Temescal Creek (shown on federal maps as Temescal Wash) is an approximately U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed March 16, 2011 watercourse in

Riverside County Riverside County is a county located in the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 2,418,185, making it the fourth-most populous county in California and the 10th-most populous in the Unit ...

, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. Flowing primarily in a northwestern direction, it connects

Lake Elsinore Lake Elsinore is a natural freshwater lake in Riverside County, California, United States, located east of the Santa Ana Mountains and fed by the San Jacinto River. Originally named ''Laguna Grande'' by Spanish explorers, it was renamed for t ...

with the

Santa Ana River The Santa Ana River is the largest river entirely within Southern California in the United States. It rises in the San Bernardino Mountains and flows for most of its length through San Bernardino County, California, San Bernardino and Riversid ...

. It drains the eastern slopes of the

Santa Ana Mountains The Santa Ana Mountains are a short peninsular mountain range along the coast of Southern California in the United States. They extend for approximately southeast of the Los Angeles Basin largely along the border between Orange and Riversid ...

on its left and on its right the western slopes of the

Temescal Mountains The 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 ex ...

along its length. With a

drainage basin A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...

of about , it is the largest tributary of the Santa Ana River, hydrologically connecting the San Jacinto River and

watersheds to the rest of the Santa Ana watershed. However, flowing through an arid

rain shadow A rain shadow is an area of significantly reduced rainfall behind a mountainous region, on the side facing away from prevailing winds, known as its leeward side. Evaporated moisture from body of water, bodies of water (such as oceans and larg ...

zone of the

, and with diversion of ground water for human use, the creek today is ephemeral for most of its length, except for runoff from housing developments and agricultural return flows.

History

Prior to 1886, Temescal Valley and Temescal Creek that flowed through it had much more water than today. In May, 1886 the South Riverside Land and Water Company was incorporated, and it purchased the lands of Rancho La Sierra of Bernardo Yorba, and the Rancho Temescal grant where the colony of South Riverside was laid out. They also secured the water rights to Temescal Creek, its tributaries and Lee Lake. Dams and pipelines were built to carry the water to the colony. In 1889 the Temescal Water Company was incorporated, to supply water for the new colony. This company purchased all the water-bearing lands in the valley and began drilling

artesian wells An artesian well is a well that brings groundwater to the surface without pumping because it is under pressure within a body of rock or sediment known as an aquifer. When trapped water in an aquifer is surrounded by layers of impermeable roc ...

. Rose L. Ellerbee,''History of Temescal Valley'', Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 11, 1918 pp.18-19
/ref> The first wells flowed, at a depth of 300 feet. However, pumping plants soon had to be installed as the water table fell. In time all the water of both Temescal and Coldwater Creeks was turned into pipe lines. Cienagas and springs were drained, and, gradually, the central portion of the Temescal Valley became dry and desolate. Farms and orchards in Temescal the central part of the Temescal Valley were abandoned by 1918. In the 1890s

water was purchased by the Temescal Water Company for the irrigation of land in Corona, California. Its outlet channel was deepened, permitting gravity flow down the natural channel of Temescal Canyon to Corona for a year or more after the water level sank below the natural elevation of its outlet. As the lake surface continued to recede, a pumping plant was installed, and pumping was continued a few seasons, but the concentration of salts in the lake, due to the evaporation and lack of rainfall, soon made the water unfit for irrigation, and the project was abandoned by the company. Another consequence of this drainage was that the hot springs along the course of the upper creek near Lake Elsinore and in the Warm Springs Valley, ceased to flow and wells had to be dug to obtain those waters. The

water shortage Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity. One is ''physical.'' The other is ''economic water scarcity''. Physic ...

was relieved by the construction 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. The aqueduct impounds water from the Colorado River at Lake Havasu on ...

and the building of its terminal

reservoir A reservoir (; ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam, usually built to water storage, store fresh water, often doubling for hydroelectric power generation. Reservoirs are created by controlling a watercourse that drains an existing body of wa ...

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 c ...

in 1939. The reservoir is in the upper part of Cajalco Canyon and the lower reach of the Cajalco Valley, on the course of Cajalco Creek, tributary to Temescal Wash.

Watershed

Today Temescal Creek begins as the Elsinore Spillway Channel, an overflow channel that now confines its upper reaches through the middle of downtown

, then turns and passes northwestward into the Warm Springs Valley, past its confluence with Wasson Canyon Wash, on the right, until it is past the water treatment plant. There it is permitted to spread out into a natural creek, where it has its confluence with Arroyo Del Toro and Stovepipe Canyon Wash on its right, then passes through Walker Canyon gathering in the Gavilan Wash on its right midway on its length, then to where Alberhill Canyon Creek enters on the right Temescal Creek emerges from Walker Canyon. There it has its confluence with the wash of Rice Canyon Creek on its left near Alberhill and Ceramic Factory Canyon Creek on its right across the creek from the ceramic factory. Shortly afterward it crosses underneath the Escondido (I-15) Freeway, is joined by Horsetheif Canyon Creek on its left and flows into Lee Lake, formed by an earthen dam across the creek at the northwest end of the valley before its confluence on its left with

Indian Canyon Creek Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

. The creek is then blocked to the northwest by a ridge of the Santa Ana Mountains running northeast to a steep 1577 foot summit overlooking the deep canyon between it and

Estelle Mountain Estelle Mountain is a peak, the tallest in the Temescal Mountains. It is located on the west side of the upper part of the range overlooking the Temescal Valley, in Riverside County, California, United States. Estelle Mountain is drained on ...

. This ridge divides the Temescal Valley below from the upper valley of Temescal creek. Descending through this unnamed canyon, the creek makes a half circle around the ridge to the north of Lee Lake to enter the Temescal Valley. The creek levels out after leaving the Estelle Mountain canyon, passing through a natural riverbed, the creek receives Mayhew Canyon Wash from the left, Dawson Canyon Wash from the right, Coldwater Canyon Creek and the waters of Brown Canyon Wash and its tributary of McBribe Canyon Creek from the left, Olsen Canyon Wash and Cajalco Creek from the right and Bedford Canyon Wash and Joseph Canyon from the left before entering Temescal Canyon. As it emerges from Temescal Canyon, north of El Cerrito the creek enters a second reservoir and is forced into a concrete channel. It then flows through the northern part of the city of

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus or disease responsible for the COVID-19 ...

taking in the Main Street Canyon Wash and Oak Avenue Drain on its left and Arlington Valley Channel on its right before entering into the Prado Flood Control Basin, formed by the Prado Dam across the Santa Ana River. The basin consists of a series of wetlands where Temescal Creek merges with the Santa Ana. In floods, however, the area is a lake, and Temescal Creek's confluence with the larger river is submerged.

Tributaries of Temescal Creek

* Arlington Valley Channel * Oak Avenue Drain ** Mabey Canyon Creek ** Oak Street Creek Reservoir *** Hagador Canyon **** Tin Mine Canyon * Main Street Wash ** Main Street Canyon ** Eagle Canyon Creek * Joseph Canyon * Bedford Canyon Wash * Cajalco Canyon Creek **

*** Harford Spring Canyon *** Mead Creek * Olsen Canyon Wash * Brown Canyon ** McBribe Canyon Creek * Coldwater Canyon Creek * Dawson Canyon Creek * Mayhew Canyon Creek *

* Lee Lake * Cow Canyon Creek * Horsetheif Canyon Creek * Ceramic Factory Canyon Creek * Rice Canyon Creek ** Bishop Canyon Creek * Alberhill Canyon Creek, in Walker Canyon * Gavilan Wash, in Walker Canyon * Stovepipe Wash * Arroyo Del Toro * Wasson Canyon WashUSGS Map: Lake Elsinore, CA, Wasson Canyon *

References

{{Reflist

External links

Riverside County Integrated Project Surface Water Hydrology, Floodplain Encroachment, and Water QualityMockingbird Canyon - Riverside County
Rivers of Riverside County, California Tributaries of the Santa Ana River Rivers of Southern California

History

Watershed

Tributaries of Temescal Creek

See also

References

External links