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Settlers Ditch Company. Records, 1874-1900.
MANUSCRIPT Boxes 2328-2329
Collection Overview
Title:
Records, 1874-1900Settlers Ditch Company records, 1874-1900
Creator/Contributor:
Settlers Ditch Company, creatorAbstract:
The collection consists of a variety of records dating from 1874 to 1900, with the bulk 1875 to 1885. These records have been
organized into five series: General Administrative; Accounts of Labor; Legal; Financial; and Related Ditch Companies. Graphics
on some of the financial documents are representative of contemporary printing design. Many of the papers are fragile or of
irregular size, and extra care is requested in handling the collection.
General Administrative: Correspondence and reports, 1874-1899; Shareholder list; Proposed changes to by-laws. -- Accounts
of Labor: 1875-1899. -- Legal: General; Proxies; Transfers of stock; Requests for duplicate stock certificates; Notices of
prior appropriation; Setters Ditch v. Hays and Crane. -- Financial: Annual reports, 1875-1900; Invoices; Receipts issued to
Settlers Ditch Company; Receipts issued by Settlers Ditch Company; Scrip, Notes, Promises to pay; Damage claims; Bank documents.
-- Related Ditch Companies: Lakeside Ditch Company; Peoples Ditch Company.
Date:
1874 (issued)Contents:
Box 2328: General Administrative; Accounts of Labor. -- Box 2329: Legal; Financial; Related Ditch Companies.
Subject:
n-us-caSettlers Ditch Company -- Records and correspondence
Ditches -- California -- Tulare County
Irrigation -- California -- Tulare County
Hanford (Calif.) -- History
Note:
The Settlers Ditch Company was an association of settlers in the Eureka School District of Tulare County (presently in Kings
County) formed to improve the area farmland by constructing a ditch for irrigation. The Company was incorporated June 24,
1874 with a capital stock of $10,000 (increased to $15,000 in 1878). Construction and maintainence of the ditch were also
financed by assessments on the capital stock as needed. The work was done in part by the stockholders who were paid in scrip
which could then be used to pay off the assessments. For a time, this scrip also circulated in the local economy as "money".
The ditch drew water from Cross Creek at a point northwest of Goshen. Jonesa, often referenced in the collection, was located
along the ditch about three miles northeast of Hanford. Water first flowed into the ditch on Dec. 1, 1875 and, by the early
1880s, the ditch provided water to almost 8,000 acres producing wheat, barley, and alfalfa. After the passage of the Wright
Act in 1887, which enabled localities to establish irrigation districts and levy taxes on the general populace for their operation,
the Settlers Ditch Company sold its Cross Creek water rights to the Tulare Irrigation District, and the headgate was moved
to the Kaweah River northeast of Visalia. At this time the Settlers Ditch Company bought into the Peoples Ditch Company, which
drew water from the Kings River. As a result, the stockholders were able to receive water for a longer period each year. The
charter of the Settlers Ditch Company expired, without renewal, in 1924.
The Tulare School District was in the Mussel Slough area, scene of the infamous conflict between local settlers and the Southern
Pacific Railroad. Ditches, such as the Settlers Ditch, figured prominently as the "improvements" which affected the disputed
land values. Several of the original stockholders in the Settlers Ditch Company were involved in the Mussel Slough Affair,
notably Thomas J. McQuiddy. William J. McQuiddy, also an early stockholder, was prominent in the later development of Hanford.
Settlers Ditch Company records.
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.
Type:
LetterheadsScrip
Physical Description:
print
2 ms. boxes (ca. 500 items) : ill.
Language:
English
Identifier:
MANUSCRIPT Boxes 2328-2329
Origin:
CaliforniaCopyright Note:
Unrestricted. Please credit California State Library.