Feather River

Feather River
Río de las Plumas
The Feather River near its confluence with the Bear River
Map of the Feather River watershed. The artificially connected Sutter Basin and Butte Creek drainage basins are indicated in yellow.
Location
CountryUnited States
StateCalifornia
RegionButte County, Yuba County, Sutter County
CitiesOroville, Yuba City, Marysville
Physical characteristics
SourceNorth Fork Feather River
 • locationConfluence of Rice Creek and South Arm Rice Creek, Plumas County
 • coordinates40°21′47″N 121°27′05″W / 40.36306°N 121.45139°W / 40.36306; -121.45139[1]
 • length111 mi (179 km)
 • elevation5,436 ft (1,657 m)[2]
2nd sourceMiddle Fork Feather River
 • locationNear Beckwourth, Sierra Valley, Plumas County
 • coordinates39°48′49″N 120°22′46″W / 39.81361°N 120.37944°W / 39.81361; -120.37944[3]
 • length129 mi (208 km)
 • elevation4,872 ft (1,485 m)[4]
Source confluenceLake Oroville
 • locationUpstream of Oroville Dam
 • coordinates39°32′14″N 121°29′00″W / 39.53722°N 121.48333°W / 39.53722; -121.48333[5]
 • elevation902 ft (275 m)[5]
MouthSacramento River
 • location
Verona
 • coordinates
38°47′08″N 121°37′17″W / 38.78556°N 121.62139°W / 38.78556; -121.62139[6]
 • elevation
26 ft (7.9 m)[6]
Length73 mi (117 km), North-south[7]
Basin size6,197 sq mi (16,050 km2)[7][8]
Discharge 
 • locationNicolaus[9]
 • average8,321 cu ft/s (235.6 m3/s)[9]
 • minimum222 cu ft/s (6.3 m3/s)
 • maximum357,000 cu ft/s (10,100 m3/s)
Basin features
River systemSacramento River Basin
Tributaries 
 • leftYuba River, Bear River
 • rightSutter Bypass
TypeWild, Scenic, Recreational
DesignatedOctober 2, 1968

The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about 73 miles (117 km) long.[7] Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is just over 210 miles (340 km).[7] The main stem Feather River begins in Lake Oroville, where its four long tributary forks join—the South Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, and West Branch Feather Rivers. These and other tributaries drain part of the northern Sierra Nevada, and the extreme southern Cascades, as well as a small portion of the Sacramento Valley. The total drainage basin is about 6,200 square miles (16,000 km2), with approximately 3,604 square miles (9,330 km2) above Lake Oroville.[7][10]

The Feather River and its forks were a center of gold mining during the 19th century. Since the 1960s, the river has provided water to central and southern California, as the main source of water for the California State Water Project. Its water is also used for hydroelectricity generation. The average annual flow of the Feather River is more than 7 million acre feet (3.3 km3).[11]

The Feather is unique in that two of its tributaries, the East Branch and Middle Fork, originate east of the Sierra Nevada in the Diamond Mountains and breach the crest of the Sierra as they flow west.[12]

  1. ^ "North Fork Feather River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  2. ^ "Rice Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1990-08-01. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  3. ^ "Middle Fork Feather River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  4. ^ "Sierra Valley Channels". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  5. ^ a b "Lake Oroville". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  6. ^ a b "Feather River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
  7. ^ a b c d e Cite error: The named reference NHD was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". U.S. Geological Survey. Retrieved 2010-08-22.
  9. ^ a b "USGS Gage #11425000 on the Feather River near Nicolaus". National Water Information System. United States Geological Survey. 1944–1983. Retrieved 2010-09-08.
  10. ^ Pincetl, Stephanine S. (2003). Transforming California: A Political History of Land Use and Development. JHU Press. p. 171. ISBN 978-0-8018-7312-6.
  11. ^ "California Central Valley Unimpaired Flow Data" (PDF). California Department of Water Resources. May 2007. Retrieved 2017-09-24.
  12. ^ George, Holly; David Lile; Cheree Childers; Cindy Noble; Andrea Oilar; Katherine Haworth; Kristen Schmidt; Gabe Miller. "Upper Feather River Watershed (UFRW) Irrigation Discharge Management Program" (PDF). University of California. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 June 2010. Retrieved 4 August 2010.

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