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Volume 072-1 - January 2018 (6 pages)
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Page: of 6
NCHS Bulletin January 2018
water source. Both agriculture and mining needed lots of
water to be successful.
While most historians now agree that the Gold Rush
was over by the mid-1850s, the migration to California
continued long after that. While many of the men who
had come during the Rush went back home and stayed,
there were others who later returned to California after
they became dissatisfied with their lives and the economy back home. California had become more settled with
towns large and small, and populated with families and
merchants and businesses, and they remembered that it
was a place where you could reinvent yourself and had
limitless opportunities that were not available in the
Eastern States
The men who had originally come to mine and decided
to stay in California realized that in order to prosper in
the micro-economy they would need another occupation
(in addition to mining) that was more reliable. A large
percentage of the men who had come to California came
from an agricultural background. In 1850 more than half
of the 23,191,786 people living in America were farmers
and 64 percent of the labor force was involved in ranching and farming.
By 1858 there were 271 ranches and farms established
in Nevada County.’ There were over 30,000 acres under
cultivation by 1860. Prior to the winter of 1861-62 there
had been several months of drought in Nevada County.
Beginning in November a series of heavy storms hit
Northern California. By January it was reported that
Grass Valley had received a total of 106 inches of rain.
The Sacramento Valley and Marysville
were flooded and Nevada County took up
a collection to send down to the victims.
This would be known as the great flood
year and all the valley crops were lost. The
roads in every part of Nevada County were
in horrific condition and in many places
impassable even for horses. Destruction to
bridges and washed out roads had cut off
many settlements in the foothills.
This caused a county-wide shortage of
both flour and beef. On January 15, 1862,
160 head of beef were able to get through,
and half were taken to Nevada City and
the remainder to Grass Valley and other
towns. The price of flour and beef had skyrocketed, and the supply on hand was running out. By the end of February the last of
the beef had been slaughtered and the pork
was so low that it was predicted that soon
people would be limited to eating only vegetables—and
then only potatoes and carrots were left. All other produce and vegetables had rotted in the ground. Fruit trees
were also dying from a bark disease. That severe winter proved the need for more local farming and ranching
within the county rather than to depend on a steady and
reliable flow of produce, meat and poultry from outside.
The winter of 1864-65 again found the county residents with a meat shortage. Not as severe a winter as
the one of 1861-62, nevertheless, as cattlemen rode all
around the county they could not find twenty animals
“fit to slaughter.” The cattlemen had to go to the Coast
Range to scout for cattle, which then had to be driven,
for safety, a long way around floods that threatened the
lowlands.
Because extremely wet or dry years are not uncommon, a reliable water supply was needed. Finding a way
to retain the water lost when mountain rivers and streams
emptied into San Francisco Bay was a concern for those
who were looking to further develop California. Decade
after decade farmers and ranchers talked of developing
permanent systems of irrigation and storage facilities in
the mountains to store water.
Flumes had carried water across Nevada County to
supply mining operations. Some farmers and ranchers
used the same technique to build their own irrigation
systems. A statewide system was needed, with dams and
storage systems throughout Northern California to provide a dependable water supply for greater agriculture
use by valley growers.
Flumes, first used in mining and made of wood, were used to convey water
over long distances and could be built over terrain where ditches could not be
dug, as shown here. The average life of a flume was about six years, and they
periodically had to be repaired. An average flume was constructed with 1%
inch thick boards and usually was 40 inches wide by 20 inches deep.