Waterford Irr. Dist. v. Modesto Irr. Dist.

[EDITORS' NOTE: THIS PAGE CONTAINS HEADNOTES. HEADNOTES ARE NOT AN OFFICIAL PRODUCT OF THE COURT, THEREFORE THEY ARE NOT DISPLAYED.] *Page 546 This is an appeal from a judgment in favor of defendants and respondents, Modesto Irrigation District and Turlock Irrigation District, and against plaintiff and appellant Waterford Irrigation District. The action is one for damages for breach of contract arising from the failure of the defendants to pay the rental for the privilege of using the water right hereinafter referred to. The Sierra and San Francisco Power Company was the owner of a water right to 66 second-feet of the flow of the Tuolumne River, known as the La Grange ditch water right, it being subject only to an obligation of the power company to divert up to 6 second-feet for a prior use for certain mining and municipal purposes. The power company was also the owner of the La Grange dam and power-house, and the system of diversion through the La Grange ditch was so constructed that the 66 second-feet referred to could be diverted above the dam and carried to a point above the *Page 547 power-house, where it could be dropped through the powerhouse for the purpose of generating…