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

through those groves I saw debris matter
| lodged in the trees at q hight Of ten feet.
Since 1870 there has been but one year that
the river has staid inside of its banks. When
| the American river rises, it comes down like
torrent, and carries on its surface trees and
other debris. The land is rendered valueless
by this covering of debris. My house is bull!
| six feet above the original surface, and last
winter it came within eighteen inches of my
| floor. The deposits on these lands that !
have been describing is four or five feet deep.
| The country north of the river is nearly
ruined. Very few people live there at pres.
ent, where it formerly was thickly settled
A great quantity of this sand is carried into
the Sacramento river. I know this to be
| true from the fact of the bsr formed lust be-
| low the mouth of the American. also have
seen this sand and slickens moving along in the
has filed up considerably, and large bars have
been formed in its channel.
CRoss-ExAMINATIoN.
ITO Mr.. Catlin)-As to that sloping land
on the American river, from the west lire of
my land it was 20 rods back to the lake. Two
leyees were north of Sacramento when came
preached the bank at Sixth street, then fol-
lowed the slough northeast to Ninth street,
then along slough parallel with the river.
Between that slough and the bank of the
river there was 400 acres of good land. Out
side of the old levee were still other lands.
the English, the Mccoy, the johnson and
other ranches. McCoy's was on the bottom
between Tenth and Sixteenth streets ex.
tended, and the American on the north, and
between the old levee and the river. 1t was
more subject to overflow than others,
but it was cultivated and yielded good
crops, At my house the levee was less than
two feet high; at the sloughs it was about
four feet, and these were along the bank. In
the highest places the levee was four feet
high; that was in depressions. Nowhere
was it eight feet high. The lands covered
that refer to are north of the city, and be-
tween it and the American river. Formerly
the city extended out there, but changes
were made. The old levee ran about Sixth
and north B streets, I think. There these
outside streets were then unopened. wit
ness illustrated on map, but did not recog-
nize it as map of Sacramento city rs he
knew it, The island I spoke of was south
of the river. It was in part cleared up and
cultivated, and in part grown over thickly
with willows and cottonwood. Land that
grows willow and cottonwood least that
land-produced finely. Cottonwood and viii.
low were the general growth along the rivers.
On higher lands there was oak. The sand
the debris I mean, if said sand before
came from the mountains; and now I say
that the sand came from the mountains, be-
cause it was accompanied with clay that we
find only in the mountains and Mines The
sand might come, in part, from the alluvial
bottoms of the American river ten miles from
here. Some may have come from Mississippi
Bar and some from lands ten to twenty
II, 1,,S g.. L L. u
of it. Some of the soil washed by the food
of 1862 might be in the river, but that soil
is not of sand. If 800 acres of sandy loan
was then washed into the river ten miles
above here, no doubt it would make show
ing here. l saw that
CLAY IN THE MOUNTAINS.
Dorado and Placer, in the the section of Iowa
Hill and Yankee Jims. In my section there is
not much of the white clay, but more of the
dark kind. 1 suppose that " slickens means
this poisonous substance that comes from the
mines. will bring some of the clay and the
slickens to Court on Friday. I call it poison
Gus substance. I never analyzed it. I know
it by its effect-that if it comes on the soil it
kills vegetation; vegetation won't grow on it.
Even if plowed into the soil, to q great ex.
tent. it spoils the soil. l produced paying
crops till four Yeas ago; l mean those that
pay more than expenses. Saw the white
clay in my place, first, about four years ago.
Larue's place has debris on it to an extent.
Have been there only occasionally of late.
l knew it when he cultivated it. Cinnamon
tried to cultivate it, and gave it up. Most of
the land up there that was cultivated has
been abandoned. Ga the north bank of the
American river there is no land culti-
waited from the railroad bridge to Lisle's
bridge to amount to anything. Above
that, there is a long stretch of land.
was up there this past summer
and saw but little cultivation there. I saw a
patch of vegetables here and there. Hops
are extensively grown about four miles above
there. The willows are utilized for hop.
poles a great deal Probably $4,000 hop
poles were cut up there this last year. That
land is covered with debris that came on
there since 1862, since 1868. The food of
1862 brought but little on those lands. The
hop land ia cultivated now, and has been for
many years. The American river carries,
or has the capacity of carrying, at low water
now as much as always, but at high water,
by reason Of it being filed up, its carving
capacity is greatly reduced. I saw on Ban
mons land the float OF floods as high up in
trees as where [ was, when | drove along.
The sand appears to be composed of granite
and quartz-it has that appearance. l never
IN de any analysis of it,
MORE ABOUT THE RIVER.
Redirect Ito Mr.. Hars)-The hop lands are
two miles above the lands concerning which
you examined me. The American river runs
rolling hills begin I know, in act, that the
country gradually raises as you go up the
American river. The hop lands are about
four miles above Lisle's bridge. Some Of the
hop ranches are near the river, some not. As
you go up river the water falls off of the land
much quicker than down at my place. Those
hop lands show no coarse sands they are of
fine alluvial soil. The levee OF 1856 that
described is now covered up. TIE levee now
protecting the city on the north is about ten
feet high, guess. Last winter the water,
should judge, came within two and one
half feet Of the top of the leyee. In 1865
the water came to the top of the levee at
Brighton. It has bean raised since then.
RUDOLPH wITTENBSoCK
Was next sworn for plaintiff. Ito Mr.. Cad
walader)-I live at Sacramento; have been
in California since 1858. I now farm on the
American river, and have done 80 for about
fourteen years. raise hops four or five miles
above Lisle's bridge, on the Ell Paso ranch. L
crossed the American river in 1858 frequently,
with a team, from the north side, in coming
to town from o camp called "Teamsters'
Home" The river then was clear; could
see the bottom Of it from the wagon as 1
crossed. The banks were timbered. The
ford was where Lisles bridge is now. 1 saw
the river in 1855; lived over there then. |
settled on Dry creek, north of the river. and
lived there seventeen years. Ran the hop
ranch aud lived on Dry creek at the same
time. Dry creek is some four or five miles
from the hop ranch, which is on the river bank.
started the hop ranch in 1867. 1 noticed
bars forming in the American river in 1865 9.
That was in front of my house. The cur
rent of the river has changed and washed
away forty rods of my place. know of hop
ranches being washed out and abandoned.
That was within the last three or four years.
One of them is, in part, worked yet by Chi
nese. Sand mostly occupies the place of the
IS or so acres washed away, the biggest por-
tion being now sand.bars. Nothing will
grow in that sand It blows about with the
wind like sea Of dust. The bar formed OPP
posite my place is over 100 acres in extent
now, and from there down to the railroad
trestle-work there are several such bars. !
first saw the American river in 1858. Since
then the river has filled, should think, as
much as ten feet, with what looks like sand.
ONE OF THE BIG BARS
The one above the railroad trestle-is within
two or three feet as high as the bank of the
- Ios II Al - E..