1850 American Gold Baron

Chapter 155 California Oligarch

The Sacramento River, also known as the American River, is the largest river in California. Its entire basin is within California. The source of the river is near Mount Shasta.

Most of California is a semi-arid area with a Mediterranean climate. The spatial and temporal distribution of water is extremely uneven. Rainfall is concentrated in early November and late April. Water resources are concentrated in the sparsely populated northwest areas. Central California and southern California have relatively different water resources.

Scarcity.

If agriculture is to be developed, water resources will become an obstacle restricting agricultural development in California.

The best solution is of course to build water conservancy projects to allocate water resources.

In addition, 290km of the 615km-long American River is navigable. Before the completion of the railway connecting the two places, the American River will be the only transportation artery between San Francisco and Sacramento.

The act of building dams to block water and divert water has affected the normal navigation of the navigable sections of the American River.

Currently, more than 90% of California's population lives in and around the two cities of San Francisco and Sacramento.

In order to ensure the normal operation of the two places and ensure the traffic order between the two places, it is also necessary to prohibit gold prospectors from damming the American River.

Liang Yao also built a dam on the American River in the past to pan for gold under the river bed, but this happened at the same time.

At that time, the American River was not yet fully navigable, and there was not much farmland on both sides. The negative impact of damming and cutting off the flow for gold mining was minimal.

Furthermore, Liang Yao only built dams on sections of the river with gold on both sides of the river. But now many irrational gold prospectors don't care whether there is gold in the section of the river. As long as it is a section of the American River, they can build dams to cut off the flow of the river and go for gold.

.

"Building large-scale water conservancy projects costs a lot of money. The state government cannot afford this much money now, and new farmland must be cultivated. With California's population growth rate, the population is likely to exceed 200,000 this year, and our current local food supply

It is difficult to produce enough to supply 100,000 people.

My personal suggestion is to first develop the land with abundant water resources along the San Joaquin River in the Central Valley. Of course, if you want to ensure a bumper harvest next year, necessary water conservancy projects are still indispensable.

Immigrants who are interested in reclamation can join agricultural associations or form reclamation companies and groups on their own, with the state government taking the lead in constructing necessary water conservancy facilities.

Finally, I recommend that the Central Valley be designated as agricultural land exclusively for the state. There is no gold there, and no other valuable mineral resources have been discovered so far, so it is not suitable for mining development."

There is a lot of land suitable for farming in the United States, and it is very large. Large areas of farmland are mainly concentrated in the Great Plains in the middle and the eastern region. The area of ​​farmland in the west is not large either.

The Central Valley is a rare large-area cultivated land in the West. This fertile land is regarded by Liang Yao as California's strategic breadbasket. Before large-scale development, there are few settled immigrants, so laws must be introduced in advance to protect it.

If we wait until there are more people to deal with this problem in the future, it will be much more troublesome and costly than dealing with it now.

The 58,000 square kilometers of cultivated land, as long as it is properly developed and water conservancy facilities are perfect, can support millions of people even without the addition of chemical fertilizers.

“What if mineral resources are discovered in the future?” a member of parliament asked.

"All non-agricultural land in the Central Valley must be applied to the state assembly and the state government. The state assembly and government will approve the mineral resources that need to be mined depending on the specific situation." Liang Yao replied.

After Liang Yao finished his speech, the proposal to ban gold mining activities on both sides of the American River was passed.

Mine owners and legislators are also well-informed. The news that the western part of Nevada has been added to California is already well known in California.

Many mining companies that arrived in Nevada first have found new gold mining areas, and most of the land in Nevada is still in the hands of Liang Yao.

There is no need for those mine owners to get into trouble with Liang Yao over Sacramento, a place where all gold has been mined.

After all, the mine owners who are obsessed with the abandoned mining area in Sacramento are only a few small-minded small mine owners and private gold prospectors. The mine owners and gold prospectors with real strength and vision have shifted the focus of gold mining to inland mountainous areas since the end of last year.

, looking for new gold sources.

Following the ban on gold mining activities on both sides of the American River, there is the issue of encouragement and guarantees for farmers and companies involved in reclamation.

Leading by example, Liang Yao said that Bank of America will continue to provide low-interest loans and low-priced agricultural tools to farmers and companies to support them in reclaiming more wasteland. At the same time, Bank of America will set up a department responsible for agricultural loan business to provide farmers and companies with

The farmers provide attentive service.

After Liang Yao's statement, Robinson also represented Boston Bank and expressed that the Boston company was also willing to provide agricultural low-interest loans.

The only two commercial banks in California have all made statements, and agricultural representatives are very satisfied with this.

Subsequently, state legislators discussed the bill to reduce agricultural taxes, and after deliberation, the state legislators finally reached a consensus.

The tax exemption only applies to newly reclaimed land. Newly reclaimed land enjoys a tax exemption policy for three years. After three years, taxes will be paid normally.

The people currently engaged in agriculture in California are mainly Chinese immigrants, although their proposed tax exemption period is five years.

But this time is mainly used for bargaining. Their bottom line is that newly cultivated land is tax-free for two years. After negotiation, the result is tax-free for three years, which has exceeded their bottom line expectations.

California's tax exemption is real and can be implemented. It is not the tax exemption that only officials and landlords and gentry can enjoy in the Qing Dynasty.

Therefore, they accepted the result of being tax-free for three years.

This is the advantage of a small country with few people. Currently, California only has two cities and one town, with a population of more than 100,000 people distributed very concentratedly. It is relatively easy to manage and the administrative costs are very low.

The California government only reaches the municipal level. There are only two levels of administrative agencies from the state government to the city government, and the administrative efficiency is very high.

Although Los Angeles is still a town due to population problems, as the third largest settlement in California, Los Angeles actually enjoys the same treatment as San Francisco and Sacramento.

All levels of Congress, government, and courts in the United States are parallel, and there is no superior-subordinate relationship.

According to the Constitution of the United States, the U.S. Congress, federal government, and courts cannot impose their will and policies on California.

In the same way, the California state-level assembly, government, and courts are also parallel and cannot exercise jurisdiction over the city-level assembly, government, and courts.

Due to California's special state conditions, there is currently a faint trend in California for the state-level parliamentary government to exercise jurisdiction over the municipal-level government. Two cities and one town follow the state's lead.

This is an unconstitutional act in the United States, and it can only occur where the U.S. Congress and the federal government are beyond the reach of the U.S. Congress and the federal government.

Of course, the main reason for this phenomenon is at the economic level. Liang Yao is the absolute oligarch in California, and his strength is crushing the other small oligarchs. In addition to him, the small oligarchs in California are more or less dependent on him.

As long as he exists, he has no strength to shake Liang Yao's status in California.

California’s units at all levels are also full of others.

In the old states in the east, this situation is absolutely impossible.

The agricultural representatives are satisfied, and they need to give some sweetness to the industrial and mining representatives as compensation.

Only the meat is cut and no meat is given to eat.

Even if these mine owners are an interest group surrounding Liang Yao, Liang Yao's absolute strength in California is very strong, but sooner or later he will become a loner.

The three bills on education, currency, and agriculture are just appetizers for this state legislative meeting, and the biggest event will come next.

Liang Yao took out the long-prepared "California Industrial Five-Year Plan (1851~1856) Draft".

(End of chapter)