USA > California > Merced County > History of Merced County, California with biographical sketches of prominent citizens > Part 37
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AMOUNT OF LAND IRRIGATED.
The amount of land irrigated in 1879 is stated to have been 30,000 acres. Prior to the last season the greatest amount irrigated was but little in excess of 20,000 acres; but it is expected that 50,000 acres will be watered by the canal thie com- ing year. During the first seven months of 1879 the quantity of water diverted by the canal at its head was 7,799,016,960 cubie feet.
EFFECT OF IRRIOATION ON WELLS.
For five miles below the eanal the water in the wells was raised from four to twenty feet, and even thirty fect in some instances. Several wells within a mile of the eanal, whose normal water surface was thirty feet below the top, filled up while irrigation was in progress in the vicinity, so that for the time being water could be dipped out by hand. After a few weeks it receded to fifteen or twenty feet below the surface, but its elevation was permanently raised ten or fifteen feet. At the mouth of Orestimba Creek, five miles below the canal along the river, wells were filled four feet.
RESULTS OF IRRIGATION.
But for irrigation, all crops on that portion of the west side commanded by the canal extension, where dry farming has heretofore been exclusively practiced, would have proved a disastrons failure. Above the canal the crops failed almost entirely, while below it the lands irrigated once yielded seven to eleven saeks per acre (fifteen to twenty-five bushels), and, with fall irrigation, the same lands are expected to yield much inore. The farmers witnessing such results have had their former apathy turned to enthinsiasm, and all within reach of the eanal are now vigorously preparing to reap the advan- tages which the opportunities for irrigating their lands afford. Heretofore farming in that section has been a cheerless and discouraging pursuit. It was impossible to have orchards, gardens, meadows, and other luxuries of that nature which make rural life agreeable, and rural homes cheerful and pleas- ant. A few farmers had, by means of windmills and pumps, contrived to ercate a green spot about their homes-a few trees, a small vegetable garden, and flowers; but the generality of the homes were devoid of those evidences of thrift and eomfort. With the advent of a canal, and a constant supply of water for irrigation, the farmers are sowing meadows of alfalfa, planting trees and vines, and preparing to live.
SALE OF WATER.
Water is sold on the San Joaquin and Kings River Canal exclusively by the acre irrigated. Following is the schedule of priees :--
¥
176
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
For cereals, during any part of the season from July Ist of one year to the same date of the following year, $2.50 per acre. For alfalfa, $3.00 per acre per year.
For market gardens, $5.00 per acre per year.
For wild grass lands, 75 cents per acre per year.
For the irrigation of second crop of anything in the same season, $1,00
For the fall irrigation of lands, from July 1st to January 1st the charge for a single irrigation is $1.50 per acre. After January 1st any number of waterings necessary to mature crops of cereals is given for $1.00.
NO RESTRICTION UPON THE WATER.
No restriction is placed upon the number of irrigations to be applied or the amount of water to be used, except the gen- eral one that the amount shall be the "requisite quantity without waste or excess." There is, therefore, no special incen- tive to economy in the use of water. Parties requiring water are obliged to give notice in writing, designating the land and tbe number of acres for which water is requested, signing an obligation to pay for the same. The company's employés alone are permitted to open and close the discharge gates.
This method of selling water is doubtless less troublesome and less expensive to the canal company than that by meas- urement, but it must inevitably be a source of waste, and wben the full area commanded by the canal sball have come under cultivation, there will arise a necessity for the adoption of every means of promoting economy in the use of water, one of which will be its sale by absolute quantity.
The canal company have a scale of prices, also, for water for stock. These apply to those who herd cattle in tbe vicinity of the canal, or to drovers driving their herds through the country. For cattle the charge is $100 per year, or $40 per month for 1,000; for sheep and hogs, $50 per year, or $10 per month per 1,000. The charges for traveling droves are higher.
FALL IRRIGATION.
Farmers whose lands are retentive of moisture have an advantage in heing able to mature their crops with the single fall irrigation, which costs but $1.50 per acre. I met one farmer in the Badger Flat Settlement, who manages to get several profitable crops from his land each season with the min- imum water bill. He commences to irrigate after July 1st, for corn, potatoes, melons, beans, etc., which produce a good fall crop with one watering. In the winter he sows barley upon the same land, usually cutting it for hay, sometimes getting two crops from the same stand, all of which was matured by the moisture remaining in the soil from the fall irrigation, sup- plemented by whatever rain-fall there may have been. He thus obtains two or three crops a year with but one watering.
COST OF PRODUCING CROPS.
The cost of producing a crop of barley on the alkaline adohe lands of the Dos Palos Ranch is given as follows :-
$1 00
Plowing, per acre. 50
Harrowing and seeding, per acre 60
Seed, per acre. 15
Five irrigations (labor), per acre . 1 25
Five irrigations (water), per acre (special contract)
Heading and stacking, contract price, per acre. 1 25
Threshing, at 10 cents per 100 Ibs, say. 1 40
Sacks. 1 40
Total. $7 55
The cost of a wheat crop is slightly in excess of this amount, in the items of seed and labor of irrigation.
The cost of a wheat crop on land near Hill's Ferry, the first year of irrigation, was given as follows (yield fifteen centals per acre) :- $ 1 50
Plowing and harrowing, per acre.
Seed, bluestone, and sowing, per acre. 1 00
Two irrigations (water), per acre. 2 50
Two irrigations (labor), per acre 75
Heading and stacking, per acre. 1 25
Tbreshing (15 centals at 10 cents), per acre 1 50
1 25
Sacks, per acre.
Total $ 9 75
Cost of delivering on river bank at Hill's Ferry 1 50
Total cost delivered at market. $11 25
Value of crop at Hill's Ferry, $1.50 per cental. 22 50
Profit $11 25
RENTAL OF IRRIGATED LANDS.
Miller & Lux have a number of tenants on their irrigated lands who farm them on the following terms: Where the land is prepared for irrigation before the tenant occupies it, he pays one-fifth to one-half of the crop as rent, according to what the owners furnish. If they furnish teams, groceries, fced, and seed, the owners take one-half the crop. If the tenant fur- nisbes everything, he pays one-fifth, tbe grain to be threshed and delivered. The tenant pays one-half the water bill, receiv- ing the henefit of a special contract made between Miller & Lux aud tbe canal company before the canal was built, by which they pay but $1.25 per acre per annum for all water required.
Where the land is not prepared for irrigation, the owners furnish lumber at the nearest landing on the river for neces- sary buildings and for fencing ten acres of ground to he devoted to alfalfa. The tenant erects his own house and makes his ditches and check-levees. He pays no rent the first year.
177
VARIOUS CANALS CONSTRUCTED.
DOS PALOS AND TEMPLE SLOUGH CANALS.
These two irrigating channels were opened by Miller & Lux, and draw water from the San Joaquin River on the west side. The channels were originally natural sloughs, breaking out from the river and traversing the Rancho Sanjon de Santa Rita, parallel to the river, and were simply deepened and improved for the purpose of affording water for the irrigation of wildl grass lands on the rancho. The upper one heads about five miles below Firebaugh's, and is termed Posa Slough, or Dos Palos Canal. A substantial head-gate has been built at the river bank, having a clear opening of twenty-four feet, dividedl into four bays. It is fifteen feet in height from the floor of the structure to the floor of the road bridge over it. The structure is founded on piles driven into the hard-pan bed of the slough, is well protected with necessary wings, and is altogether one of the best constructed works of that kind in the country. The floor of the structure is 3.8 feet below the level of low water in the river, August 9th; and high water-mark, inside the gates, showed that the canal had not carried a greater depth of water than 5.8 feet over the floor. A quarter of a mile below the gate, the canal has a width of thirty feet on bottom and one hundred and thirty feet on top, and a depth of 9.5 fcet.
Irrigation commences three and one-half miles below the head of the canal, the land being flooded, and the water con- trolled by means of rude and irregular check levees.
TEMPLE SLOUGH CANAL.
Tbe Temple Slough, a few miles below Posa Slough, has been treated in a similar manner. A substantial head-gate, having a clear width of opening of sixteen feet, divided into four bays of four feet each, and a height of nine feet, has been built at the river bank. The floor of the structure is 0.3 feet above the level of low water, on the day of our visit, August 9th, last. The eanal below the gate has a depth of nine feet, a bottom width of seventeen feet, and a width on top of forty-two feet. Higb water-mark, on the sides of the canal, showed that it had carried a maximum depth of 3.3 feet. Irrigation begins about three-fourths of a mile below the head of the canal. The land next the river is higher than the interior, so that, although the channels have a great depth near the river, they are compar- atively shallow where water is diverted from them.
The total cost of these two canals, including the structures and the excavation of the sloughs, was $7,000.
They irrigated, in 1879, an area roughly estimated at 8,000 to 10,000 acres of wild grass land.
They can doubtless be made to serve a very useful purpose, with the introduction of system in the preparation and cultiva- tion of lands, particularly the Dos Palos Canal, which is so sit- uated as to divert a considerable stream at the low stages of the water in the river, without the aid of any dam, wingdam, or
other appliance for checking and diverting the current of the stream. The natural banks of the river at that point are firm and hard, resisting erosion, and showing no sign of having materially changed in many years.
The Temple Canal can only draw water during the higher stages.
THE CHOWCHILLA CANAL.
This canal is derived from the right bank of the San Joaquin River, at a point about two miles above the mouth of Fresno Slough and the head of the San Joaquin and Kings River Canal, and follows a general northerly course for thirty miles, termin- ating at the Chowchilla Slough, on the Chowchilla Ranch. It runs nearly parallel to the river, and five to eight miles distant from it. It was construeted in 1872, by Miller & Lux, owners of the Columbia Ranch, and W. S. Chapman, then owner of the colossal property known as the Chowchilla Ranch, now owned by the Bank of Nevada, and was originally designed rather to furnish water for stock than for purposes of irriga- tion. The canal, on its whole course of thirty miles, passes over no other lands than the two great ranches named, and as these are devoted exclusively to stock-raising, the irrigation from the canal is principally confined to the watering of grasses. For the first two miles from the river tbe canal occu- pies the bed of an old slougb, whence it is diverted into an artificial channel thirty feet wide on the bottom.
SUBSTANTIAL HEAD-GATES CONSTRUCTED.
The treacherous character of the quicksand bed, at the head of the canal, bas made it an exceedingly difficult task to con- struct a bead-gate that would withstand the action of floods. For four successive seasons, after the building of the canal, the bead-gate was wasbed out and as often replaced by a new struct- ure on a different plan.
In the fall of 1877, the present structure, which has. with- stood severe tests, and gives every evidence of permanence, was built. As this structure has some novel features, and its plan is indorsed by its success, it deserves a brief description. The use of sheet piling, generally considered indispensable to the safety of structures of this kind, was in this instance abandoned. The foundation was prepared by spreading a layer of loose sandstone, one to two feet thick, evenly laid on the quicksand. Upon this a floor of two-inch plank, without sills, was laid across the axis of the eanal, to which was spiked another layer of plank laid lengthways. This floor was placed six feet below the level of the bed of the river, and upon it was built the struct- ure of ten by ten timbers, having a length of sixty feet, a width of twenty-three feet and a height of ten feet of clear water- way. The whole was weighted with an embankment of earth, ten feet high, placed on top of the structure, the weight exceed- ing five bundred tons. The sluiceways or regulating gates
178
HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
were placed five feet from the upper end of the floor, the space of five feet in front being occupied by a box of heavy timbers, filled with rock and floored over, the top being one foot below the bed of the river. The water comes into the canal therefore with a free overfall of five feet. In lieu of heavy, solid, regu- lating gates, which are difficult to raise and lower, loose plauks five feet long, placed in grooves in the vertiele posts, are used- They are removed by a double hook, which engages on an iron pin passing through the planks and projecting two or three inches on each side. A rope and windlass assist in raising the planks to the top. The cost of this structure was $3,200, of which $2,000 was expendled in laying the foundation.
COST OF THIS CANAL.
The total cost of the caual, was, in round numbers, $100,000. The tough character of the excavation the greater portion of the distance, rendering the free use of blasting powder neces- sary, greatly increased the cost over that of ordinary carthen channels of like dimensions.
The peculiar location of the caual has rendered it a difficult one to maintain in repair. The drainage of the mountains and plains to the east of the canal, through Sycamore Slough, Mariposa Creek, Fresno River, Berenda Slough, and the Chow- chilla, in flood time, spreads over a wide expanse of country on nearing the rim, and sceks au outlet to the San Joaquin directly across the path of the canal, through numerous shallow chan- nels. This surplus flood water, as well as that from the over- flow of the San Joaquin, above the head of the canal, has been wont to sweep across the low banks thereof with little to check it. This is still in great measure unprovided for, although at the crossing of the larger channels, outlet gates have been erected on the lower side of the canal. At the time of my visit, the lower or left bank had been restored where washed away by the last floods, but the embankment on the upper side is still wanting for long distances, and through these breaks the water passes freely, causing large shallow ponds, covering hun- dreds of acres. The loss by percolation is nominal, owing to the impervious nature of the bed, but that by evaporation must be considerable.
IRRIGATION ON COLUMBIA RANCH.
The successive destruction of the head-work rendered the canal of little service during the first four years of its existence. But little land was cultivated on the Chowchilla Ranch during that period, and the irrigation of it was supplemented by the periodical flow of the Chowchilla River. On the Columbia Ranch no land was irrigated, but in 1877 artificial watering was inaugurated by an experimental irrigation of natural grasses. The season was dry and food for cattle scarce. The summer flooding of wild grass gave it a fresh and vigorous
start, and the experiment proved so successful that it was con- tinued on quite au extensive scale. Check levees were thrown up for controlling the water, and a rude system introduced. In 1879, 13,000 acres were irrigated, of which 1,800 were of alfalfa and barley, and 1,200 acres of wild grass were watered directly from the canal proper, and 10,000 acres of wild grass from the slough-the water being diverted above the lower head-gate or regulating bridge of the canal, two miles from the river. The 3,000 acres irrigated from the canal are prepared with well-constructed check levees 0.5 feet apart in vertical height, conforming to the contour of the ground, and dividing the land into compartments of twenty to fifty acres. Water is conveyed to these by four lateral canals, eight to twelve feet wide on the bottom, and having a total length of twelve miles
The average cost of preparing this tract for irrigation is stated to have been two dollars per acre. The land has very little slope and the surface is exceedingly irregular. As the soil is of a very firm texture, and underlaid by an impervious sub stratum, it absorbs a small amount of water and retains it pretty well, but the most careful attention must be paid to its drainage. Fortunately there are deep sloughs intersecting the ranch, into which the surplus waters from the lands may be drained aud carried off to the river. The distance to perma- nent water is generally but six to eight feet, underneath a stratum cither of clay or hard-pan, and it is not affected in height by surface irrigation.
On the well-prepared land two men, working alternately, day and night, can irrigate 100 acres in twenty-four hours, at an aver- age cost of three cents per irrigation. Of the quantity of water required we could form no estimate, as irrigation was not in progress at the time of my visit, and all the lateral canals were dry. Two irrigations only were applied to the lands the past season.
One serious fault in the irrigation of the Columbia Ranch presented itself, and that was that cattle were allowed to occupy the meadows while they were being irrigated. As the land drained and dried off it was left in a wretched condition, as may be readily imagined of that stiff character of soil.
IRRIGATION ON THE CHOWCHILLA RANCH.
At the terminus of the canal about 1,400 acres are irrigated on the Chowchilla Ranch. One thousand acres are well set in alfalfa, and the remainder was this year devoted to barley pre- paratory to sowing it also to alfalfa the coming season. The soil of the Chowchilla Ranch, or that portion of it which is irri- gated, is of a very different character from that of the Colum- bia Ranch. It is alluvial in its composition, consisting of a fine sandy loam of considerable depth (fifteen or twenty feet), and containing a great deal of mica. It is very favorable soil for irrigation, and is irrigated in the same manner as that just described as in vogue on the Columbia Ranch-by the flooding
179
THE FARMERS' CANAL COMPANY.
of the surface. An expensive system of check levees and regu- lating gates has been made. The slope of the ground is some- what irregular, and the levees have no uniform direction, but follow in winding lines the contour of the surface. They are from two to three feet high, with side slopes so nearly vertical that it is difficult to ride on them on horseback, aud they form impassable barriers for farming machinery. The gates through the levees for draining water from one compartment to another were originally so designed as to be used for a roadway for farm wagons; but this absurd and expensive arrangement has been abandoned, and other means of passing across the levees have been devised,
These compartments inclosed by the levees have an area of twenty to one hundred acres, and take water from one side only. The fault of the system seemed to be that the com- partments were too large. The discharge of the canal is so little, and so great a length of time is required to fill the larger compartments sufficiently to cover the highest ground, during which the water must stand on the lowest ground, that it has an injurious efect upon the alfalfa, particularly in hot weather. There were numerous bare spots in these large checks, where the alfalfa had been killed out-scalded by the sun and water. With small checks, of say ten acres in area, irrigation is much more rapid and effective, and is performed with greater econ- ouy of water.
The usual discharge of the canal at its terminus during the suminer season, is about fifteen cubic feet per second. With this head of water, one man can irrigate twenty-five to thirty acres of alfalfa in twenty-four hours; say two acres a day per cubic foot per second, the flow being equivalent to an average depth of twelve to fourteen inches over the land. About one- half of this is absorbed, and the remainder is drained ont into a lower and adjoining compartment. The cost per acre for labor of irrigation is abont three cents for each watering. But two waterings were given during the year 1879-one in May, the other in August. Two crops of hay were cut, up to August Ist, and then the meadows were pastured the rest of the sea- son .*
The Farmer's Canal Company.
This company was organized in May, 1873, as the Farmers' Canal Company by W. W. Gray, William P. Fowler, H. J. Ostrander, M. D. Atwater, Norval Douglass, H. B. Jolly, Thomas Upton, Wilson E. Elliott, Stephen Fitsgerald, and R. H. Morrison, all residents and citizens of Merced County,
The objects and purposes for which this corporation was formed, was for the mutual benefit of its stockholders in agri- cultural pursuits, by appropriating 100,000 inches of the water of the Merced River, flowing through Merced County, State of
California, measured under a four-inch pressure, for the pur- pose of irrigating the lands of the stockholders of this corpo- ration, and of others who may wish to purchase water of this corporation for irrigating purposes.
And 'to construct, use, and keep in repair, a canal com- mencing at a point on the left bank of the Merced River, in said Merced County, near the line dividing township ranges fourteen and fifteen, east of the Mount Diablo base and mer- idian, and between a certain dam on said river, known as the Blunt, Geiser and Perrin Dam, aud a certain oak tree standing on the left bank of said Merced River above said dam; which said oak tree is about thirty inches in diameter, at this time, and is marked on the westerly side with the letters R. C. C. and B. T. being a bearing tree, marking the head of the Robla Canal Company's canal. From thence running in a southerly direction to the highest bank attainable on or near the right bank of the San Joaquin River, as shall hereafter be deter- wined and located by the engineer of this corporation; said canal to extend in its course across Bear Creek, Mariposa Creek and the Chowchilla. Said canal to be of sufficient size to carry the said 100,000 inches of water.
"Said corporation claiming, and to improve and use, for the purpose aforesaid, the channels of Bear Creek, Mariposa Creek, and the Chowchilla from the points where said canal crosses said streams or channels to the mouths of said channels, together with all the tributaries thereof below such said crossings, or which may be crossed by said canal, and also all other chan- nels over which said canal shall pass, from the points of cross- ing the same by said canal to the outlets of such channels. And also for the construction of such branchi canals from the main caual hereinbefore mentioned, as shall be found advisable, feasible, and to the best interests of this corporation."
The following amount of stock was subscribed to the corpo- ratiou by the persons hereinafter named, and for the number of shares and amounts set opposite each subscriber's name, to wit :-
Names,
No. Shares,
Amount.
H. G. Ostrander
50
$ 5,000
W. W. Gray
50
5,000
M. D. Atwater,
60
6,000
Thomas Upton.
60 6,000
William P. Fowler
60
6,000
Wilson E. Elliott.
60
6,000
Norval Douglass
30
3,000
R. H. Morrison
15
1,500
H. B. Jolly
20 2,000
Stephen Fitsgerald.
5
500
We were unable to obtain any further detailed information as to the real operations of this company or of their present snecess. The work has been several times almost abandoned. but now is in a condition to afford a return to its proprietors.
The canal takes water at a point about four miles above the town of Snelling, and three miles below the settlement known
*A large part of this article on Irrigation is taken from the State Engineer's report,
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HISTORY OF MERCED COUNTY.
as Merced Falls-where the river is flanked by high, rolling lands-and about as high up on its course as it ean be approached on a grade from the plains, at a moderate expense. Thenee the route lays along a rolling side-hill and through a tunnel 4,000 feet long, a distance of six miles, to Canal Creek· The bed of this creek is used to carry the water forward for thirteen miles, and thence it is to be distributed principally on the plains between the river and the town.
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