Russian River (California)
| Russian River (Ashokawna or Bidapte) | |
| Slavianka River | |
| River | |
 The Russian River downstream of Duncans Mills
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Regions | Sonoma County, Mendocino County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Mark West Creek, Maacama Creek, Green Valley Creek, Big Sulphur Creek |
| - right | Dry Creek, Austin Creek, Fife Creek |
| Cities | Ukiah, Healdsburg |
| Source | Laughlin Range |
| - location | 5 mi (8 km) east of Willits, California |
| - elevation | 1,960 ft (597 m) [1] |
| - coordinates | 39°23′0″N 123°14′18″W / 39.383333°N 123.23833°W [2] |
| Mouth | Pacific Ocean |
| - location | Jenner, California |
| - elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°27′2″N 123°7′46″W / 38.45056°N 123.12944°W [2] |
| Length | 110 mi (177 km) [3] |
| Basin | 1,485 sq mi (3,846 km²) [3] |
| Discharge | for Healdsburg, California [4] |
| - average | 1,430 cu ft/s (40.5 m3/s) |
| - max | 69,300 cu ft/s (1,962.4 m3/s) |
| - min | 12 cu ft/s (0.3 m3/s) |
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- For other uses, see Russian River.
The Russian River, a southward-flowing river, drains 1,485 square miles (3,846 km2)[3] of Sonoma and Mendocino counties in Northern California. With an annual average discharge of approximately 1,600,000 acre feet (1.97 km3),[5] it is the second largest river (after the Sacramento River) flowing through the nine county Greater San Francisco Bay Area with a mainstem 110 miles long.
Contents |
[edit] Course
The Russian River springs from the Laughlin Range about 5 mi (8 km) east of Willits in Mendocino County. It flows generally southward to Redwood Valley, then parallels U.S. Route 101 past Calpella, to join the East Fork Russian River just below Lake Mendocino.
From there the Russian River flows south, past Ukiah and Hopland, and crosses into Sonoma County just north of Cloverdale. Closely paralleled by U.S. Route 101, it descends into the Alexander Valley, where it is joined by Big Sulphur Creek. It flows south past Cloverdale, Asti, and Geyserville.
East of Healdsburg, Maacama Creek joins the Russian River. After a series of sweeping bends, the river flows under U.S. Route 101 and receives water from Lake Sonoma via Dry Creek. The river then turns westward and joins Mark West Creek north of Forestville. The river passes Rio Dell, Rio Nido, and Guerneville, where it meets State Route 116. Paralleled by State Route 116, it continues past Guernewood Park and Monte Rio. Austin Creek enters from the north before passing through Duncans Mills then the Russian River flows under State Route 1 and empties into the Pacific Ocean between Jenner and Goat Rock Beach. Its mouth is about 60 mi (100 km) north of the San Francisco Bay's Golden Gate.
The lower Russian River is a popular spring, summer, and fall destination for tourists as the river is very safe then for swimming and boating, with a gentle current. The river is dangerous in the winter, with swift current and muddy water.
[edit] History
The river was originally known among the Southern Pomo as Ashokawna (ʔaš:oʔkʰawna), "east water place" or "water to the east",[6] and as Bidapte, "big river".[7] In 1827 it was called the San Ygnacio by the Spanish[8], and in 1843 Spanish land grant referred to it as Rio Grande[9].
The river takes its current name from the Russian trappers who explored the river in the early 19th century, and established their Fort Ross trade colony 10 mi (16 km) northwest of its mouth. They called it the Slavianka River, which means "Slav woman".[8] The redwoods that lined its banks drew loggers to the river in the late 19th century.
According to the USGS, variant names of the Russian River include Misallaako, Rio Ruso, Shabaikai, and Slavyanka.[2]
[edit] River modifications
A portion of the Eel River is diverted to headwaters of the Russian River in Potter Valley. The Sonoma County Water Agency[10] draws drinking water from the Russian River for sale to residents of Sonoma, Mendocino, and northern Marin counties.[11] Santa Rosa's Laguna Wastewater Treatment Plant treats sewage from several communities to tertiary standards and returns some of it to the river by way of the Laguna de Santa Rosa.
[edit] Ecology
Historically it is interesting as one of two Northern California coastal rivers mentioned in the early nineteenth century by Russian explorer K. T. Khlebnikov as hosting sturgeon, presumably White sturgeon (Acipenser transmontanus), along with the Pajaro River.[12] Khlebnikov's "1820 Travel Notes" states: "Mr. Kuskov had sent two baidarkas to the Slavianka River to catch sturgeon, and they returned today with ten fish...the largest one exceeding two arshins (4.67 feet) long".[13] Moyle's Inland Fishes of California states that there were historic runs of white, but not green, sturgeon in the Russian River.[14]
[edit] Russian River Valley
The river's floodplain includes many vineyards, and an area of the Russian River Valley was approved as an American Viticultural Area in 1983 and enlarged in 2006.[15] It produces award-winning Chardonnay and Pinot noir wines in addition to other wine varietals, and is home to many small and several large commercial wineries.
[edit] See also
- Bohemian Grove
- List of rivers in California
- List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
- Sonoma County wine
- Squaw Rock
- California Wine Country
[edit] References
- ^ Google Earth elevation for source coordinates
- ^ a b c U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Russian River
- ^ a b c "Water Supply". Sonoma County Water Agency. http://www.scwa.ca.gov/water-supply/. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
- ^ Webster, M.D.; G.L. Pope, M.F. Friebel, L.A. Freeman, and S.J. Brockner. "Water Resources Data—California, Water Year 2004". http://pubs.usgs.gov/wdr/2004/wdr-ca-04-2/WDR.CA.04.vol2.pdf. Retrieved June 28, 2010.
- ^ Langridge, Ruth; Christian-Smith, Juliet; Lohse, Kathleen A. (2006). "Access and resilience: analyzing the construction of social resilience to the threat of water scarcity". Ecology and Society 11 (2): 18. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss2/art18/. Retrieved February 14, 2010.
- ^ Oswalt, Robert (1981). Southern Pomo Word List and Map of Native Place Names in the Warm Springs Dam Area. San Francisco, CA: US Army Corps of Engineers.
- ^ Oswalt, Robert; Peri, David W.; Fredrickson, Vera-Mae (1979). Language Study. San Francisco, CA: US Army Corps of Engineers.
- ^ a b Erwin G. Gudde, William Bright (2004). California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. Berkeley, California: University of California Press. p. 323. http://books.google.com/books?id=Kqwt5RlMVBoC&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=gudde+california+place+names+arroyo+quito&source=bl&ots=3sthkb8SkU&sig=G0aEiTpO2pNC84O0nyYi_FUxYPQ&hl=en&ei=FfMmTIebMYzanAe4gbm8Bg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBIQ6AEwAA#v=snippet&q=russian%20river&f=false. Retrieved June 27, 2010.
- ^ Praetzellis, Mary; Praetzellis, Adrian; Stewart, Suzanne B. (1985). "Before Warm Springs Dam: A History of the Lake Sonoma Area". US Army Corps of Engineers. pp. 28. http://www.sonoma.edu/asc/projects/WarmSprings/Chap03_WS_web.pdf. Retrieved 2008-11-14.
- ^ Sonoma County Water Agency
- ^ Sonoma County Water Agency Structure
- ^ K. T. Khlebnikov (1940). "Memoirs of California". Pacific Historical Review. http://www.jstor.org/stable/3632910. Retrieved Apr. 10, 2010.
- ^ Kiril T. Khlebnikov, translated by John Bisk and edited by Leon Shur (1990). The Khlebnikov Archive: Unpublished Journal (1800-1837) and Travel Notes (1820, 1822 and 1824). University of Alaska Press. p. 60. ISBN 978-0912006420.
- ^ Peter B. Moyle (2002). Inland Fishes of California. p. 107. ISBN 9780520227545. http://books.google.com/books?id=4s1FnZ9f_aAC&printsec=frontcover&dq=moyle+inland+fishes&source=bl&ots=gxlP1kCSG8&sig=eZfYgP_FF_tkRYB6dimhfaG3FT4&hl=en&ei=iLYyTIXuCIWonQf88ZSLBA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=white%20sturgeon&f=false. Retrieved 2010-07-05.
- ^ Russian River Valley Winegrowers Association
[edit] External links
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