CALIFORNIA GOLD RUSH – ATTRACTIVE TUOLUMNE COUNTY WATER COMPANY STOCK. Stock certificate, 6 x 9 ½, black on onion skin paper. Appears to be 1860. Large attractive scene on left featuring miners, and more importantly the water for sluicing operations. Incorporated 1852, the company was a supplier of water for mining and sluicing operations near Yosemite. Tuolumne County is one of the original counties of California, created in 1850 at the time of statehood. After the first discovery of gold in Tuolumne County at Woods Creek near present day Jamestown in the summer of 1848, camps sprang up throughout the foothills. A steady supply of water was searched for in various areas near the major rivers, resulting in diverting and transporting water primarily for mining purposes. The first water company incorporated in 1852 was named Tuolumne County Water Company. It started in Columbia and tapped water from the South Fork of the Stanislaus River. A competing company, Columbia and Stanislaus River Company, was formed in 1854, tapping water from the Main Fork of the Stanislaus River. The CSRWC was formed because the miners were being charged exorbitantly high rates for water usage by the TCWC. The Tuolumne County Water Company built a series of three dams between 1853 and 1856 along the South Fork Stanislaus River, the lowest turned Strawberry Flat into Lake Edna, the second created Lake Eleanor, and lastly Lake Gertrude. A very attractive stock; clean cut cancelled, light fold lines, overall Fine condition. Thank you for your interest in the item. All merchandise is unconditionally guaranteed as to originality and description.