The Placer herald., 1870-03-26
LAKE BIGLER AND SAN FRANCISCO
WATER COMPANY.

| nany eAcH a.terndte heclioH VI 'duu 'oi "
distance Of twenty miles on each side Of the
proposed line Of said ditch or water pipes
from point on Truckee liver to the bay OF
San Francisco. The waters Of the Lake
must necessarily be conveyed along or near
the line Of the Central Pacific ra road rs far
as Sacramento. The topography of the coun'
try will require this, indeed we believe the
plan is to use the North Fork Of the Ameri
can river as a channel TO convey the waters
of the lake through or along from the head
branch Of the same to point opposite Au-
hnrn, and The bed Of the stream is at no
p mt more than fcur mil from the ralIr'Sd
track on an air line from Auburn to its
source. The question here arises, what lands
does Coles bill grant to this new company 7
If it is the odd numbered .ec.ions, then
they have already been granted to the c
L. X company, or. at least, all but a
s'Iip Of about four miles wide. But if Coles
bill provides which is most likely, for
granting the even numbered sections, then
all he land in a belt forty miles wide, from
Sacramento to the Summit Of the Sierra
Nevada mountains will he granted to two
corporations. THIS would take all the land
in Placer, and nearly all that in Nevada
and FL Dorado counties. Sargent, when in
Congress in 1862, insisted on granting the
first half of these lands to the railroad com ;
pany and succeeded and now Cole wishes
to give the other half away. These are The
only mongrel representatives California has
in Congress- and just ses what land off
business they have been aud are doing. We
take it for granted that Cole is not bic
enough fool 10 try 10 grant the same land
away that Sargent aided in giving to the
railroad. and therefore must bave provided
in his bill for granting the even sections
When these two companies get all this land
the settlers have secured titles to scarcely
any ye',) then the people of these three
counties can choose between leaving this
portion Of the State, or becoming mere
hewers of wood or drawers of water during
their natural lives. We think they had bet
ter decide upon leaving, as the companies
would probably prefer to have Cinnamon
here to white men, as they would make
better ard more obedient slaves. Coles bill
means more even than granting the remain
der Of these lands and timber away. The
waters Of Lake Bigler are under the iurs-
diction Of two States, Nevada and California
and 1t may require the consent OF Congress
to give This California company the right to
appropriate the waters Of The lake wholly
to California purpose. Congress, under
the Constitution OF the United States has
| The sole power to regulate commerce among
the several States, and it may assume that
that power carries with it the right to
determine how and when the waters
wing in one Slate may be conveyed to
another for commercial purposes. 1t re-
qures no great stretch Of the imagination
20 see how this Congress should determine
that it has the right and power to provide
for taking water from Nevada and selling it
to the people Of California. Congress may say
this is purely regulating commerce be
tween the States, and who is TO prevent the
exercise Of this power by this Congress il
it chooses TO claim and enforce it, Taking
this view Of the matter, we think it is quite as
important for the Lake Bgler and San
Francisco Water company" to get the con-
sent Of Congress to appropriate the water
as to obtain the LAND grant, and as these
two hig birds can he both killed with the
same stone, we think Cole has provided for
both OF acts in his bill. The right to the
waters of Lake Big a couple Of million
scres Of land and ten million dollars Of gold
bonds from San Francisco are all 10 the
programme, and may he secured.
RAILROAD BKIpGE BuRNED About one
o'clock Thursday morning last the G. p h.
r. bridge over the American river al Sacra-
memo WAS discovered to be on fire and was