Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-02-09
AMAZING 1GEoRAEcg.

A Senator rose in his place yesterday to
make a speech in favor of repeating the
Drainage Act, and in the course of it he
observed that in his opinion the present
inundation Of the Sacramento valley de-
monstrated the failure of the plans of the
engineers. 1t is not an easy matter to deal
with ignorance SO dense and hopeless as
this Senator exhibited. It is unfortunately
only too plain that he has wholly miscon-
teived the character and objects of the
works which have been undertaken that
he knows literally nothing about
the subject yet that he-is willing to vote
against the continuance of measures which
he has not taken the pains to examine
in the most superficial manner. We are
almost ashamed to recapitnlate the ele
mentary facts which this Senator has failed
to master, but since it is evidently neces-
sary it must be done. It is not, then, and
never has been, supposed by the engineers,
or intended, that the brush dams which
they built would hold back The ,cater. They
were not meant to diminish the flow of
the rivers across which they were placed,
and consequently they could not have made
any difference whatever to the hight of the
water in the valley. How, therefore, the
present inundation can be regarded as indi-
eating the failure of the works, it is impossi-
bic to conceive. The dams were constructed
for no other purpose than to check the
velocity of the current, and cause it to de-
posit the heavier portion of the debris it
carried in solution. If they have accom-
plished this they have entirely fulfilled
their functions. and nothing more can be
expected of them. That they have done
this has already been proved in the clearest
manner It seems further necessary to
say that the plans Of the engineers have
not yet been half tested. Those plans
comprehend simultaneous action upon the
upper and lower sections of the
rivers to be treated. They embrace a
system of levees, of stopping superauous
channels and Strengthening tortuous ones,
below this city, as well as system of dams
above. 1t is absolutely impossible for any
man to determine whether these plans will
proveunsuccessful until they have been fully
tested. 1t is perfectly safe to assume that
they Will not fail, because the principles
adopted have often been applied elsewhere,
and always with success, and because,
which is the main consideration, they rest
upon natural laws, the uniformity and per-
sistency of which are indubitable. Nor
would the present failure of the dams,
supposing that they had failed, be an
argument against the system of which
they form only a small part. The problem
to be solved is not merely the holding
back of the debris. It involves the restora-
ton of its full carrying capacity to the
Sacramento river; and SO high an author
ity as Captain Eads has stated in his report
that if the measures now In progress are
carried out fully, the Sacramento viii
carry whatever volume OF water may be
nut into it without breaking out of its
banks, That is the contamination to be
sought, and SO far is it from being true
that the present flood is a proof of the
failure of the engineers plans, that
if those plans had been carried to
completion before the late storms, it is a
Just assumption that the flood would not
have happened at ALL 1t is to prevent
such foundations that these works are de-
manded, and that they viii produce that
result we have the most trustworthy guar
antees. We regret to be compelled to
take honorable gentlemen to task for their
slipshod statements but when men IN
whose hands great interests and great re-
sponsibilities rest neglect the plain duty OF
informing themselves upon the questions
which they undertake to discuss and adlu.
dicatc, they have no right to complain ii
thew are rebuked for their Incidence and
presumption.