Irrigation, in California. 281 



melt till May or June and July. The melting of these snows is 

 the source of supply of the streams ; so that, while in far southern 

 California, with two or three exceptions, the greater flow of water 

 in the streams is almost gone by June, in this central region it is 

 the period of the height of irrigation, and the streams are flowing 

 at their maximum. Kern river presents about 2000 to 3000 cubic 

 feet of water per second ; King's river presents in the maximum 

 flow of the season about twice to three times as much as Kern 

 river ; the Tuolumne river about as much as King's. As we go 

 farther north, the Sacramento river presents more than three 

 times as much as the Tuolumne, so that in the northern part of 

 the great valley, where the rainfall on the valley itself is greatest, 

 and, consequently, the necessity for irrigation is least, the irriga- 

 tion supply increases ; and conversely, the greatest area of irriga- 

 tion in the valley and the greatest necessity for it, is, in general, 

 where the water supply is least. 



About 100 years ago irrigation was commenced in California. 

 The Roman Catholic priests, coming from Mexico where irriga- 

 tion had long been practiced, introduced it. They established 

 missions among the Indians, started cultivation, and by the labor 

 of these Indians built the original irrigation works. The practice 

 of irrigation was extended in San Diego county, as far as we are 

 able to trace, to several thousand acres ; in San Bernardino county 

 in the southern interior valley, they thus cultivated and watered, 

 perhaps 2000 acres ; and in Los Angeles county there were pos- 

 sibly 3000 acres irrigated under Mexican rule. Traces of the old 

 mission works are found in San Diego, San Bernardino and Los 

 Angeles counties, and as far north as Monterey county. 



Then came the gold fever, when canals were dug throughout 

 the foot-hills of the western slope of the Sierra Nevada, for the 

 supply of water for the mining of gold ; and these canals have 

 since, in many instances, been turned into feeders for ii'rigation. 

 Several thousand miles of irrigation ditches have thus been created 

 from old mining ditches. In 1852, a band of Mormons came from 

 Salt Lake into the San Bernardino valley ; they bought a Mexican 

 grant rancho there, took possession of some old mission works, 

 constructed others and started irrigating. That was probably the 

 first irrigation colony, on a large scale, composed of others than 

 Mexicans, in California. In 185d, some Missouri settlers went 

 into the valley of Kern river, diverted water from that stream, 

 and commenced irrigation upon a small scale. In 1858, the waters 



