Map Of Delhi

Sarah Lim: The State Land Act and the rise of Delhi

As part of the Progressive movement, the California Legislature passed the State Land Settlement Act in 1917, creating a state-sponsored land program to improve the social and economic condition of rural settlers.

The impetus for this measure was the Wheatland Hop Riot of 1913. The labor uprising at the Durst Ranch in Wheatland resulted in four deaths and many injuries.

The riot highlighted the class struggle between farm laborers and farmers and the increasing concentration of land ownership. To the Progressives, the Land Act of 1917 would not only alleviate the class tension by creating a communal cooperative living for the landless, but also break up large landholdings by making individual farming affordable.

Most of the land in Merced County at this time was monopolized by the Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Co. to the east and Miller and Lux to the west of the San Joaquin River. As they created comprehensive irrigation systems on their holdings, many towns in the county existed because of these two monopolies -- but not Delhi.

The town of Delhi was made possible by water from the Turlock Irrigation District in Stanislaus County, which was geographically closer to Delhi than the Merced-based Crocker-Huffman Land and Water Co. The official map of Delhi was recorded in 1911, outlining the town west and south of the Central Pacific Railroad (now known as the Southern Pacific Railroad).

The state took an interest in Delhi in 1919 after its successful land settlement experiment in Durham, Butte County. The sandy and rolling tract of land between the Central Pacific and Santa Fe Railroads consisted of 8,000 acres. The State Land Settlement Board bought the land and developed the area by leveling the tract and building irrigation systems. The board also brought in agricultural experts from the University of California to teach settlers various methods of farming. The settlers who qualified for the program owned the allotments of land on which they worked and received favorable credits from the state.

The colonization of Delhi was further perfected with a carefully considered town site, including a land office building, community hall, blacksmith shop, lumberyard, schools and residential districts. There were about 230 settlers in the Delhi Land Settlement program selected by the land settlement board, which was headed by Dr. Elwood Mead. A large number of Delhi settlers were World War I veterans, who were added to this program as an amendment to the 1917 Land Act.

Moving to Delhi with Nokia Maps – Ovi by Nokia

Now little did I know, that Delhi was a very huge city. A very very huge city. Moving day came, and I landed in New Delhi Indira Gandhi Airport with little more than my suitcase full of clothes for the new job, my trusty (and rusty) ol’ laptop and a Nokia E72. In the dead of night, I silently checked into a cheap motel in a “safe” district as my friends told me, and proceeded to catch up on some much missed sleep. I had to hit the office the next day, bright and early, and I had no idea what to expect. A surprisingly great first day later, I was out of office, late evening, with the sun all set, and the moon glowing warming in the cool November weather. Perfect for a walk. Now I’m going to need to figure out how to get back, and hopefully not give my parents the satisfaction of me calling them up to say “Hey, you were right, I got mugged”. Ugh. Again, I opened up Nokia Maps , and used the “nearby” feature to find a coffee shop nearby. A four minute walk apparently. Again I headed back into the night, and a nice quick walk later I found a ‘Cafe Coffee Day’, seemingly appearing out of nowhere like a mirage. Ah the joys of a nice hot meal. I stuffed my face and headed back to the motel, following orders from the Nokia Maps lady again. Voice guided Navigation was a pretty handy thing to have around. At that time though, you had to purchase a walk or drive license for navigation, but I had the 30 Day Trial. Days became Weeks, and Weeks became Months. Fast forward a few months, and I had moved into a new apartment, and was completely oblivious to my surroundings. By this time, Nokia announced their free Voice Navigation for Drive or Walk , which as you can tell, I was very overjoyed about. All this while, I was saving useful locations to my Nokia phone. A new bakery I came across, a nice little gym that I’ll pay for but never go to, a cheap little restaurant where I could get my dinners at. Because I couldn’t speak the local language, I didn’t need to just know WHERE a place was, I needed to know HOW to get there . And I preferred not to leave my expensive phone out for everyone to see, so the voice navigation through my headphones, worked great. Even temporarily reducing the volume in my playing music, to tell me. Just great.

Delhi

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