Bitterwater Creek (Buena Vista Lake) Explained

Bitterwater Creek (Buena Vista Lake) should not be confused with Bitterwater Creek.

Bitterwater Creek
Name Other:Bitter Creek
Name Etymology:Spanish
Map Size:250
Pushpin Map:USA California
Pushpin Map Size:250
Pushpin Map Caption:Bitterwater Creek (Lake Buena Vista)
Subdivision Type1:Country
Subdivision Name1:United States
Subdivision Type2:State
Subdivision Name2:California
Subdivision Type3:Region
Subdivision Name3:San Luis Obispo County, Kern County
Source1:source
Source1 Location:just southwest of the southern extreme of the Elkhorn Hills, 6.3 miles southwest of Maricopa, California., San Louis Obispo County
Source1 Coordinates:34.9964°N -119.4808°W
Mouth:mouth
Mouth Location:dissipates in the dry lake bed of Buena Vista Lake, 3.7 miles north of Pentland., Kern County
Mouth Coordinates:35.1139°N -119.3503°W
Mouth Elevation:420feet

Bitterwater Creek, formerly Arroyo de Amargosa (Bitter Creek), is a stream with its source just southwest of the southern extreme of the Elkhorn Hills, just west of and inside the San Luis Obispo County boundary, 6.3 miles southwest of Maricopa, California. The creek flows northwest to dissipate in the dry lake bed of Buena Vista Lake, 3.7 miles north of Pentland, Kern County, California. In years of heavy rainfall it would be a tributary to Buena Vista Lake, which has been dry for many years due to agricultural diversion.

History

Arroyo de Amargosa was a stream that provided a camping and watering place on El Camino Viejo at its "sink" near Maricopa, southwest of Buena Vista Lake, between Arroyo San Emigdio to the southeast and Aguaje de La Brea 20 miles to the northwest near McKittrick, California.[1]

Notes and References

  1. https://books.google.com/books?id=p2WrAAAAIAAJ&q=%22San+Emigdio%22+Kern+County&pg=PA123 Mildred Brooke Hoover, Historic spots in California, Stanford University Press, Stanford, 1990, p.123