Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-17
gree of it may improve adobe if plowed in.
hut never tried it. I have tried the sedi-


that was before the doctor got it; it was
about three years ago; it was planted to po.
tatoes. Don't know what the owners opin-
ion or sllckens was; men sometimes make
mistakes in experimenting as agriculturists.
Before / went into agriculture, ran ferry
and made and imported agricultural imple-
ments, and was for period Secretary Of the
State Agricultural Society. In building
levees. to some extent, we dig up material
from the bank of the river, standing the levee
back little, and digging out in front, leaving
dug-out. Sometimes the levee has been cut
under and let fall in. by reason of the dug
outs, but not generally nor does the digging
generally weaken the bank, for the system
is to leave space enough to bear the
weight of the water; but some have
built very near to the edge OF the bank. It
is not SO opposite Sacramento. Generally,
when they cut away the natural bank, it is
where the levee has been broken, and re-
paired, and they are forced to do it. Such a
system renders the levee less secure. 1t is
less protected. The Sacramento river is not
as straight in front of Sacramento as in '49,
because bar is formed on the Yolo side.
You could see the bar yesterday, before the
water rose. That bar projects east from the
old bank 100 feet or more. 1t is not now
covered with water. It runs out for 100 feet,
all the way from the bridge to below j
street. 1t is bar on one side of the river,
and by reason of it the river is not straight.
The other bar. or island, below the bridge, is
not now out of water. but the bar ON the eide
of the river is four or five feet out of water
to-day, and it slopes up to and joins the bank
of the river. 1t bends the river at low water,
not at high. The water in the Sacramento
and American rivers was clearer six or eight
years ago, than now. Then it was colored
qorna hut unt now Piacar mining hppan
to color the waters as early IS 1854, when
ever there was q wash into the river from
the placers it was colored more and more as
placer mining increased, but the last eight
years it has been colored more than fifteen
years. before that. But by color 1 don't
mean the sediment it now carries. The
water, at high-water, was colored in 1860,
and less colored, but some, in low water. All
rivers bring down some sediment; these
rivers did.
SPRING FLOODS
Always colored the water less than the first
floods. In 1860 the water was considerably
colored. A little of one material will color
the water much, when much of another will
color it but little. The fine slickens colors
the water. Some cf it came down in 1860.
We called it mud then-that is what it is.
"Slickens as word wasn't coined then !;
but there is mud we wouldn't call slickens.
Ths finer we wouldn't call mud; when dried
it is like a milestone, only of different color.
II natural soil on the bottom lands washed
off and deposited on lower lands, I'd call it
mud but if it was yellow, and of the kind
have described, I'd call it slickens Since
February, 1850, when 1 went there, Wash
ington has been overfowed several times,
in 1928, '61-2, and last winter. L think
these are the only times when it has been
Il G,ry ~ thar he
waters have been high in it. think in
1865 it partly overfowed. Between here
and Davisville the railroad track
has been obstructed and washed away
by foods in the tules, perhaps three times,
and has been injured several times, and last
winter, and once before, very badly injured.
1 know something of the debris brought down
by Putah and Cache creeks. 1t has covered
lands in Yolo several feet by the changing of
the mouth Of one or the other creek. These
places have thus been made valuable land for
cultivation. There is no mining on these
creeks. Capay valley is narrow, with an
alluvial bottom Cache creek runs in il, and
washes away earthly material, and carries it
upon extensive tracts of land in Yolo county.
Putah creek does the same thing. 1t rises
in the coast range. It is quite large river
at times. There were, ten years ago, between
Knights Landing and Cache slough mot
Cache creek), on the Sacramento river, on
the west side, few farmers who did not have
fruit trees some more, some less. Reed had
a fine orchard; also Fisnders also Bell.
Flanders was from eight to fifteen acres !;
Bslrs about as much. Fruit raising on the
river over there has been abandoned gen.
orally, except apples and pears. Fruit culture,
in all varieties nearly, at one time was over
done, and that injured the business of raising
certain varieties
Q.-Was not peach-raising overdone in
these orchards
A.-Yes, but the fruit growing was not dis
continued because of that, but because tine
fruits couldn't be grown there. There was.
it is true, overgrowing and small market.
If water came near the surface when we need
irrigation it would be advantageous, but it
does not come then. The effect of sipage
water that l spoke of, is produced in the
spring, and the soil is kept so damp and cold
that we can't get in crop early enough to
make it grow well. l refer to all kinds of
crops. 1t is caused by the water rising in the
ground from the river sipage. That occurs
right on the bank slopes as we'll as back of
the river. That bank land is the best land
we have ON the Sacramento river. These
lands originally were swamp lands, of course.
All the lands on the river are injured that
way. 1t has been
GROWING WORSE
Year after year, and now it is intoIerable.
More are engaged in agriculture BOW than
formerly, but there is less successful agri.
culture. I mean that while we have been
endeavoripg to cultivate we have not had
success. a. year ago last spring it was gem
eral that we got in crop-it was not general
that we harvested it, because of spring sip
age. l am not much acquainted with Grand,
Ill
them. They have tried to reclaim them, and
some years raised good crops, but lately it
has been failure. The orchards on the east
side of the Sacramento river begin some seven
miles below Sacramento, and run to Steam
boat slough, and were formerly the garden
spots of the State. Now they are not suc-
cessful. The peaches and stone fruits gen.
orally are injured. Mildew csmes first to
peaches, and it is attributed to water on the
roots. It don't hurt pears and apples SO
much. Il hurts apples more than pears.
The latter will stand right in the water and
bear.
Redirect examination by Mr.. Hart The
potatoes in the slickens spoken OF did not
grow. They were on the Feeny place. In
some spots, only rod apart, there would be
good potatoes and poor ones, or none. The
good were in the sediment; in the slickens
no potatoes would grow. This place is be-
low Washington. 1t is on the Sacramento
river, and runs back mile, or mile and
half. Earthly matter comes down Cache
and Putah creeks. They run through a
light, sandy, loamy soil, which they wash
down. 1t makes very good soil when de-
posted at the sinks of the creeks. Near
the sinks the lands are out of water when
the banks are out; but as to the hight of
the land there above tie river, I can't say.
The Sacramento river runs on a ridge. As
you go from the river, the land recedes to
the tule, and these creeks empty into the
tules, and there. at the sinks, they deposit
their train. AT first it is not good soil, but
after time. and by plowing, it is good.
But slickens don't lose its character It don't
assimilate with the original soil. When it
deposits, it is like soapstone or paint. 1
never saw any soil in the Sacramento val
ley like slickens. 1t does not exist in the
soil, but only where it is brought to it by
overflow. 1 know it comes from the
mountains and the mines. 1 never analyzed
it. I do not know what gives it its color
1t is vastly different from what comes down
Putah and Cache creeks. In digging wells
about Woodland they find old cobble beds
Of creeks. Reasoning in that way, the whole
country there was formed by creek deposits
At the mouth of Cache creek the formation
is now a spur of several hundred acres push
ing out into the tule. The Sacramento river
water above the Feather, when L saw it last,
four or five years ago, had no slickens in it |;
- rlasr Where fho Cooro