Santiago Creek
| Santiago Creek | |
| Cañada de Madera | |
| Stream | |
_(14595348077).jpg) Low rock dam on Santiago Creek in Irvine Regional Park (c. 1917)
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| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| State | California |
| County | Orange |
| District | Cleveland National Forest |
| Municipality | Orange |
| Tributaries | |
| - left | Limestone Canyon, Handy Creek |
| - right | Silverado Canyon, Harding Canyon, Baker Canyon, Black Star Canyon, Fremont Canyon (Orange County, California), Weir Canyon |
| Cities | Villa Park, Orange, Santa Ana |
| Source | Santiago Peak |
| - location | Cleveland National Forest |
| - elevation | 4,870 ft (1,484 m) |
| - coordinates | 33°42′58″N 117°32′21″W / 33.71611°N 117.53917°W |
| Mouth | Santa Ana River |
| - location | Santa Ana |
| - elevation | 108 ft (33 m) |
| - coordinates | 33°46′11″N 117°53′27″W / 33.76972°N 117.89083°WCoordinates: 33°46′11″N 117°53′27″W / 33.76972°N 117.89083°W |
| Length | 34 mi (55 km) |
| Basin | 100.6 sq mi (260.6 km2) |
| Discharge | for Villa Park |
| - average | 6.3 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
| - max | 11,000 cu ft/s (311 m3/s) |
| - min | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
 Map of the Santiago Creek watershed and surroundings
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Santiago Creek is a major watercourse in Orange County in the U.S. state of California. About 34 miles (55 km) long, it drains most of the northern Santa Ana Mountains and is a tributary to the Santa Ana River. It is one of the longest watercourses entirely within the county. The creek shares its name with Santiago Peak, at 5,687 ft (1,733 m) the highest point in Orange County, on whose slopes its headwaters rise.
The Santiago Creek watershed covers about 100.6 square miles (261 km2) in northern Orange County. The upper part of the creek is free-flowing, while the lower section is urbanized and includes parts of the cities of Tustin, Orange, and Santa Ana. Below the Villa Park Dam the creek is mostly channelized and flows only during heavy winter storms.
Historically the Santiago Creek provided water for the Tongva people, whose territory extended over much of northern present-day Orange County and into the Los Angeles Basin. Native Americans have inhabited the Santiago Creek and Santa Ana River watershed for up to 12,000 years. The creek was named by the Spanish Gaspar de Portolá expedition of 1769, which crossed the Santa Ana River near where it meets the Santiago Creek. In the 1870s there was a short-lived silver boom along the tributary Silverado Creek. In 1929 the Santiago Dam was built to form Irvine Lake, to supply irrigation water. Pipelines from Irvine Lake still contribute a small amount of water to the municipality of Villa Park.
Santiago Creek rises in the Cleveland National Forest, between Santiago Peak and Modjeska Peak, which together form the prominent Saddleback of the Santa Ana Mountains. The creek runs south-southwest toward Portola Hills before turning northwest. Once out of the national forest it passes through the town of Modjeska and meets the first major tributary, Harding Canyon Creek, from the right. Downstream, it receives Baker and Silverado creeks, both from the right. Past the first Santiago Canyon Road crossing, the gorge widens to a broad alluvial plain, where the valley walls pull away and decrease in height. The creek's perennial surface flows are limited to this upper stretch; below here the water flows underground except during the wet season of winter and early spring.
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Wikipedia