Cuyamaca Water Company

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The Cuyamaca Water Company (CWC) was around from 1910-1926. The company was run by part owner and manager Ed Fletcher. The company was started when Fletcher and another investor bought the Cuyamaca dam and the San Diego Flume for $125,000 which created the Cuyamaca Water Company. Fletcher took over to try and turn the business around and make it profitable. At the same time he was using the CWC as a tool to increase the profits of his real estate business. Fletcher did this by raising the cost of water in areas that he owned. He increased the profits of both his real estate business and the CWC. Fletcher made the connection between water and it’s importance to farming. The CWC provided water to a large farming community that stretched from the San Diego City Limits to the El Cajon valley. Owning the lands of the farming communities and the CWC increased profits of the companies. The CWC and the Railway commission had many disputes over the prices that the CWC wanted to charge their customers. When the company was bought all outstanding contracts went to the CWC. The CWC was to uphold the prices that were in place, but by the time that sales were finalized the prices had dropped. An appeal was made to the Railway Commission to raise prices, but it was denied because the CWC was declared a public utility by the Railway Commission. The Railway Commission then wanted the San Diego Flume redone in concrete. Fletcher proposed that the flume be redone in a roofing material. The roofing material was approved and it cost $45,000. The material kept the flume running for another 20 years and increased profits and the efficiency of the flume. From 1915-1923 sales had increased greatly due to the refurbishing of the flume. After the relining of the flume the CWC built two reservoirs near the downstream terminus of the flume. One was the Grossmont reservoir which was built in 1913 and the other was the Murray Dam which replaced the La Mesa Dam. In 1914 the CWC began to sell water to the city of San Diego. At the same time a complaint was filed by the irrigators that they were getting poor water supply because the CWC was diverting water to the city. The CWC had a dual structure rate which determined how much the customers would pay by their land size. In 1917 the Railway Commission made the CWC disband the dual rate structure because of complaints by the customers and irrigators. In 1920 in a case that was upheld by both the Railway Commission and the US Supreme Court prices were raised. Increased sales to the city interested the CWC due to the fact that they purchased by the amount of water used and not by the land size. In 1926 Fletcher advertised for land in Maryland Heights which he guaranteed would get good water supply. In 1926 Fletcher sold the Cuyamaca system for $1.2 million to the San Diego irrigation district.

Information from San Diego Journal of History by Theodore Strathman

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