The San Joaquin River is one of the two major rivers that flow into the north end of
San Francisco Bay. It rises on the slopes of Mt. Goddard in
Kings Canyon National Park and flows first northwest, then southwest out of the
Sierra Nevada. Behind Friant Dam, a project of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, the river forms
Millerton Lake, a popular recreation spot. Below the dam it flows northeasterly through the Central Valley, through
Stockton before joining the
Sacramento River. The
San Joaquin Valley is one of the most fertile in the United States and the agricultural center for California.
