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1911 Map of Sanborn Slough

Name: 1911 Topographic Map of Sanborn Slough
Creator: U.S. Geological Survey
Published: 1911
License: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

USGS Topo · Published 1911

About this map

The expansive Butte Sink wetland complex dominates this 1911 survey of the Sacramento Valley floor, where the borders of Colusa, Butte, and Sutter counties converge. The landscape is defined by an intricate network of waterways, including Butte Creek, Sanborn Slough, and Angel Slough, which trace the low-lying basin. This survey, conducted just after the turn of the century by R.B. Marshall and T.G.Gerdine, captures the area before modern large-scale water management fully transformed the natural floodplains.

Evidence of early 20th-century rural life is visible in the northwest corner at the Harmony School, situated along an early road network. The map also clearly delineates the Mt Diablo Meridian, a critical surveying line that governed land division in Northern California. For researchers, the map provides a look at the natural drainage patterns and the specific county boundary lines as they were defined during the tenure of Governor J.N. Gillett.