| Lytle Creek | |
|---|---|
Lytle Creek and its tributary, Cajon Wash, flowing out of the San Gabriel Mountains. |
|
| Mouth | Santa Ana River |
| Basin countries | United States |
| Mouth elevation | 981 ft (299 m) |
| Avg. discharge | 137 cu ft/s (3.9 m3/s) at mouth |
Lytle Creek, California, is an approximately 18-mile-long (29 km)[1] stream in southwestern San Bernardino County near the city of San Bernardino. It is a tributary of the Santa Ana River. The river flows through the eastern San Gabriel Mountains and has three forks, the North, Middle and South forks. The North Fork and Middle Fork meet just west of the town of Lytle Creek, California and the South Fork joins them soon after. The last mile of the creek has been diverted into an artificial channel to prevent flooding. The creek merges with Warm Creek just downstream of the old junction, right before they both join the Santa Ana River.
Southern California Edison has a 600-kW hydroelectric plant on the river. It is a run-of-the-river plant. A diversion dam sends the water through a turbine, which is returned to the streambed further downstream. SCE also has three plants on Mill Creek, another Santa Ana River tributary, and two plants on the Santa Ana River itself.
Several moderate-to-large-sized cities (Fontana, Rialto, Colton, and San Bernardino-the largest) are built on the ancient alluvial fan sediments left behind by Lytle Creek.[2][3]