Cajalco Canyon Creek is an ephemeral stream that flows through Cajalco Canyon in the

Temescal Mountains Temescal Mountains, also known as the Sierra Temescal (Spanish for " sweat lodge range"), are one of the northernmost mountain ranges of the Peninsular Ranges in western Riverside County, in Southern California in the United States. They extend ...

of Riverside County, California, United States. It is a tributary to Temescal Wash, itself a tributary to the Santa Ana River. Cajalco is thought to be a Hispanic spelling of the word for "

quail Quail is a collective name for several genera of mid-sized birds generally placed in the order Galliformes. The collective noun for a group of quail is a flock, covey, or bevy. Old World quail are placed in the family Phasianidae, and New ...

" in the languages of the

Luiseño The Luiseño or Payómkawichum are an indigenous people of California who, at the time of the first contacts with the Spanish in the 16th century, inhabited the coastal area of southern California, ranging from the present-day southern part of ...

and

Cahuilla The Cahuilla , also known as ʔívil̃uqaletem or Ivilyuqaletem, are a Native American people of the various tribes of the Cahuilla Nation, living in the inland areas of southern California.Gavilan Hills Gavilan Hills, sometimes called the Gavilan Mountains, are a range of the Temescal Mountains, in Riverside County, California. The name given them came from local New Mexican and Californio miners of the mountains and Gavilan Plateau. In Spani ...

of the Temescal Mountains at . USGS Topographic Map: Steele Peak, California
/ref> It then turned northwest to take in waters from arroyos from Mead Valley and turned west down through the wide, gently sloping Cajalco Valley above Cajalco Canyon gathering waters from the

Gavilan Plateau Gavilan Plateau is a plateau in Riverside County, California. It lies at an elevation of 2083 feet on the north slope of the Temescal Mountains overlooking the Cajalco Valley south of Riverside, California. History The Gavilan Hills and Gavilan ...

from Harford Spring Canyon at , and from other minor arroyos. Other small arroyos descended from heights to the north. It entered Temescal Wash at after descending through the steep narrow gorge of the Cajalco Canyon in the lower reach of the creek. USGS Topographic Map: Lake Mathews, California
/ref> The original course of the creek, before 1933, can be seen on the US Dept. of the Interior's 1898

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

of the Elsinore Quadrangle.

Lake Mathews

In the 1930s a dam was built in Cajalco Canyon, blocking the stream as part of the

Colorado River Aqueduct The Colorado River Aqueduct, or CRA, is a water conveyance in Southern California in the United States, operated by the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California (MWD). The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Hav ...

project that created the Cajalco Reservoir, now

Lake Mathews Lake Mathews is a large reservoir in Riverside County, California, located in the Cajalco Canyon in the foothills of the Temescal Mountains. It is the western terminus for the Colorado River Aqueduct that provides much of the water used by the ...

. Kathleen Dever and Judy Whitson, ''Lake Mathews And Gavilan Hills'', Arcadia Publishing, Charleston, 2007, pp. 39–100
/ref> Now the water of the upper reach of the creek flows down through Cajalco Valley to join this

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

at . The lower reach below the dam still flows through what remains of Cajalco Canyon into the Temescal Wash.

References

{{coord, 33, 43, 40, N, 117, 23, 35, W, display=title Rivers of Riverside County, California Tributaries of Temescal Creek Rivers of Southern California