Reports on the Water Supply of San Francisco, California, 19reports on the Water Supply of San Francisco, California, 1900 to 1908, Inclusive 00 to 19

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 Excerpt: ...of this amount. Storage capacity of Lake Eleanor, with a dam raising the water surface fifty feet, would be about 15,500 million gallons. Storage capacity of Hetch Hetchy reservoir, with a dam 150 feet high, would be 35,000 million gallons. There is no question as to the sufficiency of the rainfall upon the tributary areas to supply these reservoirs the water required by the city, even though vested rights, such as those which may have been acquired by Turlock and Modesto Irrigation districts, be respected without question. The snow melts rapidly in the spring and early summer, nearly all within three to four months, generally April, May and June, and during this period of melting snow the river is always at a high stage, far exceeding any possible use by established canals and ditches. HETCH HETCHY AS A STORAGE SITE. The Hetch Hetchy Valley as a suitable site for storage has been fully reported upon in the Twenty-first annual Report of the United States Geological Survey, by Mr. J. P. Lippincott, who says: The valley proper is about three and one-half miles long and of a width varying from one-quarter to three-quarters of a mile. The rugged granite walls, crowned with domes, towers, spires and battlements seem to rise almost perpendicularly upon all sides to a height of 2500 feet above this beautiful emerald meadow. It was visited in May, when the snows on the glacier meadows on the higher altitudes were rapidly melting, and the river was bank full and overflowing the lower part of the valley. The water is here dammed up, owing to the narrow outlet between the high mountains of granite rock. Based upon a plane table sur...