American River

On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill he was building for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter—known as Sutter's Mill, near Coloma on the American River.

Watercourses in Placer County include the American River and Bunch Creek.

The northern third of the western Sierra is part of the Sacramento River watershed (including the Feather, Yuba, and American River tributaries), and the middle third is drained by the San Joaquin River (including the Mokelumne, Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced River tributaries).

Auburn is situated in the Northern California foothills of the Sierra Nevada range, approximately 800 vertical feet above the confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork of the American River.

Major watercourses in the county include the American River, Sacramento River, Cosumnes River, a tributary of the Mokelumne River, and Dry Creek, a tributary of the Sacramento River.

Near downtown Sacramento it receives the American River from the east, then passes under the historic Tower Bridge and Interstate 80 Business.

The South Fork American River is a major tributary of the American River in El Dorado County, California, draining a watershed on the western slope of the Sierra Nevada east of Sacramento.

American River

The North Fork American River is the longest branch of the American River in Northern California.

Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 population of 524,943 makes it the sixth-largest city in California and the ninth-largest capital in the United States.