Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-18

i THINK the An6TlCdu ilfSi 10 AA.SA ~
fifteen or sixteen feet now, for five miles CT
distance, The FL was more perceptible in
'61 and '62, in the food of that year. 1t has
filed steadily-much-since. Not much fill
occurred before. Seven-eights of the fill has
been since '61. The material of the fill
il eray and white sand-mostly sand
know the surface of the ground inside the
levees of the city of Sacramento. 1 don't
think the bed Of the American river il more
than three or four feet difference from it.
The American is northeast from the city.
The streets run north and south and east and
west. don't think the natural ground is
now to exceed over four feet above the pres
ent bed of the American river. We used to
have regular tides in the American in 1S49,
1850 and 1851. After the bridge was built
| didn't have my attention 30 much called to
it, as we didn't use the ford so much. In
low tide we could ferd easily-iu high tide it
was difficult. That was in 1850 and 1851.
There is no tide there now; !; haven't seen any
for years. own the place now first settled
on in 1919: il is part Of the old Norris
grant. l have thirty-6ve acres, and it lies
nearly square on the river. Water was on it
in 1858, but it went off easily. l had no diff
Guilty in cultivatiDg it because of the water
then; have raised fifty bushels of wheat to
the acre on that land. | had fruit trees then,
DDB OF taL6 HSaf5 the CsiliiS IL oAA NV
and the trees died. I've raised nothing tor
some years, because the waters bring on sand
and stuff, and
NOTHING WILL GROW ON 1T
Til It ros7, and is turned in, but as it comes
in every year, l quit. 1t is gray sand.
Pye cultivated none now fer four years. The
sand is nearly like the white sand | saw in
the bed of the American in 1S49. The soil
on the land each side of the American river
was black rich soil The sand on my place
Is. in places, three feet deep. Nearly one
half of nv place is covered. An old swamp
levee there keeps it off of part Of my place.
Where the leves is broken it comes in. l no.
ticed the first sand deposit on my place about
four years ago. l had no sand there before.
On this side of the American the deposits are
much worse than on my place. There were
farms on both sides of the river from early
times. On this side they were used mostly
for fruit after you get up two miles-below
that, mostly for gardens. On the other side
there were fruit and grain FARMS and some
gardens. These settlements were made in
1902. Those lands now sre, in most part,
ruined by debris and sediment. The sand
has been worse the past three or four years
Before that finer stuff came, but the sand
utterly destroys the SOIL Prior to that the
lands were Of the first class. We could Iaise
grain, vegetables and hops, and the soil was
of the richest it would raise anything. I
knew Mr.. Larue's place. II was on the
north side, two miles above me. He culti-
waited it.
IT WAS SPLENDID LAND.
1t is not so good now. He had it under q
high state of cultivation. He had over 100
acres in peaches. That lard has been over
flowed so much that alkai has risen in the
soil, and the land is not so good-not so pro-
ductive. I can't say if any of the land is
covered by sand. His orchard has been
killed by the floods of the American river.
No orchard is there now. Larue, in 1862 s,
sold $4,000 worth of peaches from the
orchard. as I have heard. [0bjected to. The
orchard has been destroyed since 1868. At
that date it was ell right. Brushy lake is be-
tween part of the Larue place and the river.
Part Of the place runs down to the river. l
know Smith's gardens. From their upper
end to the mouth of the river the land on
that side is much injured by sand and debris,
which are two to four feet deep on il. The
coarse sand stops nearest the river the fine,
or sediment, floats farther back. The coarse
sand. on the line indicated. extends back
forty or fifty yards. Going toward the Sac
ramento river, on the north of the American,
the land is more or less covered with debris.
In some places, last winter. from four to six
feet deposited. I know Hollands place at
this end of Lisleis bridge. 1t has filed there
lately from two to FIVE feet. can't say if
it was last winters fill. know the public
roads from Sacramento to MarysviIle and
Nevada. They begin by going out Twelfth
street, and cross the bridge on a line with
Sixteenth street. Then you go to the left for
the Marysville. and to the right for the Au.
burn and Nevada road. At times in recent
years these roads are impassable-nearly
every winter. The cause is high water.
I don't remember of their being cut
away, but they do cut some. No
deposits are on them to injure them now.
There is cut On the road near Hollands,
made last winter by the foods. The school,
holse lot, which had been filed in last year,
was nearly ope-hslf washed away. The road
near Hollands was in part cut away. 1t was
impossible last year for over month. This
filing up and obstruction of roads by water
has been more troublesome fer the last ten or
fifteen years. It grows worse all the time.
In the winter season at high water we travel
in boats over there.
IT Is ROUGH
On those with stock. l lest stock last win
ter. These things have spoken of have had
the effect of decreasing the capacity of the
river, as It's bed is filed up so that the water
has to come over the banks and food the
lands. etc. I remember when bend in the
American river was cut off. That cutoff CT
canal runs right through my place. first
noticed the American river bringing down
any considerable matter in the food of '61-2.
More cane that year than IN all the years be-
fore Since then it comes faster and more of
it. The American river rises quickly. The
rain of the day brings high water that night.
At high water the river runs very fast and is
pretty thick. It is very muddy. l should
say one fifth of it is mud. After storm it
has a very strong current and great velocity,
say fifteen or twenty miles an hour. The
American l have seen rise twelve feet in
twelve hours or a foot an hour. That was at
the new mouth L saw it rise so one year.
had poutonn bridge there, aid | tied boat
there to tree, and next day went there and
found the land covered, and had to unite the
boat or it would have gone under. The
American will rise and shoot across the Sac
ramento river, IS the former rises quicker.
One month ago l saw a sand bar at
the mouth Of the American which extends
half across the Sacramento. The bottom of
the American is the highest. At the mouth
there is six or eight feet difference. could
tell it exactly if L knew the depth of the Sac
ramento river, for the American there is but
a foot or foot and half deep. At the
mouth Of the American the bottom of the
river is nearly on a line with the water in the
Sacramento There is fill in the mouth of
the American river. 1t is, | should say, ten
feet deep. The channel is small now. Ten
feet of SAND is piled up now in ridges along
in the winter channel. The winter water of
the American river would make at least fifty
summer Americans. In summer the current
is not very swift, perhaps three or four miles
an hour. Thsre is bar in the Sacramento
river below the mouth of the American. It
extends half across the Sacramento. and ex-
tends down 60 the old gas works. It is COM
posed of sand They call it gray sand; it is
really between gray and white. It gets
coarser every year. The first bridge on the
American river had
DRAW
In it. 1 used to see steamboats, going up and
down the river. The old channel began to
fill up as soon as the canal was cut and
began to widen. TM water in the American
is getting worse each year. It is now not fit
for domestic purposes, and has not been for
ten years. We used it for drinking up to
sixteen years ago. It was then very fair.
| Stock still drink it. The filling of the river
makes the overhoxs more serious. It kills
the trees; it renders cultivation more diff
cult the raising of the water level has the
effect to destroy trees. l know the Ameri-
can river up as far as Brighton, on both sides.
| The damage has been more severe on this
side than on the other. On the north side of
the American, for four miles above the mouth.
| tho land has suffered more than in the newt