In the late 1800's, Pa'ashi was 'put to sleep' by extensive colonial landscape modification. By comparing modeled lake levels to real measurements made between 1850 and 1950, we can see the effects that large-scale drainage, damming, irrigation, and industrial agriculture had on the lake and its ecosystem. These events were just one part of the California Central Valley's transformation into the most productive agricultural region on earth. This process was also a major component of the California Genocide: as indigenous people were systematically killed, the ecosystems that once supported their way of life were transformed by industry.