Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-10

4
if every hydraulic mine were stopped to.
morrow. 1t has been estimated that there
is not less than $50. OO0. coo cubic yards of
debris now in the channels of the streams
which empty into the Sacramento. This
debris is the accumulation of the whole
period Of mining, hydraulic and other. It
must come down unless it is held back.
It cannot be affected by any Judicial de-
cisions. Injunctions will not reach il. No
process of the Courts, either past, present
or to come, can restrain it. The complete
and permanent elimination of hydraulic
mining would leave it precisely where it is
to-day. And this enormous mass of debris
contains within itself the potential de-
atruction of the navigability of the Sacra.
mento. and the ruin of large area Of
fertile and valuable farming land.
The Secretary of War appears to have
acquired belief in some incomprehensi.
bic way that the appropriation which he
has refused to expend would have Injured
to the benefit Of the hydraulic miners.
But this is an extraordinary blunder. The
hydraulic miners have absolutely no in
terest in the holding back of the debris
already in the streams. If they are COM
PEELED to Obey the decision OF Judge Tenn
pie, and to build restraining works for
their mines, they will OILY take care Of the
debris washed down in the future. The
dams recommended by Colonel Mendell
and his associates were intended to hold
back the old debris. They in fact were
meant to supply the gap left by all other
remedial experiments, and to take care OF
that menacing accumulation of detrisus
which the Courts could not touch. An ap-
peal was made to Congress to protect and
relieve the residents of the Sacramento
valley. This is their interest, and not at
all the interest of the miners. The latter
can view the action of the Secretary of War
with perfect indifference. 1t makes no
difference to them. It neither imposes
new obligations on them, nor relieves
them of already existing ones. The build
ing of the dams proposed by Colonel Men
dell would not have enabled them to dis-
pense with the necessity of erecting
retaining works for their mines under the
Temple decision. All it would have done
would have been to afford protection to the
valley.
The Secretary of War, with = strange
failure to comprehend the problem, OBJ
serves "The records indicate that this
"downfow (of debris) is injurious not
{" only to the navigable streams below, but
enormously destructive to agricultural
Glands" And yet. with these records in
his hands, he goes on to excuse himself for
having refused to permit the prevention OF
the downfiow whose mischievous corss.
quenees he has just pointed out. He seems
to think, if we may judge from the con.
text, that the Courts of California have it
in their power to solve the debris problem,
and that therefore there can be no neces-
sity for Congressional appropriations. We
submit that the head of department
ought to have informed himself more &C.
curately in matter of this importance.
By his defective comprehension he has dc.
prived the farmers of the Sacramento val
ley of protection which they have thus
far been utterly unable to obtain by any
other means, or In any other quarter.
The State has refused to recognize it's obi
cations in the premises, the Courts are
powerless in the matter, and now the Sec
rotary of War interferes to prevent Con-
gress from extending the relief which is so
urgently demanded, and the refusal of
which must exert most depressing infu-
ence upon the agricultural interest of this
valley.
The remarks of the Secretary of War
regarding the position of the Chairman of
the House Committee on Commerce, Con-
gresham Page, are, ia the absence of
fuller information, scarcely ineligible.
It certainly is not credible that Mr.. Page
should have deprecated the employment of
the remedial measures which, at the same
moment, he was recommending to the ap.
prevail Of the House. But here again the
Secretary of Wars imperfect information
most probably misled him. He says he
gathered from the remarks made in the de-
bate, (which seemed to receive the un-
"qualifed assem- of the Chairman of the
COMMITTEE on Commerce, reporting the
bill, that it was not his intention to COM
init the Government to the policy of
furnishing reservoirs for the storage of
"detritus from future mining operations /"
The rational deduction from this is that
Mr.. Page in his remarks dwelt upon the
fact we have here pointed out namely,
that the appropriation was needed to
assure protection against the results of
past mining operations-which is the exact
fact. the Secretary of War, however,
acting upon a very dim and confused
apprehension of the real circumstances,
0pptdAo " nave SneAASiy AutSSoAsbAuCu MT
Pages statement, and TO have drawn from
it conclusions which We are very sure the
Chairman of the Committee On Commerce
never dreamed of
And we feel confident that when the
actual facts are clearly set forth and placed
before the Secretary of War and Congress,
the mistake fallen into by the former
official will be frankly acknowledged, an.
the latter body will secure the appropria.
ton for the Improvement of the Sacra-
mento. In the meantime every resident
of the Sacramento valley is interested in
bringing about this conclusion, and ought
to use all the influence available for that
purpose. For it is on Congressional relief
alone that we can rely for protection