The New International Encyclopædia/San Francisco Bay

SAN FRANCISCO BAY. An inlet of the Pacific Ocean indenting the coast of California (Map: California, B 3). It is 42 miles long and from 5 to 12 miles wide, and runs nearly parallel with the coast, being separated from the ocean by a peninsula 7 miles wide, at the north end of which is the city of San Francisco. North of the city the Golden Gate, a passage one mile wide and 4 miles long, connects the bay with the ocean. San Francisco Bay is a beautiful sheet of water completely shut in by wooded mountains 1000 to over 2000 feet high. The water is generally shallow far out from the shores, but the Golden Gate and the part of the bay adjoining San Francisco as well as a central channel running through its whole length have a depth of 30 to over 100 feet. On the north the bay communicates with the Bay of San Pablo, which is of circular form with a diameter of 10 miles, and which further communicates through the Straits of Karquines with Suison Bay. The latter receives the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers, so that the drainage of the entire western slope of the Sierra Nevada passes out through the Golden Gate.