Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-26
THE INSPECTION TOUR.
Trip Down the River-Condition of Orchards
and Lands

"a
and Lands.
The Supervisors party which left for a
tour Of inspection down the river Thursday
morning, in the steamer Margie, returned at
o'clock last evening and report pleasant
trip. The party consisted of Supervisors P.
| r. Beckley, J. W. Wilson, Samuel Blair,
John F. brennan, S. W. Butler, E. Bailey,
E. Christy, Engineer j. R. Wilkinson, r. J..
Merkley. I. r. Berkey and a few others.
| Frequent stops and examinations were made
along the river to ascertain the actual condi-
ton of the roads, bridges and property, and
the damages which are found, since the water
has receded to considerable extent, to have been
sustained. No water is found passing through
| any Of the breaks at present on the Sacra.
| mento side, except upon the Firm and Whit
comb ranches Phe others were cuts or
! breaks in the levee entertainments only, and
as the river has again come within its natural
| banks II has ceased to flow out OF them.
| The Firm break is a very bad one, and an i'm
| mense amount Of water Is flowing through 1t,
producing the high water and inundatlon
| south OF Y street and through Drainage Dis
| trict No /. The opening is about 800 feet
wide. The river came at this point immedi-
ately along beside the levee, and not ouly the
raised embaukment is washed away, but
there is deep cut the entire width OF the
break into the bank upon which the levee
stood, SO that the water flows from the river
through it at d rapid rate, with depth Of
from six to eight feet in some places, and
THREE HUNDRED FEET WIDE.
The volume which is passing in at this point
| is regarded as took great to permit success in
| he r,ntit the hos fa Hon
considerable lower. Were it not for this one
place the back-water below the city would
pass off through the drainage canal within
two OF three days, so that the city outlets
could be freely opened and the overflow in
! the lower part of Sacramento would soon be
carried off by the natural discharge from the
sewers and canals, without further use OF the
pumps. The immense amount of water,
however, which flows in at the Firm break
taxes the canal and outlet at Freeport to the
utmost, which renders the fall of the water
below the city very slow, and at present al
most imperceptible.
An examination was made of the condition
of the city drainage canal and opsning
through the old railroad embankment at
Freeport. The former food-gate at this
point being washed away, the water flows
entirely unobstructed through the canal, and
at the enormous depth of about thirty feet.
The old railroad or levee embankment is cut
away at each side, so that the outlet is from
125 to $50 feet in width, through which the
water passes with exceedingly rapid current.
The question as to whether the embankment
could be further cut away and
PERMIT a MORE RAPID DISCHARGE
Was considered. 1t was found that on the
side toward Freeport the water was four feet
or more higher on the north than the south
l,.,A /
only IN cut along The embankment, and be-
low that is a small levee district, or section,
which is entirely leveed in and has stood Sc
cure against the food. To cut the embank
ment and let the water overflow this section
would of course be entirely inadmissible,
although it might afford some temporary re-
lief above. This leveed section extends
nearly to the drainage canal, so that the cut
could not be extended on that side to any re-
quired extent. On the other side of the
canal the water below the embanzment is
slightly lower than above, but En-
gineer Wilkinson was of the opin-
ion that there was so small a difference
that it was doubtful whether any noticeable
benefit would be derived from attempting to
extend the opening. The main difficulty is
that the water is now down to nearly the bot
tom OF the embankment, and the embank
ment is located upon high lands, which ex-
tend for long distance north and south, so
that opening could practically be made to
a greater depth than the base of embankment.
The break at Whitcomb's ranch, below
Freeport is about the same in extent as the
Firm break, and the water is pouring through
it at furious rate into the Iow-lands to the
east, and discharging through Snodgrass
slough.
While these two principal breaks are the
only ones through which the water is flowing
upon the back-lands at present, it would re-
quire a rise in the river of but twelve to
eighteen inches to send it through the most of
the large number of smaller openings with
which the levees ale at present honeycombed.
The orchards between this city and Wal
nut Grove are principally on the strip Of
hi2h land along or near the levees, and
the fall of the river and consequent receding
of the water from the overhowed lands has
been sufficient already, so that nearly all the
ORCHARDS ARE NOW FREE FROM WATER.
Here and there are to be seen few trees still
standing upon submerged land, but these rep
resent but small per cent. of the orchards
along the river. At Senator Johnston's place
the old orchard is now entirely above water,
but back of his house are several acres in
small trees, where the ground is partially in
undated.
The party went down as far as Tyler
Island, which was found in a similar eondi-
ton, the island remaining covered with water,
except the front-lands, but the water was
now falling at the rate of FIVE or six inches in
twenty-fou hours, and Mr.. Miller said he
expected to have the land all clear from over
flow in a few days. The leyees on this island
did not break. but were overtopped by the
hight of the water. The orchards on the
island are about clean from water. Also the
fruit belt upon Grand Island, extending
along the front levees has emerged from the
food, and the orchards are principally drying
off finely. Upon the KeIcheval ranch, at
the head of the island, the orchards are In
good condition, and it is thought the fruit
crop will probably not be injured to any
great extent, but there are 800 apricot trees
of only two years growth which, it is eX-
pected, will all be killed.
The general impression among the fruit
growers along the river is, that the water,
being so cool during the time the orchards
were inundated, and having drained Oft so
quickly, should there be no further I'M
usual high water during the remainder Of the
season, so as to food the fruit lands again,
there may yet be expected fair or good crop
of fruit the coming season.
The lands upon both sides of the river, for
farming or crop purposes seemed to be very
much the same. The party found much
more land out Of water than was expected.
The garden or best lands lying along the
levees, and some higher areas, are so far re-
covered from the effects Of the overflow that
crops, to a small extent, should the weather
continue favorable, viii soon be put in, and
should the water continue to recede. q fair
amount of acreage, it is claimed, viii yet be
planted, and the experience OF past years has
been that lands which became dry enough to
cultivate yield unusually large crops after the
flooding or wet season.
How IT WAS SETTLED.-Edward Roberts
and NJ. Dryer got into misunderstanding
about y o'clock last night in John Barry's
saloon, on K street, between Front and Sec
ond. Both were In a somewhat Jolly condi
ton, and before they were able to arrive at