Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-27
HYDRAULIC MINING.
A Mountaineer Presents the Miners View
Of the Question.
DUTCH FLAT, May "a, is

DUTCH FLAT, May "a, 1882.
The summit of Spaulding's Peak, one of
the giant steps of the Sierras, formed by
mountain piled upon mountain, it being
about half the ascent to the Summit, affords
one Of the most extensive sights ever CON-
passed in one view. and is soul-inspiring in
its beauty, diversity and grandeur. Around
its base, in the picturesque mountain valleys,
are numerous fruit orchards, presenting the
appearance of vast flower gardens, inter.
forest ranges. Several huge mining reser-
voirs nestle like miniature lakes among the
hills. A little further down the descending
scene lie the mining villages of
DUTCH FLAT AND GOLD RUN,
In their most prepossessing spring attire.
Around them are the water bitches, fumes
and iron pipes of prodigious size, the latter
crawling down the mountain sides like mon
ster serpents Scattered here and there are
the scalped hills of the hydraulic mining dis
tricts, illustrating what Disagreement of
beauty is bald head. The lofty forest
decked peaks surround the glistening rock
piles, making the contrast most conspicuous.
The Central Pacific Railroad, like scar on
the face of beautiful nature, comes creeping
up the grand pile of mountains, winding
around the hills, diving through obstructing
ridges, leaping across deep canyons, ever
onward and upward, till lost to sight where
it plunges into the Giants Gap. In the dim
distance lies the great Sacramento valley,
coursed with rivers, spotted with cities and
towns, and skirted in the PARKWAY back
ground by the coast range. The scene is en-
ivened by trains of cars creeping over
THE ToRTUoUs ROUTE,
The smoke curling over and above them, the
distance and surroundings making them ap-
pear like insects, their movements being
barely perceptible. The hydraulic giant in
the nearer prospect, with its graceful curve,
rainbow hue, and Niagara roar, rivets the
attention of the observer. In its god-like
power, the water, when concentrated, tears
down the mountain with its escaping strength
and carries it off, separating the materials of
which it is composed vomiting the worthless
debris into the canyons, and only retaining
the precious particles Of gold. This at once
being put isto circulation, its effect is felt
throughout the world in every grade of soci.
ETY., from driving want from the door Of the
poor, to saving nation in its struggle for
existence. Included in this view is vast
section of the great mining industry to the
extreme right is Chalk Bluff Red Dog, You
Bet and Gouge Eye; in soutberly direc.
ton are seen Little York, Lowell Hill,
Dutch Flat, Nary Red, Gold Run and Indi-
ana Hill. These mining districts have given
to the world hundreds of millions Of dollars.
River canyons and rayines were first made
to deliver up the precious ingredient. With
pick, shovel and pan thousands and thou
sands of the ambitious from every land dug
and delved, their reward being unparalleled
in history. These natural streams were
Natures sluice boxes, concentrating the gold
through the
AGES or NATURAL WASH,
And were soon cleaned up by the vast horde
of gold-seekers Then mans ingenuity
copied nature and made sluice-boxes, de-
veloping the remaining deposits Of gold-bear-
ing gravel, improving their methods by expe-
rience, advancing and enlarging as oppor-
tunity and necessity suggested, and finally
developed the grand hydraulic system Of to-
day, with its great labor-saving giant, water
power derrick, and improved explosives IL
pulverize and handle the masses of material,
together with perfected fumes, undercur-
rents and rifles for saving the gold, and other
innumersble appliances and means familiar
to miners. Should they be reproached for
30 improving on primitive methods that they
accom- ish in days what would otherwise
take years Of toll? Ia not the right to mine
az well established as the right to farm? The
farmer must pillow his fields, the miner must
wash his. Both are secured in their rights
by custom and necessity-neither by statu-
tory law. Both by their methods in some in
stances infringe upon private rights, but it
does not follow that they have not the right
to plow or wash, for tina private right must
give way to
THE PUBLIC GOOD.
The gravel must be washed to extract the
gold, the material must be dumped into the
streams. Do we need gold? Do we want the
miner to take cut but a load p day, getting
for his labor only enough t9r a mere exist