Home > California > Folsom > Natomas Ditch System, Rhodes Ditch, West of Bidwell Street, north of U.S. Highway 50, Folsom, Sacramento County, CA
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Item Title
Natomas Ditch System, Rhodes Ditch, West of Bidwell Street, north of U.S. Highway 50, Folsom, Sacramento County, CA
Locationnorth of U.S. Highway 50,
Folsom, CA
Find maps of Folsom, CA
Created/Published
Documentation compiled after 1968.
Notes
Survey number HAER CA-144-B
Unprocessed field note material exists for this structure (N395).
Significance: The Rhodes Branch Ditch was one segment of the much larger Natomas Ditch System. Together they played an important role in the development of mining and agriculture in the Folsom area, which is a significant part of the history of California. While mining and agriculture have been two of the major economic mainstays of California's economy, it was and is water, transported to these industries, that allowed these enterprises to prosper. As one of the earliest and longest lasting commercially successful water conveyance systems in the western United States, the Natomas Ditch and its branches encompass a historic period extending from 1852 through the 1940's. Sections of this system still remain intact, with enough original integrity to allow documentation of large portions of this water system. These portions of the Natomas Ditch System have the potential to be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP). The ditch system was determined to be eligible for inclusion in the NRHP under Criterion A as a discontinguous district. In 1993, the State Office of Historic Preservation concluded that this water system meets the requirements to be eligible for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places, under Criterion A as a discontiguous district at the local level. Based on documentation and other pertinent information that has been researched since then, it is our belief that this system meets these same requirements for state level of significance.
Collection
Historic American Engineering Record (Library of Congress)
Contents
Photograph caption(s):
1. WET SPOT NEAR NORTH PROJECT BOUNDARY, WHERE RHODES DITCH RECEIVES WATER FROM A NATURAL DRAINAGE. VIEW TO SOUTH.
2. DITCH NEAR NORTH PROJECT BOUNDARY. VIEW TO SOUTHEAST.
3. ROLLING LANDSCAPE, CATTLE, AND RHODES DITCH IN FOREGROUND. VIEW TO SOUTHWEST.
4. LINEAR SECTION OF DITCH ALONG FENCELINE. VIEW TO EAST.
5. TIGHT S-SHAPED CURVES ALONG CONTOUR LINE. VIEW TO SOUTHEAST.
6. RHODES DITCH NEAR BIDWELL STREET AT NORTHEAST PART OF PROJECT. VIEW TO NORTH.
7. SHARP CURVES IN RHODES DITCH NEAR NORTHEAST PART OF PROJECT. VIEW TO SOUTHEAST.
8. RHODES DITCH: VIEW TO SOUTHEAST, SHOWING SHARP 'U' CONTOURED ABOVE SWALE. DITCH IS ALSO VISIBLE IN DISTANCE, RUNNING HORIZONTALLY ACROSS PHOTO, ON FAR HILLSIDE.
9. SHARP ANGLE IN DITCH. VIEW TO NORTHWEST.
10. SINUOUS EARTH BERMS ALONG CONTOUR LINE. VIEW TO NORTHWEST.
11. OVERVIEW OF CENTRAL PROJECT AREA, LOOKING SOUTHWEST TOWARD U.S. HIGHWAY 50.
12. OVERVIEW TO WEST. RHODES DITCH RUNS ACROSS PHOTO TO THIS SIDE OF SCATTERED OAKS IN DISTANCE.
13. OVERVIEW TO EAST-NORTHEAST ACROSS VALLEY CONTAINING RHODES DITCH.
14. CUT THROUGH SLATY ROCKS, LOOKING NORTHEAST TO EL DORADO HILLS.
15. ROCK CORE BERM AT ANGLE OF DITCH. U.S. HIGHWAY 50 IN BACKGROUND.
16. RHODES DITCH, UPPER LEFT TO LOWER RIGHT, AT JUNCTION WITH PRAIRIE CITY DITCH, HEADING TO UPPER RIGHT. VIEW TO SOUTH.
17. PRAIRIE CITY DITCH, NEAR ITS JUNCTION WITH RHODES DITCH, CUT THROUGH SLATY BEDROCK. VIEW TO NORTHEAST.
18. SOUTH BRANCH, PRAIRIE CITY DITCH, RUNNING SOUTHWEST UNDER FENCE, TOWARD US HWY. 50 IN DISTANCE.
19. SHARP 'V' IN NORTH BRANCH PRAIRIE CITY DITCH. VIEW TO NORTHWEST.
20. VIEW TO SOUTHEAST ALONG NORTH BRANCH, PRAIRIE CITY DITCH, TOWARD SHARP 'V' OF VIEW 18.
21. LOOKING EAST ALONG NORTH BRANCH PRAIRIE CITY DITCH TO POINT (AT WIRE ROLL) WHERE IT IS CUT BY A ROCK WALL. DITCH IS ALSO VISIBLE RUNNING ALONG BASE OF KNOLL IN DISTANCE, BELOW AND TO RIGHT OF DEAD TREE.
22. NORTH BRANCH, PRAIRIE CITY DITCH, CONTOURING AROUND SIDE OF KNOLL. DITCH LIES BETWEEN OAK TREE AND POINTED ROCKS, AND EXITS PHOTOGRAPH AT LOWER RIGHT CORNER. VIEW TO NORTHEAST.
23. TERMINUS, NORTH BRANCH PRAIRIE CITY DITCH. DITCH COMES FROM ISOLATED GROUP OF TREES IN MIDDLE DISTANCE, AND ENDS AT CENTER RIGHT. WATER THEN PROCEEDED DOWN SWALE, INTO TREES AT LEFT. VIEW TO NORTH.
24. LOOKING SOUTHEAST UP A GULLY DEEPENED BY TERMINAL WATER FROM NORTH BRANCH, PRAIRIE CITY DITCH.
25. FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA, 15 MINUTE QUADRANGLE. 1941. Scale 1:62,500. United States Geological Survey.
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