Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-06

population will furnish cheap sustenance.
cheaper labor, capital, and young men of spe-
clal aptitude who can and will devote them
selves to quartz and drift mining. Besides.
farmers will, in thousands of instances. de-
vote portion of their unoccupied time to
these kinds OF mining; and these interests
Will react upon farming and establish foothill
farming upon permanent and profitable
basis; but this outcome cannot he reaIiyed
unless we continue hydraulic mining TT we
stop hydraulic mining now, we will destroy
all these industries and prevent the future de-
velopment OF the foothilI country The loot
hill farmers, whose investments now reach
many millions of dollars will be snddenIv
ruined, and that, too, without remedy We
will not only ruin this class of citizens who
are working miracles of industry for the GOOD
of the State, but we will create endless fends
Already we begin to hear the mutterings of
A COMING STORM,
And the writer of this article has heard manr
sober, quiet, industrious foothill farmers de-
clare that they would raise all army and shoot
down in their tracks all who would undertake
TO stop the operations of the miners Let us
now consider the full extent of the evil that
would accrue from a stoppage of hydraulic
mining, bearing in mind all the time the fact
already demonstrated that the foothills as a
rule are wholly dependent upon hydraulic
mining for water for irrigating purposes. The
toothill region of which we speak extends
along the Sierra Nevada mountains distance
of $50 miles. A strip twenty miles in width
possesses semi-tropical climate, the exact
equivalent of the Sacramento valley. in
which can be produced any and everything
that man needs. In this strip there are
4,4S0,000 acres of land OF this land
480, 600 acres is unsuitable for cultivation
cause of its precipitous character. To be ON
the safe side we will say that there are
1,4SO, 900 acres of PERCEPTIONS land, and we
have then a residue of 300,0 900 acres of good
land. And we must bear in mind that the
foothill land differs from the valley land in
that none of it is bad-it is more evenly good.
Every acre of the number mentioned can be
made as valuable as the land about Newcas-
tie and Auburn, upon which dilieent farmers
are now growing rich. Then again, we have
another strip of twenty miles higher up,
equally good, though not adapted to semi
tropical fruits. That land, however will be,
and is now, preferred by many, and it will
produce all that is really needed. We have.
then, 6,OO0,O00 acres of magnificent fOothill
land that Is wholly dependent upon hydraulic
mining tor irrigation, and the impulse neces-
ssry to its development. Now let us see
what can be done with this vast area
IN THE FOOTHILLS
Fifty acres is a large farm, and more cannot
be cultivated by one farmer with profit We
have then in this area 120, 900 farms, or more
probably 10000, as the majority will not
exceed thirty acres. Each farm will support
five persons, which at the lowest estimate
will give a farming population of $50 0O0, and
mining, commercial and manufacturing
population of 500, COO making a total of $780,
900. These are, however, the lowest esti.
mates, and more reasonable calculation will
give us in the same area l, 200, 900 of popula-
ton. We have already foothill population
of 10000, and it is rapidly increasing In
creased healthfulness, comfort in living
and scenery attracts thousands to the foot
hills, and the immigration of the future
will be mainly towards that regior.
The consummation looked for may not come
for many years, but we are building for all
time, and must consider what will come
in the next half century. But all these
splendid results must depend wholly upon
hydraulic mining, and that must be sustained
until we can produce a foothill population
able to take its place and command the water
sources. We thus place the teeming inter-
ests OF 100000 acres OF agricultural land,
and nearly 100000 of agriculturists on the
side of the hydraulic miner. Let no man
say hereafter that we have in the great con-
fiict the agriculturist on one side and the
"ephemeral miner on the other. The fu-
ture welfare of one-third OF the arabic land
of the State is involved in the solution of the
great problem, and the magnitude of their
interests commands careful investigation.