This digital dataset defines the spring 1961 water-table altitude for the California's Central Valley. It was used to initiate the water-level altitudes for the upper zones of the transient hydrologic model of the Central Valley flow system. The Central Valley encompasses an approximate 50,000 square-kilometer region of California. The complex hydrologic system of the Central Valley is simulated using the USGS numerical modeling code MODFLOW-FMP (Schmid and others, 2009). This simulation is referred to here as the Central Valley Hydrologic Model (CVHM) (Faunt, 2009). Utilizing MODFLOW-FMP, the CVHM simulates groundwater and surface-water flow, irrigated agriculture, land subsidence, and other key processes in the Central Valley on a monthly basis from 1961-2003. The starting heads are based on the water-table and potentiometric surface developed by Williamson and others (1989). Maps of the spring 1961 water-table and hydraulic head in the lower pumped zone are shown in Figure 31 of Williamson and others (1989). The CVHM is the most recent regional-scale model of the Central Valley developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).The CVHM was developed as part of the USGS Groundwater Resources Program (Faunt, 2009. See "Foreword", Chapter A, page iii, for details).