Sycamore Creek (Kings River tributary)

Sycamore Creek^[1]
Sycamore Creek
	Map showing the course of the Kings River, and Pine Flat Lake
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Fresno County
Physical characteristics
Source	Pine Ridge, about 2 miles SW of Sierra Cedars, California, near Shaver Lake
• coordinates	37°03′53″N 119°19′46″W / 37.06472°N 119.32944°W / 37.06472; -119.32944
• elevation	5,540 ft (1,690 m)
Mouth	confluence with Pine Flat Lake, Kings River
• coordinates	36°55′12″N 119°16′39″W / 36.92000°N 119.27750°W / 36.92000; -119.27750
• elevation	968 ft (295 m)
Length	24 mi (39 km)
Basin size	56.5 sq mi (146 km2)
Discharge
• location	at creek at elevation of 1141.96 ft
• minimum	0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s)
• maximum	6,760 cu ft/s (191 m3/s)

Sycamore Creek is a stream, tributary to the Kings River, in Fresno County, California.^[1]^[2]

It has its source on the south face of Pine Ridge, in the Sierra National Forest at an elevation of 5540 feet, about 2 miles SW of Sierra Cedars, California, near Shaver Lake. It descends steeply to its confluence with its north fork at just below 2000 feet elevation and continues southward to its mouth on Pine Flat Lake on the Kings River at 968 feet.

Sycamore Creek is about 12 miles (19 km) long, flowing in a generally southeasterly direction, with tributary North Fork Sycamore Creek and Watts Creek adding to its waters along the way. Prior to the construction of the Pine Flat Dam and the creation of Pine Flat Lake, Sycamore Creek flowed directly into the Kings River above the original site of the town of Trimmer, California.^[3]^[4]

History

The flats at the mouth of Sycamore Creek along the Kings River was the site of the 1850 settler cabin and farm of William Mayfield an early pioneer settler of the San Joaquin Valley and father of Thomas Jefferson Mayfield who grew up there and across the river in the village of the friendly Choinumni, Yokuts people after his stepmother died. The site of the cabin and village are now under Pine Flats Lake.^[5]

References

^ a b U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sycamore Creek (Kings River tributary)
^ Surface Water Supply of the United States 1956, Part 11. Pacific Slope Basins in California, Geological Survey Water-supply Paper 1445, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959, p. 250
^ Water-Supply Paper 296, GAZETTEER OF SURFACE WATERS OF CALIFORNIA, Part II. SAN JOAQUIN RIVER BASIN, PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN C. HOYT BY B. D. WOOD. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, U.S. G.P.O., 1913, p.87
^ US Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey Map, Dinuba, CA, 1924, reprinted 1939
^ Thomas J. Mayfield, Indian summer: traditional life among the Choinumne Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley, Heyday Books, Berkeley, 1993, p.25

[gnis-1] U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Sycamore Creek (Kings River tributary)

[Surface_Water_Supply-2] Surface Water Supply of the United States 1956, Part 11. Pacific Slope Basins in California, Geological Survey Water-supply Paper 1445, U.S. Government Printing Office, 1959, p. 250

[3] Water-Supply Paper 296, GAZETTEER OF SURFACE WATERS OF CALIFORNIA, Part II. SAN JOAQUIN RIVER BASIN, PREPARED UNDER THE DIRECTION OF JOHN C. HOYT BY B. D. WOOD. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY, U.S. G.P.O., 1913, p.87

[4] US Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey Map, Dinuba, CA, 1924, reprinted 1939

[Indian-5] Thomas J. Mayfield, Indian summer: traditional life among the Choinumne Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley, Heyday Books, Berkeley, 1993, p.25