Description
The Sutter Basin Company Records document the draining of 45,000 acres of land along the Sacramento River near Robbins, California,
and the subsequent use of the land for farming. The collection includes letters and telegrams from Chicago to Sacramento on
all facets of the company, including financing, land sales data, crop data, test gardens, artifacts, maps, blueprints, and
ledgers. The collection also includes two boxes of realia.
Background
The Sutter Basin Company was founded in 1911 with the aim of developing 45,000 acres of land along the Sacramento River in
Sutter County. With funding from Chicago meat packer J. Ogden Armour, a group of businessmen in Sacramento lobbied the state
and federal governments to create Reclamation District #1500. The project raised levees on portions of the Sacramento river,
constructed the Sutter Bypass, and developmed irrigation canals to re-route the flood waters. Prospective buyers started arriving
in 1920 and the Sutter Basin Company continued selling parcels of land until 1946.
Restrictions
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17 of the U.S. Code. All requests for permission to publish or quote
from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publications is given on
behalf of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis as the owner of the physical items and is
not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.
Availability
Collection is open for research.