In the early 1910's, canalworks to cross the lavas to the west of the People's Canal included flumeworks of between one and three miles (reports vary). As you pass the Moreland turnoff on Highway 26 (going west), you'll come to a rock cut where the last section of the canal was blasted out. On the north side of the highway, a large cement check stands--probably moved from its original position.
To the north, the canal ran through the lavas, some say to Porterville where its water was diverted from the Peoples Canal. The canal ran 14' grade higher than the Peoples, enabling irrigation on thousands of acres of farmground. To the south, across Highway 26, you can walk along its length to where it emerged onto irrigable land.
Not far from the highway, the canal line splits, one leg heading south and this cut going west (its conceivable that the concrete weir on the other side of the highway was here, in order to switch water one way or the other). A ditch remains on the north side of the highway, just west of the cut, that might have come from this cut.
The lava being too porous to hold water, the canal builders constructed flumes of wood--350,000 board feet were required to complete the project. The Highline was in receivership in the early 1920's, so it may not have been operational just a few years later--though the West Side Irrigation Company petitioned to buy the canal and may have taken it over. Likely, local farmers salvaged the wood from the flumes, so very little remains as evidence for what must have been a remarkable endeavor in the time of horse-drawn machinery. You can read more about the Highline here: https://www.ralphthurston.com/post/early-flume-attempts-on-the-peoples-and-aberdeen-springfield-canals
I'll be investigating the rest of the canal's length to the north soon--if you are knowledgeable of the works, please share. It's a piece of history that will soon be lost.
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