Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-18
DEBRIS.
FoRTY-EoURTH DAY OF TIE sLIcKENs
CASE IL COURT.
Testimony fer the Defense Engineering
and Hydraulic Expert Testi-
mony Of Importance.


The debris case was resumed yesterday at
$50 A. N. before Judge Temple.
P. NJ Randall sworn for defense TO Mr..
Dibble)-Been in California since 1919
Have had large experisncs as civil engi-
neer and in hydraulic and mining engineer.
ing. Am the author of several works on ap-
piled mechanics. Visited Sacramento city
about October 20. 1S49. Tae drainage area
of the Sacramento valley ia about 5000
square miles. Game to Sacramento in a
ship to Benicia. Had trouble in San Pablo
bay. Grounded there for six hours. till high
tide. The draft Of the ship was from four
teen to fifteen feet. Came up the river
in sloop. At Sacramento we found
six or seven sea-going light draft ves-
sels. They were not ships. They made
fast to the bank by ropes to trees and dis
charged csrgoes on the banks. Engaged in
the lumber business here-also in vegetable
business. There was very little farming
then. Tbs Sacramento river then YVES some-
what muddy, and the American slightly dis
colorea. The food OF 1850 rose or feet
over the banks of the river here. The popu-
lation vi Sacramento then was about TO- OOO.
During the flood the people went to boats,
high lands and TO San FRANCISCO. After the
food filthy slime and sediment covered the
city. The next food was in 1873. IL was
not so high IS in 1850 the after condition
of the city was like that in 1850. So far as
YOU could see il was q sea OF water-prooably
to the foothills. When l first came here saw
sand deposits at the cemetery and on Poverty
ridge showing old floods have been higher
than in 1850, 1852 3-say II to Is feet higher
than the food water, or 90 feet above the
banks of the river. In 1919 so tie width of
the Sacramento river was about 700 feet,
and of the American 400 feet. or thereabouts.
To carry the hood-waters of 1850 or of 1852
the river, withits then depth, would have had
to be mile wide. Its discharge then was
about ], 900 feet per second. The flow Of the
river in 1850 was TIC 360-1,0 900. Have tested
a profile Of cToss-section survey of the
country between here and Davisville. Pro-
file offsred in evidense, Smiths exhibit
CT L. represents a cross section of the
waterways through the railroad embank-
ment. In the food of 1881 the waterway of
the Sacramento was about 20, coo square feet
in the river, as shown by cross-section.
The water way IN the tules between here and
Davisville was 120.00S. through ths railroad
embankment. About from one-eighth to
one-se7enth of the Il Jod OF 1881 was carried
by the river It would have taken seven or
eight rivers like the Sacramento to carry the
food / arrive at this by the formulas OF the
standard engineering authors and by my own
experience. II in 1881 the high-w lter mark
west of Washington had been as high as in
1850 the gross amount Of water discharged
opposite Sacramento would have been twice
as much. The levees on the river retain
the waters and guide them and so keep them.
to an extent, out of the tules. Waters re-
main in the Sacramento valley in food times
so long for lack Of sufficient fall and outlet.
Since 1853 I have been on the American
river and its watershed. Was there in Octo-
Der, November and December, 1881. l made
o reconnaissance of different portions of the
the river. began at the Yolo bridge, thence
up the left bank of the Sacramento to the
American, thence to the Twelfth treet
bridge, thence to Folsom, touching the river
wherever practicable. l noticed the mouth
of the American was further up than in 1919
The American river formerly discharged at an
acute angle to the Sacramento river now it
enters nearly at right angles, aud the effect
is to dam up the waters of the Sacramento
in fact o mutual damming up of the
waters of the two rivers. The tendency
then is to tear away the entertainments on the
Sacramento river. opposite the American,
and an overflow follows. Saw the banks Of
the American worn away, and much debris
in the river. The erosions near Alder creek
were large, the banks worn away, the river
one-ouarter of mile wide, and its bed filed
with c0bbles Saw evidences of mining there
and Fear Folsom, and saw mining going on
at Folsom. The tailings were being emptied
into the river, and some being out to form
land. My second section was from Folsom to
Placerville, my third from there to Gold Run.
Saw along these routes evidences, to a large
extent, of old gulch and placer mining some
of the remains were on the ground some in
the gulehes still. Examined the Gold Run
lnines found the material washed away
had been lighter than that remaining
The lower part Of that remaining was ce-
mented, the upper was pressed together, as it
were To remove the remaining material
would be very difficult ten per cent Of it
might be removed in the river six miles, ons
per cent. ten miles, and only an impercept.
ible quantity would reach Sacramento, for
the laws OF suspension would prevent. The
specific gravity uf the material III the mine
the upper parts 2.S1, the lower is , 567
that is, the original material before treatment
in both cases. Material of that specific
gravity cannot be carried by two-mile cur
rent to any extent. The area of the Sscra-
mento, from Folsem to Suisun bay, is about
2G0 square miles. If all the material, 600 coo
cubic yards. displaced in the Gold Run
mine, was deposited from Folsom down, the
deposit on the 200 miles would make I'LL of
1-333d part of o foot over the whole area.
I found no granitic formations in the Gold
Run mine, nor any mica. The sands in the
Gold Run mine were barren OF mica. Those
in the American river are rich in mica. The
granitic matter came from the granite belt
above Auburn. Slickens, so-called, contains
the elements necessary to vegetable produc-
ton, and does not contain the elements OF
disease. The matter from the Gold Run
mines does not affect the rivers materially,
or their nsvigability, or that of the bays, for
no appreciable quantity of it reaches there.
Examined the bays of San Francisco and
San Pablo to see If any of the material
reached there took soundings to see if there
had heen any filling: was in company with
body of engineers and navigators then. Com
pared the fourteen soandings taken with those
OF the coast survey of 1862, and I found
no appreeiabls difference. Took fourteen
samples of the bottom; found them to be
covered with mud, grayish or dark. Taey
showed no mineral grit or mining sediment
ascsrtained that by touch. The soundiogs
were not all taken in the navigable channels, |
but some on the sides. Some were taken eff
the San Francisco water front, in the line of
Stockton street, some opposite Napa creek,
some eff Oakland, some near Collinsville, in
She Sacramento river. For the most part
the samples in the Sacramento showed no
mineral sediment. The bar at the Golden
Gate is formed by ocean currents, not by
mining deposits. Found no sand samples in
the bay Ike these sand from Heuley's land
IN Yolo opposite Sacram ontol Fount
nosuch sands as these in the Gold
Run saine Found in the bay no sand
like this, except at Collinsville where the
sample Tesembled this very much [sand
taken three. quarters of mile above the Sac
ramento bridget. Found no sand like it in the |
Gold Ran mine; this is micacous-that is
not Found nothing in the bay resembling
this, save that at Collinsyille [sand from
old b.r in old mouth of the American riverl
Nor did I 6nd any sands in the Gold Run
mine like this. Found nothing in the bays
of San Francisco or San Pablo resembling
this material from the Sacramento river at
z. Dole's, below and near Sacramento cityl
Nor did find any such sand in the Gold Run |
mine. These are micacous-that is not. An |
eight-mils current in the river will not re-
move a quarry rubble stone containing a |
half cnbic foot. Know that by experience |
and the standard authorities [uaming them1 |
WITNESS at length and in detail gave toe |
technical rules and formula for ascertsining |
the velocity aud hydraulic mean depth of |
q stream, and illustrated by mathematical /
examples. making out the problems in each |
case by algebraic signs. In this exempli6ea- /
tion, according TO the claims of counsel, he I
a. A..