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91-667: The route is a principal connector between the San Joaquin Valley and the Mojave Desert . The Native American Kitanemuk people used the pass as a trade route before the American settlement of the region in the 19th century. The main line of the former Southern Pacific Railroad opened though the pass in 1876; the tracks are now owned by the Union Pacific Railroad and shared with BNSF Railway as

182-610: A decade there is seriously deep and long lasting snowfall. Mercury contamination near the southern end of the range is an ongoing problem, due to the New Idria quicksilver mines, which stopped production in the 1970s. Heavy mercury contamination has been documented in the San Carlos and Silver Creeks, which flow into Panoche Creek , and thence into the San Joaquin River . This has resulted in mercury contamination all

273-710: A drop in the area's water table, resulted in the town's demise. The Depression -era migrants to the San Joaquin Valley from the South and Midwest are one of the more well-known groups in the Central Valley, in large part due to the popularity of John Steinbeck 's novel The Grapes of Wrath and the Henry Fonda movie made from it. By 1910, agriculture in the southern Great Plains had become nearly unviable due to soil erosion and poor rainfall. Much of

364-653: A fresh water lake. Lake Corcoran was the last widespread lake to fill the valley about 700,000 years ago. At the beginning of the Holocene there were three major lakes remaining in the southern part of the Valley, Tulare Lake, Buena Vista Lake and Kern Lake . In the late 19th and in the 20th century, agricultural diversion of the Kern River eventually dried out these lakes. Today, only a fragment of Buena Vista Lake remains as two small lakes Lake Webb and Lake Evans in

455-534: A given crop: Stockton produces the majority of the domestic asparagus consumed in the United States, and Fresno County is the largest producer of raisins. Cattle and sheep ranching are also vitally important to the valley's economy. During the late 19th century and early 20th century, the Miller & Lux corporation built an agricultural monopoly centered around cattle. The corporation can be characterized as

546-625: A hard-driving sound that is still deeply associated with the city. The San Joaquin Valley produces 12.8% of California's agricultural production (as measured by dollar value). Often called a breadbasket region, the valley farms emphasize fruits, vegetables and nuts more than grain for bread. Major crops include grapes (wine grapes, table grapes and raisins ), cotton , almonds , pistachios , citrus , and vegetables. Walnuts, oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. Certain places are identified quite strongly with

637-494: A loss of as much as $ 11 billion each year. San Joaquin Valley is a major agricultural center of California. The agricultural demand for water far outstrips the urban and industrial demand. Overuse of nitrogen fertilizers and irrigated agriculture is common, and according to Thomas Harter, the chair for Water Resources Management and Policy at UC Davis, “more than 80 pounds of nitrogen per acre per year may leach into groundwater beneath irrigated lands, usually as nitrates”. Between

728-403: A major breadbasket , the San Joaquin Valley is an important source of food, producing a significant part of California's agricultural output. San Joaquin Valley draws from eight counties of Northern and one of Southern California , including all of San Joaquin and Kings counties, most of Stanislaus , Merced , and Fresno counties, and parts of Madera and Tulare counties, along with

819-625: A majority of Kern County in Southern California. Although the valley is predominantly rural, it has three densely populated urban centers: Stockton / Modesto , Fresno / Visalia , and Bakersfield . The San Joaquin Valley is the southern half of California's Central Valley . It extends from the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta in the north to the Tehachapi Mountains in the south, and from

910-409: A portion of the former Buena Vista Lakebed. The San Joaquin Valley has extremely hot, dry summers and pleasantly mild winters characterized by dense tule fog . Its rainy season normally runs from November through April. The valley has experienced a severe and intensifying megadrought since the early 2010s. This drought is not only affecting humans, with farmland taking much of the impact, but also

1001-611: A precursor to corporate farming transforming the yeoman farmer into wage workers. The success of the business can be attributed to founder Henry Miller 's direct management style which is reflected in his detailed correspondences to his subordinates. During recent years, dairy farming has greatly expanded in importance. As areas such as Chino and Corona have become absorbed into the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, many dairy farmers have cashed out and moved their herds to Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties. Between 1990 and 2004, 28,092  hectares (70,231 acres) of agricultural land

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1092-616: A source of drinking water for 90% of San Joaquin Valley's residents. Nitrates have found their way into the aquifers around the San Joaquin Valley, affecting over 250,000 people in communities that are poor and rural. In 2006, the State Water Resources Board took samples from domestic wells in Tulare County; they found that 40% of 181 domestic wells had nitrate levels above the 10 mg/L legal limit. Though locals have typically used filters for their water,

1183-635: A strong history in Stockton. Filipino organizations in Stockton are reflected in various commercial buildings identified as Filipino. Filipinos fought for the U.S. against Japan in WWII, in exchange for favorable immigration status. Stockton has been an adjunct to the San Francisco Bay Area, which was a major military production and transit area during WWII. Filipino emigration to Stockton followed. Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park marks

1274-408: A three-year drought was prompting changes to the agriculture industry in the valley. Farmers began using complex irrigation systems and using treated waste water to feed crops, while many were switching from farming cotton to other commodities, chief among them, almonds. California has long been one of the nation's most important oil-producing states, and the San Joaquin Valley has long since eclipsed

1365-611: Is 72.7%. According to the United States Census Bureau 's American Community Survey , six San Joaquin Valley counties had the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line in 2006 of any counties in California. The report also showed that the same six counties were among the 52 counties with the highest poverty rate in the United States . The median income for a household in

1456-700: Is a federally recognized tribe of Kitanemuk , Yokuts , and Chumash indigenous people of California . Their ancestral homeland is the southern San Joaquin Valley, San Emigdio Mountains , and Tehachapi Mountains . Today they live in Kern County, California , headquartered in Wasco and Bakersfield, California . The Picayune Rancheria of Chukchansi Indians of California is a federally recognized tribe of indigenous people of California , Chukchansi or Foothills Yokuts , now located in Madera County in

1547-639: Is dominated with nonnative invasives. Blooming in spring are such plants as Viola pedunculata , Dodecatheon pulchellum , Fritillaria liliacea , and Ribes malvaceum , which can be viewed in the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve . The range's riparian zones have such trees as bigleaf maple ( Acer macrophyllum ), white alder ( Alnus rhombifolia ), California bay ( Umbellularia californica ), and California sycamore ( Platanus racemosa ). The most common trees are coast live oak ( Quercus agrifolia ) and blue oak ( Quercus douglasii ), with

1638-618: Is held in conservation easements by the California Rangeland Trust . Since the range lies around 10–50 miles (16–80 kilometers) inland from the ocean, and other coastal ranges like the Santa Lucia Range and the Santa Cruz Mountains block incoming moisture, the range gets little precipitation. In addition, the average elevation of 3,000 feet (910 m) is not high enough to catch most of

1729-536: Is important to maternal and child health and is another comparative indicator of community health. According to the California Department of Health Services, 37% of births in Merced County occurred with no or late prenatal care and the San Joaquin Valley average was 19.5% of births with no or late prenatal care. By comparison, the California average was 13.6% of births and the national average

1820-690: Is not state-maintained. The part east of unbuilt State Route 65 near Minkler is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System; the road east of Dunlap is the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, a Forest Service Byway. Other important highways in the valley include State Route 46 (SR 46) and State Route 41 (SR 41), which respectively link the California Central Coast with Bakersfield and Fresno; State Route 33 (SR 33), which runs south to north along

1911-733: The Berkeley Hills , the San Leandro Hills centrally, and Walpert Ridge and Pleasanton Ridge to the southwest and southeast, culminating at Alameda Creek / Highway 84 . Geologically, the Diablo Range corresponds to the California Coast Ranges east of the Calaveras Fault in its northern section. For much of its length, it is paralleled by other sections of the California Coast Ranges to

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2002-562: The Environmental Protection Agency , meaning residents are exposed to air quality that is confirmed to be hazardous to human health. The region of the San Joaquin Valley has some of the richest soil that allows for the production of many crops.   Crops in this region include: grapes, oranges, cotton, vegetables and nuts. The plethora of crop land allows for the valley to benefit from the income of crop sales. About sixty percent of California's crops come from

2093-547: The Los Angeles Basin as the state's primary oil production region. Scattered oil wells on small oil fields are found throughout the region, and several enormous extraction facilities – most notably near Lost Hills and Taft , including the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field , the third-largest oil field in the United States – are veritable forests of pumps. Shell operated a major refinery in Bakersfield; it

2184-479: The Mojave Subdivision . U.S. Route 466 was built in the 1930s, and the road is now State Route 58 . The Pass is also the route of the planned California High-Speed Rail line. The Tehachapi Mountains are also crossed by Tejon Pass at the southwest end of the range. The precise meaning of the name Tehachapi Pass is often a source of confusion. Technically (i.e., as noted on USGS topographic maps),

2275-867: The Pacific Ocean . The somewhat larger southern portion is the Tulare Basin, an endorheic basin centered on Tulare Lake . Historically, Tulare Lake was fed by the Tule River , the Kings River, the Kaweah River , the White River and the Kern River , but much of this water has been diverted for agricultural uses and the watershed is mostly dry in its lower reaches. The San Joaquin Valley began to form about 66 million years ago during

2366-654: The Tehachapi Loop is about 18 miles (29 km) west of the summit. The pass is also a proposed route for the California High-Speed Rail line between Palmdale and Bakersfield . San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( / ˌ s æ n hw ɑː ˈ k iː n / SAN whah- KEEN ; Spanish : Valle de San Joaquín ) is the southern half of California 's Central Valley . Famed as

2457-519: The Union Pacific Railroad does not currently allow the San Joaquins trains to run on the highly congested rail route over Tehachapi Pass , which is the only route between Bakersfield and Los Angeles . Passengers between these towns must travel on Amtrak Thruway buses. The San Joaquin Valley is also the location of the planned initial operating segment of the California High-Speed Rail (CAHSR) project, which will run 171 miles from Bakersfield in

2548-505: The War in Vietnam . These immigrants, the majority of whom are Hmong , Laotian , Cambodian , and Vietnamese , have largely settled in the communities of Stockton, Modesto, Merced , and Fresno . Hmongs, Laotians, and Cambodians are the largest communities of Southeast Asians in the San Joaquin Valley, and the valley has some of the largest populations of these groups in the nation. Fresno has

2639-424: The ammonium nitrate that “accounts for more than half of the region’s PM2.5 on the area’s most polluted days.” Exacerbated by stagnant weather and the temperature drop of the cooler seasons, much of the air pollution becomes trapped beneath a layer of warmer air, resulting in a phenomenon known as temperature inversion and condensing the accumulation of pollutants within the valley. Population growth has caused

2730-472: The " Okies " of primarily English and Scots-Irish descent who migrated to California from the Midwest and South . Mennonite groups descended from Russian Germans settled in the areas of Reedley and Dinuba , as well as Lutheran and Catholic Volga Germans who settled in the broader Fresno area. The San Joaquin Valley has a large and exceptionally diverse Asian American population; primarily from

2821-688: The "Diablo Range" is shown as the ridgeline which runs between its namesake Mount Diablo southeastward past Mount Hamilton . However, the USGS Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) includes the East Bay Hills in its list of various GPS coordinates for the Diablo Range. Although not formally recognized by USGS GNIS, the East Bay Hills consists of the Briones Hills furthest north, then

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2912-448: The 1950s and 1980s, when nitrogen fertilizer use grew sixfold, nitrate concentrations in groundwater increased 2.5 times. Fertilizer runoffs contributes roughly 90% of all nitrate inputs to the alluvial groundwater system. Within agriculture, the two major factors are High-Intensity Crop Production and Large Dairy Herds. Because these communities are cut off from larger water distribution, they are dependent on wells, making groundwater

3003-503: The 1970s onward, landlords and large corporations have also hired undocumented immigrants . This has allowed them to increase their profits due to low overhead on wages. The San Joaquin Valley has—by California standards—an unusually large number of European, Middle Eastern, and Asian ethnicities in the heritage of its citizens. These communities are often quite large and, relative to Americans immigration patterns, quite eclectic: for example, there are more Azorean Portuguese in

3094-675: The 1990s and 2000s. The other, Castle Air Force Base , located near Atwater was closed during the Base Realignment and Closure of the 1990s. Although both are in Kern County, Edwards Air Force Base and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station are located in the High Desert area of that county. The California real estate boom that began in the late 1990s has significantly changed the San Joaquin Valley. Once distinctly and fiercely independent of Los Angeles and San Francisco,

3185-561: The Bay Area's orbit as well. Bakersfield, traditionally a boom-bust oil town once described by urban scholar Joel Kotkin as an "American Abu Dhabi ," has seen a massive influx of former Los Angeles business owners and commuters, to the extent that gated communities containing million-dollar homes are going up on the city's outskirts. Wal-Mart , IKEA , Target , Amazon , CVS Pharmacy , Restoration Hardware , and other various large shipping firms have built huge distribution centers both in

3276-712: The California coastal ranges ( Diablo and Temblor ) in the west to the Sierra Nevada in the east. The valley contains two large river systems, divided north and south. The northern portion of San Joaquin Valley is called the San Joaquin Basin: the watershed of the San Joaquin River and its tributaries including parts of the Kings River , all of which drain northwest into the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and eventually out to

3367-414: The Central Valley city of Tracy . South of Pacheco Pass, the only major nearby communities (those with a population over 15,000) are Los Banos , and Hollister . The small town of Coalinga may also be notable for its location on State Route 198 , one of the few routes through the mountains. Also the town of Kettleman City is also on State Route 41, another route that crosses the mountains. Towns west of

3458-448: The Diablo Range include knobcone pine ( Pinus attenuata ), Jeffrey pine ( Pinus jeffreyi ) and ponderosa pine ( Pinus ponderosa ). The Diablo Range attracts far more raptors than coastal forests, such as red-tailed hawks . Golden eagle nesting sites are found in the Diablo Range, reaching their highest density in southern Alameda County. The Bay checkerspot butterfly , a federally listed threatened species , has habitat in

3549-603: The Kings County average of 1.1 beds per a thousand and the San Joaquin Valley average of 1.8 beds per a thousand were again less than the state average of 2.1 bed per a thousand. Consequently, the age adjusted death rate is significantly higher than the rest of California. In response the University of California with the University of California, Merced is exploring opening a research medical school specializing in rural care, in hopes that some graduates will settle in

3640-814: The Range, especially at Mount Diablo. The California tiger salamander ( Ambystoma californiense ), also a federally threatened species and a vulnerable species of amphibian native to Northern California , lives in ponds in the range. The northern Pacific rattlesnake is thriving, as are many ground squirrels , hares , and various species of native and nonnative rodents. Tule elk ( Cervus canadensis ssp. nannodes ) were restored to Mount Hamilton between 1978-1981 and are slowly recovering in several small herds in Santa Clara and Alameda Counties. See Mount Hamilton elk recovery . Black-tailed deer are abundant. Pronghorn , grizzly bears , and wolves were extirpated in

3731-454: The San Joaquin Valley and provide better healthcare. Currently, the Latino and Mexican descendants are large percentage of the demographics in the San Joaquin Valley. Since not long after the onset of the bracero program during World War II , all but a minor percentage of the farmworkers in the region have been of Mexican ancestry. Ethnic and economic friction between Mexican-Americans and

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3822-528: The San Joaquin Valley at the time of the 2011-2015 American Community Survey 5-year Estimates by United States Census Bureau reported a population of 4,080,509. The racial composition of San Joaquin Valley was 1,428,978 (35.0%) Non-Hispanic White, 2,048,280 (50.2%) Hispanic or Latino, 310,557 (7.6%) Asian, 193,694 (4.7%) Black or African American, 40,911 (1.0%) American Indian and Alaska Native, and 13,000 (0.32%) Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander. The educational attainment of high school graduate or higher

3913-542: The San Joaquin Valley during World War II, most of them going to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego to work in war-related industries. Many of those who stayed ended up in Bakersfield and Oildale , as the southern San Joaquin Valley became an important area of oil production after major Southern California oil fields such as Signal Hill began to dry up. Country music legends Buck Owens and Merle Haggard came out of Bakersfield's honky-tonk scene and created

4004-865: The San Joaquin Valley has long suffered from some of the United States' worst air pollution . With a PM2.5 measure of 17 micrograms per cubic meter of air, the San Joaquin Valley’s air pollution readings exceed both California's Ambient Air Quality Standard of 12 micrograms per cubic meter, and the National Ambient Air Quality Standard of 9 micrograms per cubic meter. Some of the San Joaquin Valley’s sources of air pollution stem from vehicle emissions, agricultural practices, and crop and wildfires. The use of diesel and gasoline fueled vehicles produces an excess of nitrogen oxides ( NOx ), eventually forming nitric acid that reacts with ammonia gas from cow manure and urine to create

4095-504: The San Joaquin Valley is located in Hanford and includes a Doppler weather radar . Weather forecasts and climatological information for the San Joaquin Valley are available from its official website. The San Joaquin Valley was originally inhabited by the Yokuts and Miwok peoples . The first European to enter the valley was Pedro Fages in 1772. The Tejon Indian Tribe of California

4186-655: The San Joaquin Valley than in the Azores. Many groups are found in majorities in specific cities, and hardly anywhere else in the region. For example, Assyrians are concentrated in Turlock , Dutch in Ripon , and Croats in Delano . Kingsburg is famous for its distinctly Swedish air, having been founded by immigrants from that country. Ethnic groups found in a broader area are Portuguese , Germans , Armenians , Basques , and

4277-482: The San Joaquin Valley to rank with Los Angeles and Houston in most measures of air pollution. Only the Inland Empire region east of Los Angeles has worse overall air quality, and the San Joaquin Valley led the nation in 2004 in the number of days with quantities of ozone considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency . The San Joaquin Valley has been deemed an "extreme non-attainment zone" by

4368-612: The San Joaquin Valley, only the Wilmington Oil Field in Los Angeles County has untapped reserves greater than 100,000,000 barrels (16,000,000 m ), while six fields in the San Joaquin Valley (Midway-Sunset, Kern River , South Belridge , Elk Hills , Cymric , and Lost Hills ) each have reserves exceeding 100,000,000 barrels (16,000,000 m ) of oil. The isolation and vastness of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as its poverty and need for jobs, have led

4459-447: The San Joaquin Valley. Aside from the collapse of median home values, persistent crime, unemployment and poverty were common factors between Bakersfield , Fresno , Merced , Modesto and Stockton – every major city of the San Joaquin Valley. Insufficient access to medicine in the United States, in particular prenatal and preventive care, is typified by both rural and inner city communities. Early and adequate access to prenatal care

4550-483: The San Joaquin Valley. The Santa Rosa Rancheria belongs to the federally recognized Tachi Yokuts tribe and is located 4.5 miles (7.24 km) southeast of Lemoore, California , in the San Joaquin Valley. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California have further strained both the San Joaquin Valley's and the Sacramento Valley's water security . The total population of the eight counties comprising

4641-508: The Santa Clara Valley, Livermore Valley and San Joaquin Valley are typically 400–1,000 feet (120–300 m). Canyons are usually 300–400 feet (91–122 m) deep; valleys are often deeper but less steep-sided. Peaks often have high topographic prominence, as they are surrounded by valleys or lower hills or plateaus. Streams draining the eastern slopes of the Diablo Range include Hospital Creek and Ingram Creek . Stream draining

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4732-437: The United States and international service to Mexico. Additionally, there are three nonprimary airports in the region: Meadows Field Airport near Bakersfield , Stockton Metropolitan Airport and Merced Municipal Airport . The San Joaquins service handles passenger traffic between Bakersfield and Stockton with extensions to either Sacramento or Oakland . Amtrak rail service does not continue south of Bakersfield, as

4823-464: The area has seen increasing exurban development as the cost of living forces young families and small businesses further and further away from the coastal urban cores. Stockton, Modesto, Tracy (as well as the nearby city of Mountain House ), Manteca, and Los Banos are increasingly dominated by commuters to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and the small farming towns to the south are finding themselves in

4914-409: The early Paleocene era. Broad fluctuations in the sea level caused various areas of the valley to be flooded with ocean water for the next 60 million years. About 5 million years ago, the marine outlets began to close due to uplift of the coastal ranges and the deposition of sediment in the valley. Starting 2 million years ago, a series of glacial episodes periodically caused much of the valley to become

5005-510: The filters need to be installed correctly and replaced frequently, which may not be economically feasible for the residents in Orosi. Table 2 on page 20 from Pacific Institute 's "The Human Costs of Nitrate-contaminated Drinking Water in the San Joaquin Valley" indicates the water systems that were contaminated with nitrates over the legal limit, the percentage of the population affected that are non-white and that are below or near poverty-level, and

5096-532: The first major infestation of the boll weevil .) When the onset of the Great Depression created a national banking crisis, family farmers—usually heavily in debt—often had their mortgages foreclosed by banks desperate to shore up their balance sheets. In response, many farmers loaded their families and portable possessions into their automobiles and drove west. Many of the Okies and Arkies left

5187-454: The incoming moisture at higher altitudes. Winters are mild with moderate rainfall, but summers are very dry and hot. Areas above 2,500 feet (762 m) get light to moderate snow in the winter, especially at the highest point, the 5,241 ft (1,597 m) San Benito Mountain in the remote southeastern section of the range. However, though sites at the lower end get annual snowfall, it is typically light and melts too fast to be noticed. Once or twice

5278-515: The land in this area. However, the unhealthy air levels that arise from smog lead to the destruction of many crops. According to the California Air Resources Board the San Joaquin Valley loses about one billion dollars every year due to the pollution in the air destroying these crops. Furthermore, as crops and vegetation die off from the air and water quality, farmers sometimes turn to burning to dispose of them. Due to

5369-562: The largest U.S. city without an Interstate highway), while SR 99 runs through them. Both highways then merge at the southern end of valley en route to Los Angeles. When the Interstate Highway System was created in the 1950s, the decision was made to build I-5 as an entirely then-new freeway bypass instead of upgrading the then-existing U.S. 99 . Since then, state and federal representatives have pushed to convert SR 99 to an Interstate, although this cannot occur until all of

5460-512: The largest blue oak growing in Alameda County. There are also good populations of California buckeye ( Aesculus californica ), and California black oak ( Quercus kelloggii ). The gray pine ( Pinus sabiniana ) and rarer Coulter pine ( Pinus coulteri ) can be found at all elevations, especially between 800–3,000 feet (240–910 m). Coulter pine reaches its northern limit on northern of Mt. Diablo. The conifers at higher elevations in

5551-419: The location of the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth , Professor William Payne, William Peck, a minister, John W. Palmer, a miner, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent, dedicated to improving the economic and social status of African Americans. Uncontrollable circumstances, including

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5642-428: The mountains through Clovis and many smaller communities. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System. State Route 180 is a state highway which runs through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley from Mendota through Fresno to Kings Canyon National Park. A short piece near the eastern end, through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park,

5733-401: The name refers to the narrowest part of the canyon on the eastern approach to the summit (as at San Gorgonio Pass ), where the elevation is about 3,771 feet (1,149 m). The actual high point is just east of the town of Tehachapi , at an elevation (on the railroad next to Tehachapi Boulevard) of 4,031 feet (1,229 m). The highway sign refers to this location as Tehachapi Summit. However,

5824-438: The north to Orchard Peak and Polonio Pass in the south, near the point where State Route 46 crosses over the Coast Ranges at Cholame , as described by the United States Geological Survey (USGS). It is bordered on the northeast by the San Joaquin River , on the southeast by the San Joaquin Valley , on the southwest by the Salinas River , and on the northwest by the Santa Clara Valley and San Francisco Bay . On USGS maps,

5915-411: The northwesternmost extremity of Kern County . Though the average elevation is about 3,000 feet (910 meters), a summit of over 2,300 feet (700 m) is considered high, mainly because the range is mostly rolling grassland and plateaus, punctuated by isolated peaks. Plateaus are usually at about 2,000–3,000 feet (610–910 m). Hills rise to about 1,000 feet (300 m), while foothills such those in

6006-514: The poor air quality. The elderly population is also vulnerable to air pollution and could even suffer from heart attacks due to decreased lung functions.   Reports state that the residents in this community suffer from high rates of asthma and experience many related symptoms. The American Lung Association attributes the noxious gas in the San Joaquin Valley to roughly 1,300 premature deaths every year, including public impacts such as lost days of school or work and emergency room visits, and

6097-494: The portions of SR 99 between I-5 and the U.S. 50 junction in Sacramento are upgraded to Interstate standards . State Route 58 (SR 58), which is a freeway in Bakersfield and along most of its route until its terminus in Barstow , is an extremely important and very heavily traveled route for truckers from the valley and the Bay Area who want to cross the Sierra Nevada and leave California (by way of Interstate 15 or Interstate 40 ) without having to climb Donner Pass or brave

6188-399: The potential to damage aqueducts, roads, bridges, and flood-control structures. In the long term, the subsidence caused by extracting groundwater could irreversibly reduce the underground aquifer's water storage capacity, although immediate and short term needs are given higher priority and sense of urgency than long term sustainability. The National Weather Service Forecast Office for

6279-427: The range south of Gilroy include: Salinas , King City , and Paso Robles . Most of the range consists of private ranchland, limiting recreational use. However, the range does contain several areas of parkland, including Mount Diablo State Park , Alum Rock Park , Grant Ranch Park , Henry W. Coe State Park , Laguna Mountain Recreation Area , and the BLM 's Clear Creek Management Area. In addition, some private land

6370-609: The range. The Diablo Range is paralleled for much of its distance by U.S. Route 101 to the west and by I-5 to the east. Major routes of travel through the range include: A sparsely used gravel road is the highest road in the range, with its highest point being on San Benito Mountain at over 5,000 feet. The Diablo Range is largely unpopulated outside of the San Francisco Bay Area . Major nearby communities include, Antioch , Pittsburg , Concord , Walnut Creek , Alamo , Danville , San Ramon , Pleasanton , Livermore , Fremont , Milpitas , San Jose , Morgan Hill , and Gilroy and

6461-404: The regions of Punjab in India and Pakistan, the Philippines, and Southeast Asia, especially Laos and Cambodia. Punjabi Sikh Americans have immigrated to the San Joaquin Valley since the early 1900s and 1910s, and remain a very large presence in the area. To this day, Punjabi is the third most spoken language in the San Joaquin Valley region, after English and Spanish, and the first Sikh Gurdwara

6552-487: The rural population of states such as Kansas , Texas , Oklahoma , and Arkansas left at this time, selling their land and moving to Chicago , Kansas City , Detroit , and fast-growing Los Angeles . Those who remained experienced continuing deterioration of conditions, which reached their nadir during the drought that began in the late 1920s and created the infamous Dust Bowl . (Small cotton farmers in states such as Mississippi and Alabama suffered similar problems from

6643-498: The second-largest Hmong population of any American metropolitan area after Minneapolis–Saint Paul , and Stockton is believed to have the largest percentage of Cambodian Americans of any major American metropolitan area. Merced , Modesto, Fresno, Visalia , and Stockton have some of the largest populations of Laotian Americans in the United States. The Filipino American population is concentrated in Delano and Lathrop . Filipinos have

6734-623: The south to Merced in the north. Freight service is provided by BNSF Railway , Union Pacific Railroad and San Joaquin Valley Railroad . The valley is served by the Western Area Power Administration . Western owns and operates its own equipment here and so performs its own weed management . Rotating and mixing herbicide modes of action are employed to preserve efficacy . Hemmed in by mountains and rarely having strong winds to disperse smog ,

6825-451: The southern end of the valley and northern part of the valley because of quick access to major interstates and low local wages. Further integration with the rest of the state is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route 99 (SR 99) each run nearly the entire length of the San Joaquin Valley. I-5 runs in the western part of the valley, bypassing the major population centers (including Fresno, currently

6916-538: The state to build numerous prisons in the area. The most notable of these is Corcoran , whose inmates have included Charles Manson and Juan Corona . Other correctional facilities in the valley are at Avenal , Chowchilla , Tracy , Delano , Coalinga , and Wasco . The only significant military base in the region is Naval Air Station Lemoore , a vast air base located 25 kilometres (16 mi) WSW of Hanford . Unlike many of California's other military installations, NAS Lemoore's operational importance has increased in

7007-689: The surplus of crop burning to clear land. more air pollution is created, adding to the severity of the San Joaquin Valley's already poor air quality. The San Joaquin Valley suffers from extremely high ozone levels that tend to increase even more on hot days. Kids are more inclined to play outdoors during summer when the weather is warmer. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency this could lead to health issues such as asthma because these children are not fully developed yet. Roughly one in six children in this region suffer from asthma due to

7098-497: The term Tehachapi Pass is routinely used to refer to both this location and the approaches on either side. The mountain pass acts as a venturi effect to air moving between ocean and desert, increasing wind speed. The area east and south of the pass is home to the Tehachapi Pass Wind Farm , and to the west is Alta Wind Energy Center , some of California's larger wind farms . The railroad landmark known as

7189-536: The traffic congestion of Los Angeles . Proposals have also been made to designate this highway as a western extension of I-40 once the entirety of the route between Mojave and Barstow has been upgraded to a freeway. This would provide an Interstate connection for Bakersfield, currently the second-largest U.S. city without an Interstate. The most recent additions to this system are State Routes 168 and 180. Route 168 begins in Fresno on Route 180 linking to Huntington Lake in

7280-414: The valley was $ 46,713. The poverty rate for individuals below the poverty level is 23.7%. In 2005 U.S. congressional researchers compared the economically distressed Valley to the traditionally impoverished Appalachia region, resulting in the appellation New Appalachia . In 2011 Forbes, after taking the fluctuation of median home values, five of the top twenty "most miserable cities" were located in

7371-575: The valley's predominantly white farming elite manifested itself most notably during the 1960s and 1970s, when the United Farm Workers , led by César Chávez , went on numerous strikes and called for boycotts of table grapes. The UFW generated enormous sympathy throughout the United States, even managing to terminate several agricultural mechanization projects at the United States Department of Agriculture . However, from

7462-582: The valley's western rim and provides a connection to Ventura and Santa Barbara over the Santa Ynez Mountains ; and State Route 152 (SR 152), an important commuter route linking Silicon Valley with its fast-growing exurbs such as Los Banos . The busiest airport in San Joaquin Valley is the Fresno Yosemite International Airport , which offers scheduled passenger flights to several major airline hubs in

7553-804: The way downstream to the San Francisco Bay. Silver and San Carlos creeks provide a wetland environment in an otherwise arid region and are important for the ecology of the region. As of 2011, New Idria has been listed as a Superfund site and scheduled for cleanup. The Diablo Range is part of the California interior chaparral and woodlands ecoregion . It is covered mostly by chaparral and California oak woodland communities, with stands of closed-cone pine forests appearing above 4,000 feet (1,219 m). The native bunch grass savanna has been predominantly replaced by annual Mediterranean grasses , except in some rare habitat fragments. The understory

7644-640: The west, the Santa Cruz Mountains across the southern San Francisco Bay and Santa Clara Valley, and the Santa Lucia Range across the Salinas Valley . The East Bay Hills are bounded geologically by the Calaveras Fault to the east and the Hayward Fault to the west. The range passes through Contra Costa , Alameda , San Joaquin , Santa Clara , Stanislaus , Merced , San Benito , Fresno , Monterey , and Kings Counties, and ends in

7735-415: The western slopes include Alameda Creek and Coyote Creek . The Diablo Range's peaks and ridges are between 2,517–5,241 feet (767–1,597 m) and are distinct landmarks. Mount Diablo (3,849 feet (1,173 m)), San Benito Mountain (5,241 feet (1,597 m)), Mount Hamilton Ridge (4,230–4,260 feet (1,290–1,300 m)), and Mount Stakes (3,804 feet (1,159 m)) are four of the highest peaks in

7826-628: The wildlife as well. In August 2015, the Director of the California Department of Water Resources stated, "Because of increased pumping, groundwater levels are reaching record lows—up to 100 feet lower than previous records." Research from NASA shows that parts of the San Joaquin Valley sank as much as 8 inches (0.20 m) in a four-month period, and land near Corcoran sank 13 inches (0.33 m) in 8 months. The sinking has destroyed thousands of groundwater well casings and has

7917-613: The year since the violations began. Diablo Range The Diablo Range is a mountain range in the California Coast Ranges subdivision of the Pacific Coast Ranges in northern California , United States. It stretches from the eastern San Francisco Bay Area at its northern end to the Salinas Valley area at its southern end. The Diablo Range extends from the Carquinez Strait in

8008-523: Was 10% of births Likewise, the counties of the San Joaquin Valley have relatively high ratios of population to physicians, suggesting relatively low access, with the highest in Kings County at 1,027 patients per a physician, the San Joaquin Valley average at approximately 671 patients per a physician and the California average of 400 patients per a physician. Another measure of access is licensed acute care hospital beds per thousand population, where

8099-399: Was founded in Stockton in 1915. Following abolition of immigration restrictions from Asia in the 1960s and 1970s, large numbers of Pakistanis and Indians from Punjab, Gujarat, and Southern India have settled in these valley communities including Modesto , Livingston , Fresno , Stockton , and Lodi . In addition, the late 1970s and '80s saw an influx of immigrants from Indochina following

8190-525: Was lost to urban development in the San Joaquin Valley. Although there have been some token efforts at confronting the problems of (sub) urban sprawl , the politically conservative climate of the Valley generally prefers traditional suburban sprawl type of growth such as low density housing and strip malls anchored by so-called big box stores and opposes measures such as "Smart Growth", "Transit Oriented Development", "High Density Housing", and increased public transit such as light and commuter rail. By August 2014,

8281-537: Was sold in 2005 to Flying J , a Salt Lake -based firm that operates truck stops and refineries. Flying J's bankruptcy in 2009 resulted in the refinery being shut down. The oil and gas fields in Kern County are receiving increased attention since the July 2009 announcement by Occidental Petroleum of significant discovery of oil and gas reserves Even prior to this discovery the region retains more oil reserves than any other part of California. Of California fields outside of

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