Guide to the Tuolumne County Water Company
Records
Processed by Scott Baker and Sherrin Grout. Encoded by Larry
Bishop.
California State Parks
1416 9th Street
Room 902
Sacramento, California 95814
Phone: (916) 651-6959
Fax: (916) 653-3398
Email: vytur@parks.ca.gov
URL: http://www.parks.ca.gov
© 2005
California State Parks. All rights reserved.
Guide to the Tuolumne County Water Company
Records
Scott Baker and Sherrin Grout
California State Parks Sacramento, California
- Date Completed:
- 2003
- Processed by:
- Scott Baker and Sherrin Grout
- Encoded by:
- Larry Bishop
© 2005 California State Parks. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Tuolumne County Water Company Records,
1853-1909
Date (inclusive):
Collection number: 308-1072
Creator:
Tuolumne County Water
Company
Extent: 10.8 cubic feet (17
boxes)
Repository:
California. Department of Parks and Recreation
Physical location: The collection is located at Columbia
State Historic Park, Columbia, CA
Administrative Information
Access
The collection is open for research by appointment only. Appointments
may be made by calling (209)532-0150.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the California State Parks. Literary rights
are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permission to
reproduce or to publish, please contact California State Parks, Columbia State
Historic Park.
Preferred Citation
[Item]Tuolumne County Water Company records, Columbia State Historic
Park, California State Parks, Columbia, California.
Provenance
The bulk of the TCWC records were discovered on Columbia State Historic
Park premises. Apparently, for many years the collection was stored away and
forgotten within the park, until about 1987, when park staff investigated an
old trunk in the museum and discovered it full of TCWC documents. They were
heavily damaged from water, mildew, and insects. The documents were removed,
cleaned, and placed in storage boxes in the Archives building.
Staff later discovered that many of the documents that were in decent
condition had been removed from the original collection, and dispersed
throughout the subject and name files at some point before the trunk was
discovered. For example, if a piece of water company correspondence relating to
miner supplies was sent to Mr. John Doe it might have been filed under Doe or
it might have been filed under General Store. Additional water company records
arrived at the park through individual donations—in particular, the Conlin
Family donation in the 1940s (see Conlin Family Papers).
In 2001 special
funding was provided by California State Parks to reconstitute the collection,
organize it according to archival principles, rehouse the records in acid-free
folders and boxes, and create a finding aid to provide enhanced access to the
collection. Additional materials relating to the Tuolumne County Water Company
may be found at the Tuolumne County Historical Society archives, the Bancroft
Library, and the Huntington Library.
Organizational History
Emigrants who rushed to California after the discovery of gold in 1848
discovered an environment whose climate and geography were sharply different
from home. The California climate, with its periods of wet and dry, drought and
flood emphasized the importance of resource management, espcially water
management. As well as its domestic importance, large quantities of water were
essential to large scale mining operations and the control of water became one
of the biggest and most complex struggles facing the settlers and
argonauts.
The Hildreth party has been given the credit for discovering gold in the
Columbia area around 1850, although there is some evidence that a small
settlement of Mexican miners may predate their arrival. The summer of 1850 was
typically hot and dry; the creeks dried up and most miners moved either down to
the river valleys or up to higher elevations. Winter brought miners back to the
Columbia area following the rains and the return of the seasonal creek. Those
merchants who managed to survive the summer realized that maintaining a market
in the area relied on a steady supply of water, and local miners realized that
a reliable supply of water was needed to make mining feasible year-round.
Together, they established to Tuolumne County Water Company (TCWC) in June of
1851.
The TCWC was created as an employee owned and controlled company.
The founders went to surrounding areas raising investors. By the end of June,
1851, 160 shares of stock had been sold and the route had been surveyed, but
the company was forced to borrow money to finance the construction costs of
sawmills, roads and equipment. Among the financiers who soon gained control of
the company was D.O. Mills, the pioneer banker in Columbia. The TCWC
incorporated in September, 1852, with a new issuance of shares initially valued
at $275.
The availability of water and its price strongly influenced
the fortune of the town. A struggle for control of the water, between owners of
the TCWC and the miners who depended on reasonable rates and abundant supply,
resulted in the formation of the Columbia and Stanislaus River Water Company in
1855. For a brief period competition lowered rates, but the new miner-operated
company soon ran into financial problems and was sold; first to repay debts and
later resold to the same financiers who controlled the TCWC. Disgruntled miners
protested this perceived monopoly, which eventually led to the destruction of
ditches and flumes and personal threats against employees and officers of the
corporation. In 1858 many miners left Columbia after a boycott of the TCWC's
water did not succeed in lowering rates.
In the following decades the water company continued to expand, taking
over ditches, flumes and reservoirs and lakes constructed by other water and
fluming companies in the county, but as gold production declined, so too did
the population, resulting in less demand for water and less income for the
company. By the 1880s many ditches were in disrepair and dams and reservoirs
reflected a lack of maintenance. The demand for electricity resulted in the
company going into the hydroelectric field, but even this could not sustain the
fortunes of the company. By 1903 the remains of the company was being offered
for sale, valued at $500,000 with an impressive list of ditches, flumes, dams,
lakes and reservoirs all over the county.
Bibliography
A History of Tuolumne County California :
compiled from the most authentic records,
San Francisco: B. F.
Alley, 1882.
Buckbee, Edna Bryan,
The Rise and Fall of Columbis: The Saga of
Old Tuolumne,
New York: The Press of the
Pioneers1935.
Cassel, Bonita M.,
Columbia: A History of the "Gem of the
Southern Mines,"
Arroyo Grande, California: Bear Flag Books,
1995.
Davis-King, Shelley, et al,
Contextual History of Tuolumne County
Sonora: County of Tuolumne, 1994.
Eastman, Barbara,
John Wallace and the Tuolumne Water
Company
Sonora: Tuoloumne County Historical Society,
1970.
Scope and Content of Collection
The Tuolumne County Water Company (TCWC) Records consist of
approximately 10.8 cubic feet of materials dating between 1853-1909 and
document all aspects of the TCWC ’s business, with particular emphasis on the
company’s financial records. The water company was a large operation and an
intricate part of the economic and social life of the area for many years and
the documents reflect significant aspects of mining life. Time and wage books
and scrip receipts indicate the miners’ dependence on the company; purchase
invoices and correspondence detail the costs of constructing the massive flumes
and ditches, and shares and stock receipts indicate the relative wealth among
the company founders. Other documents indicate the location of specific mines,
the ethnic constitution of the townspeople, and the operations of other local
businesses. Some correspondence details the problems of the water system itself
and the “water war” which engulfed the area and its people with violence and
mistrust. The bulk of the collection consists of the financial records of the
company, including account books, water receipts for water purchases, and
checks and payroll documents.
Arrangement
The collection has been organized into the
following series:
Series I: Administrative Records, 1856-1908. .8 cu. ft.
Series
II: Legal Records, 1856-1886. .1 cu. ft.
Series III: Operational
Records, 1853-1909. .1 cu. ft.
Series IV: Financial Records, 1853-1907.
9.8 cu. ft.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Columbia (Calif.)
History.
Columbia and Stanislaus River
Water Co.
Columbia Main Gulch Fluming
Co.
Columbia State Historic Park
(Columbia, Calif.)--Archival resources.
Enterprise Water
Co.
Nil Desporandum Water
Co.
Northern Light Fluming
Co.
Tuolumne Co., Calif.
Tuolumne County Water
Co.
Tuolumne Redemption
Co.
Related Material
Additional materials relating to the Tuolumne County Water Company may
be found at the Tuolumne County Historical Society archives, the Bancroft
Library, and the Huntington Library.
307-1072/I/1-76
Administrative Records,
1856-1908.
Physical Description: .8 cu. ft.
Scope and Content Note
This series contains documents that deal with some
aspect of the administration of the Water Company. This includes business
correspondence, board elections, notices, reports, customer lists, contracts
and agreements, personnel, shares, stocks and dividends, liquidations, and
acquisitions. Under acquisitions is included companies bought up by the TCWC;
Columbia and Stanislaus River Water Co., Enterprise Water Co., Columbia Main
Gulch Fluming Co., Nil Desporandum Water Co., Tuolumne Redemption Co., and
Northern Light Fluming Co.
Box 1, Folders I/1-23
Stocks, shares and dividends
1856-1899
Box 1, Folder I/24
Book of shares (stubs), No. 511, No. 2
1854
Box 1, Folder I/25
Book of shares (stubs), No. 3
1854-1855
Box 1, Folder I/26
List of stockholders
1890
Box 1, Folder I/27
Trustees elections and minutes
1895-1905
Box 1, Folder I/28
Constitution and by-laws
1864
Box 1, Folder I/31
Personnel; job requests to TCWC
1889,1901
Box 1, Folder I/32
Trustees elections and minutes
1895-1905
Box 1, Folder I/36
Contract – proposals
1874-1901
Box 1, Folder I/37
Tuolumne Redemption Co. check book (oversize Box
16)
unknown date
Box 1, Folder I/38
Acquisitions: Northern Light Fluming Co.
1878-1879
Box 1, Folder I/39
Acquisitions: Northern Light Fluming Co.
1880-1883
Box 1, Folder I/40
Acquisitions: Northern Light Fluming Co.
1884-1899
Box 1, Folder I/41
Acquisitions: Northern Light Fluming Co – Taxes
1879-1897
Box 1, Folder I/42
Acquisitions: Columbia and Stanislaus River Water Co.
185(?)-1860
Box 1, Folder I/43
Acquisitions: Nil Desperandum Water Co.
1860
Box 1, Folder I/44
Acquisitions: Land (misc.) and acquisition
proposals
1860-1899
Box 1, Folder I/45
Acquisitions: Columbia Gulch Fluming Co.
1857-1865
Box 1, Folder I/46
Acquisitions: Columbia Gulch Fluming Co. – stock
certificates
1855
Box 1, Folder I/47
Acquisitions: Columbia Gulch Fluming Co. – stock
certificates
1856
Box 1, Folder I/48
Acquisitions: Related but not in this
collection
Box 1, Folders I/49-75
Correspondence
1857-1906 and undated
Box 1, Folder I/76
Correspondence: re – water wars
307-1072/II/1-14
Legal Records,
1858-1886
Physical Description: .1 cu. ft.
Scope and Content Note
This series contains documents associated with judicial
legal action and judgments.
Box 1, Folder II/1
Power of attorney: Lilley to Pownell
1858
Box 1, Folder II/2
Power of attorney: Lilley to Pownell
1871
Box 1, Folder II/3
Power of attorney: Hooker to Mills
1860
Box 1, Folder II/4
Table Mountain Tunnel Co. vs. S. N. Stranahan
1861
Box 1, Folder II/5
L. F. Carpenter Estate; probate, sale of TCWC
stock
1861
Box 1, Folder II/6
W. O. Sleeper proposal to TCWC
1864
Box 1, Folder II/7
Wage attachment on Labiershe (..the?)
1856
Box 1, Folder II/8
A. G. Wiedekend vs. TCWC: Appellants briefs, points and
authorities
1883-1886
Box 1, Folder II/9
Knight vs. Murray; wage attachment on Murray with
TCWC
1891
Box 1, Folder II/10
McCormick vs. Russell Case; Wage attachment
notice
1900
Box 1, Folder II/11
Rawhide Gold Mining Co. vs. TCWC; circuit court
1904
Box 1, Folder II/12
Settlement disbursement statement and
correspondence
1904
Box 1, Folder II/14
Related documents not in this collection
307-1072/III/1-5
Operational Records
1853-1909
Physical Description: .1 cu. ft.
Scope and Content Note
This series contains documents pertaining to the actual
maintenance of the equipment, facilities and grounds of the Water Company. This
would include ditches, reservoirs, flumes, lakes, cabins, offices, roads,
trails, hardware, tools and land. Also, maps, graphics, blue line drawings and
surveys of lands, ditches, flumes, etc.
Box 1, Folder III/1
Miscellaneous notes and letters
Box 1, Folder III/4
Report: Pole line survey
1904
Box 1, Folder III/5
Report: Measurement of power at Jumper Mine
1900
307-1072/IV/1-264
Financial Records
1853-1907
Physical Description: 9.8 cu. ft.
Scope and Content Note
This series contains documents pertaining to the actual
maintenance of the equipment, facilities and grounds of the Water Company. This
would include ditches, reservoirs, flumes, lakes, cabins, offices, roads,
trails, hardware, tools and land. Also, maps, graphics, blue line drawings and
surveys of lands, ditches, flumes, etc.
Box 2, Folders IV/1-123
Accounts payable
1853-1907 and undated
Box 3, Folder IV/124
Accounts payable: Promissory notes and
receipts
1890-1905
Box 3, Folder IV/125: Promissory notes and receipts
on Nicol loan
Accounts payable
1889-1896
Box 3, Folders IV/126-137
Box 4, Folder IV/138-140
Check stubs book; general
1895-1906
Box 4, Folders IV/141-152
Payroll: notes
1859-1895 and undated
Box 4, Folder IV/154
Payroll:: payroll ledgers/registers (oversize Box
17)
1891-1892
Box 4, Folder IV/155
Payroll: time worksheets
unknown date
Box 4, Folder IV/156
Payroll: scrip account book & cover
1856-1859
Box 4, Folder IV/157
Payroll: scrip stubs book (oversize Box 17)
1857
Box 4, Folder IV/158
Treasurer’s accounting
1864 & ?
Box 4, Folder IV/159
Audit statement for 1898-1901
1902
Box 4, Folder IV/160
General receipt book
1885-1891
Box 4, Folder IV/161
Columbia city taxes; receipts
1859-1872
Box 4, Folder IV/164
Taxes: Tuolumne County
1859-1884
Box 4, Folder IV/165
Taxes: Tuolumne County
1887-1898, 1905
Box 4, Folder IV/166
Accounts receivable: collectors ledgers
misc. dates
Box 4, Folder IV/167
Accounts receivable: collectors ledgers
misc. dates
Box 4, Folder IV/168
Accounts receivable: collectors ledgers
misc. dates
Box 4, Folder IV/169
Accounts receivable: misc. notes and statements
misc. dates
Box 4, Folder IV/170
Related financial documents, not in collection
Box 5, Folders IV/171-183
Collectors accounts books
1854-1859 and undated
Box 5, Folder IV/184
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no.
1
unknown date
Box 5, Folder IV/185
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no.
2
1856-1857
Box 5, Folder IV/186
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no.
3
1857-1858
Box 5, Folder IV/187
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no.
4
1858-1861
Box 5, Folder IV/188
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no.
5
1861-1864
Box 5, Folder IV/189
Accounts Receivable: Treasurer’s account bookAccounts
Receivable: Treasurer’s account book, no. 5
1865-1867
Box 5, Folder IV/190
Accounts Receivable: Collector’s reports (oversize Box
17)
1865
Box 5, Folder IV/191
Accounts Receivable: Collector’s report books
1867-1888
Box 6, Folder IV/192
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Pownall)
1856
Box 6, Folder IV/193
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Mandeville)
1856
Box 6, Folder IV/194
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Pownall)
1856
Box 6, Folder IV/195
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Bartlett)
1857
Box 6, Folder IV/196
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1857
Box 6, Folder IV/197
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1857
Box 6, Folder IV/198
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1857-1858
Box 6, Folder IV/199
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1857-1858
Box 6, Folder IV/200
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Lyons)
1858
Box 6, Folder IV/201
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Kendall)
1858
Box 6, Folder IV/202
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Clark)
1859
Box 6, Folder IV/203
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Clark)
1859
Box 6, Folder IV/204
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1859-1860
Box 6, Folder IV/205
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1860-1861
Box 6, Folder IV/206
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Lyons)
1861
Box 6, Folder IV/207
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Gibbs)
1863
Box 6, Folder IV/208
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1863-1864
Box 6, Folder IV/209
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1865
Box 6, Folder IV/210
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (O
Neill)
1866
Box 6, Folder IV/211
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1867
Box 6, Folder IV/212
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1861, 1867
Box 6, Folder IV/213
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Fairley)
1869-1870
Box 6, Folder IV/214
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1870-1871
Box 6, Folder IV/215
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Stewart)
1873
Box 6, Folder IV/216
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1878-1879
Box 6, Folder IV/217
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1878-1879
Box 7, Folder IV/218
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (O
Neill)
1888-1893
Box 7, Folder IV/219
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1895
Box 7, Folder IV/220
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/221
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Gurney)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/222
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/223
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Gurney)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/224
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/225
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/226
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/227
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/228
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Pope)
1903
Box 7, Folder IV/229
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Gurney)
1903-1904
Box 7, Folder IV/230
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Pope)
1903-1904
Box 7, Folder IV/231
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/232
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/233
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/234
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/235
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Gurney)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/236
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Pope)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/237
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/238
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/239
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/240
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Gurney)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/241
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/242
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Pope)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/243
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/244
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1904
Box 7, Folder IV/245
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Byrd)
1904-1905
Box 7, Folder IV/246
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904-1905
Box 7, Folder IV/247
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904-1905
Box 7, Folder IV/248
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1904-1905
Box 7, Folder IV/249
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book (Blair)
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/250
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/251
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Blair)
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/252
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/253
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/254
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/255
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1905
Box 7, Folder IV/256
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
(Pope)
1905
Box 8, Folder IV/257
Accounts Receivable: Water receipt stubs book
1855-1862
Box 9, Folder IV/258
Accounts Receivable: Water rent receipts
1863-1866
Box 10, Folder IV/259
Accounts Receivable: Water rent receipts
1867-1905 (Also unknown dates and blanks)
Box 11, Folder IV/260
Accounts Receivable: Collectors Receipts
1855-1875
Box 12, Folder IV/261
Accounts Receivable: Collectors account book
covers
Box 13, Folder IV/262
Accounts Payable: scrip
1856-1857
Box 13, Folder IV/263
Accounts Payable: scrip
1857
Box 13, Folder IV/264
Accounts Payable: scrip
1857-1863
