Sacramento (river)

Sacramento (river), river in California, United States, which rises in the Klamath Mountains near Mount Shasta and empties into San Francisco Bay. It is 615 km (382 mi) long; its chief tributary, the Pit River, is about 322 km (200 mi) long. Flowing south for most of its length, the Sacramento turns west below the city of Sacramento, unites with the northwards flowing San Joaquin River, and passes through the Suisun and San Pablo bays into San Francisco Bay. The river is navigable to Red Bluff, about 402 km (250 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.