San Joaquin Valley
Encyclopedia
The San Joaquin Valley ˌ is the area of the Central Valley of California
that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton
. Although most of the valley is rural, it does contain MSAs (urban cities and suburbs) such as Delano
, Fresno
, Bakersfield
, Stockton
, Modesto
, Visalia
, Porterville
, Merced
, Madera
, and Hanford
.
The San Joaquin Valley extends from the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in the north to the Tehachapi Mountains
in the south, and from the various California coastal ranges (from the Diablo in the north to the Temblor Range
in the south) in the west to the Sierra Nevada in the east. Unlike the Sacramento Valley
, the river system for which the San Joaquin Valley is named does not extend very far along the valley. Most of the valley south of Fresno instead drains into Tulare Lake
, which no longer exists continuously due to diversion of its sources. The valley's primary river is the San Joaquin
, which drains north through about half of the valley into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Kings
, and Kern
rivers are in the southern endorheic basin of the valley, all of which have been largely diverted for agricultural uses and are mostly dry in their lower reaches.
. Its rainy season runs from November through April, but further north the rainy season runs a bit longer.
The National Weather Service
Forecast Office for the San Joaquin Valley is located in Hanford
and includes a Doppler weather radar. Weather forecasts and climatological information for the San Joaquin Valley are available from its official website.
, and to a lesser extent wine—are perhaps the valley's highest-profile product, but equally (if not more) important are cotton
, nuts (especially almond
s and pistachio
s), citrus
, and vegetables. Though it has been called "The food basket of the World", the San Joaquin Valley has not been nationally recognized for the diversity of its produce. Oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. The J. G. Boswell Company's farming operation in Kings County is the largest single cotton farm in the world, occupying over 162 square kilometres (40,031 acre). Certain places are identified quite strongly with a given crop: Stockton produces the majority of the domestic asparagus
consumed in the United States, and Fresno is the largest producer of the raisin
, originally a Middle Eastern commodity.
In spite of its agricultural productivity, the San Joaquin Valley has the state's highest rate of food insecurity.
Cattle and sheep ranching are also vitally important to the valley's economy. During recent years, dairy farming has greatly expanded in importance. As areas such as Chino
and Corona
have become absorbed into the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, many dairy farmers have cashed out and moved their herds to Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties. Since dairy farms emit considerable quantities of methane and other pollutants, this has exacerbated the region's air quality problems.
Between 1990 and 2004, 28,092 hectares (70,231 acres) of agricultural land was lost to urban development in the San Joaquin Valley. In an effort to confront the problem of urban sprawl, the eight Valley counties are participating in a "regional blueprint planning process" that may result in denser developments and more public transportation.
as the state's primary oil production region. Scattered oil wells on small oil field
s are found throughout the region, and several enormous extraction facilities – most notably near Lost Hills
and Taft
, including the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field
, the third-largest oil field in the United States – are veritable forests of pumps.
Shell
operated a major refinery in Bakersfield; it was sold in 2005 to Flying J, a Salt Lake
-based firm that operates truck stops and refineries. Flying J's bankruptcy in 2009 resulted in the refinery being shut down.
The oil and gas fields in Kern County are receiving increased attention since the July 2009 announcement by Occidental Petroleum of significant discovery of oil and gas reserves Even prior to this discovery the region retains more oil reserves than any other part of California. Of California fields outside of the San Joaquin Valley, only the Wilmington Oil Field
in Los Angeles County has untapped reserves greater than 100000000 barrels (15,898,729,500 l), while six fields in the San Joaquin Valley (Midway-Sunset, Kern River
, South Belridge
, Elk Hills
, Cymric
, and Lost Hills
) each have reserves exceeeding 100000000 barrels (15,898,729,500 l) of oil.
s in the area. The most notable of these is Corcoran
, whose inmates include Charles Manson
and Juan Corona
. Other correctional facilities in the valley are at Avenal
, Chowchilla
, Tracy
, Delano
, Coalinga
, and Wasco
.
The only significant military base in the region is Naval Air Station Lemoore
, a vast air base located 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) WSW of Hanford
. Unlike many of California's other military installations, NAS Lemoore's operational importance has increased in the 1990s and 2000s. The other, Castle Air Force Base
, located near Atwater
was closed during the Base Realignment and Closure
of the 1990s. Although both are in Kern County, Edwards Air Force Base
and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station are located in the High Desert
area of that county.
issued a report entitled the American Community Survey
in 2007, which found that six San Joaquin Valley counties had the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line in 2006 of any counties in California. The report also revealed that the same six counties were among the 52 counties with the highest poverty rate in the United States
. In most Valley cities crime rates such as burglary, theft, and assault tend to be significantly higher than the national averages.
, particularly through the "Bakersfield sound
". The Valley has been the home to many country music singers such as Buck Owens
, Merle Haggard
, Billy Mize
, Red Simpson
, The Maddox Brothers and Rose
and the Sons of the San Joaquin
.
are California's most famous areas dominated by persons of Mexican
ancestry, both first-generation Mexican immigrants and well-established Chicano
s are important populations in the San Joaquin Valley. Since the onset of the bracero program during World War II
, virtually all of the agricultural workers in the region have been of Mexican ancestry. Ethnic and economic friction between Mexican-Americans and the valley's predominantly white farming elite manifested itself most notably during the 1960s and 1970s, when the United Farm Workers
, led by César Chávez
, went on numerous strikes and called for boycotts of table grapes. The UFW generated enormous sympathy throughout the United States, even managing to terminate several agricultural mechanization projects at the United States Department of Agriculture
. However, from the 1970s onward, landlords and large corporations have also hired illegal immigrants
, because of the ability to work long hours for low pay due to no income tax on undocumented salaries.
Portuguese in the San Joaquin Valley than in the Azores. Many groups are found in majorities in specific cities, and hardly anywhere else in the region. For example, Assyrians
are concentrated in Turlock
, Dutch
in Ripon
, Sikh
s in Stockton
and Livingston
and Yugoslavs
in Delano
. Kingsburg
is famous for its distinctly Swedish
air, having been founded by immigrants from that country. Ethnic groups found in a broader area are Portuguese
, Armenia
ns, Basques, and the "Okies" who migrated to California from the Midwest and South. Since the early 1970s East Indians of predominantly Punjabi, Gujrati and Southern India have settled in the valley communities. Most recently large numbers of Pakistanis have settled in Modesto and Lodi
. In addition, the late 1970s and 80s saw an influx of immigrants from Indochina
following the War in Vietnam. These immigrants, the majority of whom are Hmong
, Laotian
, Cambodian
, and Vietnamese
, have settled in the communities of Stockton, Modesto, Merced
, and Fresno
. The Filipino American
population is concentrated in Delano and Lathrop
.
Filipinos have a strong history in Stockton. Filipino organizations in Stockton are reflected in various commercial buildings identified as Filipino. Filipinos fought for the U.S. against Japan in WWII, in exchange for favorable immigration status. Stockton has been an adjunct to the San Francisco Bay Area, which was a major military production and transit area during WWII. Filipino emigration to Stockton followed.
These cultures are often the result of established ethnic communities and groups of immigrants coming to the United States at once. This is in part due to the founding of religious communes in the San Joaquin Valley: for example, the first permanent Sikh Gurdwara
was founded in Stockton in 1915. These cultures are very different and unique
marks the location of the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth
, Professor William Payne, William Peck, a minister, John W. Palmer, a miner, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent, dedicated to improving the economic and social status of African Americans. Uncontrollable circumstances, including a drop in the area's water table, resulted in the town's demise. The "Allensworth Historic District" is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is in Allensworth, California
, an unincorporated area in Tulare County, California, United States.
-era migrants to the San Joaquin Valley from the South and Midwest are one of the more well-known groups in the Central Valley, in large part due to the popularity of John Steinbeck
's novel The Grapes of Wrath
and the Henry Fonda
movie made from it. By 1910, agriculture in the southern Great Plains
had become nearly unviable due to soil erosion and poor rainfall. Much of the rural population of states such as Kansas
, Texas
, Oklahoma
, and Arkansas
left at this time, selling their land and moving to Chicago, Kansas City
, Detroit
, and fast-growing Los Angeles
. Those who remained experienced continuing deterioration of conditions, which reached their nadir during the drought that began in the late 1920s and created the infamous Dust Bowl
. (Small cotton farmers in states such as Mississippi
and Alabama
suffered similar problems from the first major infestation of the boll weevil
.) When the onset of the Great Depression created a national banking crisis, family farmers—usually heavily in debt—often had their mortgages foreclosed by banks desperate to shore up their balance sheets. In response, many farmers loaded their families and portable possessions into their automobiles and drove west.
Taking Route 66 to Barstow
or Los Angeles and crossing the Tehachapi
or Tejon
passes, they began new lives as fruit and vegetable pickers on truck farms in the San Joaquin Valley. Having gone from the relative independence of homesteading
to a condition that was essentially peasantry, many of them lived in squalid agricultural camps and were deeply unhappy with their economic plight; domestic disputes, crime, and suicide were rampant, and occasional riots broke out. New Deal
measures alleviated some of these problems, albeit belatedly: by the time that The Grapes of Wrath drew public attention to the Okies' plight, many of them had already left the valley. Those that didn't were assimilated into California culture and society where they and their descendants became noted tradesmen, educators, legislators and professional business people.
Many of the Okies and Arkies left the San Joaquin Valley during World War II, most of them going to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego
to work in war industries. Many of those who stayed ended up in Bakersfield and Oildale, as the southern San Joaquin Valley became an important area of oil production after major Southern California oil fields such as Signal Hill
began to dry up. Their influence remains strong: Bakersfield resembles a West Texas
town such as Odessa
or Lubbock
far more than it resembles anywhere else in California. Country music
legends Buck Owens
and Merle Haggard
came out of Bakersfield's honky-tonk scene and created a hard-driving sound that is still deeply associated with the city.
development as the cost of living forces young families and small businesses further and further away from the coastal urban cores. Stockton, Modesto, Tracy, Manteca, and Los Banos are increasingly dominated by commuters to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and the small farming towns to the south are finding themselves in the Bay Area's orbit as well. Bakersfield, traditionally a boom-bust oil town once described by urban scholar Joel Kotkin
as an "American Abu Dhabi
," has seen a massive influx of former Los Angeles business owners and commuters, to the extent that gated communities
containing million-dollar homes are going up on the city's outskirts. Wal-Mart
, IKEA
, Target
and various large shipping firms have built huge distribution centers at the far southern end of the valley, lured by the convenience of Route 58
and the region's low wages. Further integration with the rest of the state is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
See: Mountain House (new town planned for 45,000).
(SR 99, or just "99") each run along for almost the entire length of the San Joaquin Valley. I-5 runs in the western part of the valley, bypassing the major population centers (including Fresno, currently the largest U.S. city without an Interstate highway), while 99 runs through them. Both highways then merge at the southern end of valley en route to Los Angeles. When the Interstate Highway System
was created in 1950's, the decision was made to build I-5 as an entirely then-new freeway bypass instead of upgrading the then-existing U.S. 99. Since then, state and federal representatives have pushed to convert 99 to an Interstate, although this cannot occur until all of the portions of 99 between I-5 and the U.S. 50 junction in Sacramento
are upgraded to freeway standards.
State Route 58
(SR 58), which is a freeway in Bakersfield and along most of its route until its terminus in Barstow
, is an extremely important and very heavily traveled route for truckers from the valley and the Bay Area who want to cross the Sierra Nevada and leave California (by way of Interstate 15 or Interstate 40) without having to climb Donner Pass
or brave the traffic congestion of Los Angeles
. Proposals have also been made to designate this highway as a western extension of I-40 once the entirety of the route between Mojave
and Barstow has been upgraded to a freeway. This would provide an Interstate connection for Bakersfield, currently the second-largest U.S. city without an Interstate. The most recent additions to this system are State Highway 168 and 180. Route 168 begins at Fresno on Route 180 linking to Huntington Lake in the mountains through Clovis and many smaller communities. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[2] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System[3]. State Route 180 is a state highway in California, United States, which runs through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley from Mendota through Fresno to Kings Canyon National Park. A short piece near the eastern end, through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, is not state-maintained. The part east of unbuilt State Route 65 near Minkler is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System; the road east of Dunlap is the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, a Forest Service Byway.
Other important highways in the valley include State Route 46
(SR 46) and State Route 41
(SR 41), which respectively link the California Central Coast with Bakersfield and Fresno; State Route 33
, which runs south to north along the valley's western rim and provides a connection to Ventura
and Santa Barbara
over the Santa Ynez Mountains
; and State Route 152
(SR 152), an important commuter route linking Silicon Valley
with its fast-growing exurbs such as Los Banos
.
provides rail service through the San Joaquin Valley. There are also plans for a high-speed rail
line that will link the valley with San Francisco
, Los Angeles
, Sacramento
, and San Diego
. While many valley politicians and businesses are eager supporters of the line, eager to provide better connections to the larger and wealthier cities to the north and south, large and vocal factions in cities such as Modesto and Stockton have opposed the line due to adverse impacts such as increased noise. Even if the project were to be approved, construction would probably not begin until 2013 at the earliest.
by way of a deepwater channel along the San Joaquin River Delta. Congestion at the Port of Los Angeles
and the Port of Long Beach
, which together account for the majority of container
traffic in the United States, has led to calls for further development of the port.
Unlike the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River has never been navigable much past Stockton. This was a significant factor in the San Joaquin Valley's slow 19th-century development.
, the San Joaquin Valley has long suffered from some of the United States' worst air pollution
. This pollution, exacerbated by stagnant weather, comes mainly from diesel and gasoline
fueled vehicles and agricultural operations. Population growth has caused the San Joaquin Valley to rank with Los Angeles
and Houston
in most measures of air pollution. Only the Inland Empire
region east of Los Angeles has worse overall air quality, and the San Joaquin Valley led the nation in 2004 in the number of days with quantities of ozone
considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency
.
Although industrial activity, as well as driving, occurs year-round, the air pollution is worse in the winter.
Groundwater purity is an ongoing issue in this valley including the Turlock Basin
. San Joaquin County has better air quality than any other region in the San Joaquin Valley, while the Sacramento region and Stanislaus County have the worst.
Less water is due to Federal restrictions on shallow water irrigation which results in concentrated Water pollution. Air pollution is not properly diluted with adequate water supply. Lack of adequate irrigation presents another significant challenge to food production capability in the valley. Because of federal restrictions on irrigation, Soil salination
is no longer diluted with adequate moisture in fertile areas. Reduced irrigation has significantly reduced the viability of some of the valley's most fertile tracts, especially those in the Tulare lake bed.
, a fungal infection caused by Coccidioides immitis.
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
that lies south of the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta in Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
. Although most of the valley is rural, it does contain MSAs (urban cities and suburbs) such as Delano
Delano, California
Delano's climate is characteristic of the San Joaquin Valley. The weather is hot and dry during the summer and cool and damp in winter. Frequent ground fog known regionally as "tule fog" can obscure vision. Record temperatures range between 115°F and 14°F...
, Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
, Bakersfield
Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
, Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
, Modesto
Modesto, California
Modesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
, Visalia
Visalia, California
Visalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles...
, Porterville
Porterville, California
Porterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. Porterville's population was 54,165 at the 2010 census. The city's population grew dramatically as the city annexed many properties and unincorporated areas in and around Porterville. Not included in the...
, Merced
Merced, California
Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California in the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 78,958. Incorporated in 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government...
, Madera
Madera, California
Madera is a city in and the county seat of Madera County, California, United States. It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Madera County, and Metropolitan Fresno. It is located in California's San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2010...
, and Hanford
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...
.
Geography
Tehachapi Mountains
The Tehachapi Mountains , regionally also called The Tehachapis, are a mountain range in the Transverse Ranges system of California in the Western United States...
in the south, and from the various California coastal ranges (from the Diablo in the north to the Temblor Range
Temblor Range
The Temblor Range is a mountain range within the California Coast Ranges, at the southwestern extremity of the San Joaquin Valley in California in the United States. It runs in a northwest-southeasterly direction along the borders of Kern County and San Luis Obispo County. The name of the range is...
in the south) in the west to the Sierra Nevada in the east. Unlike the Sacramento Valley
Sacramento Valley
The Sacramento Valley is the portion of the California Central Valley that lies to the north of the San Joaquin-Sacramento Delta in the U.S. state of California. It encompasses all or parts of ten counties.-Geography:...
, the river system for which the San Joaquin Valley is named does not extend very far along the valley. Most of the valley south of Fresno instead drains into Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake
Tulare Lake, named Laguna de Tache by the Spanish, is a fresh-water dry lake with residual wetlands and marshes in southern San Joaquin Valley, California...
, which no longer exists continuously due to diversion of its sources. The valley's primary river is the San Joaquin
San Joaquin River
The San Joaquin River is the largest river of Central California in the United States. At over long, the river starts in the high Sierra Nevada, and flows through a rich agricultural region known as the San Joaquin Valley before reaching Suisun Bay, San Francisco Bay, and the Pacific Ocean...
, which drains north through about half of the valley into the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Kings
Kings River (California)
The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. A large alluvial fan has formed where the river's gradient decreases in the Central Valley so the river divides into distributaries...
, and Kern
Kern River
The Kern River is a river in the U.S. state of California, approximately long. It drains an area of the southern Sierra Nevada mountains northeast of Bakersfield. Fed by snowmelt near Mount Whitney, the river passes through scenic canyons in the mountains and is a popular destination for...
rivers are in the southern endorheic basin of the valley, all of which have been largely diverted for agricultural uses and are mostly dry in their lower reaches.
Geological history
The San Joaquin Valley began to form about 65 million years ago during the early Paleocene era. Broad fluctuations in the sea level caused various areas of the valley to be flooded with ocean water for the next 60 million years. About 5 million years ago, the marine outlets began to close due to uplift of the coastal ranges and the deposition of sediment in the valley. Starting 2 million years ago, a series of glacial episodes periodically caused much of the valley to become a fresh water lake. Lake Corcoran was the last widespread lake to fill the valley about 700,000 years ago. Today, only Buena Vista Lake remains.Climate
The San Joaquin Valley has hot, dry summers and cool rainy winters characterized by dense tule fogTule fog
Tule fog is a thick ground fog that settles in the San Joaquin Valley and Sacramento Valley areas of California's Great Central Valley. Tule fog forms during the late fall and winter after the first significant rainfall. The official time frame for tule fog to form is from November 1 to March 31...
. Its rainy season runs from November through April, but further north the rainy season runs a bit longer.
The National Weather Service
National Weather Service
The National Weather Service , once known as the Weather Bureau, is one of the six scientific agencies that make up the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the United States government...
Forecast Office for the San Joaquin Valley is located in Hanford
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...
and includes a Doppler weather radar. Weather forecasts and climatological information for the San Joaquin Valley are available from its official website.
Population
The total population of the eight counties comprising the San Joaquin Valley at the time of the 2010 U.S. Census was 3,971,659.Agriculture
By some estimates, federal restrictions on shallow well irrigation systems threaten the productivity of the San Joaquin Valley, which produces the majority of the 12.8% of the United States' agricultural production (as measured by dollar value) that comes from California. Grapes—table, raisinRaisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
, and to a lesser extent wine—are perhaps the valley's highest-profile product, but equally (if not more) important are cotton
Cotton
Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective capsule, around the seeds of cotton plants of the genus Gossypium. The fiber is almost pure cellulose. The botanical purpose of cotton fiber is to aid in seed dispersal....
, nuts (especially almond
Almond
The almond , is a species of tree native to the Middle East and South Asia. Almond is also the name of the edible and widely cultivated seed of this tree...
s and pistachio
Pistachio
The pistachio, Pistacia vera in the Anacardiaceae family, is a small tree originally from Persia , which now can also be found in regions of Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Greece, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, India, Pakistan, Egypt, Sicily and possibly Afghanistan , as well as in the United States,...
s), citrus
Citrus
Citrus is a common term and genus of flowering plants in the rue family, Rutaceae. Citrus is believed to have originated in the part of Southeast Asia bordered by Northeastern India, Myanmar and the Yunnan province of China...
, and vegetables. Though it has been called "The food basket of the World", the San Joaquin Valley has not been nationally recognized for the diversity of its produce. Oranges, peaches, garlic, tangerines, tomatoes, kiwis, hay, alfalfa and numerous other crops have been harvested with great success. The J. G. Boswell Company's farming operation in Kings County is the largest single cotton farm in the world, occupying over 162 square kilometres (40,031 acre). Certain places are identified quite strongly with a given crop: Stockton produces the majority of the domestic asparagus
Asparagus
Asparagus officinalis is a spring vegetable, a flowering perennialplant species in the genus Asparagus. It was once classified in the lily family, like its Allium cousins, onions and garlic, but the Liliaceae have been split and the onion-like plants are now in the family Amaryllidaceae and...
consumed in the United States, and Fresno is the largest producer of the raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
, originally a Middle Eastern commodity.
In spite of its agricultural productivity, the San Joaquin Valley has the state's highest rate of food insecurity.
Cattle and sheep ranching are also vitally important to the valley's economy. During recent years, dairy farming has greatly expanded in importance. As areas such as Chino
Chino, California
Chino is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. It is located in the western end of the Riverside-San Bernardino Area and it is easily accessible via the Chino Valley and Pomona freeways....
and Corona
Corona, California
Corona is a city in Riverside County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 152,374, up from 124,966 at the 2000 census...
have become absorbed into the suburban sprawl of Los Angeles, many dairy farmers have cashed out and moved their herds to Kings, Tulare, and Kern counties. Since dairy farms emit considerable quantities of methane and other pollutants, this has exacerbated the region's air quality problems.
Between 1990 and 2004, 28,092 hectares (70,231 acres) of agricultural land was lost to urban development in the San Joaquin Valley. In an effort to confront the problem of urban sprawl, the eight Valley counties are participating in a "regional blueprint planning process" that may result in denser developments and more public transportation.
Petroleum
California has long been one of the nation's most important oil-producing states, and the San Joaquin Valley has long since eclipsed the Los Angeles BasinLos Angeles Basin
The Los Angeles Basin is the coastal sediment-filled plain located between the Peninsular and Transverse ranges in southern California in the United States containing the central part of the city of Los Angeles as well as its southern and southeastern suburbs...
as the state's primary oil production region. Scattered oil wells on small oil field
Oil field
An oil field is a region with an abundance of oil wells extracting petroleum from below ground. Because the oil reservoirs typically extend over a large area, possibly several hundred kilometres across, full exploitation entails multiple wells scattered across the area...
s are found throughout the region, and several enormous extraction facilities – most notably near Lost Hills
Lost Hills, California
Lost Hills is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Lost Hills is located west-northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 305 feet...
and Taft
Taft, California
Taft is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 955 feet . The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census...
, including the enormous Midway-Sunset Oil Field
Midway-Sunset Oil Field
The Midway-Sunset Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States. Discovered in 1894, and having a cumulative production of close to of oil at the end of 2006, it is the largest oil field in California and the third largest in the United States....
, the third-largest oil field in the United States – are veritable forests of pumps.
Shell
Royal Dutch Shell
Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...
operated a major refinery in Bakersfield; it was sold in 2005 to Flying J, a Salt Lake
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City is the capital and the most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. The name of the city is often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC. With a population of 186,440 as of the 2010 Census, the city lies in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area, which has a total population of 1,124,197...
-based firm that operates truck stops and refineries. Flying J's bankruptcy in 2009 resulted in the refinery being shut down.
The oil and gas fields in Kern County are receiving increased attention since the July 2009 announcement by Occidental Petroleum of significant discovery of oil and gas reserves Even prior to this discovery the region retains more oil reserves than any other part of California. Of California fields outside of the San Joaquin Valley, only the Wilmington Oil Field
Wilmington Oil Field
The Wilmington Oil Field is a large petroleum field in Los Angeles County in southern California in the United States in terms of cumulative oil produced. Discovered in 1932, it is the third largest oil field in the United States...
in Los Angeles County has untapped reserves greater than 100000000 barrels (15,898,729,500 l), while six fields in the San Joaquin Valley (Midway-Sunset, Kern River
Kern River Oil Field
The Kern River Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County in the San Joaquin Valley of California, north-northeast of Bakersfield in the lower Sierra foothills...
, South Belridge
South Belridge Oil Field
The South Belridge Oil Field is a large oil field in northwestern Kern County, San Joaquin Valley, California, about forty miles west of Bakersfield...
, Elk Hills
Elk Hills Oil Field
The Elk Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in northwestern Kern County, in the Elk Hills of the San Joaquin Valley, California in the United States, about twenty miles west of Bakersfield...
, Cymric
Cymric Oil Field
The Cymric Oil Field is a large oil field in Kern County, California in the United States. While only the 14th-largest oil field in California in total size, in terms of total remaining reserves it ranks fifth, with the equivalent of over still in the ground...
, and Lost Hills
Lost Hills Oil Field
The Lost Hills Oil Field is a large oil field in the Lost Hills Range, north of the town of Lost Hills in western Kern County, California, in the United States.-Production:...
) each have reserves exceeeding 100000000 barrels (15,898,729,500 l) of oil.
Other major industries and employers
The isolation and vastness of the San Joaquin Valley, as well as its poverty and need for jobs, have led the state to build numerous prisonPrison
A prison is a place in which people are physically confined and, usually, deprived of a range of personal freedoms. Imprisonment or incarceration is a legal penalty that may be imposed by the state for the commission of a crime...
s in the area. The most notable of these is Corcoran
Corcoran, California
Corcoran is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Corcoran is located south-southeast of Hanford, at an elevation of 207 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran, Metropolitan Statistical Area...
, whose inmates include Charles Manson
Charles Manson
Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction...
and Juan Corona
Juan Corona
Juan Vallejo Corona is a Mexican-born serial killer in the United States.He was convicted of the 1971 murders of 25 itinerant laborers; men who had been found buried in shallow graves in the orchards of fruit ranches in Sutter County, California, along the Feather River north of Yuba City, where...
. Other correctional facilities in the valley are at Avenal
Avenal, California
Avenal is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Avenal is located southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of 807 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County. In area, it is the largest city in Kings County...
, Chowchilla
Chowchilla, California
Chowchilla is a city in Madera County, California, United States. Chowchilla is located northwest of Madera, at an elevation of 240 feet . It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 18,720 at the 2010 census, up from 11,127 at the 2000...
, Tracy
Tracy, California
Tracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States and an exurb of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census.-History:...
, Delano
Delano, California
Delano's climate is characteristic of the San Joaquin Valley. The weather is hot and dry during the summer and cool and damp in winter. Frequent ground fog known regionally as "tule fog" can obscure vision. Record temperatures range between 115°F and 14°F...
, Coalinga
Coalinga, California
Coalinga is a city in Fresno County, California. The population was 13,380 at the 2010 census, up from 11,668 at the 2000 census. It is the site of both Pleasant Valley State Prison and Coalinga State Hospital. Coalinga is located southwest of Fresno, at an elevation of 673 feet .-Early...
, and Wasco
Wasco, California
Wasco is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, United States. Wasco is located northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 328 feet...
.
The only significant military base in the region is Naval Air Station Lemoore
Naval Air Station Lemoore
Naval Air Station Lemoore or NAS Lemoore is a United States Navy base, located in Kings County and Fresno County, California. Lemoore Station, California, a census-designated place, is located inside the base's borders....
, a vast air base located 25 kilometres (15.5 mi) WSW of Hanford
Hanford, California
Hanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...
. Unlike many of California's other military installations, NAS Lemoore's operational importance has increased in the 1990s and 2000s. The other, Castle Air Force Base
Castle Air Force Base
Castle Air Force Base is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located northeast of Atwater, northwest of Merced and about east southeast of San Francisco, California....
, located near Atwater
Atwater, California
Atwater is a city on U.S. Route 99 in Merced County, California, United States. Atwater is west-northwest of Merced, at an elevation of 151 feet . The population as of the 2010 census was 28,168.-Geography:...
was closed during the Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure
Base Realignment and Closure is a process of the United States federal government directed at the administration and operation of the Armed Forces, used by the United States Department of Defense and Congress to close excess military installations and realign the total asset inventory to reduce...
of the 1990s. Although both are in Kern County, Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base
Edwards Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base located on the border of Kern County, Los Angeles County, and San Bernardino County, California, in the Antelope Valley. It is southwest of the central business district of North Edwards, California and due east of Rosamond.It is named in...
and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station are located in the High Desert
High Desert (California)
The High Desert is an unofficial and vaguely-defined geographic area of southern California located to the northeast of the San Gabriel Mountains. The term "High Desert" is used most commonly by the news media, especially in weather forecasts, and in the names of businesses and organizations...
area of that county.
Poverty
The United States Census BureauUnited States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...
issued a report entitled the American Community Survey
American Community Survey
The American Community Survey is an ongoing statistical survey by the U.S. Census Bureau, sent to approximately 250,000 addresses monthly . It regularly gathers information previously contained only in the long form of the decennial census...
in 2007, which found that six San Joaquin Valley counties had the highest percentage of residents living below the federal poverty line in 2006 of any counties in California. The report also revealed that the same six counties were among the 52 counties with the highest poverty rate in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. In most Valley cities crime rates such as burglary, theft, and assault tend to be significantly higher than the national averages.
Culture
The San Joaquin Valley has been a major influence in American country musicCountry music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
, particularly through the "Bakersfield sound
Bakersfield sound
The Bakersfield sound was a genre of country music developed in the mid- to late 1950s in and around Bakersfield, California. The many hit singles were largely produced by Capitol Records country music head, Ken Nelson. Bakersfield country was a reaction against the slickly produced, string...
". The Valley has been the home to many country music singers such as Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
, Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
, Billy Mize
Billy Mize
Billy Mize is a steel guitarist, band leader, vocalist, songwriter, and TV show host.-Biography:...
, Red Simpson
Red Simpson
Red Simpson is an American country singer-songwriter best known for his trucker-themed songs.-Biography:Red Simpson was raised in Bakersfield, California, the youngest of a dozen children...
, The Maddox Brothers and Rose
Maddox Brothers and Rose
The Maddox Brothers and Rose, known as America’s Most Colorful Hillbilly Band from the 1930s to the 1950s, consisted of four brothers, Fred, Cal, Cliff and Don Maddox, along with their sister Rose. Cliff died in 1949 and was replaced by brother Henry...
and the Sons of the San Joaquin
Sons of the San Joaquin
The Sons of the San Joaquin is a Western family band. Jack and Joe Hannah are brothers, while third member Lon Hannah is Joe's son. They began performing together in 1987 at a birthday party for Lon's grandfather....
.
Mexicans/Chicanos
While the barrios of East Los AngelesEast Los Angeles, California
East Los Angeles is an unincorporated area and census-designated place in Los Angeles County, California, United States...
are California's most famous areas dominated by persons of Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
ancestry, both first-generation Mexican immigrants and well-established Chicano
Chicano
The terms "Chicano" and "Chicana" are used in reference to U.S. citizens of Mexican descent. However, those terms have a wide range of meanings in various parts of the world. The term began to be widely used during the Chicano Movement, mainly among Mexican Americans, especially in the movement's...
s are important populations in the San Joaquin Valley. Since the onset of the bracero program during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, virtually all of the agricultural workers in the region have been of Mexican ancestry. Ethnic and economic friction between Mexican-Americans and the valley's predominantly white farming elite manifested itself most notably during the 1960s and 1970s, when the United Farm Workers
United Farm Workers
The United Farm Workers of America is a labor union created from the merging of two groups, the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee led by Filipino organizer Larry Itliong, and the National Farm Workers Association led by César Chávez...
, led by César Chávez
César Chávez
César Estrada Chávez was an American farm worker, labor leader, and civil rights activist who, with Dolores Huerta, co-founded the National Farm Workers Association, which later became the United Farm Workers ....
, went on numerous strikes and called for boycotts of table grapes. The UFW generated enormous sympathy throughout the United States, even managing to terminate several agricultural mechanization projects at the United States Department of Agriculture
United States Department of Agriculture
The United States Department of Agriculture is the United States federal executive department responsible for developing and executing U.S. federal government policy on farming, agriculture, and food...
. However, from the 1970s onward, landlords and large corporations have also hired illegal immigrants
Illegal immigration
Illegal immigration is the migration into a nation in violation of the immigration laws of that jurisdiction. Illegal immigration raises many political, economical and social issues and has become a source of major controversy in developed countries and the more successful developing countries.In...
, because of the ability to work long hours for low pay due to no income tax on undocumented salaries.
European and Asian groups
The San Joaquin Valley has—by California standards—an unusually large number of European, Middle Eastern, and Asian ethnicities in the heritage of its citizens. These communities are often quite large and, relative to Americans immigration patterns, quite eclectic: for example, there are more AzoreanAzores
The Archipelago of the Azores is composed of nine volcanic islands situated in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean, and is located about west from Lisbon and about east from the east coast of North America. The islands, and their economic exclusion zone, form the Autonomous Region of the...
Portuguese in the San Joaquin Valley than in the Azores. Many groups are found in majorities in specific cities, and hardly anywhere else in the region. For example, Assyrians
Assyrian people
The Assyrian people are a distinct ethnic group whose origins lie in ancient Mesopotamia...
are concentrated in Turlock
Turlock, California
Turlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, Turlock had a population of 80,549, up from 55,810 at the 2000 census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County.-Geography:Turlock lies in the...
, Dutch
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
in Ripon
Ripon, California
Ripon is a city located in . The population was 14,297 at the 2010 census.-History:Ripon, on the site previously known as Murphy's Ferry, Stanislaus City, & Stanislaus Station, was renamed for , which was itself named for a city in Yorkshire, England...
, Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...
s in Stockton
Stockton, California
Stockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
and Livingston
Livingston, California
Livingston is a city in Merced County, California. Livingston is located west-northwest of Atwater, at an elevation of 131 feet . According to the 2010 census, the city population was 13,058, up from 10,473 at the 2000 census. Livingston's total area is , including undeveloped farmland annexed in...
and Yugoslavs
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
in Delano
Delano, California
Delano's climate is characteristic of the San Joaquin Valley. The weather is hot and dry during the summer and cool and damp in winter. Frequent ground fog known regionally as "tule fog" can obscure vision. Record temperatures range between 115°F and 14°F...
. Kingsburg
Kingsburg, California
Kingsburg is a city in Fresno County, California. Kingsburg is located southeast of Selma at an elevation of 302 feet , on the banks of the Kings River. The city is half an hour away from Fresno, and two hours away from the California Central Coast and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range...
is famous for its distinctly Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
air, having been founded by immigrants from that country. Ethnic groups found in a broader area are Portuguese
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, Armenia
Armenia
Armenia , officially the Republic of Armenia , is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia...
ns, Basques, and the "Okies" who migrated to California from the Midwest and South. Since the early 1970s East Indians of predominantly Punjabi, Gujrati and Southern India have settled in the valley communities. Most recently large numbers of Pakistanis have settled in Modesto and Lodi
Lodi, California
Lodi is a city located in , in the northern portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The California Department of Finance's population estimate as of January 1, 2011 is 62,473....
. In addition, the late 1970s and 80s saw an influx of immigrants from Indochina
Indochina
The Indochinese peninsula, is a region in Southeast Asia. It lies roughly southwest of China, and east of India. The name has its origins in the French, Indochine, as a combination of the names of "China" and "India", and was adopted when French colonizers in Vietnam began expanding their territory...
following the War in Vietnam. These immigrants, the majority of whom are Hmong
Hmong people
The Hmong , are an Asian ethnic group from the mountainous regions of China, Vietnam, Laos, and Thailand. Hmong are also one of the sub-groups of the Miao ethnicity in southern China...
, Laotian
Lao people
The Lao are an ethnic subgroup of Tai/Dai in Southeast Asia.-Names:The etymology of the word Lao is uncertain, although it may be related to tribes known as the Ai Lao who appear in Han Dynasty records in China and Vietnam as a people of what is now Yunan Province...
, Cambodian
Khmer people
Khmer people are the predominant ethnic group in Cambodia, accounting for approximately 90% of the 14.8 million people in the country. They speak the Khmer language, which is part of the larger Mon–Khmer language family found throughout Southeast Asia...
, and Vietnamese
Vietnamese people
The Vietnamese people are an ethnic group originating from present-day northern Vietnam and southern China. They are the majority ethnic group of Vietnam, comprising 86% of the population as of the 1999 census, and are officially known as Kinh to distinguish them from other ethnic groups in Vietnam...
, have settled in the communities of Stockton, Modesto, Merced
Merced, California
Merced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California in the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 78,958. Incorporated in 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government...
, and Fresno
Fresno, California
Fresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation...
. The Filipino American
Filipino American
Filipino Americans are Americans of Filipino ancestry. Filipino Americans, often shortened to "Fil-Ams", or "Pinoy",Filipinos in what is now the United States were first documented in the 16th century, with small settlements beginning in the 18th century...
population is concentrated in Delano and Lathrop
Lathrop, California
Lathrop is a city located in . At the 2010 census Lathrop’s population was 18,023, and has a projected “build out” population of 70,000. The city is located in Northern California at the intersection of I-5 and 120 freeways.-Geography:...
.
Filipinos have a strong history in Stockton. Filipino organizations in Stockton are reflected in various commercial buildings identified as Filipino. Filipinos fought for the U.S. against Japan in WWII, in exchange for favorable immigration status. Stockton has been an adjunct to the San Francisco Bay Area, which was a major military production and transit area during WWII. Filipino emigration to Stockton followed.
These cultures are often the result of established ethnic communities and groups of immigrants coming to the United States at once. This is in part due to the founding of religious communes in the San Joaquin Valley: for example, the first permanent Sikh Gurdwara
Gurdwara
A Gurdwara , meaning the Gateway to the Guru, is the place of worship for Sikhs, the followers of Sikhism. A Gurdwara can be identified from a distance by tall flagpoles bearing the Nishan Sahib ....
was founded in Stockton in 1915. These cultures are very different and unique
African Americans
Colonel Allensworth State Historic ParkColonel Allensworth State Historic Park
Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park is a state park unit of California, USA, preserving Allensworth, the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth, Professor William Payne,...
marks the location of the only California town to be founded, financed and governed by African Americans. The small farming community was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth
Allen Allensworth
Allen Allensworth was an American soldier and chaplain in the United States Army, a Baptist minister and educator, who had been born into slavery. He escaped by joining the 44th Illinois Volunteers during the American Civil War, and later served two years in the Navy...
, Professor William Payne, William Peck, a minister, John W. Palmer, a miner, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent, dedicated to improving the economic and social status of African Americans. Uncontrollable circumstances, including a drop in the area's water table, resulted in the town's demise. The "Allensworth Historic District" is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The park is in Allensworth, California
Allensworth, California
Allensworth is a census-designated place in Tulare County, California. Allensworth sits at an elevation of . The 2010 United States census reported Allensworth's population was 471....
, an unincorporated area in Tulare County, California, United States.
Okies and Arkies
The DepressionGreat Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
-era migrants to the San Joaquin Valley from the South and Midwest are one of the more well-known groups in the Central Valley, in large part due to the popularity of John Steinbeck
John Steinbeck
John Ernst Steinbeck, Jr. was an American writer. He is widely known for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Grapes of Wrath and East of Eden and the novella Of Mice and Men...
's novel The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath
The Grapes of Wrath is a novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1940 and the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1962....
and the Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
movie made from it. By 1910, agriculture in the southern Great Plains
Great Plains
The Great Plains are a broad expanse of flat land, much of it covered in prairie, steppe and grassland, which lies west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada. This area covers parts of the U.S...
had become nearly unviable due to soil erosion and poor rainfall. Much of the rural population of states such as Kansas
Kansas
Kansas is a US state located in the Midwestern United States. It is named after the Kansas River which flows through it, which in turn was named after the Kansa Native American tribe, which inhabited the area. The tribe's name is often said to mean "people of the wind" or "people of the south...
, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, Oklahoma
Oklahoma
Oklahoma is a state located in the South Central region of the United States of America. With an estimated 3,751,351 residents as of the 2010 census and a land area of 68,667 square miles , Oklahoma is the 28th most populous and 20th-largest state...
, and Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
left at this time, selling their land and moving to Chicago, Kansas City
Kansas City, Missouri
Kansas City, Missouri is the largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and is the anchor city of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area, the second largest metropolitan area in Missouri. It encompasses in parts of Jackson, Clay, Cass, and Platte counties...
, Detroit
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
, and fast-growing Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. Those who remained experienced continuing deterioration of conditions, which reached their nadir during the drought that began in the late 1920s and created the infamous Dust Bowl
Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl, or the Dirty Thirties, was a period of severe dust storms causing major ecological and agricultural damage to American and Canadian prairie lands from 1930 to 1936...
. (Small cotton farmers in states such as Mississippi
Mississippi
Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...
and Alabama
Alabama
Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...
suffered similar problems from the first major infestation of the boll weevil
Boll weevil
The boll weevil is a beetle measuring an average length of six millimeters, which feeds on cotton buds and flowers. Thought to be native to Central America, it migrated into the United States from Mexico in the late 19th century and had infested all U.S. cotton-growing areas by the 1920s,...
.) When the onset of the Great Depression created a national banking crisis, family farmers—usually heavily in debt—often had their mortgages foreclosed by banks desperate to shore up their balance sheets. In response, many farmers loaded their families and portable possessions into their automobiles and drove west.
Taking Route 66 to Barstow
Barstow, California
Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....
or Los Angeles and crossing the Tehachapi
Tehachapi Pass
Tehachapi Pass is a mountain pass crossing the Tehachapi Mountains in Kern County, California in the United States. The route over the pass connects the San Joaquin Valley to the Mojave Desert...
or Tejon
Tejon Pass
The Tejon Pass is a mountain pass at the southwest end of the Tehachapi Mountains linking Southern to Central California.-Geography:The apex of the pass is near the northwesternmost corner of Los Angeles County, north of Gorman...
passes, they began new lives as fruit and vegetable pickers on truck farms in the San Joaquin Valley. Having gone from the relative independence of homesteading
Homesteading
Broadly defined, homesteading is a lifestyle of simple self-sufficiency.-Current practice:The term may apply to anyone who follows the back-to-the-land movement by adopting a sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle. While land is no longer freely available in most areas of the world, homesteading...
to a condition that was essentially peasantry, many of them lived in squalid agricultural camps and were deeply unhappy with their economic plight; domestic disputes, crime, and suicide were rampant, and occasional riots broke out. New Deal
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of economic programs implemented in the United States between 1933 and 1936. They were passed by the U.S. Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The programs were Roosevelt's responses to the Great Depression, and focused on what historians call...
measures alleviated some of these problems, albeit belatedly: by the time that The Grapes of Wrath drew public attention to the Okies' plight, many of them had already left the valley. Those that didn't were assimilated into California culture and society where they and their descendants became noted tradesmen, educators, legislators and professional business people.
Many of the Okies and Arkies left the San Joaquin Valley during World War II, most of them going to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
to work in war industries. Many of those who stayed ended up in Bakersfield and Oildale, as the southern San Joaquin Valley became an important area of oil production after major Southern California oil fields such as Signal Hill
Long Beach Oil Field
The Long Beach Oil Field is a large oil field underneath the cities of Long Beach and Signal Hill, California, in the United States. Discovered in 1921, the field was enormously productive in the 1920s, with hundreds of oil derricks covering Signal Hill and adjacent parts of Long Beach; largely...
began to dry up. Their influence remains strong: Bakersfield resembles a West Texas
West Texas
West Texas is a vernacular term applied to a region in the southwestern quadrant of the United States that primarily encompasses the arid and semi-arid lands in the western portion of the state of Texas....
town such as Odessa
Odessa, Texas
Odessa is a city in and the county seat of Ector County, Texas, United States. It is located primarily in Ector County, although a small portion of the city extends into Midland County. Odessa's population was 99,940 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Odessa, Texas Metropolitan...
or Lubbock
Lubbock, Texas
Lubbock is a city in and the county seat of Lubbock County, Texas, United States. The city is located in the northwestern part of the state, a region known historically as the Llano Estacado, and the home of Texas Tech University and Lubbock Christian University...
far more than it resembles anywhere else in California. Country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
legends Buck Owens
Buck Owens
Alvis Edgar Owens, Jr. , better known as Buck Owens, was an American singer and guitarist who had 21 No. 1 hits on the Billboard country music charts with his band, the Buckaroos...
and Merle Haggard
Merle Haggard
Merle Ronald Haggard is an American country music singer, guitarist, fiddler, instrumentalist, and songwriter. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster guitars, vocal harmonies,...
came out of Bakersfield's honky-tonk scene and created a hard-driving sound that is still deeply associated with the city.
Recent changes
The California real estate boom that began in the late 1990s has significantly changed the San Joaquin Valley. Once distinctly and fiercely independent of Los Angeles and San Francisco, the area has seen increasing exurbanCommuter town
A commuter town is an urban community that is primarily residential, from which most of the workforce commutes out to earn their livelihood. Many commuter towns act as suburbs of a nearby metropolis that workers travel to daily, and many suburbs are commuter towns...
development as the cost of living forces young families and small businesses further and further away from the coastal urban cores. Stockton, Modesto, Tracy, Manteca, and Los Banos are increasingly dominated by commuters to San Francisco and Silicon Valley, and the small farming towns to the south are finding themselves in the Bay Area's orbit as well. Bakersfield, traditionally a boom-bust oil town once described by urban scholar Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin
Joel Kotkin is a professor of urban development, currently a fellow at Chapman University in Orange, CA and the Legatum Institute, a London-based think tank.Kotkin attended the University of California, Berkeley...
as an "American Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi
Abu Dhabi , literally Father of Gazelle, is the capital and the second largest city of the United Arab Emirates in terms of population and the largest of the seven member emirates of the United Arab Emirates. Abu Dhabi lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western...
," has seen a massive influx of former Los Angeles business owners and commuters, to the extent that gated communities
Gated community
In its modern form, a gated community is a form of residential community or housing estate containing strictly-controlled entrances for pedestrians, bicycles, and automobiles, and often characterized by a closed perimeter of walls and fences. Gated communities usually consist of small residential...
containing million-dollar homes are going up on the city's outskirts. Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. , branded as Walmart since 2008 and Wal-Mart before then, is an American public multinational corporation that runs chains of large discount department stores and warehouse stores. The company is the world's 18th largest public corporation, according to the Forbes Global 2000...
, IKEA
IKEA
IKEA is a privately held, international home products company that designs and sells ready-to-assemble furniture such as beds and desks, appliances and home accessories. The company is the world's largest furniture retailer...
, Target
Target Corporation
Target Corporation, doing business as Target, is an American retailing company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the second-largest discount retailer in the United States, behind Walmart. The company is ranked at number 33 on the Fortune 500 and is a component of the Standard & Poor's...
and various large shipping firms have built huge distribution centers at the far southern end of the valley, lured by the convenience of Route 58
California State Route 58
State Route 58 is an east-west highway across the California Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave Desert. It runs between its western terminus near Santa Margarita and its eastern terminus at Barstow...
and the region's low wages. Further integration with the rest of the state is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.
See: Mountain House (new town planned for 45,000).
Educational institutions
- University of California, MercedUniversity of California, MercedThe University of California, Merced, commonly referred to as UC Merced or UCM, is the tenth and newest of the University of California campuses. Located in the San Joaquin Valley in unincorporated Merced County, California, near Merced, UC Merced was the first American research university to...
, MercedMerced, CaliforniaMerced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California in the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 78,958. Incorporated in 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government... - California State University, BakersfieldCalifornia State University, BakersfieldCalifornia State University, Bakersfield is a public university located in Bakersfield, California, United States which was founded in 1965. CSUB opened in 1970 on a campus, becoming the 19th school in the California State University system...
, BakersfieldBakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively.... - California State University, FresnoCalifornia State University, FresnoCalifornia State University, Fresno, often referred to as Fresno State University and synonymously known in athletics as Fresno State , is one of the leading campuses of the California State University system, located at the northeast edge of Fresno, California, USA.The campus sits at the foot of...
, FresnoFresno, CaliforniaFresno is a city in central California, United States, the county seat of Fresno County. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 510,365, making it the fifth largest city in California, the largest inland city in California, and the 34th largest in the nation... - California State University, StanislausCalifornia State University, StanislausCalifornia State University, Stanislaus, also known as Cal State Stanislaus or simply Stan State is a campus in the California State University system which was established in 1957 in Turlock, California. It is also the only campus in the CSU system to offer a bachelor's degree in cognitive studies...
, TurlockTurlock, CaliforniaTurlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, Turlock had a population of 80,549, up from 55,810 at the 2000 census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County.-Geography:Turlock lies in the... - Fresno Pacific UniversityFresno Pacific UniversityFresno Pacific University also known as FPU is an accredited Christian university located in Fresno, California, United States. It was founded in 1944 by the Pacific District Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches. The university awarded its first bachelor of arts degree in 1965...
, Fresno - Humphreys CollegeHumphreys CollegeHumphreys College is an independent, non-profit Liberal Arts college of higher education with set campuses in Modesto and Stockton. It has been in continuous service to the central San Joaquin Valley since 1896, giving it the distinction of being the first institution of higher education in the...
, StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city... - University of the Pacific, StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
- Bakersfield CollegeBakersfield CollegeBakersfield College is a public community college located in Bakersfield, California, USA. Bakersfield College has an official Twitter account at @bcrenegades and an official...
, Bakersfield - Cerro Coso Community CollegeCerro Coso Community CollegeCerro Coso Community College was established in 1973 and is located in the Eastern Sierra region of Southern California, as a separate college within the Kern Community College District. The College offers traditional and online courses and 2 year degrees...
, Kern CountyKern County, CaliforniaSpreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
and surrounding areas - College of the SequoiasCollege of the SequoiasCollege of the Sequoias is a public two-year community college located in Visalia in Tulare County, in California's San Joaquin Valley. The current enrollment of COS is 13,000 students, and the college offers a variety of transfer, vocational, and community-based classes, including the fire/police...
, VisaliaVisalia, CaliforniaVisalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles... - Fresno City CollegeFresno City CollegeFresno City College is a community college in Fresno, California. Established in 1910, it was the first community college in California and the second in the nation...
, Fresno - Merced CollegeMerced CollegeMerced College, established in 1963, is a community college located in Merced, California.-External links:*...
, Merced - Modesto Junior CollegeModesto Junior CollegeThe Modesto Junior College is a community college located in Central Valley's Modesto, California.-Accreditation:Modesto Junior College is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. In January 2008, the Western Association Colleges and Schools notified the college that it had...
, Modesto - Porterville CollegePorterville CollegePorterville College, established in 1927, is a community college located in Porterville, California.-External links:**...
, PortervillePorterville, CaliforniaPorterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. Porterville's population was 54,165 at the 2010 census. The city's population grew dramatically as the city annexed many properties and unincorporated areas in and around Porterville. Not included in the... - Reedley CollegeReedley CollegeReedley College often referred to as Reedley, RC, or known to locals as The College is a public community college located in Reedley, California, USA southeast of the Fresno Metropolitan Area and only a 3 hour drive south to Los Angeles or 3 hour drive north to San Francisco...
, ReedleyReedley, CaliforniaReedley is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. Reedley is located east-southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 348 feet . The population at the 2010 census was 24,194. Its chief economic source is agriculture, particularly fruit and vegetable cultivation. The city is dubbed as... - San Joaquin College of LawSan Joaquin College of LawSan Joaquin College of Law is a private, non-profit law school in Clovis, California, US. It was founded in Fresno in 1969 by Fresno County Municipal Court Judge Dan Eyman, U.S. District Court Judge Oliver Wanger, and attorney John Loomis...
, ClovisClovis, CaliforniaClovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States, northeast of Fresno. The population is estimated to be 97,218 as of September, 2011. Clovis is located northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet .-History:... - San Joaquin Delta CollegeSan Joaquin Delta CollegeSan Joaquin Delta College is a community college in Stockton, California. It is the successor of the Stockton Junior College which was formed in 1935.Part of Disney's 1973 film The World's Greatest Athlete was shot here.-Description:...
, StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city... - Taft CollegeTaft CollegeTaft College is a public community college located in Taft, California. Taft College is a part of the California Community Colleges system and is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.The college was founded on...
, TaftTaft, CaliforniaTaft is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 955 feet . The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census... - West Hills CollegeWest Hills CollegeWest Hills College is a public two-year community college serving students in the San Joaquin Valley. There are two campuses: the original campus in Coalinga, established in 1932, with 1,200 students, and the Lemoore campus, built in 2002 and serving 3,200 students...
, Coalinga, CaliforniaCoalinga, CaliforniaCoalinga is a city in Fresno County, California. The population was 13,380 at the 2010 census, up from 11,668 at the 2000 census. It is the site of both Pleasant Valley State Prison and Coalinga State Hospital. Coalinga is located southwest of Fresno, at an elevation of 673 feet .-Early... - West Hills CollegeWest Hills CollegeWest Hills College is a public two-year community college serving students in the San Joaquin Valley. There are two campuses: the original campus in Coalinga, established in 1932, with 1,200 students, and the Lemoore campus, built in 2002 and serving 3,200 students...
, LemooreLemoore, CaliforniaLemoore is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of 230 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area...
Roads
Interstate 5 (I-5) and State Route 99California State Route 99
California State Route 99 , commonly known as Highway 99 or, simply, as 99 , is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California, stretching almost the entire length of the Central Valley...
(SR 99, or just "99") each run along for almost the entire length of the San Joaquin Valley. I-5 runs in the western part of the valley, bypassing the major population centers (including Fresno, currently the largest U.S. city without an Interstate highway), while 99 runs through them. Both highways then merge at the southern end of valley en route to Los Angeles. When the Interstate Highway System
Interstate Highway System
The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...
was created in 1950's, the decision was made to build I-5 as an entirely then-new freeway bypass instead of upgrading the then-existing U.S. 99. Since then, state and federal representatives have pushed to convert 99 to an Interstate, although this cannot occur until all of the portions of 99 between I-5 and the U.S. 50 junction in Sacramento
Sacramento
Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...
are upgraded to freeway standards.
State Route 58
California State Route 58
State Route 58 is an east-west highway across the California Coast Ranges, the southern San Joaquin Valley, the Tehachapi Mountains, which border the southern Sierra Nevada, and the Mojave Desert. It runs between its western terminus near Santa Margarita and its eastern terminus at Barstow...
(SR 58), which is a freeway in Bakersfield and along most of its route until its terminus in Barstow
Barstow, California
Barstow is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. The population was 22,639 at the 2010 census, up from 21,119 at the 2000 census. Barstow is located north of San Bernardino....
, is an extremely important and very heavily traveled route for truckers from the valley and the Bay Area who want to cross the Sierra Nevada and leave California (by way of Interstate 15 or Interstate 40) without having to climb Donner Pass
Donner Pass
Donner Pass is a mountain pass in the northern Sierra Nevada, located above Donner Lake about nine miles west of Truckee, California. It has a steep approach from the east and a gradual approach from the west....
or brave the traffic congestion of Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
. Proposals have also been made to designate this highway as a western extension of I-40 once the entirety of the route between Mojave
Mojave, California
Mojave is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Mojave is located east of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 2762 feet...
and Barstow has been upgraded to a freeway. This would provide an Interstate connection for Bakersfield, currently the second-largest U.S. city without an Interstate. The most recent additions to this system are State Highway 168 and 180. Route 168 begins at Fresno on Route 180 linking to Huntington Lake in the mountains through Clovis and many smaller communities. This route is part of the California Freeway and Expressway System[2] and is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System[3]. State Route 180 is a state highway in California, United States, which runs through the heart of the San Joaquin Valley from Mendota through Fresno to Kings Canyon National Park. A short piece near the eastern end, through the Grant Grove section of Kings Canyon National Park, is not state-maintained. The part east of unbuilt State Route 65 near Minkler is eligible for the State Scenic Highway System; the road east of Dunlap is the Kings Canyon Scenic Byway, a Forest Service Byway.
Other important highways in the valley include State Route 46
California State Route 46
State Route 46 is an east–west state highway in the U.S. state of California. It is a major crossing of the Coast Ranges, connecting SR 1 on the Central Coast near Cambria and US 101 in Paso Robles with SR 99 at Famoso in the San Joaquin Valley. East of Paso Robles, where it carried U.S...
(SR 46) and State Route 41
California State Route 41
State Route 41 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California, connecting the Cabrillo Highway in Morro Bay with Fresno and Yosemite National Park via the San Joaquin Valley. Except between US 101 in Atascadero and SR 46 near Shandon, SR 41 is part of the California Freeway and Expressway...
(SR 41), which respectively link the California Central Coast with Bakersfield and Fresno; State Route 33
California State Route 33
State Route 33 is a north–south state highway in the U.S. state of California. SR 33 replaced part of U.S. Route 399 in 1964 during the "great renumbering" of routes. In the unincorporated sections of Kern County it is known as the West Side Highway...
, which runs south to north along the valley's western rim and provides a connection to Ventura
Ventura, California
Ventura is the county seat of Ventura County, California, United States, incorporated in 1866. The population was 106,433 at the 2010 census, up from 100,916 at the 2000 census. Ventura is accessible via U.S...
and Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara, California
Santa Barbara is the county seat of Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Situated on an east-west trending section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States, the city lies between the steeply-rising Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean...
over the Santa Ynez Mountains
Santa Ynez Mountains
The Santa Ynez Mountains are a portion of the Transverse Ranges, part of the Pacific Coast Ranges of the west coast of North America, and are one of the northernmost mountain ranges in Southern California.-Geography:...
; and State Route 152
California State Route 152
State Route 152 is a state highway that runs near the latitudinal middle of the U.S. state of California from Watsonville to Route 99 southeast of Merced...
(SR 152), an important commuter route linking Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
with its fast-growing exurbs such as Los Banos
Los Banos, California
Los Banos is a city in Merced County, California, near the junction of State Route 152 and Interstate 5. Los Banos is located southwest of Merced, at an elevation of 118 feet . The population was 35,972 at the 2010 census, up from 25,869 at the 2000 census...
.
Rail
AmtrakAmtrak
The National Railroad Passenger Corporation, doing business as Amtrak , is a government-owned corporation that was organized on May 1, 1971, to provide intercity passenger train service in the United States. "Amtrak" is a portmanteau of the words "America" and "track". It is headquartered at Union...
provides rail service through the San Joaquin Valley. There are also plans for a high-speed rail
High-speed rail
High-speed rail is a type of passenger rail transport that operates significantly faster than the normal speed of rail traffic. Specific definitions by the European Union include for upgraded track and or faster for new track, whilst in the United States, the U.S...
line that will link the valley with San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
, Sacramento
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, and San Diego
San Diego, California
San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...
. While many valley politicians and businesses are eager supporters of the line, eager to provide better connections to the larger and wealthier cities to the north and south, large and vocal factions in cities such as Modesto and Stockton have opposed the line due to adverse impacts such as increased noise. Even if the project were to be approved, construction would probably not begin until 2013 at the earliest.
Water
A now large port for oceangoing cargo ships is present in Stockton, which is connected to the San Francisco BaySan Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
by way of a deepwater channel along the San Joaquin River Delta. Congestion at the Port of Los Angeles
Port of Los Angeles
The Port of Los Angeles, also called Los Angeles Harbor and WORLDPORT L.A, is a port complex that occupies of land and water along of waterfront. The port is located on San Pedro Bay in the San Pedro neighborhood of Los Angeles, approximately south of downtown...
and the Port of Long Beach
Port of Long Beach
The Port of Long Beach, also known as Long Beach’s Harbor Department, is the 2nd busiest container port in the USA. It adjoins the separate Port of Los Angeles. Acting as a major gateway for U.S.-Asian trade, the port occupies of land with of waterfront in the city of Long Beach, California...
, which together account for the majority of container
Containerization
Containerization is a system of freight transport based on a range of steel intermodal containers...
traffic in the United States, has led to calls for further development of the port.
Unlike the Sacramento River, the San Joaquin River has never been navigable much past Stockton. This was a significant factor in the San Joaquin Valley's slow 19th-century development.
Pollution
Hemmed in by mountains and rarely having strong winds to disperse smogSmog
Smog is a type of air pollution; the word "smog" is a portmanteau of smoke and fog. Modern smog is a type of air pollution derived from vehicular emission from internal combustion engines and industrial fumes that react in the atmosphere with sunlight to form secondary pollutants that also combine...
, the San Joaquin Valley has long suffered from some of the United States' worst air pollution
Air pollution
Air pollution is the introduction of chemicals, particulate matter, or biological materials that cause harm or discomfort to humans or other living organisms, or cause damage to the natural environment or built environment, into the atmosphere....
. This pollution, exacerbated by stagnant weather, comes mainly from diesel and gasoline
Gasoline
Gasoline , or petrol , is a toxic, translucent, petroleum-derived liquid that is primarily used as a fuel in internal combustion engines. It consists mostly of organic compounds obtained by the fractional distillation of petroleum, enhanced with a variety of additives. Some gasolines also contain...
fueled vehicles and agricultural operations. Population growth has caused the San Joaquin Valley to rank with Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
and Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
in most measures of air pollution. Only the Inland Empire
Inland Empire (California)
The Inland Empire is a region in Southern California. The region sits directly east of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Inland Empire most commonly is used in reference to the U.S. Census Bureau's federally-defined Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario metropolitan area, which covers more than...
region east of Los Angeles has worse overall air quality, and the San Joaquin Valley led the nation in 2004 in the number of days with quantities of ozone
Ozone
Ozone , or trioxygen, is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope...
considered unhealthy by the Environmental Protection Agency
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is an agency of the federal government of the United States charged with protecting human health and the environment, by writing and enforcing regulations based on laws passed by Congress...
.
Although industrial activity, as well as driving, occurs year-round, the air pollution is worse in the winter.
Groundwater purity is an ongoing issue in this valley including the Turlock Basin
Turlock Basin
The Turlock Basin is a sub-basin of the San Joaquin Valley groundwater basin which occupies approximately 13,700 total square miles, making it the largest groundwater basin in California. This aquifer is located within the Central Valley. Groundwater in the San Joaquin Valley occurs mostly in...
. San Joaquin County has better air quality than any other region in the San Joaquin Valley, while the Sacramento region and Stanislaus County have the worst.
Less water is due to Federal restrictions on shallow water irrigation which results in concentrated Water pollution. Air pollution is not properly diluted with adequate water supply. Lack of adequate irrigation presents another significant challenge to food production capability in the valley. Because of federal restrictions on irrigation, Soil salination
Soil salination
Soil salinity is the salt content in the soil.- Causes of soil salinity :Salt-affected soils are caused by excess accumulation of salts, typically most pronounced at the soil surface. Salts can be transported to the soil surface by capillary transport from a salt laden water table and then...
is no longer diluted with adequate moisture in fertile areas. Reduced irrigation has significantly reduced the viability of some of the valley's most fertile tracts, especially those in the Tulare lake bed.
Medical interest
San Joaquin Valley Fever is an older term for what is more properly known as coccidioidomycosisCoccidioidomycosis
Coccidioidomycosis is a fungal disease caused by Coccidioides immitis or C. posadasii. It is endemic in certain parts of Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and northwestern Mexico.C...
, a fungal infection caused by Coccidioides immitis.
Cities with more than 100,000 inhabitants
- BakersfieldBakersfield, CaliforniaBakersfield is a city near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley in Kern County, California. It is roughly equidistant between Fresno and Los Angeles, to the north and south respectively....
- StocktonStockton, CaliforniaStockton, California, the seat of San Joaquin County, is the fourth-largest city in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. With a population of 291,707 at the 2010 census, Stockton ranks as this state's 13th largest city...
- ModestoModesto, CaliforniaModesto is a city in, and is the county seat of, Stanislaus County, California. With a population of approximately 201,165 at the 2010 census, Modesto ranks as the 18th largest city in the state of California....
- VisaliaVisalia, CaliforniaVisalia is a Central California city situated in the heart of California’s agricultural San Joaquin Valley, approximately southeast of San Francisco and north of Los Angeles...
Cities with 20,000 to 100,000 inhabitants
- AtwaterAtwater, CaliforniaAtwater is a city on U.S. Route 99 in Merced County, California, United States. Atwater is west-northwest of Merced, at an elevation of 151 feet . The population as of the 2010 census was 28,168.-Geography:...
- CeresCeres, CaliforniaCeres is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 45,417 at the 2010 census, up from 34,609 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area.-General:...
- ClovisClovis, CaliforniaClovis is a city in Fresno County, California, United States, northeast of Fresno. The population is estimated to be 97,218 as of September, 2011. Clovis is located northeast of downtown Fresno, at an elevation of 361 feet .-History:...
- Coalinga
- DinubaDinuba, CaliforniaDinuba is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 21,453 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Visalia Metropolitan Statistical Area according to the United States Census Bureau...
- DelanoDelano, CaliforniaDelano's climate is characteristic of the San Joaquin Valley. The weather is hot and dry during the summer and cool and damp in winter. Frequent ground fog known regionally as "tule fog" can obscure vision. Record temperatures range between 115°F and 14°F...
- HanfordHanford, CaliforniaHanford is an important commercial and cultural center in the south central San Joaquin Valley and is the county seat of Kings County, California. It is the principal city of the Hanford-Corcoran, California Metropolitan Statistical Area , which encompasses all of Kings County, including the cities...
- LemooreLemoore, CaliforniaLemoore is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of 230 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area...
- LodiLodi, CaliforniaLodi is a city located in , in the northern portion of California's Central Valley. The population was 62,134 at the 2010 census. The California Department of Finance's population estimate as of January 1, 2011 is 62,473....
- Los BanosLos Banos, CaliforniaLos Banos is a city in Merced County, California, near the junction of State Route 152 and Interstate 5. Los Banos is located southwest of Merced, at an elevation of 118 feet . The population was 35,972 at the 2010 census, up from 25,869 at the 2000 census...
- MaderaMadera, CaliforniaMadera is a city in and the county seat of Madera County, California, United States. It is a principal city of the Madera–Chowchilla Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Madera County, and Metropolitan Fresno. It is located in California's San Joaquin Valley. As of the 2010...
- MantecaManteca, CaliforniaManteca is a city in , USA. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 67,096.- History :Manteca is a city in the Central Valley of California, 76 miles east of San Francisco. It was founded in 1861 by Joshua Cowell. Cowell claimed around and built houses on what is now the corner of Main...
- MercedMerced, CaliforniaMerced is a city in, and the county seat of, Merced County, California in the San Joaquin Valley of Northern California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a population of 78,958. Incorporated in 1889, Merced is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government...
- OakdaleOakdale, CaliforniaOakdale is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city was founded in 1871 when the Stockton & Visalia Railroad met the Copperopolis Railroad...
- PattersonPatterson, CaliforniaPatterson is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, located off Interstate 5. It is 45 miles southeast of Livermore and part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. Patterson is known as the "Apricot Capital of the World"; the town holds an annual Apricot Fiesta to...
- PortervillePorterville, CaliforniaPorterville is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Tulare County, California, United States. Porterville's population was 54,165 at the 2010 census. The city's population grew dramatically as the city annexed many properties and unincorporated areas in and around Porterville. Not included in the...
- ReedleyReedley, CaliforniaReedley is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. Reedley is located east-southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 348 feet . The population at the 2010 census was 24,194. Its chief economic source is agriculture, particularly fruit and vegetable cultivation. The city is dubbed as...
- SangerSanger, CaliforniaSanger is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 24,270 at the 2010 census, up from 18,731 at the 2000 census. Sanger is located east-southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 371 feet .- Geography :...
- ShafterShafter, CaliforniaShafter is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is located west-northwest of Bakersfield. The population was 16,988 at the 2010 census, up from 12,736 at the 2000 census. Wired telephone numbers in Shafter follow the format 746-xxxx and the ZIP Code is 93263.The city is located...
- SelmaSelma, CaliforniaSelma is a city in Fresno County, California. The population was 23,219 at the 2010 census, up from 19,240 at the 2000 census. Selma is located southeast of Fresno, at an elevation of 308 feet .-Geography:...
- TracyTracy, CaliforniaTracy is the second most populated city in San Joaquin County, California, United States and an exurb of the San Francisco Bay Area. The population was 82,922 at the 2010 census.-History:...
- TulareTulare, CaliforniaTulare is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 59,278 at the 2010 census.Just eight miles south of Visalia, it is part of the Census Bureau's designation of the Visalia Metropolitan Area. The city is named for the currently dry Tulare Lake, once the largest...
- TurlockTurlock, CaliforniaTurlock is a city in Stanislaus County, California, United States, part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 Census, Turlock had a population of 80,549, up from 55,810 at the 2000 census, making it the second-largest city in Stanislaus County.-Geography:Turlock lies in the...
- WascoWasco, CaliforniaWasco is a city in the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California, United States. Wasco is located northwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 328 feet...
Cities with fewer than 20,000 inhabitants
- ArvinArvin, CaliforniaArvin is a city in Kern County, in the United States. Arvin is located southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 449 feet . As of the 2010 census, the population was 19,304, up from 12,956 at the 2000 census....
- CorcoranCorcoran, CaliforniaCorcoran is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Corcoran is located south-southeast of Hanford, at an elevation of 207 feet . It is part of the Hanford–Corcoran, Metropolitan Statistical Area...
- LivingstonLivingston, CaliforniaLivingston is a city in Merced County, California. Livingston is located west-northwest of Atwater, at an elevation of 131 feet . According to the 2010 census, the city population was 13,058, up from 10,473 at the 2000 census. Livingston's total area is , including undeveloped farmland annexed in...
- ExeterExeter, CaliforniaExeter is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. It is situated near the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountain Range. The population was 10,334 at the 2010 census....
- EarlimartEarlimart, CaliforniaEarlimart is a census-designated place in Tulare County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the CDP population was 8,537, up from 6,583 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Earlimart is located at ....
- GraysonGrayson, CaliforniaGrayson is a census-designated place in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 952 at the 2010 census, down from 1,077 at the 2000 census...
- PixleyPixley, CaliforniaPixley is a census-designated place in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 3,310 at the 2010 census, up from 2,586 at the 2000 census...
- LamontLamont, CaliforniaLamont is a census-designated place in Kern County, California, United States. Lamont is located south-southeast of downtown Bakersfield, at an elevation of 404 feet...
- LathropLathrop, CaliforniaLathrop is a city located in . At the 2010 census Lathrop’s population was 18,023, and has a projected “build out” population of 70,000. The city is located in Northern California at the intersection of I-5 and 120 freeways.-Geography:...
- LatonLatonLaton may mean different things:*Laton, California, a census designated place in California*Latopolis, an ancient city of Egypt*Laton , an experimental electronic music label based in Austria, run by Franz Pomassl...
- LindsayLindsay, CaliforniaLindsay is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 11,768 at the 2010 census. Lindsay is located southeast of Visalia and is considered part of the Visalia Metropolitan Area by the United States Census Bureau.-History:...
- Lost HillsLost HillsThe Lost Hills are a low mountain range in the Transverse Ranges, near Lost Hills, California and Interstate 5 in western Kern County, California....
- FarmersvilleFarmersville, CaliforniaFarmersville is a suburb of Visalia, in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 10,588 at the 2010 census, up from 8,737 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Farmersville is located at ....
- Orange CoveOrange Cove, CaliforniaOrange Cove is a small city in Fresno County, California, United States. The population was 9,078 at the 2010 census, up from 7,722 at the 2000 census. Almost all of Orange Cove's residents are Hispanic, many of whom are farmers...
- ParlierParlier, CaliforniaParlier is a city in Fresno County, California, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 9,494, down from 11,145 at the 2000 census. The city has one of the state's highest percentage of Latinos, a large majority of them are seasonal migrant laborers who arrive and...
- TaftTaft, CaliforniaTaft is a city in the foothills at the extreme southwestern edge of the San Joaquin Valley, in Kern County, California. Taft is located west-southwest of Bakersfield, at an elevation of 955 feet . The population was 9,327 at the 2010 census...
- TehachapiTehachapi, CaliforniaTehachapi is a city incorporated in 1909 located in the Tehachapi Mountains between Bakersfield and Mojave in Kern County, California. Tehachapi is located east-southeast of Bakersfield, at an elevation of...
- WaterfordWaterford, CaliforniaWaterford, California is the eighth largest city in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 8,456 at the 2010 census, up from 6,924 as of the 2000 census...
- WestleyWestley, CaliforniaWestley is a census-designated place in Stanislaus County, California, United States. The population was 603 at the 2010 census, down from 747 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Modesto Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:...
- WoodlakeWoodlake, CaliforniaWoodlake is a city in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 7,279 at the 2010 census, up from 6,651 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Woodlake is located at ....
- KingsburgKingsburg, CaliforniaKingsburg is a city in Fresno County, California. Kingsburg is located southeast of Selma at an elevation of 302 feet , on the banks of the Kings River. The city is half an hour away from Fresno, and two hours away from the California Central Coast and Sierra Nevada Mountain Range...
- KermanKerman, CaliforniaKerman is a city at the intersection of State Route 180 and State Route 145 in Fresno County, California, USA. The population was 13,544 at the 2010 census. Kerman is located west of Fresno, at an elevation of 220 feet ....
- Three RiversThree Rivers, CaliforniaThree Rivers is a census-designated place in Tulare County, California, United States. The population was 2,182 at the 2010 census, down from 2,248 at the 2000 census....
List of counties
- FresnoFresno County, CaliforniaFresno County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Stockton and north of Bakersfield. As of the 2010 census, it is the tenth most populous county in California with a population of 930,450, and the sixth largest in size with an area of . The county...
- San JoaquinSan Joaquin County, CaliforniaSan Joaquin County is a county located in Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, just east of the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 685,306. The county seat is Stockton.-History:...
- KernKern County, CaliforniaSpreading across the southern end of the California Central Valley, Kern County is the fifth-largest county by population in California. Its economy is heavily linked to agriculture and to petroleum extraction, and there is a strong aviation and space presence. Politically, it has generally...
- StanislausStanislaus County, CaliforniaStanislaus County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. As the price of housing has increased in the San Francisco Bay Area, many people who work in the southern reaches of the Bay Area have opted for the longer commute and moved to Stanislaus County for the...
- TulareTulare County, CaliforniaTulare County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, south of Fresno. Sequoia National Park is located in the county, as are part of Kings Canyon National Park, in its northeast corner , and part of Mount Whitney, on its eastern border...
- MercedMerced County, CaliforniaMerced County , is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California, north of Fresno and southeast of San Jose. As of the 2010 census, the population was 255,793, up from 210,554 at the 2000 census. The county seat is Merced...
- KingsKings County, CaliforniaKings County is a county located in the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is located in a rich agricultural region. Kings County is also home to NAS Lemoore, which is the U.S. Navy's newest and largest master jet air station. The county seat is Hanford...
- MaderaMadera County, CaliforniaMadera County is a county of the U.S. state of California, located in the Central Valley and the Sierra Nevada north of Fresno County. It comprises the Madera-Chowchilla, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census the population was 150,865...
Other related articles
- List of California rivers
- San Joaquin (soil)San Joaquin (soil)San Joaquin is an officially designated state insignia, the State Soil of the U.S. state of California.The California Central Valley has more than 500,000 acres of San Joaquin soils, named for the south end of that valley. This series is the oldest continuously recognized soil series within the...