WATER STORAGE ON SWEETWATER AND SAN JACINTO RIVERS. 363 



Reviewing tiiis tabulation of recorded claims, the following comments and notes 

 as to the purpose and status of the claims, so far as known, will be pertinent: The 

 first seven filings in the table, made between June and October, 1885, were all posted 

 at practically the same place, some 6 miles east of Alpine and 4 to 5 miles southwest 

 of Descanso, in the rockj^ gorge of Sweetwater River, at an elevation of about 3,000 

 feet above sea level, and were evidenth' made in the interest of a project for supphnng 

 the city of San Diego with water. This project never passed the promoter stage and 

 the claims are manifestlj' invalid. 



Claim No. 8, for 4,000 inches, purported to be for a similar project, diverting 

 water from the stream at the gorge immediateh' above the upper end of the reservoir 

 subsequently formed by the Sweetwater Dam. No work was done to make the claim 

 valid. 



Claim No. 9, for 4,000 inches, was located as a part of the system of the San 

 Diego Flume Companj-, and although no work has ever been done upon the stream 

 to effect the actual appropriation of the water it has been alleged that the claim was 

 made valid bj' the construction of the main flume from the adjoining stream. This 

 illusti"ates one of the unfortunate features of the statute of California providing for 

 the appropriation of water, wherein there is a great uncertainty as to the length of 

 time a filing of this character might take precedence over a bona fide filing accom- 

 panied by diligent pi'osecution of work and actual appropriation. There appears to 

 be no question, however, that the lapse of years, without anj' work whatever, would 

 invalidate any claim. 



Claim No. 10 is of the same character as claims Nos. 1 to 7, and is located at the 

 same point on the stream. It was also to serve a project for supphing San Diego, 

 and claimed the modest amount of 20,000 inches. 



Claim No. 11 is in the same categor}- as No. 9, and was filed by the San Diego 

 Flume Company as an auxiliarj' to the general system. The point of diversion in 

 this claim is in Guataj' Valley, over 3,500 feet in elevation, and near the headwaters 

 of the river. A flume and ditch were projected to divert this water across the divide, 

 whence it would flow to the flume by way of the South Fork of San Diego River. 

 Claim No. 9, on the other hand, was located at the lowest point on the river, from 

 which water could be diverted into the company's flume. 



Claim No. 12, for 10,000 inches, was presumably filed to hold a sufficient water 

 supply to irrigate meadow lands in the high mountain valleys of the Cuyamaca Ranch. 

 It is absurdly large, as the stream has probably never carried 10 per cent of this 

 volume at the point where the appropriation was to have been made. There was 

 never any work done to pei"fect the claim or make the appiopriation a bona fide one. 



Claim No. 13, for 5,000 inches, was located at the gorge between the mouth of 

 Lawson Creek and Dehesa, where an elevation of 800 to 1,000 feet is obtainable for 

 a diverting dam. Claims Nos. 9, 13, 14, 16, 21, 22, and 25 in the above table are aU 

 located in pi-acticallj' the same place on the stream, at a commanding elevation, from 

 which water may be taken under pressure to all of the mesas and valleys of the 

 western portion of San Diego Countj". None of these claims, however, have been 

 succeeded by actual appropriation and use of the water. 



Claim No. 15, for 5,000 inches, made b\- William G. Dickinson, September 24, 

 1886, was the first filing on the site of the present Sweetwater Dam, a few days before 



