Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-01
For the RECORD USIoN.l
THE MINERS, THE FARMERS, AND
THE STATE.

called Yankee Jim, in Placer county, was
the birthplace of an important invention.
As has happened in many similar instances
the name of the discoverer is lost, though
his invention has been adopted and i'm.
proved upon until its enormous latent
capacities have been fully developed,
and until its terrible powers for both good
and evil have at once fascinated and
alarmed the people of California. The
invention of the forgotten miner at Yankee
Jim was simple one enough, but it had
the precise merit of filling the great need
of the hour. The primitive modes of min
ing were becoming obsolete. The exciting
and speculative occupation of " crevicing'
had ceased to be remunerative. The
rocker had been discarded for the Long
Tom. The long lines Of sluice boxes which
were everywhere appearing told of more
laborious and permanent method of work.
ing, while in many places it was already
evident that neither Stripping" FOL
ground. sluicing" would serve the miners
purpose. 1t was at this critical juncture
that the simple but novel machine referred
to made its appearance. A fume was built
from ditch on the hill side out over the
ravine in which the claim was situated.
It was built out until it attained hight
of 40 feet above the ground. At that point
hogshead received the contents of the
fume, and from hole in the bottom OF
this reservoir the water flowed down a
primitive hose made of green cowhide,
and issued, with all the head given
it by the forty-foot fall, from tin
nozzle four feet long, and which contracted
at the end to an inch wide orifice. The
great power gained by this device in
washing down gravel was at once recog-
nized by the mining fraternity, and IN a
short time every claim of any Importance
had provided itself with Ca hydraulic" as
the affair was called. This was the hum
bic beginning of that process which has
changed the face of an entire country /;
which has washed mountains down into
the valleys which has undone the labors
OF Nature during ten thousand years, in a
few weeks or months which has forced
upon the jewellers in our valleys problems
which never would have existed but for
hydraulic mining which has ruined scores
of thousands of acres of fertile lands, and
threatens millions of acres more with
equally certain and swift and irreparable
destruction which has led to the invest
ment of much capital, and the extraction
of much gold (; which has created vested
rights, and vested wrongs; which has put
class against class which has divided the
Legislature and the people and the press ;
and concerning which the controversy
promises to rage as holly as ever this
winter.
When hydraulic mining was in its in
fancy, it was employed by everybody.
Presently it began to be discovered that it
could not be proftably used without ex-
pensive and tedious preparation. bitches
and fumes from five to fifty miles in length,
costly tunnels in the rock, heavy iron
pipes, ETC., demanded an expenditure both
of time and capital which was alike impos-
sible and distasteful to the majority. So
hydraulic mining was for time abandoned
to few men who had faith and persever-
ance, and who were content to bestow
their labor on the preparations during sew
eral years without receiving any return.
But when these persistent people had I'm
ished their preparations /; when the bitches
and tunnels were completed when the
water at last was turned on the gravel /;
when the bank blasts were put in; when
the cleanup was made; it was realized
that if it took time to secure returns on
hydraulic mining, the returns, when Sc
cured, were well worth waiting for.
Thenceforward there was little difficulty
in finding all the capital that was needed
to work hydraulic claims, and thencefor-
ward it was recognized that this kind
of mining was peculiarly adapted to
associated capital. 1t was seen that the
larger the operations the greater
was the profit. and this fact has
led to the rapid extension of the hydraulic
workings of late years, and to the corre-
spondingly rapid development of their ef-
fects upon the lower country. They have
in fact washed down thousands of tons of
debris where formerly they only washed
hundreds Of tons. The detritus poured
into the valleys from these claims has
spread farther and farther over the rich
arabic lands of the Bear and Feather river
bottoms, and has filled up the Sacramento
river more and more. The accumulation
of this inorganic matter is already so great
that if it were all washed into the rivers
now it would completely choke their beds
would cause the destruction of Marysville
and the serious imperiling of Sacramento ;
would destroy the navigability of the
Feather, the Yuba and the Sacramento
and would deposit an impenetrable crust
more than two yards deep over two.thirds
of the area of the Sacramento valley.
Naturally the farmers on Bear and
Feather rivers, whose lands were being
year by year curtailed and diminished by
the annual flow of this destructive mining
debris, protested against it. At first the
miners were disposed to ignore these com
plants, and however unjust this may seem
it must be remembered that the circum-
stances had undergone an important change.
When hydraulic mining began there was
no farming interest in California. The
mining interest was supreme, and when
ever it was found necessary to legislate
upon that interest, everything else was
made to give way to it. 1t was under
such conditions that hydraulic mining was
instituted, and for several years the miners
had enjoyed right of deposit, or they had
assumed such right, without let or him
drance. When, however, the valley lands
began to be cultivated the existence of a
grave nuisance became apparent, andas time
passed the conflict between the mining and
agricultural interests increased in violence
Tn law and equity it was evident that the