The District’s Water Rights on Clear Lake
It may seem strange that Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District retains the right to water from Clear Lake. This water has been used to irrigate land in Yolo County for over a hundred years, but why? The answer begins in 1854 when James Moore of the Moore Ditch Company used water from Cache Creek for irrigation in Yolo County. Moore acquired his holdings and his presumed water rights from William Gordon, a naturalized Mexican citizen who owned a land grant from California’s Mexican period. James Moore constructed three miles of irrigation canals in Yolo County, formed the Moore Ditch Company, and claimed the water rights on Cache Creek. In those days, one could stake a claim over water rights, similar to staking a claim for mining rights; after all, it was the wild west! Over the years the Moore family fiercely protected their right to the water in Cache Creek, and either purchased competing irrigation companies and absorbed their canals or successfully litigated against them.
The controversy over the rights to water from Clear Lake had been going on since at least 1871 when another interested party, the Cacheville Ditch Company, filed suit contesting Moore’s claim. The case was eventually appealed to the California Supreme Court where Moore’s rights were upheld. The claim was further secured in 1873 with the passing of the Appropriation Law, which was originally designed to settle disputes between miners. This law declared that the party that first files for the water rights maintains those rights.
These valuable water rights have changed hands over the years: the Moore family, after holding them for some 50 years, sold to the Yolo Water and Power Company. In 1912 the Yolo Water and Power Company applied to the State for appropriation of water from Cache Creek. After the company proved that the water was available and that it would be put to beneficial use, the State of California granted the appropriation which remains in effect as long as the rights are properly exercised, and their use is continued.
Later, in 1927, the Clear Lake Water Company (located in Yolo County) purchased the Yolo Water and Power Company, and finally in 1967 the rights were purchased by the current holder, the Yolo County Flood Control & Water Conservation District.