Sacramento Valley
From Freepedia
The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.
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Geography
The Sacramento River and its tributaries dominate the geography of the Sacramento Valley. Rising in the various mountain ranges (the various California Coast Ranges to the west, the southern Siskiyou Mountains to the north, and the northern Sierra Nevada to the east) that define the shape of the valley, they provide water for agricultural, industrial, residential, and recreation uses. Most of the rivers are heavily dammed and diverted.
The terrain of the Sacramento Valley is primarily flat grasslands that become lusher as one moves east from the rain shadow of the Coast Ranges toward the Sierras. Unlike the San Joaquin Valley, which in its pre-irrigation state was a vegetation-hostile desert, the considerably more humid Sacramento Valley had significant tracts of forest prior to the arrival of settlers of European ancestry. Most of it was cut down during the California Gold Rush and the ensuing wave of white American settlement.
Agriculture
While citrus and nut orchards and cattle ranches are common to both halves of the Central Valley, the Sacramento Valley's agricultural mix is otherwise considerably different from that of the San Joaquin Valley to the south. Nuts (primarily almonds and walnuts) are of greater importance north of the Delta, and rice, which is unviable in the bone-dry deserts of the San Joaquin, is a major crop. The town of Corning proclaims itself "Olive City," producing olives for oil extraction and for consumption as fruit.
Transportation
Interstate 5 is the primary route through the Sacramento Valley, traveling lengthwise roughly at the valley's center. Interstate 80 cuts a northeast-to-southwest swath through the southern end of the valley, mostly through Sacramento and Yolo Counties. Several secondary routes connect the two roads, including Interstate 505 and California State Highway 113. The Sacramento area has a large web of urban freeways.
Other principal routes in the region include California State Highway 99, which runs along the valley's eastern edge, roughly parallel to I-5, from Sacramento until its northern terminus in Red Bluff; California State Route 20, which traverses the valley from west to east on its route from U.S. Highway 101 in Mendocino County to the Donner Pass; and California State Route 45, which runs along the course of the Sacramento River roughly ten miles (20 km) east of I-5.
Educational Institutions
- University of California, Davis
- California State University, Chico
- California State University, Sacramento
- Simpson College, in Redding
Major Cities
Counties of the Sacramento Valley
