California Central Valley
The California Central Valley is shown outlined in red on a map of the western United States
The California Central Valley dominates the central portion of the state. Bounded by the Cascade Range to the north, the Sierra Nevada to the east, the Tehachapi Mountains to the south, and the Coast Range and San Francisco Bay to the west, it is a vast agricultural region. It is watered by several rivers, including the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River, the Feather River, the American River, the Mokelumne River, the Stanislaus River, the Tuolumne River, the Merced River, the Chowchilla River, the Kings River, the Kern River, the Los Angeles Aqueduct, and the Cache River.
Major cities include Sacramento, Stockton, Fresno and Bakersfield.
The northern area, north of the Mokelumne River, is called the Sacramento Valley, while the southern area is called the San Joaquin Valley.
The Central Valley Project was formed in 1935 to redistribute and store water for agricultural and municipal purposes with dams and canals.