Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-04-15

never could sea thsG TIE noous nau any
other effect on these tail piles than to scatter
them aud level them down and hatten them. -
Up. 1916. In another place ne says;
piles were not SO high, more sold,
settled down, more f,t, with not SO
much sand and more rock and gravel ; but If
you followed down you would see the SAND
further down. The tail piles after being
washed by the food are very hard and COM
pact-harder than the original bank-and
there is more work to cut through them than
to cut through the bank" He spoke also of
Pennsylvania Flat, on the south side of the
American river, little below Folsom, and
10 the neighborhood of Alder creek, and he
said that " the tailings lay there yet" Min
ing substantially ceased there some twelve
years ago, and yet the tailings are still there.
Notwithstanding all this testimony from
their own witnesses. the gentlemen insist that
they have proved that the material that this
defendant puts in, as well as all the material
that other hydraulic miners put in the
mountain rivers, is secured out by every
food and is carried down and lodged here in
our rivers.
l could continue these references TO the
testimony, but will refer to the description of
only one other witness, a surveyor and civil
engineer. who has acquired an intimate
knowledge of the country and the river. L
refer to Mr.. Knight, who for come twelve or
thirteen years was the manager of the Notema
Water and Mining Company believe from
there, in 1866 that he took the level
of the deposits in the American river
below the bridge at that point, for the reason
that the company was then intending to con-
struct dam at point about mile and a
half above the bridge, and above where the
present branch State Prison stands, for the
purposes of water-power canal. In
the year 1866 they placed in the bed of the
river q dam made of stone, which has re.
manned there ever since. For the purpose of
ascertaining what fall could be obtained for
the canal, he measured the deposits in the
river at that time, and few days before
coming on the stand in this case he
measured them again, and he says that they
have increased just below the bridge twelve
feet, and that further down the river, at the
lower end of Folsom, they have increased to
depth of fourteen feet since that time; and
he says that these filings are annual deposits.
He says that these deposits have steadily
increased in depth year by year. He also
measured the bars in the South Fork, COM
mencing at point below the dam OF the Ma
toma Water and Mining Company at point
about twelve miles further up, and extending
over the section of the river with which he
had been familiar for a great many years.
He had seen these bars almost every day. On
the cross. examination General Hart put this
question: "Q-Is it not true that these bars
ia the river wash out and fill up again A.
Those that l have measured have not
washed out since I have known them. O.
Each year these bars are washed out and other
bars are formed the mining being very ex-
tensive, the deposits are made? A.-No, sir.
Q-Tbat could not be true. A.-No, sir.
Q-It might possibly bs true? Alt is
possible, but not probable. because it is not
probable that bar will take the same shape
each succeeding year." IL do not conclude
that any of it washes off," 1.-The II feet of
deposit at Folsom was what accumulated
there after 1866, in addition to what had
accumulated there before that time" He
referred also to the subject of the :" securing
OUT of the river, and gave many facts aud
reasons showing that the securing theory
is deusion. In excavating for the founda-
ton for the water-power dam near
the State Prison site in 1866. where the fall of
the river is above the average, he found
twenty-nine feet deposit Of small cobbles,
gravel and sand (p. S222). The increase of
filling in the river at Folsom had been more
rapid in the last few years preceding 1879
than before, because of the renewed mining
operations on Maine Bar and Texas Hill in
1876, 1877, 1873 and 1879 (p. 1902. He
had himself in those years run claim
there which used 800 inches of water.
After that he is asked this question 90
Do these deposits in that particular stretch
wash out during the winter" He is describ-
ing parts of the river where the banks had
widened out beyond the ordinary width, and
where the river had less grade than where it
was narrow To that question he answered.
81 think they stay there"
That was mis- deliberate judgment, based on
his observatlon-an almost daily observation
for twelve years-and that outweighs all the
speculations and all the testimony, if any
thing has been produced on the other side
that could be called testimony, tending to
show that the effect of the floods in the river
is to scour out these deposits. OF course it
will not be claimed that the effect of the wa
tiers, not only in the winter, but in the sum-
mer, is not to carry down some portion Of the
loose sands in the rivers.
DEPOSITS BETWEEN PICKERING's BAR AND
RIcE's BRIDGE.
Upon the subject of the deposits between
chickering's Bar and Rice's bridge, their quaa-
tity, their character and the effect of floods
upon them, little more need BE- added to what
has been said by counsel who have already
addressed the Court. the only valuable tes-
timony upon that whole subject is furnished
by the defense. Speaking in a general way
upon this subject, l take the testimony of
engineers, who carefully measured the
width of the river in ffty-two places in
a distance of nine miles; who had
a personal acquaintance with the
river at that point-Mr. Ursn for twenty.
five years and Mr.. Colby for thirty ysars-and
who informed themselves, from ali available
and reliable sources, as to the depths of the
deposits, to bs better evidence than that
of the party of horsemen, strangers to the
river, knowing nothing Of its history, nor
caring to acquire Knowledge of il from
those who could have informed them who
spent an afternoon in riding down the river
guessing at its width, depth of its deposits,
and other features, depending, although en-
called their practiced eyes," as substitutes
for the implements of their trade in measur-
ing widths, lengths, nights, grades, etc.
Their "practicad eyes, were at fault. because
their widths of the river are very considera-
bly, less than those given by Mr.. Uren and
ascertained by instrumental measurement.
The prosecution evidently thought it i'm
portant to inform this Court, as a material
part of their case, of the character of the
river at this point, which is 3D. close to where
the defendant discharges lis debris. Their
purpose in introducing this worthless evil
6enee, when it was easy for them TO have pro-
vided reliable testimony, is not readily d.
vined. Using round numbers, which are more
and sufficiently accurate, we
lind their estimate of the quantity of deposits
between Piokering's Bar and Rice's bridge
gives 1000 900 cubic yards. and for the Sec
ton of the river from Rice's bridge to the
mouth of the Middle Fork, 5 900, OO0 The
made no measurement of the last
named section of the river, not deemlng it
necessary to go below the rocky canyon occu.
plying about three miles of the river bed i'm
me diately below Rices bridge, where
it knew that nobody could find
any material from its mine. 1t, however,
furnishes accurate and reliable measurements
# the deposits between Rice's bridge and
Bar, within which section it
knew, as everybody in that section of coun-
Try knows, their material is to be found.
This measurement shows that the amount
in that section is 100000 cubic
yards. If the horseback and "prac.
iced eye" measurement of the Sec
ion below Rocky Canyon is as much an
of the real quantity as it is of
The upper section, and we may conclude that
t is, as it was made with even less effort to
get at the truth, then we may reasonably
estimate that 10000. 900 cubic yards of de-
posits are lying on the % miles of river bed
between chickering's Bar and the mouth of the
Middle Fork