The San Joaquin River once flowed uninterrupted from high mountains through the arid valley bearing its name to the Delta, with floods enriching valley soils, replenishing groundwater, and sustaining the southernmost salmon run in North America through the dry summer. Since 1941, Friant Dam has held back those floodwaters to irrigate the rich soils of San Joaquin Valley farms, turning over one million parched acres into some of the most productive farmland on earth. But below the dam the river ran dry, and although downstream tributaries, canals, and runoff from fields and cities restart it on its way to the Delta, 60 miles of the San Joaquin River became a desert within its banks and the salmon run ended. In a landmark 2005 court ruling, water users agreed to release more water from Friant Dam in an attempt to bring back the salmon, and with this water the San Joaquin may transform from desert back to river.