WATER APPROPRIATION FROM KINGS RIVER. 309 



The main Grant Canal was consti'ucted in 1873. Water was diverted for it from 

 Murphy Slough, near Reynolds Slough, which latter was permanenth* closed by 

 means of a dam. Two years later, by permission of the owners of the Grant, a new 

 connection between Cole Slough, half a mile above the head of Grant Canal, and 

 Murphy Slough, nearly the same distance below the canal, was made bj' settlers who 

 were desirous of increasing the flow of water in the channels reaching the vicinitj' of 

 Elkhorn. Its projectors subsequenth* filed a claim to water and incorporated, under 

 the name of the Vanderbilt Canal Company. Settlers in the vicinity of Riverdale 

 and Elkhorn claim that the original cut was entirely artificial, while owners of the 

 Grant claim that the cut is merelj' the result of cleaning out the head of a natural 

 water course. After the Vanderbilt Cut had become one of the channels for Cole 

 Slough water, the Grant Canal was extended upstream across Murphy Slough to the 

 Vanderbilt Cut, from which it has ever since taken its water. The turning of the 

 flow of Cole Slough into the Vanderbilt Cut is accomplished bj' means of a dam of 

 earth across the old south channel. From the cut water is turned into the head of 

 the canal by means of a second earth dam, and, flowing in the canal, it crosses Murphy 

 Slough between two dams, of which the lower or westerh- one is an overfall dam of 

 brush work, serving as a waste for surplus waters and feeding the lower sections of 

 Murphy Slough. 



The Laguna de Tache Canal has a westerlj' course along the northern bank of 

 the main channel of Kings River, from which it is generally less than one-half mile 

 distant. At 5^ miles below its head it crosses a water course known as the James 

 Canal on an earthen dam, and its direction becomes southerly. It reaches the river 

 bank within a mile and closely' follows it southerly- for about a mile farther, crossing 

 and closing the head of another delta channel of Kings River known as Old North 

 Fork. The upper section of the main canal for a distance of about 4 miles from its 

 head has a bed width of about 30 feet and carries water 2 to 2.5 feet deep. The 

 distributaries from the main canal are for the most part natural channels, manj' of 

 which have long ago ceased to serve as delta channels and are mere swales on tops 

 of low ridges. 



The James Canal is a channel of more recent formation, which has been utilized 

 as a distributing ditch. By permission of the owners of the grant, a gate for the 

 control of its flow was put into this channel in 1880. It was washed out bj- the next 

 freshet and was replaced in 1881, but was again destroyed. Thereupon the owners 

 of the grant permanently closed this channel with the embankment of earth on which 

 the canal is carried across. The head of Old North Fork, which is another distribu- 

 taiy of canal water, was closed as earlj' as 1865 by Messi's. Sutherland & Mann. 



One of the most important of the lower river north-side delta channels is the Zalda 

 Canal, which, throughout its lower sections is generally known as the North Fork of 

 Kings River. It is claimed that the head of this channel is the enlargement by flood 

 waters of a ditch constructed in 1872 by settlers linng to the west of the grant. 

 This channel was reported closed for a time by a dam at the river about 1885. It 

 was at that time proposed to utilize this channel as one of the distributaries of water 

 from the Grant Canal. The course of North Fork is westward in a verj' direct line 

 toward Summit Lake, but before the lake is reached its main channel swerves north- 

 ward into Fresno Swamp. The portion of the Kings River delta between the main 



