Fortunately, I happen to have a copy of Mary Eloise Sifford Thomas’ unpublished memoir, My Girlhood on the Ranch. She wrote this back in 1974 at the urging of family members. She was born on the family ranch on November 20, 1892, the oldest five. The Tom Sifford Ranch was in the vicinity of the intersection of Main Street and Johnstonville Road. She noted at the time of her birth, the family lived two miles from Susanville.
Anyhow, from her memoir, it is the only account about this water wheel. Mary wrote: “I will have to tell about our water wheel. It was in the branch of the Susan River that ran through our ranch, half-way between our place and Winchester’s. We loved the old water wheel. It turned a big drum with a heavy belt on it. It carried small galvanized buckets that dumped water into a wooden trough and it ran out into a ditch to irrigate the alfalfa. We used to take little picnic lunches out there and sit and watch the wheel turn.”