Donna Howell, a native of Auburn and Placer County Historian, has contributed her research for this publication about the PG&E in its early days. Donna has published many articles, taught classes on Placer County History at Sierra College and has presented her program on the History of Placer County to many Civic groups. She gives a short, concise history of the Company as it relates to Placer County and Drum Division.
Note: While working on the Historic Resources Inventory in 1989-90, I was privileged to be given access to PG&E files in order to document their holdings in Placer County. I found it a fascinating story and one worth passing on to the public. D. Howell.
The idea of harnessing the water of Bear River dates from the 1870's. But it took the right people and the right times to put it together.
First was the demand for water for washing gold. Fordyce Dam was begun in 1873 as the main storage reservoir for the South Yuba Canal Company. The site was chosen because of the narrow gorge and broad meadow up stream to store the water. In this meadow were three ranches. One was owned by Justus Fordyce who had already built a ditch and had begun to control water on a small scale.
Upon trying to complete the dam in 1874, several problems arose. The dam, built of rock with an outlet pipe and sliding gate, reached a height of 20 feet and leaked badly. Local dirt did not have enough clay to seal the rock face of the dam. Resources were limited.
Enter John Spaulding. Spaulding came by steamer from Canton, N. Y. in 1853. He did some gold mining near Oroville and was aware of the water storage in relation to gold panning and started building ditches in that area. He went on to drive stage for the California Stage Co. from Nevada City to Sacramento and from Folsom to Dutch Flat from 1856 to 1862. Then he drove for Wells Fargo from Placerville to Virginia City and three years later was in charge of Wells Fargo operations between Sacramento and the Comstock in Nevada. The completion of the Central Pacific railroad ended his position in 1868.
Spaulding’s friend, Alvinza Hayward, employed him at his Polar Star and Southern Cross mines. Hearing of the problems at Fordyce, Hayward loaned Spaulding to the project so he could use his knowledge of water control. Spaulding took charge of the dam construction and re-organized and enlarged the whole operation. Rock from nearby quarries was brought to the dam by train and the rails left in the dam at different levels for reinforcement.
By 1875, there were 145 men working on the dam and by seasons end there was 65 feet of water behind the dam. The next few years, Hayward ran into financial problems and dry years. In the summer of 1877, Warner Van Norden of New York, (later to become President of the National Bank of North America), a friend of Hayward’s, came to look over his property and help with financing. As a result, in 1880, the South Yuba Water and Mining Company bought the South Yuba Canal Company and the Nevada Hydraulic Mining Company and Spaulding headed the new organizations. By 1882, the dam reached 96 feet, the largest dam in California at that time.
Meadow Lake, ( due north of Fordyce Lake) the former site of Summit City, drains into Fordyce. This town had a population of 4,000 during the gold rush. In the fall of 1866, a heavy snowstorm panicked the residents (the memory of the Donner Party was fresh on their minds) and they left without their possessions, even leaving bread baking in the oven. Most never returned.
Lake Fordyce was also the site of the first long distance telephone. In 1878, two years after Bell got his patent, the South Yuba Canal Company strung wires along 184 miles of its waterways to their headquarters.