IV-377 

 San Francisco Bay, Calif. 



San Francisco Bay is the largest of all natural harbors on the 

 Pacific coast south of Puget Sound (Figure IV. 5. 14). The fre*h 

 water inflow to San Francisco Bay is primarily the drainage from the 

 central valley of California; the Sacramento River from the north and 

 the San Joaquin from the south form a huge rich delta which is con- 

 nected to the Bay. The overall size not including the tidal delta 

 area is about 435 square miles at mean high water. 



In 1850, when California was admitted to the Union, San Francisco 

 Bay was even larger than it is today. More than 300 square miles of 

 marshlands along its shores gave it the appearance of being 

 extraordinarily vast, particularly during maximum spring tides when 

 the Bay waters flooded far inland, drowning all but the tips of reeds 

 and marsh grasses. Since those early days more than 240 square miles 

 of the salt marshes have been reclaimed, chiefly for agriculture and 

 salt ponds. In addition, approximately seventeen square miles of 

 tidal and submerged lands have been filled, mostly along the water- 

 fronts of San Francisco, Oakland, and Richmond; in Richardson and San 

 Rafael Bays in Marin County; and along the northern bayshore of 

 San Mateo County. And yet the Bay still seems so immense that it 

 intrigues many minds with the possibilities of reclaiming additional 

 square miles for industrial and residential developments, recreation 

 areas, airports, highways, and commercial establishments. 



