Santa Rosa Creek
| Santa Rosa Creek | |
| stream | |
 Middle reach of Santa Rosa Creek
|
|
| Name origin: Spanish | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| Region | Sonoma County |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Matanzas Creek |
| - right | Piner Creek, Brush Creek |
| City | Santa Rosa |
| Source | Hood Mountain |
| - location | 5 km (3 mi) west of St. Helena, California |
| - elevation | 1,940 ft (591 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°31′10″N 122°32′56″W / 38.51944°N 122.54889°W |
| Mouth | Laguna de Santa Rosa |
| - elevation | 49 ft (15 m) |
| - coordinates | 38°27′5″N 122°50′3″W / 38.45139°N 122.83417°WCoordinates: 38°27′5″N 122°50′3″W / 38.45139°N 122.83417°W |
| Length | 22 mi (35 km) |
Santa Rosa Creek is a 22-mile-long (35 km) stream in Sonoma County, California which rises on Hood Mountain and discharges to the Laguna de Santa Rosa by way of the Santa Rosa Flood Control Channel. This article covers both the creek and the channel.
Though it begins as a wild stream in the Mayacamas Mountains, Santa Rosa Creek is culverted for part of its course through the city of Santa Rosa's downtown. The riparian area has a rich prehistoric past with settlement of the Southern Pomo people on much of the middle and lower reach banks. A significant stream restoration project was created in the downtown Santa Rosa reach in the late 1990s, allowing steelhead and coho salmon to migrate to productive upstream spawning areas. Major tributaries to Santa Rosa Creek include Brush Creek, Piner Creek, Matanzas Creek and Colgan Creek. Annual precipitation in the Sonoma Creek watershed is about 24 to 38 inches (60 to 70 centimeters). Water quality sampling in the Railroad Square area of Santa Rosa indicate coliform bacteria standards are often exceeded.
Archaeological data demonstrates the habitation of Pomo tribes on the lower reaches of Santa Rosa Creek, while a branch of the Yuki tribe lived near the headwaters on the slopes of Hood Mountain. In the vicinity of the confluence of Brush Creek there is a noteworthy rock formation known as "Flat Rocks"; adjacent was a native Pomo village, presumably to exploit the resources of the confluence area as a suitable place for fishing, bathing, washing and providing drinking water. Near this location in the year 1828, Padre Juan Amorós, a Franciscan from Mission San Raphael, baptized a Pomo maiden on the feast day of Saint Rose of Lima; he named the woman "Rosa" and the location "Santa Rosa," establishing there a mission outpost (una asistencia). The "asistencia de Santa Rosa" became the center of the colonial settlement that would eventually become the town of Santa Rosa.
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Wikipedia