Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-01-12
tant from the dump, except such as is carried
in suspension.
Recasa
Afternoen session.

|
steep grades, than 1,500 inches moves in the
present gravel mines WITNESS described
the canal system and the sources of their
supply very minutely.l There are over LOCO
miles of bitches in that county. l estimate
the population of Nevada county to be % 600,
and of that number 10000 are dependent
upon the mining Industry. They have happy
| homes, and nearly every miner has little
garden and few fruit-trees. They live
happy life, under their own vine and
| fg.tree, when they are permitted to
pursue their daily avocations. The natural
wash from thu hill-sides. steep roads, trails,
plowed ground, denuding the mountains OF
the timber. our heavy frosts etc, is very
heavy. The Narrow Gauge Railroad IN Ne.
vada county was built by minors to transport
miners supplies. This road is % miles in
| length. extending from Nevada city Co Col
fay. in Placer county. The stockholders OF
that road are miners It's value depends al
together on the mining interests. The nat.
ural wash since 1875 is ten times greater than
the mining wash. Nothing moved in the
mining claims Of that section except that car
ried ia suspension. At least $500, 600 900 have
| been taken from the mines of Nevada county.
| Over $50. 600 600 were taken out between
| French Corral and North San Juan. Over
| 5000. 600 0G0 remain in the mines of that
county yet to be mined.
Gross examination 10y Attorney General
| Hart)-I regard Sacramento, in the days OF
| 1S49 and 1850, as a mining camp, just as
much as would had it been located 10 the
heart Of the mines. 1t was mining supply
town, and its only trade was that with the
miners. Agriculture was then unknown.
The wealth that is in San Francisco to-day is
almost entirely the fruits Of mining. In 1S49
| IL ~ ~ niaor lipny,i1
stream of water at al points above the town
of Fremont. l have Travelled up and down
on the rivers between MarYsville and Sacra-
mento perhaps more than one hundred times.
l never have been on the Sacramento river
above its junction with the Feather. In 1913
l saw brigs, schooners, and ships on the river
at Sacramento. The prison brig was used as
a jail, or prison, and was owned by the city.
| Violators of the peace were there incar-
cerated. The graveyard that spoke of was
this side of the present cemetery. between
w and V, on about line with
| Tenth street. During the food OF
| 1919, as far as l could see east, north, south
and west, all was one vast immense see Of
water. It extended, as far as my observation
went, from foothills to foothills. The mining
population of Nevada county to-day is about
one-half Of what it was in 1850. Since these
| iDjunctions were got out, over LOCO Chinese
have gone to work on the different rivers.
| Witness described the gravel formation In
the section where he resides. The American
mine, near North San Juan, has bank oil
from 100 to $50 feet. There is from ten t.
| fifteen feet OF the blue gravel on the bedrock.
Above this blue deposit, the balance, with
the exception of about fifteen feet of cement
and the soil, is loose gravel. Nothing from
this mine goes any distance down stream,
except that carried in suspension, and the
amount carried In suspension is quite small,
There is mine called the Kennebec, which
has been miRed for years, and which dumps
into Shady creek. They have worked off
forty acres in the mine to an average depth
of eighty feet. Shady creek is, perhaps,
| has been washed into Shady creek to various
depths. The filling up of this creek with de-
bris destroyed the property of many little
miners. This led to litigation, and the small
miners were beaten in the Courts. Where
the Yuba Company at Sebastopol dumps into
the river they have great trouble with their
tailings. They pile up at the mouth of the
dump, and often have to remove it by labor.
| The river current does not apparently have
any effect on that debris. The grade of
Shady creek is very small. I don't know the
velocity of the river near North San Juan.
| It perhaps in summertime runs at the rate
of a mile an hour. The Middle Fork, at
high stages. runs down with the velocity of e
torrent. The deposits in its channel are
swept down the stream q short distance
and then permanently lodged. Witness
described the construction and use Of
Inducements. I do not know that
slate or granite rock decomposes
aud forms sand. From 1S49, at places where
l have seen mines in operation, the practice
has been to dump your tailings into the near
| Ill
natural channel. l do not know the number
Of cubic yards mined since 1879. neither do
know the extent of the natural wash during
that time. / judge that the natural wash
during that period is ten times greater than
| the material moved in the mines. The red
| soil or surface in the neighboThood of North
San Juan varies in depth from three to six
feet. The surface of all gravel deposits be-
fore they have been disturbed by human
power, is always found covered with snail
| quartz pebbles. The timber in the neighbor-
hood of San Juan has bee1 nearly all cut
| down. There is not an oak or pine tree
within two miles of the town.
| Redirect examination 10y A. b. Dibble)--
All the American population residing in San
Francisco in 1849 90 5l-52-53 were entirely
dependent or the mining industry. There
was no other Interest known at the time, and
they lived off the trade with the miners. Tho
| food of 1861 and 1862 carried down the rivers
the material that was deposited in their chan.
nels by the early miners.
DAVID L BOWERS
| Sworn. Direct examination 10y A. B Dbl
| ble)-I came to California in 1850, ard at
present reside at Michigan Bluff, in Placer
county. / am acquainted with portions Of
the Middle and North Forks of the American
liver. The Middle Fork from its junction
with the North to its source is about 100 miles
in length. The North Fork is of greater
length than the middle Witness named
the different bars in the Middle and North
Forks The bars in those rivers vary in
depth from ten to eighty feet. There was
more mining on those rivers in 1854 and
1855 than at any period since. In 1855 there
was solid string of fame from Gray Eagle
Bar down the river for distance of sixteen
miles. The filings Of the channels of the
! North and Middle Forks are of similar
character, and about the same in depth. In
my judgment the natural wash in that Sec
ton is several times greater than the wash
! from the mines. Witness enumerated the
different causes OF natural wash. The early
mining was in light loose soil and gravel.
The material remaining to bs washed is
very heavy, dense, and largely composed
OF solid matter. The gravel is heavy,
and the sand also. The largest portion of
| tl5 presSDI washing Oh LuUS6 LILIES uOS5 HOb
go, and never will reach, point 200 yards
from the dump. There are about $50 mines
| in operation at this time on the Forest Hill
divide. They dump into the North and Mid
die Forks, Brushy, FL Dorado and Shirt-Tsil
canyons. The mines at Forest Hill and
Michigan Bluff dump into the Middle Fork.
There are from l, 500 to 1000 people on that
divide dependent on the mining interest.
There are nearly Is men engaged at Damas-
Gus in mining the Mountain Gate and Sunny
South. They ara DRIFT mines.
Gross examination 10y George Cadwalader)
Ponds mine is at Todd's valley. The Oar
danelles, mile and half distant, is both a
hydraulic and drift mine. The Big Gun is
/ the olly hydraulic mine being worked at
Michigan Bluff. All the hydraulic mines are
fitted out with giants. There are only three
hydraulic mines that have been failing into
the Middle Fork for the last three years.
There are some places in the Middle Fork
where the bedrock is exposed. The hillsides
are very precipitous. Have known the river
at Michigan Bluff to rise twenty feet in one
night. These rivers are not nayigable. ]
was raised in Summit county Ohio.
Court adjourned to $50 A. N. to-day.
| s-zEz-.z-zz-zz-
FEAT OF JOURNALISM.
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