Dry Creek (formerly called Linda Creek) is a long

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 strea ...

Placer County, California Placer County ( ; ''Placer'', Spanish for "sand deposit"), officially the County of Placer, is a county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 404,739. The county seat is Auburn. P ...

, tributary to the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () 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–San Joaquin River D ...

via Steelhead Creek. Its watershed lies within the

Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the Sacramento River. It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California ...

. Because suburban development borders much of its length, the stream is noted for its capacity to cause local

flood A flood is an overflow of water (list of non-water floods, or rarely other fluids) that submerges land that is usually dry. In the sense of "flowing water", the word may also be applied to the inflow of the tide. Floods are of significant con ...

ing and as a recreational attraction.

Route

Placer County

The Dry Creek watershed headwaters are in western Placer County, in the foothills of

Sierra Nevada The Sierra Nevada ( ) is a mountain range in the Western United States, between the Central Valley of California and the Great Basin. The vast majority of the range lies in the state of California, although the Carson Range spur lies primari ...

. A number of smaller streams meet in Roseville, and the combined stream is called Dry Creek starting from the confluence of Antelope Creek and Miners Ravine. Dry Creek flows first southwest through Royer Park in downtown Roseville. Then it meets Cirby Creek and continues west across a Union Pacific railyard, past a City of Roseville

wastewater treatment plant Wastewater treatment is a process which removes and eliminates contaminants from wastewater. It thus converts it into an effluent that can be returned to the water cycle. Once back in the water cycle, the effluent creates an acceptable impact on ...

, into unincorporated Placer County, and then southwest again toward

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

.US Geological Survey Topographical Maps
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Sacramento County

After crossing into Sacramento County, Dry Creek flows south-southwest between Gibson Ranch County Park (to the west) and the city of

Antelope The term antelope refers to numerous extant or recently extinct species of the ruminant artiodactyl family Bovidae that are indigenous to most of Africa, India, the Middle East, Central Asia, and a small area of Eastern Europe. Antelopes do ...

(to the east). Then it flows southwest through the community of Rio Linda, mostly split into two parallel branches that enclose a long narrow strip of land called Cherry Island. Finally, Dry Creek enters the City of Sacramento northwest of Robla, flows west-southwest (forming a small

delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta"), the fourth letter in the Latin alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * Delta Air Lines, a major US carrier ...

) and merges with Steelhead Creek (

Natomas East Main Drainage Canal The Natomas East Main Drainage Canal, also known as Steelhead Creek, flows into the Sacramento River in Sacramento County, California Sacramento County () is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the ...

). Steelhead Creek flows south into Discovery Park in

American River Parkway The American River Parkway is a urban regional recreation area that runs along the American River throughout Sacramento County, California, consisting of many smaller parks and boat launching points. It can be accessed by various exits off U.S. R ...

and then west (parallel with

American River The American River is a List of rivers of California, river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it ...

) into Sacramento River.

Tributaries

Dry Creek tributaries include: * Antelope Creek ** Clover Valley Creek * Miners Ravine **

Secret Ravine Secret Ravine is a perennial tributary of Miners Ravine which shortly thereafter runs into Dry Creek in Placer County, California. Its course lies within the cities of Rocklin, Loomis, and Roseville, as well as unincorporated parts of Placer C ...

*** Boardman Canal ***Sucker Ravine ** False Ravine **Whites Ravine * Cirby Creek ** Linda Creek *** Strap Ravine *** Swan Stream * Goat Creek (aka. Sierra Creek)

Environmental conditions in the Roseville area

Historically Dry Creek and its tributaries have supported

anadromous Fish migration is mass relocation by fish from one area or body of water to another. Many types of fish migrate on a regular basis, on time scales ranging from daily to annually or longer, and over distances ranging from a few metres to thousa ...

fish. In the Dry Creek watershed four insecticides (

DDT Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, commonly known as DDT, is a colorless, tasteless, and almost odorless crystalline chemical compound, an organochloride. Originally developed as an insecticide, it became infamous for its environmental impacts. ...

aldrin Aldrin is an organochlorine insecticide that was widely used until the 1990s, when it was banned in most countries. Aldrin is a member of the so-called "classic organochlorines" (COC) group of pesticides. COCs enjoyed a very sharp rise in popular ...

heptachlor Heptachlor is an organochlorine compound that was used as an insecticide. Usually sold as a white or tan powder, heptachlor is one of the cyclodiene insecticides. In 1962, Rachel Carson's ''Silent Spring'' questioned the safety of heptachlor and ...

, and

dieldrin Dieldrin is an organochlorine compound originally produced in 1948 by J. Hyman & Co, Denver, as an insecticide. Dieldrin is closely related to aldrin, which reacts further to form dieldrin. Aldrin is not toxic to insects; it is oxidized in the i ...

, were used extensively for soil insect control between 1945 and 1965;''Environmental Site Assessment for Assessor's Parcel Numbers 472-170-26, 472-170-18, 472-170-01, and 472-170-23 on Cirby Way, Roseville, California'', Earth Metrics Rpt. 10357, November 30, 1989 certain residues of these chemical persist in upper soils of some of the upper Dry Creek watershed. In addition there have been instances of subsurface fuel releases.

References