The San Francisco call., 1903-12-20
SECURES MILES
OF WATERSHED
Bay Cities Company Makes an
Important Move in Fight for
Supremacy in Santa Clara
FIVE DEEDS RECORDED
Corporation Is Now in Position
to Carry Out It's Plans
Despite Pending Litigation
Special Dispatch to The Call.

SAN JOSE, Dec. 19.-An important
( transaction in relation to the water
supply of Santa Clara County went on
record yesterday, when c. w. GUILTY
/ and wife and the San Jose Lighting
/ Company transferred the Mount Ham
: nton watershed to Frank G. Drum of
! San Francisco. Drum is a representa-
( tive of Messrs. Haggin and Tevis, and
/ there is little doubt that the purchase
of the watershed is made for the Bay
: Cities Water Company, in which Hag-
( ign and Tevis have large interests.
( From eighty to one hundred square
/ miles of watershed is secured. and it
/ has storage capacity of 1000, 100000
/ gallons.
The transfers recorded yesterday con-
/ sist of FIVE deeds Three of these are
! from GUILTY and his wife and the other
| two are from the San Jose Lighting
! Company. These deeds cover sixty
eight deeds, grants, options and agree
ments, secured by GUILTY since 1895,
and cover nearly every drop of water
2
! The transaction shows that all lands,
water rights, rights of way easements
/ and reservations along Smith Creek,
/ Arroyo Honda, Santa Ysabel and Ar
roya Bonita are sold to Drum.
! This gives the Bay Cities Company
an immense water supply, and at the
same time * has made a coup on the
/ Spring Valley Company The water
supply of the Mount Hamilton water
/ shed is to be diverted into the big plant
/ of the Bay Cities Water Company.
near Coyote Station, ten miles south
/ of this city. An immense reservoir is
! planned for Coyote Station, and already
! the company has sunk some immense
wells there and erected pumping
/ plant. The Bay Cities Company is now
building a tunnel in the hills near
/ Smith Creek. which will be 5000 feet
! long. and through which the waters
! lust secured will be carried to the big
( reservoir near Coyote. The purchase
! from Guilty also secures a fine reser-
! voir site with capacity Of 1000, ,0000 900
/ gallons.
The Spring Valley Water Company
+ has a reservoir site in Calaveras Val
/ ley, on which it has done some work,
and it was the natural outlet for the
waters of the Mount Hamilton water
shed. BY the transfer to-day the Bay
/ Cities Company has got ahead of the
/ Spring Valley Company and secured a
water supply which is large enough to
/ make it a dangerous competitor of the
/ other company.
! No price is mentioned in the transfer,
=.
] hundreds of thousands of dollars.
1t is rumored that inside of a year
/ the Bay Cities Company win become
an active competitor of the San Jose
! Water Company and the Spring Valley
! Water Company. There is a legal fight
now pending between the three water
companies for the reservoir site at
Coyote, in which the San Jose and
! Spring Valley companies are trying
/ to block the Bay Cities Company.
| Citizens of the county are also pre-
/ pairing to enjoin the Bay Cities Com
! pany from taking the water from the
gravel beds at Coyote. by wells, on the
! ground that the percoIating waters of
the county will be interfered with, and
/ that the water supply of the farmers
and the orchardists will suffer. The Bay
! Cities Company had proposed to take
some 1O0, 900, 900 gallons a day from
this county to sell to Oakland and San
| Francisco.
With the supply of water secured
from the Mount Hamilton water shed
/ the Bay Cities Company will be able
! to go right ahead and carry out it's
/ plans while the threatened litigation is
! pending as the water brought from
/ Smith Creek, Santa Ysabel Arroyo
/ Honda and Arroyo Bonita creeks will
! be sufficient.
COLORED CHURCH DEACON