San Francisco Bay Saline Water Barrier collection
Finding aid prepared by Randal Brandt, WRCA Technical Services Librarian, and Vanessa Yan.
Special Collections & University Archives
The UCR Library
P.O. Box 5900
University of California
Riverside, California 92517-5900
Phone: 951-827-3233
Fax: 951-827-4673
Email: specialcollections@ucr.edu
URL: http://library.ucr.edu/libraries/special-collections-university-archives
© 1999
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
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.
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.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
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
Preferred Citation
[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.
Acquisition Information
Provenance unknown.
Processing History
Processed by Randal Brandt, WRCA Technical Services Librarian, and Vanessa Yan, 1999.
Collection Number
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.
Historical Note
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.
Collection Scope and Contents
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.
Collection Arrangement
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
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
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
Genres and Forms of Materials
Articles
Correspondence
Reports
Series 1. Reber Plan
1930-1962, undated
Box 1, Folder 1
Joyous map of the Reber Plan
undated
Scope and Contents
New Year's card sent out by Mr. and Mrs. John Reber; includes Reber's business card.
Box 1, Folder 2
Reber, John. Statement on behalf of the Reber Plan
1946
Scope and Contents
Includes biographical information and Reber's history of the development of his plan.
Box 1, Folder 3
Legislation related to the Reber Plan
1949-1953
Scope and Contents
Bills introduced to the California legislature, includes: AB 1838; AB 488; 527; AB 3489; and SB 416.
Box 1, Folder 4
Resolutions supporting the Reber Plan
1941-1959
Scope and Contents
File includes resolutions and endorsements of the California legislature, the Mission Optimist Club, the San Francisco Board
of Supervisors, the United States Congress, the California Farm Bureau, the Santa Clara County Farm Bureau, the St. Francis
Kiwanis Club of San Francisco, the Shafter (Calif.) Chamber of Commerce, the Madera County National Farm Loan Association,
the Madera County Board of Supervisors, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco District, and others.
Box 1, Folder 5
Statements and addresses by Brigadier General Philip G. Bruton on the Reber Plan
1948-1951
Scope and Contents
Includes presentations made at the Irrigation Districts Association of California, Semi-Annual Convention, the Farm Bureau
Land and Water Western Regional Conference, and the Dolwig Committee of the California Assembly on Tidelands Reclamation and
Development, Related Traffic Problems and Relief of Congestion on Transbay Crossings.
Box 1, Folder 6
California Water, Transit and Defense Project, Inc.
1952
Scope and Contents
Correspondence pertaining to the Reber Plan between Henry E. Tweed and Bernard A. Etcheverry, brochure entitled Water for
30 million Californians, and memoranda.
Box 1, Folder 7
Allen Engineering Associates, Inc.
1952-1955
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, maps, brochures, and proposals chiefly related to "The High Line" Toll Expressway and Water Pipe Lines.
Box 1, Folder 8
C. W. Schedler file
1946-1955
Scope and Contents
Includes Comments on the Reber Plan, The Reber Plan: data taken from report of the Joint Army-Navy Board on an Additional
Crossing of San Francisco Bay, and Salinity control barriers in the San Francisco Bay, which discusses the Reber Plan, the
Biemond Plan, and other barrier plans.
Box 1, Folder 9
California Development Program
undated
Scope and Contents
Materials lobbying for construction of salt water barriers "to accomplish the double purpose of conserving water plus solving
trans-bay land transportation for all time to come."
Box 1, Folder 10
Pacific Rural Press
1947-1953
Scope and Contents
Reprints of articles published in California Farmer, letters written by editor John E. Pickett, etc.
Box 1, Folder 11
Miscellaneous statements, addresses, comments, correspondence, etc., related to the Reber Plan and other saline water barrier
plans for San Francisco Bay
1949-1962
Scope and Contents
Includes: Statement on the Reber Plan to the Senate Committee on Public Works, San Francisco, December 12 1949 by William Q. Wright; Statement by the Bureau of Reclamation relative to the water problems of the San Francisco Bay Area,
December 1949; Recreational aspects of the Reber Plan, December 5, 1949 by Miss Josephine D. Randall, San Francisco Superintendent of Recreation; Testimony by Col. Dwight F. Johns, Division Engineer,
before the hearings of Senate Subcommittee on Rivers and Harbors and Flood Control, San Francisco, December 12, 1949; Statement before the Fact-Finding Committee of the California Assembly on Tidelands Reclamation and Development, Related
Traffic Problems, and Relief of Congestion on Transbay Crossings, San Francisco, March 7-8, 1951 by John E. Pickett; Representative sites for salt water barriers below Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, October 16, 1952 by T. R. Simpson; Statement of comments and proposals concerning California water shortage, Bay Area reclamation, and transbay
crossings, June 9, 1959 by Andrew C. Swanson; Barriers in the San Francisco Bay system, April 29, 1955 by Walter G. Schulz; Salt routing in a tidal estuary, 1956? by Don H. Nance; San Francisco Bay barrier study, 1962 by W. J. Homan.
Box 1, Folder 12
The Savage report
1951
Scope and Contents
Summaries, comments, etc. on Report on development of the San Francisco Bay Region, by John L. Savage and International Engineering
Company, focusing on the portions of the report dealing with the Reber Plan, by C. W. Schedler, John E. Pickett, and R. F.
Kelker, Jr.
Box 1, Folder 13
Press releases announcing hearings, meetings, publications, etc., related to the Reber Plan
1950-1954
Box 1, Folder 14
Maps, diagrams, etc., of the Reber Plan
1942-1954
Box 1, Folder 15
Magazine articles, reprints, etc., on the Reber Plan
1930-1958
Scope and Contents
Includes: The salt water barrier, by Ben Allen, published in Pacific Purchasor, April 1930; San Francisco Bay Project, published in Western Construction News, March 1942; The Reber Plan, by Dan Cameron, published in California Engineer, December 1947; They want to rebuild San Francisco Bay, by Frank J. Taylor, published in the Saturday Evening Post, November 18, 1950; The great San Francisco Bay bridge fracas: ol' man Reber, he jest keeps rollin' along, published in Fortnight, November 26, 1951; The Reber Plan, by Loren Salladay, published in San Jose State Engineer, December 1954; etc.
Box 1, Folder 16
Newspaper clippings on the Reber Plan and saline water barriers
1946-1958
Box 2, Folder 17
Nishkian, L. H. Report on the Reber Plan and bay land crossing to Joint Army-Navy Board, San Francisco, August 12-15, 1946.
San Francisco: Real Estate Association of San Francisco, Inc. distributor
1946
Scope and Contents
Includes reprints of articles appearing in San Francisco Chronicle, San Francisco News, Engineering News-Record, Pacific Rural
Press, and San Francisco Progress.
Box 2, Folder 18
Schedler, C. W. Disadvantages of the Reber Plan presented before Joint Army-Navy Board on Second Bay Crossing, San Francisco,
California
August 1946
Box 2, Folder 19
Allin, B. C. Analysis of the Reber Plan for hearing before Joint Army-Navy Board on Second Bay Crossing, San Francisco, Calif.
1946 August 12
Scope and Contents
Statement of consulting engineer against the Reber Plan.
Box 2, Folder 20
Schedler, C. W. Comments on the Reber Plan
December 1949
Scope and Contents
Prepared for Sen. Sheridan Downey at the hearing of Public Works Committee in San Francisco, California.
Box 2, Folder 21
Savage, John L. Report on development of the San Francisco Bay Region. San Francisco: International Engineering Company,
Inc.
January 1951
Scope and Contents
Prepared for the Fact-Finding Committee of the California Assembly on Tidelands Reclamation and Development, Related Traffic
Problems and Relief of Congestion on Transbay Crossings, January 1951 Includes significant discussion of the Reber Plan and recommendations for modification.
Series 2. Miscellaneous Saline Water Barrier Materials
1920-1963
Box 2, Folder 22
Cushing, Paul J. Salt water barriers in the San Francisco Bay
1953 March 6
Scope and Contents
Address presented before the American Society of Civil Engineers, at San Francisco, California. Discusses various barrier
plans, including the Reber Plan, Savage Plan, etc.
Box 2, Folder 23
Cushing, Paul J. Analysis and report on a salt water barrier dam across north San Francisco Bay below San Pablo Bay
1953 March 25
Scope and Contents
Report developed with the assistance and concurrence of Warren H. McBryde, John Reber, Capt. O. W. Swainson, Gen. Philip G.
Bruton and others. Discusses several possible sites.
Box 2, Folder 24
American Society of Civil Engineers, San Francisco Section, Committee on Bay Barriers. Bibliography on San Francisco Bay barriers
circa 1954
Box 2, Folder 25
Oakland Chamber of Commerce, Industrial Water Committee. Summary of Walker R. Young report on the salt water barrier project
below confluence of Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, California
1930 December 1
Box 2, Folder 26
C. C. Walker file
1920-1930
Scope and Contents
Walker's plan was to build a barrier dam across the Golden Gate instead of a bridge. Includes correspondence, pamphlet (Dam
- bridge, which?), etc.
Box 2, Folder 27
Commonwealth Club of California
1929-1930
Scope and Contents
Reports, addresses, remarks, etc., related to salt water barriers presented to various sections of the Club. Includes The
salt water barrier, published in Transactions of the Commonwealth Club of California, vol. 24, no. 9 (December 31, 1929).
Box 2, Folder 28
Analyses of proposals considered by the Hoover-Young Commission as solutions to the salt water encroachment problem in the
upper reaches of San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta
1930
Scope and Contents
Letter reports to C. W. Schedler, President of the Association of Water Users of Contra Costa and Solano Counties, Pittsburg,
Calif., dated December 8th and December 19th, respectively, written by H. W. Crozier, Consulting Engineer.
Box 2, Folder 29
Report on Sacramento, San Joaquin Kern Rivers, California : prepared under provisions of H.Doc. no. 308, 69th Cong., 1st
sess. Appendix "D", Tidal currents silt
circa 1930
Scope and Contents
Includes: Study of tidal currents and silt movements in the San Francisco Bay Area with particular reference to the effect
of a salt water barrier upon them / by C.I. Grimm, Principal Engineer.
Box 2, Folder 30
Study of tidal currents and silt movements in the San Francisco Bay Area with particular reference to the effect of a salt
water barrier upon them. Study of the design and operation of a salt water barrier in the San Francisco Bay
1930
Scope and Contents
"Prepared in connection with report upon Sacramento, San Joaquin and Kern Rivers under provisions of House Document 308, 69th
Cong., 1st sess."
Box 2, Folder 31
Water problems of California
1953-1955
Scope and Contents
Includes: Salt water barriers in the San Francisco Bay, by B. L. Nishkian (presented at San Francisco Convention, March 3-6,
1953, Waterways Division, American Society of Civil Engineers); Water problems of California, by O. W. Swainson (comments
made in September 1955 on the feasibility of construction of barriers in the San Francisco Bay system; discusses the Biemond
Plan).
Box 2, Folder 32
Bay Barriers, Incorporated, Petaluma, California
1952-1962
Scope and Contents
Correspondence, addresses, etc., of Beaven J. Badger, President.
Box 2, Folder 33
San Francisco Salinity Control Barrier Investigation of the Water Project Authority of the State of California
1953-1954
Scope and Contents
Investigation authorized by the Abshire-Kelly Salinity Control Barrier Act of 1953. Includes: Statement with regard to the
San Francisco Salinity Control Barrier Investigation, by Herbert A. Howlett and second and third progress reports of the Board
of Consultants.
Box 2, Folder 34
Tomasini, T. A. A positive program, 1920-1955: a combined road and water system for California: exhibits data: Tomasini Combined
Projects
circa 1955
Scope and Contents
Includes copies of correspondence.
Box 2, Folder 35
United States. Army. Corps of Engineers. San Francisco District. Comprehensive survey of San Francisco Bay and tributaries,
California: summary of appendices, exhibits and supplements
July 1963
Scope and Contents
Survey examines several aspects of the feasibility of constructing salt water barriers. Includes: Chronological development
of comprehensive San Francisco Bay survey. July 1963
