150 IRRIGATIOK INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



Pleasant Valley Ditch. 



This ditch takes watei* from Deer Creek and delivers it to Hudson Mine. It is 

 3 miles long, has a grade of 7.6 feet to the mile, is 28 inches wide on top, 20 inches 

 wide at the bottom, and 20 inches deep, and has a capacity of 250 inches. All the 

 water is used for irrigation in Pleasant Valley except 50 inches, which is used at the 

 mine. 



OusLEY Bar Ditch. 



This ditch was built in 1852 at a cost of $20,000. It is 12 miles long and has a 

 grade of 11 feet to the mile and a capacity of GOO inches. It takes water from the 

 Big Ravine about 300 feet below Union Reservoir and distributes it to the vicinity 

 of Reeds Station. This ditch was extended by keeping upon a light grade and not 

 letting the water drop into Magonigal Ravine. It now commands all the land north 

 of Dry Creek and west of the ditch. The length of the extension was 5.5 mile^ and 

 the cost $7,526. 



Fakm Ditch. 



This was built in 1876. It heads in Big Ravine opposite the Timbuctoo Ditch 

 and irrigates the Bonanza Ranch. The size of the ditch varies. For the first mile, to 

 Sanfords Ravine, it has a grade of 0.5 inch to the I'od, is 7 feet wide on top, 5 feet 

 wide on the bottom, and 2 feet deep, and has a capacity of 2,000 inches. From that 

 point for 1.5 miles it is 5 feet wide on top, 3 feet wide on the bottom, and 2 feet 

 deep, and has a capacity of 1,000 inches. From there to the reservoir, a distance of 3 

 miles, the capacity is 600 inches. The total length of the ditch is 5.4 miles, 300 feet of 

 which is in flumes. The ditch at the present time will not carry more than 400 inches. 

 It cost $10,000. Before reaching the reservoir a tunnel was dug a distance of about 

 300 feet, so that water could be discharged into the Ousley Bar Ditch. From the 

 Farm Reservoir there are two main ditches that lead the water over the irrigated 

 ground. 



Spenxeville Ditch. 



This ditch takes water from the China Ditch near Smartsville, and was built in 

 1890 at a cost of $10,000. It is 7 miles long on a grade of 12 feet to the mile, is 6 

 feet wide on top, 3 feet wide on the bottom, and 2.8 feet deep, and has a capacity of 

 600 inches. 



The total length of the Excelsior Companj-'s ditches is about 110 miles, 60 miles 

 of which are in use. The total cost was more than $1,200,000. The whole mining 

 district from Nevada City to the Sacramento River, bounded by the Yuba and Bear 

 rivers, can be supplied b\- the waters of this company. j 



The expense of maintenance of these ditches is low compared with ditches located 

 higher in the mountains, for the reasons that the ground at this altitude rarely 

 freezes and no snow lies in winter, and landslides are of rare occurrence. As few 

 flimies are retjuired between Deer Creek and Smartsville, the banks of the ditch have 

 settled and become covered with a permanent growth of grass and bushes, and a 

 break is rare even in the severest rain storms. 



