Cottonwood Creek
Arroyo Alamo
Cottonwood Creek (San Luis Creek tributary) is located in California
Cottonwood Creek (San Luis Creek tributary)
Location of the mouth of Cottonwood Creek at San Luis Reservoir in California
EtymologySpanish
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionMerced County
Physical characteristics
Sourcesource
 • locationRed Hill,[1] eastern slope of the Diablo Range, north of Pacheco Pass, Merced County
 • coordinates37°07′29″N 121°11′24″W / 37.12472°N 121.19000°W / 37.12472; -121.19000[2]
 • elevation2,080 ft (630 m)
Mouthmouth
 • location
Confluence with San Luis Reservoir, Merced County
 • coordinates
37°06′18″N 121°07′57″W / 37.10500°N 121.13250°W / 37.10500; -121.13250[2]
 • elevation
548 ft (167 m)[2]

Cottonwood Creek is a southeastward-flowing 4 mi (6.4 km) tributary stream of San Luis Creek,[3] originating in the eastern foothills of the Diablo Range in Merced County, California. The creek's mouth, before the San Luis Dam was built across the course of San Luis Creek, was originally at its confluence with San Luis Creek at approximately 250 ft (76 m). Today, Cottonwood Creek enters San Luis Reservoir, which raises the elevation of the creek's mouth to 548 ft (167 m), where it becomes Cottonwood Bay on the north side of the reservoir. The source of the creek is at Red Hill, a summit on the eastern slope of the Diablo Range.[4]

History

Cottonwood Creek, originally named by the Spanish Arroyo Alamos, was named for the Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii) trees which are still abundant along the lower creek.[5]

Ecology and Conservation

The Upper and Lower Cottonwood Creek Wildlife Areas are administered by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and bracket the historic mouth of Cottonwood Creek, now submerged as Cottonwood Bay on San Luis Reservoir. This area is now home to a herd of tule elk, visible from the Pacheco Pass (Highway 152), which dispersed there from 1978-1981 CDFW translocations of the large ungulates to the Hewlett-Packard San Felipe Ranch on Mt. Hamilton in Santa Clara County.[6]

See also

References

  1. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Red Hill
  2. 1 2 3 U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cottonwood Creek
  3. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 15, 2011
  4. ↑ U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Cottonwood Creek
  5. ↑ Erwin Gustav Gudde; William Bright (2010). California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. University of California Press. p. 7. ISBN 978-0-520-26619-3.
  6. ↑ Lisa M. Krieger (November 27, 2017). "The elk are coming back- even to San Jose". San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved November 28, 2020.
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