Feather River
| Feather River | |
| Río de las Plumas, Ya-loo | |
| River | |
California Zephyr express train along the upper Feather River, circa 1960s
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Regions | Butte County, Yuba County, Sutter County |
| Part of | Sacramento River Basin |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Yuba River, Bear River |
| - right | Sutter Bypass |
| Cities | Oroville, Yuba City, Marysville |
| Primary source | North Fork Feather River |
| - location | Confluence of Rice Creek and South Arm Rice Creek, Plumas County |
| - elevation | 5,436 ft (1,657 m) |
| - coordinates | 40°21′47″N 121°27′05″W / 40.36306°N 121.45139°W |
| Secondary source | Middle Fork Feather River |
| - location | Near Beckwourth, Sierra Valley, Plumas County |
| - elevation | 4,872 ft (1,485 m) |
| - coordinates | 39°48′49″N 120°22′46″W / 39.81361°N 120.37944°W |
| Source confluence | Lake Oroville |
| - location | Upstream of Oroville Dam |
| - elevation | 902 ft (275 m) |
| - coordinates | 39°32′14″N 121°29′00″W / 39.53722°N 121.48333°W |
| Mouth | Sacramento River |
| - location | Verona |
| - elevation | 26 ft (8 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°47′08″N 121°37′17″W / 38.78556°N 121.62139°WCoordinates: 38°47′08″N 121°37′17″W / 38.78556°N 121.62139°W |
| Length | 71 mi (114 km), North-south |
| Basin | 6,113 sq mi (15,833 km2) |
| Discharge | for Nicolaus |
| - average | 8,321 cu ft/s (236 m3/s) |
| - max | 357,000 cu ft/s (10,109 m3/s) |
| - min | 222 cu ft/s (6 m3/s) |
 Map of the Feather River watershed (not including the artificially connected Sutter Basin and Butte Creek drainage basins to the west)
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The Feather River is the principal tributary of the Sacramento River, in the Sacramento Valley of Northern California. The river's main stem is about 71 miles (114 km) long. Its length to its most distant headwater tributary is about 220 miles (350 km). Its drainage basin is about 6,000 square miles (16,000 km2). The main stem Feather River begins in Lake Oroville, where its four long tributary forks join together—the South Fork, Middle Fork, North Fork, and West Branch Feather Rivers. These and other tributaries drain part of the northern Sierra Nevada, and the extreme southern Cascades, as well as a small portion of the Sacramento Valley. The river's drainage basin above Lake Oroville is 3,222 square miles (8,340 km2), or about 53% of the whole.
The Feather River and its forks were a rich center of gold mining during the 19th century. Since the 1960s, the river has provided water to central and southern California, as the main source of water for the California State Water Project. Its water is also used for hydroelectricity generation.
The Feather is unique in that two of its tributaries, the North Fork and Middle Fork, originate east of the Sierra Nevada in the Diamond Mountains and breach the crest of the Sierras as they flow west.
The river rises in four main forks in the Sierra Nevada which unite as arms of the Lake Oroville reservoir in the foothills 5 miles (8.0 km) northeast of Oroville in eastern Butte County. In terms of drainage areas the largest is the North Fork, which drains about 60% of the entire upper Feather River watershed. The Middle Fork is the second largest, draining about 32% of the upper basin. The South Fork and the West Branch are much smaller, each drains less than 5% of the upper basin. The main stem Feather River begins at Oroville Dam, the outlet of Lake Oroville. From there the river flows generally south across the Sacramento Valley, east of the Sutter Buttes, past Oroville and Yuba City-Marysville. The Feather receives the Yuba River from the east at Yuba City and the Bear River from the east 15 miles (24 km) south of Yuba City. It empties into the Sacramento River from the north, about 20 miles (32 km) northwest of Sacramento.
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Wikipedia