The Tuolumne River rises on the eastern side of California among the highest crests of the Sierras and for five or six miles flows through a meadow, but during the next twenty miles drops 3000 feet, in which distance some of the falls in the river are beautiful and picturesque. Next it flows for about two miles through Hetch-Hetchy Valley, then becomes a rushing mountain torrent for twenty miles more, and finally empties into the San Joaquin River in Stanislaus County, almost directly east of the southern end of San Francisco Bay. Lake Eleanor and Cherry Valley are northwest of Hetch-Hetchy. Lake Eleanor, distant about eight miles, is approximately 1000 feet higher than Hetch-Hetchy. Cherry Valley is distant about twelve miles and is approximately 1000 feet higher than Eleanor. Cherry Valley has tributary to it 114 square miles of territory, all in the Stanislaus National Park. Lake Eleanor and the seventy-nine square miles tributary to it are entirely in the Yosemite National Park. The outlets of Cherry Valley and of Lake Eleanor empty into the Tuolumne River several miles nearer the San Joaquin than Hetch-Hetchy. (2) A report of the State Geologist of California in 1879 suggested Hetch-Hetchy Valley and Lake Eleanor as possible sources of water supply for the city of San Francisco. In 1883 a corporation was formed to supply water to San Francisco from the sources of the Tuolumne River. Filings were made and considerable work put in. In 1901 the City Engineer was directed to examine the available sources of water supply for San Francisco. He investigated fourteen different sources and under suggestion of the reclamation service spent about $50,000 in detailed investigation of the sources of the Tuolumne, with a view to utilization at Hetch-Hetchy and Lake Eleanor. That was before the section was taken into the Yosemite National Park in 1905. The city engineer made his report in 1901 when James D. Phelan was Mayor. This report was immediately approved by the Board of Public Works and since then has been the settled municipal policy of San Francisco so far as water is concerned. This report recommended the Tuolumne River in the following words: “This source presents the following unrivalled advantages: Absolute purity by reason of the unhabitable character of the entire watershed tributary to the reservoirs and largely within a forest reservation. Abundance far beyond possible future demands for all purposes. Largest and most numerous sites for storage; freedom from complication of water rights; power possibilities outside the reservation. “It has the drawback of distance to overcome, requiring the constructing of conduits aggregating 142 miles in length. But considering the partial and rapid rate of pollution to which all other sources may in the future be subjected, particularly nearby sources, the Tuolumne River is far superior to any other.”