Collection: Books and Periodicals

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Title: Water Use in the Yuba and Bear Rivers by Thomas Pagenhart (1970) Collection Type: Books and Periodicals # of Pages: 243 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

Date Scanned: 2024-07-14 06:31:18 Item Sourced From: PDF First Created: 2025-03-17 05:54:09 Last Updated: 2025-03-17 05:54:09

Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

Page: of 243  

iit Water Use In The Yuba And Bear River Basins, California ABSTRACT Thomas Harsha Pagenhart The development of attitudes underlying current resource utilization is shown in the examination of water use since 1849 in the Yuba and Bear river basins, a small drainage area on the summer-dry slopes of the central Sierra Nevada of California. Always the most expensive procuction cost of its associated industries, the water development of these basins has more than once revealed flaws in institutional processes designed for former, vanishing environments. The paper outlines adjustments that were necessary to bring social institutions in line with changing techniques during a period of rapid population change. Three essentially single-purpose water systems had been developed in the Yuba-Bear area before the utilitarian concept of “developing, conserving, and utilizing the water resource in the public interest” became generally accepted. The first of these systems, hydraulic mining, arose because of the unusual concentration in the area of both placer gold and of water (each considered, in turn, the number one resource of the State). Hydraulic mining was abolished because it failed to include within its scope of responsibilities the disposal of its mining debris. The second of these systems, hydroelectric power generation, grew directly out of the combination of accumulated technical knowledge and developed water supply that were concentrated in the former mining area. The third system, irrigation, needed support from the beginning, and survived in the Yuba-Bear area primarily because of the change in public attitude that took place at the end of the nineteenth century. The Yuba-Bear was an early testing ground for a new system of administrative water allocation based on the concepts of reasonable, beneficial, and diligent water use. The definition of these terms has been left to the elected representatives of the people, and their decisions, thus far; in aiding the development of further water uses, such as recreation, fish and wildlife enhancement, and flood control, have demonstrated the ability of the administrative system to adapt to changing water demands. California appears to have reached at least the stage of water control found in European summer-dry countries. It remains to be seen if the scope of concern can continue to expand with the continued expansion of the water systems. The experience of the Yuba-Bear area suggests that developments in water saving, rather than water using, may be the pattern of the future.