Records of the Cuyamaca Water Company, formerly the San Diego Flume Company, which was owned and operated by Colonel Ed Fletcher and Montana businessman James A. Murray from June 1, 1910, until its sale to the La Mesa, Lemon Grove and Spring Valley Irrigation District on January 4, 1926. The Cuyamaca Water Company Records contain typescripts of reports; water rights contracts transferred from the San Diego Flume Company; technical drawings of flumes, siphons, pumping stations, concrete pipes, and forebays; and maps of flume routes, dam locations, proposed dam locations, subdivisions, and the watershed of the San Diego River. A substantial number of the reports relate to the El Capitan Dam and Reservoir Project and the legal controversy surrounding that project. The strength of this collection, however, lies in the maps and technical drawings series, which cartographically documents the growth of the water company. The subdivision maps evidence the growth of the eastern central portion of San Diego as it developed from an agricultural province to a burgeoning residential area. This collection reflects material that was primarily generated and employed by the managers and engineers in the field, and is complemented by the material in the Fletcher Family Papers (MSS 81), which document the administration of the Cuyamaca Water Company.

On June 1, 1910, Colonel Ed Fletcher and Montana businessman James A. Murray purchased the San Diego Flume Company for $150,000, renaming it the Cuyamaca Water Company. The initial purchase transferred all water rights and properties owned and managed by the San Diego Flume Company to the Cuyamaca Water Company, including the Cuyamaca Reservoir and Dam, the Diverting Dam, Eucalyptus Reservoir, La Mesa Reservoir (later renamed Murray Reservoir), and the thirty-six mile Cuyamaca flume line, which ran parallel just east and south of the San Diego River from the Diverting Dam, located on the San Diego River just below the junction of the Boulder Creek, to the Eucalyptus Reservoir, located near present day La Mesa.

36 Linear feet (6 archive boxes, 26 oversized folders)

Publication rights are held by the creator of the collection.