Desc: Tales of the San Joaquin : A River Restored: Directed by Christopher Beaver. With Walt Shubin, Michael E. Stone. For sixty years, parts of the 350-mile San Joaquin River in Califoria have been turned into a perpetual desert by water diversion for farming, thus destroying habitat for thousands of migrating salmon. Tales of the San Joaquin tells the story of the river and its restoration through oral histories of those who live and work along the length of the river.