That's BLM country.
The story misses the township withdrawals and upper Memaloose tunnel story. The water patrol officer lived on the highway side. The picture on the highway is where the house was. the foot bridge was up stream. The railroad passed 20' in front of the house. The speeder hauled people around til 1937.The equipment just drove across the river during low water. Trespassers and fisherman were discouraged. Water was chlorinated at site. The foundation of the chlorine shack is still there. A bunk house stood nearby. A jeep fits through the tunnels with pipe.
Yesterday when Zack, Rob and I were exploring the waterworks ruins, I think we found the bed springs from the bunkhouse Donovan mentioned. There was an area that appeared to have been used as the garbage dump for the long gone facility. I counted about six bed springs. There were quite a few other metal objects strewn in the dump area.
The other thing we noticed was a rock retaining wall where there seems to have been some sort of shed built against the hill. The shed may have been built to provide a roof over several valves that are located at the junction where the Memaloose Creek and High Falls intake pipes come together near the lower bridge. We hadn't noticed the rock wall before yesterday. We speculated that the 36 Pit Fire made the wall more visible by burning away the vegetation that had obscured the wall before.
Here's a link to the history of the company that we think provided the gabions that are located at the Memaloose Creek intake structure: http://www.maccaferri.com/us/enduring-history/
Here's a snippet from the web page:
1879-1910 – Origins: The Gabion’s Invention
On May 3, 1879 Raffaele Maccaferri established “Ditta Maccaferri Raffaele, Officina da Fabbro” in Lavino for the production of wrought iron items.
“Ditta Maccaferri” invented the famous “gabion” (1893) when carrying out works along the course of the River Reno at Casalecchio di Reno, in the area of Bologna. This invention paved the way for its transformation from a craft trade to an industrial enterprise, resulting in the expansion of the workshop.
The “sack” gabions were followed by the new box-shaped design (1907), which was used in many large public work projects: along the River Tiber, along the River Arno and in Sicily.