Chapter 152: California Oligarch

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

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

If agriculture is to be developed, water resources will become an obstacle to the development of California agriculture.

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

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

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

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

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

Liang Yao also built dams on the American River to pan for gold under the river section, but this is a different time.

At that time, the American River was not yet fully navigable, and there were not many farmlands on both sides. The negative impact of damming and blocking the flow of gold was minimal.

Moreover, Liang Yao built dams on the river sections where gold was distributed on both sides, while many irrational gold diggers now do not care whether there is a river section with gold or not. As long as it is a section of the American River, they can build dams to block the flow of gold.

"It costs a lot of money to build large-scale water conservancy projects. The state government cannot afford so much money now, and new farmland must be reclaimed. With California's population growth rate, this year's population is likely to exceed 200,000, and our current local food production is difficult 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 good harvest next year, necessary water conservancy projects are still indispensable.

Immigrants who are interested in reclaiming wasteland can join agricultural associations, or form reclamation companies and groups on their own, and the state government will take the lead in building necessary water conservancy facilities.

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

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

The Central Valley is a rare large area of ​​arable land in the West. Liang Yao regards this fertile land as a strategic granary of California. While it has not been developed on a large scale and there are few settled immigrants, laws must be enacted 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.

As long as the 80,000 square kilometers of arable land are properly developed and the water conservancy facilities are complete, even without the addition of fertilizers, it can support millions of people.

"If mineral resources are discovered in the future." A congressman raised his question.

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

The mine owners and congressmen were also well-informed. The news that the western Nevada region was incorporated into California was already known to everyone in California.

Many mining companies that have reached Nevada have already 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 miners to quarrel with Liang Yao over Sacramento, where gold has been mined out.

After all, the miners who are fighting against the abandoned mining area in Sacramento are only a few stubborn small miners and private gold diggers. The miners and gold diggers with real strength and vision have shifted the focus of gold mining to inland mountainous areas since the end of last year to find new gold producing areas.

After banning gold mining activities on both sides of the American River, it is a question of encouragement and protection for farmers and companies in reclamation.

Liang Yao set an example by saying that Bank of America will continue to provide low-interest loans and low-cost agricultural tools to farmers and companies in reclamation to support them in reclaiming more wasteland. At the same time, Bank of America will set up a special department to be responsible for agricultural loan business and provide intimate services to farmers and ranchers.

After Liang Yao expressed his position, Robinson also represented Boston Bank and said that Boston Company was also willing to provide low-interest loans to agriculture.

The only two commercial banks in California have all expressed their positions, and agricultural representatives are very satisfied with this.

Subsequently, state legislators discussed the proposal to reduce agricultural taxes. After deliberation, state legislators finally reached a consensus.

The tax reduction is only for newly reclaimed land. Newly reclaimed land enjoys a three-year tax exemption policy. After three years, normal taxes will be paid.

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

But this time is mainly used for bargaining. Their bottom line is that newly reclaimed land is tax-free for two years. The result of negotiation is three years of tax exemption, 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 in the Qing Dynasty can enjoy.

Therefore, they also accepted the result of three years of tax exemption.

This is the advantage of a small country with few people. At present, California has two cities and one town. The population of more than 100,000 is very concentrated, which is relatively easy to manage and has very low administrative costs.

The California government is only at the city level. From the state government to the city government, there are only two levels of administrative agencies, 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.

The congresses, governments, and courts at all levels in the United States are parallel, and there is no superior-subordinate relationship.

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

Similarly, the congresses, governments, and courts at the state level in California are also parallel, and cannot exercise jurisdiction over the congresses, governments, and courts at the city level.

Due to the special situation of California, there is a trend that the state-level parliamentary government in California is governing the city-level government. Two cities and one town follow the lead of the state.

This is unconstitutional in the United States, and it can only happen in places where the US Congress and the federal government are out of reach.

Of course, the main reason for this phenomenon is still at the economic level. Liang Yao is the absolute oligarch in California, and his strength is overwhelming other small oligarchs. In addition to him, the small oligarchs in California are more or less dependent on him, and have no strength to shake Liang Yao's position in California.

There are others everywhere in all levels of units in California.

In the old states in the east, this situation will never happen.

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

Only cut the meat, but don't give the meat to eat.

Even if these mine owners are interest groups around Liang Yao, Liang Yao's absolute strength in California is very strong, but sooner or later he will become a lonely man.

The three bills on education, currency, and agriculture were just appetizers for this state assembly meeting. The next step was the main event.

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