Orthorectified historical aerial photography for the San Joaquin River corridor was developed as a historical reference tool. The historical aerial photography mosaic was used to develop a reconstruction of the historical landscape and prevailing conditions of San Joaquin River corridor. This dataset was developed to provide information for watershed management, the restoration of habitats, flood protection, and local education and research.

Because of the large size of the complete mosaic, the mosaic has been split into six parts, available for download here. The complete mosaic is available by request made to [email protected]

Creation Date: 
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Last Updated: 
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Type of Data: 
GIS imagery/raster
Programs and Focus Areas: 
Resilient Landscapes Program
Historical Ecology
Location Information
Data Availability
Please Cite This Dataset as: 

San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI). 2017. "San Joaquin River Historical Aerial Photomosaic 1937". Accessed [date retrieved].http://www.sfei.org/data/san-joaquin-river-historical-aerial-photomosaic... . Photo prints from: U. S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), Western Division Laboratory. 1937. [Aerial photos of Fresno, Merced and Stanislaus Counties]. Scale: 1:20,000. Agricultural Adjustment Administration (AAA). Courtesy of the UC Davis Map Library, the Henry Madden Library at CSU Fresno, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), US Bureau or Reclamation (USBR), and Philip Williams and Associates Ltd. (PWA/ESA).

Terms of Use: 

Given the challenges of historical data, accuracy varies in different parts of the image, and in some places horizontal displacement may be as high as 50 meters.  For this reason, we recommend that the imagery be used at a coarse scale.  Caution should be used when comparing this imagery to more spatially accurate contemporay sources. Data may be subject to change without prior notification. If this data is modified, changes should be documented in a metadata record that should accompany all redistributed data. If data is transmitted or provided in any form to another user, the data must be accompanied by a copy of this disclaimer and all documentation provided with the original data set, including the full metadata record. SFEI-ASC requests that the use of these data in any map, publication, or report should cite this study or the direct data source(s) used and give proper attribution and credit to the originators of the data.