Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

When laying out the town, the West Side company constructed a reservoir on the west
slope of the ridge running on the east side of Carter, with water supplied from the Eureka
Ditch (Thornton et al. 2001:36). At this time water for the Eureka Ditch and the
community of Tuolumne was provided through the Section 4 Ditch, to the Carter’s and
Tuolumne reservoirs, for distribution to the Roach’s Camp Ditch and the community of
Tuolumne.
In 1916 the ditch was described as 8.07 miles long, with an average bottom width of three
feet, and in very good condition. Through two small reservoirs (Carter’s and Tuolumne,
rebuilt in 1931), it supplied the town of Tuolumne, the bulk being delivered to the West
Side Lumber Company. The reservoirs were described as having earth fill dams and
wooden control and outlet gates (Rhodin 1916).
Evaluation. The Eureka Ditch appears to be eligible for listing on the NRHP under
Criteria A and C, as a contributing property to a potential Tuolumne Utilities District
National Register District. Under Criterion A, the Eureka Ditch was one of the earliest
ditches in Tuolumne County to be constructed to bring water to a hard-rock mine, and
continued to serve the Eureka Mine and others, as well as the community of Tuolumne
and the West Side Lumber Company, one of the most important entities in Tuolumne
County, for over 60 years. From the late 1880s, it was also associated with the TCWC
and its successors, one of the largest and most important entities in Tuolumne County
from 1852 to the present.
Under Criterion C, although altered from the earlier ca. 1860 ditch in places, the Eureka
Ditch retains its integrity to its period of significance (1888-1967) along about 80% of its
length, and embodies the distinctive characteristics of its type, period, and method of
construction. Along its route, it conveys its integrity of location, design, setting, feeling,
and association, and conveys water in the same manner as when it was first constructed.
Kincaid Ditch (P-55-008208; CA-TUO-5239H)
Description. This resource is a water conveyance system consisting of earthen berm
ditch and pipeline, a reservoir, and dam. The ditch has a total length of 2,986 linear feet
that conveys water managed by the Tuolumne Utilities District from a concrete structure
with drop-boards. There are 212 feet of pipe and 2,738 feet of open ditch. Forty percent
(40%) of the open ditch is lined with gunite. Seven features were recorded. The section
from Cascade Mobile Home Park’s garbage bins to Lambert Lake was not surveyed due
to impassable blackberries. This operating segment has not been previously recorded.
From east to west, the ditch begins at a point on Curtis Creek, contours the sideslope on
the south side of the creek to a pipe crossing the creek, and then runs in an earthen berm
structure through a mobilehome park to Lambert Lake (formerly Kincaid Reservoir),
exiting at the spillway into Curtis Creek. There are seven features consisting of the dam
and reservoir, concrete box with drop-boards, a wingwall and grizzly, a headgate with
wheel and grizzly, a riveted metal pipeline supported with stacked rock footings, a rock
retaining wall, and an abandoned spillgate.
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 4.23 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report