The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1883-09-29
California's Water Supply.

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of this State and by the wood-fumes and
lumber-mills of the Sierras, there are TWO
great purposes for which water IS most
necessary in California mining and agrl-
culture. The first is supplied from the
streams of the Sierras north OF the Mercep
River, such as the Tuolumne, Stanlslaus,
Calaveras, Meckelume, Costumes, Amer
lean, Bear, Yuba and Feather.
About the year 1853 the miners, having
taken the gold from the shallow places,
were obliged to resort to hydraulic mining
The immense quantities of water required
for this purpose necessitated the building
of extensive aqueducts, many of which had
to be taken across deep canons, and 1t re-
quired skilful hydraulic engineering to sue
cessfuly accomplish the ends intended.
Then, too, the large streams of the Ser
ras would dry up toward the end Of the
summer, and if such expensive mining were
to be at all profitable, work must be con-
tinued much longer than till fall. Conse-
quently large reservoirs must be constructed
in which, during the winter months, water
could be stored. Some of those now in
use are from sixty to ninety feet high and
cover from three to six hundred acres.
The South Yuba Canal Company OF
Nevada county has one of the longest min
ing bitches in California, fed by seven
lakes near Cisco. The entire length of
this ditch and its branches is one hundred
and thirty-nine miles, and the daily supply
distributed is 10000 miners inches a
miners inch" being 1920 cubic feet.
The entire cost of the mining bitches Of
this State has been about twenty millions
of dollars and the total amount carried by
them daily is about two billion gallons, an
amount none too great, for it is said that
large hydraulic mine will use as much wa
ter as city of 200, 900 inhabitants in north
ern Europe. Many of the mining bitches
are also used for agricultural purposes.
The streams south of the MERGED, such
as the San Joaquin, Fresno, Kings, Kaw-
eah and Kern rivers, are used for lrrlgatlng
the dry soil of the valleys, very needful
expedient in California Some large Ca
mails have been built for this purpose, the
largest being the San Joaquin and Kings
River Canal, capable of irrigating 200, 900
acres This canal runs parallel with the
San Joaquin River on its western side,
about ten miles from it. The canal is sew
enty -four miles long. 1t was made under
the supervision of W. c. Ralston, who
! commanded the survey of the whole Of
the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys.
He spent 81 ,300,0 upon the work, ex-
pecting to connect the canal with Tulare
Lake, but an analysis of the waters of that
body showed that it was too salt to be used
for irrigation, and the idea of connecting
with the lake was abandoned.
This canal is divided into sections of ten
miles each, and man watches each portion
riding along his section every day to see
that nothing is amiss
If any trouble is discovered, there is a
telephone line running along the bank OF
) the canal, and by telephoning the watch
man may receive hel p very soon.
This company charge the farmers two
dollars per acre for the use of water for q
crop of grain The average price asked
; by the different owners Of canals is from
81. 80 to S. per acre, according to situation
SOIL ETC. The desert country all along the
the Colorado in San Diego county has been
surveyed at different times for canals, but
no move has been made toward digging
them Irrigating canals are used in Yolo
San Bernardino, Fresno, Monterey, Ell Do
RADIO, Tulare, Los Angeles, Tuolumne, where
the canal cost half million of dollars,
Ventura, Calaveras and other counties.
Artesian wells are used in many dry por-
tons of this State. They are generally
from two to four hundred feet deep, al
though in many places, water can be OBJ
tanned much nearer the surface. The
well is made by sinking a wrought-iron
tube having diameter of several inches
into the ground. A sand-pump clears the
pipe. and the water often rushes up nearly
to the top of the well. Sometimes there is
enough force of water to allow of pipes
being carried through the farmhouse and
other buildings belonging to the owner
Quite a number of these wells have re-
Gently been bored along the San Joaquin
River. There is certain belt of land in
that valley where artesian wells are very
successful, and there is another belt near
the foothills where no boring, even though
carried to a depth of five hundred feet will
obtain water Near Sacramento City are
two borings for water, one of fourteen hun
dred and another of one thousand feet, both
of which were unsuccessful. AS general
thing, however, water can easily be found
near the Sacramento.
There are supposed to be about two thous-
and artesian wells in California, and more