Excelsior Ditch

A series of ditches and flumes built in 1859 to tap water from the South Yuba River providing high pressure water for hydraulic mining operations down river. The head dam was more than two miles upstream and ran all the way to what is now the dam at Lake Wildwood, then by the China Ditch to the Smartsville mining district, 15 miles west of Grass Valley. It is a gold country gem and part of the South Yuba River State Park.