Sacramento daily record-union., 1882-01-19

without the aid of man, for on the upper
waters there is no cultivation of the soil.
Near the Twelve Mile House, below San
Francisco, on the Burr Burr Rancho, there has
been very much deposit made by the streams,
where, In the early days, it was not noticea-
Bile. but is now to be seen as largely increased.
Then, In other parts of this State, as west of
Petaluma, where l am familiar with the hill
wash, the farmers, wherever they cultivate
the hills and remove the grass, find that the
rain waters cut channels, and large eulcbes
are made where formerly only was to be-
found grass land. Back of Oakland, acres
have slid cut; so, too, in March or April,
1880, near Pacheco and Martinez, there were
great washouts. AS TO Russian river, was
familiar with i. when the lands were covered
with wild oats. There was little wash then.
But as cattle were brought in and the wild
oats trampled out, the soil was exposed and
great hill sides have been washed
into the river. At Fort Point Hid,
San Francisco, the erosion on a
small scale illustrates the doctrine, where
they removed some sod, and great washout
followed / visited Putah creek and its drain
age area in 1873, 1876 and 1881. From
1876 to 1881 the width of the creek,
three OF four miles west of Davis
vile, has increased fully one.half, willis the
depth remains the same, and great amount
of material has been forced into the Yolo
basin, and new channels have been cut.
Cache creek changes its point Of deposit at
its mouth the same as Putah creek does. In
my examination of the Putah creek margin,
had to study particularly as TO where 1
could put the end of my base line for monu-
ment station the least subject to disturbance,
and in that search | found a number of old
sloughs covered now by deposits brought down
before the present delta was formed. In the
spring of 1878 I came to Sacramento to see
the ovelaowed country, and then to go down
river to judge of the difficulties in engineer.
ing to keep the waters in the channels. I ex-
amined the river as United States Commits
sioner in 1878 as far up as Redding, to say
nothing of going up to Shasta. know some
thing of its character and its regimen. In
1873 L went into tie dome of the Capitol to
get bird's-eye view over the overflow. It
appeared to extend seven or eight miles be-
yond Sacramento. Relatively, the Sacra-
mento river was carrying but email part of
the water, though the Sacramento ran rap
idly, and that in the tule basin slowly. |
should say three times the water
was going down the basin that was going
down the river. The way levees be-
low Sacramento have been built
and especially around The islands below, has
the rapid discharge of the waters
been built throttles the river and confines it
to its channel. and so retards its rapid dis
charge, and thus increases the deposits up the
river Breaks in the levees only have iccal
effects The fault is that the evees have been
builtso near the banks of the river as to prevent
the river using chapnel.way enough. They
have not been built on any general system,
and have simply increased the hight of the
channel and not its width, and this has been
the result Of attempting to reclaim the low
lands, and of not giving sufficient conaidera-
tion to the demands made on the river by its
floods. Give it breadth, and it will carry
away its waters, except perhaps in extraor-
diraTy foods coming down the Saora
mento valley. The levees on the islands
have been made to reclaim the islands
which, in high floods, were always covered
with water heretofore. visited the Gspges
and some of its large tributaries, as the Some
and Jumpa and also one or two of the tribu-
taries Of the Iudus, also the Nile, the Po, and
its drainage and irrigation systems, and also
the Danube and the tributaries coming out Of
the Alps. Examined the Po at Turin and
points below and down the river to its
mouth, ano its reclamation dykes. The Po
in its lower reaches is above the level of the
marshes, and some of its branches are also.
The region of the Po corresponds largely to
that of the Sacramento. The character of the
streams that come out of the mountains are
very much like ours here, aud bring out from
the hills large amounts of material and de-
posit them much as is done here. The action
of the frosts, too, are about the same, and
the whole situation is more like the Sacra-
mento drainage area than any l ever saw.
The protective works on the Po are very
extensive to prevent iBundation. Some of the
levees are extensive carriage or drive ways.
IL - s
the banks and overflow OF the lands. The
Po when l saw it carried as much mud it its
waters as l ever saw in the Sacramento. We
know by demonstration that tho Po carries a
vast quantity of material. Have examined
the Mississippi and the best authorities on
that river. The Mississippi carries a vast
deal more of water than the Po. As to the
natural wash I'd take the Mississippi as the
best standard of comparison with the Sacra-
mento, because Of the vast area drained and
the varied conditions. Humphreys says the
carries 20 part of the volume of
the water in solid material in suspension. So
it carries annually S,765. 600, 600 cubic feet to
the Gulf of Mexico, including all that Is
pushed along the bottom by action of the
waters. The drainage area of the Sacrs-
ment is p, ,000 square miles, that of the Mis-
sissippi |. pa 600 square miles. Ii the Sac
ramento brought down material in the same
it would be as one is to the other.
The material then brought down would be
ia 240, 900 cubic feet per year from the drain
age of the Sacramento to be discharged. But
locking to the great action of the frosts, the
clearing off of timber, the cultivation
of agricultural lands, and comparing it to the
Po, which it is said carries ten times what
the Mississippi does, then we may say the
carries three times the amount
carried by the Mississippi. The GaDges is
given at three times greater carriage of mat
ter than the Mississippi, and yet it carries
through 800 or 400 miles CT very broad plain,
SO wide YOU cannot sec the hills on either sid.
The Gapges has more delta room than the
Mississippi. Witness in detail described the
Ganges and the Brahmapoo.ra and their
drainage, and then said that, assuming his
figures above to be true, the amount of mate
rial carried by the Sacramento is about 49,.
coo, GOO cubic yards, which should be depos-
tied beyond its mouth annually. Witness
named current-chaBging rivers where there
is no mining, as the Columbia, Danube, Kern,
Rahhee, etc. The latter he described at
length as bringing down an immense amount
of material He described the vast engineer
ing works in India to keep rivers within chan
nels. to maintain artificial channels, to resist
erosion, etc., and the results of such works,
which, however strong, are still sometimes
swept away. Recess.
At the afternoon session the cross-examiua-
tion of Prof. Davidson began by Mr.. Cadwal-
ader. Witness further described the Gsnges
and drainsge system, and also the river Pc,
its delta, its drainage, etc. He said if Suisun
Bay were filed up the effect on the San
Francisco bar would be infnitesimal. The
nsrrowness and shallowness Of the straits of
CarquineZ is not an appreciable obstruction
to the outflow OF the waters Of the Sacramento
aud San joaquin basins. If Suisun Bay
filed up, and a channel Of the river was left
through it smaller than that in the straits of
Carquinez, the waters of the rivers wonld not
discharge quite IS rapidly as now. By con.
fining a river within levees and making it an
artificial stream, as it were, and keeping it
in uniform condition, greater discharge
capacity would be secured than if left In
irregular bounds. The straits Of Carquinez
do not afford larger outlet to the waters OF
the basin dischsrging through them than any
other in the United States with like basins.
The straits are little over half a mile wide.
Never heard of the water rising on the wharf
at Benicia. The river Po enters tideless sea
practically the Sacramento enters tide
waters; but it is not to be said that it is
equivalent to running against stone wall.
The tides facilitate the discharge OF matter
from the bay of San Francisco. Witness was
exarained at great length concerning the
parallelism be drew between the Po and its
regimen and its district and surroundings,
and the Sacramento river and its district and
its regimen and surroundings. Ia which wit
ress adhered to his statement that striking