Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-12-01

20 t,ie par, ana they
| DO MUCH MINING THERE.
| These tai!-sluices run tail;ngs into the river.
| and when freshets come they wash off. Don't
know how high the land at the railroad sta.
| tion at Auburn is above the river, but prob.
ably LOCO feet. at Iamarow Bar.
| some dams were built. Don't know wbeD
the Natoma Water Company's map. and
said il correctly delineated the country set
| forth. Mississippi Bar takes in sll its fats
| The lower end slopes off and is called a bar.
| The upper part of it would be quite steep
| about the same as at Folsom. with a high
bank, say thirty feet. Texas Hill diggings il
| opposite part of Mississippi Bar. Think it
was higher than the bsr. Think the banis
| of the river on that side are generally higher.
| TWitness was here interrogated as to the To-
| cation Of Mississippi Bar on ths map, and
pointed it out to the Court. A second and
| larger map was also shown witness, and
stated by him to properly show tie section
| delineated, so far as it refers TO places he
| knows The map was entitled o map of the
Rancho Americanos Can't say how much
| the American river bed is filled up with tail
| ings from the Natoma dam, near the prison.
| up to the junction, but below that the deep
places are mostly filled up. The deep ravines
| leading to the river discharge much water
lntO Ine riNeI III nea'y Ieiiir, anu luoee sua1
have been mined or disturbed send down
sand. Saw no sand bar as early as 1856 op-
posite Prison ravine. Massachusetts Flat
was of reddish soil. It was some thirty feet
above the river bed. Beals Bar claim, on
| the southwest side, was darker. Texas Hill
| soil is fine gravel and loan. Very little red
soil on Main Bar and Mississippi Bar !;
mostly dark, the former especially so. Ne
| gro Bar at its extreme width without
measurement by witnessl is perhaps 500 feet
! The river there from bluff bank to bluff bank
| is from quarter TO third of mile wide.
Redirect examination Ito Mr.. Cadwala-
der)-Taking all the country west OF Folsom
| and to Alder creek. running cross sections,
| the general elevation of the country above
| the river is mora than 100 feet, in my judg-
ment, by 80 feet, that is not going back over
! three-quarters of a mile in any place. The
railroad is not near 100 feet above the river
at Folsom, ror is the depot. Where the old
| railroad track crossed the river it is between
| forty and fifty feet shove the river. Not all
the mining on Mississippi Bar was done by
| pick and shovel, but that further back was
! by bringing on water and piping back.
VIM. GwYNN,
Sworn for the people Ito Mr.. Cadwalader)-
Came to California in May, 1S49 and settled
at Auburn, Placer county, in that year. That
| is one andone.half miles frsm the North Fork
of the American river. 1 knew the North
Fork of the American river then, and have
since, and have ever sipce been engaged in
business on its banks, from Sacramento to
| Colfax, and along all It's tributaries. I have
mined, merchandised, burned lime snd built
| bridges. Colfax is sixteen miles above Au-
burn [the Doolittle map was here handed
to the Courtl and about ten miles below
| Gold Run. From Auburn to Clipper Gap is
| lsa< civ and pilaa m Narv
England Mills is five miles, and from there to
| Colfax it is six miles. about. Colfax used TO
be known as Illinoistown it is about two
miles from Cape Horn. / meandered the
river from Auburn to above Rics's bridge in
| 1S49. 1t was then clear, with rocky bot.
| tom, and had natural banks over which water
poured in winter, and made deep holes st
places. The channel was very rocky, and
the canyons were very deep. Two thou
sand people, in 1S49, worked at min
| ing on the river from Auburn up.
| had 800 employed myself at one time.
| There were about 800 men, and in 1850 about
| 5000, between Colfax and the junction of the
| South Fork, all on the river. 1 knew it By
selling them goods More people we're there
| in 1851, and more in 1852, but in 1858 there
was standstill, and in 1854 they lessened
and kept decreasing each year, until in 1853
there was very little mining on the river, and
| Al 1OOU tuOAO WciC obiJ "a lew LiiSA iictc
there. Substantially mining on the river was
abandoned after the food of 1862, though
few still mine on the old hsts. In 1858
Rattlesnake Bar polled 500 votes. and Au-
| burn, in 1854, 8, 900 votes, but in 1860 the bar
was almost abandoned. The debris and sand
from the hills filed up the holes and channels
to the banks nearly, and SO miniug in the bed
of the river could not be continued success.
| fully.
| r-p To 1879
Mining in the river was carried en- with
| sluices, iopg-toms and cradles. The bars in
the river were principally sand and gravel,
while the HUI diggings were red soil and
| losn. Mining was carried on from 1Si9 TO
1858 by water-whesis, picks, shovels, long.
TOMS sluices and cradles, AID By dams to
change the course of the river. Some used
diving-bells or submarine vessels. Witness
here named all the bars along the rivera
long catalogue-from the lower river up and
stated up to what years each bar was worked
Some were worked up TO 1866, and some few
have beer worked some little within the last
FIVE or six years, but no great amount has
been done since 1858 [ used to go up and
down the river frequently, packing. Have
mined on the American river. The miners
worked on the river, on the bars,
and on the banks. The banks were
OF clay and gravel /; in the river it
was sand and gravel. The original
deposits of nature prior to mining | call the
original drifts. l remember when hydraulic
mining first showed its effects 10 the Amer
ican, on the North Fork it was in 1859.
That came from Todd's valley, Whisky Bluff
and Sierraville, between the Middle and
North Forks. Witness identified the Doc.
little map as a correct map OF the river from
Colfax down. He aided in giving inforraa-
tion for the making of the map. / noticed
the fiji in the North Fork of the American
in 1859 first. | built bridge between Wild
Goose Flat and Rattiesnake Bar in 1868, over
the river. l had lime works at Alabsster
Cave. The bridge led to the work., so | was
there in 1853, and fora year, and observed
that the filing in Of the rivers that had been
gcing on some time had filled from Kentucky
Bar to Whisky Bar, about one and a half
miles. The debris thrown in in 1859 av-
ersged thirty feet in depth. The food
1862 cleaned it ell out fer one and half
miles complete. From then to this year it
filed In again TO the old hight of thirty feet.
In all these years it had been accumulating.
Beneath was clay, then coarse sand, then fine
sand and on top mica sand-that is, what
the water carried. In the bed of the river
the deposit was gravel and cobble-stones.
Witness here examined the specimen deposits
filed as exhibits IL the Court He identified
exhibit No. as granite sand. Tons of that
came down the river. Hodgdon No. is
mica and gray and granite sand. This class
all comes from below
HORSESHOE BAR.
No. 6 comes from much higher up hill. l
think it came in from opposite Auburn, and
above. 1t is more OF q natural sand it is
clearer and purer sand. Previous to 1858,
from 1S49, during all stages of the water it
was clear. Il was clear from 1S49 to 1850
except during foods. The water commenced
getting its roily color in 1868, and after 1860
it became highly discolcred, and so remains
to this day. The water in the North Fork
at this time is very muddy above Auburn.
Iowa Hill is on the North Fork First saw
hydraulic mining in 1860. They tailed into
various canyons. Searsville is the upper end
of the gravel mines. These canyons
are from one to five miles in
length, and all empty into the river.
| First noticed the failing into the North Fork
| in 1866. About the same time noticed them
| dumping tailings into the river from hydraulic
mines at Dutch Flat. observed that all the
natural holes, crevices and dams are filed up
entirely. Prior to 1862 the natural bottom of
the river could be seen in many places. Have
| noticed places that have filed up forty feet
since 1867 These heavy and deep deposits
are principally sand. The sand is lodged on
| the banks and sides of the stream also. High
water has the effect of carrying down what
| was deposited in the stream during the previous
summer. This sand ard sediment is carried
down the American to the Sacramento, and