Poso Creek Explained

Poso Creek
Name Other:Posey Creek
Pushpin Map:California
Pushpin Map Caption:Location of the mouth within California
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:United States
Subdivision Type2:State
Subdivision Name2:California
Subdivision Type4:District
Subdivision Name4:Kern County
Length:87.9miles
Source1:source
Source1 Location:Confluence of Spear Creek and Von Hellem Creek on the west slope of the Greenhorn Mountains of the Sierra Nevada, Kern County
Source1 Coordinates:35.8039°N -118.6533°W
Source1 Elevation:4300feet
Mouth:mouth
Mouth Location:Kern River south of Tulare Lake, Kern County
Mouth Coordinates:35.7181°N -119.6261°W
Mouth Elevation:223feet
Basin Size:575sqmi

Poso Creek or Posey Creek[1] is an 87.9miles[2] intermittent stream in Kern County, California.

The headwaters of Poso Creek are located within the Sierra Nevada and the Sequoia National Forest, at elevations of up to 8000feet. The 50feet high Spear Creek Falls (often known as Poso Creek Falls) is located along a tributary of Poso Creek within the national forest.[3] Poso Creek proper begins at the confluence of Spear Creek and Von Hellem Creek on the west slope of the Greenhorn Mountains. The upper reaches of the creek flow south through the Linn Valley past Posey and Glennville, then to Poso Flat, where it receives Cedar Creek and Little Poso Creek from the east. Below the confluence with Little Poso Creek, it turns west, passing through the Mount Poso and Poso Creek oil fields, which are a likely source of petroleum pollutants during flooding events.[4]

Below the oil fields the creek emerges to the intensively farmed San Joaquin Valley, where it passes between Wasco and McFarland. The creek is crossed by Highway 99 and the Southern Pacific Railroad at Famoso and by the Friant-Kern Canal a few miles downstream. Most of the lower creek flows through artificial channels beginning north of Wasco. Its mouth is on the Kern River floodway in Kern National Wildlife Refuge, which connects the normally dry Buena Vista Lake with Tulare Lake.

As a primarily rain fed stream, Poso Creek flows only seasonally (November to May) in its upper reaches, while the lower part is an ephemeral wash.[4] [5] The United States Geological Survey operated a stream gage on Poso Creek from 1959 to 1985, recording an average annual flow of 39cuft/s.[6] The greatest flow was 6700cuft/s on February 25, 1969,[7] while the creek was dry for six straight months in 1977.[6]

Luxilis occidentalis

Poso Creek (or 0-co-ya, creek) is the only place that the fish Luxilis occidentalis is known to have lived except for Four Creeks in the Tulare Valley. It was collected here in 1855 by Dr A.L. Heerman.

Notes and References

  1. Hoover, Mildred B., et al. Historic Spots in California. 3rd edition. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press, 1966. p129
  2. Web site: National Hydrography Dataset via National Map Viewer. U.S. Geological Survey. 2017-10-10.
  3. Web site: World Waterfall Database.
  4. Web site: Archived copy . 2014-10-01 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141006065838/http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/centralvalley/water_issues/irrigated_lands/monitoring_plans_reports_reviews/monitoring_reporting_program_plans/coalitions/south_sanjoaquin/sosj_2009nov23_mrpp_pt2.pdf . 2014-10-06 .
  5. Heerman. A.L.. War Department . Explorations and Surveys for a Railroad Route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean . Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences . 1855 . 1857 . Gm. REP. 280.
  6. Web site: USGS Surface Water data for USA: USGS Surface-Water Monthly Statistics.
  7. Web site: USGS Surface Water for USA: Peak Streamflow.