December 23, 1970 (12 pages)

5s NES RIES Pha 6S aaa OTS Te at es @ The Nevada County Nugget, Wednesday, December 23, 1970. Construction of Lake Spaulding is history IT WAS NOVEMBER, 1912, and at the bottom of the South Yuba canyon high in the Sierra Nevada construction crews were racing winter. With an eye on the thunderheads piling above the mountain-tops, workmen: rushed to build forms and pour concrete for the foundations of a new and larger dam for Lake If they could finish the foundation before the heavy snows, this sorely-needed hydroelectric project could be operating within a year. If they failed, the spring runoffs would wash away almost everything they had accomplished, And it looked as if their luck was running out. Heavy rains swelled the river, wiped out the diversion dam. and flooded the construction site. Men with steamshovels worked around the clock to divert the river again and big pumps were dropped so low the concrete had to.be mixed with heated water, Three days before Christmas the job was finished—a 38-foothigh base for the dam and a concrete-lined diversion tunnel, A week later the entire job lay buried beneath five feet of snow — —but all was in readiness for resumption of work in the spring. ; CUPPED in a great, glacier-carved bowl of granite, Lake g stands at the headwaters of California history. Yuba and “used to dry out the site. Then snow began to fall, Temperatures . Emigrant Gaps, through which the ‘49ers struggled on their way. down from Donner Summit, overlook the lake. The waters which feed it were once used for working some of the richest gold fields in the state, And the network of the canals and flumes linking Spaulding's watershed with the mines were engineering achievements that rivalled the Southern Pacific railroad and Interstate 80 which now cross the mountains close by. Water was needed to wash away the sand and gravel in which the gold lay buried, As stream-side claims were exhausted, the canal companies were formed to bring water to "dry diggings" and many of the reservoirs and canals which they developed were the seeds of PG&E's hydroelectric system. Most extensive and spectacular of these properties was the Rock Creek, Deer Creek and South Yuba Canal Company formed . in 1854, The company bridged deep chasms with timber flumes, used iron pipe to drop water down one side of a canyon and carry it up the other, suspended a canal for a mile and a half along the face of a sheer rock cliff, In the watershed above the present Lake Spaulding, the South Yuba Canal Company (as it was later known) developed a series of reservoirs—among them the famous Meadow Lake. The latter was the site of Sum. mit City, where a boom town of 5,000 persons mushroomed in 1865-66, When the gold strike petered out, the new city—complete with 13 hotels, a stock exchange, palatial saloons and fine homes—was abandoned almost overnight. To enlarge its water storage capacity, the South Yuba company in 1873 started building a dam that would eventually create Lake Fordyce, just below Meadow Lake. But because of severe winters and engineering problems, it required eight years. to complete. And in the process, the canal company. was acquired by other interests who placed a water systems expert and onetime stage coach driver, John Spaulding, in charge of construction.It was Spaulding who recommended the construction of the first dam that formed the lake that bears his name, Built in 1892outlawed because of its damage tothe state's rivers and streams, Irrigation and domestic water uses took its place—as did a new development: hydroelectric power generation. The venerable, still functioning South Yuba system, which dated back to 1850, was sold to the California Gas and Electric Co, in’ 1905 — and the same year’ PG&E was formed by the merger of CG&E with the San Francisco Gas and Electric Co. ] . ) SPECIALTY CAKES & DONUTS ‘eC ‘Len Gilbert‘ HEFFREN INSURANCE AGENCY . 111 W. Main P.O. Box 1034 Grass Valley, Ca. Ph. 265-6166. ‘ve SS y a -CteseK? tei v ¥ ow eatee ; ee ee ke . \ nF d's THE SEVENTH Day Adventist Church on Alta Street in Grass Valley. “THE CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The -first grade at Ready can?" and “It's your school, Springs School invites every keep itclean" adult, teen-ager, and child in The students also planted Nevada county to jointheir Earth California poppy seeds along the Patrol to keep the county clean school road to help beautify a small part of the world. The students madepostersfor. John Whalin is captain of the their classroom windows, school Earth Patrol. He organizes office and library, the Grass small groups armed with paper Valley library and Penn Valley bags to scour the school yard. store bulletin board on many with trash, even the smallest subjects. scrap of paper. Some of the posters are enThe December issue of the titled, "Are you a canthrower?" school newspaper lists each stuKeep America Clean, Don't be dent's remark concerning the a litterbug, keep our school Earth Patrol and its goal. Jenniclean, are you proud of our fer said "Don't throw litter all country?," "Keep Ready Springs over the world." clean, Don't throw trash from Other remarks include, "'Go your cars, ,Did you throw that along the road and pick up trash. $x ; e.2 ate Fe th, clea le : «RD ae EF FS ‘ : Vow &, tr ol, Co T6gf TLE eogPET SP PRA p guktae qlee aids ; / and cans," Danielle; “Pick up trash, don't leave it on the ground, Help the earth patrol," Kelly; "Don't be a can thrower," Karl; “Don't throw stuff out of cars like milkshake cartons and bags," John W, "Don't be a ‘pigpen’, don't throw beer cans out," H "Don't be a litterbug. I.feel bad about the messy highways. Don't . pollute the water," Shawn; "I am not happy because they throw trash around," Clark; Keep the world clean and the highways," Gordon; "Don't throw trash and don't smoke. Keep your cans," Judy, and from Jamie, "Thank you for helping the earth paty ee r ‘irst graders want people to joinEarth Patrol )

5s NES RIES Pha 6S aaa OTS Te at es @ The Nevada County Nugget, Wednesday, December 23, 1970. Construction of Lake Spaulding is history IT WAS NOVEMBER, 1912, and at the bottom of the South Yuba canyon high in the Sierra Nevada construction crews were racing winter. With an eye on the thunderheads piling above the mountain-tops, workmen: rushed to build forms and pour concrete for the foundations of a new and larger dam for Lake If they could finish the foundation before the heavy snows, this sorely-needed hydroelectric project could be operating within a year. If they failed, the spring runoffs would wash away almost everything they had accomplished, And it looked as if their luck was running out. Heavy rains swelled the river, wiped out the diversion dam. and flooded the construction site. Men with steamshovels worked around the clock to divert the river again and big pumps were dropped so low the concrete had to.be mixed with heated water, Three days before Christmas the job was finished—a 38-foothigh base for the dam and a concrete-lined diversion tunnel, A week later the entire job lay buried beneath five feet of snow — —but all was in readiness for resumption of work in the spring. ; CUPPED in a great, glacier-carved bowl of granite, Lake g stands at the headwaters of California history. Yuba and “used to dry out the site. Then snow began to fall, Temperatures . Emigrant Gaps, through which the ‘49ers struggled on their way. down from Donner Summit, overlook the lake. The waters which feed it were once used for working some of the richest gold fields in the state, And the network of the canals and flumes linking Spaulding's watershed with the mines were engineering achievements that rivalled the Southern Pacific railroad and Interstate 80 which now cross the mountains close by. Water was needed to wash away the sand and gravel in which the gold lay buried, As stream-side claims were exhausted, the canal companies were formed to bring water to "dry diggings" and many of the reservoirs and canals which they developed were the seeds of PG&E's hydroelectric system. Most extensive and spectacular of these properties was the Rock Creek, Deer Creek and South Yuba Canal Company formed . in 1854, The company bridged deep chasms with timber flumes, used iron pipe to drop water down one side of a canyon and carry it up the other, suspended a canal for a mile and a half along the face of a sheer rock cliff, In the watershed above the present Lake Spaulding, the South Yuba Canal Company (as it was later known) developed a series of reservoirs—among them the famous Meadow Lake. The latter was the site of Sum. mit City, where a boom town of 5,000 persons mushroomed in 1865-66, When the gold strike petered out, the new city—complete with 13 hotels, a stock exchange, palatial saloons and fine homes—was abandoned almost overnight. To enlarge its water storage capacity, the South Yuba company in 1873 started building a dam that would eventually create Lake Fordyce, just below Meadow Lake. But because of severe winters and engineering problems, it required eight years. to complete. And in the process, the canal company. was acquired by other interests who placed a water systems expert and onetime stage coach driver, John Spaulding, in charge of construction.It was Spaulding who recommended the construction of the first dam that formed the lake that bears his name, Built in 1892outlawed because of its damage tothe state's rivers and streams, Irrigation and domestic water uses took its place—as did a new development: hydroelectric power generation. The venerable, still functioning South Yuba system, which dated back to 1850, was sold to the California Gas and Electric Co, in’ 1905 — and the same year’ PG&E was formed by the merger of CG&E with the San Francisco Gas and Electric Co. ] . ) SPECIALTY CAKES & DONUTS ‘eC

‘Len Gilbert‘ HEFFREN INSURANCE AGENCY . 111 W. Main P.O. Box 1034 Grass Valley, Ca. Ph. 265-6166. ‘ve SS y a -CteseK? tei v ¥ ow eatee ; ee ee ke . \ nF d's THE SEVENTH Day Adventist Church on Alta Street in Grass Valley. “THE CHURCH of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. The -first grade at Ready can?" and “It's your school, Springs School invites every keep itclean" adult, teen-ager, and child in The students also planted Nevada county to jointheir Earth California poppy seeds along the Patrol to keep the county clean school road to help beautify a small part of the world. The students madepostersfor. John Whalin is captain of the their classroom windows, school Earth Patrol. He organizes office and library, the Grass small groups armed with paper Valley library and Penn Valley bags to scour the school yard. store bulletin board on many with trash, even the smallest subjects. scrap of paper. Some of the posters are enThe December issue of the titled, "Are you a canthrower?" school newspaper lists each stuKeep America Clean, Don't be dent's remark concerning the a litterbug, keep our school Earth Patrol and its goal. Jenniclean, are you proud of our fer said "Don't throw litter all country?," "Keep Ready Springs over the world." clean, Don't throw trash from Other remarks include, "'Go your cars, ,Did you throw that along the road and pick up trash. $x ; e.2 ate Fe th, clea le : «RD ae EF FS ‘ : Vow &, tr ol, Co T6gf TLE eogPET SP PRA p guktae qlee aids ; / and cans," Danielle; “Pick up trash, don't leave it on the ground, Help the earth patrol," Kelly; "Don't be a can thrower," Karl; “Don't throw stuff out of cars like milkshake cartons and bags," John W, "Don't be a ‘pigpen’, don't throw beer cans out," H "Don't be a litterbug. I.feel bad about the messy highways. Don't . pollute the water," Shawn; "I am not happy because they throw trash around," Clark; Keep the world clean and the highways," Gordon; "Don't throw trash and don't smoke. Keep your cans," Judy, and from Jamie, "Thank you for helping the earth paty ee r ‘irst graders want people to joinEarth Patrol )