San Jacinto River (California)

San Jacinto River
River
300px The mouth of the San Jacinto on Lake Elsinore, viewed from California State Route 74 (the Ortega Highway) on the southwest side of the lake
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Riverside County
Part of	Santa Ana River basin
Tributaries
- left	South Fork San Jacinto River
- right	North Fork San Jacinto River
Cities	Hemet, San Jacinto, Perris, Lake Elsinore
Source	San Jacinto Mountains
- location	San Bernardino National Forest, Riverside County
- elevation	2,100 ft (640 m)
- coordinates
Mouth	Lake Elsinore
- location	Lake Elsinore, at the mouth of Railroad Canyon, northwest of the Sedco Hills and west of the Tuscany Hills of the Temescal Mountains., Riverside County
- elevation	1,243 ft (379 m)
- coordinates
Length	42 mi (68 km), Northwest then southwest
Basin	780 sq mi (2,020 km2)
Discharge
- average	16.4 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
- max	16,000 cu ft/s (453 m3/s)
- min	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
Map of the Santa Ana River watershed with the San Jacinto subbasin highlighted in darker green.

The San Jacinto River is a 42-mile-long (68 km) river in Riverside County, California. The river's headwaters are in San Bernardino National Forest, but the lower portion of the 765-square-mile (1,980 km²) watershed is urban and agricultural land. As an endorheic watershed that is contiguous with other Great Basin watersheds, the western side of the San Jacinto Basin is a portion of the Great Basin Divide.

Course

The river is formed at the west base of the San Jacinto Mountains by the confluence of its North and South forks. The South Fork flows from near Santa Rosa Summit, through Pine Meadow and Garner Valley to Lake Hemet, which holds 14,000 acre feet (17,000,000 m³) of water. Hemet Dam was built in 1895 to supply water to the city of Hemet. Downstream of the dam, the South Fork joins the North Fork east of the town of Valle Vista near Highway 74, and the main stem of the San Jacinto River continues northwest until it discharges into Mystic Lake, a couple of miles east of Lake Perris. Overflow from the river then flows southwest, passing under Ramona Expressway and Interstate 215, and through Railroad Canyon to Railroad Canyon Reservoir, also called Canyon Lake, which has a capacity of 11,900 acre feet (14,700,000 m³). Downstream of Railroad Canyon Dam, the river continues flowing roughly west southwest through the canyon through the Temescal Mountains for about 3 miles (4.8 km) until it drains into Lake Elsinore. The lake has very little outflow, but in years of heavy rainfall it has overflowed into Temescal Creek, a tributary of the Santa Ana River, that flows northwest to that river in Corona, California.

List of tributaries of the San Jacinto River

• Cottonwood Canyon Creek in Railroad Canyon
• Canyon Lake in Railroad Canyon
  • Salt Creek
• Perris Valley Channel
• Bautista Creek
• Indian Creek
• North Fork San Jacinto River
  • Logan Creek
  • Stone Creek
  • Black Mountain Creek
  • Fuller Mill Creek
• South Fork San Jacinto River
  • Dry Creek
    • Strawberry Creek
    • Coldwater Creek
  • Spillway Canyon Creek
  • Lake Hemet
  • Herkey Creek
  • Fobes Canyon Creek
  • Pipe Creek
  • Martinez Creek
  • Gold Shot Creek
  • Penrod Canyon Creek

External links

• Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority PDF (4.64 MiB)