176 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



Sec. 2. The measurement of said water shall be made at the Inilkhead in said ditch nearest to 

 the place of actual use; provided, that where water is furnished through branch ditches not owned by 

 the owners of said Moore Ditch, the measursment shall be at the bulkhead connecting the branch ditch 

 with the said Moore Ditch. The measurements shall be made from the top of a weir four inches high, 

 constructed in the bottom of the bulkheads where measurement is made, and over which weirs such 

 water must flow. 



Sec. 3. The patrons of said Moore Ditch shall be permitted to permanently fix in and affix to the 

 bulkheads, where measurement is made, graduated scales, marked off into feet and inches, by means 

 of which the depth of water flowing over the weirs therein can be detected at a glance. 



V 



The attempt to tix a unit of measui'ement is unfortunate. If the bullihead or 

 flume in the head of the branch ditch and the branch below the weir could be so 

 arrange'l that the water would always pass at the rate of 2 feet per second, the unit 

 "foot" prescribed in the first 'paragraph might be interpreted to mean 2 cubic feet 

 per second, but how, with the varying heads in the main ditch and the diflerences in 

 the grades of the branch ditches, this velocity of 2 feet per second is to be maintained 

 is not clear. The weir prescribed in the .second paragraph adds to the complication. 

 If a branch ditch has fall enough and capacity enough below the weir to give a free 

 escape of the water from the bulkhead, the velocity increases with the depth on the 

 weir and this depth varies with the head in the ditch. If the grade of the branch 

 ditch below its headgate is light, the water escapes slowly, and the velocity over the 

 weir is retarded. Under what .set of conditions any given ditch would receive the 

 water at the velocity of 2 feet per second could be ascertained only by a series of 

 velocity measurements. I could not find that these had been made. The ordinance 

 does not secure either regularity in the volume delivered or uniformity in the price 

 paid for water, and these irregularities are the cause of much complaint on the part 

 of the water users. 



HISTORY OF OTHER ATTEMPTED APPROPRIATIONS AND CONSEftUENT 



LITIGATION. 



In 1859 a number of farmers in the vicinity of Cacheville, now Yolo, organized 

 the Cacheville Agricultural Ditch Company and built a ditch for the watering of 

 their own land. The ditch has its headgate on the north side of the stream at a 

 point about 5 miles above the town and a short distance below the Moore Dam. It 

 extended to a point about 1 mile below Cacheville and covered several thousand acres 

 on the north side of the creek. Some of the stockholders had holdings on the south 

 side, and the water was carried across the creek to these lands in an iron pipe i feet 

 in diameter and about 200 feet long. Their dam was of gravel and was replaced each 

 year. An elaborate system of laterals was constructed and the land prepared for 

 irrigation at heavy expense. This ditch was built and in operation as early as the 

 spring of 1860. It is estimated that the total expense of all the work was about 

 $75,000. As before stated, the Moore Ditch, later known as the Woodland Ditch, was 

 enlarged in 1864 and the u.se of the water extended to new lands. This, when water 

 was low, interfered with the operations of the Cacheville Company and they sought 

 the pi'otcctioii of the district court. In their complaint they asked for an adjudica- 

 tion of rights as between the Woodland and the Cacheville companies, for an as.sess- 

 ment of damages against the Woodland Company, and for an injunction restraining 

 the Woodland Comj)an\' from diverting the water. For answer the defendant seta 



