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Temescal Creek (shown on federal maps as Temescal Wash) is an approximately 〔U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. (The National Map ), accessed March 16, 2011〕 watercourse in Riverside County, in the U.S. state of California. Flowing primarily in a northwestern direction, it connects Lake Elsinore with the Santa Ana River. It drains the eastern slopes of the Santa Ana Mountains on its left and on its right the western slopes of the Temescal Mountains along its length. With a drainage basin of about , it is the largest tributary of the Santa Ana River, hydrologically connecting the San Jacinto River and Lake Elsinore watersheds to the rest of the Santa Ana watershed. However, flowing through an arid rain shadow zone of the Santa Ana Mountains, and with diversion of ground water for human use, the creek today is ephemeral for most of its length, except for runoff from housing developments and agricultural return flows. ==History== Prior to 1886, Temescal Valley and Temescal Creek that flowed through it had much more water than today. In May, 1886 the South Riverside Land and Water Company was incorporated, and it purchased the lands of Rancho La Sierra of Bernardo Yorba, and the Rancho Temescal grant where the colony of South Riverside was laid out. They also secured the water rights to Temescal Creek, its tributaries and Lee Lake. Dams and pipelines were built to carry the water to the colony. In 1889 the Temescal Water Company was incorporated, to supply water for the new colony. This company purchased all the water-bearing lands in the valley and began drilling artesian wells.〔( Rose L. Ellerbee,''History of Temescal Valley'', Publications of the Historical Society of Southern California, Volume 11, 1918 pp.18-19 )〕 The first wells flowed, at a depth of 300 feet. However, pumping plants soon had to be installed as the water table fell. In time all the water of both Temescal and Coldwater Creeks was turned into pipe lines. Cienagas and springs were drained, and, gradually, the central portion of the Temescal Valley became dry and desolate. Farms and orchards in Temescal the central part of the Temescal Valley were abandoned by 1918.〔 In the 1890s Lake Elsinore water was purchased by the Temescal Water Company for the irrigation of land in Corona, California. Its outlet channel was deepened, permitting gravity flow down the natural channel of Temescal Canyon to Corona for a year or more after the water level sank below the natural elevation of its outlet. As the lake surface continued to recede, a pumping plant was installed, and pumping was continued a few seasons, but the concentration of salts in the lake, due to the evaporation and lack of rainfall, soon made the water unfit for irrigation, and the project was abandoned by the company.〔( Water-supply paper, Volumes 425–429 By Geological Survey (U.S.), History of Elsinore Lake, p. 255 )〕 Another consequence of this drainage was that the hot springs along the course of the upper creek near Lake Elsinore and in the Warm Springs Valley, ceased to flow and wells had to be dug to obtain those waters. The water shortage was relieved by the construction of the Colorado River Aqueduct and the building of its terminal reservoir Lake Mathews in 1939. The reservoir is in the upper part of Cajalco Canyon and the lower reach of the Cajalco Valley, on the course of Cajalco Creek, tributary to Temescal Wash. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Temescal Creek (Riverside County)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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