USA > California > Merced County > A history of Merced County, California : with a biographical review of the leading men and women of the county who have been identified with its growth and development from the early days to the present > Part 34
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Meanwhile, on May 3, 1922, pursuant to a clause between the dis- trict and the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation, at a hearing at the superior court room in Merced presided over by Commissioners Stanley Benedict and Chester Rowell, the Railroad Commission had fixed the rate which the company was to pay the district for the hydro- electric power at four and one-half mills per kilowatt-hour. While the construction of a dam of only partial height was under contempla- tion, later there was an agreement reached that this rate should in that case be slightly less; but with the full-height dam now being built, the rate as fixed by the commission stands, for a period of twenty years, with the option on the part of the district to renew it for twenty more. It may be said here that forty years is the period at which the last of the district bonds will be retired, the greater part of them maturing during the second twenty years after the creation
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of the district, according to a schedule arranged to equalize the yearly burden of combined interest and sinking fund as nearly as practicable.
On May 14, 1923, the board appointed R. C. Starrett, who had been Starr's assistant, to be chief engineer, and on June 8 employed Thebo, Starr & Anderton, Starr's firm of construction engineers, as consulting engineers on the upper works. On July 10, 1923, the surveys of the railroad relocation having been theretofore completed in detail, and the arbitrators having finished their work, the district executed an agreement with the railroad company permitting the relocation to be made and prescribing the terms of settlement.
The board advertised for bids for the construction of the upper works, to be opened on August 3. When the bids were received, they were all considered too high, and the board rejected them all and ordered the work to proceed under the direction of Thebo, Starr & Anderton. Mr. Thebo and Mr. Anderton, the surviving members of the firm, were both personally on the job here. But there were objec- tions raised to this. General Goethals, the builder of the Panama Canal, was here to look at the project, and there were people who wanted him to build the upper works. The matter so worked out that the board ordered only enough work done in the bottom of the river to clean it out to solid bottom and to pour concrete to a height such that the high water of the coming winter should not interrupt opera- tions. This work was done along through the fall and early winter; the winter proved abnormally dry, so that there was no interruption from high water. With the completion of this start on the dam, Thebo and Anderton tendered their resignations; and on January 2, 1924, the board appointed R. V. Meikle chief engineer and A. J. Wiley consulting engineer for the district. They had worked in the corresponding capacities on the construction of the Don Pedro pro- ject, and their record there inspired confidence.
The difficulties peculiar to this job had by this time been disposed of one by one. The Crocker-Huffman Company's system had been bought; the contract had been made with the San Joaquin Light & Power Corporation for the sale of the power, and the price the dis- trict was to receive for it had been fixed; the railroad relocation sur- vey had been completed; and the agreement had been reached with the railroad company as to the settlement between them and the district.
One other difficulty which has not been mentioned had been dis- posed of by the final definite selection of the Exchequer reservoir site. The Crocker-Huffman Land & Water Company, as has been said, had some years before the move for the present district had been started purchased something like 20,000 acres of low foothill range land constituting what came to be known as the Dry Creek reservoir site.
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The price had been high-altogether too high for the value of the land as cattle range-something like $700,000 in all, it is said. This had not been included in the purchase which the district had made from the company, for the Exchequer site had been chosen when that purchase was made. The company was naturally anxious to sell the Dry Creek site to the district. They did not quit without a struggle when J. D. Galloway recommended Exchequer ; they employed engi- neers to make a showing to the board, if possible, in favor of Dry Creek. The engineer in charge was City Engineer O'Shaughnessy, of San Francisco. His report, agreeing with Galloway's preference for Exchequer, ended any overt attempt after that to sell Dry Creek to the district; but the Dry Creek site still served as a talking point to that phase of the opposition which centered upon the heavy expense of the railroad relocation at Exchequer.
Still another difficulty which for a considerable time threatened the peace at least, if not the further progress of the district, was what came to be known as the Crocker-Huffman Contract-Holders matter. When the district bought the Crocker-Huffman system, the company had outstanding, as has been said, contracts on something like 50,000 acres of land, to supply water until 1938, for which the holders had paid usually $10 or $20 an acre down, and under which they paid $1 or $2 an acre a year for the delivery of water through the canals. The question of what compensation these contract-holders were to receive for their rights proved one of the most troublesome which the district had to struggle with. There was no doubt in the minds of practically everybody in the district that these people had something of some material value, but the difficulty was to determine how much. The opposition seized upon the matter eagerly as a means of obstruct- ing the progress of the work. On the other hand, there were a lot of the contract-holders who expressed a willingness to leave the settle- ment of the matter to the board of directors, and some even went so far as to offer to surrender their contract rights without any compen- sation. A so-called "Crocker-Huffman Contract-Holders' Associa- tion" was formed, and Attorney Edward F. Treadwell, of San Fran- cisco, former chief counsel for Miller & Lux, was retained on a largely contingent basis. A suit was filed against the district. The matter was later worked out on the basis that the district agree to pay the contract-holders $70,000 a year for seventeen years in settlement of their rights, leaving them of course, as was necessary, on the same basis as every cther landowner in the district as to the payment of district assessments and rates. With this agreement the contract- holders' matter became quiescent, and has remained so ever since.
During some time preceding the employment of Engineers Meikle and Wiley, the question of the type of dam to be built at Exchequer
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had presented a good deal of difficulty. The board at one time decided on a multiple-arch type, but the federal engineers vetoed this on the ground that no such dam of that type had ever been built of any- where near any such height as 300 feet. The gravity-arch type, similar to that at Don Pedro, was finally adopted and approved.
When this was accomplished, there remained for the new engineers only one major difficulty besides the actual engineering and construc- tion. It had been realized, since the summer of 1923 at least, that the estimate of $12,000,000, and the bond issue voted on that estimate, were not going to be sufficient to complete the project. This was the first matter which the new engineers attacked. On February 1, 1924, they filed a report with the board recommending an additional bond issue of $3,250,000, thus carrying the total now estimated slightly over Galloway's original estimate. A petition for the election was circulated and filed with the board on March 4, 1924, and the election was called for the 31st of the same month. It was partly a sign of a new harmony which had been attained after a great deal of discord, that the bonds carried by between nine and ten for to one against.
An additional incentive was the fact that the district was by this time too far committed for even those who had formerly opposed it to see any way to go except forward. About $5,000,000 of the bonds had already been sold, $3,120,000 in the first block and $1,800,- 000 in the second, on which in all there had been received a premium of a little over $100,000. The Crocker-Huffman system had been purchased for $2,250,000. Approximately $2,750,000 has now been expended on the lower works and about $328,000 on drainage, most of which was spent before the election. The point had nearly been reached where the income from the power would carry the remaining amount estimated to be necessary, and the people at this election showed no doubt that most of them wished to complete the system.
The problem of the sale of the remaining $9,010,000 of bonds was now the chief one before the board. After a good deal of negotiating with a number of bond houses, the bonds were sold on July 23, 1924, to a syndicate composed of about a dozen San Fran- cisco and Los Angeles banks and bond houses, at a discount of four per cent below par; and the board let the contract for the railroad job to F. Rolandi of San Francisco, and the dam and power house to Bent Brothers of Los Angeles. The total cost of the railroad relocation, including engineering, rights of way, bridges, construction and everything else, estimated on the unit prices of the bid and with estimates for the bridges, is put at $3,836,271.69; of the dam and reservoir, on the unit bids for the estimated quantities, $3,878,120.59; and of the power plant, $1,097,613.44. The total cost, as now esti- mated or actually known, is put at slightly over $15,000,000.
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The Merced Irrigation District Bond Syndicate, on September 20 and 21, 1924, sent a body of about 225 salesmen here. They inspected the completed Don Pedro Dam, as a basis for judging what the Exchequer Dam will look like when completed, and examined the Exchequer site and the work started there, and also traveled over the district and made an examination of the territory which constitutes the security for the bonds. The bonds were then put on the market at $102.50, and a considerable portion of them has been sold. F. Rolandi now has several hundred men at work on the railroad job, and the schedule calls for the completion of the railroad and bridges before the end of 1925. Bent Brothers have several hundred more at work on the dam and power plant. By the spring of 1926, the work is expected to be completed, and the railroad is to be out of the way in time to permit the reservoir to be filled during the winter of 1925 and 1926. The summer of 1926 will see storage water in use in the district.
The board of directors of the district at present consist of T. H. Scandrett, formerly chairman of the board of supervisors, who has succeeded L. L. Burchell from Division One by appointment; E. V. Givens, from Division Two; C. E. Kocher, the only remaining member of the original board, and chairman since the election of Givens in C. M. Cross's place in February, 1923, from Division Three; George S. Bloss, Jr., from Division Four; and Dr. C. L. Garvin, from Division Five.
We have dealt at considerable length with the subject of irrigation from the Merced River. It would give an entirely wrong impression of the county if one were to conclude that other irrigation in the county had not been as extensive or more so than that from the Merced. Irri- gation from the San Joaquin has been more extensive, in the county, than that from the Merced. However, the story of irrigation from the San Joaquin may fairly be said to lack the abundance of detail which there is in the story of irrigation from the Merced. It did not begin as early, although we have seen in the chapter on early days on the West Side that Henry Miller had completed his lower canal early in the seventies. Secondly, part of its story lies outside of the county. And thirdly, in no other irrigation undertaking touching the county has there been any struggle, involving a large number of Mer- ced County people, to parallel the Merced Irrigation District story.
Along about the time that the Crocker-Huffman canal and its Lake Yosemite reservoir were completed, towards the end of the eighties, all the other large tracts which are irrigated even to this day may fairly be said to have been also begun, at least, to be brought under irrigation. The Wright Irrigation Law had been passed; and on May 28, 1887, the Turlock Irrigation District was organized, one of the
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pioneer irrigation districts. It had years of costly litigation ahead of it, with consequent grievous delays in getting water to the land, but it was organized. A glance at the map will show that a very large part of that portion of Merced County between the Merced River and the Stanislaus line and between the San Joaquin River and the Santa Fe is covered by the canals of this district. The greater part of the dis- trict of course lies in Stanislaus County. Its headquarters are at Tur- lock in that county. But the whole of the intensive settlements of the Hilmar and Irwin, Riverside, and Delhi regions in Merced County are made possible by the waters which the Turlock Irrigation Dis- trict brings from the Tuolumne. The story of the Turlock Irrigation District in detail belongs rather to Stanislaus than to Merced County, however, for while a very large acreage in Merced County partakes of its waters, the struggle for its establishment was broadly speaking a Stanislaus matter.
While the Turlock District was getting organized, and the Croc- ker-Huffman canal system was drawing towards completion, another large irrigation movement was under way on the East Side of Merced County. On November 30, 1886, James J. Stevinson filed on 300 cubic feet per second of the water of the San Joaquin River. His notices stated that he intended to construct a canal to convey this water to his "present residence on the Merced River. Said canal to begin at a point where the slough leaves the San Joaquin River, and thence in a northerly and northwesterly direction along the most feasible route to the terminus. Said canal to be not less than forty (40) feet wide on the bottom and not less than four (4) feet deep. Said water to be used for irrigation purposes." There is an affidavit of John W. Bost attached, that he posted a copy of the notice at the proposed head of the canal on the San Joaquin on November 27, 1886. On November 30 the notice was recorded at General Bost's request.
A year later two notices of much larger appropriations were posted, one on November 3, 1887, by J. J. Stevinson and John W. Bost, claiming 3,456,000 cubic inches under a pressure of four inches for irrigation, navigation and domestic and manufacturing purposes. It contemplated a canal sixty feet on the bottom, seventy-five feet on top, and seven feet deep. The proposed point of diversion was on the right or east bank of the San Joaquin about six miles below the bridge at Firebaugh. The third notice, dated November 17, 1887, and recorded on November 25, was by James J. Stevinson, John W. Bost, and John W. Mitchell. It was for the appropriation of 3,450,- 000 inches, under a pressure of four inches, for the same place of use and the same-sized canal as in the preceding notice. The point of diversion was on the north or right bank of the San Joaquin near the
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head of a large slough and near and above the line dividing Ranges 16 and 17, Township 12 South, M. D. M., and in the County of Fresno.
It is interesting to consider these quantities of water as here speci- fied. One cannot escape the conclusion that someone was confused by the various units. The first notice, with its 300 cubic feet per second, is obviously correct, but the addition in the notice that it is to be under a six-inch pressure shows that the person who drew the notice was more familiar with the miner's inch than with the unit he was here using. The second calls for a flow of 3,456,000 cubic inches under a pressure of four inches. If this was meant for miner's inches, it would, since one cubic foot per second is equal to forty miner's inches, be equal to 83,200 cubic feet per second, rather more water than the average flow of all the rivers of the Sacramento and San Joaquin Val- leys together. The third notice calls for 3,450,000 inches (it does not say cubic) under a four-inch pressure. Because of the extremely large number of inches called for, and the extremely large quantity of water it would mean if we take it to be miner's inches, and from the fur- ther fact that 3,456,000 cubic inches is exactly 2000 cubic feet, and considering further the size of canal designated, there is no practical doubt that the second and third notices meant cubic inches per second- as one of the notices says-in short, that the second and third notices called for exactly or approximately 2000 cubic feet per second.
In the Merced Express of November 12, 1887, we find the follow- ing very comprehensive summing up of the irrigation projects of the county, for which clearly we are indebted to the civic pride which led Editor J. A. Norvell to draw comparisons between Merced and Fresno Counties which were more or less odious to the latter :
"Merced County .- Whenever a rise comes in the Merced and San Joaquin rivers, Merced County will have with the present facilities an area of irrigated land equal to the actual area of the land under per- manent irrigation in Fresno County. When the contemplated canal on the East Side of the San Joaquin, from Firebaugh's in Fresno County to the land of Judge C. H. Marks west of Livingston in Merced County, is completed, then the area of land will exceed any possible acreage of agricultural land that ever can be placed under permanent cultivation in either Fresno or Stanislaus counties. Under the direction of General Bost, the Mitchell and Stevenson (so it was spelled) canal is now about completed. This canal is intended to water about 45,000 acres of the deep rich soil near the course of the San Joaquin south of its junction with the Merced. This land is mostly owned by John Mitchell and Colonel Stevenson, and the canal has been completed quietly and expeditiously at their expense. The Merced River canal and reservoir east of Merced will water a very
11
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large area of Merced plains in the vicinity of this town. The main canal of this enterprise is completed. The reservoir will be finished in a few weeks, and the fortunate owners of water rights from this source will be able to turn an unlimited supply of water out on their lands whenever the first storm in the Sierras sends a winter freshet down the Merced.
"The West Side Canal has been in successful operation for a num- ber of years. This carries a large volume of water from the San Joaquin below Firebaugh's clear through Merced County down to points in Stanislaus below Hill's Ferry. Except at Badger Flat and Cottonwood, most of the land irrigated is owned by Miller & Lux. By the agency of this canal this firm has transformed a region orig- inally affording only a scanty and uncertain pasture into the best graz- ing farm and most productive region in the State. The whole of the Merced River bottom is already watered by numerous canals that carry abundance of water at all stages of the river.
"General Bost is authority for the statement that the new East Side Canal will be commenced forthwith and completed within a year. He surprised the community by completing his last task before half the folks in town knew there was a canal building near Dover. We believe the Merced Express is warranted in stating that within one year from the date of this issue, Merced will have one-third more land under permanent irrigation than Fresno has now or ever can pos- sibly supply with water for agricultural purposes."
In the "Mitchell and Stevenson canal" which "is now about com- pleted" we recognize the present East Side Canal & Irrigation Com- pany's canal, more commonly known as the East Side Canal or the Stevinson Canal. The "new East Side Canal," the "contemplated canal on the East Side of the San Joaquin, from Firebaugh's .. . to the land of Judge C. H. Marks," on the contrary, was a project which was fated never to become a reality. What the reasons were which prevented the carrying out of this undertaking, which when Mr. Nor- vell wrote the editorial just quoted, in November, 1887, seems to have been regarded as something which would be carried out in the immediate future, we cannot inquire fully here. We know that there has been a long series of water lawsuits between the Miller & Lux interests on the one hand and the Stevinson interests on the other, regarding the waters of the San Joaquin River. Whether in these alone we find the reason why this "new East Side Canal," larger and more ambitious than the one that was built, was to remain only a canal on paper, or whether other reasons (difficulties of financing, less favorable results than had been expected on some of the land from irrigation, or what not) were either wholly or in part responsi-
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ble-these are interesting questions, but properly to write the history of them would require a book in itself; they can only be asked here.
The greatest irrigation project of all those which touch Merced County is one which is now in progress of being worked out, and which is accurately described by its name of San Joaquin River Water Stor- age District. The history leading up to this district includes the stories of the Stevinson canal, of the Miller & Lux canals (including several others besides the San Joaquin & Kings River Canal & Irri- gation Company), and several which came in quite recent years and will be noticed later. In the chapter on Early Days on the West Side the construction of the first Miller & Lux canal has been noticed. The second, or so-called upper canal, was constructed shortly after the Crocker-Huffman canal, and shortly after the organization of the Turlock District and the work which we have just read of on the Stevinson canal by General Bost. It was about 1889 that the upper canal was completed, and with its completion there was some- where about 200,000 acres under canal on the West Side of Merced County.
The San Joaquin, unlike the Merced, has a long course through the level valley lands, and thence arose many complications of water rights. The lawsuits between the Miller & Lux and Stevinson inter- ests have already been mentioned, and they were by no means the only ones having the waters of the San Joaquin as their subject.
Contemporary with the organization of the Merced Irrigation District in 1919, the organization of the Madera Irrigation District was effected. They held their election a short time before Merced held hers. The proposed district was to embrace about 300,000 acres, and the plan involved the building of an immense storage reservoir at Friant, where the San Joaquin comes out of the hills into the plains. Their project called for a bond issue of $28,000,000, in a country materially less developed than the Merced District territory. They carried the bond issue by the remarkable vote of 3100 for to 25 votes against. Miller & Lux had a lot of land in the district, and also of course had large water rights on the river. They brought suits against the district on the grounds that its assessments would amount to con- fiscation of the corporation's lands in the district, and that the taking of water which the district proposed would deprive them of their water rights.
Meanwhile a movement was on foot on the West Side of Merced County, carried on largely by the farm centers, to organize an irriga- tion district under the Wright Act to embrace about 208,000 acres, for the most part in this county, and to be called the West Joaquin Irrigation District.
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Negotiations between Miller & Lux on the one side and the Madera and West Joaquin Districts on the other have resulted in the two districts being dropped, or rather merged with other land in the great San Joaquin River Water Storage District, to embrace about 540,000 acres in Madera, Fresno, Merced, and Stanislaus Counties, with a board of directors chosen in part by Miller & Lux and in part by the people. Included in the district also is the Stevinson land on ยท the East Side of the river.
The act under which this great district is proceeding provides for appraisals of the properties of the various concerns and districts which are to be included, and for the submission of these estimates and appraisals to the State engineer and his acceptance or rejection of them within sixty days. The appraisals were completed during April of the present year. A summary of them is as follows : Miller & Lux, Inc. :
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