Salinas

City and administrative headquarters of Monterey County, west-central California, USA; population (2000) 151,100. south of San Jose. It is situated on the Salinas River, 137 km/85 mi south-southeast of San Francisco. Named after the river and its saltmarshes, it is the processing centre for an exceptionally fertile area (irrigated by the largely underground river) noted for its dairy products, sugar beets, fruits, and vegetables, especially lettuce. Salinas is home to Hartnell College (1920).

Settled in 1856, in cattle country, the city prospered with the arrival of the Southern Pacific railway in 1868. Novelist John Steinbeck, born in Salinas in 1902, depicted the lives of migrant workers and others in the valley in much of his writing; he is buried in the city. The annual California Rodeo has been held in the Salinas since 1911.