308 IRRIGATION INVESTIGATIONS IN CALIFORNIA. 



BOTJNDTBEE DITCH. 



Just below the Reed Ditch, also upon the north side of Murphj' Slough, is a 

 small ditch known as the Roundtree Ditch. It was constructed in 1889. It is a 

 high-water ditch, generally receiving water about once a year for r short time, and 

 irrigates a small area of grass land. Its width is 10 feet, and its capacit}' about 20 

 cubic feet per second. It is reported that the ditch is to become a branch or lateral 

 of the Reed Ditch, as its owner is one of the stockholders in the latter. This ditch 

 has not joined the Murphy Slough Association, its owner being in doubt as to the 

 effect which this step might have upon his water rights. 



LAGXJNA DE TACHE RANCHO CANALS. 



The Laguna de Tache Rancho is sometimes also referred to as the "River 

 Ranch." The lands combined under one ownership in the River Ranch have an area 

 of about 68,000 acres. It embraces within its boundaries nearly all of the delta 

 lands of Kings River northward from the main stream. A main canal has been con- 

 structed for the irrigation of the greater part of this ranch, and is known as the 

 Laguna de Tache Canal or the Grant Canal. A large portion of this ranch is 

 annualh' submerged during the high stages of Kings River. The area subject to 

 such flooding has, however, been considerablj' reduced b}^ the construction of a 

 north-side river lev^ee along a portion of the ranch frontage. There are a number 

 of north-side delta channels which break out from the main stream within this ranch, 

 most of which have westerly courses toward the valley trough. The history of 

 these, as related by local residents, is not without interest. The present head of 

 Cole Slough is a waterway made by the freshets of 1861-62. It was enlarged and 

 deepened by subsequent high waters. Cole Slough is the principal north-side delta 

 channel. Its waters are carried westward by the several branches of Murphy 

 Slough, and finally reach the upper portion of Fresno Swamp, through which they 

 are carried in a network of channels, as frequently found in tule swamps, to Fresno 

 Slough and San Joaquin River, many miles northwestward. Before 1862 Cole 

 Slough received water from the river through a channel known as the Arroyo de 

 Hotansas, the head of which was about a quarter of a mile below the present head of 

 the slough. This channel was about 3 miles long. Until 1869 Cole Slough occupied 

 a channel which at a point about 3 miles in a direct line above Kingston was less 

 than a quarter of a mile from Kings River, but in that year Mr. St. John, one of 

 the owners of the ranch, made a small ditch westward from the north slough bank 

 about 6 miles below its head. This ditch was enlarged by the next high water; it 

 lost the appearance of a ditch, and is now called St. Johns Channel or New Cole 

 Slough. It reunites 3 miles below its head with the original slough channel at a 

 point also known as the head of Murphy Slough. 



A small ditch, constructed in 1868 by a settler known as Dutch John, connecting 

 Kings River with Cole Slough at the point where the two channels were nearest 

 together had meanwhile also been converted into a capacious water course, and has 

 since been known as the Dutch John Cut. In the same winter, 1868-69, the river 

 broke through the barrier separating it from Murphy Slough at a point about 3 miles 

 (by river) below the Dutch John Cut and formed Reynolds Slough, which is about 

 one-half mile long. 



