California’s Green Trade Corridor, is part of the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel San Joaquin River watershed

Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel, also called the Baldwin-Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel or Stockton Deep Water Channel, is a manmade deepwater water channel that runs from Suisun Bay and the

Sacramento River The Sacramento River () is the principal river of Northern California in the United States and is the largest river in California. Rising in the Klamath Mountains, the river flows south for before reaching the Sacramento–San Joaquin River D ...

- Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel to the Port of Stockton and the Stockton Channel in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. The

Stockton Ship Channel The San Joaquin River ( ; ) is the longest river of Central California. The long river starts in the high Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada and flows through the rich Agriculture, agricultural region of the northern San Joaquin Valley befor ...

is long and about deep, allowing up to

Panama Canal The Panama Canal () is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Caribbean Sea with the Pacific Ocean. It cuts across the narrowest point of the Isthmus of Panama, and is a Channel (geography), conduit for maritime trade between th ...

size ocean

ship A ship is a large watercraft, vessel that travels the world's oceans and other Waterway, navigable waterways, carrying cargo or passengers, or in support of specialized missions, such as defense, research and fishing. Ships are generally disti ...

s access to the Port of Stockton at the City of Stockton. The Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel is part of the vast

Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta The Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta, or California Delta, is an expansive inland river delta and estuary in Central California and Northern California Northern California (commonly shortened to NorCal) is a geocultural region that ...

that has a connection to the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five Borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean, or, depending on the definition, to Antarctica in the south, and is ...

. Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel is also called the lower San Joaquin River.

History

At the time of the 1849

California Gold Rush The California gold rush (1848–1855) began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the U ...

ocean steamboats could travel up the San Joaquin River to

Fresno Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers a ...

. As

San Joaquin Valley The San Joaquin Valley ( ; Spanish language in California, Spanish: ''Valle de San Joaquín'') is the southern half of California's Central Valley (California), Central Valley. Famed as a major breadbasket, the San Joaquin Valley is an importa ...

grew agriculturally and river water was used for crops, the river became shallow. With slower moving water, silt began to build up in the river and it became even shallower. By 1890 the city of Stockton had lost its importance as a

seaport A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manc ...

. By 1910 the city had created proposals to increase the depth of the lower river by

dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...

; however, the plans were delayed by

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 1925 the city began a $1.3 million bond campaign dedicated to dredging the lower San Joaquin. Stockton partnered with the federal and state governments in 1926 to form a $8.2 million fund to change the river to a new channel. In 1928 the river-channel project began. The river was both widened and deepened. To straighten the river,

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the Channel (geography), channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erosion, erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank (cut bank, cut bank or river cl ...

s and

oxbow lake An oxbow lake is a U-shaped lake or stream pool, pool that forms when a wide meander of a river is meander cutoff, cut off, creating a free-standing body of water. The word "oxbow" can also refer to a U-shaped bend in a river or stream, whether ...

s were removed. Major straightening cuts were built at Hog Island, Venice Island and Mandeville Island, along with five minor straightening cuts. The new deepwater channel was now long and had a depth of . As silt build-up still continues, major dredging was performed in both 1968 and 1982. The Stockton Deep Water Ship Channel can handle fully loaded ocean vessels of up to and up to long.

Environmental concern

The slowing of the river-channel has unexpectedly caused low dissolved oxygen levels in the lower San Joaquin River water. The low dissolved oxygen has hurt the fish populations. The three causes are the straightening of the river, pollution from the harbors and cities, and poor tidal mixing. Wpdms nasa photo san pablo bay

Baldwin Deepwater Shipping Channel

Baldwin Deepwater Shipping Channel, also called the John F. Baldwin Shipping Channel, runs from the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay (Chochenyo language, Chochenyo: 'ommu) is a large tidal estuary in the United States, U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the cities of San Francisco, California, San ...

through the

San Pablo Bay San Pablo Bay is a tidal estuary that forms the northern extension of the San Francisco Bay in the East Bay and North Bay regions of the San Francisco Bay Area in northern California. Most of the Bay is shallow; however, there is a deep wate ...

and Suisun Bay to the entrance to the Stockton Ship Channels. Baldwin Deepwater Shipping Channel has a maximum depth of 45 feet and is maintained to 35 feet. The Baldwin Shipping Channel is 600 feet wide. Named after John F. Baldwin Jr., an American military officer and later a U.S. Representative from California. The Carquinez Strait is part of the John F. Baldwin Shipping Channel. Also on the John F. Baldwin Shipping Channel is the: Browns Island, West Island, Winter Island, Broad Slough, New York Slough, Kimball Island, Sherman Island, Sherman Lake, Chipps Island, Mallard Island, Simonons Point, Stake Point, Honker Bay, Roe Island, Port Costa, Port Chicago, Ryer Island, Point Edith, I-680, Bayo Vista, Mococo, Benicia, Interstate 80, Crolona Heights, Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, Richmond, Interstate 580 and Mare Island Naval ShipyardShip Simulation Study of John F. Baldwin (Phase II) Navigation Channel San Francisco Bay, California
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On Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel

On the Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel: * Suisun Bay - John F. Baldwin Shipping Channel *

- Sacramento Deep Water Ship Channel * Dow Wetlands Preserve * City of Antioch * Kimbell Island * Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge * West Island * Antioch Bridge * Sherman Island * Big Break - Big Break Regional Shoreline * Bradford Island * Blind Point * Jersey Island * Jersey Point * False River * Three Mile Slough * Santa Clara Shoal * Fisherman's Cut * Oulton Point * Libordi Shoals * San Andreas Shoals *

Mokelumne River The Mokelumne River ( or ; ''Mokelumne'', Miwok for "People of the Fish Net") is a -long river in northern California in the United States. The river flows west from a rugged portion of the central Sierra Nevada (U.S.), Sierra Nevada into the C ...

* Webb Point * Potato Point - Little Potato Slough * Bouldin Island * Old River * Hayes Point * Prisoner's Point * Rindge Tract * Mandeville Island * Mandeville Tip County Park * Mandeville Point * Mandeville Cut * Venice Island * Venice Reach *Middle River * Three River Reach * Medford Island * Burns Reach * Little Potato Slough * Ward Island * Ward cut * Tinsley Island * White Slough * Whiskey Slough * Columbia Cut *Fern Island * White Slough *Headreach Island * Tule Island * Shima Bend * Haypress Reach *Spud Island * Hog Island Cut * Hog Island * Acker Island * Turner Cut * White Slough * Vulcan Island * Tenmile Slough * Riverpiont landing * Buckley Cove Park * Burns Cutoff * Calaveras River * Stockton Golf and Country Club * Browns Island * Smith Channel * Louis Park * Atherton Island * Ruff and Ready Island - San Francisco Naval Communication * Port of Stockton * Stockton Channel * City of Stockton * Upper San Joaquin River

References

{{Clear San Joaquin Valley *Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel Tributaries of San Pablo Bay Geography of the San Joaquin Valley Geography of the San Francisco Bay Area San Francisco Bay watershed Shipping channels Canals in California

History

Environmental concern

Baldwin Deepwater Shipping Channel

On Stockton Deepwater Shipping Channel

See also

References