HISTORY OF THE TOWN
dry land farming of grain. The subsequent development of a canal system for irrigation contributed to successful crops of pears, grapes, walnuts, alfalfa, and other grains, and to herds of cattle and horses. In springtime, wildflowers carpeted the valley floor and hillsides, and California poppies spilled into the town cemetery.
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In
the mid 19th-century a new American town, Monticello, came into existence in
the Putah Creek Basin. It soon developed into a prosperous agricultural
community during the early years of the 20th century. At this time Berryessa
Valley was a flat, fertile valley watered by Putah Creek, and the soil of
the valley was considered among the most fertile in the country. The town of
Monticello stood in the center of the valley, surrounded by thousands of
acres of land used to raise livestock and for
After
valiant attempts to thwart the plans of the government dam-builders,
Monticello residents at last had to accept the fate of their town:
they abandoned their homes, hiring laborers to move the town
cemetery to higher ground at Spanish Flats. 
By
1957, construction of Monticello Dam at Devil’s Gate, the narrow
point of the Putah Creek Canyon, was completed. By 1963 1.6 million
acre-feet of water had flooded the valley, creating the second
largest human-made water body in California (after Shasta
Reservoir), with 165 miles of shoreline. Thus, Quail Ridge emerged
as a peninsula on the southern shore of this new 26 x 3 mile
reservoir. Water now passes in regulated flows through the dam into
what is left of Putah Creek.
