Description
Business papers, correspondence, legal papers, Natomas Company papers, scrapbooks.
Background
Amos P. Catlin was born in New York January 25, 1823, where he studied law and came to California in 1849. He formed a law
partnership in Sacramento with John Currey in 1850. In 1851, he organized the Natomas Water and Mining Company to provide
water from the American River for agriculture and mining. In 1852, he was elected State Senator for Sacramento and was instrumental
in permanently locating the state capital at Sacramento. He helped to defeat a scheme to extend the waterfront of San Francisco
600 feet further into the bay. In 1863, he argued the Leidesdorff ranch case before the United States Supreme Court and won
the case. He was a friend of Theodore D. Judah and defended his reputation in articles appearing the the Sacramento Union. He subsequently served as editor of the Sacramento Unionand a judge of the Superior court. He died in Sacramento on November 8, 1900.