Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

For more than half a century the Tuolumne County Water Company was the dominant
player in the building of dams, reservoirs, and ditches and the delivery of water to the
northern portion of the county. During this period the company absorbed, by merger or
purchase, more than 40 other companies incorporated between 1851 and 1907, about 20
of which were integrated into later systems (PG&E 1947:1-3). The systems were
constructed, reused, connected, enlarged and improved, altered, and abandoned, first by
the TCWC in 1851-1898, the Columbia and Stanislaus River Water Company (1855-
1860), the Tuolumne Hydraulic Association and its successors (1852-1876), and the
Sullivan Creek/Street’s/Shaw’s Flat system (1855-1876), and others.
Many of these ditches were purchased and consolidated by the Tuolumne Hydraulic
Mining Company (THMC) in 1872 and sold to the TCWC in 1876 (separate histories are
discussed below). Thereafter, the ditch systems were bundled and transferred to the
Tuolumne Water and Electric Power Company in 1898, the Tuolumne Water Power
Company in 1907, reformed as the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company in 1909,
Pacific Gas & Electric Company in 1927, County of Tuolumne in the 1980s, and the
Tuolumne Utilities District, formed in 1992.
Columbia and Stanislaus River Water Company (Miner’s Ditch, New Ditch)
As early as January of 1853, the miners began to complain about the “enormous price”
that they had to pay for water from the TCWC, as they were making only enough to pay
for water and board. The Columbia miners were charged more for their water than those
in Shaw’s Flat, and a newspaper correspondent noted that it was probably because they
were in competition with the Sullivan Creek Water Company in that location (Columbia
Gazette, January 22, 1853). After requesting that the price of water be reduced to $4.00
per day for a full sluice stream, which was denied, a group of 3000 miners met in March
of 1855. They voted to strike against the TCWC and on March 19 th started work on a
separate system to bring water from the Middle Fork Stanislaus River at a point near
Donnell’s Flat. Company founders were Andrew Fletcher, Joseph Spier, Albert
Windeler, and John Jolly; James A. Jackson, Albert F. Windeler, Dr. George Manning,
N.A. Tolman, Charles Johnson, James W. Coffroth, John Jolly were trustees; George L.
Trask was engineer (Articles of Incorporation No. 29).
The company passed several resolutions, stating that they would never pay the TCWC
more than $4.00 per day for a full sluice of water; recommended that miners and others
friendly to the cause withdraw all monies that they had in the TCWC and invest it in the
new water company; that the officers of the new water company be requested to
commence their canal at the earliest possible day, so as to give employment to the miners
thrown out of work by the strike; that any miner using the TCWC water before the price
was reduced be reported as a delinquent and his name published in the newspapers; that a
notice be placed upon their claims in large figures, “ ‘$4.00 for water and no more’– as a
tombstone, denoting that our claim is buried for a season.” The vote was unanimous and
all pledged to hold out until their demand was acceded to (Columbia Clipper, published
in the Daily Alta California, March 17, 1855).
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 3.13 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report