Sacramento daily record-union., 1881-11-19
land is covered to the depth Of five feet. 1t

! land is covered TO the depth of five feet 1t
| is hard to walk through, and very difficult to
| go through with an empty wagon. l have
| tried to cultivate this character of sand and
desritus, but signally failed. Corn would not
| grow upon it to the hight of six inches. 1
know ths Larue place. It was set out with
6,000 peach trees and great ufauy apple
| trees. 1t consists OF 240 acres. 1t was in
| 1862 6S 81 he made lots of money out of the
| fruit. The water and slickens has entirely
! destroyed it. don't think that there is a
half dozen trees on the whole place. I went
| up and down the Sacramento river Often first
! in 1858 TO San Francisco. Large boats navi-
gated the river in an early day; the Senator,
| Wilson G. Hunt, Bragdon aad others, prior
to 1865. Knew the Queen City to run on
the river. They had no difficulty then at
all. They went through Steamboat slough.
been down Old river also. The ''Hog's
back is right at the end of Steamboat
slough, just below it. After 1868 l noticed
no marked changes in the channel of the river
In the summer of 1867 1 went down
the river several times in low wafer
In 1862 the channel at Sacramento
was deep, and large chips lay at the city
| wharves. The water was clear and the
banks abrupt. didn't notice the sand-bar
/ SDOkH VI ab bhC VI tltc Out VI bu6
| river until 1868, to amount to snything.
Prior to the bar the river was sixteen or
eighteen feet deep. The bar is there now,
and fully sixteen feet Deep It is about as
high as the bank is.
THE WATER
In the American in 1852, in the winter, was
colored with q reddish cast The high wa
ters brought down the matter to color it from
the mining up river. In summer it was clear
as could be. 1t was clear in 1854 and in 1859
also It was clearer once this year, say for
some Two months.
Odd you see it when this suit was COM
menced
Al saw it in the paper. OBJECTED to- J
Witness-Without reference to the com.
mencement of this action, the bridge-tender
and noticed the water was getting clearer.
think it was soon after the commencement of
this action. 1t was quite clear in October.
1t was clearer before the rains fell. 1 think
it was in September I noticed it getting
clearer. There is very little water running
this year. After 1862 up to 1865, it didn't
increase in muddiness. It was about as
muddy in 1862 as it was in any year up
to 1867 and 1868. The worst food we had
ON that side of the river was Christmas night,
1868. That year the river deposited much
sediment and sand on both sides of the river.
It carried the mud or slickens, or what you
choose to call it. 1t carried it a long time.
The Sacramento backed the American up,
and the rivers both kept up. high and kept
muddy all the time, and deposited great
deal of sand. It has been carrying mud ever
since. Since 1862 the water has never got
perfectly clear, but sometimes has been bet
ter than at others. l have seen the American
water run in floods into the Sacramento river
water. The American water then
BEATS EN- ALL.
You could see it so out into the Sacramento
| river, and so thick you could almost stir it
with stick. Il rolled out and went this way
down stream (rolling and waving his hand)
I have seen the mud go in large quantities
out Of the mouth of the American river into
the Sacramento river. In 1862 had to come
to G Court of which | was member, in a
boat, and used to see the sand In the water.
| I could see it go in large quantities The Sac
| ramento in full banks runs three to four
miles an hour ; the American eight to ten.
I've seen waves on the American six to eight
feet high in 1868 At full current no one can
pull over the stream direct in a boat, and no
steamer could go up the center of the current
then unless made on purpose for such work.
I've been on the Mississippi and Missouri.
| Yes, you could see the sand right in the
| water of the American. Dip glass down in
the surface of the stream and bring it up, and
the glass would show the sand settle. I've
seen in the river
WAVES OF SAND;
That is, sand and water in waves water with
sand in it. Have at the mouth of the Ameri-
can seen waves composed of sand IS high as
your head roll into the Sacramento. l saw
them in 1862 and in 1868, and almost every
year they occurred. l have dipped up the
water Of that class often, to see how rnuch
sand was in it; and when a glass was taken
full, Just after the stream has risen, it will
deposit from quarter to three-eighths of an
inch of sand. l don't know what makes tile
waves of sand and water. l have seen these
things ct the mouth of the American, and at
point three miles up. Last year l took up
water out of a comparatively smooth but
swift flowing current in front of my door,
and in bucketful got from three-eighths to
half an inch of sand settings in the bucket.
channel. l have often tested the matter, and
always at the commencement of rise the
river carries the most mud. 1 never tested
the water at the bottom of the current. Iu
the current of the river the water carries
most sand. The river cleans itself out most
at the first rise I; mean generally. The
American rises first, and comes down with
great velocity. The Sacramento being low,
the current cleans out the sand-bars. Then,
| WHICH, tuO liSOo IL IuIOWo DdCh tLS
American, and the deposit is made again by
other deposits coming from the mountains.
I measured that process in 1869. / took a
16-foot pole, and at the bridge landing,
where | moored my boat, could not touch
bottom. In less than two weeks afterward
it filed up there so it was dry land. When it
rains on the snow, the American rises very
rapidly, and the stream comes down with
great force. Then, if the Sacramento rises,
1 &1an faaH EoJ- ha Of
the sand-belt between the city now and the
north bank of the American, where we find
hard bank, is-it is half mile to the bridge,
and then it is little oyer half mile to the
high land beyond, and 100 feet beside, and
all this is sand, and that is the width.
Cross-examination ito Mr.. Catlin)-There
is some sediment there, but l can't say how
deep it is, for large portion is bauled off into
the city. Last year the excavations were re.
placed with sand, and no one can tell now the
depth of the sediment there. The sediment
that came first after the second or third years
of cultivation will produce good crops. The
land up from the bridge toward Larue's was
originally covered with sediment, but it has
been washed off, and sand has lodged on top
of it. Sand may have covered the sediment
without the latter having washed away. The
| land
TRIED TO CULTIVATE
This year. and failed, mad SEDIMENT on IL, and
1 have cultivated it, and received very good
crops after the second and third year. l got
crops the first year, but better the second,
and still better the third year. Fifteen
acres of my land has been covered with that
sand. Mr.. Flint, above me, has 102 acres,
and most of it is covered with sand. 1 know
the character of the place. know where
he raised hops for five years, and raised none
this. Part of that ground had sediment on
nal soil, but sediment was not all over it. All
the ground he raised hops on, except a little,
had little sediment on it. Very little was
entirely free from sediment. Of his land
| there was ten or fifteen acres that had little
sediment deposit on it until this last
year. When the river is rising the
greatest force of the current is not
in the center. I've seen the Sacramento
river when very high. Its swiftest current is
iu the center when it is falling, but when