Mojave River
Mojave River | |
---|---|
Deep Creek | |
• location | Mojave River Forks Reservoir, San Bernardino Mountains |
• coordinates | 34°20′29″N 117°14′14″W / 34.34139°N 117.23722°W[1] |
• elevation | 2,986 ft (910 m) |
Mouth | Soda Lake |
• location | Baker, Mojave Desert |
• coordinates | 35°06′20″N 116°03′53″W / 35.10556°N 116.06472°W[1] |
• elevation | 935 ft (285 m) |
Length | 110 mi (180 km) |
Basin size | 4,580 sq mi (11,900 km2)[2] |
Discharge | |
• location | Lower Narrows, near Victorville[3] |
• average | 65.7 cu ft/s (1.86 m3/s)[4] |
• minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
• maximum | 70,600 cu ft/s (2,000 m3/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Oro Grande Wash, Fremont Wash, Buckhorn Wash, Manix Wash |
• right | Bell Mountain Wash, Stoddard Wash, Daggett Wash |
The Mojave River is an
History
A desert branch of the
The Mohave's trail, later the European immigrants' Mojave Road, ran west from their villages on the Colorado River to Soda Lake, then paralleled the river from its mouth on the lake to the Cajon Pass. Native Americans used this trade route where water could easily be found en route to the coast. Garcés explored the length of the Mojave River in early 1776.[5] He called the river Arroyo de los Mártires ("river of the martyrs") on March 9, 1776 but later Spaniards called it Río de las Ánimas ("spirit river or river of the (lost) souls"). In 1826 Jedediah Smith was the first non-Native American to travel overland to California by following the Mojave Indian Trail. He called this the Inconstant River.
A pack horse and livestock trail, the
Sometime before 1844, a cutoff developed on the Old Spanish Trail that cut the distance traveled along the upper river by cutting across what is now Victor Valley, from the Cajon Pass to a crossing just below the Lower Narrows of the river. John C. Frémont intercepted this route to the river, riding east southeast from Lake Elizabeth, north of the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains on April 20, 1844.[7]: 258–259
Frémont named the river Mohahve after the Mohave people on April 23, 1844, although these people lived two mountain ranges away on the Colorado River. He had met six traveling Mohaves that day. Some early Mormon ranchers called it the Macaby River.[7]: 259–260 [8] Additionally another cutoff to the Old Spanish Trail had developed before 1844, where the trail forked northeastward from the Mojave River and Mohave Trail, east of what is now Yermo, California running over Alvord Mountain, to Bitter Spring, then through Red Pass, to join the Armijo route near Salt Spring in the Silurian Valley.[7]: 261–264 The fork of the trails there on the Mojave River, later became known as Fork of the Road.[9]
From 1847, Mormons pioneered the wagon road that became the
In 1859, as part of the
From 1863 to 1864, the Mojave River valley was a refuge from the great drought in California in those years; cattle of some resourceful ranchers of southern California were preserved by its resources.
Course
The river's source is in the
Near its terminus, the Mojave River flows out onto a large inland delta called the Mojave River Wash at the western edge of Mojave National Preserve. During heavy flows, the river reaches Soda Lake near Baker at the north end of Wash, and has reached Silver Lake, even further north, in historic times. For example, during the unusually wet winter of 2004–2005, the Mojave River flowed on the surface to Silver Lake and filled both Soda and Silver Lakes to a depth of several feet.[11]
The water in the river is mostly underground. The channel at the surface remains dry most of the time, but extreme flooding is possible. For example, during a heavy
Afton Canyon Natural Area
The Afton Canyon Natural Area is within Mojave Trails National Monument, and is managed by the Bureau of Land Management.[13] It is located 37 mi (60 km) northeast of Barstow along Interstate 15 between the Afton Road and Basin Road exits.
Afton Canyon is designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern to protect plant and wildlife
See also
References
- ^ a b "Mojave River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
- ^ "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". USGS.gov. Retrieved 2010-06-07.
- ^ "USGS Gage #10261500 on the Mojave River at Lower Narrows near Victorville, CA". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
- ^ "USGS Gage #10261500 on the Mojave River at Lower Narrows near Victorville, CA". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2011-07-13.
- ^ a b "Vanyume Indians". Digital-Desert: Mojave Desert. Retrieved 2011-01-30.
- ^ Sutton, Mark Q.; Earle, David D. (2017). The Desert Serrano of the Mojave River (PDF). Pacific Coast Archaeological Society Quarterly. p. 8.
- ^ ISBN 9780608422817.
- ISBN 978-0-520-24217-3.
- ^ "New Map Of The Territory Of Arizona, Southern California And Parts Of Nevada, Utah And Sonora., Payot, Upham & Company, San Francisco". Davidrumsey.com. 1877. Retrieved November 19, 2015.
- ^ "CDEC - Data Application". Cdec.water.ca.gov. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "BLM Afton Canyon Natural Area, Barstow Field Office, Bureau of Land Management California". Blm.gov. 2015-10-02. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
- ^ The Wildlands Conservancy: Mojave Trails National Monument, "The National Treasures at the Heart of the Mojave".
- ^ "BLM Afton Canyon Natural Area, Barstow Field Office, Bureau of Land Management California". Blm.gov. 2015-10-02. Archived from the original on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
- ^ "Afton Canyon Riparian Restoration Project, Barstow Field Office, Bureau of Land Management, California". Blm.gov. 2009-02-19. Archived from the original on 2015-12-06. Retrieved 2015-11-29.
Bibliography
- Philip Stoffer (14 January 2004). "Changing Climates and Ancient Lakes" (.html). Desert Landforms and Surface Processes in the Mojave National Preserve and Vicinity. Open-File Report 2004-1007. USGS, US Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- Philip Stoffer (14 January 2004). "Playas" (.html). Desert Landforms and Surface Processes in the Mojave National Preserve and Vicinity. Open-File Report 2004-1007. USGS, US Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-09-12.
- Philip Stoffer (14 January 2004). "The Mojave River and Associated Lakes" (.html). Desert Landforms and Surface Processes in the Mojave National Preserve and Vicinity. Open-File Report 2004-1007. USGS, US Department of the Interior. Retrieved 2009-09-12.