FEATURES AND WATER RIGHTS OF YUBA RIVER. 153 



water is principally used at the Blue Point Mine. The ditch is now the property of 

 the New Blue Point Mining Company. 



The South Yuba Water Company supplies water to the mines near Grass 

 Valley, so the water which this ditch carried from a tributary of Bear River to the 

 Yuba is returned to the drainage basin from which it was diverted. 



POWER STATIONS IN THE BASIN OF YTTBA RIVER. 



A number of electric power companies utilize the water of Yuba River. The 

 Central California Electiic Company has a station near Newcastle, and also one near 

 Auburn. At the Newcastle station water is taken from the South Yuba Water 

 Company, to which the electric company is allied, and carried to a power house 

 6,400 feet distant in a 2rt-inch riveted sheet-steel pipe. From there the power 

 developed is transmitted 30 miles to Sacramento, at 15,000 volts, where it is used for 

 lighting and general pui-poses. The Auburn station utilizes a fall of 200 feet within 

 a distance of half a mile, found on the Bear River Canal of the South Yuba Water 

 Company, about 1 mile south of Auburn. A reservoir, capable of holding a day's 

 supplj' of water, was built at the head of Auburn Ravine. A pipe of riveted sheet- 

 steel 3,100 feet in length, with a diameter ranging from 56 inches down to 36 inches, 

 connects the reservoir with the power house. The power generated is also trans- 

 mitted to Sacramento, 34 miles distant.' 



The Baj' Counties Power Compauj- has a station on the South Yuba River, 

 about 6 miles from Nevada City. Water is diverted from the river about 1 mile 

 above Perdons Bridge by a crib dam 38 feet high and 150 feet on the crest, the cost 

 of which was $18,000. The flume is 1 miles long, 5 feet on the bottom, 4.5 feet 

 deep, and has a grade of 1.5 inches to the rod and a capacity of about-7,000 inches. 

 Its cost was $55,000. 



On Rock Creek, which is a tributary of the South Yuba, there is an artificial 

 reservoir with a capacity of 40.000 24-hour inches under 6-inch pressure. This 

 reservoir is formed bj' a crib dam across Rock Creek, built in 1898 at a cost of 

 $25,000. The dam is 54 feet high and 251 feet long. The ditch from the dam to the 

 power house has a capacity of 750 inches, and cost $7,500. There is also a small 

 emergency reservoir at the top of the hill above the power house, which has a 

 capacity of 500 inches for one hour. In case of a sudden call for power the water is 

 drawn from the Rock Creek Reservoir. It takes water one and one-half hours to 

 come to the power house, so the emergenc}' I'eservoir serves until the Rock Creek 

 water reaches the power house. The power house was finished in 1896, and subse- 

 quently enlarged. At present it contains four alternating-current Stanley genei-a- 

 tors, each having a capacity- of 500 horsepower, which generate a current directly at 

 a potential of 5,5Ch) volts. Each generator is dii-ectly connected to and driven by 

 two sets of water wheels. The power generated is transmitted 4 miles to Nevada 

 City, and thence 4 miles to Grass Valley, where it is used to supply all the public and 

 private lights and the small demands for power. Diverting lines are carried to the 

 mining districts, and power is now supplied to run motors of from 1 to 450 horse- 



'The description of the Newcastle plant is condensed from an article in Electric AVorid for 

 December 18, 1897; that of Auburn plant from the American Electrician for September, 1899. 



