232 IBBIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



These notices, taken at random from nearly -400 on record, illustrate the discrep- 

 ancies which arise in the practice of hydraulics, as well as the uncertainties of appro- 

 priations under the existing prescriptions in the statutes. 



SUMMARY. 



The number of claims of water from the San Joaquin and its branches is 316, not 

 including those from Fresno River and Chowchilla Creek. 



"All water flowing in the San Joaquin River'" is claimed in so many words by 

 different persons six times, in addition to a total of 461,794 cubic feet, omitting all 

 reappropriations. "All the flow" in man\- of the branches and forks of the San 

 Joaquin was claimed over and over again; as, for example, Big Sandy, Whisky 

 Creek, and Stevenson Creek. 



The greatest flood flow, for even a short time, of the San Joaquin River, according 

 to gagings during eight and one-half N^ears b_v William Hammond Hall and J. B. 

 Lippincott, is 59,800 cubic feet per second, and therefore the claims of water above 

 given are nearly eight times the greatest flood flow of the river during this eight and 

 one-half j'ears specified, and are 172 times the average flow per second, 2,680 cubic 

 feet, during the period mentioned. Of course, we must add to this total the sixfold 

 claim of "all water of the river.'' As the water of the San Joaquin is not in the 

 condition of an elastic vapor, one experiences great diflicultj' in understanding how 

 all these claims could be satisfied. 



On Fresno River and its tributaries 50 claims of water have been made. Besides 

 670,799 miner's inches, or 13,416 cubic feet per second, filed on, "all the water of 

 Fresno River'' was in addition claimed once. In five instances the quantity was not 

 mentioned, and might have been anything from 1 miner's inch to the entire stream; 

 and in another instance "enough water "was claimed, and only specified by the 

 dimensions of the flume, namelj-, a flume 30 feet wide, 4 feet deep, and having a fall 

 of 5 feet per mile, evidently carr\nng a generous quantity of water, which would 

 have left comparativeh' little to other appropriators, even in flood season. 



The waters of Coarse Gold Gulch, one of the tributaries of the Fresno River, 

 were separately claimed three times over, in addition to 2,500 miner's inches, or 50 

 cubic feet per second. This being a small stream, dry at certain seasons of the j^ear, 

 the writer believes that some of the claimants must occasionally be disappointed. 



Hall's record for the greatest mean rate of monthly discharge of Fresno River, 

 during six years' observation, gives 1,632 cubic feet per second, and therefore the 

 quantitj' of water claimed, in addition to "all the water of the river," is eight times 

 this greatest mean flow per second, and is eightj^ times its mean j'early discharge, 

 160 cubic feet per second. 



For the waters of Chowchilla Creek 14 claims have been made, aggregating 

 31,008 cubic feet per second, plus two claims for quantities not given. The gagings of 

 Chowchilla bA' William Hammond Hall during the six consecutive years before speci- 

 fied gave the greatest flood water of this stream during that period as 10,770 cubic feet 

 per second. Therefore, on this stream three times the amount of its greatest recorded 

 flood flow per second has been claimed, or 204 times the annual uniform flow of the 

 creek, which was 152 cubic feet per second. 



Of the total numljcr of claims to water from the San Joaquin and its branches. 



