Fair Oaks Bridge

California

Fair Oaks was sold to Chicago bankers and engineers as a citrus colony, and the bridge they were promised never came.

historicalengineeringdisaster

A Chicago publishing company bought the right to sell this land in 1895 and started advertising it as a citrus colony. Freezes had wrecked orchards in Southern California and Florida, and a national depression had hit in 1893, so the pitch landed. The buyers were mostly friends of the investors. Bankers. Engineers. Businessmen. By 1897 three hundred of them lived here, holding tracts of five, ten, and twenty acres at about thirty dollars an acre, planning to live off fruit orchards. Most had almost no farming experience. What kept them going was a promise that a bridge would be built across the American River to carry their fruit into Sacramento. The next year investment dried up. The Chicago company walked away from the colony, and the promised bridge and railroad walked away with it.

This is the first of 3 parts. The rest runs about 3 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.

What this was written from
These pioneers planned to sustain themselves by planting and cultivating fruit orchards although the majority of them had little experience with farming.

Written from Wikipedia, used under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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