History

Under the organizational eye and financial leadership of Isaac Parsons, President of the Bank of Hayward, the Netherlands Farming Company was formed and bought the 20,000 acres held by Williams and Bixler that is within the

Reclamation District No. 999 area. After experiencing financial difficulties in the early 1900s, the Netherlands Farming Company was reorganized and became the Holland Land Company with the purpose of improving and selling off the acreage. Under the Holland Land Co., the land was sold and the higher lands of the District were farmed with great success. However, flooding proved to be most severe during many winters.

To develop the land, protective levees were needed and therefore, it was decided to form a reclamation district under the Reclamation Act of 1868. August 10,1913, Reclamation District #999 was formed, which included lands of Reclamation District #I8 formed about 1863, Reclamation District #146 formed in 1872 and Reclamation District #472 formed in 1885. Due to these types of incorporation, the number of districts decreased from over 2000 to only 155 districts currently in the state. Twenty-three are run similarly to Reclamation District #999 with full time staff and management. Others, like in the bypass, might be inactive and contain a very small area, or like Staten Island near Walnut Grove, it may involve only one farm but contain a large area.

Early engineering was done by Gus Olson, Sr., Guy Fraser and Irving Smith. Guy Fraser came to the district first from the Panama Canal project since he worked for Haviland, Dozier & Tibbetts, an engineering firm from San Francisco which engineered the canal. Evidently Guy liked the area and the project and called for the others to follow in this interesting work.