Oroville daily Butte record., 1857-11-03
A Permanent EIume.

AT two or three different periods since
Feather River was first discovered to be
gold stream, the project has been mooted Of
damming the main river at q point near GAR
riotts sawmill, with view of turning it
from its course toward what seems to be the
location of its ancient bed, the depression
that occurs Immediately below the Bluff
which bounds Oroville On its south eastern
and southern side. Heretofore, although
the project has met with favor in the eyes of
practical miners, yet il has been looked upon
as an undertaking of too great magnitude to
be attempted by any other than capitalists
of immense means, and not by them until
labor had become cheaper and more availa-
BILE than even now.
But the idea has been suggested to US that
this scheme could be as successfully taken in
hand at once by our own river miners. with
assurance of as sure and speedy accomplish
ment as can the more general and far more
precarious tiuming operations designed for
and indeed only capable of lasting through
a very brief and uncertain period. Our
reasons for entertaining these opinions, are
based upon estimates made by shrewd prac-
tical men who have counted the cost of the
matter, and surveyed it with practiced eyes
through all its positions and bearings.
1t has been suggested. that the three or
four hundred thousand dollars which have
been expended in preparing the river in va
rious places for mining this present season,
would have been on abundance of money
with which to have built permanent stone
dam, entirely across the river, high and
strong enough to check the river during it's
highest stages, and turn it completely from
its present bed, over strip of country that
is now and will for years be comparatively
valueless beside that which would be rem
dered workable, and so rendered not for
capricious season, but for century if ne
oessary.
Theories and schemes have been frequently
propounded having for their object the per-
manence Of Oroville, but none seem to bear
50 palpably the presage of success as this
Turn the river as has been proposed even
at cost Of quadruple the above estimate,
and an area of gold bearing lands FIVE or six
miles in miles in extent unsurpassed in rich
ness, would invite the presence of mining
population Of thousands.
But the advantages that would arise from
such an enterprise are too evident to need
any arguments in their favor at our hands
Its feasibility is what we more particularly
desire to impress upOn those who could by
taking an active and earnest part in it en-
sure its ultimate consummatlon. Let those
who are always ready and anxious to risk
money and labor IN the hazardous fascina-
tions Of river mining, unite I'll cir capital and
influence upon this undertaking, and then
when the clouds gather dark in the early au-
tumn months, and the rain begins to patter
down, threatening o sudden rising of the
river, they can feel an assurance that all
the result Of their seasons labor and anxiety
is not to be swept away in a moment and
lost to them forever. We commend this pro-
ject to the careful consideration of those
who are in doubt how to best invest their
time and money for the advancement of their
own interests and those of Orovile.