River City and Valley Life: An Environmental History of the Sacramento Region

Contents

v Preface vii Introduction: The Indomitable City and Its Environmental Context 1 steven m. avella Part I. Boomtown Sacramento 1. John A. Sutter and the Indian Business 13 albert l. HUrtado 2. River City: Sacramento’s Gold Rush Birth and Transfiguration 31 KennetH n. owens 3. “We Must Give the World Confidence in the Stability and Permanence of the Place”: Planning Sacramento’s Townsite, 1853–1870 61 natHan Hallam 4. Railroads and the Urban Environment: Sacramento’s Story 77 ricHard J. orsi Part II. Valley Reclamation 5. The Perils of Agriculture in Sacramento’s Untamed Hinterland 103 david vaUgHt 6. Rivers of Gold, Valley of Conquest: The Business of Levees and Dams in the Capital City 117 todd Holmes 7. Forging Transcontinental Alliances: The Sacramento River Valley in National Drainage and Flood Control Politics, 1900–1917 135 antHony e. carlson 8. Both “Country Town” and “Bustling Metropolis”: How Boosterism, Suburbs, and Narrative Helped Shape Sacramento’s Identity and Environmental Sensibilities 158 PaUl J. P. sandUl Part III. Government Town 9. Unseen Investment: New Deal Sacramento 185 gray brecHin and lee m. a. simPson CONTENTS 10. The Legacy of War: Sacramento’s Military Bases 200 rand Herbert 11. Recalling Rancho Seco: Voicing a Nuclear Past 216 cHristoPHer J. castaneda Part IV. Reclaiming the Past 12. Dreams, Realizations, and Nightmares: The American River Parkway’s Tumultuous Life, 1915–2011 241 alfred e. Holland, Jr. 13. Thunder over the Valley: Environmental Politics and Indian Gaming in California 267 tanis c. tHorne 14. The Invention of Old Sacramento: A Past for the Future 290 lee m. a. simPson and lisa c. Prince Epilogue: Sacramento, Before and After the Gold Rush 313 ty o. smitH Notes 321 Contributors 385 Index 389 vi contents ...