 |
| Sespe Creek Arroyo Sespe, Cespai River, Sespe River[1] | |
|---|---|
 Sespe Creek flowing through the Sespe Wilderness | |
 Map showing Sespe Creek highlighted in the Santa Clara River watershed | |
| Native name | S'eqp'e' (Chumashan) |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | California |
| Region | Ventura County |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | San Emigdio Mountains |
| • location | Potrero Seco Campground, Los Padres National Forest, California, United States |
| • coordinates | 34°37′37″N 119°26′31″W / 34.62694°N 119.44194°W |
| • elevation | 5,280 ft (1,610 m) |
| Mouth | Confluence with the Santa Clara River |
• location | Sespe, California and Fillmore, California, Ventura County, California |
• coordinates | 34°22′48″N 118°57′17″W / 34.38000°N 118.95472°W[2] |
• elevation | 355 ft (108 m) |
| Length | 61 mi (98 km) |
| Basin size | 260 sq mi (670 km2) |
| Discharge | |
| • location | Fillmore, California[3] |
| • average | 126 cu ft/s (3.6 m3/s)[3] |
| • minimum | 0 cu ft/s (0 m3/s) |
| • maximum | 85,300 cu ft/s (2,420 m3/s) |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Hot Springs Canyon |
| • right | Lion Canyon, Timber Creek, West Fork Sespe Creek, Little Sespe Creek |
| Type | Wild, Scenic |
| Designated | June 19, 1992 |
Sespe Creek (Chumash: S'eqp'e', "Kneecap"[4]) is a stream, some 61 miles (98 km) long,[5] in Ventura County, southern California, in the Western United States.[6] The creek starts at Potrero Seco in the eastern Sierra Madre Mountains, and is formed by more than thirty tributary streams of the Sierra Madre and Topatopa Mountains, before it empties into the Santa Clara River in Fillmore.
Thirty-one miles (50 km) of Sespe Creek is designated as a National Wild and Scenic River and National Scenic Waterway, and is untouched by dams or concrete channels. It is one of the last wild rivers in Southern California. It is primarily within the southern Los Padres National Forest.
The name Sespe can be traced to a Chumash Indian village, called Cepsey, Sek-pe or S'eqpe' ("Kneecap") in the Chumash language in 1791. The village appeared in a Mexican Alta California land grant called Rancho Sespe or Rancho San Cayetano in 1833.[1][7]
- ^ a b Erwin G. Gudde; William Bright (2004). California Place Names: The Origin and Etymology of Current Geographical Names. University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-24217-3. Retrieved Apr 13, 2010.
- ^ "Sespe Creek". Geographic Names Information System. United States Geological Survey, United States Department of the Interior. 19 January 1981. Retrieved 2010-04-15.
- ^ a b "USGS Gage #11113000 on Sespe Creek near Fillmore, CA: Water-Data Report 2013" (PDF). National Water Information System. U.S. Geological Survey. 1911–2013. Retrieved 2015-03-23.
- ^ McCall, Lynne & Rosalind, Perry, red. (1991): The Chumash People: Materials for Teachers and Students. Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History. San Luis Obispo, CA: EZ Nature Books. ISBN 0-945092-23-7. Page 29.
- ^ U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National Map, accessed March 16, 2011
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Monsmawas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ McCall, Lynne; Perry, Rosalind (2002). California's Chumash Indians : a project of the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History Education Center (Revised ed.). San Luis Obispo, Calif: EZ Nature Books. p. 36. ISBN 0936784156.