Sacramento (river)

Sacramento (river), California, which rises in the Klamath Mountains near Mount Shasta and empties into San Francisco Bay. It is 607 km (377 mi) long; its chief tributary, the Pit River, is 320 km (200 mi) long. Flowing south for most of its length, the Sacramento turns west below the city of Sacramento, unites with the northward flowing San Joaquin River, and passes through the Suisun and San Pablo bays into San Francisco Bay. The river is navigable to Red Bluff, 290 km (180 mi) upstream. The Sacramento and its tributaries were the scene of the California gold rush of 1849. Together with the San Joaquin, the Sacramento flows through the Central Valley of California, a productive agricultural area.