The Behavior of Rivers 53 



to south, the Mokelumne, Calaveras, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, 

 Merced, Chowchilla, and Fresno. The principal streams from 

 the Sierra south of the San Joaquin are, in order from north to 

 south, the Kings, Kaweah, Tule, and Kern rivers. The Kaweah, 

 Tule, and Kern rivers are lost in the Tulare Lake depression, 

 and under normal conditions send no water to the San Joaquin 

 River. Kings River at times discharges directly into the San 

 Joaquin. No water from Kern River has reached the San Joa- 

 quin in recent years. Kern River may sometimes send waters 

 to Tulare Lake but mostly to Buena Vista Lake. Buena Vista 

 Lake is in the Kern Basin, which is in the extreme southern end 

 of the San Joaquin Valley. The lake has no outlet to the ocean, 

 its waters disappearing by evaporation and soaking into the 

 porous soil. 



The streams from the west side of the Sierra Range are 

 notable for the great gorges they have cut. The gradient of 

 the stream beds is high, being as much as 250 feet in a mile. 

 Such fall gives tremendous eroding power. Rains occur in 

 violent downpours. These, with the melting snows, which 

 gather to great depths in the high altitudes of the Sierra, give 

 high velocity to the streams. Much sand and gravel, supplied 

 to the headwaters streams by erosion of the mountain slopes, 

 give rapid cutting power to the swift flowing currents. Under 

 these conditions bottom cutting is rapid, and gorges with steep 

 walls result. The Yosemite Valley is regarded as one of the 

 most marvelous in the world. It is, however, rivalled in stu- 

 pendous grandeur by the canyons of Kings, Kern, Tuolumne, 

 and Stanislaus, and by the Royal Gorge of the American and 

 that of the Feather farther north. 



At the mouths of the streams that enter the San Joaquin 

 Valley vast deltas or alluvial fans have been deposited as the 

 currents of the streams are slackened. Across these alluvial 

 plains channels have been cut and the waters finally merge into 

 the San Joaquin, which moves slowly northward through the 

 great trough of the Central Valley. The great streams of the 



