CHAPTER XXVI. 213 



and flume 15.6 miles long, tapping the river at an altitude of 1,600 feet. 

 The conduit has a capacity of 28 second-feet, and cost $116,328. The 

 dam Is a rock-flU, faced with plank, lo feet high, 380 feet long on top, 

 100 feet at bottom, with a top width of 1^ feet and a base of 140 feet. 

 Its cubic contents are 37,159 yards, and its cost complete was $110,059. 

 The reservoir covers an area of 150 acres, and has a capacity of 3,500 

 acre-feet when filled to the level of the spillway. 



Distribution is made by cemented ditches, flumes and pipes. The 

 entire system of works cost $352,509. The lands Irrigated are chiefly 

 planted to citrus fruits, and exceed 2,000 acres. 



Prior to the construction of the works no use had been made of 

 the water of the San Luis Rey except in a small way by the Indians 

 living along its course at the Cuca reservation. To the extent of their 

 needs, the prior rights of the Indians are still respected, and only 

 flood waters are diverted to the reservoir. 



THE HEMET DAM. 



On the flanks of Mt. San Jacinto, one of thee loftiest peaks of 

 Southern California, whose crest reaches to a height of nearly 11,000 

 feet, lies Hemet valley, whose outlet through a narrow granite gorge 

 has been closed by the erection of a masonry dam 122.5 feet high above 

 the stream bed. The altitude of the dam is over 4,200 feet, and the 

 difficulties of transporting machinery and cement to the site were very 

 great; but the structure resulting from the efforts of the Lake Hemet 

 Water Company is one of the most massive and perfect structures ever 

 built, surpassing in safe dimensions all similar works on the Coast. 



The reservoir covers 365 acres, and the volume impounded when 

 filled is 10,500 acre-feet. Water released at the dam flows down a 

 natural canyon some ten miles, descending 2,000 feet in a succession of 

 cascades, and is then diverted into a flume 38 Inches wide, 18 Inches 

 deep, built down the canyon to its mouth, 3^4 miles, on a grade of 140 

 feet per mile. Thence it is taken in a 22-inch pipe for two miles, and 

 delivered to a ditch lined with masonry, having a capacity of 3,000 

 miner's inches, leading to the distributing reservoir, five miles. From 

 the latter, sheet -steel pipes convey and distribute the water to Irrigated 

 lands and to the town of Hemet. The full duty of the reservoir has 

 not yet been reached, as the area irrigated has never exceeded 1,200 

 acres. The district is one of great thrift and fertility, and the orchards 

 of deciduous fruit trees and olives have made phenomenal growth. 



