The proper location of the mouth of the Salinas River is a very difficult problem - U.S. Surveyor General for California (1879)
1854
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early 1830s
early 1830s early 1830s
late 1830s late 1830s
early 1840s early 1840s
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Moss Landing, 1870s
The wharves at the mouth of the Salinas river have also been greatly improved. The dimensions of this river increase so greatly during the winter season, as to make it a risky business to build expensive wharves along its shores. Its usual width, at the entrance of the bay, is about four hundred and fifty feet. In 1862, during the wet season, it exceeded a mile. - Titus Fey Cronise, The Natural Wealth of California (1868)
Twelve miles farther south is the mouth of the Salinas River, which is about two hundred yards wide, and has seven feet of water. It is entered by small schooners, with the help of a steam-tug. - John S. Hittell, The Resources of California (1869)
1854
1879
1885
We should judge the width of the Salinas, from the mouth of the Tembledera to the Landings a distance of two miles, to be from two hundred and fifty to three hundred and fifty feet wide. The tide was low, and in one or two places sand bars showed themselves, still we found a channel all the way down, with at the shallowest three or four feet of water. At the landings we found no bottom with our oars. - The Castroville Argus (1870)
The Tembladera slough, connected as it is with the principal lagoons of the valley, and having, within two miles of the town, a lake of one mile long by a quarter of a mile wide and ten to fifty feet of water, with a continuously flowing stream fifty to one hundred feet in width, and from five to ten feet in depth, with a fall of twenty feet, producing a current of about four miles an hour - The Castroville Argus (1877)
That [the southern break] is kept open at all, is due to the four large sloughs further north, viz: The Turnbladers, the Castroville, the Elkhorn and the Northfork of the Elkhorn. All these are filled brimful at high tide (which as I have made sure to observe acts in the Elkhorn per ex. way up to the upper Landing near Watsonville and to a similar distance in the others) and at Ebbtide they all must discharge the immense volume of water taken in, through the narrow Bar north of Moss Landing, where the action of the scouring current on the ever shifting Sandbars and spits is a wonderful one, and must be seen to be appreciated. The Point at the northend of the spit is flapped around like a sheet of paper, but always shows the tendency of the general current in Monterey Bay to close up and deposit sand towards the NE. thereby steadily eating away on the opposite side of the Bar, and lengthening out the Spit towards the north.
The Bar at the northern mouth is, as allready mentioned, extraordinary rough; in fact I do not believe that it is safe for even powerful steamers in any but the quietest months in the year. It is very narrow, and standing at the furthest northend I could clearly see the shallow nose extend so far toward the opposite shore, that I would have called it folly, to enter the small deep opening with any vessel.
It is my firm belief, that if the four above named sloughs could be shut up at their respective mouths at once, the power of the Ebbtide in returning from the so tamed Salinas River alone would be powerless to destroy the accumulation made by the high tide at the Bar, and would result in a speedy sealing up of the northern mouth as at the southern Break or mouth. And such must be the fate of every California River the mouth of which has not sloughroom enough to take in at high tide a volume of water sufficient to clear in its outflow the Bar made by the incoming current; and such must be especially the case, where the general action of the Ocean current upon the Beach is as pronounced and determined as along the eastern part of the Bay of Monterey. - U.S. Surveyor General for California (1879)
1909
The principal changes [at Elkhorn Slough] seem to be a diminution both in width and depth of the main slough and its laterals, and a reduction of the marshy area in its vicinity. Years ago a small steamer towed barges to Moss Landing on it. At present there is not enough water for any navigation. - U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey (1910) 1881
Shoaling, 1931
And such must be the fate of every California River the mouth of which has not sloughroom enough to take in at high tide a volume of water sufficient to clear in its outflow the Bar made by the incoming current. - U.S. Surveyor General for California (1879) Mouth closure, 1937
The channel recently dredged to the sea at Moss Landing by the Army Corps of United States engineers with federal money gradually is bringing the Elkhorn slough back to its former status of depth and navigability. The natural flow of tidal waters is washing the silt of the past 65 years far out to sea on the outgoing tides. - Albert Vierra (1958) Moss Landing Harbor construction, 1946