Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

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Figure 13. The Rawhide Mine near Jamestown, ca. 1900. The mill operated with 40 stamps, with gold production reported to have been $6 million. (Courtesy California State Library.) Other early plants were erected at the Jumper Mine on Sullivan’s Creek, which began operation in mid-February 1896, powered by a 200-horsepower Pelton Wheel. John App also had a small hydroelectric plant on Woods Creek below Woods Crossing about this time as well. By the middle of 1897, electricity was provided to Quartz Mountain from power generated at Woods Creek by the Central Electric Light Company. The plant was soon converted to steam and later sold to the Tuolumne County Water and Electric Power Company (the major producer of power at the time), which purchased the 46-year-old Tuolumne County Water Company in 1898 in order to expand its activities to include the business of generating electricity by water power. The Phoenix Powerhouse was put into operation that same year and modified a year later. EXPANSION During this period, beginning in the late 1880s and continuing through the 1890s, the TCWC rebuilt, enlarged, expanded, and extended its system to serve the needs of the hard-rock mines and the hydroelectric industry. By 1909 the system, then owned by the TWPC, was described as consisting of 85 miles of ditches, with the main diverting dam a short distance below the Lyons Dam and following the left or south bank of the South Foothill Resources, Ltd. 3.30 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project Francis Heritage, LLC Historic Resource Evaluation Report
Fork, generally in earthwork channels, occasionally in short flumes, coursing westward along the northern slope of the ridge separating the South Fork of the Stanislaus River from the North Fork of the Tuolumne River. When it reached the summit of the ridge at Middle Camp, the Eureka branch was sent southward into the vicinity of Tuolumne and Soulsbyville. The Main Ditch then followed first the southern, then the northern slope of the ridge between the tributaries of the South Fork Stanislaus and Sullivan Creek, again approaching the ridge summit at Whitman’s Pass. The Main Ditch continued west along the principal ridge separating Five Mile Creek and the South Fork on the north, until it reached the westerly end of the Big Hill district (Figures 14, 15). From there, the ditch known as the Columbia Ditch made a sudden descent of about 600 feet to the lower level of the lesser ridges and extended further to the west (Figure 16). The pipeline or penstock leading to the Phoenix Powerhouse headed at Penstock Camp, from where the tail waters, together with the waters of Sullivan Creek, were stored at Phoenix Reservoir. The reservoir was the source of supply to the Curtis Creek (now Phoenix), Sonora, and Shaw’s Flat Ditches, which furnished water to the Shawmut, App, and other mines, and supplied the towns of Sonora and Jamestown. The Phoenix Powerhouse was described as operating under a static head of about 1000 feet; the four generators of 2500 h.p. capacity were driven by four direct-connected Pelton water wheels and the power was transmitted by about 30 miles of transmission lines to the principal towns and mines operated by electrical energy (The Union Democrat 1909:12- 14). Interestingly, the company president was Beach Thompson, also the president of the Union Construction Company, another example of interlocking directorships. Ownership was transferred to the Tuolumne Water Power Company in 1907. The company was reformed as the Sierra and San Francisco Power Company in May 1909, which supplied electric power to the streetcar system in San Francisco. Although the system would be owned by the Sierra and San Francisco for 20 years, it was clear that the emerging “Pacific Service” of the Pacific Gas and Electric Company was operating the plant. Pacific Service formalized their lease on January 1, 1920, and purchased the system outright in 1927 (PG&E 1947). As a result, the reservoirs and ditches built originally to serve the mines and camps of the Gold Rush era became a part of the PG&E system, which by the 1940s served nearly all of central and northern California. PG&E continued to purchase and modify most, if not all, of the water and power companies in the county (and throughout the central and northern Sierra Nevada) during the next few decades. Modifications to their system, many components of which date to the Gold Rush era, include replacement of flumes, spraying of gunite on earthen berms, facing stone dams, and consistent maintenance, generally preserving these systems rather than damaging them. In the 1980s, PG&E sold much of its local system to Tuolumne County, which began a program to pipe and abandon many of the ditches which had been built almost 160 years ago. The Tuolumne Utilities District was organized July 1, 1992, in response to a voter initiative requiring the consolidation of two local public water systems, the Tuolumne Regional Water District (previously known as Tuolumne County Water District No. 2), Foothill Resources, Ltd. 3.31 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project Francis Heritage, LLC Historic Resource Evaluation Report
Page 1: TUOLUMNE UTILITIES DISTRICT DITCH S
Page 4 and 5: Foothill Resources, Ltd. ii TUD Dit
Page 6 and 7: Section 4 Ditch (P-55-003161; CA-TU
Page 8 and 9: Foothill Resources, Ltd. vi TUD Dit
Page 10 and 11: Figure 1. Project vicinity. Consu
Page 12 and 13: Foothill Resources, Ltd. 1.4 TUD Di
Page 14 and 15: sparsely or intermittently; new set
Page 16 and 17: 1850s Gold Rush. As many as 10,000
Page 18 and 19: Foothill Resources, Ltd. 1.10 TUD D
Page 20 and 21: Of particular assistance in determi
Page 22 and 23: Foothill Resources, Ltd. 2.4 TUD Di
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
Page 36 and 37: Visiting Camp Coffroth, named for J
Page 38 and 39: All that certain Water Ditch or Can
Page 40 and 41: in three months. The dimensions of
Page 42 and 43: have the right to improve or enlarg
Page 44 and 45: In the 1855 directory, James Street
Page 46 and 47: nature of its early ditches (Figure
Page 50 and 51: Roach’s Camp Ditch The Roach’s
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
Page 62 and 63: B. That are associated with the liv
Page 64 and 65: time water was taken from the North
Page 66 and 67: Figure 18. Portion of the Map of th
Page 68 and 69: Placer gold was discovered in the l
Page 70 and 71: Figure 20. Western portion of John
Page 72 and 73: Figure 22. John Wallace’s undated
Page 74 and 75: Figure 24. Placer mining on the roa
Page 76 and 77: Shaw’s Flat Ditch was used for ge
Page 78 and 79: Figure 26. General Land Office Plat
Page 80 and 81: History. The present Kincaid Ditch
Page 82 and 83: Evaluation. The Kincaid Ditch appea
Page 84 and 85: ductile iron pipeline is laid in th
Page 86 and 87: Phoenix Ditch (P-55-003751; CA-TUO-
Page 88 and 89: On August 27, 1861, William Clark,
Page 90 and 91: C Figure 28. Portion of Tuolumne Co
Page 92 and 93: Ownership of the TW&EPC system was
Page 94 and 95: ditch had been absorbed into the TC
Page 96 and 97: Camp Road, various concrete and/or
Page 98 and 99: Ditch, in anticipation of providing
Page 100 and 101: Columbia Ditch system connection th
Page 102 and 103:
Ridge to the Soulsby mill were cons
Page 104 and 105:
There are eighteen features includi
Page 106 and 107:
Table 1: Other Sites and Features R
Page 108 and 109:
California Department of Transporta
Page 110 and 111:
Goldberg, Susan K., Alice L. Hall,
Page 112 and 113:
Marvin, Judith, and Terry Brejla 20
Page 114 and 115:
Progressive Association 1901 Tuolum
Page 116:
Thom, Robert, M.E. (continued) 1915
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Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

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