Ortigalita Creek, formerly Arroyo de Las Ortigalito (Little Nettle Creek) is a tributary stream

Stream

A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...

 of the San Joaquin River, in Merced County, California

Merced County, California

Merced County , is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of Fresno and southeast of San Jose. As of the 2010 census, the population was 255,793, up from 210,554 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Merced...

. The source of Ortigalita Creek is at 3520 feet located near a peak on the Ortigalita Ridge of the Diablo Range

Diablo Range

The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges. It is located in the eastern San Francisco Bay area south to the Salinas Valley area of northern California, the United States.-Geography:...

. Its mouth is 7.2 miles south southwest of Los Banos, California

Los Banos, California

Los Banos is a city in Merced County, California, near the junction of State Route 152 and Interstate 5. Los Banos is located southwest of Merced, at an elevation of 118 feet . The population was 35,972 at the 2010 census, up from 25,869 at the 2000 census...

 just as it emerges from the foothills before it reaches the Califorina Aqueduct. Originally in years of heavy winter rainfall it may have reached the vicinity of the Mud Slough of the San Joaquin River

San Joaquin River

The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...

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History

Arroyo de Las Ortigalito was a watering place on El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo

El Camino Viejo à Los Angeles , also known as the Old Los Angeles Trail, established in 1820's, was the oldest north-south trail in the interior of Alta California...

 in the San Joaquin Valley

San Joaquin Valley

The San Joaquin Valley is the area of the Central Valley of California that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton...

 between Arroyo de los Baños

Los Banos

Los Banos could refer to:*Los Banos, California, United States*Los Baños, Laguna, Philippines...

 and Arroyita de Panoche

Little Panoche Creek

Little Panoche Creek formerly known as Arroyita de Panoche or Arroyo de Pannochita and later anglicized to Panochita Creek is a creek in Fresno County, California. The source of this creek is on the east slope of Glaucophane Ridge, of the Diablo Range in San Benito County...

. Arroyo de Las Ortigalito also was the southern boundry of Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisolitos

Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisolitos

Rancho Panoche de San Juan y Los Carrisalitos was a Mexican land grant in present day Merced County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Julian Ursua and Pedro Romo. The name means "raw sugar of San Juan and the little patches of reeds" in Spanish...

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