Butte record., 1855-10-20
.reatter River = opl,ir Water Company"

! OA CI llt WI NJ Vi bAi'o NDti4 lAhy'
under the above caption, singles two of
the company, (who possibly are Kye
Ewes, or, perhaps, understand the game
of ante, and in the hif4luting manner
Tor which that paper is noted, beslob-
bers them with adulation, and piles Pc
lion upon Ossa, until, we suppose, the
superintendent and contractor Of the
company not only consider themselves
created in the Image of Omnipotenee,
but that their power, for the construction
of water bitches, exceeds that Of the
great Creator of the universe. The
fable Of the yeuonous toad tnd)avoring
to make an OK Of himself, is brought t.
mind by reading the HeFad's article.
/ We expect these patfed, lauded, beslab-
I bered, aad extoled gentlemen, now fan
cy themselves able to invade th. King
dem Of Heaven, husl the 0mni2eieut
from his throne, tip the river Jordoa,
run q water ditch into hi, TAME majes-
! TVS kingdom, and extinguish the CID
Chaps fire works. Redemption for the
great f.mily Of Nan would tHus be c
comr.i~Aed, not by tn grace Of God
and the second advent of Christ; but BY
the power and the glory Of A. ? Viii
iams and j L 3Icacham Speaking Of
one Of the fumes Of this canal. the Edi-
tor iglfalates thus:
~ man to behold the spot, would say that
nothing but 0innipotent Power could make 4
+ canal ever such chasm. Yet MIR iIeaciam
did it with human power; and 10 him and his
energy must be given ali the praise
I This fame was designed and executed
by Sir. Cutshcw, an excellent and in
genious mechanic, and If the spPerin~
tendent and contrarior who had nothing
to do with its erection further than ta
employ Mr.. Cutshcw, viii permit, we
will bestow the credit upon him, the ar
chitcct and the builder.
4 $ we have no desire 10 detract from
the jnst praise Of any one, and think
that Mr. Meacham has performed his
contract faithfully and promptly, We
have no objection to offer to this des-
crip:ion Of praise; but should suppose
that such nonsense Was better calculated
to Please the fancy of fools, than to be
rel Shed by sensible men. IF Mr.. IL
does not SO regard it, then we have
formed wrong estimate Of that gen
tleman's character and good sense. We
make one more extract relative to Mr..
Meacham, fer the purpose of correcting
a wrong impression which it conveys:
''It is but Justice to Mr.. Meacham to state
that the Directors OF the Canal Company were
so delighted with the work of Mr.. Meacham,
that they voted him an extra allowance on his
contract, Of several thousand dollars"
The facts are simply tbesc-Thore
was misunderstanding about a certain
piece Of fume at the time tha contract
was let, Mr. Meacham understanding the
hight to be thirty feet, when it was
eighty. Mr. bleecham erected the fume
eighty feet high, and asked the compa-
ny to pay him 81 900 extra for it. They
voted him $4,000 This error occurred
through the Superintendent, who, it IS
said, is a scientific engineer, and expo
riences no difficulty in running straight
lines on level ground Mr.. Meacham ex-
ecuted his contract, BY the aid of China.
men, Irishmen and the blessing of Prov
idence, promptly, and, we believe, as
promptly received his pay. We would
detract nothing from Mr. Meacham, but
dislike to see humbug written upon eve
rything.
There are several important errors in
the Herald's account Of the getting up
Of this company, which as it dcpriyes
Butte county of all honor and participa-
ton in the matter, we t ko the liberty
ofcorrecting, in order thai honor may be
given "to whom honor S DUE Here
is The Herald's version of it
"a survey Of this immense work was made
about three years since ~ MIR 4 & Williams
the present cosuty treasurer Of Yuba county
lie believed It TO be feasible to construct a ca
nal along the line Of the present canal so as
to convey the waters Of South Feather River
to tHe rich mining country in and near The
present towns Of Ophir and Lvnchburg lie
la5ored asslduouslJ ior two years, to induce
cap.taEsts &c take hold of the matter and push
the works through HIS lahors in this res
pect were all in vain. Those who felt disposed
to invest money in stock Of this description.
alter examining the country over which the
work would have t. Dc constructed. prouounc-
ei II 4aPract cGJie and denounced the under
taxing as c5imer.cgl This did not however.
aisheAr;en Mr. Williams He continued his
efTJrts and finally succeeded, in the latter
part Of the year 1854. or early in the year
ls3o' TO enlist one or two gentlemen-men Of
captll-in the undertaking Books were
opened for subscription Of stock. the carital
being fixed at 500 500, in shares Of 500
each. In short time the capital was all sub
scrlb5d, priacipaly by Naryayille men and.
IL eofuary lo33, the first meeting Of the