Sacramento River facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sacramento River
Sacramento River from the old pumping station in Sacramento, California
Map of the Sacramento River watershed
Native name	Spanish: Río Sacramento
Other name(s)	Rio del Santísimo Sacramento
Country	United States
State	California
Cities	Mount Shasta, Dunsmuir, Redding, Anderson, Red Bluff, Princeton, Colusa, Davis, Sacramento, West Sacramento, Isleton, Rio Vista, Antioch
Physical characteristics
Main source	Confluence of Middle and South Forks Near Mount Shasta, Siskiyou County 3,674 ft (1,120 m) 41°16′24″N 122°24′05″W / 41.27333°N 122.40139°W / 41.27333; -122.40139
River mouth	Suisun Bay Contra Costa-Solano county line 0 ft (0 m) 38°03′48″N 121°51′10″W / 38.06333°N 121.85278°W / 38.06333; -121.85278
Length	400 mi (640 km), North-south
Basin features
Basin size	26,500 sq mi (69,000 km2)
Tributaries	Left: Pit River, Deer Creek, Butte Creek, Feather River, American River Right: Clear Creek, Cottonwood Creek, Stony Creek, Cache Creek, Putah Creek
Nicknames	Sac River, Nile of the West

The Sacramento River is a river in California in the United States. It flows through the Sacramento Valley in northern California, and is about 445 miles (716 km) long. The Sacramento has many tributaries, including the Pit, Feather and American Rivers. Cities along the river include Redding and Sacramento.

Native people have inhabited the region for about 12,000 years. The Sacramento River's tributaries were the focus of the California Gold Rush, which brought many settlers to the area in the 1800s. Today, the river is used as a source of irrigation water and to produce hydroelectricity.

Tributaries

• Cache Creek
• Putah Creek
• American River
• Feather River
  • Bear River (Feather River)
  • Yuba River
• Pit River
  • McCloud River

Related pages

• Shasta Dam

Images for kids

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  Upper Sacramento River at Castle Crags State Park

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  The Sacramento River running through Red Bluff, California

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  Sacramento River in Bend, California

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  Sacramento River above Sacramento

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  Aerial view of the Delta region, showing the Sacramento River (above) and the San Joaquin River.

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  The Sacramento River below Shasta Dam

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  The Castle Crags, a series of granite peaks rising above the upper Sacramento River canyon just to the right. Mount Shasta, the highest mountain in the Sacramento drainage, is seen in the distance.

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  The Carquinez Strait, which connects the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and Suisun Bay to San Pablo and San Francisco Bays, and then the Pacific. The channel formed from water flooding over the Coast Ranges from a gigantic lake that formed in the Central Valley a few hundred thousand years ago, when the rising mountains blocked the Sacramento's route to the Pacific Ocean.

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  Mt. Shasta and the Sacramento River by Frederick A. Butman (1820-1871)

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  Chrysopolis, one of several large steamboats that served for transportation on the river during the California Gold Rush

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  Shasta Dam

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  Sacramento Weir is one of several structures along the Sacramento River designed to drain excess floodwaters.

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  Construction work on Shasta Dam in June 1942

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  Red Bluff Diversion Dam, which sends Sacramento River water to a pair of irrigation canals near Red Bluff, posed a major barrier to fish movement and migration in the river until replaced with a pumping plant in 2013.

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  Sacramento River flowing through the Sacramento suburbs

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  Improvement in water quality throughout the Sacramento and Feather River through the reduction of diazinon concentrations.

See also

In Spanish: Río Sacramento (Estados Unidos) para niños