FEATURES AND WATEK BIGHTS OF YUBA RIVER. 151 



Dams. 



The dam of the Excelsior Water and Mining Company, in the South Yuba, was 

 constructed in 1878. Square timbers were drift-bolted to one another and leaded to 

 the bedrock. Through each timber, 2 feet from the end, a li-inch rod was bolted and 

 extended back and leaded in the bed rock. In the construction 18 tons of li-inch 

 iron was used for braces, bolts, pins, etc. The dam is 26 feet high, 60 feet long on 

 the bottom, and 120 feet long on the crest. It is planked on the upstream side with 

 2-inch plank, and the rock was piled on the upstream side to within 4 feet of the 

 top. It cost about $10,000. At the present time the dam is filled to the top with 

 tailings and is in as good condition as when built. This dam is of such a peculiar 

 tj-pe that diagrams of it are shown (fig. 4. p. 139). 



The dams in Deer Creek, at the head of Rough and Ready. Boyer. and other 

 ditches, are of the same type of construction a.s the South Yuba Dam. The Newtown 

 and Pleasant Valley dams are wing dams. 



Reservoirs. 



The Excefsior Company owns resei-\'oirs as follows: 



Union Reservoir, located in S. E. i of sec. 24, T. 16 X., R. 6 E.. has a capacity of 

 6.000 2-1-hour inches. Its area is about 40 acres. It was built in lSo\) by constructing 

 an earthen dam 700 feet long, 30 feet high, 5 feet wide on the crest, and 100 feet 

 wide on the bottom, having a riprap stone wall laid on the inside. Its cost was 

 1.20,000. , 



Boyer Re-servoir, located in N. i sec. 2, T. 15 N., R. 6 E., ha.s an area of 20 acres 

 and a capacity of 1,000 24-hour inches. It was built in 1858, and has a dam similar 

 in type to the one at Union Reservoir, 600 feet long, 8 feet wide on the crest, 78 feet 

 wide on the bottom, and 20 feet high. Its cost was $4,000. 



Besides these there are a number of small reservoirs and a number of undeveloped 

 reservoirs, the sites for which the company owns. At Indian Springs, by building 

 a dam 100 feet high, a reservoir could be made which would cover 246 acres and 

 store 296,000 24-hour inches. This reservoir would have a watershed of about 10 

 square miles, but it could be filled from existing ditches. At the Garsaway Ranch, 

 by building a dam 105 feet high and 1,080 feet long, there could be stored 90,000 

 24-hour inches, making a reservoir with an area of 139 acres. 



Rights ix Deer Creek. 



The Excelsior Water and Mining Company claims and holds all the existing 

 water rights on Deer Creek from 1 mile east of Nevada City to where it flows into 

 the main Yuba. Hence practically all Deer Creek water belongs to the Excelsior 

 Company. There may be some water used above the system, but it all comes back 

 to the stream above the head of the Rough and Ready Ditch. All the water that 

 finds its way into the Excelsior Ditch below the Rough and Ready Ditch in the sum- 

 mer time is waste water. It consists of sewage of the town of Nevada, waste from 

 the mines, and wa.ste from irrigation. 



