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

flow around the Cemetery and come back
into the city He said that ordinarily II
flowed down towards Sutterville and spread
cut over the natural surface, Burns
slough is really river When we
compare it with some OF these Mule
streams thst have been spoken OF here, aua IL
might be SO called, for there are many
streams in California that are designated as
rivers that are really no larger than Burns
slough, and carry no more water III the WIN,
ter. The north leyee cut off from the mead
of Burns slough the drainage OF some elgnt
or ten square miles. Yet there was enough
of drainage that remained to make is a
very important contribution to the accumu-
lation of water here in wet winters ana Id
wet springs. A year ago, for the hrst time'
the city turned Burns slough entlrely OUT
side its corporate limits, by cutting IL on at
point further down its course. and carrying IL
in an artificial canal outside Thirty hrst street
to the southeast corner of the city, where
Thirty-frst street intersects Y, and then
down Y street on the outside CT the leyee to
Sixth, and then discharging it into what Is
called the Drainage Canal. That slough has
been heretofore enc of the contributors TO
what has been spoken CT in this testimony as
the accumulation of soil or subterranean
water in this city, and all the mischiefs of
every kind of which it has been the author
for thirty years have been marsha!ed IN the
testimony in this case against this de1endanI'
The testimony of Mr.. Knox and Captain
Kidder completely refuted the attempt made
on the part of the prosecution to make 1t ap-
pear that the
PUMPING OF WATER
In 1873 and 1881, was a novelty in the expe-
lience of this city. This pumping out over
the R-street levee il 1878, and over the
street levee in 1881, of the waters accumu-
lating in the southern part of the city, 1t was
pretended, was one of the effects resulting
from modern mining-from mining with
monitors and little giants The remoteness
of this effect from the alleged cause ought to
be a sufficient answer to the pretense. But
the facts show that the causes OF those pump
ing operations were precisely the same causes
which produced the same effects before moni-
tors or little giants were ever heard OF, and
before the Sacramento river had received any
considerable debris deposits. The R-street
levee was constructed in 1858 as barrier
against back water from the tule
1863 it was a frequent occurrence
for the city authorities to pump out of the
lower part of the city the water accommodating
there during the rainy season. This waite rcol-
lec.ed there because there was no opportunity
for it to flow downwards into the lakes and
tule basin below. To open the r street levee
would let more water into the city than would
flow out. This was the precise situation in
1878, when, in consequence of the break in
the Ievee on the Sacramento at Lovdals
ranch, the water in the tule basin was un-
usually high and pressed the R-street levee
SO hard as to threaten it with destruction.
As more etfectual protection against the
dangers of this back water, and also to pro-
tect the residents between r and Y streets,
the city in 1879 constructed the Y-street
levee, SO that now there are two leveas to
protect the city from the back waters of that
tule basin. Then, again, in 1881 at the time
of the Mesick and Fern breaks, the tuls
waters raised SO as to stand for some months
against the Y-street levee. And during this
period the city authorities resorted to the
same means to get rid of the water in the city
that they had so often employed in earlier
years, when there was nobody to complain Of
mining. and nobody to imagine that hydraulic
mining extraordinarily or remotely was
in any way the cause of the difficulty.
Some thirty blocks in the southern part of
the city were then covered with water,
between Y street, on the south, extend
ing as far up as NJ street, and from
Second street, on the west, as far east
in some places as Tenth street. Prior to 1878
the levee oil the Sacramento river. below
the city, had been under the control Of a
swamp land reclamation district. lmmedi-
ately after the Lovdal break, as further
measure for self protection, the city procured
an Act of the Legislature, which was then IN
session. transferring to the City Trustees
authority over those levees, and authority to
construct a drainage canal Wide laws Of
1878, p. $50 Under this Act the drainage
canal described by Mr.. Knox and Mr.. Bas-
sett was constructed. This was the first time
the city had any drainage, and that is the
drainage which it is alleged has bean de-
stroyed By mining operations. II this be
true, as l said before, it would be a serious
cause of complaint. But it is not true and
there is not any connection, not even of the
remotest possible character, between the de-
PENDANT and its operations, or between the
operations of any mining company as cause,
and the alleged defects in the drainage of the
city, as a consequence.
If the city had a drainage, and If that
drainage has been destroyed or seriously III
jured, it must necessarily produce very dele
ferrous results; and il that be established al
a fact, it would follow, as matter of course
! that tie health of the city has been seriously
| affected. Mr.. Knox superintendent the con
struction of this drainage canal as far az
/ Beach's lake, distance of some twelve miles
| The City Engineer laid out the line, and il
cut through the ridge at Sutterville some FL,
teen or twenty feet deep. Before that there
had been no escape for the water there
and it went into the Pccket-a section oil
country commencing about three miles below
! the city, where the river takes a long sweep
TO the west, and then after continuing south
ward for come distance, bends again to the
east. That region is usually known as the
/ Pocket, and the tule, as might naturally be
supposed, spreads out wider there and perhaps
L 4
made the canal comparatively straight, and
got fall of six feet between r street and
tide-water in Suodgrass slough, in distance
of % miles. The city carried the canal only
as far as Beach's lake. 1t was projected tc
go as far as Snodgrass slough, which connect;
with the western branch of the Mokelumne
river, and that empties into the San Joaquin
and the San Joaquin empties into Suisun
Bay. Mr.. Knox says that the drainage of the
city has been improved by that canal, and
that it would be still more improved by build
ing the canal to Snodgrass slough, but that il
will require cut some seven or eight feet
deep through a ridge between B.ach's lake
and Snodgrass slough. No attempt was made
to establish sewerage or drainage until after
| 1862.
Plaintiffs have attempted to support one Of
their grounds of complaint. by drawing from
witnesses who did not know what they were
talking about, by means of leading questions
statements, in the form of opinions. to the
effect that the debris deposits in the rive,
| had destroyed the drainage of the city that
this effect had been produced by obstruction:
/ in the drainage canal caused in some way
! mot explained by any Of them, because none
| Of them knew anything about it,, by debri:
| from the mines. Here is the man who con.
structed the drainage canal, and who knew
/ every foot of it. We called him because we
/ knew that he would, above all others, be able
/ to give us the truth of the matter. lie says
| that, with the exception of the temporary OBJ
| structions caused by the Lovdal break in
| 1873, and the Fern and Mesick breaks il
! 1881, he did not know of any obstruction tc
| the canal that there had been none. except
| such as was caused by the washiugs of tbs
streets, and the debris from the livery
! stables into the sewers, which discharged
/ into the canal. The overhows Of tbs
! tule basin south of the city, caused
/ by the breaks in levees on the Sacramento
| covered that whole section of country, snC
/ of course INSTRUCTED the drainage canal
! After the subsistence of these overfows de-
posits of sand were found in few places
| in the canal, which were Immediately re-
moved. 1t also appeared in testimony
that in few places sediment had beer
| lodged on the Riverside road, and this also
/ had been Immediately removed. / have
/ not alluded to complaint of obstruction tc
: l.. l. 4bara 10 testimony worth