[Mike Darancette]

The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys were water-logged and spontaneous lakes popped up in the Mojave Desert and Los Angeles basin. Nearly a third of the young state's taxable land was destroyed.

I'm not surprised since there was no flood control back then. I would Imagine that back then the Central Valley (especially the southern part) flooded to some extent most years from Sierra snow melt. Where else did all that good soil came from?

[editor-surveyor]

Remember Tulare Lake?

Things do change, and all that “destroyed” land didn’t just go away!