Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

Geologically, the area begins east of the Mother Lode belt of the central Sierra Nevada
foothills, and continues through its East Belt and Mother Lode Belt. It lies within the
Columbia, Confidence, Jamestown, Jacksonville, Sonora, and Soulsbyville gold mining
districts, producing both placer and lode gold, but the lode mines have been more
productive (Clark 1970:15). The ditches and their systems were originally constructed to
provide water for mining the rich Tertiary gravels and the limestone belt, primarily
around Columbia, but were soon extended to other placer mining camps and areas, to the
hard rock mines during the Second Gold Rush of the late 1880s-1900s, and eventually
were altered, expanded, and enlarged to serve agricultural and community needs.
The surface of the region as a whole is rugged and broken. In the higher elevations and
timbered areas traversed by the system, the surface soil is more free from rock than in the
lower regions, though slate, shale, and granite are encountered in some localities. The
upper ditches are heavily wooded, largely with sugar pine, ponderosa pine, incense cedar,
and Douglas-fir, requiring extensive clearing of large timber, but little or no brush. The
Columbia System below the Main Columbia ditch crosses the limestone belt that extends
through the county and the cost of ditch construction there was high, as much of the
excavation had to be blasted out of solid rock. Below Columbia the system traverses the
district about Table Mountain, a long, low, lava-capped ridge. The Table Mountain and
Peppermint Creek ditches were cut for almost their entire length in its formation of
cemented gravel (PG&E 1947:3).
Prehistoric Archaeological Background
Early human use of the Sierra Nevada has not been well-documented. Some early points
(generally thought to be 9,000-11,000 years old) have been found regionally, including two
Clovis points, found in the Twain Harte area, as well as at other locations north and south
(Moratto et al. 2011).
As Marvin and Davis-King (2008) so succinctly summarized prehistoric occupation of
the project vicinity:
♦
♦
The first, and ultimately largest, villages were situated near the rivers and their
main tributaries at low elevations (usually below [4100 feet]). The intensive
occupation of the Sierra after circa 1500-1000 B.C. is seen archaeologically in the
. . . Late Martis, Sierra, Crane Flat, [and] Chowchilla . . . phases. [It might also be
noted that the “intensive” occupation is a result of surveys conducted on recent
landforms, and that subsurface surveys may change this assessment].
The highest population densities were found near the ecotones. . . . Few sites
above the snow line were inhabited year-round, and only warm-season camps and
activity stations were to be found in the high Sierra. [Paleoclimatological studies
indicate that the snow line has been ever-changing, altering also the settlement
pattern of the high Sierra].
♦ Cultural innovation and social change between circa 1000 B.C. and A.D. 500
included expansion of trade, increased use of acorns, and as populations grew, the
establishment of major villages in the Upper Sonoran and Transition zones.
♦
Between A.D. 500 and 1400 many lower foothill villages were occupied only
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 1.5 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report