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Glossary · Nature & Parks

The American River

The 30-mile river from the Sierra Nevada that meets the Sacramento in downtown Sacramento; gold was found on it in 1848 and it is the city’s main drinking water source.

The American River runs about 30 miles from the Sierra Nevada to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. It is fed by snowmelt on its North, Middle and South Forks, and is the main source of drinking water for Sacramento.

Gold at Sutter’s Mill in Coloma in 1848 started the Gold Rush. The Nisenan call it Kum Sayo, the roundhouse river.

Sources

Questions people ask

Where does the American River meet the Sacramento?

In downtown Sacramento.

Related terms

  • American River ParkwayA 32-mile county recreation corridor along the river, with the Jedediah Smith Memorial Trail from Discovery Park to Folsom.
  • The Gold RushThe 1848 discovery of gold on the American River that turned Sutter’s colony into a boom town: Sacramento grew to about 10,000 people within a few years.
  • The NisenanThe Indigenous people of the Yuba and American River country, including the Sacramento area; they call the American River Kum Sayo, the roundhouse river.
  • The Sacramento RiverCalifornia’s largest river, 400 miles from the Klamath Mountains to the Delta; it gave the city its name.

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