Volume 023-6 - December 1969 (3 pages)

FORDYCE DAM PART OF THE SOUTH YUBA CANAL SYSTEM electric power took its place. The P. G. & E. Co., a vast consolidation of numerous small companies, began with the successful operation of that little ditch running from Mosquito Creek to the Coyote Diggings in early 1850. The story of the South Yuba Canal Company is a history of water development in Northern California. Many of the old aqueducts have been adapted to today’s needs and are still in use. If the ghosts of Whartenby, Kidd, Rich and Marsh still patrol the main canal, they must indeed be proud of the heritage they left to California’s economic development, * The first ditch constructed for mining purposes in California. ** Book of Deeds, Recorder’s Office, Court House, Nevada City, California: Joseph Dixon, Vol. 43, page 62: Vol. 55, page 305. Mrs. E. J. Atkinson, Vol. 54, page 307. E.L. McClure, Vol. 57, page 279. *** Lake Spaulding built across the gorge which brought the waters of the South Yuba River to Deer Creek, honors the memory of this masterbuilder. He recognized it as asuitable location for the present dam, and instigated the idea for its construction in 1892-93. 6. ****The reasons for the sale of the South Yuba Canal Company are unknown. Three of the original leaders, George Kidd, Dr. Knox and Charles Marsh, were dead. Those who remained were old and less active in the operations of the company. They may have felt the numerous ‘‘Slickens cases’’ in the courts and the debates between the miners and farmers, forbode anend to hydraulic mining and the need for water. SOUTH YUBA CANAL HOLDINGS APRIL 1, 1880 Rock Creek Ditch 1850 Coyote Ditch 1850 Snow Mountain Ditch 1853 Dutch Flat Ditch 1871 St. Lawrence Ditch 1861 (Deer Cr. to Laid Diggings) Two Alpine Ditches Cascade Ditch 1861 Deer Creek Mining Co. Ditch to Gold Flat 1852 Morrow Ditch ; Woodward Ditch Blue Tent Ditch Rock Creek Ditch (Fordyce & Rich Ditch) Linck Ditch 1867 Main South Yuba Canal Chalk Bluff Ditch 1860 16. Round M ain Ditch 17. Bement AUTT Aiton S 1857 18. Wet Hill Ditch 1857 19. Three Devil’ s Peak Lake Reservoirs 1858 20. Alta Reservoir ai. Alta Hill Reservoir 22. Lake Sterling Reservoir (Below Fordyce Lake) 23. Lost River Reservoir 24. Mossy Poind Reservoir 25. Chalk Bluff Reservoir 1864 Lal eel eel aed eel cond . 26. Meadow Lake Reservoir 1858-60 als White Rock Lake Reservoir 28. Fordyce Reservoir 1872-78 29. Manzauita Reservoir Mining Ground: Summit Valley land for Meadow Lake Reservoir Gold Run mining ground Right of yey through Bear Valley Ran Land in town of Gold Run One Hundred sixty acres of Central Pacific Land in Meadow Lake Township for Fordyce Reservoir Eureka Township land. Nevada County Historical Society DECEMBER 1969 A SAGA OF THE SOUTH YUBA CANAL COMPANY PART 2 BY DORIS FOLEY Water, water, plenty of water, but not a drop in the dry diggings north of Nevada (City) in the early 1850’s. Miners dug holes resembling wells into which they lowered themselves by rope slings to reach the buried bedrock of prehistoric river beds. Here they laboriously shoveled the rich gravel into buckets suspended by windlass, and hoisted them to the surface, Donkey carts were utilized to haul the pay dirt to Deer Creek where it was washed away by pan or cradle methods, leaving a heavy golden residue in the bottom. Miners soon conceived the idea of bringing water to the Coyote Dry Diggings in March 1850 from little Mosquito Creek in Willow Valley, a distance of one and a half miles.* In September of that year, James Whartenby, Tom and John Dunn, along with others, commenced ano-

FORDYCE DAM PART OF THE SOUTH YUBA CANAL SYSTEM electric power took its place. The P. G. & E. Co., a vast consolidation of numerous small companies, began with the successful operation of that little ditch running from Mosquito Creek to the Coyote Diggings in early 1850. The story of the South Yuba Canal Company is a history of water development in Northern California. Many of the old aqueducts have been adapted to today’s needs and are still in use. If the ghosts of Whartenby, Kidd, Rich and Marsh still patrol the main canal, they must indeed be proud of the heritage they left to California’s economic development, * The first ditch constructed for mining purposes in California. ** Book of Deeds, Recorder’s Office, Court House, Nevada City, California: Joseph Dixon, Vol. 43, page 62: Vol. 55, page 305. Mrs. E. J. Atkinson, Vol. 54, page 307. E.L. McClure, Vol. 57, page 279. *** Lake Spaulding built across the gorge which brought the waters of the South Yuba River to Deer Creek, honors the memory of this masterbuilder. He recognized it as asuitable location for the present dam, and instigated the idea for its construction in 1892-93. 6. ****The reasons for the sale of the South Yuba Canal Company are unknown. Three of the original leaders, George Kidd, Dr. Knox and Charles Marsh, were dead. Those who remained were old and less active in the operations of the company. They may have felt the numerous ‘‘Slickens cases’’ in the courts and the debates between the miners and farmers, forbode anend to hydraulic mining and the need for water. SOUTH YUBA CANAL HOLDINGS APRIL 1, 1880 Rock Creek Ditch 1850 Coyote Ditch 1850 Snow Mountain Ditch 1853 Dutch Flat Ditch 1871 St. Lawrence Ditch 1861 (Deer Cr. to Laid Diggings) Two Alpine Ditches Cascade Ditch 1861 Deer Creek Mining Co. Ditch to Gold Flat 1852 Morrow Ditch ; Woodward Ditch Blue Tent Ditch Rock Creek Ditch (Fordyce & Rich Ditch) Linck Ditch 1867

Main South Yuba Canal Chalk Bluff Ditch 1860 16. Round M ain Ditch 17. Bement AUTT Aiton S 1857 18. Wet Hill Ditch 1857 19. Three Devil’ s Peak Lake Reservoirs 1858 20. Alta Reservoir ai. Alta Hill Reservoir 22. Lake Sterling Reservoir (Below Fordyce Lake) 23. Lost River Reservoir 24. Mossy Poind Reservoir 25. Chalk Bluff Reservoir 1864 Lal eel eel aed eel cond . 26. Meadow Lake Reservoir 1858-60 als White Rock Lake Reservoir 28. Fordyce Reservoir 1872-78 29. Manzauita Reservoir Mining Ground: Summit Valley land for Meadow Lake Reservoir Gold Run mining ground Right of yey through Bear Valley Ran Land in town of Gold Run One Hundred sixty acres of Central Pacific Land in Meadow Lake Township for Fordyce Reservoir Eureka Township land. Nevada County Historical Society DECEMBER 1969 A SAGA OF THE SOUTH YUBA CANAL COMPANY PART 2 BY DORIS FOLEY Water, water, plenty of water, but not a drop in the dry diggings north of Nevada (City) in the early 1850’s. Miners dug holes resembling wells into which they lowered themselves by rope slings to reach the buried bedrock of prehistoric river beds. Here they laboriously shoveled the rich gravel into buckets suspended by windlass, and hoisted them to the surface, Donkey carts were utilized to haul the pay dirt to Deer Creek where it was washed away by pan or cradle methods, leaving a heavy golden residue in the bottom. Miners soon conceived the idea of bringing water to the Coyote Dry Diggings in March 1850 from little Mosquito Creek in Willow Valley, a distance of one and a half miles.* In September of that year, James Whartenby, Tom and John Dunn, along with others, commenced ano-