The Blue Oak: The Prehistory of the Central Sacramento Valley

by Dorothy Ross

"A fascinating historical account of the birth and development of the central Sacramento Valley from the time when native Americans were the only human inhabitants, to the early 1900's when the region matured into an important agricultural center in the state of California. Through the eyes of the early Maidu Indians, The Blue Oak begins when the region was virgin wilderness dominated by wetlands, rivers, and prairies [...] and rumors of early explorers arriving many miles away along the California coast. [....] In the wake of the Gold Rush, the central valley transitioned into an important agricultural center, first with small vineyards and orchards, and then with multi-thousand-acre wheat farms that covered the land in the late 1800's. The book ends in the early 1900's when the huge wheat farms were planted to the fruit and nut orchards that dominate much of the valley's landscape to this day. [....] Dorothy Ross was born in Sutter County and has lived [there] for much of her life. After attending local schools in Live Oak and Yuba City, she graduated from University of California, Berkeley in 1935. As a freelance writer and historian, Mrs. Ross [...] has written and compiled several informal books of early life in California; another book of hers, Jenkins Farms, extends the story of the Blue Oak by describing the details of life on an early Sutter County fruit farm from 1910 to the late 1930s."

51 pages, Paperback

First published December 31, 2005