William Alexander Leidesdorff Jr. was an African-American settler in California and one of the founders of the city that became San Francisco. A highly successful, enterprising businessman, he is thought to have been the first black millionaire in the United States.

The American River is a 30-mile-long (50 km) river in California that runs from the Sierra Nevada mountain range to its confluence with the Sacramento River in downtown Sacramento. Via the Sacramento River, it is part of the San Francisco Bay watershed. This river is fed by the melting snowpack of the Sierra Nevada and its many headwaters and tributaries, including the North Fork American River, the Middle Fork American River, and the South Fork American River.