This monument was erected in 1998 by Members of the Sacramento Valley Chapter American Merchant Marine Veterans (AMMV), their families, and friends in dedication and memory of Sacramento’s maritime achievements.

The second World War found river transportation companies continuing service on the Sacramento River while under the restrictions of wartime conditions. In the 1950s, river commerce consisted of the transportation of barges of bulk grain, petroleum, and crushed rock between Bay Area points and upriver as far north as Colusa. In 1954, Sacramento River traffic amounted to 2,172,451 tons of cargo, largely rice. River commerce in the 1960s continued to be primarily tug boats and barges including the shipping of military aircraft from nearby air bases to the Bay Area and the Far East. In 1963, the long-promised deep-water channel and Port of Sacramento opened to ocean-going freighters, thus ending an era of riverfront shipping in downtown Sacramento. Most subsequent river commerce has focused on renewed passenger travel and sight-seeing cruises.