IKRIGATION PROBLEMS OF HONEY LAKE BASIN. 



85 



J. H. Slater (1883) claimed "the water.s in Caribou and Silver lakes and 

 tributarie.s " without taking the trouble to estimate the quantity of these waters or 

 to state the amount he needed and expected to applj' to a beneficial use. 



D. W. Ridenour and Charles Lawson (1887) claimed "all water here flowing in 

 Gold Run Creek (tributarj- to the Susan) at any and all times of the jear," notwith- 

 standing the fact that there were 13 prior claims to the same stream, of which one 

 had been made fourteen j^ears before. 



Elliott Winchester claimed "one-fourth interest in all the water flowing into the 

 ditch (Batchelder & Adams), which carries about 3,000 inches." 



D. C. Hyer (1893) appropriated "all the water here flowing and also the surplus 

 water of Susan River at the .point where this notice is posted," therebj' bidding 

 defiance to a multitude of prior appropriators and to the claims <of posteritj". 



We have reproduced only a part of what ma}' be termed the eccentricities of 

 Susan River appropriations, but these will be enough to throw a strong light on the 

 workings of the law. 



CLAIMS TO WILLOW CREEK. 



Willow Creek reaches Honey Lake Basin from the north and is a stream of much 

 value to the communitj'. It is estimated that its annual volume is about one-third 

 that of Susan River, but we shall see that the amount of water flowing in the stream 

 has nothing whatever to do with the quantity which the public will claim from it 

 under the California svstem. Willow Creek has a venr fair watershed, but it is 

 generall}' believed that it draws its chief supply from leakage of Eagle Lake. The 

 list of claims is as follows: 



FUings on Wilhw Creek, 1872-1899. Z 



Those who searched the records of Willow Creek claims annotated the claims 

 of-4,000,000 inches as follows: "Fortunately for Eagle Lake and Willow Creek, and 

 for those residents of Honej^ Lake Valley who could not swim, this enterprise was 

 never carried out." 



The indefinite claims in this district include that of John Ruf and Adam Jakobs 

 (1873), who modestly claimed "all water of Willow Creek." This did not prevent 

 L. Knudson and others (1874) from also claiming "all waters of Willow Creek, being 

 2,000 inches, more or less." * 



