Columbia weekly news., 1859-02-24

Mc1fuE ns, ItafTtnaIs. J"Hv. dnu Nuileu q.
Williams of the Boston Livery StaI',s; and
there are hundreds of others wl'a NJ Mis- time
| cannot refer to- but some .dtu,c Occa siu,l
will publish their names.
must not omit :" mrnt N on. firm in
Columbia, to whom the C"nl my nitoost owe
their very existence. allude to that of Dom
nell and Parsons, whose services extend back
to the year 1856. when they entered into a
contract to supply the hands employed OF
the work with the necessary supplies to carry
them on, and that at time when we had no
credit any where else. In our settlement with
that firm in May 1858, we were indebted to
them, to the amount of $1,000, for goods
purchased from them. and for which it was
agreed to pay cash, but owing to long train
Of accidents-or to use California expression
"a continued streak of bad luck, our income
has never been sufficient to meet our expenses !;
and it is to this firm, that we have been com.
peled to fly to in our extremity, and they
never refused to help US. At one time. when
our works had began to assume an appearance
Of substantially, we thought that we could
raise money from the capitalists ut San Fran-
cisco; as we were badly in want of it to carry
on the work. We therefore sent ]. A. Jack
son ESQ.,, to San Francisco, to raise funds on
our own individual responsibility, but none
could be thus obtained and as it was abso-
lutely necessary to have some, we tried every
body whom we thought had any. Among the
rest to Mr.. Dearing of Jacksonville, but all to
no purpose as not dollar could we get.
When as usua! we applied in our extremity
to Donnell and Parsons, and asked them If
| they could do anything for us, they said they
would try. Mr.. Parsons went to San Fran,
cisco. among his friends, who were willing to
| let him have the money, provided. that he
could get himself secured, in his rights. The
| company for that purpose, made out lease,
on the most just and fair condition, MT ex
pectlng tha, it would take more than two or
three months to repay the loan, but the water
failing earlier than usual, and an unusual
number of accidents to the ditch occurring,
| rendered the revenue so small, that instead Of
two or three, nine months have elapsed and
still we are unable to pay those gentlemen ;
those were some of the unavoidable
causes which led to the leasing of the ditch.
and with respect to the tax title which these
gentlemen hold, and in consequence of which
there is considerable hard feeling. | will en-.
plainly as ! can. 1t was not expected tha.
the tax would have had to have been paid.
till October, there was consequently no pro-
| vision made to meet it, there being no water,
no income, the treasury exhausted and money
so scarce that none could be had. we could
not devise any plan to "a 50 the sum. We APP
piled to the Sheriff, and asked him to grant
US little indulgence, as to time. but he re-
piled that it was impossible for him TO do it,
We then tried to raise the money from Mr..
Marvine Of Springfield then of Mr.. Knapp,
who said that ne could not DO it, but referred
us TO Harry Smith. with the like result We
next applied TO Mr.. Columbus Walker, bu, to
no purpose. Mr.. Davis, of 8. F., wrote
! to Mr.. Dorsey of Sonora. his attorney, stating
that he would furnish the money for him, Mr..
Dorsey,) to buy the property in his own name.
But thought that it would be more satisfac.
tory for all parties, that the works should in
the event Of their being sold, be kept in the
again Donnell and Parsons came forward and
helped Us out of our difficulties. There has
been nothing wrong in the conduct Of these
gentlemen, they had no motive in their actions
other than those Of friendly character to-
wards the Company. They are and always
have been staunch good friends in every sense
of the word.
The worthy Chairman next referred to the
object of the meeting, to endeavour to induce
the heaviest Of the creditors to reduce tho rate
of interest on their notes. AS it were impos-
sibIe to complete the works and to pay any
portion Of the debts of the Company. with the
present enormous amount of interest, but if a
reduction should be made, every creditor, will
receive every dollar due to them, our stock will
rise in value, and we shall bs enabled to furn.
sh an abundant supply of water to the miners
Of Tuolumne County. butif not, he feared to
contemplate the consequences, that will be
sure to accrue,
At the conclusion, the speaker was heartily
applauded.
Mr.. Fletcher, the Superintendent,
handed in the following Report Of the
works of the Company, which was read
by the Secretary:
CoLrNHs. 2l,t February, 1859.
To the Stockholders and Creditors u the Columbia and
S,tnislau: Ri,yr Water C1n,pd~y:
Ggx1EEMES-I deem it due to your interest. TO lay
before YOU for your information, the following state
ynent of the condition of the ditch and its branchss
1t s probably known 10 most of you, that the
fumes upon the upper limo, in an unfinished con-
iitiou-the completion of which cannot be done with
ont the OUTLAY OF a considerable sum-and it is only
BY thus completing them, that you realize the
full benefits of full supply of water, and be enabl ed
to guidae any of the Indebtedness which weighs 30
heavily the operations Of the Company
The following are tho chief works that require
your consideration
Tha frat four mill from q on lin
riy er will require but small outlay for lumber, and
labor batten and caulk it. when it will be in good
running condition. Then follows eleven and a half
miles, which will require an additional side plank
both Sides OF 20 inches wide, which will require
about forty thousand feet of lumber fer mile to COM
plete--being nearly five hundred thousand feet.
The most economical plan to obtain such lumber,
would be to build mill at suitable and
venient point on the lne either at Cow creek, Mill
creek Min creek presenting the advantages of having
the logs more convenient and abundance of feed FOR
teams tegetber with better supply of water to run
the MILL and being at the terminus OF team transpor
ton
The cash outlay for building such mill would be
necessary would not exceed 600 dollars and the saw.
ing the lumber ought not to cost more than twelve
dollars per thousand and if the contract were let to
build such mill and to vrnish the lumber the total
cost would exceed thirteen dollars per thousand
the mill 10 become the property of the Company, upon
the completion of the contract The whole cost OF
lumber nd MILL say $500; or in other words, the
probable cost of finishing the aume will DO about $500
per mile.
t II ~.