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San Francisco Bay Saline Water Barrier collection
WRCA 116
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Title: San Francisco Bay Saline Water Barrier collection
Date (inclusive): 1920-1963
Collection Number: WRCA 116
Extent:
0.83 linear feet
(2 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Riverside, CA 92517-5900
Abstract: The collection consists of materials covering various saline water barrier plans for San Francisco Bay, with emphasis on the
Reber Plan.
Languages: The collection is in English.
The collection is open for research.
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives.
Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission
of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable
rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user
[identification of item], [date if possible]. San Francisco Bay Saline Water Barrier collection (WRCA 116). Water Resources
Collections and Archives. Special Collections & University Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Provenance unknown.
Processed by Randal Brandt, WRCA Technical Services Librarian, and Vanessa Yan, 1999.
Collection number updated February 2019. Legacy collection number was MS 84/3. This change was part of a project in 2018/2019
to update the collection numbers for collections in the Water Resources Collections and Archives.
During the early 20th century, San Francisco Bay Area officials considered many different ideas for solving a variety of
problems, including a dwindling supply of fresh water, congested roadways, insufficient means to handle trans-bay traffic,
and the encroachment of saline waters into the upper San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. In response to
these problems, several visionary individuals and groups developed multi-purpose plans for the area.
By far, the most popular and well-publicized plan was the Reber Plan. Originally called the San Francisco Bay Project, the
plan was developed by John Reber, a former schoolteacher and theatrical producer. Reber's plan would create two fresh water
lakes in the upper and lower bays by means of earth and rock fill dams between Richmond and Marin County, and San Francisco
and Oakland. Over these dams would pass high-speed roads and railways. The Reber Plan claimed it would provide 20,000 acres
of additional filled land, increase the deep-water harbor by 50 miles, and conserve 2,400,000 acre-feet of fresh water annually.
Critics pointed out the plan's destruction of commercial fisheries, increased sewage disposal problems, adverse effects on
the ports of Oakland, Stockton, and Sacramento and flooding potential. Although it attracted considerable attention, even
that of the editors of the Saturday Evening Post, the Reber Plan was opposed by the State of California, the Bureau of Reclamation
and the Army Corps of Engineers and was never adopted.
This collection consists of reports, correspondence, addresses, essays, news clippings, magazine and journal articles, maps,
and drawings detailing several ideas and schemes for constructing salt-water barriers across San Francisco Bay.
The collection is arranged topically into 2 series as follows:
- Series 1. Reber Plan, 1930-1962, undated
- Series 2. Miscellaneous Saline Water Barrier Materials, 1920-1963
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Reber, John, 1887-1960
Savage, John L. (John Lucian), 1879-1967
Schedler, C. W. (Carl William)
Biemond plan
Bridges -- San Francisco Bay (Calif.)
Dams -- San Francisco Bay (Calif.)
Saline water barriers -- California -- San Francisco Bay
Saltwater encroachment -- California -- Delta Region
Water resources development -- California -- San Francisco Bay Area
Articles
Correspondence
Reports