Historic Resource Evaluation Project - Tuolumne Utilities District

On August 27, 1861, William Clark, Caleb Dorsey, and George Gleason deeded the
rights to build a reservoir on Clark’s Ranch to the Phoenix Water Company. The deed
noted that the 400-acre ranch was bounded south by the ranch and reservoir of the
Phoenix Water Company, and was for a reservoir about to be constructed. Clark was to
build a good wagon road around the ranch, as the Mono Road would have to be rerouted,
and to have the rights to his fencing, fruit trees, and vines; while the company was to
have the right to improve or enlarge the reservoir in any way they thought proper (this
was apparently for construction of the Upper Phoenix Reservoir) (Deed Book 13:364).
The two reservoirs were depicted on John Wallace’s map in 1862, but not the ditches.
In May 1872, the Phoenix Water Company deeded all their real estate, water ditches,
reservoirs, flumes, and personal property to James T. Maclean of Sonora and George W.
Clark (a San Francisco merchant) for $10,000. Included were the Street’s or Shaw’s Flat
Ditch, the Hydraulic Ditch, Algerine Ditch, and others (Deed Book 16:638). On August
29 th of that same year, Maclean and Clark deeded the same properties to the Tuolumne
Hydraulic Mining Company (THMC) for $1, as well as mining ground in Peoria Flat and
Mountain Pass (Deed Book 16:518). Following the collapse of the dam due to heavy
rains in 1875, on February 24, 1876, the THMC in turn deeded the properties to the
TCWC (Deed Book 18:248; Lang 1882:295).
Originally supplied with water from the natural course of Sullivan Creek, about 1898 a
penstock was installed from TCWC’s Main Ditch to the Phoenix Power Station, and
thereafter the Phoenix Reservoir was supplied with water from the tailrace (conveyed by
a natural watercourse), as well as from Sullivan Creek and local streams, and stored it
until such time as needed by the distributing ditches below.
In 1909 the reservoir was described as storing the tail waters of the generating station
with the waters of Sullivan Creek behind a dam 1150 feet long and 40 feet high. It was
the main source of supply to the Curtis Creek (Algerine), Sonora, and Shaw’s Flat
ditches, which furnished water to the Shawmut, App, and other mines, as well as Sonora
and Jamestown (Union Democrat 1909:12-14).
C. J. Rhodin described the reservoir in 1916 as being impounded by an earth fill dam
with a total crest length of 910 feet and an average height of 23 feet, a concrete retaining
wall and rubble masonry and concrete spillway, overall type, with flash boards; the
submerged area was 105 acres. The outlet consisted of two parallel discharge pipes
through the levees, set in concrete. The reservoir was partially silted up by the dam, but
the spillway and discharge pipes were in excellent condition, supplying the Phoenix-
Algerine, Sonora-Jamestown, and the Shaw’s Flat-Table Mountain systems (Rhodin
1916).
The Lower Phoenix Ditch was evidently originally built by James Street, as it is
identified as such on the 1870 GLO plats of T1N and T2N, R15E, and appears to be the
one that took water from the North Fork Tuolumne River, through Cherokee, and on to
the Phoenix Reservoir area. The ditch was not depicted on the 1879 Dart Map or the
1896 Barton Map but was depicted on the 1907 Thom Map and 1909 TWPC Map (Figure
Foothill Resources, Ltd. 4.32 TUD Ditch Sustainability Project
Francis Heritage, LLC
Historic Resource Evaluation Report