Arcade Creek

Arcade Creek is a waterway in Northeastern Sacramento County in central California, United States. The creek begins in Orangevale, California and flows into the Sacramento River through the Natomas East Main Drainage Canal. It is roughly 16.2 miles long with a basin area of about 29.7 square miles (19,000 acres) and has a floodplain from 120 to 200 feet.

Due to archeological finds along Arcade Creek, it has been classified as one of the most important archeological sites in the United States. The erosion of several sediment layers revealed an artifact-bearing layer of dirt nine feet under the top soil layer in one area. This layer yielded 75 artifacts. Researchers link these artifact to the Nisenan People, originally from the Early Horizon period, dating to around 6000 to 3000 BC. The artifacts included flakes and cores of hand stones, cobble-choppers, hammerstones, arrow heads, mortar and pestles. In one area, an ancient Native American sweat house was discovered. This led researchers to believe that the abundance of Bucheye Trees in the area is due to the building of sweat houses and other living structures. Around 3000 years ago, the Nisenan people settled around Arcade Creek. They chose this area probably due to the abundance of oak trees. The trees provided acorns, shelter, nutrients for vegetation growth and small game. The Arcade creek area was also provided underground vegetation bulbs that could be dug out using sticks. In the 1800s, Arcade Creek was added to the northernmost Mexican land grants for California. Governor Manuel Micheltorena of Alta California from 1842 to 1845, gave 44,000 acres to Elijah Grimes, who named it Rancho Del Paso. In the 1860s, during the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, Arcade creek acquired national fame and central focal point. Charles Crocker took the first state geologist Josiah Whitney for a ride along the Arcade creek. When Crocker asked Whitney where the entrance to the mountains is, Whitney is quoted saying "Well, the true base is the Sacramento River, but for the purpose of this bill, Arcade Creek is as fair a place as any."

Flows through: United States.

River data from Wikidata (CC0); lengths normalised to a common unit.