Tolay Creek is a
[U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data]
The National Map
accessed March 10, 2011 southward-flowing
stream in southern
Sonoma County, California
Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...
, United States, which flows through
Tolay Lake and ends in north
San Pablo Bay
San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.
Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water c ...
.
History
The Alaguali were a
Coast Miwok
Coast Miwok are an indigenous people that was the second-largest group of Miwok people. Coast Miwok inhabited the general area of modern Marin County and southern Sonoma County in Northern California, from the Golden Gate north to Duncans Po ...
community of northern
San Pablo Bay
San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.
Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water c ...
in the Tolay Creek region. Alaguali lands bordered the north edge of San Pablo Bay and the southern one third of their area was low tidal marshland at the mouth of Sonoma Creek and Napa Slough. Their strong marriage ties to the Petalumas suggest that the Alagualis held all of the valley of Tolay Creek to the north of
Sears Point up to the Sonoma Valley airport, consisting of about 56 square miles. In 1814 the Spanish authorities began to split up the Alaguali amongst different missions, baptizing 91 at
Mission Dolores Dolores, Spanish for "pain; grief", most commonly refers to:
* Our Lady of Sorrows or La Virgen María de los Dolores
* Dolores (given name)
Dolores may also refer to:
Film
* ''Dolores'' (2017 film), an American documentary by Peter Bratt
* ' ...
and 37 at
Mission San José.
Padre José Altimira, the founder of
Mission San Francisco Solano
Mission San Francisco Solano was the 21st, last, and northernmost mission in Alta California. It was named for Saint Francis Solanus. It was the only mission built in Alta California after Mexico gained independence from Spain. The difficulty ...
, wrote in his diary on June 27, 1823, "Tolay Lake so called for the Chief of the Indians". Tolay Creek was named for the lake.
Watershed
The Tolay Creek
watershed lies between those of
Sonoma Creek
, name_etymology =
, image = Beaver Dam Sonoma Creek, Sonoma Thanksgiving 2009.jpg
, image_caption = Beaver dam on Sonoma Creek at Maxwell Farms Regional Park in Sonoma, California, 2009
, image_size = 300
, m ...
and the
Petaluma River
The Petaluma River is a river in the California counties of Sonoma and Marin that becomes a tidal slough for most of its length. The headwaters are in the area southwest of Cotati. The flow is generally southward through Petaluma's old town, ...
. It originates near Stage Gulch Road (part of
State Route 116) about north of
Lakeville, California. It feeds
Tolay Lake, then descends to flow under
State Route 121 north of the
Infineon Raceway
Sonoma Raceway (originally known as Sears Point Raceway from 1967 to 1980 and 1982 to 2002, Golden State International Raceway in 1981 and Infineon Raceway from 2002 to 2012) is a road course and dragstrip located at Sears Point in the souther ...
. It parallels State Route 121 southward to
State Route 37 at Sears Point, California, feeds into the
Napa Sonoma Marsh
The Napa Sonoma Marsh is a wetland at the northern edge of San Pablo Bay, which is a northern arm of the San Francisco Bay in California, United States. This marsh has an area of 48,000 acres (194 km2), of which 13,000 acres (53 km2) are ...
, and enters
San Pablo Bay
San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California.
Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep water c ...
west of Tubbs Island in the
San Pablo Bay National Wildlife Refuge.
South of State Route 37, Tolay Creek marks part of the western boundary of the
Sonoma Valley AVA
The Sonoma Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Sonoma County, California which centers on the Sonoma Valley in the southern portion of the county. The name 'Sonoma' means 'Valley of the Moon' in the local Native American dialect. The a ...
, a federally designated wine appellation.
See also
*
List of watercourses in the San Francisco Bay Area
These watercourses (rivers, creeks, sloughs, etc.) in the San Francisco Bay Area are grouped according to the bodies of water they flow into. Tributaries are listed under the watercourses they feed, sorted by the elevation of the confluence so tha ...
*
Miwok
The Miwok (also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wuk, or Me-Wuk) are members of four linguistically related Native American groups indigenous to what is now Northern California, who traditionally spoke one of the Miwok languages in the Utian family. The word ...
References
External links
Tolay Creek Watershed
{{San Francisco Bay watershed
Rivers of Sonoma County, California
Sonoma Mountains
Tributaries of San Pablo Bay
Rivers of Northern California