Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-02-28
THE DAILY RECORD UNION.
THE DEBRIS QUESTION.

Messrs. Chairmen and JOINT Committee: The au-
thorship of this bill has been justly attributed to
nae. and whatever provisions, whether OF good or
bad, it contains, must be held responsible for It, II
is new subject Of legislation and it would be sur
prising il should have succeeded in drawing bill
of thirty sections end one involving SO much inter
est as this does, that would require no amendments
or that would not be open to amendment and sub
jected perhaps to unjust criticism. have not been
entirely disappointed in the criticism that 1t has re-
ceived, except that in my opinion no one hiss at
pont and that the bill stands to day far it did
the day it was introduced. None Of its provisions
have been shown according 10 my judgment, to he
vicious in cha acter loosely drawn, and propose
tonight viii permission OF the committee, to fol
low the arguments of the gentlemen who have OPP
posed the bill and shall do so in the order IN which
they have addressed the committee But before
doing this desire to lay down some premises to
start from.
FIRST, Is THERE ANY NECESSITY FOR LEGIs-
LATIoN UPON THIS SUBJECT?
II there Is any necessity for legislation does this
bill provide far the remedy requiredY In order TO
arrive at the first proposition we have to deal with
the state Of the section Of country 70 which it Is III
tended 70 he appl abe. IL Is well known to the
Joint committee aud all those present that the
lolg-cJHtn ed process OF mining and more lecently
the process OF hydraulic mining, has to great
tent filed up river chanaels and if continued,
without nie,remedy techeck the 7ow OF the debris
the valley, 1t threatens destruction to very aI re
portion Of this state For the last six years this
question has been agitated. Bills have been il 70
duced to event hydraulic mining. Committees
have been appointed u take testimony and have re-
ported. An eus ineering corps was Organized BY the
Legislature two years ago. for the purpose Of deter
mining, FIR t. to what extent mining debris had
filled our rivers to what extent it had encIoached
upon our agricultural lands and finally, to deter
mine whether there was any mode known 10 engIn-
eering skill whereby the debris could be arrested
before reaching the valley, and the miners be per-
mitted to p oceed with their mining, and without
inhicting injury upon the agricultural lands.
That Commission or Board consists or
Mr.. Hail. Young man of acknowledged ability, who
has been for the last several years engaged in ngn-
eering in the san joaquin valley, with view to,
trolling water for irrigating purposes. Added 10
that Board was the late General Alexander, the head
of the Engineer Corps of the United States Engineer
Department, and Colonel Mendell of the same corps,
two gentlemen distinguished III their profession and
men Of long experience in this kind OF eng neering
They were given 100000 to spend in the nvestiga-
ton OF the condition of the mines, the condition of
the rivers and to report the probable results if the
debris not arrested, and ii possible, to suggest
some remedy. They have SO reported. They have
reported the amount of material that has been
washed into the streams; the amount that has
reached the valley; the amount that still remains
in the rivers to come down, aud with the CONCLUSION
thai if it is not arrested before it reaches the valleys
that there is sufficient amount in drivers now TO
utterly destroy the river channels from the base oil
the hills to below the city OF Sacramento. They
have reported that 1t will be the inevitable result
the Feather neX, and the Sacramento last, must be
filled up with heavy material that now rests in the
upper rivers and these rivers be turned from their
channels and past the possibility Of ever being
restored again. They have said as their conclusion
that this material be arrested in the mountains
successfully that the danger that threatens the
valley be ayerted but am not here to substan-
tate their conclusions accept their conclusions,
aud upon them base this bill for this legislation.
That there must be legislation if you accept their
conclusions there can be no doubt, and the next
question is whether the bill before you for consider
alton meets the wants required. There have been
some suggestions made that reflect not so much
upon what was the bill upon the source from
whence it came. IL has been intimated by one OF
the attorneys who addressed you here before that it
was suspicious TACT that swamp land owner and
the miners had agreed upon this bIll-that 1t was
introduced by a big hydraulic miner. 1t
is not that | care so much for the criti-
csm myself, but to set the question
right who introduced the bill. desire to state
that / am the entire author OF the BILL without any
consultation with any miner or swamp land owner;
that the bid was handed to Mr.. Brown, who repre-
sents the county of Iuba with the request thai he
would introduce it and give me as the author if he
desired / have known SIR Brown for over twenty
years and bis business and according to my reColec
ton ne never Owned a hydraulic mine and does not
now. He is business man aud has direct in
terest in hydraulic mining. merely state that for
Mr.. Brown. bad no consultation until after the
bill proposed, since VIII tine il has been crit
icsed by quite number of different persons but
valuable had bsen the result OF consultation be-
tween the parties mentioned. do not know that it
necessarily must be bad legislation because the
parties most interested suggested it. We know
that miners are threatened with suits of
law and engaged i'll suits OF law that decided
against them must prove fatal to their interests
We know that if the mining continues without
some action tat those who hold and valley
land must be injured, and don't know OF any one
more proper to suggest legislation than they them
selves of course subject to the criticism of the leg
islatiVe body. But l propose to consider the bill
with view to the interest the parties have in Its
favor and the interest the parties have in opposing
it, before get through, but when | come TO the
gentleman who made these illusions will try and
show the interest that he has in its defeat The first
, gentleman WAC spoke against the bill was Mr. o.
from, from Yuba county He merely announced
that he opposed to the bill without giving any
why he was opposed to It, or at least not one
reason that think worth while to reply to. Mr..
Brown, OF Sacramento, followed rim he took the
bill from the wrong standpoint He misnterpreted
the intention of the bill. He took the bill upon the
ground that it only for the reclamation Of
swamp lands, and based his argument almost en-
tirey upon the supp1sition that the bill was framed
to reclaim swamp lands. He reviewed in eXtenso
the history and failures Of attempts to reclaim
swamp lands in this State. IL was not the inten-
ton OF This bill to touch swamp lands. II made
for the controlling OF the debris. Incidentally to
this comes the deepening of the rivers, the pro-
lection OF cities, the protection of valley
lands, the protection OF sw mp lands, from
tile laCJ tnels the engineers nave Salu lnaL you
cannot hands, the question of debris without CON
trolling the water; that the water is the motive
power that transports the debris from the noun
tains to the valley, and therefore You must handle
and control the water. If you control the waters
you must necessarily improve rivers aud protect
lands and citizens that in danger. So this
was entirely incidental to the bill, and not
the direct object Of it. Il s argument fails, so far
applying to the bill, almost entirely, because he
made point against the bill that it was defect
i've for the purpose for which it intended. He
undertook 10 prove that it was impossible to reclaim
the swamp lands Suppose 1t was; suppose that we
only control and check the mIterial that threatens
our valley, and that We do not succeediD retaining
the swamp lands then the bill is success for the
purpose for which it was intended
WHAT THE ENGINEERS REPORT.
The engineers report is based upon the theory of
controlling the water, and in controlling the water
they control the debris, and they give some
ditions and tell why that must be done. They say
that there is more than 40 000, 900 cubic yards
of material in the upper rivers, and that when it
reaches the valley it viii submerge thousands OF
acres of land; that it will drive the rivers from
their channels, and they never can be restored to
their chanuels and that this result is inevitable I'M
less thing is done. That is the que ton try
ing to meet. They have represented b that the
grade in the rivers was Increasing in such ratio
that at the very first hood-clntiuuous hood-that
much of this damage must accrue or in other
words, that Feather river liable To be gorged
with heavy material from its junction with the Yuba
river 10 tne mouth, where IL n1tercepts bne sac
mento river. That when once gorged with this
heavy material it would be impossible to re-
store it, and it would be driven into broad
plain of lowlands, where it would never find
a proper channel again in century. These
some of the dangers that they show, and
it IS plain to every nan this is the condition; That
the banks OF these streams higher than the
land back from them, and when they are filled bank
fun the water win leave the present channel, and
| cannot tell you, gentlemen OF this committee what
the inevitable result viii be unless this legislative
body takes some action and [ don't know that this
is just the bill, but within less than five years
Feather river VII leave its channel, and the SacFa
mento will lsaveits channel and that between here
and Davisvils viii be delta Of debris aud water
that the channel viii 5esshed with heavy material
that is now IN the mountains that power can
move it, except BY dredging digging with the
pick and shovel TO restore IL that there IS no fall
with which sou could wash il OFT by hydraulic
power that the power OF water IS lost when
il strikes the valley aud it cannot carry it beyond
that the elevation Of the streams are becoming 50
great now in the Yubl aud Feather rivers that it
only needs the waite. to bring it down. In a dis
tanee OF ten twelve miles from AIarysville the
coarse material has flied the river more than l30
feet deep that this has doubled and almost trebled