Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1883-01-12
THE PROTECTION OF THE sAcgA-
MEETo VALLEY.

| the Improvement OF the SoacEaheHto iiNCA
was the result of Misrepresentation. He
did not understand the situation. Possi-
bly, be was deliberately misinformed by
stupid, ignorant, or interested parties. In
any case his action has injured the pros
poets of the people of this valley, and if,
IS has already been openly ;ntima.ed, they
have been represented in this connection
by persons who DO not understand their
interests, it is time that they began to
look after their own affairs. We do NOT
refer here to the Congressional delegation,
but to self-appointed or ofieious persons
who may have been working mischief, per-
haps even. with good intentions. Congress-
man Page appears to have done his best
to secure the appropriation, snd to have
defended it against the perverse interpreta-
ton of the Secretary of War. II, however,
it turns out that this Congressional relief is
lost to MS, there can be no question as to
the seriousness of the misfortune. We
may safely leave the people of the Sacra-
mento Valley to judge for themselves
whether they ought to be congratulated"
upon having been jockeyed out of the i'm
portant relief measures of which they
stood so urgently in need, and we do not
think there will be two opinions among
men capable of thinking at all, on this
head.
So far it has been found impossible to
deal with the greatest and most imminent
of all the dangers done by hydraulic min
ing, namely the debris already accumulated
in the streams. Congress, acting upon the
recommendation of distinguished engineers,
undertook to apply practical and effective
remedy for this evil Outside of Congress
there was no hope of relief or protection.
If all the hydraulic miners were to build
dams below their mines; or If ell the n.y.
draulic mines we're stopped permanently;
this enormous accumulation of debris would
still have to be disposed of, and would still
threaten the valley with ruin. Yet though
these facts are SO plain that the wayfaring
man, though fool, could not fail to appre-
hend them, we are now told that people
who pretend to be acting in the interest of
the valley have been doing their utmost to
prevent the application of this relief. This
is either confession of imbecility or Of
treason, and those who are concerned
may take whichever horn of the dilemma
they prefer. For it is impossible to con-
ceive of any person, both sane and honest,
deliberately opposing the construction of
dams for the retention Of the accumulated
debrie, and there is no imaginable rational
policy compatible with the least regard for
the interests of the valley, which could
justify or excuse such course.
AS for the pretense that the appropria-
ton could. would, might or should have
helped the hydraulic miners, we can only
characterize it as puerile. The question of
the miners had nothing to do with this
question. If the people of this valley do
not understand by this time that no
amount of success in litigation against the
miuers can protect them against the 350,
900, coo cubic yards of debris already in
the streams, they are not fit TO take car,
of themselves. The complete carrying out
of Judge Temples decision, which at pres.
ent seems to be the best that can be hoped
for, cannot settle this difficulty. As the
RECORD UNION has pointed out steadily
for years, the people of the Sacramento
valley must either obtain Congressional aid
for this; failing that, they nuss do the
work themselves and failing ability to
do the work themselves, they may as well
abandon their property. The effort to
interest the State in the work has failed
Then there remained only Congress. That
body was persuaded to make an appropria.
ton which, if judiciously expended, would
have committed it to the completion of the
relief sought. And now we are coolly told
that this appropriation has been withheld
through the Vaccinations of persons who
make the preposterous pretense of acting
in the interests Of the valley.
The people of the valley will have to
put the seal of condemnation upon this
phenomenal blunder. They cannot afford
to let it be said that they are opposed to
the extension of aid and relief by Con-
gress. at a time when Congress is their
only refuge. They cannot afford to let it
be thought that they prefer to have their
property destroyed, for that is the atti-
tude in which it is sought to PUT them.
They must make il known in the plainest
possible way that they do not agree with
the Secretary of War !; that they do not
oppose the construction of dams for their
protection that they are not such simple
tons as to reject the substantial aid prof
fered them by Congress that they under
stand their own interests, in short, and
are not fighting their friends to their own
injury. It may be, however, that the
harm already done is for the present ire
mediable. It is certainly questionable
whether Congress will pass river and
harbor bill at this session. But whether
now or hereafter, it is certain that Con.
gress alone can step in to gave the Sacra-
mento valley from the great danger which
threatens il, and that therefore earnest
efforts should be made to prevent any
further bungling and misconstruction at
Washington.
ELEVATORS AS FIREDRArTs.