Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

1850s Gold Rush. As many as 10,000 miners came to the Stanislaus River area by 1849
(Hall 1978), and importantly, the ethnic composition was diverse, leaving archaeological
sites with distinctive remains. Remnants from this mining era include stacked rock
features such as walls, alignments, waste rock piles, stone ovens, buildings, and road
embankments. Landscape alterations, largely the result of placer mining operations,
occasional platforms (the foundations for tents or shacks), artifact scatters, quarries, and
mills are also found from this era.
Gold was mined in places remote from the supply centers of the time; vast amounts of
food, tools, and basic supplies had to be transported to the gold country, virtually
overnight. Such a need led to the development of towns and extensive road systems, both
of which left developed archaeological remains. Subsequent economic and social
developments generated cultural remnants such as logging camps, homesteads, hard-rock
mines, ranches, and other indications of historic activities. All these activities, especially
the mines and the camps, required a dependable year-round supply of water in what was
otherwise a summer-drought location.
CURRENT PROJECT
At the request of Tom Scesa, TUD District Engineer, Foothill Resources, Ltd., Francis
Heritage, LLC, and Far Western Anthropological Research Group, Inc., conducted a
survey and evaluation of the thirteen identified resources in August, September and
October of 2011. The work, authorized under TUD’s 2008 Strategic Plan (BHI 2008:18-
20), was carried out under the direction of Judith Marvin, project manager, historian,
architectural historian and principal author (Registered Professional Historian No. 525).
Charla Francis, Archaeologist and co-author (Registered Professional Archaeologist No.
10518), prepared the archaeological site records (Appendix A) and contributed to the
reports. Archaeological technicians Linda Thorpe, Foothill Resources; Meagan
O’Deegan, Stantec Consulting Services Inc.; and Rebecca Kellawan and Adelina Asan,
Far Western, conducted the archaeological survey and field recordation, while Terry
Brejla of Foothill Resources conducted archival research and edited the document.
EVALUATION
Overall, the Tuolumne Utilities District canal and ditch system appears eligible for listing
on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Their canals, ditches, flumes,
laterals, races, pipelines, and reservoirs—all were the life blood of economic (and
consequently political) development of Tuolumne County. As a major contributor to the
theme of water development in Tuolumne County, containing the principal surviving
examples of the Tuolumne County Water Company, the Tuolumne Hydraulic
Association, Tuolumne Hydraulic Mining Company, the Street’s/Shaw’s Flat Ditch, and
many others, and as the “mother” of the distribution system, which contains technological
information, reservoirs, diversion dams, headworks, canals, ditches, flumes, siphons, and
water control and diversion features, the TUD system appears eligible for listing on the
NRHP under Criteria A and C at the statewide level of significance. The system does not
appear eligible under Criterion B although some important financiers were associated
with various ditches and engineers with others (C.E. Grunsky), it was only peripherally,
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 1.8 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report