[pct-l] Curiouser

[StoneDancer1 at aol.com (StoneDancer1@aol.com)]

In  the winter of 1861-62 California had RAIN.  From November 6th through 
January 18th, in  Sacramento it rained 32 3/4" and it wasn't done.  In the Sierra 
foothills, there was  substantially more.  In Sonora,  between November 11th 
and January 14th, it rained 72?. The  area around Sacramento was a lake about 
300 miles long and from 20 miles to 60  miles wide.  By January  31st, the 
amounts had increased to 37? in Sacramento and 102? in  Sonora. The amount of 
snow must have been a  thing to see.  Sacramento was cut off from the world ? 
the telegraph  poles were underwater.   The  highest house in the city, that of 
one Judge Field, had 2 feet of mud in its  rooms after the waters receded.   
Of course, the Army Corps of Engineers ? those busy little beavers  dedicated 
to turning America?s waterways into concrete sloughs  - have long since dammed 
(or is it  damned?) the rivers and made a repeat unlikely.  Here in the Sierra 
foothills, a bit  south of Sonora, it has rained 21? so far this winter.  A 
mere pittance? all things  considered. 

"No Way" Ray  Echols