Friant Dam
This is the dam that stops 95% of the San Joaquin River from being free, free, free. If I were the San Joaquin River, I'd be royally pissed off. But it appears to be fairly placid. From here on out it gets subjected to gravel mining, diversions, total nonexistence--and ultimately, connection with the Sacramento River, whence it flows into the Delta and then on into San Francisco Bay. Together the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers fulfill betwen 30 and 40 percent of the water needs of the state of California. (Tomorrow, photos of the San Joaquin in its nonexistent incarnation. I sometimes wonder that the state of California can survive at all....)
Friant Dam
This is the dam that stops 95% of the San Joaquin River from being free, free, free. If I were the San Joaquin River, I'd be royally pissed off. But it appears to be fairly placid. From here on out it gets subjected to gravel mining, diversions, total nonexistence--and ultimately, connection with the Sacramento River, whence it flows into the Delta and then on into San Francisco Bay. Together the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers fulfill betwen 30 and 40 percent of the water needs of the state of California. (Tomorrow, photos of the San Joaquin in its nonexistent incarnation. I sometimes wonder that the state of California can survive at all....)