Buena Vista Slough was the joint outlet of an overflowing Buena Vista Lake and a distributary of the Kern River into Tulare Lake. It is now diverted into a system of canals by the Outlet Canal of the Central Valley Project.^[1]

History

In times when Buena Vista Lake overflowed it first backed up into Kern Lake making one large lake. When this larger lake overflowed it flowed out through the Buena Vista Slough that began southeast of what is now Tupman where it met the Kern River distributary channel to the San Joaquin River.35°16′10″N 119°18′34″W / 35.26944°N 119.30944°W / 35.26944; -119.30944 It then ran northwest from there through tule marshland and Goose Lake, into Tulare Lake west of the Sand Ridge.35°49′30″N 119°43′59″W / 35.82500°N 119.73306°W / 35.82500; -119.73306 During the late 19th century a system of canals was built to divert this water for agriculture. That diversion of water lead to a lawsuit by downstream property owners in Lux v. Haggin.

References

v t e Tulare Basin hydrography
Kings River	North Fork Kings River South Fork Kings River Middle Fork Kings River Roaring River Dinkey Creek Kings Canyon Pine Flat Dam Pine Flat Lake Rodgers Crossing Dam (proposed)
Kaweah River	North Fork Kaweah River Middle Fork Kaweah River Marble Fork Kaweah River East Fork Kaweah River South Fork Kaweah River Lime Kiln Creek Paradise Creek Horse Creek St. John's River Kaweah Canyon Mineral King Terminus Dam Lake Kaweah
Tule River	North Fork Tule River Middle Fork Tule River South Fork Tule River North Branch Tule River South Branch Tule River Success Dam Lake Success
Kern River	Buena Vista Lake Buena Vista Slough Canebrake Creek Clear Creek Connecting Slough Golden Trout Creek Isabella Dam Lake Isabella Kern River Canyon Kern River Slough Kern Lake Lake Evans Lake Webb Little Kern River Poso Creek Rock Creek South Fork Kern River
Other	Tulare Lake California Aqueduct Friant-Kern Canal Mill Creek White River

v t e Rivers of California's Central Valley watershed (north-to-south)
Sacramento River watershed	Pit River McCloud River Cow Creek Cottonwood Creek Battle Creek Mill Creek Deer Creek Thomes Creek Big Chico Creek Stony Creek Butte Creek Feather River North Fork East Branch West Branch Middle Fork South Fork Yuba River Bear River American River North Fork Middle Fork South Fork Cache Creek Putah Creek
San Joaquin River watershed	Mokelumne River Cosumnes River Calaveras River Stanislaus River Tuolumne River Clavey River Cherry Creek Merced River Mariposa Creek Chowchilla River Fresno River
Tulare Basin	Kings River Kaweah River Tule River White River Poso Creek Kern River