Sycamore Creek is a stream, tributary to the Kings River, in

Fresno County, California Fresno County (), officially the County of Fresno, is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 1,008,654. The county seat is Fresno, the fifth-most popu ...

.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 It has its source on the south face of Pine Ridge, in the

Sierra National Forest Sierra National Forest is a U.S. national forest located on the western slope of the central Sierra Nevada in California, bounded on the northwest by Yosemite National Park and on the south by Kings Canyon National Park. The forest is known for ...

at an elevation of 5540 feet, about 2 miles SW of Sierra Cedars, California, near

Shaver Lake Shaver Lake is an artificial lake on Stevenson Creek, in the Sierra National Forest of Fresno County, California. At elevation , several smaller streams also flow into the lake, and it receives water from the tunnels of Southern California Edi ...

. 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 Pine Flat Lake is an artificial lake or reservoir in the Sierra Nevada foothills of eastern Fresno County, California on the western north-south border to the Sierra- and Sequoia National Forests, about east of Fresno. The lake is managed by the ...

on the Kings River at 968 feet. Sycamore Creek is about long, flowing in a generally southeasterly direction, with tributary North Fork Sycamore Creek and

Watts Creek Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People * Watts (surname), a list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Albie Watts, a fictional character in the British soap opera ''EastEnders'' *Angie ...

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 Trimmer is an unincorporated community in Fresno County, California. It is located north-northeast of Piedra Piedra is a hair disease caused by a fungus, which causes formation of nodules on the hair shaft.Veasey JV, Avila RB, Miguel BAF, M ...

. US Dept. of the Interior, Geological Survey Map, Dinuba, CA, 1924, reprinted 1939
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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 Thomas Jefferson Mayfield (1843–1928) led a remarkable double life in the early decades of California statehood, living his boyhood as an adopted member of the Choinumni (Choinumne) branch of the Yokuts tribe in the San Joaquin Valley, then rejoi ...

who grew up there and across the river in the village of the friendly

Choinumni The Choinumni were one of the many tribes of the Yokuts people that live in the San Joaquin Valley of California. The Choinumni lived on the Kings River. Their culture is especially well known from the account of Thomas Jefferson Mayfield Thomas J ...

Yokuts The Yokuts (previously known as MariposasPowell, 1891:90–91.) are an ethnic group of Native Americans native to central California. Before European contact, the Yokuts consisted of up to 60 tribes speaking several related languages. Yokuts ...

people after his stepmother died. The site of the cabin and village are now under Pine Flats Lake.Thomas J. Mayfield, Indian summer: traditional life among the Choinumne Indians of California's San Joaquin Valley, Heyday Books, Berkeley, 1993, p.25

References

{{reflist Rivers of Fresno County, California Rivers of Northern California