Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

Figure 9. Montezuma Flats, ca. 1859, from Hutchings California Magazine.
In October of 1853, Wallace noted that the company was now out of debt, and that he
was making a map of the canal from accurate surveys of over 20 miles of ground (Figure
10). The company now included 275 shares, of which he had two. Wallace continued
designing flumes, ditches, dams, reservoirs, and pipelines connecting the system to
virtually all the mining regions around Columbia.
Its first decade saw the company embroiled in numerous lawsuits over the breakages of
dams and ditches. The Rawhide Ranch ditch broke in October of 1856; the New
Reservoir near San Diego in April of 1857; the new embankment of the Deadman’s
Gulch Reservoir broke in August of 1857; Lyon’s Reservoir burst in July 1857, as did a
reservoir in the Pine Log vicinity near Summit Pass; Montezuma Reservoir in June of
1858; Spring Gulch Ditch in May of 1859; and several others (Excerpts of TCWC Board
of Directors Meetings Minutes). After paying damages, evidently the company repaired
the reservoirs, as not much more information was forthcoming in the company minutes.
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 3.10 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report