Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-01-25
The YUBA DAM.
The Scene Visited by a Searcher
After Truth.
CONDITION OF THE STRUCTURE,
The Weir Apparently Performing its
Work Well.
ESPECIAL BY TELEGRAPH TO rnz REcoaD-UAos.l


to- morrow, after commenting on the denun-
ciatory letters of J. NJ. Doyle to Senator
Glascock regarding the Yuba dam, will have
the following: Thinking these remarkable
letters very bitter and apparently malicious,
yet the charges entitled to some investigation
because the writer, though personally un-
known, assumed much and claimed to have
inspected the dam. an Appeal representative
went out yesterday for the purpose of learn
ing
THE EXACT CONDITION OF THE DAM,
The river and its deposits. The Yuba
river is at a low stage now, and the appear
ance of the reservoir is very different from
what is was at the completion of the dam or
when the water was high. The water going
through the place where the earthwork con-
nection washed away is not Deep and the
gap can be easily filled-more easily than the
river channel was closed by the contractors
when building the dam. This space was
crossed in small boat, and the visitor took
up his march along the crest of the structure
and its mud covered slope. Thus the dam,
for distance of nearly a mile and half,
was examined by one who saw it under pro-
cess of construction, and also when the
water was backed up along its entire length,
and who could thus judge reasonably as to
the amount of deposit. OF course the
open place permits that portion of the
river reaching it to go on with the
debris instead OF running through or over
the brush, as it used to. The water passing
through there runs along the front OF the
dam for half or three. quarters of mile, and
in this channel little deposit is being made,
though it will continue steadily depositing
Immediately on the dam. Back or above
this channel spread out the fields of sand and
slickens, which look to be on an average two
feet higher than when the dam was com.
pleted, to say nothing of the deposit on the
slope of the dam. For some distance below
the dam the deposits seem to be from a half
to two feet deep at numerous broad places.
At the place where the escaping portion of
the river flows across the sand plains, as it
was made to go by the contractors, it strikes
the dam at considerable angle, yet it has
not injured it, and goes thence, as before
described, to its place of exit. 1t has not
injured
THE BRUSH DAM.
Except having caused one sink, which was
raised before the last high water, and is now
all right Perhaps if the grade had not been
built up over the sunken crest the relief or
escape afforded thereby would have prevented
any damage to the earth-work South of the
place where the stream touches the dam, how
ever, is the best exhibition OF what the dam
has been doing. The receding water for the
space of third or half a mile left about four
feet of deposit on level, extending far up
the stream. The brush dam at some places
there was not over four-and-a-half feet above
the ground, which was rising, and the mud
for some distance is nearly level with the top,
lacking about five or six inches. The Appeal
representative went over the dam thus far
about mile and half to point only about
half mile from the south end. Of the de-
post above that portion of the dam he could
not judge accurately, but at a distance it
seemed no less than at the places passed over
Further progress was stopped by stream
100 feet broad flowing over sunken portion
of the dam, which was lowered about two
feet and half. Through this the water runs
with rush, the depth being about six inches
The descending water is broken up by the
ends of the tiers of brush and poles, and
FALLS HARMLEssLY
Upon the brush mattress below and passes on
smoothly. There are two other similar places
nearer the south end. A man holding cane
can easily wade through them. No harm is
being done to the dam by these streams and
all about and in these new shoals are steadily
forming. No one walking over the dam now
would scarcely expect any portion to wash
out so well has it stood and so packed has it
become with mud that solidifes. Along
almost the entire crest Of the dam
is drift wood from the mining re-
gions many hundreds of cords in all.
At various places beds of gravel and powders
are visible These deposits have not only
settled into the brush, but have piled upon
it even to the top, and many bushels of fner
gravel is lying upon the mattress below the
dam. There must be 100 wheelbarrows of
gravel and stone on and about the dam. 1t
includes sandstone, pebbles, quartz and gran
tie. Some stones weighing five pounds were
picked from the crest of the dam, where they
they had been caught at hight of several
feet greater than the level of the deposit.