Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
at the conl uence of the Sacramento and American rivers, was in many
ways a hub: the young state's sparkling new capital; an important com-
mercial and agricultural center; and the terminus for stagecoaches, wagon
trains, the pony express, and riverboats from San Francisco. h e newly
installed telegraph connecting California with New York was located in
Sacramento.
Of course, l oods in Sacramento were not unknown to the residents, yet
nothing could have prepared them for the deluges and massive l ooding that
engulfed the city that winter of 1861-62. A lfred Doten of Milpitas described
the scene in his diary:
At er the inundations of the memorable winter of '52-3, a high levee or
embankment was built around the city, in order to protect it from all future
l oods. It answered very well for such i ne winters as we have had since then,
but this winter it could not fence out the big waters. h e raging l oods of the
American, and Sacramento, attacked the devoted city, both in the rear and in
the front. Over the levee came the leaping waters, scornfully laughing at the
puny obstructions that the presumptuous hand of man had placed in its way.
h e alarm bells sounded, and people rushed hither and thither to save what
they could, or to note the progress.
Along the street levels, and over the sidewalks, rushed the gliding demon
of destruction, submerging street at er street, until at last it had complete
possession of the doomed city. Still and steadily rose the water over the curb-
stones, over the doorsteps, and into the houses, stores, and hotels it rushed.
Many small wooden buildings l oated of down stream, and some of the walls
of the brick buildings, becoming gradually undermined by the action of the
current, settled and fell. Boats were out everywhere, rescuing those who were
in danger. (Van Tilburg Clark 1973, 648)
h e l oodwaters rose one foot per hour throughout the at ernoon, eventually
submerging the entire city of Sacramento under ten feet of brown, debris-
laden water. h e water was so deep and dirty that no one dared to move about
the city except by boat (see i gure 10). Indeed, the entire Sacramento Valley
was submerged from the foothills of the Sierra Nevada to the Coast Ranges,
with only some hills and Native American shell mounds peaking up from
the water like islands.
California's new governor, Leland Stanford, was to be inaugurated on
January 10, 1862, but l oodwaters swept through Sacramento on the day of
his inauguration, submerging the city. As citizens l ed the city by any means
possible, the inauguration ceremony took place at the capital building despite
