Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-11-29
were located about mile above the suspsn.

tion of tbs Granite Mills was washed away
I think in 1858. I have been ranching for
the last five or six years. 1t has been about
| eight years since quit mining. cannot see
the river from my house. The last mining
that 1 did was near the site of the old Gran
| ite Mill, near Slate Bar hill. The earth on
Slate Bar hill is of red and gravelly nature.
They began mining on Slate hill just as soon
as the North Fork ditch was completed.
This canal was quite large, and carried a
great many inches of water. Slate Bar hill
| is about three quarters of mile above where
my ferry was located. There was considera.
BILE mining done on that hill between 1856
! and 1860 mined there, but the debris from
my claim was deposited on a large fiat, and
did not reach the river. There is bar just
below my place called Main bar. About the
the point l have been describing, The ground
on Main bar was of a gravelly nature. / have
seen ten or twel, erun of sluices in operation
at a time at these points. They used usually
in the neighborhood of 100 inches to each
mine.
THE BANKS
On both sides of the American river near my
place are very rocky. The site of my ferry
was about quarter of mile below the
bridge. Have been on Dotens Bar many
times. 1t is about nine miles above Folsom.
They get water to mine the bars from the
North Fork canal. have been to Mormon
Island and Red Bank frequently. There
| was considerable mining done at these points,
The river is filed up to the depth of great
many feet at Negro Bar. The water as it
passes under the bridge is ten or twelve feet
higher than it was in 1857. The first bridge
| was built in 1857 The present bridge, I
think, was built in 1868. Negro Bar was a
| lively place in 1854. There were about 300
men engaged 10 mining there from 1851 to
| 1854. About 175 acres of Negro Bar have
been mined away. On the Folsom side the
! bank was about forty feet high. From the
| bluff on the south side to the bluff on the
north side, at the widest part, including the
river-be it is about mile wide. The bar
| itself at the widest is near half mile wide.
| More debris has been deposited at Folsom in
the last ten years than in the ten years before.
| Don't know what part of it came from the
wash of the Natema bitches.
| 10 Mr.. Hart)-The acres on Negro Bar
were mined out in the early days by long
toms" not by hydraulicking. The mining
| began there in 1850, and ceased long before
1862, and the earth thus loosened was all
washed away then. The bar is now
| FILLED UP
Sorne ten or twelve feet higher than it origin.
ally was. The mining st Slate Bar Hill was
by picking out, and then it wes washed
away. Not half enough was done there to
| ELL up Negro Bar below. Probably half OF
ths material at Slate Bar Hill was cobbles,
and much of it is there yet. That mining
lily, for lack OF water. Only part of the hill
ia mined off yet Don't know if hy-
draulic mining would have leveled it
| off in one year. On the south side
of the river the mining was much
of the same character, with pick and shovel.
| The soil is much the same, mostly clay.
| Don't know how many acres have been
| mined off there, but some fifteen to twenty
| feet deep. Not enough could have been
| taken from there to have filled the river two
miles. The cobbles washed out are still there.
| Don't know how much mining is being done
at Rattlesnake, Delen's and other bars There
| is not much mining up there. Don't know
| if Rattlesnaks bar is simply drift of debris
| from above. The people at Folsom don't use
the river water for drinking. 1t is not 6t for
ordinary domestic purposes, washing or cook.
ing. They have better water than river
| water. but wouldn't use it if the river water
was clear.
JOHN B TAYLOR
Sworn Ito Mr.. Cadwalader)-I live fourteen
miles from Sacramento, about one-third of a
farm runs down to the river. Been there
since 1858. EARNED from 1898, Came to
California in 1S49. Camped on the Ameri-
can August IL. 1S49. opposite Sacramento. I
mined at Oregon bar, on the North
Fork, above Beals' BAR about opposite where
Mormon Island is, on the South Fork.
The American river was then clear. At
Sacramento we waGed it at low tide Opposite
our csmp. At Oregon bar we could wsde
= q h.
or three feet deep; then there would be deep
holes twenty or thirty feet deep below them.
The bottom was cobbly, rocky and gravel
mostly gravel. AT Mormon bar the bluff
hills were fifteep!or twenty feet high. Mined
on Oregon bar By digging four or five feet
deep, carrying the dirt TO the river and wash
ing il out in rocker" The dirt came from
near the river. Miners in fairly good dig.
gings, would wssh out about three hundred
would carry the buckets to the rocker, aud
the other wash il out, dipping up The water
with dipper This was the OILY kind of
miniag then. The bar was then composed of
clay, cobsle stones, gravel and earth. At my
place in 1858 the river banks were high and
bluff on the south less so on the north, and
then farther down would rise again. The
water was comparatively clear up to 1858,
was a little riley then, and then got clear,
and so remained until 1862. That year we
had the highest water known by any marks.
Had more water then than since, think.
The water was celored then. I noticed very
little deposit Of sand and gravel until after
that flood never saw any deposit Of sand or
gravel on the lands until thsn-that is to any
extent. After the food Of 1862 began to
see bars In the river when it got low. The
bars since then have got larger, and there are
more OF them, and in the last fve years they
have increased very rapidly. They latterly
form efterer
AS ISLANDS
In the river. They are composed of coarse
and grayish looking sand. Witness identified
No. g. Hodgdon as the kiud of sand in
first in 1862, and it has grown coarser since it
began to come down. A deposit of gravel is
on my place which 1 suppose came out of the
river. Some came there in 1862, some last
year. I've seen it there from the size of
birds egg to hens egg. Some of it goes
back hundred rods from the river bank,
opposite a low place in the bank. There is
no overflow on any land I cultivate save
where I have a few fruit trees, and that don't
amount to much.
THIS Low PLACE
Was some fifteen feet above low-water mark
that is, the gravel had to get fifteen feet
above the bed of the river to get in there.
The bars show in the bed of the river first in
the summer in the beginning of winter they
appear to wash off and lower; in the
.spring, as the SHOWS melt, and the river
rises, they form again and show bigger.
When the SLOWS melt the river viii rise and
fall in "a hours some two feet more or less,
dependent on the warmth of the day and the
coldness of the night The water of the
river at my place is bad. Ore could drink it
if he couldn't get better. Stock will drink it
at any time. 1t is not good for family use.
When / went to my place in 1858 the river
banks were from twenty to forty feet high.
There were then rifles in the river there are
none now. Don't have to sink so far now
for well water as in 1858. Never have seen
the river come down in waves. A bucket of
the river water might give settling of one
sixteenth of an inch. The water, in places,
is ten feet shallower than when l first went
there in some places rot 80 much. Have
seen salmon going up the American river. /
don't know OF seeing any salmon In the river
since 1862.
Crogs-examination Thy Mr.. Catlin)-I was
mining in August and September OF 1S49 on
Oregon bar. There were about 100 men on
that bar when left. l visited the bar the
following May. What was called Farmers
diggings was on my place. These diggings
were worked by water frem the Natoma
Ditch Company. They we're worked until
1865. The extent of the mines was not mere
than quarter of mile. These diggings
were of various depths, from one foot to four
teen feet. There has been little sand depos-
tied in my orchard. This sand was deposited