Sacramento River - Definition and Overview

A spring at the Sacramento River headwater

The Sacramento River is the longest river in the state of California. Starting near Mount Shasta in the Cascade Range, the Sacramento flows 382 miles southwest through the northern Central Valley of California, between the Pacific Coast Range and the Sierra Nevada. Not far downstream of the confluence with the American River, the Sacramento (along with the San Joaquin River) forms the Sacramento River Delta and then flows into the northern arm of San Francisco Bay. Its chief tributaries are the Pit, Feather, McCloud and American rivers. The Pit River is the longest of these, but the Feather and American rivers carry larger volumes of water.

Man-made channels make the river navigable for 180 miles upstream of San Francisco Bay; ocean-going ships travel as far inland as the City of Sacramento. Marine animals such as gray whales and sea lions are occasionally found far inland after navigating the river for food or refuge and then losing track of how to get back to the Pacific Ocean.

Headwater of the Sacramento River in Northern California

See also

• List of California rivers
• Shasta Dam and Shasta Lake