Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-19


ing when we said that the committee could
not prove the truth of what they had al
legged, and their attempt to do so vindi-
Gates our Judgment completely. The simple
fact therefore remains, that no evidence
deserving any consideration has thus far
been presented in support of the reckless
and rash statements made in the address of
the anti .hydrauhc committee. The man
ayers of the meeting could only cite the re-
port of Mr.. Allardt, which was made long
before the present situation had come into
existence, and even this witness has moth
ing to say concerning the effects of the
food upon the reserve of debris in the
mountains. 1t is necessary to dwell upon
this, as it is really the central point in the
case sought to be made the other night.
Unless it can be shown that there is moth
ing to fear from any debris remaining in
the canyons, it is perfectly clear that the
stoprage of hydraulic mining cannot be
regarded as complete and final remedy.
And the required demonstration was not
made at the meeting.
1t was, however, sought to be shown
that the merchants of Sacramento had not
exerted any pressure upon the RECORD
UNION to induce this journal to desist
from demanding the stoppage of hydraulic
mining, and on this we have something to
say. When, some two years ago, the
RECORD UNION took strong ground against
the right of the hydraulic miners to destroy
the property OF their neighbors, commit
tee of merchants waited upon u.s. repre-
senting that they had been instructed to
do so by the Board of Trade, and showed
US letters from their correspondents in the
mining counties to the effect that move
ment was on foot to take away the trade
of that region from Sacramento unless our
merchants opposed the course of the
RECORD UNION. The committee referred
to- having shown us these letters, stated that
if the RECORD UNION continued to demand
the stoppage of hydraulic mining, all the
business men who advertised in this journal
would be marked for prescription by the
miners, and they expressed the opinion
that the result would be extremely injuri-
GUS to the interests of this city. We may
state further that yesterday some of these
same merchants called upon us again,
verified our recollection of the interview
outlined above, and stated that precisely
the same injury to the trade of Sacramento
is to be apprehended now, if this city In
sists upon the stoppage Of hydraulic min
ing At the time when we were first called
upon we sent a representative INTO the
mining counties to ascertain whether in
fact any movement to take this trade from
Sacramento had been preached, and our
agent, after traversing the entire district,
reported that there could be no doubt of
the fact, and that the feeling of that sec
ton was very strong on the subject. So
much for the assertions of the sub-commit-
tee of the anti-hydraulic meeting.
As regards the arguments of the various
unprofessional speakers on Thursday night,
it must be said that some of them proved
altogether too much for their own case.
Thus Mr.. Larue related how he had been
driven from his ranch on the Norris grant
by the increasing hight of the food-waters
of the American river, though it is noto-
rious that there has been scarcely any
hydraulic mining on the American for
twenty years. 1t was therefore clearly
not by debris that Mr., Larue was driven
out, but by the natural wash of the soil
along the river banks, which cannot be
affected by stopping hydraulic mining
Again, though the main position of the
managers of the meeting was that no tail
ings remain in the streams after flood, and
consequently that every flood clears their
channels, yet half the speakers insisted
that the beds of the rivers had been
rising for years. Thus they were uncon-
sciously impaling themselves on the
horns of dilemma which they failed to
perceive, and cutting the ground from un-
der the position which they wished to
strengthen. As usual the " common sense"
ideas were very pronounced, and men who
knew nothing of hydraulics, who knew
nothing of engineering, who had never
given an hours study to the laws which
control the action of sediment. bearing
streams, unhesitatingly pooh poohed the
engineers have been led by sustained and
extended experiment and observation.
This is what is to be expected when those
who do not possess the necessary informa.
ton rashly undertake to discuss scientific
problems, but such displays of Ignorance
and mental carelessnes and confusion
never can help a community to rational
policy on a subject of this complexity and
Importance.
Before dismissing the question OF the
anti-hydraulic meeting it is in order to
state clearly once more the position OF the
RECORD UNION on the whole subject. This
| journal was the first to point out the
weakness of the position OF the miners,
and to insist that they should either
abandon the hydraulic process, or take care
of their tailings and keep them out of the
rivers. Subsequently, becoming convinced
that an open conflict on this issue would
injure Sacramento, we consented to COM
promise measure, and when, at later
period, we found that the stoppage of
hydraulic mining would not solve the prob
| lem, but that even if that could be brought
about it would still be necessary to pro-
tect the valley from the debris held back
in the mountains, we saw that the con-
tinuance of the engineering work which
| had hon recommended would be abso-