St. John's River (California)

St. John's River
St. John's River near Visalia
Map of the distributary St. Johns River also showing the Kaweah River watershed
Location of the St. Johns River in California
Location
Country	United States
State	California
County	Tulare County
Physical characteristics
Source	Kaweah River
• location	Woodlake, East Visalia, California
• coordinates	36°20′12″N 119°13′23″W / 36.33667°N 119.22306°W / 36.33667; -119.22306[1]
• elevation	279 ft (85 m)
Mouth
• location	Traver, California
• coordinates	36°25′05″N 119°26′05″W / 36.41806°N 119.43472°W / 36.41806; -119.43472[1]
• elevation	279 ft (85 m)
Length	26.3 mi (42.3 km)[2]

The St. John's River is a distributary of the Kaweah River in the San Joaquin Valley of California in the United States. The river begins at a diversion dam at McKay's Point, about a mile west of Lemon Cove. The distributary flows west along the north side of the city of Visalia, where it joins Elbow Creek, continuing west to Cross Creek.

Water from this distributary historically flowed into Tulare Lake, as did water continuing down the main channel of the Kaweah. Tulare lake was the terminal sink of an endorheic basin in southern San Joaquin Valley which was also watered by the Kern, Tule, and by some distributaries of the Kings River. Presently water from these rivers is typically used up for irrigation. Water from the St. John's irrigates many thousands of acres of farmland in Tulare County.

At a point about 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Farmersville, the St. John's enters Elbow Creek. It flows then westerly to Cross Creek at a point north of Goshen and back into Elbow Creek at the confluence of Elbow and Cross creeks. This water in time of flood finds its way into the Tulare Lake Basin through Elbow Creek.^[3]