Lake Size: 82 km (51 M)
Lake Level Above Sea Level: 795 ft
Counties: Los Angeles County

Information: "The Los Angeles River, formed by a large watershed that drains the Santa Susana Mountains, the San Fernando Valley, and the San Gabriel Mountains, played an important part in the geological formation of the Los Angeles basin. Areas adjacent to the river comprised riparian ecosystems with a myriad of native plant and animal species. The rivers’ periodic floods provided rich sedimentary deposits across the floodplains. Today, no part of the Los Angeles River remains in a native state; every reach of the river has been altered and engineered. No longer able to recharge the earth it passes over, the Los Angeles River discharges its water unimpeded and unused into the Pacific Ocean. The Los Angeles River provided food, water, shelter and sustenance to human beings for thousands of years. Before the first Spanish explorers arrived with Portolás’ 1769 expedition, the river sustained a thriving population of indigenous peoples. The Tongva dwelt in a large settlement along the river’s banks. This settlement, known as Yangna, was a movable village near the river, relocating as the river flooded or dried up with the changing seasons and dry or wet years. The Tongva called the river otcho’o, pa-hyt or wenoot and utilized it daily by harvesting reeds to provide material for housing and clothing, hunting and fishing on its shores, and using its water. Father Crespí, writing in his journal during the 1769 Portola expedition, named the river El Rio de Porciuncula de Los Angeles. After Spanish settlement and the establishment of El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora, la Reina de los Angeles (the Town of Our Lady, the Queen of the Angels) in 1781, the Tongva were forcibly relocated to the San Gabriel Mission."