The Great Valley 137 



Great Valley, a gathering place for waters which have with- 

 stood the arid conditions and have not been entirely taken up 

 by the porous sands which form the southern Great Valley 

 floor. There is no drainage outlet to the ocean and the waters 

 disappear by evaporation or sinking into the sands. 



Down the Sierra slope between Kings and Kern rivers flow 

 the Kaweah, Tule and White rivers and Cameron, Deer and 

 Poso creeks. These come from near the crest of the great Sierra 

 Range, from Sequoia National Park, and the vicinity of Mt. 

 Whitney, Mt. Tyndall, Bald Mountain, and Sugar Loaf. They 

 descend toward the Great Valley as turbulent mountain 

 streams, all to disappear in the sands of their own delta fans 

 which they have built upon the Great Valley floor. Here 

 under the drying arid conditions they cease and determine as 

 streams. 



Outlet to the Sea via the Golden Gate 



The drainage of the Great Valley is unique. It has been 

 stated that the outlet for the waters of this great basin is the 

 Golden Gate. The San Joaquin and Sacramento rivers meet 

 and their waters, met by tidal waters from the ocean, pass 

 through Carquinez Straits and the Bay of San Francisco, finally 

 entering the Pacific through the Golden Gate. The rivers that 

 come from the Sierra Range and join the San Joaquin are, from 

 south to north, the Fresno, Chowchilla, Merced, Tuolumne, 

 Stanislaus, Mokelumne, and Cosumnes. These are mighty 

 rivers, that flow perennially from near the crest of the Sierra 

 Nevada Range. In their flow down the western Sierra slope 

 they have cut tremendous canyons. In their lower courses they 

 cut through their own delta fans entering the San Joaquin. 

 Only insignificant streams, insignificant by comparison, enter 

 the San Joaquin from the west or Coast Range side of the Great 

 Valley. Some of these from the west become lost in their own 

 sandy deltas and their waters never do reach the San Joaquin. 



The great Sacramento River, bringing the turbulent waters 



