Max J. Bartell papers
Finding aid prepared by James Lake.
Special Collections & University Archives
The UCR Library
P.O. Box 5900
University of California
Riverside, California 92517-5900
Phone: 951-827-3233
Fax: 951-827-4673
Email: specialcollections@ucr.edu
URL: http://library.ucr.edu/libraries/special-collections-university-archives
© 1998
The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved.
Descriptive Summary
Title: Max J. Bartell papers
Date (inclusive): 1906-1962
Collection Number: WRCA 026
Creator:
Bartell, Max J., 1879-1968
Extent:
2.08 linear feet
(5 boxes)
Repository:
Rivera Library. Special Collections Department.
Abstract: The collection consists of materials from Max Bartell, an engineer responsible for multiple water development projects and
reports for the city of San Francisco in the early 20th century. Materials in the collection include correspondence, reports,
documents, news clippings, and photographs, concerning water supply sources for San Francisco, Calif., other California regions
and municipalities, the Tuolumne River, and the Hetch Hetchy Project.
Languages: The collection is in English.
Access
The collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the University of California, Riverside Libraries, Special Collections & University Archives.
Distribution or reproduction of materials protected by copyright beyond that allowed by fair use requires the written permission
of the copyright owners. To the extent other restrictions apply, permission for distribution or reproduction from the applicable
rights holder is also required. Responsibility for obtaining permissions, and for any use rests exclusively with the user.
Preferred Citation
[identification of item], [date if possible]. Max J. Bartell papers (WRCA 026). Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Special Collections & University Archives, University of California, Riverside.
Acquisition Information
Provenance unknown.
Processing History
Processed by Water Resources Collections & Archives staff, 1998.
Collection Number
Collection number updated December 2018. Legacy collection number was BARTELL. This change was part of a project in 2018/2019
to update the collection numbers for collections in the Water Resources Collections and Archives.
Biographical Note
Max J. Bartell was born in 1879. In July 1908 he was appointed Assistant Engineer with the City Engineer of San Francisco.
His early accomplishments included runoff investigations and reinforced concrete sewer design. He designed the Beale St. steel
bridge and began stream flow measurements on the Hetch Hetchy Project, a plan to deliver water to the City of San Francisco
from the Tuolumne River. He worked with Percy V. Long, City Attorney, John R. Freeman, consulting engineer, and M.M. O'Shaughnessy,
City Engineer, in conjunction with the project. He also investigated alternate water supplies for the city from the Mokelumne
River, the Stanislaus River, the McCloud River, and the San Joaquin River. In 1914 he was made Chief Hydraulic Engineer for
the city and investigated the total available water supply from the Alameda Creek system for the Spring Valley Water Company.
He also reported on the underground water supplies of the Livermore Valley, the Niles Cone of Alameda Creek, and the City
of San Francisco. He analyzed the Raker Act and its effects upon the water rights of the City and County of San Francisco
and served as an expert witness for the City Attorney in water rates cases regarding water productivity and value of water
productivity for rate making purposes. In his 41-year career he was responsible for many other projects and reports on San
Francisco's water development. He retired from city service in 1949 and died in April 1968 in San Francisco.
Collection Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, reports, documents, news clippings, and photographs, concerning water supply sources
for San Francisco, Calif., other California regions and municipalities, the Tuolumne River, and the Hetch Hetchy Project.
Collection Arrangement
The collection is arranged topically.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Subjects
Groundwater -- California -- Alameda Creek Watershed
Groundwater -- California -- Livermore Valley
Hetch Hetchy Reservoir (Calif.)
McCloud River (Calif.)
Mokelumne River (Calif.)
O'Shaughnessy Dam (Calif.)
Tuolumne River (Calif.)
Water-supply -- California -- San Francisco
Genres and Forms of Materials
Correspondence
Photographs
Reports
Box 1, Item 2
San Francisco water supply investigations : Mokelumne River sources as proposed by Sierra Blue Lakes Water Power Co. : possibilities
of this source in combination with Lake Eleanor
1912.
Box 1, Item 3
Report on the American-Cosumnes Project as a source of water supply for the City of San Francisco and adjoining communities
of the San Francisco Bay Region. San Francisco
1912
Box 1, Item 4
Report showing that the waters of the McCloud River cannot be diverted to the use of San Francisco and the Bay communities
owing to its present use by developed priorities in the Sacramento Valley
1912
Box 1, Item 5
Proposed San Francisco water supply cost estimates, McCloud River Project
1912
Box 1, Item 6
Report on underground water supply of Livermore Valley, California
1914
Box 2, Item 7
Report on the Golden Rock Ditch, Tuolumne River, California, its present use and capacity
1915
Box 2, Item 8
Report on water supply, Richmond Municipal Water District, Richmond, California
1916
Box 2, Item 9
Brief report on underground water supply of Livermore Valley
1926
Box 2, Item 10
Coyote Creek and its relation to the ground water of the Coyote Valley, Santa Clara County, California
1937.
Box 2, Item 11
Report on flood control for the Tuolumne River, California
1939
Physical Description:
2 v
Box 2, Item 12
Report on the underground water supply of San Francisco County : present yield--probable additional yield / prepared under
the direction of M.M. O'Shaughnessy by M.J. Bartell. San Francisco
1913
Physical Description:
157 p
General
Note: WRCA has another copy:G4794 D3-10
Box 3, Item 13
Population forecast for Northern California and the San Francisco Bay Region. San Francisco
1936
Physical Description:
1 v
Box 3, Item 14
Contract for delivery of water to Southern San Joaquin Municipal Utility District
1945
Box 3, Item 15
Digest of business, second regular meeting of the Peninsula Water Works Association
1928
Box 3, Item 16
A brief discussion of the earth pressures encountered in the coast range tunnels of the Hetch Hetchy Project
1931.
Box 3, Item 17
Tuolumne River Watershed : runoff estimate as of April 1 from combined precipitation and snow survey data
1945-1949.
Physical Description:
1 v
Box 3, Item 18
Cherry River Project, California
1941-1944
Physical Description:
5 pieces
Box 3, Item 19
Correspondence relating to water supply for San Francisco and peninsula.
1910-1932
Physical Description:
35 pieces
Box 3, Item 20
Measurement of wells, Niles Cone, copy of water level measurements, Alameda Sugar Company's wells, map of delta of Alameda
Creek showing location of wells. San Francisco
November 28, 1912 and January 6-13, 1913:
July 6 -December 31, 1912;
1913.
Physical Description:
4 pieces
Box 3, Item 21
Contents: Agreements, individual agency resolutions and memoranda on the conservation of the waters of the Tuolumne River
and cooperation in the operation of reservoirs and releases of water on the river.
1933-1943
Physical Description:
30 pieces
Box 3, Item 22
Investigation of Lake Eleanor rating curve and recalculation of natural flow from the Eleanor Creek Watershed tributary to
Lake Eleanor Dam
1940
Box 4, Item 23
Peninsula water supply. Newspaper clippings, statements and documents on Peninsula water supply.
1929-1930.
Physical Description:
2 v
Box 4, Item 24
Reports, articles, diagrams and photos on Hetch Hetchy Dam construction.
1921
Physical Description:
1 v
Box 4, Item 25
Coast range geology: geologic map and section to accompany a preliminary report on the general geology along the proposed
line of the Hetch-Hetchy water system
1912
Physical Description:
2 maps
Scope and Contents
Folder includes photograph
Box 4, Item 26
Relation of runoff to precipitation and method of estimating runoff from accumulated part season precipitation for - Sierra
Nevada Mountains, California
1946
Physical Description:
1 v
Box 4, Item 26.1
Relation of runoff to precipitation and method of estimating runoff from accumulated part season precipitation for - Sierra
Nevada Mountains, California
1948
Physical Description:
1 v
Box 5, Item 27
Study of Tuolumne River Watershed : to establish natural flow at LaGrange with existing reservoirs and to determine quantity
available for San Francisco, 1918-1933
1933-1934
Physical Description:
1 portfolio.
Scope and Contents
Contents: Hetch Hetchy water supply, general -- Folder A. Critical study of natural flow at La Grange; A description of the
procedure in determining the methods of estimating the annual quantities from 1896 through 1917; Summary of study of Tuolumne
River Watershed -- Folder B. Hydrographs of the actual and natural stream flow of the Tuolumne River at La Grange showing
effect of San Francisco's reservoirs and Don Pedro Reservoir -- Folder C. Draft studies of San Francisco's Tuolumne River
Watershed, in accordance with provisions of the Raker Act -- Folder D. Additional water available to San Francisco determined
on the basis of historical use by the irrigation districts -- Folder E. Water put to storage by San Francisco in Lake Eleanor
and Hetch Hetchy reservoirs, 1918-1934 -- Folder F. Water put to storage by San Francisco in Lake Eleanor and Hetch Hetchy
reservoirs in excess of the computed quantity available to San Francisco -- Folder G. Use by San Francisco for the development
of power of stored water released from Lake Eleanor and Hetch Hetchy reservoirs, 1918-1934 -- Folder H. Historical quantities
of water put to storage and released from storage in the Turlock and Modesto Irrigation Districts' foothill reservoirs (Owen
and Dallas-Warner) -- Folder J. Historical use by the Turlock, Modesto and Waterford Irrigation Districts of the Tuolumne
River inflow to Don Pedro Reservoir.
