 Rough ways such as the Millerton Road which later became the Stockton - Los Angeles Road quickly extended the length of the valley and were served by mule teams and covered wagons.Riverboat navigation quickly became an important transportation link on the San Joaquin River, and during the "June Rise", as boat operators called the San Joaquin's annual high water levels during snow melt, on a wet year large craft could make it as far upstream as Fresno.During the peak years of the gold rush, the river in the Stockton area was reportedly crowded with hundreds of abandoned oceangoing craft, whose crew had deserted for the gold fields.