Sacramento Valley Agriculture
Sacramento History Online
1 A Sacramento Valley Land Development Association pamphlet declared in 1911 that the "Sacramento Valley is one of the great valleys of the world, with a vast and fertile soil area. It produces great quantities of precious metals and structural materials. It is blessed with an abundant water supply, and an agriculture much more diversified than is found anywhere else on the face of the earth."
2 Major influences in the development of agriculture in the Sacramento Valley included the Gold Rush and the resulting influx of miners, climate (droughts and floods), railroads, land speculation, development of irrigation, and the transition to a diversified crop culture.
3 The discovery of gold in Coloma by James Marshall in 1848 brought more than 100,000 people to California within two years. In response to the needs of these Gold Rush pioneers, agricultural expansion in the Sacramento Valley began in earnest, especially in the mid-1850s. At that time the decreasing opportunities in the mines brought many of the miners into the valley. Grains for flour, and feed for horses and mules were needed. Production of crops began.
4 Droughts in the late 1850s dried up the range lands, and floods in the 1860s drowned hundreds of cattle, only to be followed again by drought. This vicious cycle brought disaster to the cattle industry, which never fully recovered.
5 Prior to 1867 and the development of irrigation, crops were grown on lands along the rivers and streams. The fertility of the soil, however, was reduced by the reliance on a one-crop system and the failure to use fertilizers. By the late 1860s many farms along the waterways were completely buried by the debris coming from hydraulic mining in the foothills. The conflict between farmers and miners continued for over 20 years. In 1884, the famous Sawyer decision prohibited the dumping of hydraulic mining debris in the rivers.
6 By 1865, the foundations of Sacramento Valley agriculture had been laid. Charles Nordhoff, in his book California for Health, Pleasure, and Residence, published in 1873, described the Sacramento Valley as ‘an immense fertile plain’ with oats ‘so high that I could and did tie the oats over my head.’ Between 1867 and 1880 agriculture in the Sacramento Valley became productive and profitable. Development of ventilated railroad cars in 1870 opened markets for growers of perishable items such as fruit.
7 Between 1883 and 1900 - aided by the introduction of competing railroads and the development of refrigerated railroad cars - fruit outpaced wheat as the most valuable cash crop in the Valley. The price of wheat was so low by 1885 that only large ranches with expensive machinery were able to compete in the world market. Between the 1880s and the early 1900s many of the big ranches in the valley were subdivided since most of the owners were in debt. With the death of the original land barons, heirs subdivided or sold the property and thus contributed to a land boom. New crops such as rice and fruit were better suited to smaller parcels.
8 Fruit colonies, such as the English Colony Association, were founded on the eastern edge of the valley between 1886 and 1895, and were generally in lots of 10 to 20 acres with irrigation ditches dug to provide a reliable water supply. Fruit lands in most of Sacramento, Yolo, and Solano counties didn’t need irrigation because of the high water table. Irrigation made cultivation of orchards, rice, and alfalfa possible in areas not bordered by the rivers and streams. Reclamation and irrigation made thousands of additional acres available for cultivation, helping to lead to a land boom. Propaganda and citrus fairs helped stimulate the change. In addition to making hundreds of thousands of acres available for cultivation, irrigation increased land values and taxes, and forced many owners of large ranches to subdivide and sell their land.
9 World War I precipitated the rapid development of trucks and tractors. Farmers increased their production to help feed the armies. After the war, crop prices collapsed and land prices rose. The National Prohibition Amendment in 1919 had a significant impact in the Sacramento Valley. Farmers began to pull out vineyards and convert their land to other crops. The two largest vineyards in the nation (Stanford’s Vina Ranch and the Natomas vineyards south of the American River) disappeared.
10 In the 1920s, agriculture still formed the basis of the economy in the Sacramento Valley. Although farmers planted most of the land in grain, the financial return per acre was a lot more for other crops. In 1921, a brochure published by the Sacramento Chamber of Commerce, Sacramento - The Gateway to California, stated that ‘a sight more grand seldom stands out before one as strikingly as that which meets your eyes when the Overland train slows down for its initial stop in California. As far as you can see - away toward the setting sun - lies the Sacramento Valley, the most fertile in all the world.’
11 Eventually, canning processes became more efficient. The development of trucking reduced the need for smaller canneries and those located in strategic areas were enlarged. Techniques in farming also changed with the use of the gasoline engine. It has been estimated that 150,000 horses were replaced with 15,000 tractors by 1919.
12 Sun-drying for fruit preservation was replaced by a modern dehydrator in 1925. Contour plowing saved labor and irrigation costs and became a general practice in the 1920s. Smudging as a means to prevent frost damage was widely accepted. The large California Valley Rice Growers Association mill in Sacramento eventually forced many smaller mills out of business.
13 By 1929, fifty-one irrigation districts were organized into systems that delivered water to 282,000 acres. Twenty-two areas were direct products of the Wright Act, public districts organized under the state irrigation law; 19 were mutual irrigation companies organized to deliver water to stockholders at cost; 10 consisted of public utility water systems.
14 Floods, which always played an important role in the valley, brought the 1920s to a close. In 1928 the Feather River overflowed at Hamilton Bend and levees broke on the Sutter County side of Marysville, near Arboga. North Sacramento was flooded and Sacramento threatened. Although the flood inflicted great damage to farmlands, it led to the development of more effective flood control.
Question
Why was fruit a good crop for the Sacramento Valley counties of Sacramento, Yolo, and Solano?
Responses
A Because droughts kept killing the cattle and other livestockBecause droughts kept killing the cattle and other livestock
B Because the water table was high enough not to need irrigationBecause the water table was high enough not to need irrigation
C Because the people living in those counties did not want to raise cattleBecause the people living in those counties did not want to raise cattle
D Because the owners of large ranches had to subdivide and sell their landBecause the owners of large ranches had to subdivide and sell their land
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