Russian River
The
Russian River rises in the coastal mountain ranges of
Mendocino County in
Northern California, flows through valleys in Mendocino County and
Sonoma County, and empties into the
Pacific Ocean at Jenner-by-the-Sea, about 60 miles north of the
San Francisco Bay's
Golden Gate.
The river takes its name from
Russian trappers who explored the river in the early 19th century, when Russia maintained trade colonies along the Northern California coasts. In the late 19th century, loggers were drawn to the river for the redwoods that line its coast. In the 1920s and 1930s, it became a popular summer resort destination for vacationers from
San Francisco and
Napa. The main resort town on the river is
Guerneville, which since the 1970s has been a popular
gay resort. On Johnson Beach, Guerneville hosts a weekend-long Blues Festival in June and a Jazz Festival in September. The river provides drinking water to some towns and cities in Sonoma County, and also acts as a drainage channel for much of the basin. Its banks are lined with vineyards throughout much of Sonoma County.
See also