Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

B. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in our past; or
C. That embody the distinctive character of a type, period, or method of
construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high
artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity
whose components may lack individual distinction; or
D. That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in
prehistory or history (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 36, Part 60).
The seven elements of integrity include location, design, setting, materials, workmanship,
feeling, and association. According to Little et al. (2000:35), “The importance of each of
these aspects of integrity depends upon the nature of the property and the Criterion or
Criteria under which it is nominated.” For example, a property nominated under
Criterion A (events) would most likely convey its significance primarily through an
integrity of location, setting, and association. A property evaluated solely under Criterion
C (architecture) would rely primarily upon integrity of design, materials, and
workmanship.
Overall, the Tuolumne Utilities District canal and ditch system appears eligible for listing
on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). Its 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 (described
below), 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, as although some important financiers (the San
Francisco firm of Pioche and Bayerque) were associated with various ditches, and
engineers with others (C.E. Grunsky), the associations were mainly peripheral, and/or
there are other resources in California that are more closely associated with them. Under
Criterion D, it appears likely that many of the archaeological ditches may provide
information important in the engineering techniques of the mid-19 th century.
Algerine Ditch (P-55-001011; CA-TUO-3953H)
Description. This resource is a water conveyance system consisting of an earthen berm
ditch, siphons (pipe), a small dam, and a reservoir. The total length of the ditch is 52,376
linear feet that conveys water managed by the Tuolumne Utilities District from Curtis
Creek below Lambert Lake at a point known as Slum Dam, where there is a small
impoundment that is about 970 feet (295 m) upstream (northeast) from Old Wards Ferry
Road. The one-acre Blue Gulch Reservoir, with an earthen dam, is at the other end of the
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 4.6 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report