SOUTHLAND CALIFORNIA SUMMARIZED HISTORY, FACTS,  AND DEMOGRAPHICS 

CALIFORNIA GEOGRAPHY 

Rivers and Lakes

California's principal river systems are formed by the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers and their tributaries, which drain the Great Central Valley. The Sacramento, the longest river within the state, flows generally southward for 607 km (377 mi) from its source at the base of Mount Shasta in the southern Cascade Mountains to its junction with the San Joaquin. The Pit River is the longest tributary of the Sacramento, but shorter tributaries, such as the Feather and American rivers, carry larger volumes of water. The San Joaquin River rises in the Sierra Nevada near Yosemite National Park and flows generally northward for 560 km (350 mi) to join the Sacramento River. The Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers unite to form a large inland delta that drains to Suisun Bay, the eastern arm of San Francisco Bay. Numerous mountain streams descend from the Sierra Nevada to join the two rivers. A number of short streams rise on the eastern flanks of the Coast Ranges, but they usually run dry before reaching either river.

   
Klamath                         Klamath                                                  Lake Tahoe

The rivers of the Coast Ranges in California are relatively short, except for the 400-km (250-mi) long Klamath River, which rises in Oregon and flows through northwestern California. Farther south the Salinas River rises in the Coast Ranges and flows northwestward, roughly parallel to the coast, through a broad fertile valley to Monterey Bay.

The major river in southern California is the Colorado River, one of the chief rivers of the western United States. It follows the Arizona-California state line before flowing into the Gulf of California, in Mexico.

California has several thousand lakes, most of which are small. The largest is the Salton Sea, a salty lake in the south that lies 71 m (233 ft) below sea level and covers 943 sq km (364 sq mi). Lake Tahoe, high in the Sierra Nevada, is on the California-Nevada state line and is one of the deepest lakes in the United States. Numerous other lakes have been created by the damming of rivers. These include Folsom Reservoir on the American River, Lake Oroville on the Feather River, and Pine Flat Reservoir on the Kings River, all in the Sierra Nevada, and Clair Engle Lake on the Trinity River, in the Klamath Mountains. Shasta Lake, behind Shasta Dam on the upper Sacramento River, is the largest reservoir in the state, and along with Clair Engle and Whiskey Town lakes, forms one of the largest national recreation areas in the nation.\