Farmers have been using water from the Stanislaus River since the Gold Rush, when water was diverted to small farms and vegetable gardens on homesteads. As the number of claimants on the river grew, farmers recognized they had to work together in order to effectively distribute the water. One of the first irrigation cooperatives formed on the Stanislaus River was formed by the Tulloch family in 1858, who built a diversion dam to supply farms in the area around Knight's Ferry. The Stanislaus and San Joaquin Water Company, formed by H.W. Cowell and N.S. Harrold in 1895, improved on this system, building of canals along the north side of the Stanislaus River and supplying water to some in Manteca and Oakdale.