Misplaced Pages

#459540

76-708: The mission of the San Diego River Park Foundation is to improve the lives of everyone and everything involved with the San Diego River by creating the San Diego River Park. “The vision of the San Diego River Park is a greenbelt from the mountains to the ocean along the 52 mile long San Diego River. This greenbelt is really a trail system and a clean and healthy river system which connects a diversity of parks, open spaces, public places and community facilities spread out along

152-464: A 20-year-long drought. During November, prior to the flooding, Oregon had steady but heavier-than-normal rainfall, with heavier snow in the mountains. Researchers believe the jet stream had slipped south, accompanied by freezing conditions reported at Oregon stations by December 25. Heavy rainfall began falling in California as the longwave trough moved south over the state, remaining there until

228-518: A district of 5,000 or 6,000 square miles, or probably three to three and a half million acres! Although much of it is not cultivated, yet a part of it is the garden of the state. Thousands of farms are entirely under water—cattle starving and drowning. From December to January 1862 the series of storms carrying high winds and heavy precipitation left city streets and sidewalks underwater. Photographs show canals in place of city streets and boats docked to storefronts. On Inauguration Day, January 10, 1862,

304-532: A large lake system with many small streams. A few more powerful currents cut channels across the plain and carried the runoff to the sea. In Los Angeles County, (including what is now Orange County ) the flooding Santa Ana River created an inland sea lasting about three weeks with water standing 4 feet (1.2 m) deep up to 4 miles (6 km) from the river. In February 1862, the Los Angeles, San Gabriel , and Santa Ana Rivers merged. Government surveys at

380-474: A mild rainy pattern for the first half of December 1861. In 2012, hydrologists and meteorologists concluded that the precipitation was likely caused by a series of atmospheric rivers that hit the Western United States along the entire West Coast , from Oregon to Southern California . An atmospheric river is a wind-borne, deep layer of water vapor with origins in the tropics, extending from

456-540: A wide and flat valley at the junction of the American and Sacramento rivers. When the floodwaters entered from the higher ground on the east, the levee acted as a dam to keep the water in the city rather than let it flow out. Soon the water level was 10 feet (3.0 m) higher inside than the level of the Sacramento River on the outside. John Carr wrote of his riverboat trip up the Sacramento River when it

532-478: A year and a half. At least 4,000 people were estimated to have been killed in the floods in California, which was roughly 1% of the state population at the time. The weather pattern that caused this flood was not from an El Niño –type event. From the existing Army and private weather records, it has been determined that the polar jet stream was to the north because the Pacific Northwest experienced

608-489: Is still rapidly rising. As late as anything could be seen the mills were still standing, but the insatiate monster is still creeping up inch by inch, winding its swelling folds round the pillars and foundations of all the houses in its way, crushing and grinding them in the maw of destruction, and sweeping the broken fragments into a common vortex of ruin. All night as on the night previous, people whose homes were being invaded hurried to places of security, glad to escape even with

684-557: Is to help create a river-long park and hiking trail, stretching the full length of the river from its headwaters in the Cuyamaca Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. From mouth to source: Great Flood of 1862 The Great Flood of 1862 was the largest flood in the recorded history of California , Oregon , and Nevada , inundating the western United States and portions of British Columbia and Mexico. It

760-542: The Cuyamaca Mountains northwest of the town of Julian , then flows to the southwest until it reaches the El Capitan Reservoir , the second-largest reservoir in the river's watershed at 112,800 acre-feet (139,100,000 m ). Below El Capitan Dam , the river runs west through Santee and San Diego . While passing through Tierrasanta it goes through Mission Trails Regional Park , one of

836-566: The San Gabriel Mountains the mining town of Eldoradoville was washed away by flood waters. The flooding drowned thousands of cattle and washed away fruit trees and vineyards that grew along the Los Angeles River . No mail was received at Los Angeles for five weeks. The Los Angeles Star reported that: The road from Tejon , we hear, has been almost washed away. The San Fernando mountain cannot be crossed except by

SECTION 10

#1732782558460

912-594: The Utah Territory (now Nevada and Utah ), and the western New Mexico Territory (now Arizona ). The event dumped an equivalent of 10 feet (3.0 m) of water in California, in the form of rain and snow, over a period of 43 days. Immense snowfalls in the mountains of far western North America caused more flooding in Idaho, Arizona, New Mexico , as well as in Baja California and Sonora, Mexico

988-572: The Willamette Valley and the rest of Western Oregon. An article in the December ;14, 1861, Oregon City Argus , described the course of the flood at Oregon City: During the month of November the rain had been falling almost continuously, and a vast amount of snow must have accumulated in the mountains... Tuesday evening a gloom settled on a scene such as probably never was witnessed in our Valley before. The ceaseless roar of

1064-865: The CHISM agreement. In September of 1987 the City of San Diego awarded the project a Resolution of Intent and a Notice to Proceed with the First San Diego River Improvement Project. [REDACTED] In 1921, the city of San Diego filed suit against the Cuyamaca Water Company to establish its paramount right to the water of the San Diego River. After several court cases, the California State Supreme Court declared in 1929 that

1140-527: The Central Valley reached depths up to 30 feet (9.1 m), completely submerging telegraph poles that had just been installed between San Francisco and New York. Transportation, mail, and communications across the state were disrupted for a month. Water covered portions of the valley from December 1861, through the spring, and into the summer of 1862. The rainy season commenced on the 8th of November, and for four weeks, with scarcely any intermission,

1216-823: The Coalition including: As well as many others. The San Diego River Park Foundation works with many other organizations, including those in the San Diego River Coalition. The San Diego River Park Foundation also works with local chapters of the Surfrider Foundation , the Sierra Club and, the Trust for Public Land . San Diego River The San Diego River is a river in San Diego County, California . It originates in

1292-597: The Columbia River and the snow in the mountains closed off supplies to the new mining towns on the Salmon River , causing starvation among the miners of Florence , cut off from December until May 1862. By early July, as the heavy burden of snow in the mountains finally melted, the runoff caused great flooding. The Boise River flooded from extremely high runoff and is believed to have been four times larger than its largest recorded flood in 1943. Flood waters made

1368-562: The Month. The California Watershed Network acknowledged the San Diego River Park Foundation for their five years of restoration projects throughout the San Diego River community. The San Diego River Park Foundation is an organization involved with the San Diego River Coalition. The River Coalition is a group of organizations that aim to "preserve and enhance the San Diego River, its watershed, and its natural, cultural and recreational resources." There are seventy-eight other organizations involved in

1444-625: The Sacramento River reached a flood level of 22 feet 7 inches (6.88 m) above the low water mark, after rising 10 feet (3.0 m) during the past 24 hours. By 1861, the Sacramento flood plain had quickly become inhabited by a growing population during the Gold Rush , and had begun to serve as the central hub for Valley commerce and trade and as the home of the California State Legislature. The landscape

1520-461: The San Diego River delta in Mission Bay from occasional floods. In 1935 El Capitan Dam was constructed 27 miles up the San Diego River; this reduced the sediment entering the bay considerably. An earlier dam was overtopped in 1916, increasing the floodwaters coming down Mission Valley at the time. The Mission Bay and San Diego River jetties were built in 1948, at a time when the shore of the bay

1596-404: The San Diego River usually entered San Diego Bay . In the fall of 1821, however, a flood changed the river channel in one night, and the greater volume of the flow was diverted into what was then known as False Bay (now referred to as Mission Bay ), leaving only a small stream still flowing into the harbor (J. C. Hayes 1874). This flood was remarkable in that no rain fell along the coast. The river

SECTION 20

#1732782558460

1672-551: The Willamette River from Corvallis . Neither was rebuilt. The flooding was also severe in other parts of Oregon; to the south, the Umpqua River had the greatest flood known even to the oldest Native Americans, and water was 10 to 15 feet (3.0 to 4.6 m) higher than the 1853 flood. It rose from November 3 to December 3, subsided for two days, then rose again until the 9th. At Fort Umpqua, communication upriver

1748-553: The Wool Growers Association reported that 100,000 sheep and 500,000 lambs were killed by the floods. Even oyster beds in San Francisco Bay near Oakland were reported to be dying from the effects of the immense amounts of freshwater entering the bay. Full of sediment, the silted water smothered the oyster beds. One-quarter of California's estimated 800,000 cattle were killed by the flood, accelerating

1824-503: The approach of the flood, and all escaped. In San Diego , a storm at sea backed up the flood water running into the bay from the San Diego River , resulting in a new river channel cut into San Diego Harbor . The continuous heavy downpour also changed the look of the land, the previously rounded hills were extensively cut by gulleys and canyons. To the north, in the Owens Valley , similar snow and flooding conditions as those to

1900-560: The big floods." However, the series of storms that led to the Great Flood of 1862 averaged precipitation levels that records show only occur once every 500 to 1,000 years. The geographical range of flooding in the state was noted by a traveling geologist from Yale University, William Brewer, who wrote that on January 19, 1862, The great Central Valley of the state is under water—the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys—a region 250 to 300 miles long and an average of at least 20 miles wide,

1976-447: The city's right was paramount because under Spanish and Mexican laws, Pueblo San Diego was given exclusive rights to the use of the San Diego River, both surface and underground. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo obligated the U.S. to protect the grants and privileges decreed under the old rule. The river travels 52 miles (84 km) from its headwaters to the ocean. The river's tributaries include: Four additional reservoirs lie in

2052-558: The debris of the bridge at Two-Mile Bar, only a short distance up river, torn from its foundation, crashed into the Knights Ferry Bridge, crushing the truss supports and knocking it from its rock foundation. All Sacramento, excepting one street, part of Marysville, part of Santa Rosa, part of Auburn, part of Sonora, part of Nevada City, and part of Napa were under water. Some smaller towns like Empire City and Mokelumne City were entirely destroyed. Sacramento , sited at

2128-543: The east in Aurora, Nevada (see below), led to the local Paiute suffering the loss of much of the game they depended on. Cattle, newly driven into the valley to feed the miners, competed with the native grazers and ate the native wild plant crops the Paiute depended on to survive. Starving, the Paiute began to kill the cattle and conflict with the cattlemen began, leading to the subsequent Owens Valley Indian War . In March 1862,

2204-591: The end of January 1862, causing precipitation to fall everywhere in the state for nearly 40 days. Eventually, the trough moved even further south, causing snow to fall in the Central Valley and surrounding mountain ranges (15 feet of snow in the Sierra Nevada). There was an excessive amount of precipitation in November 1861 over most of Oregon, less so in the extreme northwest. It was cold enough at

2280-411: The end of the cattle-based ranchero society . One-fourth to one-third of the state's property was destroyed, and one home in eight was carried away or ruined by the flood-waters. Mining equipment such as sluices, flumes, wheels and derricks were carried away across the state. An early estimate of property damage was $ 10 million. However, later it was estimated that approximately one-quarter of

2356-514: The entrance. As San Diego’s Mission Vally grew in size, many businesses located along the banks of the San Diego River began to flood during heavy rain events. The flooding became so extreme that land owners on either side of the San Diego River got together to hatch a plan to contain the 100 year/1 hour rain events. Two men, Dean Wolf (of Mission Valley Center) and Denny Martini of the Bond Ranch (who owned ¾ of Mission Valley in 1908); conceived

San Diego River Park Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue

2432-527: The fall of 1853 (Derby 1853). Later that year, heavy rains caused the river to change course once again, washing out part of the levee and resuming its old course into the harbor (San Diego Herald 1855). The worst flood in this area was in 1862. This was part of the Great Flood of 1862 , which impacted the entire Western United States , and had a bearing on the Civil War . In San Diego, Mission Valley

2508-435: The financial crisis of the same year. In a last-ditch effort to revive the project the Bond Ranch employed Robert Rodriguez (VP, Merrill Lynch Commercial Real Estate) to spearhead the issuance of Bonds to privately finance the project. The total cost to complete the project was 36 million dollars. At this point in time the partnership was showing signs of falling apart. Robert Rodriguez and Denny Martini decided to bring all of

2584-579: The following spring and summer, as the snow melted. The event was capped by an intense, warm storm that melted the heavy snow load that had accumulated during the earlier storms. The resulting snow-melt flooded valleys, inundated or swept away towns, mills, dams, flumes , houses, fences, and domestic animals, and ruined fields. It has been described as the worst disaster ever to strike California. The storms caused an estimated $ 100 million (1861 USD) in damage, roughly equal to $ 3 billion in 2021. The governor, state legislature, and state employees were not paid for

2660-516: The great flood, levee breaks and failures caused much destruction from flooding. The Transcontinental Railroad had laid tracks across the Sierra Nevada and stationed its major repair and production line in Sacramento. The Chinese workforce of over 14,000 reconstructed levees under the guidance of Charles Crocker, the head contractor for Central Pacific Railroad . In response to a weak levee system and seasonal flooding, flood plain architecture

2736-610: The greater Sacramento area. Sacramento put efforts into restructuring the city's foundation by re-channeling the American River, reinforcing the established levee system, and passing a two-decade project to raise the city above flood level. Due to the high costs associated with flood recovery, the city of Sacramento reached out to the aid of the Transcontinental Railroad Co., which was a major turning point in levee resilience and reconstruction. Prior to

2812-824: The higher elevations that much snow fell in the Cascade Range , which, when later melted by the warm rains produced a great quantity of water that flooded into the Willamette River and other streams in the Cascades. Tributaries of the Willamette originating in the Oregon Coast Range did not rise as high. A tropical depression that came in at the beginning of December produced strong, warm southerly winds in Oregon, with extremely heavy rain. Flooding

2888-427: The idea of straightening out the San Diego River to prevent "back flow" along the natural curves where flooding took place. 10 years and over a million dollars was spent developing a plan to build a series of box culverts with rip rap, “hump back” river banks, islands, and hydro seeding. This plan would come to be known as the First San Diego River Improvement Project or FISDRIP. However, the project stalled in 1986 during

2964-561: The issuance of bonds that were collateralized by the land on either side of the river. The funds would be used to straighten out the San Diego River. Additionally, land would be donated to the City of San Diego for the construction of the Trolly to help alleviate traffic congestion. In return the City allowed the reclamation of land for development on formerly “floodway fringe zone”. Most development in Mission Valley today originated with

3040-461: The junction of the Sacramento and American Rivers, was originally built at 16 feet (4.9 m) above low-water mark, and the river usually rose 17 to 18 feet (5.2 to 5.5 m) almost every year. The New York Times reported on January 21, 1862, that a trapper who had spent more than 20 years in California had frequently boated over the city's site, and in 1846, the water at the location was 7 feet (2.1 m) deep for sixty days. On 27 December 1861,

3116-448: The landings. Farm buildings were mostly on sites convenient to the rivers and supplies of feed for livestock. Loss of so much wheat flour and the new demand coming since 1860 from the recently opened Idaho gold fields caused a spike in its price from $ 7 to $ 12 per barrel. In the interior of Washington Territory , in what is now Idaho , the storm creating the flood in Oregon dumped its precipitation as an unprecedented snowfall. Flooding on

San Diego River Park Foundation - Misplaced Pages Continue

3192-585: The largest urban parks in America. It flows near Mission San Diego de Alcalá . The river's valley downstream from there is known as Mission Valley for that reason. The valley forms a transportation corridor for Interstate 8 and the San Diego Trolley 's Green Line . The river discharges into the Pacific Ocean near the entrance to Mission Bay , forming an estuary . The river has changed its course several times in recorded history. Prior to 1821,

3268-546: The length of the River.”. The San Diego River Park Foundation was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to conserving the water, wildlife, recreation, culture and, community involved with the San Diego River . The foundation has brought people together throughout all of San Diego County with different volunteer opportunities and events. In October 2006, the San Diego River Park Foundation was the Watershed Highlight of

3344-408: The normal river channel. Although large amounts of wheat and flour were swept away, some was recovered when Oregon City's Island Mill was found on Sauvie Island downriver from Portland. The nearby town of Linn City was completely destroyed by flooding and was not rebuilt. The flood destroyed the historic towns of Champoeg , site of the first provisional government in Oregon, and Orleans , across

3420-479: The old trail ... over the top of the mountain. The plain has been cut up into gulches and arroyos, and streams are rushing down every declivity. The plains of Los Angeles County, at the time a marshy area with many small lakes and several meandering streams from the mountains, were extensively flooded, and much of the agricultural development that lay along the rivers was ruined. In most of the lower areas, small settlements were submerged. These flooded areas formed into

3496-500: The owners together in the same room to sign a historic agreement known as the CHSM agreement. Trammell Crow/Bruce Hazard, Conrock, Don Samis, and May Department Stores were all party to the agreement. The agreement when implemented formed the largest assessment district ever put in place by the City of San Diego, and the largest Specific Plan ever adopted by the City of San Diego at that time. In short; private funding would be acquired through

3572-531: The rain continued to fall very gently in San Francisco, but in heavy showers in the interior. According to the statement of a Grass Valley paper, nine inches of rain fell there in thirty-six hours on the 7th and 8th inst.... the next day the river-beds were full almost to the hilltops. The North Fork of the American River at Auburn rose thirty-five feet, and in many other mountain streams the rise

3648-636: The river expand to a couple of miles wide. It washed away or covered the original route of the Oregon Trail in the river valley. California was hit by a combination of incessant rain, snow, and then unseasonally high temperatures. In Northern California, it snowed heavily during the later part of November and the first few days of December, when the temperature rose unusually high, until it began to rain. In San Francisco, there were 35 inches of precipitation in December 1861-January 1862, and almost 50 for

3724-499: The river seemed highest in the middle... From the head settlement to the mouth of the Trinity River, for a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, everything was swept to destruction. Not a bridge was left, or a mining-wheel or a sluce-box. Parts of ranches and miners cabins met the same fate. The labor of hundreds of men, and their savings of years, invested in bridges, mines and ranches, were all swept away. In forty-eight hours

3800-420: The river's watershed. Cuyamaca Reservoir is located on Boulder Creek and San Vicente Reservoir is fed by San Vicente Creek. Lake Jennings and Lake Murray are formed by the damming of canyons . The San Diego River Park Foundation was founded in 2001 and is dedicated to conserving the water, wildlife, recreation, culture and community involved with the San Diego River. The San Diego River Conservancy

3876-453: The sacrifice of all their goods. The light of Wednesday morning revealed a scene of desolation terrible in its extent no less than in its completeness. The Oregon City and Island Mills, Willamette Iron Works , Foundry and Machine Shop were all gone... Flood waters were so high that at Oregon City at the flood's crest on December 5, the steamer St. Clair was able to run the falls, and steamers were able to visit points at some distance from

SECTION 50

#1732782558460

3952-670: The season. There were four distinct rainy periods: The first occurred on December 9, 1861, the second on December 23–28, the third on January 9–12, and the fourth on January 15–17. Native Americans knew that the Sacramento Valley could become an inland sea when the rains came. Their storytellers described water filling the valley from the Coast Range to the Sierra. Fort Ter-Waw , located in Klamath Glen, California ,

4028-409: The shore to make a million cords of wood.... One I measured was 210 feet [64 m] long and 3 1/2 feet [1.1 m] at the little end, without the bark. The entire Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys were affected. An area about 300 miles (480 km) long, averaging 20 miles (32 km) in width, and covering 5,000 to 6,000 square miles (13,000 to 16,000 km ) was under water. The water flooding

4104-493: The state's eighth governor, Leland Stanford , traveled by rowboat to his inauguration building held at the State Legislature office. Much of Sacramento remained under water for 3 months after the storms passed. As a result of the flooding, from January 23, 1862, the state capital was moved temporarily from Sacramento to San Francisco. The city of Sacramento suffered the worst damage due to its levee , which lay in

4180-457: The stream made a fearful elemental music widely different from the ordinary monotone of the Falls; while the darkness was only made more visible by the glare of torches and hurrying lights, which with the shouts of people from the windows of houses surrounded by the water, all conspired to render the hour one of intense and painful excitement. The flood has covered the highest mark of January '53, and

4256-458: The streets as tunnels leading nowhere, with hollow sidewalks, filled in entrances, trap doors, and rubble where storefronts and walkways used to be. Large wooden beams and soil brought in from surrounding areas helped to stabilize and build a foundation on top of the once-flooded city. In Southern California , beginning on December 24, 1861, it rained for 28 days in Los Angeles . In

4332-573: The sudden melt of snow by the heavy rain and onset of the flood in December 1861 on the Trinity River : From November until the latter part of March there was a succession of storms and floods... The ground was covered with snow 1 foot [30 cm] deep, and on the mountains much deeper... The water in the river ... seemed like some mighty uncontrollable monster of destruction broken away from its bonds, rushing uncontrollably on, and everywhere carrying ruin and destruction in its course. When rising,

4408-440: The surface to high altitudes, often above 10,000 feet, and concentrated into a relatively narrow band, typically about 400 to 600 kilometres (250 to 370 mi) wide, usually running ahead of a frontal boundary, or merging into it. With the right dynamics in place to provide lift, an atmospheric river can produce astonishing amounts of precipitation, especially if it stalls over an area for any length of time. The floods followed

4484-467: The taxable real estate in the state of California was destroyed in the flood. The state almost had to declare bankruptcy due to the costs of the damage and the loss of tax revenue. The Carson River Basin of the eastern California and western Utah Territory (now Nevada ), suffered from a similar pattern of flooding. Flooding began in December 1861 in Carson Valley from a series of storms in

4560-481: The time indicated that a solid expanse of water covered the area from Signal Hill to Huntington Beach , a distance of approximately 18 miles (29 km). At Santa Barbara County , the narrow coastal plains were flooded by the rivers coming out of the mountains. The San Buenaventura Mission Aqueduct that was still drawing water from a tributary of the Ventura River for the town of Ventura water system,

4636-549: The valley of the Trinity was left desolate. The county never recovered from that disastrous flood. Many of the mining-wheels and bridges were never rebuilt. Two years later William H. Brewer saw near Crescent City , the debris of the flood: The floods of two years ago brought down an immense amount of driftwood from all the rivers along the coast, and it was cast up along this part of the coast in quantities that stagger belief. It looked to me as if I saw enough in ten miles along

SECTION 60

#1732782558460

4712-530: Was abandoned due to the damage in the area that became the separate Ventura County in 1873. In San Bernardino County , all the fertile riverside fields and all but the church and one house of the New Mexican colony of Agua Mansa , were swept away by the Santa Ana River, which overflowed its banks. A local priest rang the church bell on the night of January 22, 1862, alerting the inhabitants to

4788-532: Was almost as great. On the 9th the flood reached the low land of the Sacramento Valley . In Knight's Ferry , in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada astride the Stanislaus River , about 40 miles (64 km) east of Modesto, the town's homes, its mill, and most of its businesses were ruined by the flood. The bridge spanning the river initially withstood the flood waters but was destroyed when

4864-535: Was at one of its highest stages of flood: ... I was a passenger on the old steamer Gem , from Sacramento to Red Bluff . The only way the pilot could tell where the channel of the river was, was by the cottonwood trees on each side of the river. The boat had to stop several times and take men out of the tops of trees and off the roofs of houses. In our trip up the river we met property of every description floating down—dead horses and cattle, sheep, hogs, houses, haystacks, household furniture, and everything imaginable

4940-554: Was cut off above Scottsburg, and the river was full of floating houses, barns, rails and produce. The Coquille River swept away settlers' property and there was also great damage on the Rogue River and on other small streams." Economic losses from flood damage were severe, as the rivers in Oregon were the main routes of travel. The riverfront was the building site of mills, freight depots, and storehouses for grain and other foodstuffs. Business houses and many residences were near

5016-517: Was destroyed by the flood in December 1861 and abandoned on June 10, 1862. Bridges were washed away in Trinity and Shasta counties. At Red Dog in Nevada County, William Begole reported that from December 23 to January 22 it rained a total of 25.5 inches (650 mm), and on January 10 and 11 alone, it rained over 11 inches (280 mm). At Weaverville , John Carr was a witness to

5092-583: Was established by an act of the California Legislature to preserve, restore and enhance the San Diego River area. The Conservancy is a non-regulatory agency of the state government with an independent nine-member governing board. It is tasked to acquire, manage and conserve land and to protect or provide recreational opportunities, open space, wildlife species and habitat, wetlands, water quality, natural flood conveyance, historical/cultural resources, and educational opportunities. One important goal

5168-420: Was heaviest on rivers with tributaries arising from the snow-covered Cascade Range. The crest of the Willamette flood was reached at Salem on December 3; at Oregon City on the 4th; at Milwaukie , between Oregon City and Portland , on the 5th; at Albany on December 8. The crests at Albany and Salem were the highest ever known at any time. In Oregon, the flood was one of the largest in the recorded history of

5244-474: Was incorporated in residential infrastructure, evident in Victorian buildings throughout Midtown to Downtown Sacramento. Flood design includes raised front porches with stairs leading down to the street. In addition, small hollow spaces are built into the basement level to allow for basement flooding and aeration. Old Town Sacramento was raised 15 feet above flood level. Ruins of the old city remain underneath

5320-423: Was inundated, and houses in lower Old Town were flooded when severe winds from a sea storm from the south backed the water up from the bay into the river (Pourade 1964:250). This flood was very significant because it held its peak for over twenty-four hours. In 1876, the levee was reconstructed, and no further diversions into San Diego Bay have occurred. Since then, a considerable volume of sediment has been added to

5396-481: Was later observed to flow into San Diego Harbor in 1849 and 1856, and the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey map of 1859 shows it to be flowing there once again. Because of the high deposition rate of the river, which threatened to ruin San Diego Bay as a harbor, the federal government diverted the flow into Mission Bay and built a levee embankment, Derby Dike , of earth extending from near Old Town to Point Loma in

5472-499: Was on its way for the ocean. Arriving at Red Bluff, there was water everywhere as far as the eye could reach, and what few bridges there had been in the country were all swept away. Dozens of wood houses, some two stories high, were simply lifted up and carried off by the flood, as was "all the firewood, most of the fences and sheds, all the poultry, cats, rats and many of the cows and horses". The Chinese in their poorly built shantytowns were disproportionately affected. A chain gang

5548-535: Was preceded by weeks of continuous rains and snows that began in Oregon in November 1861 and continued into January 1862. This was followed by a record amount of rain from January 9–12, and contributed to a flood that extended from the Columbia River southward in western Oregon, and through California to San Diego , as well as extending as far inland as the Washington Territory (now Idaho ),

5624-498: Was recognized as a flood-prone landscape located at the confluence of the American and Sacramento River. John Muir noted the extent of seasonal flooding in Sacramento, "…The greatest floods occur in winter, when one could suppose all the wild waters would be muffled and chained in frost and snow…rare intervals warm rains and warm winds invade the mountains and push back the snow line from 2000 to 8,000 feet, or even higher, and then come

5700-434: Was sent to break open the levee, which, when it finally broke, allowed the waters to rush out of the city center and lowered the level of the flooding by 5–6 feet (1.5–1.8 m). Eventually the waters fell to a level on a par with the lowest part of the city. Politicians addressed the flood risk with an investment of more than $ 1.5 million in flood control and prevention through an improved levee system around Sacramento and

5776-433: Was subject to alternating periods of recession and advance. By February 1951, the river levees had been connected to the jetties. All tidal flow was confined to a new channel. Since the river discharges only during flooding, the middle channel was soon completely filled. The channels were finished by 1955, after various difficulties were overcome and the jetties were considerably lengthened so that shallow bars would not form in

#459540