LAND AND WATER POLICIES IN THE SACRAMENTO-SAN-JOAQUIN DELTA

Land and water policies applied in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta before 1933 were instrumental in its becoming a node for the statewide water-supply and -conveyance systems that emerged. For the period from 1850 to 1933 this article examines three aspects of the policies: role of wetlands and state-federal jurisdictional disputes, origin of the policy schism between northern and southern California, and use of waterways to convey mining debris and its effect on agriculture and navigation. The Caminetti Act of 1893 was benchmark legislation for later state-federal cooperation in altering the delta landscape.