San Bernardino
County History
An Illustrated History of Southern California - The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago - 1890
THE WATER SUPPLY.
In view of the great, the paramount importance, of the water supply in developing the resources of a locality, particularly a section principally devoted to agriculture, it has seemed desirable and necessary to give at rather disproportionate length a circumstantial account of this feature of San Bernardino County. This report comprehends a very detailed and circumstantial description of two great water systems, —that of Bear valley and that, of the Gage canal—because these enterprises are not only of incalculable importance and benefit locally, but they are regarded, throughout the State, and even throughout the continent, as representative undertakings and achievements.
STREAMS.
The Colorado river, the second in size of those flowing into the Pacific on this coast, forms for some 100 miles the eastern boundary of San Bernardino County. At this section it is narrow, deep, and free from bars or rocks. For much of the distance, the river flows between gravel bluffs 100 to 200 feet high, where there is usually good navigation, owing to the sandy bed and fair channel. The low banks mean impaired facility of navigation. In the Mohave valley the river is generally good; there is a difficult shoal at the entrance from the Needles, and also four miles above, at the head of the valley, where there are rocky bars and slight rapids. At this section, the depth of the channel is about six feet, it gradually decreasing. The channel is little obstructed by sand-bars. The navigation of this river has of late years assumed more importance, and since the completion of the railway to Fort Yuma, steamers have made regular trips to Fort Mohave, near the boundary line of California and Nevada.
The Santa Ana river, originating at the foot of "Old Grayback" as a small brook, zigzags along a westerly course, constantly augmented by little streams, until it becomes the largest watercourse in the county. From source to debouchure it measures some seventy-five miles. Old San Bernardino, Riverside, Jurupa, Redlands, Rincon, Agua Mansa, Sunnyside and Cram District, besides other settlements in Los Angeles County, are watered by it; and it is almost dry at certain points, during the summer months, owing to its draining by the irrigating ditches.
The Mohave river rises on the north side of the Sierra Nevada, and north of San Bernardino valley. It diverges to the Mohave desert, and runs a northerly course to " The Caves," some 100 miles from San Bernardino, where it disappears. In wet seasons, it is said to overflow and enter Death valley. This stream sinks and rises along its whole course.
Mill creek rises in the mountains near Grayback, and runs for a space parallel with the Santa Ana, into which then, turning to the left, it empties. Much of its water is conveyed by the Mill creek ditch southward along the base of the hills, to irrigate the orchards and grain-fields of Old San Bernardino.
Lytle creek is a small stream, rising in the mountains west of Cajon pass, at the base of Mount Baldy. A portion of its waters is piped down the mountains, for use in hydraulic mining. This stream waters a considerable number of farms and orchards.
City creek comes down upon the plains through a small cañon in the northeastern part of the valley, and it is of great value in the farming operations of that district.
From the base of the mountains to the center of the valley the land is gradually depressed; the lowlands thus formed give rise to innumerable streams, and swamp lands here formerly covered thousands of acres, a great portion of which has been drained and brought under cultivation. Much more water could be developed, and excellent land obtained, by continuing this system of reclamation.
CIENEGAS AND WELLS.
The word ciénega is a Spanish term, meaning, swampy or boggy ground. A ciénega, in its local use, is applied to a spring and the marshy land about it. The ciénegas of the San Bernardino basin are more extensive than any others in the southern country, and they are the chief summer source of supply of the Santa Ana river. The two principal ones, quite near the town of San Bernardino, and covering an area of some 300 acres each, are said to be of recent origin, old settlers recalling the time when their site was comparatively dry. The volume of the stream issuing from them—it is called from its temperature Warm creek—has been slowly increasing of late years, probably from the drainage of the many artesian wells recently bored in the vicinity, and from the drain ditches cut thereabouts. Warm creek is a beautiful, clear stream, carrying over eighty cubic feet per second. At other spots in the valley, springs burst forth after very wet seasons, forming temporary ciénegas, which after a few years dry up again, until replenished by another season of excessive rainfall. Opposite Riverside, in the bottom lands of the Santa Ana river, there are other large ciénegas, which add twenty-five or thirty cubic feet per second to the volume of the stream; and farther down, in the eighteen miles between Riverside and Bedrock cañon, the river is constantly augmented from similar sources. These streams and springs are so numerous, that it were difficult to segregate their offices; but their volume of water may be approximately estimated at some twenty cubic feet per second, thus irrigating about 1,800 acres.
SAN BERNARDINO VALLEY.
The area of that part of San Bernardino County in which are obtained flowing wells, is only of some thirty square miles, including the sources of Warm creek, and the large ciénegas. The following notes are from a report prepared by F. T. Perris, civil engineer of San Bernardino, who says:
" The valley of San Bernardino has peculiar topographical features, a study of which makes apparent the fact that it was once a lake of considerable proportions. On the north is the San Bernardino range of mountains, having an altitude of from 5,000 to 7,000 feet; on the east, a low range of clay hills, having for their summit the divide of the San Gorgonio pass; on the south, a low range of clay and granite hills, and on the west a high mesa, forming the west bank of Lytle Creek.
" The natural gate, outlet, or drainage of the valley is in its southernmost portion, where the Santa Ana river passes between two hills of limestone, or rather what was once apparently one lull, since cut through. At this point the 'bed-rock' is near the surface, forming the valley of San Bernardino into a complete and large catchment basin for the watershed of a very large area of country, the main channel of drainage being the Santa Ana river.
" The soil of the valley, as far as pierced by artesian borings, shows it to be mainly granitic in character, stratified by alternating layers of clay, evidently swept in from the country east and south. Boring to a depth of 150 or 200 feet, frequently pierce a bed of vegetable mold, proving that the valley has been filled up by the gradual erosion of the surrounding hills. This being true, it may be readily believed that the valley of San Bernardino, following a contour line from the level of the bedrock at the outlet before alluded to, is a lake of water percolating the coarse sands and gravel which underlie it, and from which the artesian supply is invariably derived.
" There are, unquestionably, artesian channels of water passing underground from the mountains to the main drainage channel of the Santa Ana, and conforming in general characteristics to the surface channels. These, composed of sand and gravel, probably underlie clay, and pass over cemented sand and gravel at a certain elevation around the margin of the valley, and furnish the head to our wells. This theory is borne out by the facts presented in digging wells in certain localities. These artesian channels are believed to be as numerous as the surface streams which debouche into the valley, and all have an apex or point of concentration at the southwest corner of the valley, where our strongest wells exist, and ciénegas and springs most abound. * * *
"Artesian wells, are bored rather for domestic use and small garden irrigation than for general agricultural purposes. The two-inch wells, therefore, prevail on account of their economy in cost The larger sizes do not afford a discharge commensurate with their largely increased cost. This fact has seemed somewhat puzzling. I think it is due, however; to lack of head, as the increase in the weight of the column of water in the pipe retards the flow. This has given rise to the belief that a two-inch well affords as much water as one of three or four inches in diameter.
"Those best informed estimate the number at 400 to 425: in diameter from two to eight inches, the greater number being but two inches in diameter. A list of fifty-six wells bored by one firm shows the shallowest wells to be eighty feet, and the deepest 380, the average being about 160 feet. The most northerly well of the valley is 262 feet in depth. The most southerly well is ninety-nine feet deep, and is the finest flowing stream in the valley. The most easterly well but one is 285 feet deep.
"The deepest and most easterly well in the valley is that of Judge Willis, of Old San Bernardino. This has a depth of 410 feet, and a diameter of seven inches. Vegetable matter, consisting of decayed tule roots and pine wood, was brought up from the last sixty feet. Small fish (suckers), two to four inches in length, resembling those found in the mountain streams, were occasionally ejected from this well. The well afforded a fine flowing stream, but was afterwards spoiled through the efforts of the well-borer to perforate the pipe at 350 feet and secure the first stream."
In the abundance of the water supply, the valley of San Bernardino surpasses any other in Southern California. It is estimated that from some 450 artesian wells in the valley there is an aggregate discharge of twenty-five cubic feet of water per second, or 16,153,600 gallons of water every day.
The foregoing observations are based on conditions existing a number of years since. The number of artesian wells is very greatly increased, and they penetrate to a much greater depth than the older wells, some of them being over 600 feet deep.
Good surface water is obtained at a depth of from fifteen to 150 feet, according to the locality.
DITCHES AND DAMS.
The Mill creek ditch, on the eastern side of the valley, was constructed in 1820 by the Jesuit fathers, who founded the mission San Bernardino. This ditch, following a natural depression in the valley, so closely resembles a mountain stream that a question arose some years since as to whether it really was an artificial channel or the natural outlet of Mill creek. The question was decided by the courts, on competent testimony. The direct and plainly marked channel of the creek, joining the Santa Ana river several miles above the old mission, proved conclusively that the stream did not naturally seek its present outlet. The waters of this ditch are controlled by eighteen individual farmers holding first rights to its use.
The principal ditch from Lytle creek is taken out on the west side near the cañon mouth, and for some miles follows the plateau, where a portion of its water is diverted for irrigation. It then is carried across the rocky channel to the town of San Bernardino. This ditch has numerous branches, owned by independent associations of irrigators. The periodical rotation varies upon each of its branches.
As the Santa Ana river emerges from its rock-bound cañon into the valley, its waters are diverted into two ditches, the North Fork ditch, on the right bank, and the South Fork ditch, on the opposite side. Both these were constructed in 1858 or 1859, although a new ditch was made in 1878 for the South Fork, on higher ground than the old, which still continued in use. The North and the South Fork are similar in character, and each is about eight miles long.
The Bear valley dam is located at the outlet of Bear valley into Bear creek, which empties into the Santa Ana river about five miles below. The natural conformation of the land makes this the most favorable situation that could have been selected. The valley is surrounded by mountains, and has no other outlet than this, which here is very narrow, with precipitous rocky sides. Into the solid rocks of this gorge the dam is abutted, being built on a curve, arching inwards, forming the arc of a circle, with a diameter of 345 feet. It conforms to the mountain slope on either side. Its top length is 300 feet from the abutments; it is sixty feet high from the bedrock of the creek, at its deepest portion. From a base width of twenty feet, it slopes to three feet wide at the top. Its average co-efficient of safety is twenty-five, and it could resist twenty times the present pressure. This dam is built of vast granite blocks, laid in Portland cement (of which 1,600 barrels were consumed in the structure), the interstices being filled with beton. The lake formed by this dam is said to be the largest artificial body of water in the world. It extends five miles back into Bear valley, with an average width of nearly a mile, and a depth of twelve feet, and it contains the enormous amount of 8,000,000,000 gallons. To supply this, the valley furnishes over sixty square miles of drainage area, on which falls three times the amount of water received by the lower valleys. The quantity of water now held in reserve is sufficient to irrigate 50,000 acres of land, and to supply a population of 500,000 with water for domestic purposes. This dam is 6,400 feet above sea level.
For the satisfaction of readers who desire more technical details, here follows a circumstantial account of
THE BEAR VALLEY WATER SYSTEM,
taken entire from Irrigation in California (Southern)," by William Hamilton Hall, State Engineer.
Bear Valley and Bear Creek.--Immediately north of the San Bernardino peak and Grayback mountain, extending in an easterly and westerly direction, at an elevation from 4,500 to 5,000 feet, lies the valley of the upper Santa Ana river. Overlooking this, and bordering it on the north is a long rugged mountain ridge, whose crest line holds 7,200 to 7,700 feet of altitude, and which I shall call the central ridge. Next north of this, with its axis in the same direction and about four and one-half miles from the main mountains on the south, we find Bear valley, a remarkably large and fiat mountain basin, about 6,200 to 6,300 feet above the sea, and twenty-one miles in a straight line from San Bernardino.
Storage Reservoir.—This valley has the appearance of once having held a lake whose waters, at an elevation of 125 feet above its bottom, overflowed at the east end into the head of a cañon which leads away into the Colorado desert. Now, however, we find a deep and narrow rock-bound gorge leading out of its other extremity, and, cutting southerly around the west end of the Central mountain ridge, before mentioned, joining the cañon of the Santa Ana river about ten miles above its outlet into San Bernardino valley. This gorge holds Bear creek, at whose point of departure from the valley a dam has been built, whereby the basin has been made, or remade, a lake. The bottom plain of the valley is twelve miles long, and varies between a few hundred yards and a mile in width. Its lower end was narrow and rock-bound; then, a couple of miles or more above the dam site, it opened out into a couple of beautiful meadows, whose level plains, 700 to 800 acres in area, were thirty to forty-five feet above the outlet; and at the upper end of the valley is another such flat, covering about 800 acres, and twenty to thirty feet still higher. At sixty feet of elevation above the base of the dam a water-plane would reach 5.9 miles up the valley, and have an average width of 0.6 of a mile, covering 2,252 acres in area. At 120 feet of elevation the length would be 11.5 miles, the mean width 1.1 miles, and the area submerged 7,850 acres.
Water-shed and Precipitation.—The water‑shed tributary to the valley is forty to forty-five square miles in area. On the south lies the Central ridge already described, and heavily timbered on its slope toward Bear valley. North and west is a well timbered but not abrupt mountain 1,000 to 1,500 feet above the valley. Northeast are rolling hills 500 to 700 feet above the valley, and sparsely timbered; while the east end is closed in from the desert slope by a comparatively barren range of hills, whose altitude ranges from 200 to 500 feet above the valley. The rock of the country is, for the most part, granite, of which huge boulders and massive ledges crop out around the slope, particularly near the western end. Limestone is found near the eastern end, and some good lime has been burned there. Although the country is much broken and shattered in its rock formation, there is a good layer of soil over most of it, and the bottom of the valley itself is well clothed in this respect, as attested by the rich meadows which ordinarily remain moist and green the year round—receiving little streams from the wooded hillsides, and having some springs along their margins. It was feared in some quarters that the reservoir would not hold water—that it would escape in enormous quantities through the rock rifts and seams. But this fear has proven groundless. Bear valley is in the midst of the heaviest down-pour belt in Southern California. The clouds collect and bank up against the high peaks of San Bernardino and Grayback, and spread over into the Bear valley water-shed. Holding so great an altitude, its precipitation is largely received in the form of snow, which, in the wooded and shaded portion of its sides, lies for several months.
Bear Valley Dam.—The dam is at the extreme western end of the valley, at the head of the narrow, rock-bound gorge, which drops rapidly away. Founded on granite, where the channel was sixty to seventy-five feet wide and abutting against granitic mountain sides, at the top line it is about 300 feet in length, in the form of an arch, having a radius of 335 feet; and it is 64 feet in height from extreme base to top of coping. In cross-section it is remarkable. The top is but 3 to 3.2 feet wide; the lower face vertical for 48 feet and the upper face battered so that 48 feet down the structure is 8.5 feet thick. At this plane there is an offset up and down stream—the dam increases in thickness to twelve or fifteen feet—and thence has a slight batter on both sides, so that at the extreme foundation it has a thickness of twenty feet. This structure is of granite, rough-ashlar masonry on both faces, and broken-coursed rubble in the interior, all laid in a cement mortar and grouting. The square stones show dimensions ranging from three to five feet in length, one and one-half to two and one-half feet in width, and one to two feet in thickness, with others, of course, smaller. Its total volume is about 3,300 or 3,400 cubic yards. At the time construction commenced, in the fall of 1883, there was no water running out of the valley, and little was encountered in sinking three or four feet for the dam foundation, so that small difficulty was had in this work. That season the wall was brought up to the level of the bench, sixteen feet above the foundation plane, for half of its length. It was desired to make some show of impounding water the first year, and to test the water-producing capacity of the shed; so a temporary earthen dam was put across the valley just below the wide marshes, about two miles above the main dam site. This embankment was five to six feet high, and was calculated to bank water over 500 to 600 acres, to an average depth of three or four feet. The move was quite a fortunate one, for the water thus held back during the winter of 1883–'84 furnished a supply, which being gradually let out of this temporary reservoir, during the summer, enabled the constructors to keep a lake surface of sufficient depth and extent behind the new wall to afford, by means of flat-boats, an economical way of transporting stone from the quarries. The rock was quarried from the outcropping masses of granite along the edge of the valley, and near the level of the proposed lake, from 100 yards to three-quarters of a mile above the dam site. That for the first season's work was obtained near at hand and delivered on sleds, but that for the second season's work, comprising the great mass of the dam, was transported on flats and put into the work by means of derricks on large rafts floated close against the upper face of the dam.
At the north end the darn foundation was cut into the loose, sloping mountainside, to a bedrock base. The south end abuts against a massive, nearly perpendicular ledge, or point, of granite standing near 100 feet out into the cañon. This point in reality forms a part of the dam. Over it a flood escape-way has been cut twenty feet in width, and with a plane 8.5 feet below the level of the extreme crest of the darn coping. Through the bedrock immediately below the foundation plane, about one-third of the length of the structure from the southern end, about 9.5 feet above its extreme base plane, is a cutting which forms a culvert 3 x 3.5 feet in aperture, opening out below into a masonry pool, from which it was expected to measure the water over a weir. This culvert gradually becomes narrower towards the upper end: On the upper face of the structure the culvert is closed with masonry, to a gate-opening of twenty by twenty-four inches, over which is an iron sliding-gate, on brass bearings, worked by a screw at the top of an iron rod, which extends up through the water, in a six-inch lap-welded pipe serving as a guide, to a wooden platform, built out from the coping of the dam. Subsequently this culvert opening was lined over a movable mould with concrete, so that the opening is 2 x 3 feet, with an arched top. There is no gate tower; no provision for drawing water at less pressure; no safeguard or regulator on the one outlet provided other than the one gate. In the matter of abutment, the dam for about twenty to thirty feet at each side is gradually made thicker, so that it rests against the rock of the country at 1.5 to 2.2 its normal thickness. The coping stones are three feet long, generally one and one half feet thick, and two to two and one-half feet wide, resting lengthwise across the top of the structure. The finish work and copingstones have not been put on for the full length, so that for more than half the length the top is three to four feet below the intended plane of completion. The first year after construction, with the water-plane at forty to forty-five feet, there was a little leakage at the south end, near or under the base, which, it is claimed, came through rifts in the granite point, against which the structure there rests; and there was a remarkably free sweating and efflorescence of lime on the lower face over the whole structure, nearly up to the water-line. It is understood that the sweating phenomenon has now to a great extent ceased. There has been some expansive movement to the structure—attested by the reported fact that the cope stones which do not extend all the way across show a separation at some of the points, to be accounted for only as the result of expansion and subsequent contraction. Otherwise the structure appears to rest just as placed, and thus far serves its purpose; the water having been for a time within a foot of the finished part of its top, and having constantly stood well up on it for a considerable period, as hereinafter written.
The company, desirous of securing greater reservoir capacity, has in contemplation an enlargement of this work. It is proposed to provide for storage to the 100-foot plane above the present foundation.
Reservoir Space and Water-Supply.—This reservoir site was surveyed preliminarily by the State Engineering Department in 1880, and it was reported that a dam forty-five feet in height would impound water over an area of about 1,500 acres, to a volume of about 650,000,000 cubic feet, and that a darn sixty feet in height would create a reservoir space about 2,300 acres in area, and about 1,850,000,000 cubic feet in volume. The dam subsequently built is not exactly at the location where the section of 1880 was made, so that the figures of the later and more detailed survey made by the Bear valley company do not tally precisely with those of the preliminary reconnoisance; but they are close enough to prove substantially correct.
Cost of the Work.—The dam cost about $68,000, which, together with expense attending the management, and collateral costs during its construction, brought the total to about $75,000. There were upwards of 1,600 barrels of cement used, all of which had to be hauled by wagon from San Bernardino, over seventy miles of rough and heavy road, away round the mountains and up the desert face of the chain to Holcomb valley, itself not over 21 miles from San Bernardino in an air-line. This transportation cost over $10 per barrel, and the cement in all cost over $20,000. This circumstance of heavy transportation and inaccessibility of location made all rates high, and the cost excessive for its bulk. Under these circumstances, it seems that another kind of dam might have been constructed to advantage.
District and Works.—The waters of Bear valley reservoir being liberated come down Bear creek and Santa Ana river. The character of the river channel is such, and loss in it so very great after leaving the cañon, that it is desirable to take waters out of it at as high a point as possible. The Bear valley company found the North Fork and South Fork ditches in possession of the point of advantage—the highest place at which diversion, could be effected, without extraordinary expense and cost for works, which would have to be located on rough cañon and mountain sides. After long and wearisome negotiations, agreements have been effected under which the Bear valley company has secured right of way for its waters out from this point, and through the North and South Fork ditches.
The Bear Valley Canal and Structures.-----The work as it now is may be described as follows: commencing at the " divide," the waters flow down a natural channel-way through boulders and gravels for somewhat less than half a mile; thence they are led partly in a natural channel and partly in artificial cuttings, still through the same river-wash about a quarter of a mile farther, to a place that may be called the southern face of the cañon mouth. Here they are taken into a flume forty-eight inches wide and thirty-two inches deep, and carried around the base of the southern bluff for a distance of 2,600 feet, gradually coming out upon the first bench-land south of the river. Thence the canal is constructed across three flat points of bench-land, crossing in its route two deep arroyos or barrancas, a distance of 2,650 feet to the great barranca known as Mill creek wash. This work is in the form of a paved and cemented canal, two feet wide on the bottom, five feet wide on top, and three and one-half to four and one-half feet deep. The paving and masonry walls were put in by line, in mortar and cemented over the whole surface. It was constructed in the spring of 1885. Its grades are eight inches and twenty inches in the 100 feet, and its capacity is placed at 3,000 inches. The flumes across the two arroyos mentioned are 360 feet and 290 feet long respectively, and are mainly supported on trestles, but with a truss-bridge support over main channel-way, forty-five and twenty-nine feet high, respectively, about the central part of each, Across Mill creek wash is a flume forty-eight inches wide, twenty-four inches deep, and 240 feet long, supported on trestles. This is a work of the old Sunnyside or South Fork Ditch Association, and was constructed about 1878. It is now in a dilapidated condition, and is to be replaced. From Mill creek wash for one and one-half miles in a southwesterly direction, the work follows in quite a direct line, and over the route of the old South Fork or Sunnyside canal. As originally constructed, this was simply an excavated ditch, following the uneven grades of the ground's surface, with a cobble and gravel bed, three and one-half feet wide on the bottom, five feet on top, and two feet deep. During the past spring the Bear Valley Company reconstructed 3,295 feet of this ditch, making it a paved and cemented ditch two and one-half feet wide at the bottom, five feet wide on top, and three and one-half deep. At about a quarter of a mile above the lower end of this section is what is known as the Sunnyside "divide," where the waters of the Sunnyside canal are turned into the old channel, which takes them westerly into the Lugonia district. At the lower end of this division of the Bear valley work, the T. & B. ditch joins it, having come around on a lower-grade line, west of the Bear valley course. Thence the Bear valley canal follows on nearly the old alignment of Redlands ditch, which was first constructed in 1881, almost on ache southwest course, to and across the Mill creek zanja. As built, this was nearly a straight piece of ditch, and was roughly paved and partly cemented; was about two and one-half feet wide on the bottom, two feet deep and five feet on top, being very irregular, however, in form as well as in grade. Of this old work, during the past spring about 500 feet were reconstructed, set deeper in the ground, repaved and cemented.
* * This work thus far has stood well, there having been no cracks or checks in it. It cost about $2 per linear foot for the masonry works complete.
Across Mill creek zanja there is a flume 430 feet in length, three feet wide, two and one-half feet deep, on a grade of 0.3 in 100, all of redwood and well constructed. This brings us into the fifth division of the work, which extends from Mill creek zanja to the Yucaipa reservoir of the Redlands Water Company. Following the general line of the old Redlands canal, as constructed in 1881—'82, the new work here is gradually getting back upon the comparatively high bench-lands and nearing the foothills of the Southern range. As originally constructed, the old canal was about 10,000 feet long through this division. It was very crooked, and of irregular grade and cross-section, but generally two and one-half feet on the bottom, four to five feet on the top, and two feet deep. During the spring of 1888 the Bear Valley Water Company reconstructed this ditch for a total length of 3,800 feet of paved and cemented work and 600 feet of fluming. This new work commenced about 2,500 feet from the head of the division, and from being straight in alignment has shortened the channel about 900 feet.
Distribution Works.—The Yucaipa distributing reservoir is at the end of this section, and into the waters of the canal are led, and taken thence, as described under another heading, into the pipe distributing system of the settlement of Redlands. Across the arroyo, in which is the dam for the reservoir, and just below the dam, the Bear valley waters are led in a twenty-two-inch wrought iron, riveted, pressure-pipe, 1,225 feet in length, with a maximum head of pressure of fifty feet, and a hydraulic gradient of one foot in 100. Thence flowing still westerly, around the extreme upper edge of the mesa, and sometimes on the steeper hillsides, the waters are led in a thirty-inch cement pipe laid in a trench and covered. The length is 2,375 feet, and grade 0.3 in 100. This is the end, for the present, of the Bear valley main work on the south side of the river, and here is placed a concrete chamber into which the waters are received, and from which they are apportioned out over weirs to four pipe lines. Of these, one supplies a portion of the Redlands colony water; another furnishes West Redlands and Terracina; the third extends to Gladista and the Drew tract; and the fourth skirts the valley and crosses San Timoteo creek to Mound City.
Possibilities of the Project.—The Bear Valley Company's reservoir site and water supply and its command of advantageous lines of delivery for its waters, constitutes the basis of a property which could be made of inestimable benefit to a great area of rich and fruitful lands, favorably situated in one of the most important irrigation regions of the State. Putting out of view the works by which the purpose has been or is sought to be accomplished, and concerning which this report only states facts without comment, the work is one of importance to the irrigation interests of the State. Fully and properly accomplished, this conservatism of water might be made not only to greatly extend irrigation in San Bernardino County, but to save the irrigation interest from disaster in years of drought which are sure to come.
History of the Work and Organization.—During the summer of 1880 a topographical survey was made of Big Bear Valley, as a reservoir site, under the direction of the State Engineer, for the State, and it was reported upon as one of the best locations for the purpose found in Southern California. In May, 1883, it was visited by F. E. Brown, a young civil engineer, in company with Hiram Barton, who was familiar with the San Bernardino mountains. Brown had heard of the survey and report on the reservoir site, and Barton had seen the place. Both had become impressed with the advisability of storing the flood waters of the Santa Aria river from experience in irrigation and water development works, in the neighborhood of Redlands and Old San Bernardino. Returning to San Bernardino, a company was formed. This organization was at first in the nature of a partnership, in which there were thirty-six parts or shares. A purchase was made from Los Angeles owners of 3,800 acres of the land, and 700 were obtained from the Southern Pacific Railway Company, and from the Government, which all cost in round numbers about $25,000 to $30,000, and which embraced all of the reservoir site desired, and part of the water-shed. Work was begun on the dam on September 27, 1883, and continued until November 17, when the winter's near approach compelled its stopping for the season, and the retreat of the force to the lower valleys. An excavation for the foundation was made, and about 250 cubic feet of masonry were put in place during this short season. On July 3, 1884, work was resumed and pushed forward during that summer until about the last of November, when the dam, so far as projected, was completed, except a part of the coping and flood escape-way.
Organization.—The Bear Valley Land and Water Company was incorporated in September, 1883, with a capital stock of $360,000, divided into 3,600 shares of $100 par value each, of which the whole amount was taken by eleven local subscribers, in lots ranging from fifty to 1,000 shares each. The principal place of business was named at San Bernardino, and term of incorporation fixed at fifty years. At once $30,000 were paid up, and to this time, July, 1888, $180,000 have been paid in by the stockholders, in the way of original payment and subsequent assessments. Each share of stock was intended to represent one inch of water flowing throughout the irrigating season of six months. The price of this stock gradually increased. In the spring of 1884 it had cost the holders $4.50 per share; and was selling at $25 per share; and in the summer of 1877, it had cost the holders $45 per share, and was selling at $225 to $255 per share. In addition to stock certificates, the company has issued water certificates to its stockholders, which are transferable independent of the stock shares, and which are in the nature of water-rights in the Bear valley water supply.
The North and South Fork Companies' Combination.—Under agreements made with the North Fork Water Company, and others owning interest in the North Fork canal, and with the owners of the South Fork water-right and ditches, the Bear valley has secured right of way for its waters through these canals, and has thereby secured an outlet for them on each side of the river,—around the margins of the valley,—so as to command the whole region which may naturally look to these waters for irrigation.
Bear Valley Branch Works.—From the end of the Bear valley main four pipe lines extend. These may be briefly described as follows: Gladista and Drew Line. This main distributary is a twelve-inch cement pipe, extending down the mesa through Redlands; and thence diagonally in a northwest direction across the plain, a total distance of about three miles, to the Gladista tract, which is west of Lugonia; and thence ten-inch and eight-inch cement piping is laid westerly through this tract to Drew tract, which is next north of Old San Bernardino.
Mound City Main.—From the end of the Bear valley south side main conduit, a wrought iron riveted pipe, thirteen inches in diameter, is carried across the West Redlands settlement; thence across San Timoteo cañon, and out on the bench lands, still westerly to Mound City, a total distance of five and one half to six miles.
East Redland's Water Company District and Work.—A tract of 450 acres in area, lying adjacent to the northeast end of the Redlands settlement, on the same bit of mesa, and commanded by the old Redlands ditch, now the Bear valley canal, is known as East Redlands. It is a colony settlement very much on the plan of Redlands, and its irrigations are effected through works owned and controlled by the East Redlands Water Company. These works are mere distributaries of waters from the Bear valley canal, and consist of three-fourths mile of twelve-inch, one and one-half miles of eight inch, four miles of six-inch, and three miles of five-inch cement concrete pipe, laid and arranged on the same general plan as those of the Redlands system. The total expenditure on works has been about $10,000.
Operation and Maintenance.—The promoters of this enterprise owned the land, and had Bear valley water certificates as water-rights for use thereon. They organized the East Redlands Water Company, and placed in it 1,000 certificates, which call for one-seventh of an inch of water each from the Bear valley supply, taking the stock of the company in return. In selling the lands they transferred one share of the stock with each acre. The works are in charge of a zanjero, and are operated upon the same principle as those of Redlands.
Water-Supply and Use.—The water-supply is represented by that of Bear valley, in the proportion of certificates held. There are at the present time 150 acres under cultivation, chiefly in citrus fruits and raisin grapes, owned and irrigated by about twenty irrigators.
History — Organization .—The East Redlands Water Company was incorporated in September, 1886, with a capital stock of $100,000, divided into 1,000 shares. Its purpose is to supply water to stockholders only.
West Redlands Water Company—District and Work.—Lying immediately west of the southeast end of Redlands colony lands is a tract of 1,000 acres of similar red mesa formation, which has been placed in the West Redlands colony enterprise. The West Redlands Water Company is organized for its irrigation service. The works, taking their supply from the Bear valley canal, consist of about two miles of fourteen-inch, one mile of twelve-inch, one and one-half miles of eight-inch, five miles of six-inch, and four miles of five-inch concrete cement pipe, laid and planned on the same principle as those of the original Redlands. The cost thus far has been about $15,000.
Operation and Maintenance.—This is an exactly similar organization to that of East Redlands, with similar water rights and same relation between the company and its stockholders as water customers, and it is maintained and operated in the same way. Each share of stock represents the right to the water due one Bear valley certificate, and the right to have it delivered through the pipe system of the company, and there is a share conveyed with each acre of the land sold. Distribution is in charge of a zanjero, and is made upon orders received from the irrigators, and arranged in rotation by the water master.
Water-Supply and Use .--As explained above, the lands have a Bear valley water right of one-seventh of an inch to each acre. There are about 150 acres irrigated by about fifty irrigators, this being the first year of cultivation.
History—Organization.—The West Redlands Water Company was incorporated in April, 1887, to supply water to its stockholders, with a capital stock of $100,000, divided in 1,000 shares.
The new dam to be constructed for Bear valley reservoir will store water sufficient to irrigate 150,000 acres, and a new system of reservoirs recently surveyed just north of the mountains will, when constructed, furnish water for 50,000 acres more.
A considerable tract of land on the San Bernardino portion of the San Jacinto plain has been purchased by parties interested in the Bear valley system, who design to convey thither the waters from this storage system. The main conduit to be constructed for this purpose must be some forty miles in length, carrying 300 cubic feet of water per second. The territory to be watered by this extension will cover some 75,000 acres or upwards.
THE GAGE CANAL SYSTEM.
The following account of the Gage Canal System is taken entirely from the work of William Hamilton Hall, State Engineer, on Irrigation in California (Southern):
"History of Enterprise, and Water-Right. —The success achieved in irrigation of the mesa plain south of the Santa Ana river by the Riverside canals, and the high values attained by the lands there planted to the orange and the vine, for which the soil and climate proved specially suitable, stimulated desire to furnish water to that portion of the mesa lying above the reach of the highest of these canals, where the soil was equally fertile, but barren for lack of irrigation. * * * Surveys were made by the State Engineer in 1880 to determine the feasibility of irrigating this plain, and a canal line was run in substantially the position now occupied by the Gage canal out on the mesa. The plan then in view was the forming of a reservoir in Bear valley (since carried out by private enterprise), and the construction of a canal from the mouth of Santa Ana cañon, skirting the valley on the south and east to Mill creek, crossing the Mill creek ditch, continuing around the valley to the south of the present Lugonia, Redlands and Mound City tract, and thence extending to the Riverside plain. In connection with this system a reservoir was planned for the main Yucaipa valley, and one or two others in the vicinity, to serve as feeders and regulators of the canal A large reservoir was also to be made in the Tequisquite arroyo above Riverside, into which the canal was to discharge. Parts of this comprehensive system have since been carried out by private parties, but independently of their connection with the whole, the Gage canal in its course around the bluffs and out on the mesa being substantially one of the links.
"Organization.—* * * This enterprise has been carried forward purely as a business operation by one person— Mr. Matthew Gage, of Riverside. His capital was small. He obtained a bond on the water-bearing and riparian rights; outlined the project; secured several small, old ditch water-rights, and an advantageous agreement with owners of another old ditch right; and then negotiated a bonus for irrigating water rights with owners of dry lands out on the mesa. He contracted a number of irrigating water-rights at rates ranging to $100 or more per acre of land to be irrigated, and obtained agreements that held the lands as security for their acceptance and payment. Virtually, on this foundation, which represented so much cash, or very valuable lands should the works prove successful, he borrowed the money to carry it through to a point where it made a good showing as a work. Just then came a boom in water and land matters. Water‑rights generally were in demand. Those in the Gage canal sold at high figures. Land secured by bond or contract from the promoter jumped from tens to hundreds of dollars in market value. And so the financial strength of the enterprise was sufficiently assured to carry the works to completion.
" Water Rights and Claims.—The Gage canal depends for water-supply upon several sources and claims of right. There is (1) the Old Hunt & Cooley right of diversion from the river; (2) the Wells & Long claim also from the river; (3) the Parish or Caric claim to water rising on bottom lands north of the river and above the head of the ditch; and in addition to these (4) the water obtained and to be obtained by boring artesian wells.
The Hunt & Cooley ditch was one of the oldest diversions on the middle part of the Santa Ana through its course in its basin. It diverted water at about the point now occupied by the Gage canal, and carried it on to the lands south of the river and considerably below the present grade line of the Gage ditch. Owning artesian lands at a lower elevation that would supply their ditch, the managers of the Gage enterprise made an arrangement with the owners of the Hunt & Cooley ditch whereby they would supply these latter with artesian water equivalent to the agreed capacity of the Hunt & Cooley ditch, and in return they secured the right of diverting into their canal the amount of water claimed from the river for the Hunt & Cooley ditch. Then, to make good their contract with the Hunt and Cooley irrigators, the gage management bored a number of artesian wells, and, securing enough water in this way for these lower irrigators, were themselves enabled to carry water under the Hunt & Cooley claim out of the river and through their new canal to the higher mesa. * * * The Wells & Long claim from the river is based upon the construction of a ditch out upon the north side, and use of water previous to 1884. The floods of that year swept the head of this ditch away, and it has not since been used. The spring ditch, known also as the Parish or Caric ditch, rises upon lands owned by the Gage canal management, and rights which had been established to the use of its waters by other parties on the northern banks of the river having been bought out, the Gage management is entitled to its full flow. * * *
" Water-Supply and Use.—SOURCES AND CLAIMS.—Near the upper limit of the artesian basin, the Gage canal has about 600 acres of river-bottom lands lying in a belt a little less than two miles in length, and with a maximum width of little over half a mile, at and above the head of its canal and at points wherein the first four groups of wells have been sunk. It is claimed by the engineer and the manager of the enterprise that the results of these borings has shown a capacity on the part of these lands to yield an artesian flow of at least twenty miner's inches for each acre of ground, and that one well to each acre will develop such supply. Upon this assumption, it is estimated by those in charge of the work that a flow of 12,000 miner's inches could, if required, be obtained by boring the necessary number of wells, namely, one to each acre; and thus, it is asserted that water may be obtained from this source alone, up to the capacity of the canal, and sufficient to supply, at the rate of an inch to five acres, all of the lands of the mesa which the canal controls. Thus far the wells already bored have generally been kept capped, there having been sufficient water in the river to supply the demand for delivery to the customers of the canal. The work of boring additional artesian wells on this tract is being actively pushed, the larger size, ten-inch, having been adopted. It is the intention to keep this work going uninterruptedly until, as is hoped, 2,000 miner's inches are made available from this source. * * * On the wells already bored, the average of the first sixteen is forty-seven and seven-tenths miner's inches per well, that of the total twenty-nine wells is thirty-three miner's inches per well. * * *
Irrigation:—Barely sufficient water is allowed to flow down the canal to supply present needs. It is believed by its managers that the entire area commanded by it will rapidly come under cultivation, and the works thereafter be taxed to their utmost capacity. In the present year (1888) there will be 1,106 acres irrigated; of which 613 are in oranges, 216 in vines, sixty-two in alfalfa, fifteen in summer crops, and 200 acres are in town and residence lots cultivated as gardens.
" District and Work.—This work, the longest and one of the largest artificial water-courses in San Bernardino County, has for its object the watering of nearly all the Riverside mesa plain lying above the reach of the Riverside canals. Although not depending in the main upon the Santa Ana river for its waters, its commencement is in the nature of a diversion from that stream, at a point four miles above the mouth of Warm creek, and nine to nine and one-half miles below the cañon opening. Taking its departure from the left bank of the river, it swings rapidly to the south, away from the stream, over a gently sloping plain for about two miles in length; then skirts along a steep, sloping bench-land westerly for about one mile; then clings to the face, and tunnels through the points of a precipitous bluff for nearly two Miles farther westward, where, turning sharply to the south, it passes by a long tunnel through the upper edge of the mesa, out upon that sloping plain itself. and then follows it, generally as a ditch in excavation, encountering no serious obstruction save one rocky point of mountain which is passed by means of a tunnel.
" Canal and Structures.—The length of the work over all, from bead-gate to Tequisquite Arroyo, is 11.91 miles; thence to the terminus, 8.22 miles, making the total length 20.13 miles, which is 2.3 miles longer than a straight line drawn between its terminal points, in a general direction nearly northeast and southwest. It commands for irrigation almost the whole of the mesa above the Riverside upper canal, comprising some 12,000 acres, and extending in a belt from one-half to two and one-half miles in width, and about thirteen and a half miles in length. Of the area below the canal on the plain, about 420 acres is hill-land not commanded by the grade line. For the first 2,000 feet the work of the canal excavation was in sand or sandy loam; thence for about 13,000 feet, through an " alluvial adobe," merging into a gray clay or heavy soil, which gradually changed as the bluff was approached, to a friable, marly earth, underlaid in some places by soft sandstone, and in others by a disintegrating soft granite, and overlaid by a thin layer of heavy red soil, except in the cross-washes, where sand beds were encountered. Coming out upon the mesa, the construction was in ordinary heavy red mesa soil, growing lighter and more sandy toward the lower end of the work, with the exception of a 700-foot tunnel through hard granite at the point of a mountain heretofore referred to. The cross-sectional dimensions of the open canal are as follows: the depth throughout, four feet; side slopes, one to one; bottom width, for 14,000 feet, eight feet; for 41,312 feet, six feet; and for the lower 40,647 feet, five feet. It is, for the most part, excavated to a depth of three feet below the natural surface on the lower side, the top foot of water-way being supported by the embankment. * * * There are four heavy fills in the work, which average about 6,000 cubic yards each. The grade slope of the canal is about two feet per mile throughout.
" Dam and Headworks.-The diverting darn is of wood about 300 feet long, extending across not only the low-water channel proper of the river, but also across a portion of its extreme flood-water way. It was planned in three sections of about 100 feet each; the middle section being two feet seven and one-half inches lower than the end section. * * * The headgates are framed into the end of a receiving chamber thirty feet in length, ten feet wide, and eight feet deep. The floor of the chamber, being eighteen inches below the grade of the canal, serves the purpose of a sand-box; there being a sluice-way provided at its lower end by which to clear it when necessary. * * *
" Tunnels.—There are fifteen tunnels, whose aggregate length is 6,178 feet—the longest being 2,320, and the shortest 110 feet. * * * These tunnels, in rock, are 6.5 feet, wide and 6.5 feet high in the clear at center, the top being in arched form. In earth they are lined with concrete on bottom and sides, and timbered overhead, the waterway being six feet wide and 4.5 feet deep on the sides in the clear. The concrete lining averages six inches in thickness. About 5,500 linear feet of tunnel are lined with concrete and cemented.
" Flumes.—There are thirteen flumes whose aggregate length is 4,170 feet; the shortest being forty-eight and the longest 1,000 feet. Of these, three are in section 7 x 4 feet; five are 6 x 4; and five are 5 x 4,--the width decreasing with that of the canal in three successive divisions of the work from the head. The flume over the Tequisquite arroyo is eighty feet high in the deepest part, and 1,000 feet long, supported on trestle bents sixteen feet apart. These trestles are of Oregon pine, light, but well braced, and stiff in all directions. * * *
Operation, and Maintenance.—The distribution system is composed generally of pipes of iron and cement, and wooden flumes of small size, the grade of the plain laterally from the canal being 75 to 100 feet per mile. All distribution is effected at the expense of the purchasers of water-rights, who have planned and carried out their works in their own way, as best suited their means and convenience, in some cases individually, and in others by combining together in little districts. As far as known, these laterals are at present about as follows: Two miles iron pipe; 4.12 miles cement pipe; 12.12 miles wooden flume; three miles open ditch, all varying much in size. The aggregate cost of these is given at $17,469. The canal supplies domestic and irrigation water to several additions to the town of Riverside, each of which has its separate system of pipes, heading in a small distributing reservoir, placed immediately below the canal. * * *
" The first section of the Gage canal, from its head to the Tequisquite arroyo, 11.91 miles, was begun October, 1885, and completed so far as to carry water through it November, 1886, although regular use in the way of irrigation was not begun until the spring of 1887. Work was begun on the extension of the canal February, 1888, and completed June, 1888, a distance of 8.22 miles, to a point a short space farther down the valley than the terminus of the Riverside canals. This completed the canal as far as it has been projected."
The cost of the first division, between the Santa Ana river and the Tequisquite arroyo, including all items, was $545,300. The whole enterprise, to the point attained in April, 1890, has cost the considerable sum of $1,400,000.
Owing to the unceasing personal efforts of Matthew Gage, this enterprise has recently passed into the control of a company of English capitalists, who under the name of the Riverside Trust Company, Limited, of London, assume the management, retaining Mr. Gage in the position of managing director, of the Gage Canal System, and a tract of some 5,000 acres of land below the same, including some of the best orange lands in the county. These lands, taken up by Matthew Gage for $1.25 per acre, are now selling, unimproved but with a water-right, at from $300 to $600 per acre. During the ensuing year this company intends to expend $500,000 in improving this tract, developing the water system, and placing the lands on the market.
COUNTY SUMMARY.
San Bernardino County has 541 miles of telegraph lines, including a new line ten miles long between the county seat and Redlands.
There are in the county eighty miles of telephone lines, of which fifty-six miles were built in 1888–'89.
The present population of the county is 35,000.
The assessed valuation of all property in the county is $26,250,680. The county is free from debt. The rate of taxation, State and county, is $1.25 outside, and $1 inside, the limits of incorporated towns.
The county ranks first in the State in the amount per child of school property, and fifth in the total valuation of school property.
Of the 1,633,900 boxes of raisins shipped from California in 1889, this county alone sent out 353,000 boxes.
On May 7, 1890, San Bernardino County's treasury contained a cash sum of $226,983.91.
In 1880 the assessed valuation of property in the county in round numbers was $2,000,000; in 1882 it stood as follows:
Real estate $1,556,630
Improvements thereon 500,577
improvements assessed to others than owners of real estate 8,840
Personal property 615,838
Money. 28,947
Franchise Southern Pacific Railroad 573,300
Total valuation of county property 3,284,132
Additional valuation of city property 567,650
Grand total.... $3,860,197
Deductions on account of mortgages 287,507
Value of mortgage interest 287,507
This showed a total decrease of $109,000 on the assessment of 1881, which is entirely owing to the decreased valuation of the railroad, prescribed by the State Board of Equalization - a decrease of $327,600. The appreciation of other county property was great.
In 1885 it was almost $12,000,000, and in 1889 it was over $20,000,000. These figures are exclusive of the 416 miles of railways which traverse the county.
The growth in wealth of this county, absolute and comparative, for the last ten years, has been marvelous. The entire State only increased ninety per cent, and San Francisco, the metropolis of California, only increased nineteen per cent., while many of the northern counties showed still less growth, one falling as low as twelve per cent, in Southern California the gain was remarkable in wealth, as conclusively shown by the assessment records, and San Bernardino shows an increase of 803 per cent., a greater growth than any other county in the State. San Diego County makes a good second, showing an increase of 795 per cent., while Los Angeles County follows with 472 per cent. increase.
The following is the income for San Bernardino County for the year 1889. This includes the orange and lemon crop harvested during the season including 1888-'89, while the other products are for the year 1889 only:
310,262 boxes oranges $744,000
4,250 boxes lemons and limes 17,000
300,000 boxes raisins 495,000
120 tons dried grapes 7,200
650 tons dried fruits 143,000
40,000 cases canned fruits 160,000
90,000 pounds English walnuts and almonds 6,750
300,000 pounds extracted honey 18,000
5,000 pounds beeswax 1,000
70,000 pounds comb honey 7,000
230,000 gallons of wine 57,500
10,000 gallons brandy 4,500
235,000 centals barley 163,500
Wheat and oats 27,500
5,000,000 feet of lumber 60,000
250,000 pounds wool... 57,500
Gold and silver 875,000
Borax, marble, onyx, building stone, brick and
lime 250,000
Total income $3,074,450
Beyond this there has been a large income derived from miscellaneous items not given in the above list, part of which are exported, bringing in a revenue of money from the outside, while a large part is devoted to home consumption. For instance, from the one item of alfalfa seed resulted $8,000; potatoes raised here are shipped by the car-load to Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado; hay is raised in large quantities for home consumption and for export; and so with various items, aggregating an important sum.
The earnings of the county for export are between $3,000,000 and $4,000,000, averaging more than $100 to each man, woman and child in the county.
The following is the statement of improvements made during the past year (1889), the estimate being made from figures carefully collected:
3,422 acres orange trees, planted this year, cost, exclusive of land and water $376,000
64 acres lemon and lime trees 6,400
1,050 acres planted to other trees and to vines 42,000
Water, its development, laying pipe, making canals, tunnels, etc 550,000
Buildings, business and dwelling houses 982,000
Total improvements $1,956,400
The speculative values placed on certain classes of real estate, particularly on lots in outside towns in San Bernardino County, in common with other portions of Southern California during "boom times" have given way to reasonable prices, but the decline in some of the other classes of realty, especially raisin vineyards, has been small, while choice bearing orange groves command as high prices as they ever did, and pay handsome interest on these valuations. All that was good in the boom remains, and much that was evil has disappeared.
The State and county tax for 1888 was $1.25 outside, and $1 inside, the limits of incorporated towns, which, considering the improvements made, is a reasonable rate of taxation.
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler.