At Michael's urging, I did some cursory investigation
this weekend as to the question of how much of current
rice land in Butte County was confiscated from
Japanese farmers sent to internment camps.
I haven't yet looked at land transactions and title
histories (and won't, Michael, until next month, when
things slow down a bit for me), but it's the consensus
of all the farmers that I've spoken with that *none*
of the rice land was confiscated from Japanese. The
rice lands are in the clay soil regions along the
Sacramento River that can not successfully be used for
row or orchard crops, and so were either left vacant
or were used for cattle grazing until the irrigation
districts were created and the ditches dug and pumping
stations built to transfer Feather River water to the
area for rice fields. There is a surpirsingly broad
spectrum of opinion among the farmers as to when rice
farming began, with people saying everything from 1900
to 1950. I know that the Western Canal District
started in 1918, but that it didn't latch onto most of
its water (buying rights from PG&E) until the 50s, so
I suspect that it's a question of scale. Obviously,
the whole issue needs to be researched more
thoroughly, and I'll do so this summer.
Still, the standard belief (for what's that worth) is
that "there were no Japanese rice farmers" in Butte
County. Local historian Michelle Shover is of the
opinion that Japanese migration to Butte County hadn't
reached appreciable levels until the late 1890s, and
by that time all the land was already been held by
whites. My knowledge is that local Japanese lived in
gigantic work camps around the town of Nord, somewhat
north of the rice fields, and were primarily involved
in truck farming and orchard work. I suspect outright
Japanese ownership of land was more likely to occur in
the southern valley.
More to come.
Tim
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