The South and Middle Forks converge in the Monarch Wilderness at an elevation of 2,257 feet (688 m) just outside the national park to form the Kings River in the deepest part of Kings Canyon. The Middle Fork flows for 37 miles (60 km) through some of the park's most difficult-to-access backcountry, including Simpson Meadow and Tehipite Valley. It flows south, then flows west through the Cedar Grove section of Kings Canyon, a glacial valley with high granite cliffs and a meadow floor which has been compared in appearance to Yosemite Valley. The 44-mile (71 km) South Fork is the longest tributary of the Kings River, originating on the Sierra Crest at the far eastern edge of Kings Canyon National Park. The entire upper course of the Kings River is in Fresno County in the Central Valley, the Kings River also flows through parts of Tulare County and Kings County. Much of the upper Kings River consists of remote backcountry and wilderness areas, accessible only by non-motorized trails. The North Fork, which begins in the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra National Forest, joins the Kings River further downstream near Pine Flat Lake, the only major reservoir on the river. The Middle and South Forks begin in Kings Canyon National Park, and join in the Monarch Wilderness ( Sierra and Sequoia National Forests) to form the Kings River. Today, the river irrigates about 1.1 million acres (4,500 km 2) of some of the most productive farmland in the country, and is also used extensively for hydropower generation, and water-based and backcountry recreation.Īll three forks of the Kings River originate as snowmelt in the high Sierra Nevada mountains. ![]() The battle for control over Kings River water produced extended conflicts, including a set of dams proposed in what would become Kings Canyon National Park. ![]() In the early 1900s Tulare Lake and its surrounding wetlands were diked, drained and reclaimed for agriculture the construction of Pine Flat Dam in the 1950s tamed the river's seasonal floods. ![]() The Kings has a long history of water development, going back to the mid-19th century when farmers made their first attempts to irrigate with Kings River water. Logging and livestock grazing inflicted significant environmental damage on the upper parts of the river system, before the federal government moved to establish national parks and preserves there. state in 1850 that many Europeans arrived and settled along the Kings River, driving out the area's original inhabitants. The river was named by Gabriel Moraga, the commander of a Spanish military expedition in 1806, but it was not until California became a U.S. Tulare Lake was once the largest freshwater lake in the western U.S., at the middle of an endorheic basin also fed by the Kaweah, Tule and Kern Rivers. Inhabited for thousands of years by the Yokuts and other native groups, the Kings River basin once fed a vast network of seasonal wetlands around Tulare Lake that supported millions of waterfowl, fish, and game animals, in turn providing sustenance for indigenous peoples. However, most of the water is consumed for irrigation well upstream of either point. With its upper and middle course in Fresno County, the Kings River diverges into multiple branches in Kings County, with some water flowing south to the old Tulare Lake bed and the rest flowing north to the San Joaquin River. The river is impounded in Pine Flat Lake before flowing into the San Joaquin Valley (the southern half of the Central Valley) southeast of Fresno. Its headwaters originate along the Sierra Crest in and around Kings Canyon National Park and form the eponymous Kings Canyon, one of the deepest river gorges in North America. The Kings River ( Spanish: Río de los Santos Reyes), historically called Wimmel-che by the Yokuts, is a 132.9-mile (213.9 km) river draining the Sierra Nevada mountain range in central California in the United States.
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