Delta Map from 1901!

I'd really like to see that, but the link doesn't seem to work. I'll try it again in a few hours.
 
Wow! Sorry about that. The link worked last night. I even tested it from the forum after I posted the message. I have downloaded the file and will try to host it from a different website.

thanks,

Chris
 
Ok, I have put the file on a server that is not under Government control :) (see the first msg)

Let me know if it works!!!

thanks,

Chris
 
OK, that worked. I always wondered what the Delta looked like in it's original state and it's changed quite a bit more than I thought.
 
Yup looks like Bethel Island wasn't and Franks Tract was land attached to the BI area. However, remember all of the delta was swampland until the sloughs were dredged and levees created!
 
Typical librarian behaviour--once something gets popular, restrict its distribution. Personally, I am deeply offended by the added 2001 copyright notice for "CSL", presumably the California State Library. The original 1901 copyright notice appears on the map, which would now put it in the public domain.

BTG
 
Yes, the CSL is for California State Library. The original link to CSL's website appears to be back up.
It is interesting seeing the the San Joaquin before the Deep Water Channel was cut. Also, notice that none of the cuts that connect Disappointment, White's and 14 Mile slough are in place yet. I was also suprised to see the north fork of the Mokelumne connect to the Georgiana slough up near the Sacramento River. This must have been removed when the cross channel gates were put in place.

Chris
 
What a great map. There is the Delta, some 50 after the gold rush and without the twentieth century engineering. Looks like another place. Look where Wood Island is at Rio Vista.

I like to see the old place names, too. I've looked at old road maps that list places like Peter's Pocket on Hass Slough, which was near the one-time steam boat stop of Maine Prairie.

Thanks! I'm saving the map!
 
Then you also see towns that no longer exist such as Bouldin on the tip of Bouldin island. Or Tolands right across from Sherman Island. This is really a neat map.
 
The pilings left from the Bouldin wharfs on the San Joaquin are still on the charts.

You can also look at the old shape of Potato Slough and see why some of the big tules that are there now are privately owned. Those tules are part of Venice Island that were stranded after levee breaks and rebuilding with set-back levees. Venice Island had flooding in 1904, 1906, 1907, 1909, 1932, 1938, 1950 and (whew) 1982.
 
Geez, that sounds worse then the flooding at Viera's [I forget the name of the island.....] Where is Hal Schell when we need him? Oh, ya, well.....we miss you, Hal!
 
That would be Ida Island, which has minor flooding fairly often but only a couple of major floods over all the years. Not much more than a huge sandbar really but a pretty place popular with fishermen. Has a great little boat yard, too: Ament's Marine.
 
Wow, what a surprise the Bethel Island and Franks Tract areas are on that map. And one that really took me by surprise is the Decker Island / Horseshoe Bend area south of Rio Vista - that's the Sacramento River!
 
That is a cool map. I have collected antique charts for many years, and have several of Suisun & SP/SF Bay (and coast) dated back to the 1850's. I also have an old chart of the Sac prior to the channel being dredged. Like that chart, is shows that "Horseshoe Bend" was the bottleneck in the Sac river. Hal Schell was the first person that I learned that Decker island was only created after the Sac deep water channel was dredged. And it's pretty neat to see the twists and turns of the San Joaquin river, that were later straightened out when they dredged for that channel…

Those charts are getting harder, and harder to find. I used to buy them and give them away as gifts to fellow boaters - now I can' find hardly any. But I have my personal stash. Several are framed, more will be later...
 
Mitch, what a neat thing to have as a collection! It would look nice in the Discover the Delta Foundation building when that gets built [http://www.discoverthedelta.com/]
 
Flutter,

Good idea. I'll check that place out when it's open, and see what they have, and see if I have any "extra" charts I can help them with. I also thought about donating one of Suisun Bay to the Martinez Museum if they didn't have something similar.
 
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