This 1861 photograph shows flooding at K and Front Streets. A nine-year stretch of calm weather was broken with record flooding in the winter of 1861/1862. The "What Cheer House" saloon is prominent to the right of the photograph as is Ebner's...
This 1879 photograph captures a youngish California State Capitol building as viewed from the corner of Tenth and L Streets. The building's raised posture was due to a desire to avoid flooding. Accordingly, in 1862, workers hauled wheelbarrows of...
This photograph, looking east, of a deluged J Street near Fourth Street captures the scale of the flood of December 1861. In the foreground is a sign for dentist W.H. Thomas, and the dry goods store of Patrick O'Connell and Jonathon Ryan. Just...
This February 29, 1904, photograph captures flooding just below the Y Street Levee. The break in the levee occurred on February 27 near the Freeport Boulevard farm and residence of Eustace R. Edwards, resulting in the inundation and loss of nearly...
A flooded Del Paso Boulevard is the subject of this February 1927 photograph. A rain and wind storm on February 16/17 pushed the American and Sacramento Rivers over their banks. In spite of the flooded artery, residential sections of North...
This spring 1868 picture – as taken from the roof of the Pioneer Milling Company at Front and G Streets – shows the Central Pacific Railroad as it ran along the northerly section of China Slough, also known as Sutter Lake or Sutter Slough. At...
Two pine trees and an ancient retaining wall are the backdrop for flooding along the American River, near Folsom in January 1997. The highest volume of water to fill the American equaled 115 cubic feet per second a figure which was considered safe...
A massive eddy forms in the flooded American River, near Folsom in January 1997. Sacramento County damages from the New's Day tropical storm -- often referred to as the Hawaiian Pineapple Express -- were estimated at 7 million dollars, with...
In this January 1997 photograph, waters of a flooded American River tear below Folsom's Rainbow Bridge. At the time of the flood, only seven percent of Sacramento properties absorbing damage held flood insurance. Overall, and at the time of the...
This February 1927 photograph shows two police officers and a police car idling in flood waters near the northern bank of the American River and Del Paso Boulevard. The culprit was a storm that brought sixty mile and hour winds and an overnight...
A flooded Del Paso Boulevard in 1927. The photograph shows the flood past its peak, with people holding umbrellas and walking on a less-flooded portion of the street.
Pictured in 1927 is a flooded Del Paso Boulevard. The Woodlake Service Station at 1212 Del Paso Boulevard is partially submerged. Noteworthy is the advertisement of gasoline at 19 cents a gallon. The station was vacated by after the flood, only...
This 1962 photograph captures a razed lot between J and K Streets and Third and Fourth Streets. In the distance are Dave’s Men’s Store at 230 K Street and the Club Café Tavern at 231 K Street. Beyond that, one can see the spires of the Tower...
Amassed before the gutted Comstock Building on July 3, 2003, are units of the Sacramento Fire Department. The fire started at 5 a.m., making short work of the historically vital building, constructed in 1861 and shown to the left. Started soon...
A darkened and flooded American River swells over its banks near Folsom in January 1997. The tropical, El Nino-style storm, which left 6.79 inches of rainfall in the Sacramento area, followed similar events in 1995, 1987, and 1982. Sacramento's...
Shown in January 1997 is a portion of the flooded American River, near Folsom. The power of a New Year's Day tropical storm drove an assortment of debris down the lower American River into Lake Folsom including parts of five cabins, 20 propane...
Rapids fill the flooded American River near Folsom in this January 1997 photograph. The Folsom Dam's ability to control the amount of release from Folsom Lake was crucial in minimizing the volume of water running downstream toward Sacramento. ...
This January 1997 photograph captures a torrent of water innundating Negro Bar along the American River. By January 3, the entirety of the 23-mile-long American River Parkway had been submerged by way of the rain from New Year's storms, with the...
This January 1997 photograph shows the Nimbus Dam on a flooded American River. At the height of New Year's storms, the river was gushing out of the dam at 115,000 cubic feet per second, a marked difference from the 5,000 that the structure was...
