where is the san joaquin valley located on a map
San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley (/ˌsæn hwɑːˈkiːn/ SAN whah-KEEN) is the area of the Central Valley of the U.S. state of California that lies south of the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta and is drained by the San Joaquin River. It comprises seven Northern California counties—all of Kings County; a majority of Fresno, Merced, Stanislaus counties; segments of Madera and Tulare counties—and a majority of Kern County, in Southern California.[1] Although a majority of the valley is rural, it does contain cities such as Fresno, Bakersfield, Stockton, Modesto, Turlock, Porterville, Visalia, Merced, and Hanford.
Kings River (California) The Kings River is a major river of south-central California. About 125 miles (201 km) long, it drains an area of the high western Sierra Nevada and the Central Valley. The headwaters originate at elevations of above 13,000 feet (4,000 m) along the Sierra crest, in and around Kings Canyon National Park. Further west in the foothills, the river is impounded in Pine Flat Lake, before flowing into the Central Valley south of Fresno, where most of its water is used for irrigation. The Kings River was named by the commander of a Spanish military expedition into the Central Valley in 1805.[4]