| Mokelumne River | |
|---|---|
 The Mokelumne River near the State Highway 49 bridge above Pardee Reservoir | |
 Map of the Mokelumne River watershed | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | Confluence of North and Middle Forks |
| • location | Sierra Nevada, Amador/Calaveras Counties |
| • coordinates | 38°22′20″N 120°36′38″W / 38.37222°N 120.61056°W[1] |
| • elevation | 916 ft (279 m) |
| Mouth | Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta |
• location | Walnut Grove, San Joaquin County |
• coordinates | 38°05′46″N 121°34′12″W / 38.09611°N 121.57000°W[1] |
• elevation | 0 ft (0 m) |
| Length | 95 mi (153 km)[2] |
| Basin size | 2,143 sq mi (5,550 km2)[3] |
| Discharge | |
| • location | near Mokelumne Hill, above Pardee Reservoir[4] |
| • average | 996 cu ft/s (28.2 m3/s)[4] |
| • minimum | 9 cu ft/s (0.25 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 41,300 cu ft/s (1,170 m3/s) |
The Mokelumne River (/məˈkʌləmni/ or /məˈkʌləmi/; Mokelumne, Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a 95-mile (153 km)-long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada into the Central Valley and ultimately the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, where it empties into the San Joaquin River-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel. Together with its main tributary, the Cosumnes River, the Mokelumne drains 2,143 square miles (5,550 km2) in parts of five California counties. Measured to its farthest source at the head of the North Fork, the river stretches for 157 miles (253 km).
The river is colloquially divided into the Upper Mokelumne River, which stretches from the headwaters to Pardee Reservoir in the Sierra foothills, and the Lower Mokelumne River, which refers to the portion of the river below Camanche Dam. In its lower course, the Mokelumne is used heavily for irrigation and also provides water for the east San Francisco Bay Area through the Mokelumne Aqueduct. Several major tributaries of the river have been developed for the generation of hydroelectric power.
The name is Plains Miwok and is constructed from moke, meaning fishnet, and -umne, a suffix meaning "people of".[5] The town of Mokelumne Hill was named for the river in about 1850.
- ^ a b "Mokelumne River". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 1981-01-19. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
- ^ USGS Topo Maps for United States (Map). Cartography by United States Geological Survey. ACME Mapper. Archived from the original on 2013-09-07. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
- ^ "Boundary Descriptions and Names of Regions, Subregions, Accounting Units and Cataloging Units". U.S. Geological Survey. Archived from the original on 2012-04-27. Retrieved 2012-04-01.
- ^ a b "USGS Gage #11319500 on the Mokelumne River near Mokelumne Hill, CA". National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1927–2012. Archived from the original on 2021-10-11. Retrieved 2013-10-07.
- ^ Bright, William (1998). 1500 California Place Names: their origin and meaning. University of California Press; Berkeley, California, 1998. ISBN 0-520-21271-1.