300 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



an embankment of earth in 1894. because at that time the river threatened to destroy 

 the canal headgate and cause inundation of the upper and central portions of the delta. 



The canal headgate or regulator was placed in the deepest portion of the cut, 

 near the bank of the river. It was made 24 feet wide, the space between its walls 

 being divided into a number of openings b}- vertical posts, between which gates slid 

 vertically. The structure had the usual upper, platform loaded with earth, making a 

 roadway 20 feet wide. Its floor length was 40 feet. Sheet piling 8 feet deep was used 

 on the upper floor line and for 12 feet under each wing; sheet piling was also driven 

 feet deep across the canal, on the middle line of the floor, and at its lower edge. 



Throughout the length of the natural channel utilized for the water of the Mussel 

 Slough Ditch, check weirs or gates were constructed with which to hold the water 

 surface at or above the surface of the ground. Irrigation was to be accomplished 

 by subirrigation on a large scale. The charge for water ranged from 31.25 to 62.5 

 cents per acre per year. There was little or no restriction as to the amount of water 

 to be used by individual takers of water, and the principal duty of the canal super- 

 intendent seems to have been to prevent those from taking water who had no inten- 

 tion of paying for it. The total cost of the canal works connected therewith was 

 about 150,000 to $60,000. 



This canal was constructed in 1875. Its promoters formed a corporation with a 

 capital stock fixed at $500,000, divided into 10,000 shares, all of which remained in 

 the hands of a few persons. The canal capacitj^ was about 200 to 300 cubic feet per 

 second. 



LAST CHANCE DITCH. 



One of the most important of the Kings River delta canals is the Last Chance 

 Ditch, whose head is on the south side of the river about 2.5 miles by river above 

 Kingston. The course of the canal and its branches is southerly. It commands a 

 district 3 to 4 miles wide, extending from near the river southerly to near high-water 

 line of Tulare Lake. Grangeville lies at the eastern border of this district and 

 Armona well within it. Lands along its eastern border are commanded jointly by 

 this canal and the Peoples Ditch. A natural cut through the south bank of the river, 

 known as Leinberger Slough, has been utilized for the head of the canal. (Fig. 14 B.) 

 This slough is really one of the lower delta channels of the river. The canal is cut 

 from its south bank, about 150 feet from the river. The canal regulator is about 800 

 feet below its head. The water entering the head of the slough is divided, a portion 

 flowing down the natural channel, the rest entering the head of the Last Chance Ditch. 

 The canal has a bed width of 25 feet, and was designed for a 4-foot depth of water. 

 Its course is a little west of south for 7 miles to a point half a mile west of Grange- 

 ville, where it is divided into two principal .branches. One of these has a south- 

 westerl}' course, and at the end of 3 miles drops its water into a natural channel 

 which has a southerly course and connected with Mussel Slough. The other branch 

 is again divided within a mile, forming a middle and an eastern branch, both of 

 which extend far toward the south. These main branches were all made 16 feet wide 

 on the bottom, and were planned to carry water 2.5 feet deep. The gradient of the 

 canal is about 1 foot to the mile. 



