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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marysville,_California

A post office was established at Marysville in 1851. By 1853, the tent city had been replaced by brick buildings. In addition to the brick merchant buildings, Marysville had developed mills, iron works, factories, machine shops, schools, churches and two daily newspapers. The population was almost 10,000. By 1857, Marysville was a prospering city; in fact, it was one of the largest cities in California, due to strategic location during the Gold Rush. Over $10 million in gold was shipped from the banks in Marysville to the U.S. Mint in San Francisco. The city's founders imagined Marysville becoming "The New York of the Pacific."

However, debris loosed by hydraulic mining above Marysville raised the riverbeds of both the Feather and the Yuba Rivers and rendered the city vulnerable to flooding during winter storms and spring run-offs. The city built a levee system[4] that is still maintained today. The levee system sealed the city off and has made additional city growth virtually impossible; as such the population has not increased much since their construction and Marysville is known as "California's Oldest 'Little' City." While the levees have constrained the city's growth, Marysville has not flooded since 1875.

The hydraulic mining debris choked the Feather River and soon the riverboats could not make the trip to Marysville.

Marysville was home to a significant Chinese American community in the 1860s, but it violently drove all its Chinese American residents out of town in February 1886.[5] The Chinese American population has not recovered since.

There was also an active Jewish merchant community in Marysville from the Gold Rush era through the early years of the twentieth century.

How could these water and logistical issues have been solved, leading to this city really becoming a metropolis?
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