I’d say the flooding tamped down expansion for awhile too. However, the brutally hot summers certainly have to be the number one reason. When I lived there, the summer my first son was born saw fifteen straight days over 100 degrees. Shockingly, this was not a record, but it was a record that ten of the days were over 110 degrees and five over 115 degrees! August 1996. Check it out Even a “founder”,Sutter, referred to the Big Tomato as a godforsaken sun-drenched riverbank. I miss the place but it’s a special person who loves it despite those brutal summers.