FEATURES AND WATER RIGHTS OF YUBA RIVER, CALIFORNIA. 



By Marsden Mansos, C. E., Ph. D. 

 WATEESHED OF YUBA RIVEE. 



Yuba River is a tributary of Feather River, entering this latter stream at Marys- 

 ville, 30 miles above its mouth (PI. VIII). The Yuba drains about 1,357 square miles 

 of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, comprising portions of Sierra, Nevada, 

 Plumas, and Yuba counties. The extreme length of the watershed is about 60 miles 

 and the extreme width 36 miles; in addition to this length are about 11 miles of 

 channel in the valley between the foothills and Feather River. In size Yuba River 

 is fourth in the Sacramento Valley. Its extreme low-water discharge is about 360 

 cubic feet per second;' mean water discharge 1,500, and flood discharge 26,000 cubic 

 feet per second.* The river for the lower 10 miles of its course in the foothills is 

 filled up with hydraulic mining debris estimated at many millions of cubic yards, and 

 is between levees which have been raised from year to year to meet the filling up of 

 the area between them. The channel in the lower foothills has been filled more than 

 100 feet deep with cobbles and gravel. The channel of the river from the foothills 

 to the mouth, at Marysville, lies over a surface recently built up of gravel, sand, and 

 claA' from the mines above. The channels are irregular and change from winter to 

 winter, and sometimes during the summer. 



It is therefore impracticable to establish low-water gaging stations which would 

 serve for more than one summer and fall, and which would be suitable for winter or 

 flood-«tage gagings. The changes in the bottom and in the positions of the channel 

 are so great that gagings at the flood stages of the river would be unsatisfactory, 

 and, if undertaken from boats, highly dangerous, if not impossible. 



Its drainage basin is subdivided into five smaller ones, namelj* : The North Fork, 

 with a drainage area of 491.6 square miles; the Middle Fork, with a drainage area of 

 218 square miles; the South Fork, with a drainage area of 360 square miles; Deer 

 Creek, with a drainage area of 89.6 square miles; and Drj- Creek, with a drainage 

 area of 105.5 square miles. In addition to these areas, 92.5 square miles drain into 

 the main stream above the 100-foot contour. 



Dry Creek joins the river from the north just as it leaves the foothills, the 

 others having united in the mountains. The forks are perennial in flow, but the 

 discharge of the two creeks named becomes insignificant in the late summer and early 

 autumn. 



' This is not as small as the natural discharge would be. The large mining companies, North 

 Bloomfield, Milton, Eureka Lake, the South Yuba Water Company, and other companies store quite 

 large volumes of water during the winter and spring months, the use of which during periods of low 

 water forms a considerable portion of late summer and early autumn discharge. 



^ Extreme flood discharge estimated by Mr. Hubert Vischer, assistant engineer. United States 

 Engineer Corps, at 125,000 cubic feet per second. House Doc. No. 431, 56th Cong 1st sess., p. 12. 



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