Place: CA-Kings River

Kings River (quad)
(Long, Lat)

Description:

From Place Names of the Sierra Nevada by Francis P. Farquhar

KINGS RIVER “We found, after having traveled five leagues, the Rio de los Santos Reyes, which had been discovered in the previous year, 1805. (P. Muñoz: Diario de la expedición hecha por Don Gabriel Moraga á los Nuevos Descubrimientos del Tular, Sept. 21 to Nov. 2, 1806, in Bancroft Collection, Arch. Sta. Barb., Vol. IV, p. 27.)” (Richman: California Under Spain and Mexico, 1911, p. 465. —See, also, Chapman: History of California, 1921, pp. 419-420.)
Rio de los Santos Reyes signifies in Spanish “River of the Holy Kings,” and refers to the Magi, or three kings, called in the Bible the “wise men from the east,” who visited the infant Jesus (Matthew: 2:1-12). It is not unlikely that the name was given on the day of Epiphany as was the case in the naming of Point Reyes (Punta de los Reyes) on the California coast by Vizcaino in 1603.
“We crossed an open plain still in a southeasterly direction, reaching in about twenty miles the Tulare Lake River. This is the Lake Fork; one of the largest and handsomest streams in the valley, being about one hundred yards broad and having perhaps a larger body of fertile lands than any one of the others. It is called by the Mexicans the Rio de los Reyes. [December 22, 1845]” (Fremont: Memoirs, 1887, p. 448.)
There are three principal forks of Kings River: North, Middle, and South.
Trips:


Pictures: