The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1881-02-23
SAN FRANCISCO BAY.
The Result of Col. MeadeiPs
InVesfigatfOus.

engineer corps, IN response 10 horace
l Davis resolution calling for infOrma-
! ton as to all the causes tending
to diminish the tidal area of
the San Francisco Bay and lessen
> the tidal scour on the bar, and
thereby decrease the depth of water
upon said bar and diminish the
value Of San Francisco as a COM
mercial harbOr. Colonel Mendell
first specifies the natural causes
which are practically not subject to
control. He describes the drainage
system of The rivers emptying into
San Francisco Bay, and shows how
the rapid fall of their tributaries
and the violence of rains favor the
erasiOn and transpOrtion of earthly
) matter from the mountains and the
steady conversion of marshes into
ldry land. The present extent of
marshes III San Francisco Bay, in
Icluding SuiSm and San Pablo BAYS.
is stated at 800 square miles. Men
ton is next made of the similar ten
/ denotes of hydraulic mining, and
the report then proceeds to consider
the artificial causes, such as the con-
IstructiOn of piers and jetties, and
the utilization of the state or city
grants of submerged lands. Re
ferring to the piers and
training walls at Oakland.
Colonel Mendell says: The tendency
of these structures is to hold the
material deposited along the shore
and therefore to concentrate in al
small area that which otherwise
would have been distributed over
larger areas. This effect can never
take great dimensions. He reports
in regard TO the apprehended shoal-
ing of the bar outside the entrance
to San Francisco bay, that COM
pariSOn Of the survey made in 1855
with one made in 1873, shows that
the bar has not retreated, and that
the depth of water on the coast has
not been diminished He therefore
says it is safe to state that the bar
was as good i'll 1873 as in 1855. No
survey has been made since 1873.
After discussing features of the
problem suggested, Colonel Mendell
concludes his reports as follows:
The foregoing description of the bar
demonstrates that it is able to
lose a great part of its advan-
tageS and yet remain in admirable
channel for commercial purposes.
AT present this channel is eleven
miles wide. If we suppose the bar
to move ShOreward until it is short |
ened to half its present length. it is |
apparent that a largely diminished
tidal prison might be able to main
tain over the shorter line, the
depth now maintained over long,
line. The depth of the crest might |
be reduced to a much narrower
limit than last named, and remain
in excellent channel to be MAIN
tanned by tidal area. only a small
fraction of that which now contri-
butes to this result. If we suppose
the crest of the bar to maintain its
present position instead of retreat
ing, the effect would be diminished |
channel, and the encouragement of |
the growth of existing shoals, and
to form new shoals. These shoals
would shorten the crest and lessen
the area of the channels to be main
tanned. The result would be
practically equivalent to that
to be produced by the retreat of the
bar shOrewards, and between these
shoals one or more channels would
remain. The access to the harbor.
under these circumstances, although
far inferior to the present conditions
OF convenience, might still compare
fayorably with the approaches to
many of the great commercial ports
OF the world. Itappears to be inev-
liable that the interior bays must
continue to lose in area. The force
of gravity works necessarily to that
end. There is no compensation in
any other natural force. CONNER
clal necessities are in the same
direction. Nature and man seem to
be under the common necessity to
lessen the tidal areas; yet the ulti-
mate disaster appears to be remote
IN the future. We are not, however.
on that account delivered from the
obligation to counteract these ten
denotes, nor are we powerless to do
so in some degree.
Colonel Mendell proceeds to
indicate what steps should be
taken without further DELAY. as
a means of accurately deter
upon the best remedies. =
Immediately afterwards he recon-
mendS that new survey of the bar :
be made forthwith and that peri j
Odical surveys, both of the bar and
of the shoals about the bay, be pre- :
vided for. Another subject for in
yeStlgatiOn is the relative securing
value of equal quantities of water
stored III different parts of the great
bay. This, he says, would indicate {
some measure of the consequences
to follow from loss of the lower
part of the tidal prison of the
bar, a result that may be near
at hand. He adds: There seems to
De some ground for the opinion that s
The bar would not be greatly affected
by this result. The influence of
hydraulic mining, as compared with r
what may be called natural infiu-
ences, would Of course, be an avail
able topic for study in this con- T
lectlon, as mining is subject to
CONTROL The question as to what
extent the owners of submerged =
ands are affected is also important.
These are not questions that can be Z
solved IN a day or year. During I
he period given to the inYestiga-
ion thus outlined, other points of 10
inquiry will suggest themselves.
md the due line of information will
'e obtained sufficiently to demon j
trate the sOundneSs of theories now
irawn from incomplete existing =
lata.
The Senate, to-day, received from
he secretary of war, in response to Y
'later's resolution, a copy of the re-
'ort of Captain Gillespie, upon the
proposed improvement of the bar v
t the mouth of the Columbia
river, together with the conclusions -
f the board of engineers, headed by
Newton, to whom this re-
Ort was referred. The board re- J(
0rts adversely to Captain Giles
e'S project, which CONCENTRATES =
n ultimate expenditure of several
llllion dollars for the purpose indi- -
ated. They are of the opinion. NJ
fter examining all the available
alta, from the year 1898 down to the
resent time, that the channels at
ne mouth of the Columbia are
-orkiDg back to their normal con- =
ltion, and that any effort to aid ID.
lis process of nature would be un-
=