History
Scope and Content
Arrangement of the Collection
Access
Processing Information
Acquisition
Preferred Citation
Publication Rights
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis General Library, Dept. of Special Collections
Title: Sutter Basin Company Records
Creator:
Sutter Basin Company
Identifier/Call Number: D-491
Physical Description:
215 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1910-1974
Abstract: 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.
Physical Location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections, as many are stored offsite.
History
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.
Source:
Unpublished history by Janet Alonso, Robbins, California
Scope and Content
The Sutter Basin Company Records document the draining of the Sacramento River flood plain 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.
Arrangement of the Collection
The collection is arranged in four series: 1. Records; 2. Ledgers; 3. Maps; 4. Realia.
Access
Collection is open for research.
Processing Information
Due to the size of the collection and the unclear original order of the records, this collection is arranged by material type
and chronologically by year. Manuscript Archivist Liz Phillips processed this collection and created and encoded the finding
aid with assistance from student employees Alex Dao and Kelley Liang.
Acquisition
Gift of Mohammad A. Gorsi, Janet Alonso, and Steven T. Butler, 2008.
Preferred Citation
Sutter Basin Company Records, D-491, Department of Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.
Publication Rights
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Reclamation of land -- California -- Sutter County.
Flood control -- California -- Sutter Bypass.
Floods -- California -- Sacramento River.
Agriculture -- California -- Sutter County
Sutter County (Calif.) -- History
Sacramento Valley (Calif.) -- History
Sutter Basin Company -- Archives