THE GREAT CALIFORNIA FLOOD OF 1862

[Monsoon]

THE FORTNIGHTLY CLUB
OF REDLANDS, CALIFORNIA - Founded 24 January 1895

THE GREAT CALIFORNIA FLOOD OF 1862
BY
W. LEONARD TAYLOR M.D.
AND
ROBERT W. TAYLOR Ph.D.

SUMMARY



In 1860 California had been a state for 10 years. The state hired an excellent team of men from Yale, including Josiah Whitney and William Brewer, for a long term in-depth investigation of the state’s resources. They were just two years into their studies when the great flood of 1862 bankrupt the state, and soon thereafter terminated their lofty project. A fourth of the state’s economy was destroyed.

This flood transformed the Sacramento Valley into an inland sea, covering the tops of telegraph poles with steamboats passing over the farmlands to deliver goods and rescue survivors. The Santa Ana River formed two large lakes – one in the Inland Empire and another in the flood plain of Orange County. Probably the only definite high water mark in Southern California is at the Aqua Mansa, just south of the present city of Colton. Hydrologic studies at Aqua Mansa, document a discharge in 1862, three times the magnitude of anything since. In Northern California, a high-water measurement on the American River in 1862, suggesting a very high flow, appears to be ignored.

Considering the massive encroachment of human habitation into the river basins and flood planes of California one can only hope that should such an event recur -- present remedial action will be adequate. Warnings, however, as recently as 2003 by Dr. Arndt Schimmelmann of Indiana University, and many investigators reporting at a February, 2006 meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, suggests otherwise.

http://www.redlandsfortnightly.org/papers/Taylor06.htm

[xchrom]

1. that valley will flood again.

water is part -- seasonal flooding - of what made it.

[OnlinePoker]

2. And if it does, it will be blamed on climate change. n/t

[xchrom]

3. and that may very well be the reason.

reasons for a thing happening vary.

[Codeine]

4. I live just a few miles from Agua Mansa.

I'd always heard it flooded and pushed out an early settlement, but I didn't know the extent of it. Crazy.

[diane in sf]

5. The central valley has been an inland sea in past epochs and the coast has been 10 miles

further west than it is now with the SF Bay being a river. If the central valley floods it will really trash US food production. But there will be a massive amount of sea front property available--I'll be looking for Marina Del Lex.