246 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



to desist from such diversion of water. The answer to this complaint states, in 

 effect, that plaintiff, abandoned the use of said water about twenty j'cars ago, and has, 

 therefore, lost his claim thereto, and, further, that the defendant has been using 

 continuously said water during the past fifteen j^ears. This is a conflict between a 

 riparian claimant and an appropriator and diverter of water from its natural course, 

 at a point above the land of the riparian owner, bj' an irrigation company. As both 

 parties also claim certain rights by appropriation and usage, the proof will neces- 

 sarily have to go toward the establishment of priority of claim and actual use of 

 water, as well as toward the adjudication of the riparian right of the owner. The 

 question arises, also, Can a riparian owner forfeit his right bj^ disuse ? 



It will be noticed that the majority of these cases are still in court, and the 

 questions raised still undecided. While probably other cases involving similar 

 questions have been tried and decided in other sections of the State, still in the actual 

 trial of each individual suit many new points arise causing it to differ materially 

 from any other on record. It would be extremely difficult, as well as unwise, to 

 attempt to quote decisions already given in cases parallel as to pleadings, but perhaps 

 differing in essential facts from these still unadjudicated cases. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN THE FIELD. 



My field work consisted in inspecting the canal systems of the companies now 

 taking their water from San Joaquin River, Fresno River, and Chowchilla Creek; in 

 surveying and mapping the streams at and near the sites of the headgates of the 

 several canals; in measuring and photographing the structures, and in gaging the 

 flow of the principal canals (Pis. XXI, XXII, XXIII). 



CANALS ON SAN JOAftUIN KIVEB. 



All the ditches or canals taking water from San Joaquin River are made entirely 

 in cut or excavation, no tunnels or flumes being required in the flat river bottom. 

 The headgates, ditches, stopgates, and weirs generally are of timber, and are con- 

 structed in the usual form. 



UPPER SAN JOAQUIN BIVEK CANAL COMPANY. 



The s}''8tem of this company was designed to irrigate the lands of the higher 

 plains at and near Herndon, belonging to the Bank of Calif ornia' and othei's, as well 

 as to water the bottom lands of the river between its high banks from Hamptonville 

 as far as points some miles below Herndon. Its headgate was on the left or south- 

 easterly bank of the stream, just above a weir, about 900 feet long, which ran entirely 

 across the river at a point one-half mile below Hamptonville (now PoUasky). The 

 ciiiial and irrigation scheme was a complete failure, the weir being repeatedly broken 

 down in spite of extensive and costly repairs, and the canal cut out and washed away 

 by lateral water courses or through gopher or squirrel holes in the side hill levees. 

 In 1887 the work was abandoned. The area to have been served has since been sup- 

 plied with wiitcr Ijrought through ditches from the Kings River. 



