WATER APPKOPKIATION FROM KINGS RIVER. 261 



45 miles, extending from Mount Goddard on the north to Mount Silliman and 

 Mount Brewer on the south. Much of this drainage basin is in the rugged, bare, 

 granite region, at an average elevation of about 5,000 to 7,000 feet. The stream and 

 its branches flow in deep, rock}' gorges of stupendous grandeur, and the perpetual 

 snow hangs on the shaded slopes of the highest mountains, some of which rise to 

 heights of 12,000 to 14,000 feet. Very little of the river's mountain drainage basin 

 is habitable; probably more than three-foui'ths of it is accessible for four to live 

 months onlj^ each j'ear. Precipitation on this watershed increases from the base of 

 the Sierra Nevada to near the mountain summit. The average annual fall of rain 

 and snow for the drainage basin of the river is about 25 inches. 



VALLEY SECTION OF KINGS RIVER. 



To some extent the descriptions of Kings River and its canals, which in compact 

 form are essential to this paper, are a repetition of the descriptions published in 

 Water Supply Paper No. 18 of the U. S. Geological Survey', to which reference maj'^ 

 be had for some additional information relating to canal history, to methods of irri- 

 gation, duty of water, and the effect of irrigation on subsoil waters. 



The upper sections of Kings River are walled in by high mountains and by the 

 foothills of the Sierra Nevada, which open out somewhat within a few miles of the 

 western base of the mountain range. Here the hills, retreating to the right and left, 

 admit patches of valley land, which are pleasant!}' located upon both sides of the 

 river. The river flows on a coarse cobble bed out of its mountain confine, gradually 

 dropping below the general vallej- surface so that at what might be considered the 

 eastern edge of the valley plain it flows through bottom lands which lie from 10 to 

 15 feet lower than the main vallej' floor. These bottom lands are sharph' defined or 

 limited bj"^ bluffs, which, after separating to a greatest width of about 4 miles, almost 

 unite miles below the upper end of the bottoms at the so-called " Narrows." 



The bottoms, Avhich are only 10 to 15 feet below the general surface level of the 

 main valley above Centerville, are about 60 feet lower than the valle}' surface at the 

 Narrows. They have an area of about 26 square miles. The height of the bluffs 

 below the Narrows, now close to the river banks, graduall}' decreases toward the 

 west, permitting the bluffs to gradually merge into the vallej' surface a short 

 distance below Kingsburg. Westward from this point the river is a bank-building 

 stream; its delta commences and water diversion is effected with ease. 



The main river and south-side delta channels drop naturally on eas}- gradients 

 into Tulare Lake; the north-side delta channels discharge into Fresno Swamp to the 

 northward of Summit Lake; and the waters flow thence northwesterly through the 

 channels and depressions of this swamp along the valley trough to a junction with 

 the San Joaquin River at Las Juntas. The overflow of Tulare Lake.. when there is 

 any, takes the same northwesterly course into and through Fresno Swamp. 



The main channel of the river from the foothills to its outfall into Tulare Lake 

 has a length of from 70 to 80 miles, according to the stage of the lake. The river 

 through the Centerville Bottoms, has a length of about 17 miles; it falls about 155 

 feet in this distance, or at the rate of 9 feet per mile. For 14 miles thence to the 

 railroad bridge near Kingsburg the fall is about 1.83 feet per mile. It is about 2 

 feet per mile throughout the rest of the river's course to Tulare Lake. 



