Big Tujunga Creek

Big Tujunga Creek is a major stream in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California. From its headwaters high in the San Gabriel Mountains, it flows generally southwest for 28.8 miles (46.3 km),^[4] joining Little Tujunga Creek to form the Tujunga Wash near Pacoima. The stream is sometimes considered as one with the Tujunga Wash, which is the continuation of Big Tujunga to the Los Angeles River, bringing the total length to more than 40 miles (64 km). The name of the stream is derived from a Tongva village name.^[5]

Big Tujunga Creek Tujunga Creek, Tujunga River, Tujunga Wash
The wash in lower Big Tujunga Canyon
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Cities	Sunland, Shadow Hills
Physical characteristics
Source	About 1.6 miles (2.6 km) south-southeast of Mount Mooney
• location	San Gabriel Mountains
• coordinates	34°17′52″N 118°00′11″W[1]
• elevation	5,768 ft (1,758 m)
Mouth	Tujunga Wash
• location	Upstream of Hansen Dam
• coordinates	34°16′05″N 118°21′50″W
• elevation	1,070 ft (330 m)
Length	22 mi (35 km)
Basin size	130 sq mi (340 km2)
Discharge
• location	near Sunland[2]
• average	28.1 cu ft/s (0.80 m3/s)[2]
• minimum	0.29 cu ft/s (0.0082 m3/s)
• maximum	50,000 cu ft/s (1,400 m3/s)
Discharge
• location	below Hansen Dam
• average	22.2 cu ft/s (0.63 m3/s)[3]
Basin features
Tributaries
• left	Lucas Creek, Clear Creek
• right	Alder Creek, Mill Creek, Fox Creek, Trail Canyon Creek

Course

The creek rises near the Angeles Crest Highway in Upper Big Tujunga Canyon, deep within the Angeles National Forest. Its upper course is steep and rocky, and sprinkled with rapids, riffles and small waterfalls. It flows west then northwest, receiving Alder Creek and Lynx Gulch from the right and Wildcat Gulch and Wickiup Creek from the left. As the stream cuts deeper into its gorge, it receives a major tributary, Mill Creek, from the right, and Fall Creek also from the right just before emptying into Big Tujunga Reservoir, formed by the Big Tujunga Dam. While part of the reservoir, it receives Fox Creek from the right.^[6]

Below the dam, the stream flows through a steep rocky gorge, receiving Clear Creek from the left, before turning northwest into a broader valley. It flows through this valley for several miles before receiving Trail Canyon Creek from the right, and swinging southwards around a few ridges spills out of the mountains near Sunland. Part of the stream is diverted at Sunland into spreading grounds in order to recharge the local aquifer.^[7] The rest of Big Tujunga Creek continues west into the usually dry Hansen Flood Control Basin, formed by the Hansen Dam. Here it receives Little Tujunga Creek also from the right, and becomes the Tujunga Wash, which runs south about 8.5 miles (13.7 km) to the Los Angeles River near Studio City.^[6]

History

Big Tujunga Dam, downstream elevation view. It was built as part of a flood control and water conservation program in Los Angeles County to protect the growing community and provide water as demand increased.^[8]

The stream was named after the village of Tujunga or Tuxunga, a name which means "old woman's place" in both the languages of the Tongva and Fernandeño. The term is thought to relate to an ethnohistoric narrative, known as Khra'wiyawi, collected by Carobeth Laird from Juan and Juana Menendez at the Leonis Adobe in 1916. In the narrative, the wife of Khra'wiyawi (the chief of the region) is stricken with grief over the untimely loss of her daughter. In her sadness, she retreats to the mountains and turns to stone. It is thought this event became the basis for the village name.^[9] In fact, there is a large rock in Little Tujunga Canyon which looks like an old woman in a sitting position, whence the name originated.^[10] However, there was also a Fernandeño village in the vicinity of Big Tujunga Canyon (the upper part of the creek) called Muxúnga, which means "place of shooting" in the Fernandeño dialect of the Tongva language. The name comes from the verb muxú, which means "shoot him."

In 1931, the Big Tujunga Dam was built by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power deep within the creek's canyon to provide flood control and block silt. With a capacity of just 5,960 acre-feet (7,350,000 m³), the dam is unable to control large floods, and has overflowed many times since its construction.^[11] During the Los Angeles Flood of 1938, Big Tujunga Creek reached a maximum flow of more than 50,000 cubic feet per second (1,400 m³/s), washing down thousands of tons of silt from the mountains and jumping its banks destroying hundreds of buildings and floodworks. Following the floods, the 97-foot (30 m)-high Hansen Dam was built across the lower creek by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in 1940 in the hope of controlling future floods.^[12]

See also

• List of rivers of California

References

1. "Big Tujunga Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1991-01-04. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
2. "USGS Gage #11095500 on Big Tujunga Creek near Sunland, CA". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1916–1977. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
3. "Water-Year Summary for Site USGS 11097000".
4. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 16, 2011
5. Suntree, Susan (2020). Sacred Sites: The Secret History of Southern California. University of Nebraska Press. p. 273. ISBN 9781496219558.
6. USGS Topo Maps for United States (Map). Cartography by United States Geological Survey. ACME Mapper. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
7. Stevens, Matt (August 25, 2016). "L.A. betting that stormwater can help ease California's drought". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
8. "Big Tujunga Dam". Library of Congress. Archived from the original on May 28, 2017. Retrieved February 1, 2024.
9. King, Chester. Overview of the History of American Indians in the Santa Monica Mountains. Rep. Topanga, California: Topanga Anthropological Consultants, 2011. Print. Prepared for the National Park Service Pacific West Region Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
10. Johnson, John R. "Ethnohistoric Overview for the Santa Susana Pass State Historic Park Cultural Resources Inventory Project" (PDF). Retrieved 19 July 2020.
11. "Big Tujunga Dam". The River Project. Archived from the original on 2008-11-21. Retrieved 2011-02-05.
12. Barker, Mayerene (1990-07-20). "Hansen Dam's Comeback Moves Slowly Recreation: Tons of silt have been hauled off, but restoration of the once-popular lake remains years away". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 12, 2012. Retrieved 2011-02-05.