Clear Creek (Sacramento River tributary)

For other streams named "Clear Creek" in California, see Clear Creek (disambiguation).

Clear Creek (Ínaam in Karuk) is a tributary of the upper Sacramento River in northern California.^[5]

Clear Creek
Whiskeytown Lake on Clear Creek
Location
Country	United States
State	California
Region	Shasta Trinity
Physical characteristics
Source	Damnation Peak
• location	Trinity Mountains, Shasta-Trinity National Forest
• coordinates	40°57′31″N 122°31′45″W[1]
• elevation	5,080 ft (1,550 m)
Mouth	Sacramento River
• location	Girvan
• coordinates	40°30′20″N 122°22′04″W[1]
• elevation	415 ft (126 m)
Length	60.6 mi (97.5 km)[2]
Basin size	249 sq mi (640 km2)[3]
Discharge
• location	French Gulch, above Whiskeytown Lake[4]
• average	211 cu ft/s (6.0 m3/s)[4]
• minimum	2.07 cu ft/s (0.059 m3/s)
• maximum	14,600 cu ft/s (410 m3/s)
Basin features
Tributaries
• right	Crystal Creek, Brandy Creek

Geography

The creek is 60.6 miles (97.5 km) long,^[2] flowing in southern Siskiyou County and northern Shasta County. Clear Creek is the first major Sacramento River tributary downstream of the Shasta Dam.^[6]

Clear Creek originates in the Trinity Mountains, between Shasta Lake and Trinity Lake in the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, and flows into Whiskeytown Lake reservoir, impounded by Whiskeytown Dam. Past the reservoir, the stream bed continues south until its confluence with the Sacramento River. The Spring Creek Tunnel bypasses that section and delivers water from Whiskeytown Lake directly to Keswick Reservoir, both part of the Central Valley Project.^[5][7]

California Historical Landmark

Main article: Reading's Bar

The site along Clear Creek where Pierson B. Reading discovered gold in 1848 was declared a California Historical Landmark No 78, on December 6, 1932, at 40.5922°N 122.4777°W / 40.5922; -122.4777. ^[8] Reading's Bar in Clear Creek is also a California Historical Landmark, No. 32.^[9]

See also

• California Historical Landmarks in Shasta County
• Reading Adobe

References

1. U.S. Geological Survey Geographic Names Information System: Clear Creek
2. U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map Archived 2016-06-30 at the Wayback Machine, accessed March 10, 2011
3. "Clear Creek Watershed | Sacramento River Watershed Program". Archived from the original on 2013-10-14.
4. "USGS Surface Water data for USA: USGS Surface-Water Monthly Statistics".
5. "Clear Creek Watershed – Sacramento River Watershed Program". sacriver.org.
6. "California whitewater Clear Creek Sacramento Tributary". www.riverfacts.com.
7. "Restoration brings salmon, people back to Clear Creek | U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service". FWS.gov. November 12, 2020.
8. "Clear Creek". Office of Historic Preservation, California State Parks. Retrieved 2012-10-14.
9. "CHL # 32 Reading's Bar Shasta". www.californiahistoricallandmarks.com.