Maladjustments in Land Use 



37 



cisterns, inachineiy is unsheltered from the elejuents, 

 and kitclien gardens are conspicuous by their absence. 



At present, fainihes occupying sucli quarters are 

 nearly all on ])ublic relief. In sojue of the "[)roblem" 

 areas between liO and 7n percent of the total rural pop- 

 lation was on i)ul)lic relief in 1934. Even as early as 

 1930 some locaUties showed 20 to 50 percent of their 

 rural inhabitants on relief. In some of the nioie criti- 

 cal districts large nund^ers of itiral fauiilies are jier- 

 manently stranded with no solution in sight save that 

 of their pernmnent retirement from farming in this 

 region. 



In the accompanying table the western or "problem" 

 portion of North Dakota is compared for certain 

 items with the eastern or "nonproblem" portion of 

 the State. 



North Dakota — Contrast between the eastern and western portions 



Uem 



Rainfall average 



Wheat yield per acre 



Land value per acre. 



Farm dwelling value 



Farm incomes under $1,000 gross 



Mortgaged - - 



Seed loans: number of years be- 

 tween 1921-32. 

 Families on public relief: 



.\pril 1930 -- 



October 1933 



East 



16 to 24 inches _ 



13 bushels 



$40 -- 



Many over $2,000-.. 



Under 15 percent 



5 to 25 percent 



1 or 2 years out of 12 



to 15 percent 



3 to 5 percent 



West 



12 to 16 inches. 

 9 bushels. 



$15 to $18. 



Mostly less than $1,000. 



15 to 30 percent. 



50 percent and over. 



4 or 5 years out of 12. 



20 to 50 percent or over. 

 8 to 11 percent. 



California Valleys and Foothills 



Extent and Characteristics.— This region extends in a 

 north-south direction through California, froni Shasta 

 County, near the Oregon line, southward to the Mexican 

 border, and comprises perhaps half the State. The 

 larger portion of the area consists of the Great Central 

 Valley of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers, 

 together with the Coast Ranges on the west and the 

 foothills of the Sierra Nevada on the east which form 

 an almost complete rim of hill country. The remainder 

 consists of the so-called "Valley of Southern Cali- 

 fornia," a triangle of lowland lying between the ocean 

 and the Coast Ranges which latter here swing inland 

 for a distance of 50 to 60 miles. In all save its northern 

 end the region is arid to subhumid in climate. 



The earliest geographic adjustments to environment 

 were pastoral. Later these were superseded by ex- 

 tensive agriculture and placer mining. These in turn 

 have given way, over much of the area, to adjustments 

 in irrigation agriculture, although earlier forms of 

 land utilization persist in a number of locahties. Today 

 many parts of the region are characterized by forms 

 of land utilization which are distinctly uneconomic, 

 and it has been conservatively estimated tliat nearly 

 10,000 farms, including more tiiaii 3, 000, 000 acres, 

 should !)(> retired fnuii agricultural priidiicti<ui. 



These constitute three distinct types of problems 

 as follows: 



1. Submarginal farming areas on th(> lowlands. 



2. Depleted grazing areas in the northern foot- 



hills. 



3. vScattered farm lands in the southern foot- 



hills. 



Red Hani pan Lands of the Sacramento ValJeij. — Along 

 the eastern side of the Sacramento Valley there are 

 large areas of hardpan lands scattered among better 

 agricultural lands. The soils are rich and friable, but 

 are underlain at a depth of perhaps 30 inches by a 

 very dense subsoil layer, impenneable to roots and 

 ground water. Many attempts have been made to 

 settle this area and to raise a wide variety of crops. On 

 the whole, these attempts have proved unsuccessful. 

 Wiere the subsoil has been dynamited tree crops have 

 been fairly successful, but this has proved to be too 

 expensive in most instances. Repeatedly this land 

 has been subdivided and put on the market, with dis- 

 astrous results. Today a considerable farm popula- 

 tion is in serious financial distress. Water is almost 

 universally scarce, houses have fallen into disrepair, tax 

 delinquency is high, and abandonment has occurred 

 quite generally. The resulting dispersed settlement 

 which remams is plagued by an excessive per capita cost 

 for rural education, roads, and governmental service. 



Farther south, on portions of the alluvial fans of the 

 Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced Rivers, and on the 

 gray hardpan along the east side of the San Joaqum 

 River, conditions are equally unfavorable. Additional 

 handicaps are present in the form of excessive alkali 

 and a complete lack of irrigation water. 



Clay Lands of the Santa Clara Valley. — In the south- 

 ern portion of the Santa Clara Valley, there are exten- 

 sive tracts of dense clay soil, upon which attempts to 

 grow fruits and vegetables are being made. Such local- 

 ities are too diy for dependable nonirrigated farming, 

 but when they are irrigated, the orchards and vine- 

 yards are seriously damaged by alkali and poor drain- 

 age. There is needed here a careful land classification 

 and a withdrawal from cultivation of those lands not 

 suited for agriculture. 



Poor Lands of Sovthern California. -In Riverside 

 County there is a large area of medium to poor soil, 

 which has been subdivided into small farms and mar- 

 keted by assiduous salesmanship. The rainfall is defi- 

 cient, irrigation water is scarce or lacking, and extremely 

 active erosion has attended improper cultivation and 

 overgrazing. There has resulted a great amount of tax 

 delmquency and farm abandonment. The area at pres- 

 ent is a social burden and no solution save retirement 

 of arable farming suggests itself. 



Grazing Lands vj the Xorthern Fuothiltis.- Around the 

 edge of the Great Valley the land rises from the valley 



