Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-03-13
Recommendations to the General
Government of Measures for In
pounding Mining Debris.
A Quarter of M1Iion Dollars Asked fer
to Begin the Work Of Redeenning
the sacFa mento River and
its tributaries.
The Alternatives i. e., q system OF stoT-
age for Debris, Cessation og n.y.
drauliC siinins, or BesiFurtiaR
Of HE NayEgable Rivers
OF sEIe interior.

lem. The report reviews the col dition Of the
Sacramento river and its tributaries, and pre-
scribes possible remedies Tor existing evils
The document, 20 which access has been
kindly granted through the courtesy of Colo
mel Meudell, although lengthy. will be read
with interest, and the full text of it is here
with appended:
SAN Francisco, February 90 1880.
The Chief Of Engineers. Washington, d.
C.-General: Various annual reports on the
improvement OF the Sacra,nento river of this
State, beginning in 1876, have made mention
in general way of the relation Of hydraulic
mining TO the navigation of the Sacramento.
The last annual report included a compare
tive profile of the bed OF Steamboat Slough
(one of the principle channels of the Sacra-
mento) as plotted from Wilkes survey Of
1871, and the survey of 1873. This showed a
maximum filling of y and a mean filing of s
to 10 feet This comparisons not wing to the
uncertainty as to the base OF levels of the
exploring expedition insisted upon except TO
demonstrate the fact of a serious filling.
WHAT HAS HAPPENED AT SACRAMENTO
The same report showed as result of the
survey OF 1873, at the plane Of low water
at the city of Sacramento has been raised
about feet since the occupation of Califor-
MIA by Americans The tide, which so years
ago produced an elevation of about 2
feet at Sacramento, and made itself felt as
high as the mouth Of the Feather, now does
not sensibly extend above Heacock Shoal, 9
miles below Sacramento.
A survey OF the river in front of the city
of Sacramento for a distance of two miles, in
1854, by authority of the Town Council,
shows, in comparison with our survey of
1878, mean filling over this distance of 15.2
feet and maximum filing of 20 feet. This
comparison was made by the State Engineer.
The State Engineer finds the filing of the
river at the mouth of the Feather to be three
to four feet; at Marysvile, on the Feather,
to be Is to 10 feet; at the Yuba Mill, on the
Yuba river, near where it energies from the
foothills, in part of the stream that never
was navigable, 6S feet; and at Smartsville,
still further in the foothills, at the outfall of
some larger mines, tie filling is reported to
be 125 feet. The pools in the Feather have
also been very much filed. The tendency of
the river, under the great loads OF material
imposed upon il, is tc take grade which
tends constantly to get sleeper.
Steamboat slough, which was formerly the
shortest and deepest of the two arms OF the
Sacramento, is reported, on good authority,
to have been flied 4 good deal since the sur
vey of 1850 much so that it has been
NAVIGATION OF THE LOWER SACRAMENTO.
The navigable condition of the lower river
has also suffered very much, owing to the
same cause, but not In proportion to the ac-
tual filing. The mean depth has been les
sened ia much greater proportion than has
the maximum depth.
The filling in the beds of the Sacramento
and Feather rivers is mainly sand. Many
borings in the Sacramento were made in 1878,
almost always with the exposure OF sand. At
the mouth Of the river and in some bays
where the current is feeble there is deposit
of sediment or slickens," as it is locally
called. This is a mixture in a fine state of
division of clay and extremely fine sand. 1t
is suspended with such facility that it may
almost be called soluble. 1t gives the yellow
or tawny color to the waters of the running
rivers, and imparts to the waters of San Fran
cisco bay feebler, although a distinct shade
of color. The ''slickens " do not appear to
rest in the main river When they reach the
channel they carried by its current to
resting places in the lower bays, and perhaps,
IN part, in the ocean.
The other products of hydraulic mining are
sand, both silicious and micaceous, gravel of
all sizes to stones, which may appropriately
be called cobblestones, as they reach the foot
hills. As they leave the mining sluices they
are, in many cases, much larger.
| iuclose map Of the lower Sacramento
and its tributaries (Appendix A, covering
the parts of the mining districts now under
consideration. The names on the map in the
mining districts are those of prominent min
ing points. The Feather and American riv-
ers drain the greater part of these districts.
The Yuba, which joins the Feather at the
site of the town of Marysville, is also an i'm
portant mining stream. Upon these last two
streams the consequences of the state of
affairs that has existed in this country for a
great many years have been more fully de-
veloped than elsewhere. In order to exhibit
these results in an effective way, l inclose
maps of the Yuba and Bear rivers for few
miles of their course. These maps are OBJ
tanned through the courtesy of the State En-
gineer apartment Appendix b ard C)
DEPOSITS OF MINING DETRIrUs.
A few words may be said in explanation of
the Yuba map. The shading denotes the de-
posts of mining detritus. The deposit opens
out as the river is released from confinement
in the foothills. 1t attains width of G, 400
feet, and is estimated that it has thus far
covered 1900 acres in the plains, much of
which was aluvial land of value.
The cross section on the Yuba map shows
the elevation of this mass of detTitus to be
here above the general level of the country.
This general level is the second bench of the
bank, the first being covered The original
bed of the stream is said to have been 10 or
II feet below the lower bench.
The same general descriptions may be given
of the deposits on the Bear river.
These rivers, after reaching the plains no
longer flow on natural channels, but make for
themselves beds which change from year to
year, and which are In many places above the |
adjoining farming lands. These lands are |
protected from the flood-water and from the |
mining deposits by levees, which, year BY |
year, have to be built higher and higher to |
keep up with the new deposits which are |
yearly added. When the levees give way,
which is not an unfrequent occurrence, the |
lands adjoining are covered with deposit. |
In places where the fiood-water stands quiet
long enough, thick crust of slickens forms
on the land. The thickness runs from film
TO perhaps foot. The sand and gravel are
generally deposited close to the site of the
breach.
The losses that the farmers suffer yearly
from this cause and the apprehension of fl
ture disaster of still greater magnitude, have
given rise to a great deal Of contest in the
Courts and Legislatures. 1t now exists in
the Legislature of California, when the great
questions Of agriculture and mining are en-
gagged in controversy. There is much to be
said on each side of the contest.
HYDRAULIC MINING.
The great source of the evils that have
been briefly sketched is admitted to be min
ing. The main existing cause is hydraulic
mining. Quartz mining and other mining
than hydraulic have their influence but their
sources are relatively so Insignificant that
they may be neglected In comparison with
hydraulic mining.
Hydraulic mining makes profit out of
gravel or earth which contains six or eight
cents in gold to the cubic yard. 1t does SO
by making water do the work that in other
mining done by machinery or by manual
labor. Water excayates the mountains, and
lrries the detritus to the dumps out OF the
way. Water also brings this detTitus from
the dumps, which are generally in gorges OF
the mountains, to the plains, the river beds
or ocean beds, wherever it comes to rest.
When the water is made to excavate it is
zlssd under pressure of one to 800 feet, and
* discharged against the bank from nozzle
4 = -,