Mission Dam Flume Replica - San Diego, CA
Posted by: Metro2
N 32° 49.210 W 117° 03.388
11S E 494714 N 3631352
The original flume carried water from the nearby Mission Dam to the Mission San Diego de Alcala a few miles away.
Waymark Code: WMHFW1
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 07/06/2013
Views: 2
There is a small dam in the San Diego River which is a narrow river as it flows here through Mission Trails Regional Park. This replica is on the balcony of the Visitors Center. The Spanish Missionaries had the local Kumeyaay Indians build the flume 5 1/2 miles down Mission Gorge to the San Diego Mission. The flume carried only about 60 gallons of water per minute.
A California Historical Marker at the site of the dam (
visit link) reads:
"MISSION DAM AND FLUME
AFTER MANY ATTEMPTS DATING BACK TO 1774 TO PROVIDE
A RELIABLE SOURCE OF WATER FOR CROPS AND LIVE-
STOCK FOR MISSION SAN DIEGO DE ALCALA, A DAM
AND FLUME SYSTEM WAS FINISHED BETWEEN 1813 AND
1816 BY INDIAN LABORERS AND FRANCISCAN MISSION-
ARIES TO DIVERT WATERS OF THE SAN DIEGO RIVER FOR
A DISTANCE OF 6 MILES. THE AQUEDUCT SYSTEM CON-
TINUED IN EXISTENCE UNTIL 1831 WHEN CONSTANT FLODDING
CAUSED THE DAM AND FLUME TO FALL INTO DISREPAIR.
THEY WERE NOT REPAIRED DUE TO THE SECULARIZATION OF
THE MISSIONS.
CALIFORNIA REGISTERED HISTORICAL LANDMARK NO.52"