Foothill <strong>Resource</strong>s, Ltd. 2.4 TUD Ditch Sustainability <strong>Project</strong> Francis Heritage, LLC <strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Resource</strong> <strong>Evaluation</strong> Report
3. HISTORICAL OVERVIEW As were most of the original ditch systems in the Mother Lode, the ditches and flumes of the present <strong>Tuolumne</strong> <strong>Utilities</strong> <strong>District</strong> (TUD) were constructed to provide water for the miners working the rich gravels in the California gold diggings. The majority of the early system was constructed in the 1850s to supply water to the placer mines, especially to the Columbia basin district. With the general exodus from the county after the placers were exhausted, many of the ditches were abandoned, but the hard-rock milling lodes later revived the industry and new laterals were dug to supply the quartz mines. The present ditch system has united into one organization the separate properties of a number of historically separate and independent companies (Rhodin 1916). Gold was discovered in the streams and drainages of the Stanislaus and <strong>Tuolumne</strong> rivers and their tributaries as early as 1848. Except during the rainy season and spring, the diggings were often dry, with too little water available to wash gold from the gravels. A few springs provided enough water for eating and bathing purposes, and when dammed, a small pond for panning the gold, but by 1850 the horde of miners who had poured into the area began to look for additional sources to provide a year-round supply of water. Plausible sources were the creeks and rivers higher in the foothills, principally the watersheds of the South and Middle forks of the Stanislaus River and the North Fork <strong>Tuolumne</strong> River and their tributaries. Most other major drainages had ditches or small dams as well, and were often dammed later in the 19 th century for hydropower generation. The first water ditches to be noted in the literature were described in the Daily Alta of October 5, 1852: Two races only at the beginning of the past winter: “One of these was the Seco Company’s race, fetching water from Wood’s Creek into Seco; the other, the Jackson Flat Race, from Mormon Creek to Jackson’s Flat.” Sometime in February the Sonora Water Company went into operation, fetching water from Sullivan’s Creek to Sonora. The next completed was the Sullivan’s Creek Race, in March, bringing water from that creek to Shaw’s Flat. Next comes the <strong>Tuolumne</strong> County Water Company, which for a month or so fetched in a small stream; and yet, for a time, in June and July, it was the only support and maintenance of quite a brisk business in Columbia. By 1853, within five years of the gold “discovery,” most easily retrievable gold had been recovered. Thus, decreasing quantities of placer gold and the need for vast quantities of water to mine in new ways and areas spurred the development of large-scale water storage and conveyance systems. In a few short years, hundreds of miles of flumes and canals were built in <strong>Tuolumne</strong> County, principally to bring water to the miners but having the added benefit of irrigating fields and gardens. Foothill <strong>Resource</strong>s, Ltd. 3.1 TUD Ditch Sustainability <strong>Project</strong> Francis Heritage, LLC <strong>Historic</strong> <strong>Resource</strong> <strong>Evaluation</strong> Report
- Page 1: TUOLUMNE UTILITIES DISTRICT DITCH S
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- Page 6 and 7: Section 4 Ditch (P-55-003161; CA-TU
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- Page 10 and 11: Figure 1. Project vicinity. Consu
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- Page 14 and 15: sparsely or intermittently; new set
- Page 16 and 17: 1850s Gold Rush. As many as 10,000
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- Page 24 and 25: In 1855 the need for more water for
- Page 26 and 27: Figure 5. Reservoir of the Tuolumne
- Page 28 and 29: Figure 6. Tuolumne County Water Com
- Page 30 and 31: Figure 7. Entrance of the tunnel at
- Page 32 and 33: Figure 9. Montezuma Flats, ca. 1859
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- Page 36 and 37: Visiting Camp Coffroth, named for J
- Page 38 and 39: All that certain Water Ditch or Can
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- Page 44 and 45: In the 1855 directory, James Street
- Page 46 and 47: nature of its early ditches (Figure
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- Page 50 and 51: Roach’s Camp Ditch The Roach’s
- Page 52 and 53: Figure 13. The Rawhide Mine near Ja
- Page 54 and 55: Figures 14 (above), 15 (below). The
- Page 56 and 57: Figure 16. Portion of the 1909 map
- Page 58 and 59: For Criterion C, according to JRP a
- Page 60 and 61: TUOLUMNE COUNTY WATER COMPANY SYSTE
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- Page 64 and 65: time water was taken from the North
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- Page 68 and 69: Placer gold was discovered in the l
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Figure 22. John Wallace’s undated
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Figure 24. Placer mining on the roa
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Shaw’s Flat Ditch was used for ge
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Figure 26. General Land Office Plat
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History. The present Kincaid Ditch
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Evaluation. The Kincaid Ditch appea
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ductile iron pipeline is laid in th
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Phoenix Ditch (P-55-003751; CA-TUO-
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On August 27, 1861, William Clark,
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C Figure 28. Portion of Tuolumne Co
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Ownership of the TW&EPC system was
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ditch had been absorbed into the TC
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Camp Road, various concrete and/or
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Ditch, in anticipation of providing
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Columbia Ditch system connection th
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Ridge to the Soulsby mill were cons
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There are eighteen features includi
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Table 1: Other Sites and Features R
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California Department of Transporta
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Goldberg, Susan K., Alice L. Hall,
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Marvin, Judith, and Terry Brejla 20
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Progressive Association 1901 Tuolum
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Thom, Robert, M.E. (continued) 1915