14 Facts About Mokelumne River

Mokelumne River is a 95-mile -long river in northern California in the United States.

Mokelumne River is formed by the confluence of several forks that rise in the central Sierra Nevada in the Stanislaus National Forest.

Mokelumne River watershed drains 2,143 square miles in parts of Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, San Joaquin, and Sacramento Counties.

Drainage within the Mokelumne River watershed generally occurs from east to west with all of the perennial streams originating in the Sierra Nevada.

In May 2021, it was reported that a trove of 5- to 10-million-year-old fossils was unearthed in June 2020 in the Mokelumne River watershed near Valley Springs, California, including a two-tusked mastodon, a four-tusked gomphothere, rhinoceros, camel, horse, tortoise, tapir, bird, fish, and other specimens.

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Mokelumne River basin was originally inhabited by Yokuts, Miwok, and Wintun Native American people.

The name Mokelumne River was first recorded by Spanish missionary Narciso Duran as Muquelumnes in 1817.

Mokelumne River is home to five notable whitewater kayaking runs: Fantasy Falls, Devil's Nose, Tiger Creek Dam, Ponderosa and Electra-Middle Bar.

Mokelumne River is a popular site for fishing, camping, water play, birding, picnics, gold panning, spring wildflower watching, and other activities.

California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has developed a safe eating advisory for Lower Mokelumne River based on levels of mercury or PCBs found in fish caught from this water body.

Mokelumne River provides habitat for Pacific salmon and steelhead trout spawning runs.

The legislation was co-sponsored by Foothill Conservancy and Friends of the Mokelumne River, and supported by Calaveras County and a number of conservation, fish, community and tribal groups.

In 2015, California Assemblyman Frank Bigelow and Senator Tom Berryhill co-sponsored state legislation, Assembly Bill 142, which called for completion of a state study before the Mokelumne could be designated a California Wild and Scenic River.

The bill mandated a state wild and scenic river suitability study of the Mokelumne and provided interim protections for the river from Salt Springs Dam to Pardee Reservoir.