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The Mussel Slough Tragedy occurred on May 11, 1880, in California's San Joaquin Valley near Hanford, when a land dispute between settlers and the Southern Pacific Railroad erupted into deadly violence. The railroad had received federal land grants in 1866 to subsidize construction, promising settlers land at $2.50 to $5.00 per acre. After families spent years irrigating and cultivating the arid plains, the Southern Pacific demanded up to $35 per acre or eviction. When U.S. Marshal Alonzo Poole a