USA > California > San Joaquin County > An illustrated history of San Joaquin County, California. Containing a history of San Joaquin County from the earliest period of its occupancy to the present time, together with glimpses of its future prospects; > Part 16
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" As the material becomes more vegetable in character the slope is gradually reduced, until, in the peat formation at the lower end of the island, the sides of the levee are nearly verti- cal, but the width of crown is increased to from twenty-five to thirty-feet. The nine-foot fill ruled nearly all round the island, so that a very massive and expensive levee was the result.
" We believe the proprietors have it in con- templation to proceed now to give all the peaty levee a coating of from two to three feet of sedi- ment and clay from the river-beds. Material is to be disintegrated with a species of pug-mill, and sufficient water added to allow of its being forced, as in the Von Schmidt machine, through pipes on to the levee. The expense of subdu- ing the soil and extirpating the tale roots is abont equal to that of reclamation; so that when the lands were fitted for cultivation it was found that the upper and lower divisions costs about $12 and $20 the acre respectively. A bird's- eye view of the division is given in this work,
from which an idea of the inagnitude of this work can be gathered.
" Bouldin Island, above referred to, contains 6,497 acres of land, of which abont 4,000 are in cultivation this year. It lies at the junction of the Mokelumne with the San Joaquin river, in San Joaquin County. The land yields two crops per year, one of grain and one of potatoes; of the former (barley) from fifty to sixty bush- els, and of potatoes 150 to 200 sacks per acre.
" It is owned by the members of the Pacific Distillery Company of San Francisco, who have this year completed a very excellent and well- planned reclamation. The scheme of the pro- prietors is to devote a large portion of the island to growing potatoes for distillery purposes, po- tatoes yielding on these lands a certain crop.
" Staten Island, immediately north of Bouldin Island, lies between the north and south forks of the Mokelumne river, about five miles above its junction with the San Joaquin, and forty miles below or northwest of Stockton, and con- tains 9,194 acres of land. It was first leveed in 1873; the levees were soon afterward en- larged, and all the land put under cultivation. The cost of reclamation was $28 per acre. The land there is peculiarly rich, yielding two crops per year, and in favorable seasons as high as seventy-five to eighty bushels of wheat, a ton and a half of beans, 2,150 sacks of potatoes.
" Fourteen miles north of Stockton, a large tract of tule land, owned by the Sargent broth- ers, between White's slough and the Mokel- ninne river, were reclaimed by them. Their first levees, along the banks of Sargent and Island sloughis, were found inadequate, and they had to buy up a large extent of land from those around thein who were too slow to co-operate, and levee on a much larger scale, which they did with the most signal success."
IRRIGATION.
As an appropriate introduction to this sub- ject, we quote the following remarks from the last report of the Surveyor-General of this State: "There is a question now agitating the peo-
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ple of the State which is, perhaps, of quite as much importance to the well-being and pros- perity of the country as the settlement of ques- tions relative to the titles and locations of Spanishi land grants; and this is the question relative to the use of flowing water for purposes of irrigation. The water of flowing streams is to the earth what the blood in the veins and arteries is to the animal systein : one giving life and energy to the body, and the other fruitful- ness to the earth.
"In England, where the earth is watered by frequent summer showers, and the soil moist- ened by ocean fogs, water for the public use is not a thing of so much importance as it is in those arid regions of the earth where it seldom rains, and where, without irrigation, the earth would be a barren desert without human labi- tation. Therefore, the framers of the common law of England, not being taught by necessity the importance of providing for the common use of the flowing waters of the country, gave the same to the owners of the land bordering the stream.
"For the reasons above stated, this law has for centuries, perhaps, worked no hardship or injustice to the inhabitants of that country; but, from the nature of things, it is manifest that laws, which in one country might be bene- ficial or harmless, in another, surrounded by different conditions, would be utterly ruinous. The inhabitants of all arid countries being im- pelled by their needs have, from time imme. morial, given much attention to the laws regu- lating the public or common nse of flowing waters.
"Spain and large portions of Spanish Amer- ica being naturally arid and subject to pro- tracted droughts, it has been found necessary to make very stringent laws and regulations rela- tive to the distribution and common use of flowing waters. Hence, many laws on this sub- ject are found recorded in the Partidas and Recopilacion de Indias, and, besides, learned essays and reports on the same subject. The jealous care with which the Spanish laws liave
from the earliest times granted such common rights as pertain to the use of waters, is shown by the Partidas, which declare: That the ribero del mar (sea beach), the space between high and low tide, cannot be granted to any person, nor can the exclusive right to the use thereof be conceded to any one whomsoever; but, that all shall have a right to use the same,' in other words, that it should be reserved for public use.
"In view of this ancient law, the territorial deputation (legislative) of California passed a resolution in 1835 authorizing grants of 100 vara lots to be made in Yerba Buena (now San Francisco) 200 varas back from the shores of the bay; thus reserving for public use the ribero, or sea beach, as required by the laws of the Partidas.
"The General Regulations, published in the city of Mexico in 1761, declare that la regalia is a certain derecho de imperio (imperial right) which pertains to the sovereign in certain things, among which are waters, lands, and mines; that only to the prince, and to no one else, belongs the power to distribute the waters. That with respect to New Spain, His Majesty has conceded the most ample authority to the viceroys and presidents of the Royal Audience, to the end, that in conformity with the laws and regulations relative thereto, they should make grants of lands and water as of things pertaining to the royal crown.
"From the foregoing extracts it is seen that to the king alone, or to his delegates, belongs the power to grant and distribute lands and the use of flowing waters in the countries of New Spain. The customs of the inhabitants of New Spain induced them to live in pueblos, or vil- lages, around and in the neighborhood of which were located their sinall plantations, on which were produced their cereals, fruits and vegeta- bles.
"These pueblos were located on lands border- ing on flowing streams furnishing sufficient water for irrigating the lands occupied and cul- tivated by the inhabitants of the pueblo, the
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stock farins being ou lands that were not sus- ceptible of irrigation, and were only fit for grazing. Pueblos were established under the laws of the Indies, and to the ayuntamientos (town council) thereof were delegated certain powers, such as the granting of suertes (plant- ing grounds) and solares (house lots) to settlers, and the establishing of regulations for the dis- tribution of the flowing water required for irri- gating the sowing lands of the pueblo. There being no cultivation on the stock farins, no irri- gation was required, the only water needed on such establishment being what was required for the use of the stock occupying the same; hence, such lands were called de abrevadero (a water- ing place for stock).
" Had the territory of Spanish America been divided into small farms, as is the prevailing custom among English-speaking people wlio carry on agriculture and stock-raising in the samne rural establishment, then the same laws and regulations relative to the use of flowing waters which control the government of pueblos would doubtless have been enforced with regard to the use of water on farms or ranches.
"The municipal laws and regulations of pueblos, relative to the distribution and use of water, were exceedingly stringent, the doctrine being that the water belonged to the land, and that it should be so used as that the soil should be forced to yield the greatest possible product of what is required for the support of man. Under these laws, an officer was appointed by the town council, whose duty it was to attend to the distribution of water on the irrigable lands, and to see that no portion thereof, which was under cultivation, should lack its needed supply.
"So strictly were these laws enforced, that if the owner of a lot in cultivation should fail, from neglect or inability, to irrigate his land when his growing crop required water, the officer in charge of the distribution of the water was required to employ some one to attend to the matter, in which case the owner of the lot and crop was charged with the expense of irrigation; the 8
principle established being that in any event productive land should receive the amount of water to which it was entitled, so that it might yield the fruits in which all the inhabitants of the pueblo had a cominon interest.
" The eleventh section of the act of Congress of March 3, 1851, ' to ascertain and settle the private land claims in the State of California,' provides ' that the commissioners, therein pro- vided for, and the district and supreme courts, in deciding upon any claim brought before them muider the provisions of that act, shall be gov- erned by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; tlie laws of nations; the laws, usages, and customs of the government from which the claim is de- rived; the principles of equity, and the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States, as far as they are applicable.' (Fremont vs. United States, 17 How. 553).
" In the same case, on page 557, the United States Supreme Court says: ' It is proper to remark that the laws of these territories under which titles were claimed were never treated by the court as foreign laws, to be decided as a question of fact. It was always held that the court was bound judicially to notice them as much as the laws of a State or Union. In doing this, however, it was undoubtedly often necessary to inquire into official customs and forms of usages. They constitute what may be called the common or unwritten law of every civilized country.'
" The following is the language of the late learned Caleb Cushing: ' By the laws of Spain and of the Mexican Republic, grants of land on the banks of a river extend to the edge of the stream (filum aqua) if it be navigable, or to the iniddle of the river bed (alveo), if it be innavi- gable.'
" Thus, in the case of two properties, situated on opposite sides of the river, each proprietor is entitled to the ordinary riparian rights of use and improvement ou his side, and to the use and take of water for the purpose of irrigation or for mills. If the river be innavigable, the op- posite riparian proprietors own to the middle of
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the river bed, according to the extent length- wise of the river, of their respective properties on the river bank; and if it dry up-as happens to many rivers, either temporarily or perma- nently-they may occupy the river bed as ap- pertinent to their respective riparian properties.
" Under the regulations of 1761, there was what was called ' La servidumbre del aqna- dncto,' that is, the right of a person to conduct water over the property belonging to some one else to irrigate his own land.
" All laws originate from the necessities of man, and from the conditions and circumstances of the country which they are intended to gov- ern. England being a country with a naturally moist climate, and abundantly supplied with rain, the common law mnade no provision for watering the earth by irrigation, because it was never required.
" A large portion of Spanish America being arid, in order that the earth might produce thie fruits required for the support of its inhabi- tants, it was found necessary, in framing laws for the government of the country, to make pro- visions for supplying the soil with the needed water; hence the doctrine of these laws, that the waters of flowing streams belonged to the sov- ereign of the country, and not exclusively to the owners of the lands bordering the streams, the sovereign authority distributing the usufruct of these waters in such a manner as that all fruit- ful soil might receive its equitable share, to the end that the earth might be made to produce food sufficient for the inhabitants thereof.
" Since all law springs from the requirements of man, the more universal and urgent the need of the law the greater will be the attention given to, and the labor bestowed in, the framing thereof. For this reason we find that the Span- ish laws of the Indies, and the regulations es- tablished in Spanish America, with respect to the use of water, are, like the Spanish mining laws, far more perfect than are the common laws of England with regard to the same matters, since they are the result of centuries of such ex- perience as springs from necessity.
" From the foregoing it is seen what were the laws, usages and customs of the Spanish and Mexican Government, with regard to the use of water for purposes of irrigation. It is also shown that the act of Congress of March 3, 1851, declares that the commissioners appointed nnder said act, in determining the rights of claimants under the Government, shall be governed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; the law of nations; the laws, usages, and customs of the govern- inent from which the claim is derived; the principles of equity and decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States-and that the Su- preme Court says, in the Fremont case, that ' the laws of these territories under which the titles were claimed were never treated by the court as foreign laws, and, also, that the court was bound judicially to notice them as much as the laws of a State or Union;' and that they con- stitute what may be called the common or un- written law of every civilized country. It is inanifest, therefore, that under the foregoing provisions and decisions, all water rights which had accrued to lands granted by the governments of Spain and Mexico are bonnd to be protected by the laws and courts of the United States; and since it has been shown that wherever lands were nsed for agricultural purposes under the former governments, these laws were enforced, it is but fair to presume that if the same agri- cultural habits and customs had prevailed among the inhabitants of California under the former government, these laws or nsages would have been observed in the rural districts of the country the same as in the pueblo establish- ments, in which it was the custom of the in- habitants of the country to reside, as has been shown.
" If it be determined by the courts of Cali- fornia that the wise and judicious laws of the former governments of the country relative to the nse of water are only applicable to rights which accrued under grants given by said gov- ernments, and do not affect those portions of the State in which at the date of the treaty of session no grants had been made, and that,
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therefore, these portions with respect to riparian rights are now to be controlled by the principles of the common law, it is manifest that for the well being and prosperity of the agricultural interests of the country the law be so modified as to give such encouragement and protection to agriculture as was given by the laws of the foriner goverminents of the country, or such as may be better fitted to our civilization and modes of life and progressive knowledge in agricult- ure."
IRRIGATION IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY.
The question of irrigation had for a number of years agitated the minds of the land owners through the southern portion of the county until finally the question began to take on the sem- blance of something more than liope deferred, that " maketh the heart sick." Those who had wished for the result, began to adopt means to produce the saine, and we find, as a consequence, that in June, 1871, James Marsh, Andrew Wolf, Austin Sperry and S. Dunham cominenced a survey, with a view of ascertaining the probable cost and feasibility of bringing water from the Stanislaus river over the country, to the vicinity of S. Dunham's farm, near Farmington. They found the scheme practicable, but also learned that the cost would be so great that it would not be advisable to attempt the enterprise at that time.
For six years the old question was laid away in memory's storehouse, to be brought forth on slight provocation and aired; and when the dry summer came, the farmers looked away towards the foot-hills in Calaveras, as looked the wan- dering tribes of Israel towards Canaan, praying for rain, and hoping against hope that some one would furnish capital and bring from those hills the water that would make the parched plains smile like the perennial gardens. Finally, in April, 1877. an organization was perfected with an actual subscribed capital of $33,500. It was a stock company with 2,500 shares, and the or. ganizing trustees were: S. Dunham, President: David Young, Vice-President; N. S. Harrold,
Treasurer; E. O. Long, Secretary; J. F. Harri- son, W. O. Robison and J. C. Hoult.
The Mokeluinne Ditch & Irrigation Company was incorporated in 1876 for the purpose of taking out water for agricultural, mining and manufacturing purposes at a place called Win- ters' Bar, about two miles above Lodi on the Mokelumne river. The original incorporators were S. V. Tredway, David Kettelman, R. C. Sargent, C. R. Ralph, James A. Ellison and Jas. Spencer. Tredway was president and Spencer, secretary. At the date of the incorporation the capital stock was fixed at $100,000, and since then it lias been increased to $300,000. Soon after organizing they commenced the prosecution of their work and continued it until they had a stone dam partially completed at Winters' Bar. Then the work remained stationary for about ten years, namely, until the spring of 1887, when parties living in San Diego County pur- chased a controlling interest, resumed work and completed the dam in the spring of 1888. This dam is 294 feet long on the surface, thirty-four feet higli, and seven feet thick at the top. Head- gates were put in with a capacity of 30,000 miners' inches* of water. A new survey was made in the fall of 1887 and the line located. As soon as the works are complete they will irrigate 120,000 acres of land, which is the territory embraced in the system, and this includes 40,000 acres north of the Mokelumne river and 80,000 acres south of it. At present Senator B. F. Langford is the president of the company and Charles W. McMaster the secretary, whose office is in Lodi.
In the West Side Irrigation District is Tulare Township, a large extent of country particularly subject to amelioration by reclamation and irri- gation. While the rainfall is very small in quantity in that section of the county, the mountain streams and reservoirs to the west and southwest are peculiarly accessible.
Indeed, the whole of the San Joaquin valley can be irrigated from Tulare lake. In 1870 a stock company was formed in San Francisco to
* A miner's inch of flowing water is the amount that will run through an aperture an inch square under a one-inch head.
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supply by ditch the farmers of the San Joaquin with water, and the farmers subscribed to the enterprise to the extent of $1 an acre on condi- tion that the work be completed within three years; but the company failed to comply with their part of the contract, and the residents of course refused their subsidy.
The Weller Ditch Company furnishes the central section with a small but never failing supply.
The San Joaquin valley now has the best and inost extensive irrigation system in America.
ARTESIAN WELLS.
There are at present ten or twelve artesian wells in the county. Water is generally found at a depth of 1,000 feet which will flow to the surface. Of the wells which have been com- pleted up to 1886, the majority were eight inches in diameter. George S. Ladd was the first in the county to bore a well to tap the deep subterranean reservoirs from which a supply of flowing water was obtained delivered sufficiently above the surface to be carried over his land wherever needed for purposes of irrigation. His well was completed in 1880, and a supply of water of about 15,000 gallons per liour secured. Large reservoirs were constructed into which the water is run and from thence conducted over the land in ditches. The water supply thus obtained has been found sufficient to supply the necessary moisture to render the whole tract of 200 acres extremely productive, and also make it possible to grow an almost unlimited variety of products. Upon the farm of Mr. Ladd, which up to the time the well was completed had been principally devoted to grain-growing, there are now flourishing orchards, vineyards and large gardens, and the following is but a partial list of the products raised and marketed during the season: Pears, apricots, peaches, apples, cherries, almonds, raisin, table and wine grapes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, onions, sweet potatoes, Irish potatoes, beets, water- melons, canteloupes and squashes. A portion of the tract is still cultivated in cereals and a por-
tion in alfalfa, but each year the area of the orchard and vineyard is increased, and as the adaptibility of the locality to produce profitable crops of any particular variety is ascertained more of such crop is cultivated. The profits derived from this tract are very satisfactory to its fortunate owner, who has never regretted the expenditure made to secure a flow of artesian water upon his farm.
Dr. C. Grattan, who owns a tract of 500 acres four miles east of Stockton, also has an artesian well, the water of which is now being used for irrigation, and he is making large additions to his orchard and vineyard.
Zignego & Co. about a mile from the north- ern boundary of Stockton, also have a fine flow- ing well and have planted a large orchard and vineyard and nse the water for irrigating por- tions of their land which are cultivated in vege- tables and other crops that require artificial irrigation.
J. D. McDougald has a well upon a large tract of land which he owns, about three miles south of Stockton, which gives a large flow of water, and it is also used for irrigation of land devoted to vegetable growing and general gardening purposes.
W. L. Overhiser was one of the first farmers to sink wells for irrigating purposes. The water is pumped by steam power from four wells about 100 feet deep at once, which yield a continuous flow of about thirty-six miners' inches of water; the pumps used have five-inch valves, and are worked by a twelve-horse-power engine that consumes one-fourth of a cord of wood in ten hours.
This is the first attempt of the kind to use steam for hoisting water for irrigating purposes in the county; and the experiment will be watched with interest by the citizens. Will it pay? is the question to be solved.
James C. Smith, who owns a large tract of land two miles north of Stockton, has at present about eighty acres rented to persons who culti- vate it in fruit and vegetables. The water re- quired for irrigation is raised by windmills, and
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one mill furnishes sufficient water to supply ten acres of land. The cost of digging the well and erecting a mill of sufficient capacity to do this work does not cost as much as $200. The remarkable productive capacity of San Joaquin County lands is clearly shown upon this farm, where fruit of different varieties,-peaches, apricots, plums, cherries, quinces, apples, black- berries, raspberries, strawberries, currants, grapes, etc.,- are grown for market, and also all kinds of vegetables, as cabbages, turnips, beets, radislies, rhubarb, egg plant, onions, car- rots, sweet and Irish potatoes, etc. On most of this land two crops and sometimes more are grown the same season. This land is leased at an average annual rental of $26 per acre, the leases to run ten years, and the renters are always anxious to renew their leases at the ex- piration.
GRAIN RAISING.
After the first flush of gold excitement had somewhat abated. the raising of the cereals was naturally the first industry that would be taken up; and this has proved so profitable that the farmers, especially the "old-timers," are reluc- tant to change to other crops. Soon after the inception of this branch of agriculture the grain trade became a leading business of the city. During the mining era this section was an im- porter of breadstuff's, and even after flonr mills were here erected the wheat to supply them was imported at first from Chili, South America, and afterward from the bay and coast counties of Sonoma, Solano and Napa. During the year 1857 wheat was brought here from Solano and Napa counties, and hanled to Bell's flour mill near Sonora, there to be made into flour, for the supply of the mining camps of that locality. Up to that time most of the wheat ground in the mills of Stockton was also brought from the bay counties. During the year 1858, however. a small surplus of wheat was produced in this connty, and the business of dealing in that pro- duct by others than those engaged in the mill business was first commenced.
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