Los Angeles herald., 1909-11-13

lie report III lull IS dS lOllO
The Great Basin drainage in Cali
fornia consists of all drainage from
the eastern slope of the Sierra Ne
vada. 1t comprises all, or a part,
of the drainage basins of Susan
river and Honey lake, Truckee river
and Lake Tahoe, Walker river,
Mono lake and owens river and
lake. Having no outlet to the
ocean, the entire rUn-off from these
basins is dissipated mainly through
evaporation from the lakes and
sinks in which the waters collect.
Owens river basin is situated in
the eastern part of California In
Mono and Inyo counties. 1t lies
east of the main crest of the Sierra,
which. for a distance of about 14O
miles, forms the watershed between
IL and upper San Joaquin river,
Kings and Kern rivers. 1t Is south
of Mono lake basin and north of
the arid region that separates it
from the Mohave desert at the
south. It's eastern watershed Is
determined by White mountains at
the north and Inyo mountains at
the south. The length of the basin
is about 120 miles and the width is
about twenty miles at the south
and thirty miles at the north. The
total area of the basin is about
2S00 square miles, including owens
lake, of which about 100 square
miles are east of the river.
Source in High Serras
Owens river rises among the high
peaks of the Sierra, east of Mount
Lyell and directly opposite the
headwaters of san Joaquin river,
at an altitude of nearly 1900 feet.
1t flows eastward into Long valley,
thence southwestward through
Owens river canyon into owens
valley, thence eastward and south
ward through the trough OF
southwark through the trough Oh
the valley to owens lake, about
twenty miles southeast of Mount
Whitney and directly opposite the
northern part of Kern river basin.
The total length of owens river Is
about 125 miles, forty-five miles
above the lower end of the canyon
and eighty miles in owens valley.
owens river has numerous snort
tributaries, which are well DIS
tributed along the entire length or
the stream. They all drain a part
of the eastern slope of the Sierra,
and enter the main stream from
the west. There are more than
forty such lateral streams, but
many of them are comparatively
small. The principal tributaries
from the north to the south are as
follows: Rock, Pine, Horton, Nc
Gee, Birch and Bishop creeks, OPP
posite the San Joaquin basin;
Coyote. Baker, Big Pine, Birch
Tinemaha, Taboose, Goodale, Dl-
vision, Sawmill (Eight-Mile), Thi-
baut, oak Pine and Symmes
creeks, opposite Kings river basln'
and Shepard. BARS (Mo1etp,
George Hogback, Lone Pine, Tut
tie, Richter, Cottonwood and Ash
creeks, opposite Kern river basin.
No drainage enters owens river
from the east, except exceptionally
heavy rain storms, which are rare.
Topography Explained
Owens river basin has a varied
topography. The basin is long and
comparatively narrow. 1t consists
of a rough, east-side. mountain
slope. five or six miles wide, a
valley floor about six miles in
width, and a west-side slope rang
ing from six to ten miles or more
in width and divided into two
parts, as follows: A very rugged
and precipitous mountain slope
four or five miles in width and a
sloping alluvial plain made up of
delta fan surfaces, ranging from
one to five miles in width and ly-
ing at the foot of the mountains
and west of the western margin of
the valley.
Owens valley ranges in altitude
to about 4100 feet at the northern
end. The crest of the east side
range of mountains averages about
5000 feet higher than the valley
flood. The west side plain consists
of a porous granitic alluvium of
considerable depth, and ranges in
altitude from about 1000 feet at
the western valley margin to about
5000 feet at the foot of the noun
tains. 1t has fairly uniform
slope of from 400 to 600 feet to the
mile. The eastern slope of the
Sierra is very steep and rugged,
and ranges in altitude from about
5000 feet at the foot to $4,000 and
Ii, 900 feet at the crest. The for
nation is granite.
owens river basin has a rather
poor forest cover. The eastern slope
is practically barren of al vegeta-
ton except a scanty desert growth
in places. The western slope has a
very light soil covering, and only a
sparse timber growth, limited
chiefly to the water courses. All the
western slope, large part of the
eastern slope, and the central part
of Owens valley, are included in
national forest reserves.
Heavy Snow on Mountains
The mean annual precipitation in
Owens basin is very light, especial
ly on the valley floor and the east
ern slope. The only records avail
able are for the valley, and they
indicate that the mean anual pre-
cipitation there is about FIVE inches.
On the Sierran slope the precipita-
ton probably increases with in
crease of latitude, and certainly in
oreases with increase of altitude.
1t Is probably thirty or forty inches
on The higher parts of the slope,
and maybe more; and it occurs al
most entirely as snow, which feeds
the numerous streams that issue
from this slope.
These streams usually have their
minimum flow in February, and
their maximum In July. Their COM
bined maximum is about ten times
their combined minimum. There is
about the same ratio of disparity in
the monthly extremes of precipita-
4I,o eooeanc ora TaUprGaH-