Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-16

mile. Hoagland's is right opposite the pres
ent mouth of the American river.
Parts of the lands thus covered
were, in 1850, covered with tules,
and part was cuitivstable land. Thsy began
| to settle and cultivate from 1850 to 1852
From the American river, down as far as the
| sediment goes, there are, in twenty miles,
from fifteen to twenty farms very materially
of them ruined. They were originally culti-
waited, and some of them are cultivated now
| in part; some are utterly abandoned. One
of the Hoagland places is abandoned. Reeds
orchard is filed from two to Six feet deep
with sand; some parts of the farm are still
good, but it is materially damaged. Hoag.
! lands was cultivated continuously up
to three years ago, but for ten
years it has steadily decreased in
ceasing of cultivation has been grad
ual-since the failure of the general sys-
! tenn of leveeing, say since 1S6O-the de-
| crease Of value and cultivation has gone on.
| The cuitivatable width along the river was
frcm one.half to one mile it grew large oak
| timber. In ordinary seasons it was not so
subject to overflow but that it was valuable
for crops. The land originally was very val
liable. The lands are now covered, some
six inches. some three feet. some four feet,
some six feet. The rising of the water in the
ground is now such that we can't cultivate
the lands early enough to get paying crops,
and the water rises in the ground because it
| is so high in the river, and that is because the
beds of the rivers have risen. Washington
has from 800 to LOCO people in it. It is laid
out in streets. There is very little industry
carried on there. People living there depend
mostly on work obtained in Sacramento. The
town has homes, places of business, etc.
| The water flows into the town from break
above it and just opposite the American
river. 1t flows across the town and fills it
up full. Last year it covered every foot of
original soil in the town. The overfows have
ruined the town.. Real estate values are
merely nominal. No one lives there but
would be glad to get out of it. We stay
there because our homes are there. In 1850,
| and on the Washington bank, we considered
it to be one or two feet higher than on the Sac
! ramento side. We believed we were above
Sacramento. Our levees protectus now, only
| from a current directly across our lands.
Last year the upper part of the town was
swept of several bouses. The deposits in
| Washington, by reason of overflow, are
mainly Of sand. Where the current was
| checked by fences, it filed in some three feet.
! Last winter five or six houses were washed
| away, others tipped over, others turned
around and broken, etc. The deposits de-
perdeiBon the eddies. The general effect has
been to kill the upper half of the town. In
| 1858 the wa .er came over the Sacramento bank
| into Washington, but it came with little force,
and as we had no levees, it only spread over
| the place now when it comes it runs six feet
deep. The winter of 1852 was like that of
1880 as to rainfall. Half to three quarters
of mile back of Washington you pass
through heavy growth of willows. Oriei-
| that strip there is agricultural land. The
arm of tule once there is all filled up, and
willows and otsonwood grow there. In 1868
| q break occurred in the levee opposite Hoag.
! lands. turned his house around and treed him
for the night. No part of the Hoagland
place will now pay to cultivate from season
to season. The prevailing debris on
it is washed white sand; there is
some yellow sediment. The sand fell
| first, as his place is so near the break
| Most of the surface soil has been washed off
SO deep on the part not covered that it is not
worth cultivating. The part covered by
| sediment and sand is from three to four feet
| deep with it. The breaks at Hoagland's have
been nearly opposite the new mouth of the
| American river. The break now open be-
gins about 400 feet above the railroad bridge
| ana Is OPEN up Jo puinG cPtOsilC
| the mouth of the American river. The bedi-
ment In Hoagland's place came from the
| American river The water of that river
| comes loaded with sediment. When
| it sweeps over we see it deposit sediment. We
saw the American river sweep right over the
| Sacramento river and on to Hoaglands land,
and know it deposited the sediment there.
| There are public roads on the Yolo side. One
| leads from the railroad bridge west toward
| XUooJ1apA annttar lands 1nrr-p tho rivor
| They have been used since 1850 as public
roads by the travelling public. These over
| flows for eight or ten years have interrupted
travel on these roads, by washouts and by
overflow of the roadway. For the last
five years we have had but one
winter in which we could travel the road
| from the bridge leading up for the whole
time; it was so we could not pass for four
miles from the water overflow until away
into July, because of the water over the road
| in places, and because of washouts in places
We built q bridge at the English break, on
| the road, but last winter, aud from February
| to May, we could not get to it at all by the
road, because of interception by reason
of breaks, the road being destroyed in
every case for winter travel, and also
| for summer travel until repaired. Now,
with water st sixteen feet above original
low-water mark, our roads are intercepted
| by water flowing in from the river.
But formerly the water had to overflow the
| natural banks, and between the original and
present low water mark there is from FIVE to
six feet of difference. There is another pub
| lie road across the tules to Davisville, but it
is seldom used in winter, anyhow, as it crosses
the deep tule. Ten years ago, on the Yolo
side, there were several fine orchards, then
cared for. There is not now an orchard bear
| ing any stone fruit from Fremont to Steam
| boat Slough, because the water rises so early
| in the ground that it kills the roots. I have
| been interested in agriculture since 1868. In
| that year 1 became Secretary of the State
Agricultural Society, and was such for eight
years, and looked deeply into agricultural
subjects. Since 1873 have been a term
cety, and continuously agricultural edi-
tor of the SACRAMENTO RECORD UNION.
For ten years l have been practical
! farmer. From 1850 to 1854, deep water
ships or vessels came up the Sacramento
river to Sacramento. They ceased to come,
not by the filling of the river, but because
steamboats, were sent, and built here, and the
necessity for large vessels ceased. The filling
of the river has been growing worse and
worse for six or eight years, and up to that
time, think, large ships could have come up
here. fad was mistaken in comparing
the season of 1852 80, and that of 1S60-Sl,
as to waterfall There we're ten inches more
in 1928. In 1850 81 50 50 the tide would
float any steam-ferryboat up stream with
quite force, if we did not point the boat to
| it. The tide then rose here twenty to twenty
| four inches now there is scarcely any per
csptible tide, none to check the current The
tide ebbed and flowed right here, as l know,
and from general information I learned that
| it flowed up to the mouth of the Feather
river, twenty miles above here. In the
mouth of the American river it rose and fell
from twenty inches to two feet. When l
ran steamer up the American, another
| etao,ner slso ran mn thare That wac in b;ph