California Central Valley

From TheBestLinks.com

The California Central Valley dominates the central portion of the state of California. Bounded by the Cascade Range to the north, the Sierra Nevada to the east, the Tehachapi Mountains to the south, and the Coast Range and San Francisco Bay to the west, this very large valley is a vast agricultural region drained by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. The northern area (north of the Mokelumne River and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta) is called the Sacramento Valley; the southern area is called the San Joaquin Valley. Major tributaries of these two rivers that flow into the California Central Valley include:

Sacramento Valley

• Feather River
• American River

San Joaquin Valley

• Mokelumne River
• Stanislaus River
• Tuolumne River
• Merced River
• Chowchilla River
• Kings River
• Kern River

Major cities in the Central Valley include Sacramento (California state capital), Stockton, Fresno, Redding, and Bakersfield.

The Central Valley Project was formed in 1935 to redistribute and store water for agricultural and municipal purposes with dams and canals.

Geography of California

Central Valley | Central Coast | Channel Islands | Coast Ranges | Gold Country | Greater Los Angeles | Imperial Valley | Inland Empire | Mojave | Napa Valley | Northern California | Owens Valley | Pomona Valley | Redwood Empire | San Fernando Valley | San Francisco Bay Area | The Peninsula | San Gabriel Valley | Santa Clara Valley | Santa Clarita Valley | Shasta Cascade | Sierra Nevada | Silicon Valley | Southern California | Wine Country