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Amador County lies between the Cosumnes river on the north, and the Mokelumne river on the south. Two streams originating in the Sierra Nevada mountains, flow westerly, gradually diverging from each other creating a triangle shape with its apex in the mountains and the base towards the San Joaquin Valley.
AMADOR and IONE CANALS
*During the early settlement of the Amador County, the major industries were gold mining, timber, and cattle raising. These early settlers, in order to obtain water for domestic, municipal and agricultural uses, diverted from the various water sources which were close to the respective places of use. As use of water increased, greater demand was put on this limited supply. In order to supplement this supply, water was diverted from Panther, Tiger, Mill and Antelope Creeks through an open ditch named the McFadden Ditch. This water was carried down the north side of the Mokelumne River to a point about a mile and a half east of Pine Grove. In order to get the water to Pine Grove to serve the mining operation and domestic uses, an aqueduct was built across the saddle (hence the name Aqueduct Hill).
The water was also used for various purposes in an around Volcano. Subsequently, the water eventually found its way into Sutter Creek along with the water of the south branch of Sutter, Pioneer, Ashland and Golden Gate creeks, and also water that was derived from the various mining tunnels. Further downstream the water was again diverted for the uses mentioned in and around the town of Sutter Creek. Water power by virtue of water wheels was also used at the Sutter Creek foundry. Just below the town of Sutter Creek water was again diverted around the hill to serve Amador City. As return water accrued into Sutter Creek, the water was once again put to beneficial use in and around Ione, which was mostly for domestic and agricultural uses.
It should be noted that during this time, numerous ditches and canals were being built by the miners to retain the water which would allow them to operate a little longer during the dry season. As more and more of these diversions were made, less and less water got to the lower users, therefore these settlers and miners were in dire need of water for domestic use and water to mill the gold.
 To obtain additional waters, certain interested parties decided to build a ditch extending to the Rancheria Creek area from Bear River which would also divert waters from Beaver Creek, East and West Panther Creek, Tiger Creek, Mill Creek, Ashland Creek and Antelope Creek crossing Antelope Ridge just about Inspiration Point in Pioneer. To complete this project the ditch was started from both ends and constructed on the same principle as the transcontinental railroad. The builders of the ditch found that when they came to connecting it, the ditch from the low country was considerably higher than that of its head at the source. Therefore the project was abandoned, although some water was diverted through this ditch and emptied into the Ashland Creek watershed.
During these early years there was considerable virgin timber in and around the present PG&E ‘s Tiger Creek Powerhouse. A group of lumbermen decided they would try to log this area with the idea of floating the logs down the Mokelumne River. The logs were assembled on the landing dock next the river. When enough logs were obtained, they were released down the river which proved to be unsuccessful as all of the logs were ground to match stick size due to the large boulders in the river. When this portion of the venture failed, they decided to build a saw mill. With the lumber a canal was built below the McFadden Ditch with the idea of floating the lumber down the canal. This ditch, subsequently, became know as the Lower Standard Canal. The lumber was then floated down the canal and retrieved near the present day Tabeau Reservoir. This water could then serve miners along the south fork Jackson Creek and on downstream. With the advent of electric power and failure of the logging operation, the Standard Canal was purchased by the Western Electric Power Company which agency built the first powerhouse on the Mokelumne River know as Electra Powerhouse.
Due to the increased demand for power in subsequent years, the Upper Standard Canal was built and water was diverted a half mile upstream from the present PG&E Tiger Creek Powerhouse. The Upper Standard Canal followed the same course as the earlier canal but remained at a higher elevation. This water was subsequently released into Tabeaud Reservoir or could be released into the Amador Canal. With the greater amount of water, another powerhouse was built upstream from the first Electra Powerhouse and the original powerhouse abandoned. The water that was diverted through the Amador Canal was now high enough to bring the water around and down what is call the Ridge Route and stored at Tanner Reservoir to be released for municipal use in Jackson, Sutter Creek and Amador City.
 The major user of water in Sutter Creek was the Sutter Creek Foundry which happened to have some interest in this water and thereby installed a steel penstock from Tanner Reservoir to their foundry where the water was used to power an electric generator, water wheels, grindstones, lathes, etc. This was also done by small Pelton Wheels; the water was then released into Sutter Creek.
Below the town there was another canal which took the water to a point about 2 ½ miles east of Ione. This water was then released and used in the Buena Vista area in Jackson Valley. The town of Ione picked up the surplus water that came down the creek and it was stored in the old Ione Reservoir for municipal use (now abandoned). Near the Ione diversion was another canal which took the water around the north ridge and dumped water into Mule Creek for domestic and mining purposes at Mule Town.
It should be remembered that the development of all of these ditches and canals extended from a period of time from 1850 until the turn of the century.
When the State of California decided to build a reformatory for boys, a Senator from this district exerted his influence to put the school at Ione. Due to the mode of transportation at that time, advance notices of the time to inspect the prospective site was know well in advance, therefore the Senator in cahoots with local residents had a dam built upstream from Ione. Henceand the State representatives selected Ione as a home for the Preston School of Industry because of the availability of water. When the water was no longer needed in Jackson Valley, the Ione citizens decided to extend the canal an additional 2 ½ miles to serve as their municipal supply, thus eliminating their original point of diversion on Sutter Creek. Thus, the Ione Canal came into existence, which is actually an extension of the Amador Canal.
When Preston School was constructed, they had to acquire a right to divert water from Sutter Creek. This water was transported through the then existing Mule Creek diversion ditch and thence this water was acquired for riparian owners and Preston School, but when the upstream miners started contaminating the water with cyanide, other sources of supply had to be acquired. The Preston School piped water from spring near Sunnybrook for their domestic supply. At the same time and for the same reason, Ione abandoned their diversions on Sutter Creek.
 The Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) finally abandoned the Upper and Lower Standard Canals in lieu of a tunnel extending from Tiger Creek after bay to the new West Point powerhouse, thence by tunnel to Tabeaud Reservoir. A new penstock was built and the third and present day Electra Powerhouse was constructed. As the portal of the tunnel into Tabeaud Reservoir is lower than the Amador Canal, water now has to be pumped to serve this canal. The Amador Canal serves municipal water to Amador City, Ione, Jackson and Sutter Creek, and various ranches along its meandering way through the historical gold country of the Mother Lode.
Amador Canal & Mining Company
**Amador County lies between the Cosumnes River on the north, and the Mokelumne River on the south. These two streams rise close to each other in the lofty Sierra Nevada mountains, and flowing westerly in deep gorges, gradually diverge from each other, so that where they cross the well-known “great mother lode” they are about 17 miles apart, hence this eastern half of the county having the shape of a triangle, with its apex in the mountains, and its base towards the San Joaquin Valley. The space thus enclosed is a mountain region with no large streams.
Both rivers mentioned rise respectively 30 and 50 miles east of the great lode, in a high snow region, from 10,000 to 12,000 feet above the sea. Jackson Creek, Sutter Creek, Amador Creek, Dry Creek and Indian creek are within 16 miles east of the lode, but none of them penetrate the loftier mountains, and while supplying considerable water during the rainy winter months, they, like so many of the foothill streams in California, dwindle down very rapidly in the early summer and afford no permanent supply. The snow which falls within their respective basins is soon dissipated and when the rivers are fullest, they are nearly dry.
This very region which is so poorly supplied with running streams, though enjoying abundant winder rains, is also a locality where the demand for water is imperative. It was the scene of some of the earliest gold mining done in California. Wherever water could be taken, it was taken, but there was not enough of it. The gulches were washed in wet seasons, but the gravel hills were inaccessible.
It was not long before attention was called to quartz veins, and an immense belt of gold bearing rock, since known as the Mother Lode, ascertained to stretch across the country from north to south. As early as 1851, a quartz mill was built on Amador Creek, and as the placer gulches became exhausted, more and more attention was directed to the quartz mines. This industry gained constant strength, although but slowly, for want of knowledge, until in 1866 we find along the line of the Mother Lode the following mills:
The Plymouth, the Loyal, the Seaton, the Potosi, the Spring Hill, the Keystone, the Eureka, the Lincoln, the Wildman, the Badger, the Mahoney, the Oneida, Kearsings, the Coney, the Marlette, the Hazard, the Bunker Hill.
Several of these mills were only in operation during winter being entirely dependent on the amount of local rainfall, and the remainder had absorbed all the available permanent water on the lode for steam and battery purposes. This one fact produced a lull in mining activity, reducing the number of stamps in operation.
Knowledge of these facts, which speak for themselves, suggested the construction of the Amador Canal, and after great difficulties, the waters of the Mokelumne River was distributed to the lode in 1874. A new impetus was given to the mining industry, and in 1878 510 stamps were employed on 22 mines, an increase of 50%. New mines were constructed, all supplied with water from the Canal Company.
To distribute this water to the mills, the company has built, or come into possession by purchase of canals and ditches making a total length under the entire control of the Company of 94 miles. As incidental to these works, the Company has purchased 90 acres of land at the New York Reservoir, 200 acres at the distributing reservoir at Sutter Creek, and 80 acres of valuable deep gravel lying below the main canal and about two miles above Sutter Creek. The gravel claim was purchased to utilize any surplus water which the Company might have from time to time.
Amador Lumber Company
The depletion of the local supplies of timber of all kinds, and the facilities offered by the completion of the works of the Amador Canal and Mining Company, for floating logs and lumber from the high sierras, led to the organization of the Amador Lumber Company in October of 1876.
As described when speaking of the water supply, the mines along the Mother Lode lie well down in the foot-hills, so that they are a long way below the heavy timber-belt of the higher mountains. During the last 20 years, the heavy demand made by the mining industry, has nearly exhausted the readily accessible timber, so that the nearest saw mill is 18 miles from Sutter Creek. Several others range from 20 to 25 miles. These mills being in the snow belt, only produce lumber during the summer months, and all consumers or both lumber and mining timbers, were compelled to lay in heavy stocks for winter use, on account of the difficulty, uncertainty and cost of hauling during the rainy season.
If these difficulties could be overcome, it was evident that there was a large profit in the business, and of this opportunity the Amador Lumber Company availed itself.
 On the 10th of October, 1876 it leased from the Amador Canal and Mining Company, the exclusive privilege for 50 years of floating through the canal, mining timbers, lumber, lagging and firewood, in consideration for which it transferred to the canal company 12, 500 shares, or one fourth of its capital stock, and undertook such repairs and alterations as might become necessary through the use of the canal for such purposes.
The lumber company also undertook the construction of such permanent improvements along the line of the canal as were necessary to make it available for the purposes contemplated such improvements to be the property of the canal company, but their cost to be reimbursed by the latter in tolls.
This contract secured to the lumber company the following important privileges, which if rightly used, shut off all competitors:
The ability to run the mill all year round, as all the works are below the snow line.
The ability to run by free water (from the canal company) instead of steam.
The ability to deliver the product of the mills at two dollars per thousand, for freightage or tolls, as opposed to ten dollars paid to teams for hauling from the mountain mills to the mines.
The ability to compete with the San Francisco or other markets for first-class sugar pine lumber.
The power to promptly supply any class of lumber required.
The power to avoid accumulations of stock in the yard of unsalable dimensions.
Under provisions of the contract active operations were commenced. To straighten and shorten the line of canal, the Harmon Flume, eighteen hundred feet long and sixty feet in extreme heights, and the flume at the New York Ranch, were built as also the V-flume and tramway at Clinton, at a total cost of about $11, 000. For this sum the canal company is liable in tolls, less the tolls of the past year.
Sutter and Amador Water Works
These works were a natural outgrowth of the canal, having a profitable source of income. Both are supplied with a thorough towns system of pipes from two to six inches in diameter, supplying water under a heavy pressure in both localities, being a great protection against fires as well as an immense convenience to the inhabitants.
1985 Purchase of Amador Water System
Ione Transmission Line
Amador Transmission Line
Plymouth Transmission Line
Central Amador Water Project (CAWP)
1975 Drought
La Mel Heights Subdivision
Lake Camanche
Wastewater
*Excerpts from a memorandum dated January 28, 1966 from LeRoy E. Mace, State Water Rights Board, titled “Local History and Development of the Amador Canal in Amador County.
**Excerpts “Report of Consolidated Amador Canal and Mining Company, Amador Lumber Company, Sutter and Amador Water Works”. Richard H. Stretch, Mining Expert and Civil Engineer for Amador Canal and Mining Company, 1879
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