Fred and Lisa Dolling have returned from vacationing in Oregon where they visited friends. They went to Eagle Lake where they helped judge the Fourth of July parade. They went to Klamath Lake and did water aerobics and went to a bar-b-que. When they got home they babysat three grandchildren!
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At the meeting of the Knights Ferry History and Museum Associates Ron Duke and Scott Duval presented what they wish to do in the Mother Lode area and asked if they could use the Miller’s Hall address for their work. The group decided no.
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The tortoise has been found! Sharon Page had to go Castro Valley to a reptile rescue where the tortoise had been sent. It is now home enjoying his companion.
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A history of water in the Ferry: In 1855 the Dent brothers planned a water project to bring water to the miners and the town. They built a timber dam six miles upstream on the Stanislaus River and dug a canal until the canyon walls narrowed. Then they had to build a flume and hang it on the wall on the canyon. William Gable drilled holes into the solid rock for the iron rods that would support the flume. They ran out of money. In 1856 Abraham Schell then financed the project and secured water rights. The ditch brought water to Knights Ferry and a flume ran behind where the school is now and kept going for miners until it ran into the river again. The town water was gravity fed to a pond, then to lines laid in the streets. Mr. Schell bought the pond and installed an open cement reservoir (where the upper ball courts are now at the school). Lee Shearer tells of cleaning grit and shells from the plumbing. In 1969, the Health Department ordered something done to protect the public’s health. Knights Ferry formed the Community Services District. In 1970 LAFCo approved the water district boundaries. Ground was broken for the filtration plant in 1972. By 1973 the plant was running and the town had clean water.
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There was another burglary on Horseshoe Road in the daytime. Keep a sharp eye out for strangers or anyone seeming to be looking at a place.
