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146-787: The river drains 1,345 square miles (3,480 km), mostly in the western slope and foothills of the Sierra Nevada. The average runoff of the Yuba River basin is approximately 2,303,000 acre-feet (2.841 km) per year, providing about one-third of the flow of the Feather River, and 10 percent of the flow of the Sacramento River , which the Feather ultimately drains into. Since the early 20th century, irrigation and hydropower diversion projects have gradually reduced

292-574: A chance to return for spawning. According to UC Davis Center for Watershed Sciences these rice fields adjacent to the Sacramento River will serve as potential nurseries for salmon. UC Davis also concluded from past experimental releases of salmon, that the Yolo Bypass floodway could have up to 57,000 acres of a productive breeding habitat with almost no cost to farmers. The Nigiri project has demonstrated off-season agriculture fields such as

438-481: A few years, these diseases wiped out most of the native population. The Yuba River and its forks were one of the richest parts of the Mother Lode , and miners poured to the region in great numbers. Although gold was first extracted by simple methods such as panning and sluicing, large-scale industrial hydraulic mining left a much greater impact. About 25 million cubic yards (19,400,000 m) of hydraulic mining debris

584-629: A great network of pumps and canals that would take water from the Sacramento River in the north, and transport it to drought-prone central and southern California, especially the San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento River basin receives "two-thirds to three-quarters of northern California's precipitation though it has only one-third to one-quarter of the land. The San Joaquin River watershed occupies two-thirds to three-quarters of northern California's land, but only collects one-third to one-quarter of

730-413: A large portion of the habitat currently used by migrating birds. Native bird populations have been declining steadily since the 19th century. Species that were once common but now are endangered or gone include the southwestern willow flycatcher , western yellow-billed cuckoo , least Bell's vireo , and warbling vireo . Another reason for dropping numbers are the introduction of non-native species, such as

876-578: A large proportion of their population within a few decades of the arrival of Sutter and the following settlers, the start of the gold rush , not to mention the numerous battles fought between the settlers and native bands as well as the forced relocation of some of the tribes to Indian reservations in several places scattered around the Sacramento Valley, mainly in the Coast Ranges. In the early 1850s, several treaties were signed between

1022-590: A lower tributary of the Yuba. The California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment has issued a safe eating advisory for any fish caught in Yuba River, North Yuba River, and Middle Yuba River due to elevated levels of mercury. The Spring and Shady tributaries of the South Yuba contain dozens of historic mine locations, the largest of which is the San Juan Ridge Mine. Mining operations in

1168-543: A mile north of Donner Pass , about three miles east of the town of Soda Springs . After passing through Lake Van Norden with Upper Castle Creek (longer than the Lake Angela stem) entering from the right, it gathers numerous snow-fed tributaries running west through a marshy, lake-filled valley, crossing Interstate 80 several times. The river briefly enters Placer County before flowing back north into Nevada County, then flows into Lake Spaulding , where much of its water

1314-659: A part in the formation of the 300-mile (480 km) Monterey Submarine Canyon when sea levels were lower during the Ice Ages. The Monterey Bay outlet of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers was blocked off by uplift about 2 million years ago, and runoff from the Sierra began to transform the Central Valley into a gigantic lake, called Lake Clyde . This lake stretched 500 miles (800 km) north to south and

1460-403: A plethora of massive changes to the environment beginning in the 20th century. An early project was undertaken to raise the entire city of Sacramento about 11 feet (3.4 m) above its original elevation. This was followed by much bigger engineering projects to control and store the floodwaters of the Sacramento River; the building of these public works would radically transform the river during

1606-498: A pumping station (which replaced the Red Bluff Diversion Dam ) removes water for irrigation. Beyond Red Bluff the river reaches the low floodplain of the Sacramento Valley, receiving Mill Creek from the east and Thomes Creek from the west near Los Molinos , then Deer Creek from the east near Vina . Southeast of Corning , the Sacramento forms the boundary of Tehama County to the west and Butte County to

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1752-520: A rain-snow mix every few years, but, on the average, only snows about every 5 years. Farther south in Sacramento, snow rarely occurs. During the autumn and winter months, the entire Central Valley is susceptible to dense tule fog that makes driving hazardous, especially at night and especially south of Corning. The fog can last for weeks depending on how weak the wind is. In more recent years, statewide droughts in California have further strained both

1898-485: A relatively large area. The contamination was still detectable in 2013 and will be so for an estimated time of more than 10,000 years. In 1877, the world's first long-distance telephone line was strung along the South Yuba River from French Corral to French Lake (now called Bowman Lake ), a distance of 58 miles (93 km). Like the majority of California rivers, the Yuba was dammed at many points during

2044-563: A total of over 3,000 cubic feet per second (85 m /s) of water to irrigate some 150,000 acres (610 km ). In 1960, construction began on the State Water Project, whose primary purpose was to deliver water to Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area. Oroville Dam – the tallest dam in the U.S. – was built on the Sacramento's largest tributary, the Feather River. A series of channels were enlarged in

2190-480: A turning point in the history of the Sacramento Valley, and California as a whole. In 1841, Sutter and his men built a fortress at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers and the Mexican government granted him almost 50,000 acres (200 km ) of land surrounding the two rivers. Naming it New Helvetia, he created an agricultural empire in the lower Sacramento Valley, attracting several hundred settlers to

2336-472: A vast tidal estuary and inverted river delta of over 1,000 square miles (2,600 km ) which receives the entire run-off of the Central Valley, a region covering a third of California. The Sacramento is by far the largest contributor of fresh water to the Delta; in an average year, it accounts for more than 80 percent of the fresh water inflow. At Walnut Grove , the manmade Delta Cross Channel connects

2482-424: Is 43 miles (69 km) long and is maintained to a depth of 30 feet (9.1 m). The Sacramento River and its drainage basin once supported extensive riparian habitat and marshes , in both the Sacramento Valley and the Delta, home to a diverse array of flora and fauna. Due to the reclamation of land for agriculture and the regulation of seasonal flooding, the amount of water-based habitat declined greatly during

2628-691: Is also the route of Amtrak 's Coast Starlight passenger train. The Union Pacific also has two east–west lines, through Donner Pass (the former Central Pacific Railroad ), and through the Feather River gorge (the former Western Pacific Railroad ). Amtrak's California Zephyr uses the Donner Pass route. The BNSF Railway has a line from Klamath Falls, Oregon , to a junction with the Union Pacific Feather River line at Keddie . The BNSF has trackage rights on both

2774-462: Is diverted south to the Bear River drainage. The remainder of the river turns northward into a gorge near Emigrant Gap before continuing west. It receives Canyon Creek from the right, then receives Poorman Creek also from the right near Washington . The river continues west into the foothills and into South Yuba River State Park where it is bridged by State Route 49. It joins the Yuba River at

2920-488: Is drained by the Sacramento River . It encompasses all or parts of ten Northern California counties. Although many areas of the Sacramento Valley are rural, it contains several urban areas, including the state capital, Sacramento . Comparatively water-rich relative to the other segment of the Central Valley to the south, the San Joaquin Valley , there are slight differences in the crops are typically grown in

3066-629: Is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains , the river flows south for 400 miles (640 km) before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and San Francisco Bay . The river drains about 26,500 square miles (69,000 km ) in 19 California counties , mostly within the fertile agricultural region bounded by

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3212-844: Is then interrupted by the Our House Diversion Dam, which diverts water from the Middle Fork to the North Fork at New Bullards Bar Reservoir. Below the dam, it continues flowing west, receives Oregon Creek from the north and intersects California State Route 49 about 2 miles (3.2 km) northwest of North San Juan . About 7 miles (11 km) downstream it joins with the North Yuba River. The 65.3-mile-long (105.1 km) South Yuba River originates at Lake Angela in Nevada County about three quarters of

3358-572: Is then joined by Deer Creek (which flows out of Lake Wildwood) on the left. The Yuba River bed widens considerably as it flows out into the Sacramento Valley near the Yuba Goldfields , a section of the Yuba River valley consisting of dredged sediments washed down by hydraulic mining in the 19th century. The river then turns southwest, flowing through irrigated farmland. It then skirts the south side of Marysville and empties into

3504-470: Is used to flood the fields for most of this experiment adjacent to the Sacramento River. The water is eventually flushed back into the Delta ecosystem through agricultural canals. Sacramento Valley The Sacramento Valley ( Spanish : Valle de Sacramento ) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies north of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and

3650-490: The Blessed Sacrament ". In the following years, two more Spanish expeditions traversed the lower part of the river, the last one in 1817. The next visitors were Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) fur trappers exploring southwards from the disputed Oregon Country , starting in the 1820s. The first organized expedition, led by Peter Skene Ogden , arrived in the area of Mount Shasta in 1826. By this time, California

3796-624: The California Coast Ranges , enclosing the Sacramento Valley and forcing the streams within to flow south instead of west, forming the ancestral Sacramento River. (The Klamath Mountains , which enclose the northwest part of the Sacramento Basin, were formed in the same way but are much older, dating back 7.5 million years.) It is possible that the river once had its outlet in Monterey Bay , and may have played

3942-677: The Carquinez Strait into San Pablo Bay and San Francisco Bay , joining the Pacific at the Golden Gate . Following the Columbia River , the Sacramento is the largest river by discharge on the Pacific coast of the continental United States. The natural runoff of the river is 22 million acre-feet (27 km ) per year, or about 30,000 cubic feet per second (850 m /s). Before dams were built on its tributaries,

4088-635: The Coast Ranges and Sierra Nevada known as the Sacramento Valley , but also extending as far as the volcanic plateaus of Northeastern California. Historically, its watershed has reached as far north as south-central Oregon where the now, primarily, endorheic (closed) Goose Lake rarely experiences southerly outflow into the Pit River , the most northerly tributary of the Sacramento. The Sacramento and its wide natural floodplain were once abundant in fish and other aquatic creatures, notably one of

4234-599: The Donner Pass ; State Route 49 , named in honor of the California Gold Rush and running through many old mining towns in the foothills of the valley; and State Route 45 , which runs along the course of the Sacramento River roughly ten miles (20 km) east of I-5. The Union Pacific Railroad serves the valley, with its principal north–south line from Oakland , California to Portland, Oregon , via Sacramento , Marysville , Chico , and Redding. This

4380-589: The Gulf of California just south of the US-Mexico border near the southeast part of the state, is far larger than the Sacramento in terms of length and drainage area but has a slightly smaller flow. The Sacramento, when combined with the Pit, is also one of the longest rivers in the United States entirely within one state—after Alaska 's Kuskokwim and Texas ' Trinity . The major drainage basins bordering that of

4526-716: The Klamath Diversion , proposed to send the entire flow of the Klamath River into the Sacramento River through a system of large reservoirs, canals, pumping stations and tunnels. Similarly, the Dos Rios Dam project would have diverted a considerable portion of the Eel River to the Sacramento. Both projects were defeated by local resistance, opposition from environmentalists, as well as the high capital cost. The Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel

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4672-574: The Oregon –California border, occasionally overflows into the Pit River during wet years, although this has not happened since 1881. The Goose Lake watershed is the only part of the Sacramento River basin extending into another state. Unlike most California rivers, the Pit and the McCloud Rivers are predominantly spring-fed, ensuring a large and consistent flow in even the driest of summers. At

4818-730: The Shasta , Modoc , and Achomawi /Pit River Tribes of the volcanic plateaus in the north; the Wintu and Hupa in the northern Klamath and Trinity mountains; the Nomlaki , Yuki , Patwin , and Pomo of the Coast Ranges; the Yana , Atsugewi , Maidu , Konkow , and Nisenan in the Sierra and their western foothills; and the Miwok in the south. Most of the Sacramento Valley's native peoples relied on hunting, gathering and fishing, although agriculture

4964-533: The Snake – Columbia River systems; geologic evidence indicates that the two were connected by a series of wetlands and channels about 4-5 million years ago. Located along the Pacific Flyway , the sprawling wetlands of the Sacramento Valley are an important stop for migratory birds; however, only a fraction of the historic wetlands remain. Seasonally flooded rice paddies in the Sacramento Valley comprise

5110-548: The Tehachapi Mountains via four large pumping stations. The project irrigates 750,000 acres (300,000 ha) of land in the San Joaquin Valley and serves 22 million people in Central and Southern California. Over the years, several other plans materialized to divert rivers from California's North Coast into the Sacramento watershed, as future demand was projected to exceed supply. The only one to be built

5256-535: The Trinity River . It then swings east through Redding , the largest city of the Shasta Cascade region, and turns southeast, entering Tehama County . East of Cottonwood it receives Cottonwood Creek – the largest undammed tributary – from the west, then Battle Creek a short distance downstream. Below Battle Creek it carves its last gorge, Iron Canyon, emerging from the hills at Red Bluff , where

5402-437: The foothill yellow-legged frog and western spadefoot are listed as endangered species. Riparian and wetlands areas along the Sacramento once totaled more than 500,000 acres (2,000 km ); today only about 10,000 acres (40 km ) remains. Much of this consists of restored stretches and artificially constructed wetlands. Levee construction has prevented the river from changing course during winter and spring floods, which

5548-622: The heat index above 115 °F (46 °C) on the hottest days. At times the Breeze is gusty with wind speeds up to 30 mph (50 km/h) in the valley and 45 mph (75 km/h) in the windy delta region . This Breeze can also bring morning low clouds at times into the region, but the clouds generally burn off quickly and temperatures stay cool. Summer-like conditions continue into early to mid-September but weather starts to change to cooler, wetter, foggier weather during October which gives trees vibrant autumn foliage. Winters, also known as

5694-403: The valley , they provide water for agricultural, industrial, residential, and recreation uses. Most of the rivers are heavily dammed and diverted. In more recent years, statewide droughts in California have further strained the Sacramento Valley's water security . The terrain of the Sacramento Valley is primarily flat grasslands that become lusher as one moves east from the rain shadow of

5840-443: The 1950s the watershed has been intensely developed for water supply and the generation of hydroelectric power . Today, large dams impound the river and almost all of its major tributaries. The Sacramento River is used heavily for irrigation and serves much of Central and Southern California through the canals of giant state and federal water projects. While it is now providing water to over half of California's population and supporting

5986-461: The 20th century, and large amounts of water are withdrawn for irrigation and municipal water supply. Daguerre Point Dam was built in 1906 by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in order to trap hydraulic mining debris. After concerns about its impact on fish populations, the dam was fitted with fish ladders in 1937. In 1922-24 PG&E built the original Bullards Bar Dam to produce hydroelectricity and trap debris. The concrete arch Englebright Dam

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6132-417: The 20th century. From the late 19th century through the 20th century, California experienced an economic boom that led to the rapid expansion of both agriculture and urban areas. The Central Valley was becoming a heavily developed irrigation farming region, and cities along the state's Pacific coast and the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers were growing rapidly, requiring river control to prevent flooding on

6278-419: The 20th century. Other human impacts include the heavy water consumption for agriculture and urban areas, and pollution caused by pesticides , nitrates , mine tailings , acid mine drainage and urban runoff . The Sacramento supports 40–60 species of fish, and 218 species of birds. The basin also has a number of endemic amphibian and fish species. Many Sacramento River fish species are similar to those in

6424-438: The 645 ft (197 m) high concrete arch dam is one of the tallest dams in the United States, replacing and submerging the old Bullards Bar Dam. It stores almost 1 million acre feet (1.2 km) to provide flood control, irrigation and hydroelectricity. The Yuba River Development Project includes New Bullards Bar Dam and a number of supporting facilities, including a diversion dam (Our House Dam) and tunnel which divert

6570-672: The Cascades; its headwaters rise on the western extreme of the Basin and Range Province , east of major Cascade volcanoes such as Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak . The other two are the Klamath River and Columbia River . By discharge, it is the second-largest contiguous U.S. river draining into the Pacific, after only the Columbia River, which has almost ten times the flow of the Sacramento. The Colorado River , which reaches

6716-497: The Central Valley. The Sacramento Valley's agricultural industry also resembles that of the San Joaquin Valley to the south. Nuts, such as almonds and walnuts , are of greater importance north of the Delta, and rice , nonviable in the drier San Joaquin Valley, is a major crop. While the region is wetter, soils are somewhat poorer in the Sacramento Valley; this means some crops, particularly vegetables, are less profitable compared to

6862-433: The Coast Ranges toward the Sierra. Unlike the San Joaquin Valley, which in its pre-irrigation state was a vegetation-hostile desert, the somewhat less arid Sacramento Valley had significant tracts of forest prior to the arrival of settlers of European ancestry. Most of it was cut down during the California Gold Rush and the ensuing wave of American settlement, although there are still some heavily tree-populated areas, such as

7008-685: The Cottonwood Ridge between Anderson and Cottonwood. There are some hills in Redding, a few more than Red Bluff, and north of Redding it is mainly foothills. One distinctive geographic feature of the Sacramento Valley is the Sutter Buttes . Nicknamed the smallest mountain range in the world, it consists of the remnants of an extinct volcano and is located just outside Yuba City , 44 miles north of Sacramento. Citrus and nut orchards and cattle ranches are common to both halves of

7154-577: The Delta to facilitate water flow from the Sacramento to the Banks Pumping Plant and the California Aqueduct , which can carry as much as 4.2 million acre-feet (5.2 km ) of water each year. From its origin at the Delta the canal runs 444 miles (715 km) southwards through the west side of the San Joaquin Valley, providing irrigation water to farmlands along its length, and lifted almost 3,000 feet (910 m) over

7300-560: The Feather River between the cities of Marysville, Yuba City and Linda . The Yuba River valley was originally one of the most densely populated Native American areas in California. Historians divide indigenous peoples living in the Yuba River area into several groups – the Konkow , Maidu , Nisenan and Miwok . These groups did not function as large tribes; rather, they were divided into hundreds of small villages, with distinct governments but similar customs. Like other indigenous people of

7446-515: The Knaggs Ranch property within the Yolo Bypass by Sacramento River for four consecutive winters. UC Davis shares their results produced the fastest growth of juvenile Chinook salmon in the Central Valley to ever be recorded. The Nigiri project attempted to see if these floodplains as surrogate wetlands which can be controlled to copy the Sacramento River system's annual natural flooding cycle the native fish depend on. Runoff water from agriculture

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7592-471: The Middle Yuba River into New Bullards Bar Reservoir, to increase hydropower generation. The 340 megawatt New Colgate Powerhouse is located about 4 miles (6.4 km) below New Bullards Bar Dam, and it generates over 1.3 billion kilowatt hours of energy per year. These diversions have resulted in the seasonal dewatering of the lower North Yuba River and Middle Yuba River and about four miles of

7738-466: The Middle Yuba River to form the Yuba River. Originating in a bowl-shaped valley in Moscove Meadow, the 55.4-mile-long (89.2 km) Middle Yuba River flows north into Jackson Meadows Reservoir , then turns west, soon entering a steep gorge. The majority of the river demarcates the boundary of Sierra County in the north and Nevada County in the south. It receives Kanaka Creek from the north and

7884-560: The Pit and McCloud Rivers provided the majority of river flow in dry summers when the Upper Sacramento and other tributaries slowed to a trickle. Monthly combined discharge of Sacramento River at Freeport and Yolo Bypass near Woodland (cfs) The Sacramento River's watershed is the largest entirely in California, covering much of the northern part of the state. The endorheic (closed) Goose Lake drainage basin in southern Oregon , however, has been known to overflow into

8030-402: The Sacramento River system during particularly wet years. The Sacramento River basin generally lies between the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Range on the east and the Coast Ranges and Klamath Mountains in the west, although the part of the basin drained by the Pit River extends east of the Cascades. The Pit River, has the distinction of being one of three rivers that cut through the main crest of

8176-484: The Sacramento River system is the Pit River, which is by far the largest of the three rivers flowing into Shasta Lake. At the USGS Montgomery Creek gauge, the average flow of the Pit River was 4,760 cu ft/s (135 m /s) for the period 1966–2013. By comparison, the Sacramento River at Delta gauge, a few miles above Shasta Lake, recorded an average of 1,191 cu ft/s (33.7 m /s) for

8322-527: The Sacramento River, although not all of them are currently operational. The ones currently in operation are at Delta, California (near the source at Mount Shasta), at Keswick (near Redding), Colusa (about halfway down the river), Verona , and Freeport . The Freeport gauge, which sits just downstream of Sacramento, provides a relatively good metric of the annual outflow from the Sacramento River Basin. The average flow between 1949 and 2013

8468-512: The Sacramento Valley is below 300 feet (91 m) in elevation; in its lower course, the Sacramento River drops only about 1 foot (0.30 m) per mile. Between the bajadas or alluvial slopes extending from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and Coast Ranges, are the low floodplains of the Sacramento River. The river flows at an elevation somewhat higher than the surrounding terrain due to deposits of sediment over millennia that created raised banks (essentially natural levees ). The banks separate

8614-403: The Sacramento Valley's and the Sacramento metropolitan region's water security . The Sacramento River and its tributaries are a significant part of the geography of the Sacramento Valley. Rising in the various mountain ranges (the various Northern Coast Ranges to the west, the southern Siskiyou Mountains to the north, and the northern Sierra Nevada to the east) that define the shape of

8760-514: The Sacramento Valley's and the San Joaquin Valley's water security . Interstate 5 is the primary route through the Sacramento Valley, traveling north–south roughly along the valley's western edge. Interstate 80 cuts a northeast-to-southwest swath through the southern end of the valley, mostly through Sacramento and Yolo Counties, and ends at the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge . Several secondary routes connect

8906-411: The Sacramento Valley. Much wetter winters (averaging between 25–60 inches (640–1,520 mm) of annual precipitation in the nearby foothills) and an extensive system of irrigation canals allows for the economic viability of water-thirsty crops such as rice and Juglans hindsii -rootstock walnuts. Since 2010, statewide droughts in California (combined with unprecedented summer heat) have strained both

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9052-525: The Sacramento and Feather Rivers into the Yolo Bypass , which parallels the Sacramento River down the west side of the valley. Cache Creek and Putah Creek , two major tributaries which formerly joined the Sacramento River from the west, are now intercepted by the Yolo Bypass via man-made channels. The main channel of the Sacramento flows south, forming the Yolo– Sacramento County line. As

9198-682: The Sacramento are that of the Klamath in the north, the San Joaquin and Mokelumne to the south and the Eel River in the west. The Russian River also lies to the west and the endorheic (closed) Honey Lake and Eagle Lake basins to the north. On the east side are many endorheic watersheds of the Great Basin including the Truckee River and Carson River . Parts of the Sacramento watershed come very close to, but do not extend past,

9344-465: The Sacramento to the Mokelumne River channel, allowing a portion of the water to be pumped south toward Clifton Court Forebay , the receiving reservoir for the main CVP and State Water Project aqueducts which irrigate millions of acres and supply water to over 23 million people in the San Joaquin Valley , the San Francisco Bay Area and Greater Los Angeles . Although river levels are tidally influenced here and occasionally as far north as Verona,

9490-421: The Sacramento with a portion of its historic flood plain, which it would have naturally flooded had the levee system not been in place. During the Great Depression in the 1930s, the first concrete proposals for a statewide water engineering project emerged, but when the state government could not sell the necessary bonds to fund the project, the federal government took over. The Central Valley Project , one of

9636-411: The Sacramento's main tributaries, enabling the regulation of water for irrigation and hydroelectric power. Starting in the late 1950s, two major canals were extended to irrigate the western side of the Sacramento Valley – the Tehama-Colusa and Corning Canals . Starting at the Red Bluff Diversion Dam on the Sacramento, the canals are 111 and 21 mi (179 and 34 km) long respectively, and divert

9782-425: The San Joaquin Valley. The Sacramento Valley is also not as extensively cultivated; there are many more smallholdings and more uncultivated arable land compared to south of the Delta. The town of Corning produces olives for oil extraction and for consumption as fruit. The Sunsweet Growers Incorporated headquarters are in Yuba City . The valley controls more than two-thirds of the worldwide prune market through

9928-431: The Sierra Nevada foothill region, their staple food was acorns , but they also hunted and gathered for other foods including abundant salmon runs in the Yuba River. In the 1850s, the California Gold Rush brought large numbers of European-American settlers into the area, followed by many Mexican, African and Chinese immigrants. These settlers brought diseases with them, to which the Native Americans had no immunity. Within

10074-529: The Sierra Nevada. The watershed also has Lassen Volcanic National Park , which covers 106,000 acres (430 km ) centered on Lassen Peak, the southernmost Cascade volcano. Whiskeytown-Shasta-Trinity National Recreation Area , which is over 200,000 acres (810 km ) in size, straddles much of the upper Sacramento and Trinity Rivers, and is named for the three local reservoirs (Shasta Lake, Trinity Lake and Whiskeytown Lake ) which are popular tourist areas. Many other state parks and recreation areas lie within

10220-432: The U.S. government and the Native Americans involving their relocation onto a reservation in the Sierra foothills; this promise was broken. Therefore, in 1863, the tribes from the area surrounding the middle Sacramento and Feather rivers , the Konkow group, were removed and marched forcibly to the Round Valley Indian Reservation near the Eel River . A total of 461 people were forced from their homes, but only 277 made it to

10366-595: The United States, with temperatures often matching and even exceeding that of Phoenix, Arizona in its hottest years; the city's annual high temperature averages at 112 °F (44 °C). In the summer, the "Delta Breeze", which comes in from the San Francisco Bay Area , is known for bringing cooler temperatures and higher humidity to the southern parts of the valley. While it brings comparative relief for residents of Sacramento and Roseville, it often results in somewhat muggy conditions, with dew points sometimes reaching above 70 °F (21 °C) and occasionally pushing

10512-490: The United States, Sutter and other large landholders in California held on to their properties. In 1848 Sutter assigned James W. Marshall to build a sawmill on the South Fork American River at Coloma , where Marshall discovered gold. Although Sutter and Marshall originally intended to keep the find a secret, news soon broke attracting three hundred thousand hopefuls from all over North America, and even

10658-402: The United States. Major dams include Jackson Meadows Dam and Bowman Dam (part of Yuba-Bear) and Lake Spaulding Dam and Fordyce Lake Dam (part of Drum-Spaulding). These projects divert a portion of the Yuba River's flow to the Bear River , a tributary of the Feather River further south. Other dams include Scotts Flat and Wildwood on Deer Creek; and Mildred and Virginia Ranch on Dry Creek,

10804-421: The Yolo Bypass in the rice field floodplains adjacent to the Sacramento River. The name comes from a form of Japanese sushi which contains a slice of fish on top of a compressed wedge of vinegared rice. Salmon migrate from the Central Valley rivers to the ocean where they increase in size for one to three years then return to rivers to spawn, if a young fish is larger when they enter the ocean, they will have more of

10950-602: The ancient path of the Siskiyou Trail, in the 1880s and 1890s. Many parts of the railroad were treacherous, especially in the mountainous areas north of Dunsmuir . It was not long after Sacramento surpassed a population of 10,000, then the Great Flood of 1862 swept away much of it (and almost everything else along the Sacramento River) and put the rest under water. The flood waters were exacerbated by

11096-497: The area began in 1850 and have been more or less driven by the price of gold since that time. In 1995, the San Juan Ridge Mine Corporation stopped gold mining operations following the breach of an underground aquifer that caused flooding and the overflow of containment ponds. This breach released millions of gallons of mine waste into Spring and Shady creeks, drained and contaminated 12 local wells through

11242-557: The area, and relied on Native American labor to maintain his domain. Sutter had something of a two-faced relationship with the many Native American groups in the area. He was friendly with some of the tribes, and paid their leaders handsomely for supplying workers, but others he seized by force to labor in the fields. After the Bear Flag Revolt of 1846 and the Mexican–American War , in which California became part of

11388-548: The base of the Montezuma Hills , forming the border of Solano and Sacramento Counties. This part of the river is dredged for navigation by large oceangoing vessels and averages three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) across. North of Antioch and Pittsburg , the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers join at the head of Suisun Bay , marking the official end of both rivers. The combined waters flow west through Suisun Bay and

11534-577: The border of California and Nevada . The basin's diverse geography ranges from the glacier-carved, snowcapped peaks of the Sierra Nevada to the sea-level (and often lower) marshes and farmlands of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The highest point is 14,104 feet (4,299 m) at Mount Shasta , a dormant stratovolcano near the headwaters of the Sacramento River. The Sierra Nevada peaks generally decrease in height from south to north—from over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in

11680-430: The bypass recorded an average throughput of 4,809 cubic feet per second (136.2 m /s) between 1939 and 2013, mostly from December–March. The highest recorded flow was 374,000 cubic feet per second (10,600 m /s) on February 20, 1986. During the dry season of July through September, the bypass carries low to zero flow. Although the Sacramento River nominally begins near Mount Shasta, the true hydrological source of

11826-512: The center of an agricultural empire that provided food to feed the thousands of miners working in the hills as well as a place of financial exchange of all the gold that was mined. Sacramento was officially established in 1850 and was recognized as the state capital in 1854. As the economy of the Sacramento Valley grew, the Southern Pacific Railroad established tracks along the river to connect California with Oregon following

11972-578: The confluence of North, Middle and South Forks in the Trinity Mountains of Siskiyou County . It flows east into a small reservoir, Lake Siskiyou , before turning south. The river flows through a canyon for about 60 miles (97 km), past Dunsmuir and Castella , before emptying into Shasta Lake near Lakehead in Shasta County . The McCloud River rises on the east slope of Mount Shasta and flows south for 77 miles (124 km) through

12118-512: The counties. Many of the mountainous regions of the watershed are administered by the U.S. Forest Service . The Sacramento River watershed includes large areas of coniferous forests in the Mendocino and Trinity National Forests in the Coast Ranges, Shasta and Lassen National Forests in the southern Cascades and the Plumas , Tahoe and Eldorado National Forests on the western slopes of

12264-500: The delta of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers. However, due to their vantage point, neither Fages nor any of his men saw the Sacramento clearly. They assumed that the San Joaquin, coming from the south, was the largest of the merging rivers they saw. In 1808, explorer Gabriel Moraga , on a journey to find suitable sites for the construction of missions, became the first foreigner to see the river clearly. Judging its huge breadth and power he named it Rio de los Sacramentos , or "River of

12410-547: The east. A few miles downstream it forms the border of Butte County and Glenn County to the west. Stony Creek joins from the west in Glenn County, near Hamilton City and about 15 miles (24 km) west of Chico . The river then forms the Glenn– Colusa County line for a short distance before crossing entirely into Colusa County. It passes by the Sutter Buttes , a group of volcanic hills that rise abruptly from

12556-724: The eastern boundary of the Tahoe National Forest . It flows southwest then west through a 3,000-foot-deep (910 m) canyon past the communities of Downieville (where it receives the Downie River from the north) and Goodyears Bar. Its main tributaries, Canyon Creek and Slate Creek, join from the north shortly downstream of there. The river turns south near Clipper Mills and flows into the 4,800-acre (1,900 ha) New Bullards Bar Reservoir , impounded by 645-foot (197 m)-high New Bullards Bar Dam . About 5 miles (8.0 km) below New Bullards Bar Dam, it joins with

12702-467: The eastern boundary of the Yolo Bypass . The manually operated Sacramento Weir, located across from downtown Sacramento on the west side of the river, serves to relieve floodwater pressure from the American River by allowing it to drain west into the Yolo Bypass instead of continuing down the Sacramento River. Downstream of Sacramento, the river enters the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta ,

12848-412: The geographically similar Colusa Basin is located to the west. The Sutter Bypass begins at Colusa and runs parallel to the east side of the Sacramento River until reaching the confluence with the Feather River . The Yolo Bypass, located on the west side of the river, starts at the confluence of the Feather and rejoins the Sacramento in the Delta. Although termed "bypasses", the system essentially reconnects

12994-425: The gold fields. As the miners expanded their diggings deeper into the Sierra Nevada and Klamath Mountains, Native Americans were pushed off their land and a long series of skirmishes and fights began that continued until intervention by the state and national governments. The influx of migrants brought foreign diseases like malaria and smallpox , which American Indians had no immunity to. These diseases killed off

13140-426: The gold fields. By the late part of the century mining had ceased to be a major part of the economy, and many immigrants turned to farming and ranching. Many populous communities were established along the Sacramento River, including the state capital of Sacramento . Intensive agriculture and mining contributed to pollution in the Sacramento River, and significant changes to the river's hydrology and environment. Since

13286-655: The greater Sacramento area. Foothills become more common from just south of Corning to Shasta Lake City . These are known as the Valley Hills and begin south of the Tehama-Glenn County line near Corning. There are also a few hills in Red Bluff and Corning. There is one major range of foothills between Cottonwood and Red Bluff known as the Cottonwood Hills (a.k.a. 9-mile Hill), and there is

13432-611: The headwaters of the American River near Lake Tahoe , to 5,000 to 7,000 feet (1,500 to 2,100 m) in Lassen County where they adjoin the Cascade Range. On the west side, the Coast Ranges are the opposite, increasing in height to almost 10,000 feet (3,000 m) in the north. The arid volcanic plateaus in the northeast, which are characterized by alternating hills and large sedimentary basins, typically lie at elevations of 3,000 to 5,000 feet (910 to 1,520 m). Most of

13578-1100: The land in the delta to gradually sink since the late 19th century. Many of the delta islands would be underwater if not for the maintenance of the levees and pumps that keep them dry. Some of the "islands" are now up to 25 feet (7.6 m) below the adjacent channels and sloughs. The Sacramento River watershed is home to about 2.8 million people; more than two-thirds live within the Sacramento metropolitan area . Other important cities are Chico , Redding , Davis and Woodland . The Sacramento River watershed covers all or most of Shasta , Tehama , Glenn , Butte , Plumas , Yuba , Sutter , Lake and Yolo Counties. It also extends into portions of Siskiyou , Modoc , Lassen , Lake (in Oregon), Sierra , Nevada , Placer , El Dorado , Sacramento , Solano and Contra Costa Counties. The river itself flows through Siskiyou, Shasta, Tehama, Butte, Glenn, Colusa, Sutter, Yolo, Sacramento, Solano and Contra Costa, often forming boundaries between

13724-550: The land was probably submerged under the Pacific), they were worn by erosion , and the present-day range only formed about 4 million years ago. The northern part of the Sacramento watershed is more ancient, and was formed by intense volcanic activity over 25 million years ago, resulting in lava flows that covered and created the Modoc Plateau, through which the Pit River flows. Mount Shasta and Lassen Peak are among

13870-471: The land. Most of the villages were small. Although it was once commonly believed that the original natives lived as tribes , they actually lived as bands , family groups as small as twenty to thirty people. The Sacramento Valley was first settled by humans about 12,000 years ago, but permanent villages were not established until about 8,000 years ago. Historians have organized the numerous separate original native groups into several "tribes". These are known as

14016-481: The largest irrigation projects in the world, was constructed by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation beginning in 1935. Ultimately, the system would distribute 7 million acre-feet (8.6 km ) to irrigate 3 million acres (1.2 million ha) of land in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. Construction of Shasta Dam, the principal water storage facility in the Sacramento River system, started in 1938 and

14162-496: The late 1700s. The Spanish explorer Gabriel Moraga named the river Rio de los Sacramentos in 1808, later shortened and anglicized into Sacramento . In the 19th century, gold was discovered on a tributary of the Sacramento River, starting the California Gold Rush and an enormous population influx to the state. Overland trails such as the California Trail and Siskiyou Trail guided hundreds of thousands of people to

14308-560: The lower end of Shasta Lake is Shasta Dam , which impounds the Sacramento River for flood control, irrigation and hydropower generation. Before the construction of Shasta Dam, the McCloud River emptied into the Pit River, which joined the Sacramento near the former mining town of Kennett , submerged when Shasta Lake was filled. The Pit River Bridge , which carries Interstate 5 and the Union Pacific Railroad over

14454-558: The main Yuba River. The Middle Yuba River and South Yuba River are linked by the Yuba-Bear and Drum-Spaulding hydroelectric projects, which are owned by the Nevada Irrigation District and PG&E, respectively. These two interconnected projects generate a combined 1.2 billion kilowatt hours per year and with over 40 dams and reservoirs and 16 powerhouses, are considered the most complex hydroelectric scheme in

14600-542: The main channel of the Sacramento. The Sacramento River and the Sutter Bypass flow parallel for over 40 miles (64 km), rejoining on the border of Sutter County and Yolo County near Knights Landing . The Feather River , the largest tributary of the Sacramento, joins from the east at Verona directly below the Sutter Bypass. A second flood control structure, the Fremont Weir, diverts flood waters from both

14746-627: The middle of the Sacramento Valley, where it receives Butte Creek from the east at Colusa . Below Colusa the river flows south-southeast, forming the border of Colusa County and Sutter County to the east. About 20 miles (32 km) further downstream, the Sacramento River reaches the Tisdale Weir. During floods, water overtops the weir and flows east into the Sutter Bypass , the first of two major bypass channels that temporarily store and move floodwaters downstream to reduce pressure on

14892-525: The most productive agricultural area in the nation, these changes have left the Sacramento greatly modified from its natural state and have caused the decline of its once-abundant fisheries. The Sacramento River originates in the mountains and plateaus of far northern California as three major waterways that flow into Shasta Lake : the Upper Sacramento River, McCloud River and Pit River . The Upper Sacramento begins near Mount Shasta , at

15038-413: The most recent being the Great Flood of 1862 . Dams, levees and floodways constructed during the 20th century have thus far prevented this phenomenon from re-occurring. The Sacramento River and its valley were one of the major Native American population centers of California. The river's abundant flow and the valley's fertile soil and mild climate provided enough resources for hundreds of groups to share

15184-660: The northern part of the valley and colder still in the foothills and frost can occur almost anywhere. Farther south near Sacramento, temperatures tend to stay between the low-50s and high-60s °F (10-20 °C), with nighttime temperatures dropping to the mid-30s and 40s °F (1-7 °C). Lower-elevation snowfall (in a relative sense) is more consistent in the foothills immediately above Sacramento and Folsom than anywhere else in California; Pollock Pines at 3,980 feet (1,210 m), gets an average of 65 inches (170 cm) of snow every winter, nearly double that of Yosemite Valley and more than triple that of Lucerne , Switzerland. During

15330-599: The numerous Cascade Range volcanoes that still stand in the area. As the Sierra rose, water erosion and glaciation carved deep canyons, depositing massive amounts of sediment to form a coastal plain between the mountains and the Pacific Ocean. About 3 million years ago, multiple terranes were formed and smashed into the North American Plate from the Pacific Plate, causing the uplift of

15476-520: The one hand, and to ensure a consistent supply of water on the other. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the State of California completed reports as early as the 1870s and 1880s which outlined future development of the Sacramento, Feather, Yuba and Bear rivers. In 1873, Colonel B.S. Alexander of the Army Corps of Engineers surveyed the Central Valley's hydrology and irrigation systems and proposed

15622-614: The over 400 growers in California. Weather patterns in the Sacramento Valley are very similar to those in the San Joaquin Valley to the south, although the humidity and precipitation tend to be a bit higher. Summers are the dry season, with average daytime temperatures in the low to high 90s °F (low to mid 30s °C) but triple digits (38 °C and above) are a common occurrence, especially in Chico , Redding , Red Bluff , and Sacramento . Redding in particular has been notorious for having extremely hot summers despite its northern latitude within

15768-754: The oxidation of naturally occurring heavy metals- including a well that supplied drinking water to a local K-8 school. The mining company proposed to re-open their mine for gold extraction in 2012, which would require pumping up to 3.5 million gallons of groundwater to operate each day. Pumping groundwater at this scale would likely deplete the underground aquifer that provides water to hundreds of community members. This could potentially cause serious impacts to surface water quality in Spring and Shady creeks due to increased surface flows from mining practices. In hierarchical order, going upstream: Sacramento River The Sacramento River ( Spanish : Río Sacramento )

15914-626: The parasitic cowbird , which lays its eggs in the nests of other bird species causing its hatchlings to compete with the others for food. There were once 9 species of amphibians that used the Sacramento River, but some have become extinct and most other populations are declining due to habitat loss caused by agriculture and urban development. Amphibians originally thrived in the marshes, sloughs, side-channels and oxbow lakes because of their warmer water, abundance of vegetation and nutrients, lower predator populations and slower current. This population once included several species of frogs and salamanders;

16060-410: The period 1945–2013. The McCloud River had an average discharge of 775 cu ft/s (21.9 m /s) for the 1967–2013 period. Since the 1960s, the McCloud River flow has been reduced and the Pit River flow increased due to diversion of water for hydropower generation; however the total volume of water entering Shasta Lake remains the same. Before Shasta Dam was built, the volcanic springs feeding

16206-411: The precipitation." The topography of the Sacramento River watershed makes it particularly prone to flooding. Storm water runs quickly off the steep mountains flanking the Sacramento Valley, but with few exceptions the alluvial valley floor is strikingly flat, slowing down the runoff and causing it to overflow the river banks. Before flood control works were built, the winter floods frequently transformed

16352-484: The pressure of floodwaters on the main channel. The bypasses are then allowed to drain slowly once flood crests have passed. For most of the year, the bypasses remain dry and are used for annual crops such as rice. Some of the principal features are the Butte Basin, Colusa Basin, Sutter Bypass and the Yolo Bypass. The Butte Basin is a large lowland area on the east side of the river between Hamilton City and Colusa ;

16498-487: The rainy season, are generally mild to cool, foggy and wet. The valley and lower foothills are completely snowless outside of exceptional years where some flurries may occur. The rainy season runs from November to early-April, with some rainfall in September, October, and May. Up north, the temperature averages in the mid-40s °F (mid-to-high single digits °C) and lows reaching to the low-10s °F (-10 to -12 °C), colder in

16644-497: The rainy season, the Sacramento Valley is prone to strong thunderstorms and tornadoes , mostly of EF0 or EF1 intensity, especially in Colusa County and areas around Corning and Orland. Flooding does occur at times during wetter periods, usually November to March. Snow in the valley is rare, although Redding and Red Bluff , being at the north end of the valley, often experience a light dusting or two per year. Chico may get

16790-436: The reservation; the others perished of disease, starvation or exhaustion. As mining developed from simple methods such as panning and sluicing to a new form of commercialized extraction, hydraulic mining , profits from the petering gold rush made a second leap, earning more profits than placer miners in the early years had ever made. The city of Sacramento , founded on the original site of Sutter's fort, began to flourish as

16936-550: The reservoir, is structurally the highest double-decked bridge in the United States (although most of the bridge piers are submerged under Shasta Lake when the reservoir is full). The Upper Sacramento River canyon also provides the route for I-5 and the railroad between Lakehead and Mount Shasta. Below Shasta Dam the Sacramento River enters the foothills region of the northern Sacramento Valley. It flows through Keswick Dam , where it receives about 1,200,000 acre⋅ft (1.5 × 10  million km ) of water per year diverted from

17082-473: The rice fields under the Yolo Bypass next to Sacramento River can serve as an important floodplain habitat and feeding ground for juvenile or endangered fish. UC Davis noted juveniles grew much bigger and faster within the flooded rice fields when compared to those released in the Sacramento River. Public agencies, conservation groups and landowners have all been working together and conducting experiments since 2011. Experiments conducted on rice fields took place at

17228-497: The rich valley bottom and marsh lands. Before European contact, the indigenous population of the Sacramento Valley has been estimated at 76,000 people. The first outsiders to see the river were probably the members of a Spanish colonial-exploratory venture to Northern California in 1772, led by Captain Pedro Fages . The group ascended a mountain, likely in the hills north of Suisun Bay , and found themselves looking down at

17374-403: The river after use) are about 4.72 million acre-feet (5.82 km ) for irrigation and 491,000 acre-feet (0.606 km ) for urban use. An additional 7.61 million acre-feet (9.39 km ) is reserved for environmental uses, primarily to maintain a minimum fresh water outflow in the Delta to combat salinity. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has stream gauges on 25 locations along

17520-507: The river continues south it approaches the Sacramento metro area, the largest population center in the watershed. Sacramento International Airport is located on the east bank of the river near Fremont. Near downtown Sacramento it receives the American River from the east, then passes under the historic Tower Bridge and Interstate 80 Business . The California State Capitol sits less than zero point five miles (0.80 km) east of

17666-471: The river flooded up to 650,000 cubic feet per second (18,000 m /s) during the rainy season, equal to the flow of the Mississippi River . Late summers of particularly dry years could see flows drop below 1,000 cubic feet per second (28 m /s). Large volumes of water are withdrawn from the Sacramento River for irrigation, industry and urban supplies. Annual depletions (water not returned to

17812-415: The river from the lowlands to the east and west that once served as vast overflow basins during winter storms, creating large areas of seasonal wetlands . Since the 19th century, artificial levee systems have been constructed to enable farming in the fertile flood plain. Today there are 2,000,000 acres (8,100 km ) of irrigated farmland in the Sacramento Valley. Due to the reduction of the floodplain area,

17958-531: The river where the Tower Bridge crosses it. Shortly downstream, the Port of Sacramento is located on the west side of the Sacramento, connected to the river by a lock. The Sacramento River Deep Water Ship Channel provides access to the port from the Pacific, bypassing about 42 miles (68 km) of the winding lower Sacramento. The channel runs parallel to the Sacramento several miles to the west, and also forms

18104-481: The river's flow. The river's name comes from the local tribe, the Nisenan , word for "waterway," 'uba seo.' It is spelled in early records as "Yubu" and applied to the river by 1844. Some claim the name is a variant of Spanish uba or uva , referring to grapes found growing along the banks of the river. The North Yuba River, 61.1 miles (98.3 km) long, rises at Yuba Pass along California State Route 49 , near

18250-493: The sediments washed down by the millions of tons by hydraulic mining, which filled the beds of the Sacramento, Feather and American rivers up to 7 feet (2.1 m) in Sacramento and also covered thousands of acres of Central Valley lands. A flood in 1875 covered the city of Marysville and when it subsided the town's streets were filled with debris and rocks washed down from the "hydraulicking" going on upstream. Repeated floods and increased demand for Sacramento River water saw

18396-550: The southern Cascade Range , roughly parallel to the Upper Sacramento, eventually to reach the McCloud Arm of Shasta Lake. The Pit River, by far the largest of the three, begins in Modoc County in the northeastern corner of California. Draining a vast and remote volcanic highlands area, it flows southwest for nearly 300 miles (480 km) before emptying into Shasta Lake near Montgomery Creek . Goose Lake , straddling

18542-516: The southernmost large runs of chinook salmon in North America. For about 12,000 years, humans have depended on the vast natural resources of the watershed, which had one of the densest Native American populations in California. The river has provided a route for trade and travel since ancient times. Hundreds of tribes sharing regional customs and traditions have inhabited the Sacramento Valley, first coming into contact with European explorers in

18688-499: The speed of flood flow in the Sacramento River has increased, creating a significant hazard for the farms and towns along its course. By the early 20th century engineers had realized not all the floodplains could be safely reclaimed, leading to the intentional creation of flood bypasses where development is limited to annual crops and recreational uses. Further south, much of the delta region is actually below sea level: subsidence caused by wind erosion and intensive farming have caused

18834-495: The two roads, including Interstate 505 and State Route 113 . The Sacramento area has a web of urban freeways. Other principal routes in the region include State Route 99 , which runs along the valley's eastern edge, roughly parallel to I-5, from Sacramento until its northern terminus in Red Bluff ; State Route 20 , which traverses the valley from west to east on its route from State Route 1 in Mendocino County to

18980-550: The upper end of Englebright Lake . From the joining of the North Yuba River and Middle Yuba River, the Yuba River mainstem flows southwards, then southwest, through the Sierra Nevada foothills, forming the Yuba-Nevada County border. The river widens into upper Englebright Lake near French Bar, and is joined by the South Yuba within the reservoir. It passes through the Englebright Dam near Lake Wildwood and

19126-418: The valley into an inland sea. In 1880 State Engineer William H. Hall developed the first flood control plan for the Sacramento River. Hall recognized that with the combination of flat topography and extremely heavy winter runoff volumes, a system of levees alone could not hope to contain flooding, as had been proven time and again in the flood prone city of Sacramento. The Sacramento River Flood Control Project

19272-490: The water stays fresh in all but the driest years. Saltwater intrusion from the Pacific Ocean was one of the main reasons for the construction of the federal Central Valley Project (CVP), whose dams maintain a minimum flow in the Sacramento River to keep seawater at bay. Below Rio Vista , the lower Sacramento River is rejoined by the Deep Water Ship Channel and the Yolo Bypass and curves southwest along

19418-661: The watershed. By geologic standards, the Sacramento is a fairly young river; the borders of its watershed began to form only a few million years ago as magma welling up below the Earth's crust pushed up by the Pacific Plate colliding with the North American Plate caused the formation of the Sierra Nevada . Although mountains had existed as early as 100 million years ago in this region (before then

19564-528: The world, to the Sacramento River in search of fortunes, kicking off the California Gold Rush . People flocked to the region by the Oregon Trail -Siskiyou Trail, California Trail , Southern Emigrant Trail and various land and/or sea routes through the Isthmus of Panama and around southern South America by ship. Steamboats traveled up and down the Sacramento River carrying miners from San Francisco to

19710-431: The years to come, this path, which eventually extended from San Francisco to Portland, Oregon following parts of the Sacramento, Willamette , Klamath , Rogue , and other rivers would become an important trade and travel route. Although just one of thousands of American emigrants that poured into California over the next few years when California became part of the United States, John Augustus Sutter 's arrival marked

19856-478: Was 23,330 cubic feet per second (661 m /s). The maximum recorded flow was 115,000 cubic feet per second (3,300 m /s) on February 19, 1986; the lowest was 3,970 cubic feet per second (112 m /s) on October 15, 1977. Flow in the Yolo Bypass , a relief channel designed to carry a portion of the flood waters in order to protect the Sacramento area, is not measured by the Freeport gauge. A separate gauge on

20002-528: Was at least 1,000 feet (300 m) deep. About 650,000 years ago the lake catastrophically overflowed, draining into San Francisco Bay and creating the Carquinez Strait , the only major break for hundreds of miles in the Coast Ranges. The narrow outlet trapped some of the sediments of the rivers in the Central Valley, forming the inland Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta . Since then, this inland sea has periodically reformed during times of intense flooding,

20148-416: Was authorized by the federal government in 1917. While it intended to contain minor floods in the river banks by strengthening the existing levee system, the main feature was a series of bypasses, or sections of the valley intentionally designed to flood during high water. Weirs placed at strategic points along the Sacramento River release water into the bypasses when the river reaches a certain stage, relieving

20294-412: Was built in 1941 to trap mining debris following the re-legalization of hydraulic mining during the 1930s. However, mining never resumed on a Gold Rush scale in the Yuba River watershed. Today, Englebright serves mainly to produce hydroelectricity . New Bullards Bar Dam was built on the North Yuba River in response to the huge flood of December 1955, which destroyed much of Yuba City. Completed in 1969,

20440-469: Was carried down the Yuba River. This raised stream beds up to 50 ft (15 m) in places, buried riverside land under sediment, and increased the risk of flooding. The practice was banned in 1884 following lawsuits from farmers who had been affected by the debris flows. Much of the debris left by the destruction of hydraulic mining remains today as the Yuba Goldfields . In addition, the extensive use of mercury in processing gold led to contamination of

20586-465: Was completed in 1945. Controlling runoff from the upper 6,600 square miles (17,000 km ) of the Sacramento River watershed, Shasta greatly reduces flood peaks on the middle and lower parts of the Sacramento River. Flood waters are stored for irrigation in dry years as well as navigation and electricity generation. In the following decades, more huge reservoirs – capable of storing a combined 13 × 10 acre-feet (16 km ) of water – were constructed on

20732-400: Was completed in 1963, and was built to facilitate navigation of large oceangoing ships from the Delta to the port of Sacramento. The channel bypasses the winding lower part of the Sacramento River between the state capital and the Delta thus reducing water travel times. It also serves to discharge floodwaters from the lower end of the Yolo Bypass . Built by the Army Corps of Engineers, the canal

20878-434: Was crucial to the renewal of existing wetlands and the creation of new ones. Since the late 19th century the river has been mostly locked in a fixed channel, which once could shift hundreds of feet or even several miles in a year because of floods. In 2010, about 100 miles (160 km) of the river's riparian forests were undergoing restoration. UC Davis initiated a project known as The Nigiri Project which takes place under

21024-643: Was practiced in a few areas. Settlement size ranged from small camps to villages of 30–50 permanent structures. Acorns were a staple food , and the Sacramento Valley's riparian zones, which supported seven species of native oaks, provided these in abundance. Native Americans pounded the acorns into flour, which they used to make bread and cakes. Abundant salmon and steelhead runs in the Sacramento River and its tributaries were harvested using fishing weirs, platforms, baskets and nets. The river also provided shellfish, sturgeon, eel and suckerfish They also hunted waterfowl, antelope and deer which all existed in huge numbers in

21170-656: Was the Trinity River Project (which would become part of the CVP), sending over 90 percent of the flow of that river into the Sacramento via a tunnel under the Klamath Mountains. Due to environmental damage and fish kills in the Trinity River, the volume of diverted water has been limited by law since the 1990s. Other, larger projects ultimately failed to take root. One of the most notorious,

21316-470: Was under the control of Mexico , although few Mexican settlers had come to what would later become the state, mostly settling in the small pueblos and ranchos along the south and central coast. The HBC mountain men created the Siskiyou Trail out of several Native American paths that ran through the mountains between Oregon's Willamette Valley and the northern part of the Sacramento Valley. In

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