Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-11-24
DEBRIS.
EIGHTH DAY OF TIE sLIcKEEs CASE
A SHORT SESSION.
Testimony of william Mitigate, Senator
Johnston and J. NJ. Upham-Adjourn-
ment until Monday Next.

| 4LC Odoc3 IhO LSVpAS We N'S-S
Run Ditch and Mining Company, was re-
sumed in the Superior Court at $50 a. NJ
yesterday, Judge Temple presiding.
VIM. Mitigate sworn-I arrived in Sacra.
: mento on the 2sth day of November, 1852.
l owned 100 acres on the bank of American
river Just below the bridge. My brother took
up the land in 1850. Our residence was
about SEQ feet from the edge of the bank.
The waters of the river at that point were
very deep. The bank during the summer
was twenty-five feet above the water. The
bed of the river was covered with coarse
gravel. We used to ford during the summer
lust above where the bridge is located. The
water at the ford was three feet deep and
in crossing we could see plenty of fish.
Sand-bars did not form nor the channel be-
gin TO fill until 1861. The deposit on my
place in 1862. in some places, was more than
ten feet deep. All of our land was covered
during this food with coarse sand. Ourfences
were completely covered. and when the water
subsidized we had to dig for our wagons in five
| feet of sand The deposit on the south side
of the river opposite my place is fully thirty
six feet deep. The early floods prior to 1862
did the land no harm. The sediment depos-
tied by those overfews were beneficial to the
soil. The sand that covers it now is entirely
worthless, and has totally destroyed the
| productiveness Of the SOIL The channel has
SO filed up with sand and sediment that the
water overfows all this land during the en-
! tire winter and during any ordinary high
| water. Prior to 1862 we could live at all
times of the year with perfect safety. Now
each year, for several months at time, it
is
MUDDY SEA OF WATER,
Not only covering my place, but is watery
waste miles in extent. The water since 1862
has always constantly been laden heavily
with sand and sediment. Sand-bars of i'm
| mense area are constantly forming in the
river channel. The river on several occasions
during high water has secured out its chan
mel and deposited the sand in the Sacramento.
Senator William Johnston sworn-I came
to California in 1919, and have been engaged
in farming for thirty-ons years on the east
bank of the Sacramento, south of Sacra-
mento City. l forded the American river
opposite Suffers Fort in 1919. Its waters
were clear, bottom gravelly, and the banks
were quite bluff. The Sacramento at that
time, opposite my place, was quite wide,
twenty feet deep, and the banks were quite
bluff. The commerce of the river at that
time was carried on by such vessels as the
New World, Senator, Hartford and McKim.
Afterwards vessels even larger, such as the
Capital and Chrysopolis, navigated its wa
| ters During the first ten years of my resi-.
dence on the river l observed no changes.
During the last ten years, aud especially the
last year, the river channel has been consid-
erably filed with sand. Opposite my place
it has filed up even with the bank of the
river. Just below my house it is filed in to
the depth of thirty feet. This deposit we
call slickens. It is composed of
WHITE SAND AND FINE SEDIMENT.
When dry it has whitish appearance; when
wet it is sticky and of yellowish color.
When It dries it cracks in places to consid
| cradle depth. WITNESS shown samples.] 1
recognize sample 6 [Catlin's sampled as the
same kind as the deposit of 1880. [Hodg-
don's slickens. This resembles the deposit
Of a few years preceding. Sample No. 3 A.
S. G. resembles the first deposit. Sample
| CT Hodgdon gray sand. We have but little
of this material. It first made its appear
ance on the Whitcomb ranch last winter.
The filing up OF the channel has made the
floods more frequent. 1t takes but little
rainfall nowadays to make it overflow its
banks. The water in the river flowing SO
high above the original surface percolates the
levee, and the sipage destroys to great ex-
tent the productiveness of the lands near the
river. Prior to 1862 the sipage water was
easily taken care OF. We, during that time,
never failed to raise large and abundant crops
of fruits and vegetables. Fruit was the most
profitable crop that could be raised. The
soil was frst-class dark. lcamy soil. The soil
in the tules was rich, and where reclaimed
was SIS good as the bank land. The land would
produce ten tons of Irish or sweet potatoes
to the acre. l have raised fifty bushels Of
wheat to the acre on my place. We had two
narkets-San Francisco and Sacramento. 1t
took twenty-four hours to reach the first, and
two or three hours the latter.
FRUITS OF ALL KINDS
F.ourished and produced abundantly, and
our crops were always the first in market.
Now things are changed. Our crops are not
so early, many of our orchards are destroyed,
| and crops of any kind very uncertain. The
width of cultivatabls land has diminished
| one-half. Both sides of the river have been
affected in this manner. Fully one-third of
| the best land on the east side of the river has
| been destroyed. The levees we have now
have been built since 1S62-most of them
! since 1865. The assessment per acre for levee
purposes on Grand Island has been S34 %
My levee has cost me perhaps IS per acre. I
| have 534 acres in my tract. and devote it to
fruit, vegetables and grazing. We have to
put our houses on mounds. Ny house is -
| feet above the natural ground. l saved my
cattle from drowning last winter by putting
| them on an artificial mound. put my house
up SO high SO as to keep ont o. the water.
great many of my neighbors have done the
same These who had not done so
rrv-D IN rur WATER
Last winter. There are many fine resi-
dences in my section. and they are all built
on mounds, and about twelve feet above the
| natural soil. Prior to 1862 we had no use
| for levees or elevated houses. My levee has
| base of twenty four feet and Six feet high.
| This levee last winter was overtopped by the
floods. The land on the opposite eide OF the
river suffered more than ours. This was
caused by the breaks above, on the west side
Of the Sacramento river. Originally most of
the steamers came through what was called
| Steamboat slough. l. was shorter route,
had great depth OF water, and eli the large
craft came through that channel until about
| three years since. All the natural land
! on the east side of the river south Of
Sacramento, heretofore protected by levess,
was overlooked to a great depth last
winter. The deposit On my places by the
| food of 1862 was slight and not detrimental.
/ Ii NaS hoO 30 uotp uut "uab III Couiu
be plowed in and mixed with the soil. Most
of the damage has been done by sandy de-
posts within the last five years, and last
winter the deposit was equal to any two
years previous. A little more filing up Of
the river channel, and that country win be
| destroyed for agricultural purposes and rem
derad uninhabitable. The roads and high
ways have been washed away in soma places,
and in others rendered impossible during the
wet season. During the winter we come to
the city by steamer and also by small boats
| through the tulss. have noticed that
THE RIVER BOTTOM
Is higher during high stage of water than it
is after the water has subsidized In rowing
and polling boats across the river have nc
ticed bars of sand moving down the channeI.
| Since the LIST OF May this year the water has
been clearer than at any time dsring the last
ten years. During the summer this compar-
atively clear water has cut out, deepened and
| widened the channel considerably. Orchards
were first planted in 1851. This business,
up to 1870, was very profitable, and
| great many were engaged in il. Since
| iS7O. and noticeably during the past few
years. the sipage and overf,ws have to very
| great extent killed the most valuable orchards.