The collection consists of materials from George Basye, a water rights lawyer who was well known for his work related to water and irrigation issues in the Sacramento Valley. Items in the collection include speeches, legal documents, and articles written by Basye and related to California water issues. The collection also includes correspondence, legal documents, and other materials related to the founding of the American River Reclamation District no. 1 in the early 1900s.

The collection consists of notes, memoranda, correspondence, speeches, reports, maps, photographs, and records relating to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Central Valley Project, Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Region, salinity, the Delta hearings, water rights, acreage limitations, the Reber Plan, fish and wildlife, USBR/CVP contracts and leases, floods and flood control, and miscellaneous power and energy issues.