March 16, 2011 is a major tributary of the Tujunga Wash, itself a tributary of the Los Angeles River, in the San Fernan ...

, which drains the other side of the mountains that Little Tujunga Wash drains. Finally, Tujunga Wash meets the

near

Studio City, California Studio City is a neighborhood in the city of Los Angeles, California, in the southeast San Fernando Valley, just west of the Cahuenga Pass. It is named after the studio lot that was established in the area by film producer Mack Sennett in 1927, ...

Los Angeles River - flood of 1938 - confluence of Tujunga Wash and LA River (SPCOL27)

Big Tujunga Dam was built by Los Angeles County and completed in 1931. Big Tujunga Reservoir can hold of water. In the

Los Angeles Flood of 1938 The Los Angeles flood of 1938 was one of the largest floods in the history of Los Angeles, Orange, and Riverside Counties in southern California. The flood was caused by two Pacific storms that swept across the Los Angeles Basin in February-Ma ...

it was tested. The dam underwent a

seismic retrofit Seismic retrofitting is the modification of existing structures to make them more resistant to seismic activity, ground motion, or soil failure due to earthquakes. With better understanding of seismic demand on structures and with our recent exp ...

, completed in July 2011, which included doubling the thickness of the gravity arch dam. Hansen Dam was built by the

United States Army Corps of Engineers , colors = , anniversaries = 16 June (Organization Day) , battles = , battles_label = Wars , website = , commander1 = ...

and completed in 1940. Hansen Reservoir can hold of water. Their primary purposes are

flood control Flood control methods are used to reduce or prevent the detrimental effects of flood waters."Flood Control", MSN Encarta, 2008 (see below: Further reading). Flood relief methods are used to reduce the effects of flood waters or high water level ...

, although they also provide some

groundwater recharge Groundwater recharge or deep drainage or deep percolation is a hydrologic process, where water moves downward from surface water to groundwater. Recharge is the primary method through which water enters an aquifer. This process usually occurs in ...

. Water cannot percolate in the lower portion of the watershed because it is so urbanized that there is little bare ground and streambeds have been transformed into

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wi ...

channels, and the water flows too fast in the upper reaches of the watershed to sink into the ground very much. As a result, the majority of the water is discharged into the ocean. In 1969, there was a flood in the Tujunga Wash. Water flowed down a formerly inactive channel and entered a large gravel pit deep. The channel bed degraded by about , leading to the failure of three highway bridges and the loss of seven homes.Bull, W. B. and K. M. Scott (1974). "Impact of mining gravel from urban stream beds in the Southwestern United States." Geology 2: 171-174.

Crossings

From north to south (with year built in parentheses): *

(1940) *Service bridge *Glenoaks Boulevard (1953) *Railroad *

San Fernando Road San Fernando Road is a major street in the City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County. Within the Burbank city limits it is signed as San Fernando Boulevard, and north of Newhall Pass it is signed as The Old Road. It was previously designate ...

(1935) * Laurel Canyon Boulevard (1952) *

Interstate 5 Interstate 5 (I-5) is the main north–south Interstate Highway on the West Coast of the United States, running largely parallel to the Pacific coast of the contiguous U.S. from Mexico to Canada. It travels through the states of Califor ...

& California 170 (1963) *Arleta Avenue (1968) *Roscoe Boulevard (1956) *Cantara Street (1952) *Saticoy Street (1952) *Railroad:

Union Pacific The Union Pacific Railroad , legally Union Pacific Railroad Company and often called simply Union Pacific, is a freight-hauling railroad that operates 8,300 locomotives over routes in 23 U.S. states west of Chicago and New Orleans. Union Paci ...

Coast Line *Sherman Way (1952) *Vanowen Street & Fulton Avenue (1951) *Ethel Avenue * Victory Boulevard (1952) *Oxnard Street (1952) *Burbank Boulevard & Coldwater Canyon Avenue (1951) *Chandler Boulevard North (1951) * Metro G Line *Chandler Boulevard South (1957) *Magnolia Boulevard (1950) * Riverside Drive & Whitsett Avenue (1950) *

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

- Ventura Freeway (1959) * Laurel Canyon Boulevard (1950) *Moorpark Street (1951) *Merges with

References

{{Coord missing, Los Angeles County, California Rivers of Los Angeles County, California Tributaries of the Los Angeles River Geography of the San Fernando Valley Washes of California San Gabriel Mountains Studio City, Los Angeles Sun Valley, Los Angeles Van Nuys, Los Angeles Rivers of Southern California

External links

Historical Marker Database website, Tujunga Wash

About

Crossings

See also

References

External links