American River
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The American River (Río de los Americanos during the Mexican-ruled period before 1846) located in the US state of California, has a prominent place in United States history for being the site of Sutter's Mill, Northwest of Placerville, California, where gold was found in 1848, leading to the California Gold Rush. This river runs from the Sierra Nevada mountains, through the Sacramento metropolitan area, where it flows into the Sacramento River on its way into the San Francisco Bay. The American river is known for its whitewater rapids.
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[edit] Terrain
The American River is divided into the North, Middle, and South Forks that comprise recreational havens for well over one million visitors per year in Placer, El Dorado, and Sacramento Counties in the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range of Northern California.
The North Fork begins at an elevation of 8000 feet (2400 m) near Lake Tahoe in Placer County at the snowcapped crest of the Sierras. It flows westward through remote wilderness areas including Royal Gorge, a spectacular narrow canyon 2,000 feet (610 m) deep that contains multiple smaller rivers and creeks as tributaries. The North Fork and its tributaries provides one of the most biologically diverse habitats in North America. The North Fork features scenic multi-use trails along forested ridgetops and riparian corridors. It flows undammed as a federally-eligible Wild & Scenic River until a small debris dam, Clementine, immediately above the Foresthill Bridge and prior to the confluence with the Middle Fork at Auburn, California. Both the North Fork and Middle Fork feature archaeological and historic sites of ancient American Indian culture and 1850s Gold Rush habitation.
While the Middle Fork originates near the source of the North Fork, it is characterized by somewhat broader steep canyons interspersed with manmade reservoirs, natural waterfalls, and quiet riparian areas. The Middle Fork is used extensively for both motorized and non-motorized recreation, including fishing, white water adventuring, bicycling (mountain and road), horseback riding, trail running and hiking. It contains areas used for hydroelectric generation, mining, and agricultural timber cultivation and harvesting. The Middle Fork features the Western States Trail that hosts multiple annual endurance events including the prestigious Tevis Cup equestrian trail ride and the world famous Western States 100 Mile Trail Run, both beginning at Squaw Valley and leading to Auburn via remote wilderness trails. From the Confluence at Auburn, the combined North and Middle Forks river flows at an elevation of 600 feet (200 m) in a forested canyon 800 feet (240 m) deep and is called the North Fork. It meanders through additional wilderness recreational canyons past the site of the abandoned Auburn Dam, and back into wilderness, onward to where it meets the South Fork at Folsom Lake.
The South Fork lies in El Dorado County and also has multi use recreational areas including the Rubicon Trail for motorized adventuring and world famous whitewater rafting venues. The South Fork also features Coloma, the site where gold was discovered in California in 1848, and recreational gold panning is a popular family activity. All three forks are known for their verdant canyons, forested ridges, massive rock formations, trails, backcountry winter adventuring among snowy peaks, fishing and white water rafting.
Below Folsom Lake, the river passes through an urbanized area but is buffered by a riparian park, the American River Parkway, containing fishing and family-oriented rafting, and paved bicycling and multi use trails that runs 23 miles (37 km) from Folsom Lake to the river's confluence with the Sacramento River. The American River Parkway incorporates Historic Leidesdorff Ranch, a 35,000-acre (140 km2) cattle and wheat agribusiness owned by the "African Founding Father of California." Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail, a meandering, uninterrupted 32-mile (51 km) cycle path hugs the river bank from Old Sacramento to Folsom Lake.
[edit] Hydroelectric power
Like most major western U.S. rivers, the American River has been extensively dammed and diverted for hydroelectricity production. Bunch Creek is one of the tributaries of the North Fork of the American River. Since the California Gold Rush was centered along the American river basin, it was one of the earlier California rivers to be populated beginning at Leidesdorff Ranch, owned by William Leidesdorff. Water was used to drive grist mills. By the end of the nineteenth century, some of these mill sites were converted to some of the earliest hydroelectric plants, with Folsom State Prison using the river to generate electricity in 1893. The Natoma Company completed its Folsom Powerhouse and began delivering power 22 miles (35 km) away to the city of Sacramento by 1895.
Today, five power plants on the Middle Fork are owned by the Placer County Water Agency. On the South Fork, SMUD owns eight plants, El Dorado Irrigation District and PG&E each own one plant (Akin Powerhouse and Chili Bar Powerhouse, respectively), and the eleventh plant is owned by a small private concern (Rock Creek Powerhouse). The SMUD plants are run on a peaking basis, although recreational boating and environmental flow requirements constrain their operation slightly. None of these upstream plants are constrained by flood control requirements.
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) has two hydroelectric plants downstream, at Folsom Dam and Nimbus Dam. The Bureau of Reclamation operates Nimbus as a base load plant and Folsom as an intermediate plant. In contrast to the plants on the upstream tributaries, water supply and flood control requirements largely govern their operation.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Sutter's Mill, aka Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park
- The American River
- Folsom Dam
- Nimbus Dam
- American River Parkway (Sacramento County)
- Guide to Rafting and Kayaking on the American River
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