Sultan River

Sultan River
The Sultan River (highlighted) on a map of the catchment area of ​​the Snohomish River
Data
location	Snohomish County , Washington , USA
River system	Snohomish River
Drain over	Skykomish River  → Snohomish River  → Puget Sound
Source in the cascade chain	Crested Buttes 47 ° 56 ′ 53 "  N , 121 ° 28 ′ 4"  W.
Estuary at Sultan	Skykomish River Coordinates: 47 ° 51 ′ 28 "  N , 121 ° 49 ′ 13"  W 47 ° 51 ′ 28 "  N , 121 ° 49 ′ 13"  W.
length	48 km
Catchment area	207 km²
Discharge at gauge USGS 12138160	NNQ MNQ MHQ	4 m³ / s 21 m³ / s 569 m³ / s
The Sultan River a few miles below the Culmback Dam near a United States Geological Survey gauge and a drainage dam

The Sultan River is a river in Snohomish County , Washington state . It is a tributary of the Skykomish River , into which it flows in the city of Sultan . The river is dammed in its upper third by the Culmback Dam and forms the Spada Lake .

Both the Sultan River and the City of Sultan were named by prospectors after a chief of the Snohomish who lived on the Skykomish River in the 1870s. Whose name was Tsul-tad or Tseul-tud, which by the miners in Sultan anglicised was.

The catchment area of the Sultan River was heavily glaciated in the Pleistocene . The river flows through a channel clearly shaped by a glacier. The upper South Fork Sultan River flows through a classic trough valley cut by diorite by a glacier . The main tributaries of the Sultan River - the North Fork, South Fork, Elk Creek, and Williamson Creek - flow through narrow valleys and converge in the Lower Sultan Basin, where the valley floor is relatively wide. The Sultan River leaves this basin by plunging abruptly into a narrow canyon.

Pleistocene glaciers spread through the valleys of the Sultan River and its tributaries and were united in the lower basin. From there, the ice was pushed westward through what is now the Pilchuck River valley . Today the two rivers are separated by the terminal moraine of an ice front that was driven up the Pilchuck Valley, dammed the Sultan River and created a lake. This glacial lake eventually flowed westward and created an alluvial fan. The postglacial Sultan River cut through this alluvial fan and created its current course from the lower basin.

course

The Sultan River has its source at the Crested Buttes. It flows northwest, then southwest into Spada Lake. Spada Lake, the backwater of the Culmback Dam , is Everett's main source of drinking water . The South Fork Sultan River joins the main stream by flowing into a long arm on the south side of the lake. The Sultan River leaves the lake and flows westward, then southward to its confluence with the Skykomish River. The main tributaries are Elk Creek, which flows above the tributary to Spada Lake, and Williamson Creek, which comes from distant Copper Lake and reaches Spada Lake just below the tributary of the Sultan River.

South Fork

The South Fork arises at the confluence of the North Fork South Fork and Middle Fork South Fork; it then flows northwestward and pours into the southern arm of Spada Lake.

North Fork South Fork

The North Fork South Fork Sultan River rises on the watershed to Salmon Creek and flows westward. It unites with the Middle Fork South Fork to the South Fork Sultan River.

Middle Fork South Fork

The Middle Fork South Fork Sultan River rises on the eastern slope of Mount Stickney. It flows north about four kilometers and joins the North Fork South Fork; they form the South Fork Sultan River.

South Fork South Fork

The South Fork South Fork Sultan River begins at the outlet of One Acre Lake, flows north and reaches the South Fork just above its confluence with Spada Lake.

history

The prospecting in the basin of the Sultan River began about 1870. Gold-bearing paid no earlier than 1869 to the gravel banks along the river by small-scale washing operations discovered. Rich deposits were discovered in the basin a few years later. The main discovery took place in 1891 - the so-called "45 vein" (Eng. "Ader 45"), in mine 45. Further development depended on the transport options, which progressed only slowly. In 1896, the 45 mine became the Sultan Basin's first producer. A 32-kilometer unpaved covered wagon road was built from the mine to Sultan for access to the railroad and the Skykomish River. There was also a trail over the Marble Pass to Silverton.

See also

• List of rivers in Washington

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Calculated in Google Earth
2. ^ Water Resources Data-Washington Water Year 2005; Snohomish River Basin . USGS . Retrieved August 5, 2009.
3. ↑ Sultan . In: Washington Place Names database . Tacoma Public Library. Archived from the original on March 9, 2009. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 5, 2009.  
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Fred Beckey: Cascade Alpine Guide: Climbing and High Routes: Stevens Pass to Rainy Pass , 3rd. Edition, The Mountaineers , 2003, ISBN 0-89886-423-2 , pp. 25-26, 30.
5. ↑ South Fork Sultan River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
6. ^ North Fork South Fork Sultan River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
7. ↑ Middle Fork South Fork Sultan River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey
8. ↑ South Fork South Fork Sultan River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey

Web links

• Sultan River in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey - source and mouth coordinates