WATER STORAGE ON SWEETWATER AND SAN JACINTO RIVERS. 369 



THE DUPLICATION OF THE SWEETWATER DAM WATER SUPPLY SYSTEM BY 

 SUBTERRANEAN WATER DEVELOPMENTS. 



The succession of droughts, or j-ears of rainfall below the normal, beginning 

 after the wet season of 1894r-95, and continuing to the present time, have compelled 

 the San Diego Land and Town Company to resort to extraordinary- measures to 

 provide a sufficient supply for domestic consumption, and to keep alive the orchards 

 depending upon the sj'stem for their sole means of sustenance. It is certainh- 

 unusual, if not actualh' unprecedented, for a water company, depending upon a 

 stream run off and catchment for its supply, to be compelled to dig wells, establish 

 pumping plants, and develop an entirely new and independent source to tide over the 

 emergency of drought. An account of the struggle of the company for water with 

 which to substitute the great lake that normalU' exists behind the dam, but is now 

 dry, can not fail to be interesting. 



The season of 1895-96 gave a run off of but 1,320 acre-feet, one fifty-fifth of that 

 of the preceding year; but as 1895 had started with a full reservoir, the supply for 

 1896 was ample. The run off for 1896-97 was again short, amounting to but 6,892 

 acre-feet, and it was only with careful economy that the season of 1897 was passed 

 over. The following rainy season was still worse in yield, as it gave practically 

 nothing to the depleted reservoir, and at the beginning of 1898 the suppl3- left in the 

 reservoir was very small indeed, and the season was passed only by the exercise of 

 the most rigid economy, bj' the apportionment of the water in extremely small 

 quantities, and by the general use of meters on the system. In September of that 

 year the San Diego Land and Town Company installed a small pumping plant on 

 quarter-section 111 of the Rancho de la Nacion, near Chula Vista, drawing water 

 from seven 2-inch drive-point wells, placed 30 feet apart on a suction pipe, to which 

 was attached a 2.5-inch Lawrence centrifugal pump, driven by a 5-horsepower gaso- 

 line engine. This produced about 7 miners inches, which was delivered to an 

 adjacent orange orchard belonging to the company. The cost was excessive, and the 

 plant was removed after sixty dajs' operation. 



In October, 1898, the company made a second attempt to develop water on 

 quarter-section 85 of the Rancho de la Nacion, about 1 mile above the plant just 

 described. They put down eight 2-inch drive-point wells, about 12 feet deep, 30 

 feet apart, connecting them by a 4-inch suction pipe, and pumping water to other 

 orchards belonging to the company. The water thus developed amounted to about 

 10 miners inches, and was used only on the orchards belonging to the company. 

 The plant was opei-ated for fortj-five da\-s, when it was dismantled. It consisted 

 of one double-cylinder well pump, with cylinders 6 inches in diameter, actuated by 

 a -l-horsepower gasoline engine. 



In December, 1898, as the reservoir had failed to fill and the little water left was 

 unfit for domestic use, the company was obliged to seek for a domestic supply for 

 th3 general public depending upon its sj-stem. Fourteen 2-inch drive-point wells were 

 put down in the space of an acre or two of ground in the valley near Sunnyside, on 

 quarter section 31. These were driven to a depth of 16 feet, and were spaced 30 feet 

 apart. The pumping plant consisted of a triplex-acting pump, with plungers 5^^ by 

 8 inches, actuated by a 5-horseix)wer gasoline engine. About 15 miner's inches of 



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