Timelines

Overview February 12, 2014

Historical Timelines

Chronologies and timelines of some of California’s major water sources.

Aquapedia background January 30, 2014

1769 First permanent Spanish settlements established. Water rights established by Spanish law.

1848 Gold discovered on the American River. Treaty of Guadalupe signed, California ceded from Mexico, California republic established.

1850 California admitted to Union. Construction begins on Delta levees and channels.

1860 Legislature authorizes the formation of levee and reclamation districts.

1862 Major flood in Sacramento Valley inundates new city.

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600 Ancestral Pueblo and Hohokam Indians develop water distribution systems.

1500 Spanish explorers introduce livestock and ditch systems called acequias.

1847 Mormons arrive in the Salt Lake Valley; begin cultivating farmland.

1859 Oliver Wozencraft promotes idea of irrigating the Imperial Valley.

1865 Lower Colorado River lands begin to be set aside for American Indians.

Aquapedia background February 10, 2014

1849-1850 Gold discovered in the Lower Klamath Basin. Farms and ranches established in the Scott and Shasta valleys.

1855 Klamath River Reservation established on the Lower Klamath River.

1864 Hoopa Valley Tribe and Klamath Tribes cede most of their lands for settlement but retain large reservations.

1868 Two farmers dig first irrigation ditch in the Upper Klamath Basin.

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1772 First recorded sighting of the Bay Delta by Spanish explorers.

1849 Settlers begin farming in the Delta.

1861 Reclamation District Act authorized, allowing drainage of Delta lands and construction of sturdier flood control levees.

1879 The striped bass is brought by rail from the East Coast to the Delta.

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