THE NATIONAL FORESTS OF CALIFORNIA 



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placer diggings. The foothills from Plumas to Mariposa Counties 

 are scarred with their old works, some of them still in use to-day. 

 Many of these projects are of such magnitude, like the canals now 

 used by the Electra power plant, that one wonders how the miners 

 could accomplish such feats in those pioneer days of the pick and 

 shovel and black powder. 



California stood first among all States in hydroelectric develop- 

 ment and second in potential power resources in 192G. The total 

 hydroelectric installation in the State in that year was 1,800,000 

 horsepower, and the potential development has been estimated at 

 between five and six million horsepower. Like the lumber industry, 

 the power companies are pushing farther and farther back into the 

 mountains, harnessing the higher sources of water and developing 



HYDROELECTRIC POWER HOUSE 



California stands first among all States in hydroelectric development and second in 

 potential power resources. National forests, managed and protected by the Govern- 

 ment, assure an unfailing supply of water for power purposes 



great chains of power houses from which the electric energy is car- 

 ried hundreds of miles by high-power transmission lines to cities, 

 towns, and farms throughout the State. To-day most of the water 

 power in the State available for hydroelectric development is 

 found within the national forests, which under Forest Service man- 

 agement and protection, barring unusual drought, assure an unfail- 

 ing supply of water for power purposes. In the future there is a 

 possibility that the development of the Colorado River, the head- 

 waters of which are located in national forests of other States, will 

 furnish a large percentage of the hydroelectric power used in 

 California. 



After hydraulic mining in California was curbed because of the 

 silting of rivers and harbors, some of the old ditch and reservoir 

 systems were gradually turned to use for local irrigation work- or 



