Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-17

rior Court before Judge Temple. [Note-W.
c. Belcher was inadvertently recorded as one
of the attorneys for the plaintiff. He is for
the defendant.] The plaintiff resumed its
case. I. N. Hoag was lagain placed on the
witness stand
DISCRIMINATION.
I. n. Hoag WAS cross-examined by MIR.
Catlin. The great fire was in November, 1852.
My recollection is that the rain came next
day, and it was continuous good while after
the fire, say for two weeks. 1 am sure it be-
gan to rain the next day. The rainy season
set in then. Large vessels came up to Sacra-
mento up to 1854, and ceased to come because
displaced by steamers. The steamer Senator
came on the river about 1850, or 1851; think
the New World came on year or six months
later can't say if both ran in 1850; can't
say when the Wilson G. Hunt, the Ante
lops and the McKim' ran, but it was
early; am not mistaken that the steam
boats ran off the ships. I will quail
ify it by saying the ships were originally
consigned to Sacramento, and ceased to come
when censignments were transferred to
steamers at San Francisco. I frequently
towed ships up the river with the Beta, my
boat. That was in 1861. Ships did not
cease coming because they could not get back.
| The ships that came were such as came around
| the Horn. Do not know their tonnage. Will
not say a 300-ton ship came, or state the
| tonnage of any ship. Have farmed for ten
years on $50 acres, four miles above Sacra-
| mento, on the Sacramento river. Have cul-
tivated 100 acres there. Originally it was
bought by my grantor of the State as swamp
land. Never took up any swamp land my
self. Leveeing was begun on the Sacramento
| by farmers on their own account, under no
| law. Subsequently the State passed the re.
clamation law, and then it proceeded under
| that law. The levee on the Sacramento river
| is part of that system. As the land goes back
| from the river it recedes to the tule lands.
That is the general character of the land
along the Sacramento river. The slope is
quite uniform. As it was in 1S49, the slope
ran back about mile, on an average. Some
places it was but half mile, others over a
mile. One place this side of Fremont it is
but few hundred feet, where it Is supposed
o creek once went in. In the Lisbon district
or 500 feet. never measured any except
my own. I can name places where it
is over q mile wide. From my
place up for two miles it is narrow.
From there up it is broad again. Right at
Washington it was not half mile to where
the tules originally were. But there a neck
of tule ran in. No, they didn't come up to
within quarter of mile of the bank. Some
slo pes there have been covered with sedi-
ment. SO they are now broader, but such
Washington the strip of land would origin
ally measure half q mile. The Railroad
trestls work runs for half mile over
land that was not trle. The main tule
toward Davisville is about FIVE miles wide.
The slope toward the tule is gradual The
ground surface in the main tule is now as low
as the Sacramento river. Originally it was
not so it was higher. I judge that the bot
torn Of the river was little deeper than the
tule land. I never measured it I give it as
my opinion. Have measured the depth of
the Sacramento river, opposite street, with
poles and lines
THERE WAS FLOOD
In the winter of 1880 that brought the
water over Sacramento. It filled up the tule
| in Yolo. There was no slickens then. The
water made lake over in Y olo four or five
miles wide. think 80 81 was dry season.
Think we had an overflow then, but had a
large one in '52-'53. That was when ran o
steamer to Hoboken. I believe, or think,
Jerome G. Davis that year ran steamer over
the tule basin, and also in go '61, or '61 -'62.
| In high water, or flood season, small
steamer can go over the low lands on the
| Yolo side. Don't know if it ever was done
on the east side. Think they might. The
| American river did overflow the bottom lands
along the Sacramento above it; and 80, as 1
said, had mouth three miles wide. Thatwas
in 1852 SO. In December, 1861, there was a
flood, and also in January, 1862. That over
flowed Washington entirely. It was a sheet
of water from there toward Davisville,
probably ten miles wide. A steamer
ran over that overflow then, landing
at the old Tule House, five or six miles
west of Sacramento. I don't know ii
it went further. It could have done go by
going further down, certainly. The food of
1861 2 did not discharge debris to such an ex.
tent at the mouth of the American river as
to attract my attention. There was some,
however. believe, at the bridge. Our levees
were small then. There was an old slough
| below Washington, and it is there now; it
runs back into the tule. There were several
of these. The one I remember had been
filed up by Mr.. Reed, but that year it
washed out and sand-banks in the river were
washed up opposite it, but there was no gem
eral deposit of debris. Through the old sys-
tenn of sloughs, where there was light sandy
| soil, there was some wash Of sand. There
was system of old sloughs of that kind along
the river. Putah and Cache creeks discharge
into the tules. Putah does so from ten to
twelve miles from Washington, perhaps less.
In the winter Putah creek discharges very
but not volume equal to that of
the American river. That discharge of
Putah creek helps fill the tuls basin.
| North from Putah creek some sixteen miles
is Cache creek. That discharges a large
body of water also into the basin below
knights Landing. These creeks contribute
to make the water high on the lowlands.
The water in the basin generally comes from
the creeks first next it comes in from the
Sacramento river near Knights Landing, or
rather at the lowest break. 1t ran in at the
English break for years first. Sometimes the
American contributes its waters first. When
the rain is in the east the American contrib
utes first; when in the north, the Sacrs.
mento first; when in the west, the creeks
contribute first. The exception to the fill
being from the creeks or the American is
when the Sacramento rises first. It is long
river, and its north waters seldom get here
until the American river has risen and fallen
again. In the Sacramento river, high.water
mark has been rising for eight years. At the
| last food it was between 26 and q feet.
| When the river is up to "a feet it is high.
Then if the American rises high also, it pro.
duces an unusual food, for the rivers dam
the waters at the junction OF the two streams.
It was SO in 1852. It occurred again last
winter. OF my land on the river about 100
acres is tule. When l first bought it, in
1868, the tules were high, but they don't
grow SO high now. because the sand and sedi-
ment have made more ground that will not
grow tule. Generally the deposit destroys
the tule. Some seasons they could cultivate
I b,o1