D--048966 - CALFED Bay-Delta Program - State of California

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VOLUME II, CHAPTER 30
tible to erosion. Overgrazing for food production further al- constructed by the South Yuba Canal Company in 1858 was
tered plant cover and degraded riparian zones. Harvesting 12 m (42 ft) tall and 350 m (1,150 ft) long (Hinkle and Hinkle
of fish and mammals for food and loss of habitat decimated 1949). By 1880, the California Water Company had twentywildlife
populations and altered ecological processes (Hinkle one reservoirs and 400 km (250 mi) of flumes and ditches beand
Hinkle 1949; Strong 1984). Demand for wood for shelter tween the Middle Fork and the South Fork of the American
and fuel quickly depleted the forests closest to the new towns River. At the peak of hydraulic mining activity, there were
and then progressively expanded the circle of destruction, more than 1,600 km (1,000 mi) of ditches in Nevada County
Lumber was also needed for underground mine supports, (Kahrl 1978). By the 1870s, artificial reservoirs in the Sierra
railroad ties, and flumes. In a few cases such as Bodie, lure- Nevada stored more than 185 million m 3 (150,000 AF) of waber
and fuel wood were imported from considerable distances, ter (Pisani 1984). The Eureka Lake and Yuba Canal Company
Forests of the Tahoe basin were cut extensively to supply wood operated four high-elevation reservoirs to supply water to
for the Comstock silver mines near Virginia City. The Bonanza mines near North San Juan, 100 km (65 mi) away (Wagner
mines alone consumed 28,000 m 3 (12 million board feet) of 1970). In the same region, the North Bloomfield Gravel Cornlumber
and 145,000 m 3 (40,000 cords) of fuel wood per year. pany used 55 million m 3 (45,000 AF) of water annually at up
An extensive network of skid trails, haul roads, railroads, tug to 110,000 liters (30,000 gal) per minute (McPhee 1993) or
boats, and flumes efficiently removed the forests of much of 227,000 m 3 (184 AF) per day and had reservoir storage capacthe
Tahoe basin. An estimated 600 million board feet of lum- ity of 28 million m 3 (23,000 AF) (Pisani 1984). The company’s
ber were buried in the Comstock mines (Hinkle and Hinkle Bowman Dam was 22 m (72 ft) tall in 1876 and was raised
1949; Strong 1984). More than twenty sawmills in the Middle another 7 m (23 ft) to increase storage as the mine’s water
and South Forks of the American River produced lumber for demand increased. The Cherokee mine in Butte County used
buildings and replacement flumes for those destroyed by up to 150,000 m 3 (123 AF) of water per day (Hundley 1992).
annual floods (Lardner and Brock 1924, cited by James 1994). Abandoned ditches have become naturally revegetated but
The first known miner’s ditch was a V-shaped flume about can still affect runoff processes today (Pagenhart 1969). Occa-
3 km (2 mi) long built at Coyote Hill near Nevada City in sional failure of both maintained and abandoned ditches can
March 1850 (Pagenhart 1969). Later that year, a 14 km (9 mi) cause local debris flows and gully erosion.
long ditch was built by the Rock Creek Water Company, which
recovered its investment in just six weeks from the sale of Water Development
water (Wagner 1970). Natural lakes in the upper Yuba basin
were augmented and regulated with crude dams as early as Water was also sold for domestic use and for water power for
1850 (Pagenhart 1969). Acquisition and delivery of water to lumber and stamp mills, air compressors, and Pelton-wheel
mines became a huge industry that was probably more prof- electric generators after 1890. Increasing scarcity of wood for
itable than mining. If ditches were important to the mining of fuel led to the use of high-pressure water for mechanical
surficial placer gold, they became critical to the hydraulic power. By the mid-1880s, most of the large hard-rock mines
mining industry. Large companies built vast networks of res- were using water power instead of steam power. The first
ervoirs and waterways acquired through purchase, filing on known use of electrical generation for operation of mining
abandoned claims, court challenges to water rights, and real and milling equipment in California occurred in E1 Dorado
and implied violence (Hundley 1992). County in February 1890 (Logan 1948). After hydraulic min-
The levels of investment, labor, and engineering skill de- ing was halted in 1884, many of the canals were acquired by
voted to the miners’ ditches were impressive. The main sup- irrigation districts and later by power companies. The Neply
ditches were 2.4-4.6 m (8-15 ft) wide at the top, 1.2-1.8 m vada Irrigation District still relies on reservoirs and canals
(4-6 ft) wide at the bottom and at least I m (3 ft) deep (Wagner built for mines in Nevada County. The Pacific Gas and Elec-
1970). Water was conveyed across valleys and rock outcrops tric Company eventually took over 520 separate ditch enterin
wooden flumes or iron pipes mounted on trestles (Logan prises and their water rights and facilities. By the 1890s, the
1948). By 1857, $13.5 million had been invested in mine water log-and-brush and earth-filled dams of the miners were resystems,
with $3 million of that total in Calaveras and placed by more substantial concrete structures (Pisani 1984).
Tuolumne Counties (Langley 1862, cited by Shoup 1988). In Irrigated agriculture in the foothills occupied about 36 km 2
the 1860s, more than 8,500 km (5,300 mi) of main canals and (14 mi 2) around Auburn and Placerville in 1880 (Pisani 1984)
about 1,280 km (800 mi) of branch ditches had been con- and grew substantially in the following decades (see Momsen
structed (Browne 1868; Logan 1948; McPhee 1993). By 1884, 1996).
the total length of ditches, flumes, and pipelines built for min- The vast network of artificial channels built for mining aling
purposes reached 12,800 km (8,000 mi) (Wagner 1970). lowed the hydroelectric industry to take off as soon as waterffl~his
figure was probably for all of California.) The South Yuba powered generating technology became available. A dam on
Canal Company maintained 720 km (450 mi) of waterways at the American River at Folsom begun in 1866 that was origiits
peak, and the Auburn and Bear River Canal operation in- nally intended for hydromechanical power later provided
cluded 460 km (290 mi) of ditches. The dam at Meadow Lake water for the first transmission of hydroelectricity out of the
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