Osceola Ditch
Encyclopedia
The Osceola Ditch, also known as the East Ditch, was built in 1889-1890 to convey water from Lehman Creek, Nevada
Nevada
Nevada is a state in the western, mountain west, and southwestern regions of the United States. With an area of and a population of about 2.7 million, it is the 7th-largest and 35th-most populous state. Over two-thirds of Nevada's people live in the Las Vegas metropolitan area, which contains its...

 to a hydraulic mine
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...

 operation at Osceola. Extending for 18 mi (29 km), the ditch includes a 600 ft (182.9 m) tunnel as well as wooden flume
Flume
A flume is an open artificial water channel, in the form of a gravity chute, that leads water from a diversion dam or weir completely aside a natural flow. Often, the flume is an elevated box structure that follows the natural contours of the land. These have been extensively used in hydraulic...

s. The project also includes a rock dam and headgate on Stella Lake. The ditch's terminus at Osceola, Nevada
Osceola, Nevada
Osceola, Nevada, is a ghost town in the eastern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The town was a placer camp devoted to mining gold. Gold was first discovered in 1872, followed by exploitation of the deposits using hydraulic mining techniques. Two ditches, the Osceola West Ditch and the Osceola...

 became disused during the early 1900s and was destroyed entirely by a fire in the 1940s. Much of the East Ditch is included within Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park
Great Basin National Park is a United States National Park established in 1986, located in east-central Nevada near the Utah border. The park derives its name from the Great Basin, the dry and mountainous region between the Sierra Nevada and the Wasatch Mountains. Topographically, this area is...

.

Osceola Mine

Gold
Gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 was first discovered by James Matteson and Frank Heck in 1872 in what would become the Osceola mining district, 3 mi (4.8 km) to the west of what would become Great Basin National Park. Placer gold was discovered by John Versan in 1877. The town of Osceola grew to 1500 residents, extracting almost $2 million in gold, including a 24 lb (10.9 kg) nugget
Gold nugget
A gold nugget is a naturally occurring piece of native gold. Watercourses often concentrate and grow the nuggets. Nuggets are recovered by placer mining, but they are also found in residual deposits where the gold-bearing veins or lodes are weathered...

. Gold was found in nearby Dry Gulch, but its extraction would require large scale engineering. The Osceola Gravel Mining Company formed to exploit the deposit using hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining
Hydraulic mining, or hydraulicking, is a form of mining that uses high-pressure jets of water to dislodge rock material or move sediment. In the placer mining of gold or tin, the resulting water-sediment slurry is directed through sluice boxes to remove the gold.-Precursor - ground...

 techniques, constructing the West Ditch in 1884-1885. The water proved to be inadequate for the purpose, so the East Ditch was surveyed in 1885. Water rights were purchased from Absalom Lehman, discoverer of Lehman Caves.

The ditches

The project was built to serve the Osceola Gravel Mining Company's placer
Placer
Placer may refer to one of the following:*Placer deposit*Placer sheep*Placer mining*Placer, rugby league football role.Geographical names:* Placer, Masbate, Philippines* Placer, Surigao del Norte, Philippines...

 gold mine, which required enormous quantities of water to blast apart gold-bearing gravel and rubble deposits, and was capable of delivering 2500 miner's inches of water. A companion project, the West Ditch could provide 1100 miner's inches. The East ditch was built at a cost of $108,222.65, with a width of 4 feet (1.2 m) at the bottom, 2.5 ft (0.762 m) in width with a uniform grade of 14 ft (4.3 m) per mile (1.6km). The ditch could carry 40000000 US gal (151,416,480 l) per day. The East Ditch included 14 sections of wood flume, including 3768 ft (1,148.5 m) in Lehman Canyon. Flumes were 4 ft (1.2 m) wide and 4 ft (1.2 m) deep, with a uniform grade of 32 ft (9.8 m) per mile (1.6 km).

Accessory structures included four ditch keepers' houses. Extensive improvements were made to the mining area, including expansion of the receiving reservoir, new sluices, and two 8 in (20.3 cm) hydraulic monitors. Despite all of these measures, there was never enough water available for the mining operation to reach its full potential. Operations had to be curtailed in 1894 and again in 1896. After eleven years, the Osceola Mine shut down for good. An abortive 1906 plan to organize a new company, the Nevada Amalgamated Mines and Power Company, with plans for reduction works, a power plant, three towns and a railroad spur, never reached fruition.

The West Ditch predated the East Ditch, extending 16 mi (25.7 km) to the west side of the Snake Range
Snake Range
The Snake Range is a line of high mountains in eastern White Pine County, in east-central Nevada in the western United States. Typical of other ranges in the Basin and Range Province, it runs in a north-south direction, in this case for approximately...

. It is not included in the historic district designation. Little remains of the West Ditch. The East Ditch was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

in 1996. The East Ditch no longer carries water and is overgrown, but sections of flume remain. The tunnel at Strawberry Creek has partially collapsed. Little remains of Osceola itself.

External links

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