Monticello | |
|---|---|
Former settlement | |
  Monticello Location in California | |
| Coordinates: 38°34′40″N122°12′26″W / 38.57778°N 122.20722°W Coordinates: 38°34′40″N122°12′26″W / 38.57778°N 122.20722°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| County | Napa County |
| Demolished | 1953–7 |
| Elevation | 443 ft (135 m) |
Monticello was a town in Napa County, California. [1] The site of the settlement is completely covered by Lake Berryessa. [2]
Monticello was a town erected within Rancho Las Putas, a Mexican land grant of 35,516 acres (143.73 km2) given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José de los Reyes Berreyesa and Sexto "Sisto" Berelleza, members of the Berreyesa family of Californios. [2] [3] The grant was enclosed in a river valley with Putah Creek running through it. After California was ceded to the United States in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Berreyesas filed the claim with the American Public Land Commission in their wives' names in 1852, and the grant was patented to them in 1863. [4] [5]
By 1853, José de Jesus and Sisto Berelleza had sold minor parcels of Rancho Las Putas, referred to as Berryessa Ranch by the American settlers, [5] to pay gambling debts. They owed Edward Schultz $1,645 but couldn't pay him in cash; Schultz petitioned the county to auction a major 26,000-acre (110 km2) section of the Berreyesa holdings. In the auction, Schultz paid only $2,000 for the huge parcel, and quickly resold it for $100,000 to a consortium of developers.
In 1866, the developers holding the majority of land in the valley divided Rancho Las Putas into smaller parcels to sell to farmers, and platted a town called Monticello. Within a year, the valley was filled with farmers who enjoyed mild winters and bountiful harvests, especially of wheat. [3] By 1870, Monticello contained a cemetery, a general store, blacksmith shops, hotels and various other businesses. [2] In 1875, a former toll road through the valley was opened to become a public road, maintained by the county. A four- and six-horse stagecoach ran from the 300 men [6] working at the remote quicksilver mining town of Knoxville south through rocky hills to Monticello, where the horses were changed, then west to Napa. [2] The Berreyesas moved from their original hacienda holdings to smaller dwellings. The large adobe estate house belonging to Sisto Berreyesa was left to ruin, but a second, smaller one, was held by a settler named Abraham Clark. [5] In the late 19th century, the valley floor was covered with family farms whose land titles could be traced to the Homestead Act of 1862. Much of the valley floor was covered with dry-farmed wheat and barley fields, with some orchards and grapevines mixed in. Ranching was mostly in the foothills. In 1900 and 1901, news of a high-quality oil strike in Berryessa Valley brought speculators and experts in drilling, but no results. [6]
In 1896, a heavy stone bridge with three large arches was built across Putah Creek about 1.5 miles (2 km) from Monticello, along the road leading to Napa. The bridge cost $19,500 and, at 298 feet (91 m) long, was the largest stone bridge west of the Rocky Mountains. [7] The well-engineered bridge survived the swollen flood of Putah Creek every winter thenceforward. [6]
As early as 1906, proposals were put forward to dam Putah Creek to form a reservoir. In 1907, the Mulholland-Goethals-Davis plan proposed a dam at Devil's Gate, the southeastern limit of the valley. Other plans were formulated, but no proposal was acted upon until 1947 when Solano County and the United States Bureau of Reclamation together formed the Solano Project, a combination of water plans including Monticello Dam, the Putah Diversion Dam, the Putah South Canal, the Terminal Dam and Reservoir, the Green Valley Conduit and various related water distribution systems. [2] Residents of Monticello protested, but California Governor Earl Warren and Solano County promoted the dam as necessary for the economic and agricultural growth of the surrounding area. Residents started leaving the valley to find homes elsewhere. [8]
Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones were commissioned to shoot a photographic documentary of the death of the town, and of the displacement of its residents, for Life, but the magazine did not run the piece. Lange's Aperture magazine, however, devoted one whole issue [9] to the photojournalists' work. [8]
Construction of the dam began in 1953. Vegetation in the valley was chopped down, fences torn down and buildings demolished down to their foundations. The town cemetery was moved to Spanish Flat, a bluff overlooking the valley. The Putah Creek Bridge, too well made to easily demolish, was left in place to be covered by the rising waters. [8] Monticello Dam was completed in 1957, and Lake Berryessa was formed. [2] On February 26, 1957, crews poured the last bucket of concrete for Monticello Dam. Following tradition, they tossed in a few coins as well. [10]
A post office functioned at Monticello from 1867 to 1956. [11]
Fairfield is a city in and the county seat of Solano County, California, in the North Bay sub-region of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately 40 miles (64 km) from the city center of each city, approximately 40 miles (64 km) from the city center of Oakland, less than 19 miles (31 km) from Napa Valley, 16 miles (26 km) from the Carquinez Bridge, and 14 miles (23 km) from the Benicia Bridge. Fairfield was founded in 1856 by clippership captain Robert H. Waterman, and named after his former hometown of Fairfield, Connecticut.
Berryessa Creek is a seasonal creek in northeastern San Jose and Milpitas. Its main source is located in the Los Buellis Hills slightly west of Felter Road. Berryessa Creek has many tributaries, including Piedmont Creek, Calera Creek, and Penitencia Creek. In the summer, Berryessa Creek is mostly dry except in Milpitas, where much of its water comes from urban runoff and tributaries. In winter, however, the creek can flood very high and pose a hazard for surrounding residences. The creek was named after a member of the prominent Basque–Spanish Berreyesa family: Nicolas Berreyesa, a Californio settler granted the Rancho Milpitas in 1834.
Lake Berryessa is the largest lake in Napa County, California. This reservoir in the Vaca Mountains was formed following the construction of the Monticello Dam on Putah Creek in the 1950s. Since the early 1960s, this reservoir has provided water and hydroelectricity to the North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area.
The Suisunes were a Patwin tribe of Wintun people, originating in the Suisin Bay and Suisun Marsh regions of Solano County in Northern California. Their traditional homelands stretched between what is now Suisun City, Vacaville and Putah Creek around 200 years ago. The Suisunes' main village, Yulyul, is believed to be where Rockville, California is located today. Father Abella, visitor to the tribe in 1811, indicated they resided in the present location of Fairfield, north of the Suisun Bay. One of the Suisunes' primary food sources was acorns. Their diet also included fish as well as miner's lettuce. Their huts were conical wikiups made of rushes or tule thatch.
Putah Creek is a major stream in Northern California, a tributary of the Yolo Bypass, and ultimately, the Sacramento River. The 85-mile-long (137 km) creek has its headwaters in the Mayacamas Mountains, a part of the Coast Range, and flows east through two dams. First, Monticello Dam forms Lake Berryessa, below which Putah Creek forms the border of Yolo and Solano Counties, and then flows to the Putah Diversion Dam and Lake Solano. After several drought years in the late 1980s, the majority of Putah Creek went dry, prompting a landmark lawsuit that resulted in the signing of the Putah Creek Accord in 2000. The Accord established releases from the dams to maintain stream flows in Putah Creek, with natural flow regimes which spike in winter/spring and ebb in summer/fall. The restoration of natural flow regimes has resulted in a doubling of riparian bird species and a return of spawning native steelhead trout and Chinook salmon, as well as protecting the livelihood of farmers on the lower watershed.
Monticello Dam is a 304-foot (93 m) high concrete arch dam in Napa County, California, United States, constructed between 1953 and 1957. The dam impounded Putah Creek to create Lake Berryessa in the Vaca Mountains.
The Suisun Valley AVA is an American Viticultural Area in Solano County, California, located just east of the Napa Valley wine region in the Coast Range. It was established as a wine appellation on 27 December 1982, making it among the first AVAs of California, Napa Valley being the first.
This article lists the railroads and a timeline of railroad history in Solano County, California.
The Vaca Mountains are a mountain range in Napa and Solano Counties, California that is one of the California Coast Ranges. They represent the easternmost of the Inner Coast Ranges in north−central California, and divide the Suisun Valley on their west, from the Sacramento Valley on their east.
Rancho Cañada de Capay was a 40,079-acre (162.19 km2) Mexican land grant in present day Yolo County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to the three brothers Santiago, Nemicio, and Francisco Berreyesa. "Cañada de Capay" means "valley of the Capay" in Spanish. "Capay" comes from the Southern Wintun Indian word for "stream". The rancho occupied the Capay Valley on both sides of Cache Creek.
Rancho Las Putas was a 35,516-acre (143.73 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Napa County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José de Jesús Berreyesa and Sexto "Sisto" Berreyesa. The name Las Putas came from Putah Creek, which ran through the property. Most of the grant is now covered by Lake Berryessa.
The Berryessa family is a prominent Californio family of Northern California. Members of the family held extensive rancho grants across the Bay Area during 18th and 19th centuries. Numerous places are named after the family, including the Berryessa district of San Jose and Lake Berryessa in Napa County.
Rancho Mallacomes was a 17,742-acre (71.80 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Napa County and Sonoma County, California given in 1843 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to José de los Santos Berreyesa.
Rancho Rincon de Musalacon was a 8,867-acre (35.88 km2) Mexican land grant in present-day Sonoma County, California given in 1846 by Governor Pío Pico to Francisco Berreyesa. The grant extended along both sides of the Russian River and encompassed present-day Cloverdale and Asti.
Lake Solano is a reservoir formed by Putah Diversion Dam impounding Putah Creek, located in the Vaca Mountains within Yolo County and northern Solano County, California.
Putah Creek Wildlife Area is a state wildlife area of Solano County, California. The 670 acre reserve lies to the southeast of Lake Berryessa, to the south of Monticello Dam and the confluence of Putah Creek and Cold Creek. Trees found here include cottonwood, blue oak and chaparral. Deer, quail, California towhee, Bullock's oriole, and black-headed grosbeak are also found in the area, which also includes Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve.
Stebbins Cold Canyon Reserve is a unit of the University of California Natural Reserve System and is administered by the University of California, Davis. It is within the Blue Ridge Berryessa Natural Area, in the Northern Inner California Coast Ranges.
The County Fire was a wildfire east of Lake Berryessa in Yolo County and Napa County, California in the United States. The fire, first reported on June 30, 2018, in Rumsey Canyon in the community of Guinda, and was contained on July 17, 2018 after burning 90,288 acres. The fire caused mandatory evacuations along Highway 128, County Road 23, and areas around Lake Berryessa, including Monticello Dam. The fire destroyed 20 structures, damaged three, and caused one injury. The fire was started by an improperly installed electric fence for livestock.
The LNU Lightning Complex fires were a large complex of wildfires that burned during the 2020 California wildfire season across much of the Wine Country area of Northern California – Lake, Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and Yolo Counties, from August 17 to October 2, 2020. The complex was composed of numerous lightning-sparked fires, most of which were small. While they ignited separately from each other, the Hennessey Fire eventually grew to merge with the Gamble, Green, Markley, Spanish, and Morgan Fires, scorching 192,000 acres (777 km2) by itself, for a total burn area of 363,220 acres (1,470 km2) in the complex. The fire, which burned in the hills surrounding several large cities, such as Fairfield, Napa, and Vacaville, destroyed 1,491 structures and damaged a further 232. In all, six people were killed and another five injured. The LNU Lighting Complex is the sixth-largest wildfire in the recorded history of California.
The Solano County Water Agency (SCWA) is a wholesale water agency that services the different cities and agricultural districts throughout Solano County, California by providing untreated water from the Federal Solano Water Project and the North Bay Aqueduct of the State Water Project. These cities include Benicia, Dixon, Fairfield, Rio Vista, Suisun City, Vacaville, and Vallejo. In addition to providing wholesale water, the SCWA partakes in flood management and habitat conservation activities such as the Ulatis Flood Control Project and Green Valley Flood Control Project.
Municipalities and communities of Napa County, California, United States | ||
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| Cities and towns |  | |
| CDPs | ||
| Unincorporated communities | ||
| Ghost towns | ||