Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-02-02
THE SAWYER DECISION,
REVIEW BY HON. I. N. HoAG OF
ITS RESULTS.
Compulsory Change Of Industries in the
Past-Fruit Raising, Etc, in the
Foothills and Elsewhere.

on the decision of Judge Sawyer in the
Woodruff VS.. Bloomfield case, and the ex.
cellent suggestions you have made regard
ing the action of the people of the sections
affected, both favorably and las at present
unfsvorably by the decision. As
to the decision itself, it could not have
been different and not have done violence
to the great principals which lie at the
foundation of all successful civil govern
ments, relating both to the maintenance
of the governments themselves and the
protection of private property rights.
These principals are as necessarily and I'M
alterably fixed in the civil jurisprudence of
our country as are the laws of gravitation
in the physical universe.
As YOU say, then, it is useless for any par
ties to the contest to wait for or expect
reversal of the decision. The Supreme
Court of tie Unit ID States could not re-
verse that decision without undermining
the fabric of our Government itself, and
that Court will never do it. The people
of one section of California will never be
allowed to build up their own fortunes by
a direct destruction of the property of the
people of another section, either by the
prosecution of hydraulic mining or any
other industry. Every mans life and
property is entitled to the equal protection
of the Government and the law, and should
our Courts of last resort fail to guarantee
this protection, then there will be no longer
any reason for the continued existence of
ha a,,I ba
whole fabric will go to pieces.
| know it is hard for those who have in
vestments in the hydraulic mines and in
the improvements necessary to work them,
to look upon this decision otherwise than
as a great injustice. 1t certainly is great
hardship, and the miners have nay deepest
sympathy for their losses. | sympathiZe
as one who has been twice in almost SINH.
lar circumstances, having twice been de-
prived of large properties, or the value of
them, by the action of the Government and
the Courts. In the prosecution of my en-
terprises, however, l was not trespassing
on others rights, or injGring the property
OF others. Old Californians will rememb Der
the destruction Of my ferry across the Sac.
rameutO river at Sacramento by the grant
ing, by the Legislature, of bridge fran
chse by the side of me. Larger numbers
will remember how the 5 ate Supreme
Court, perhaps under undue influence of a
wild anti. subsidy or anti-industrial bounty
excitement, laid its heavy hand upon the
silk industry, in which, induced by the
bounties offered by the Legislature, and
my confidence in the adaptlbility of
the climate of California to the pro-
duction of silk, | had invested my all
and thus the second time deprived me of a
hard.earned fortune, and at the same time
checked the progress of this valuable in
dustry in th5 State quarter of a century.
My sympathy, therefore, with the n.y.
drauEc miners is sincere and heartfelt
But when the decision of the Supreme
Court deprived me Of the ability to utilize
my farm on the Sacramento river in silk
culture, did not despair of making it val
liable by working it In some other way.
gathered up the loose ends of my means,
grubbed out my mulberry trees, planted
alfalfa, bought calves and raised dairy Of
cows, and went into the dairy business.
It is true that twice within the last ten
years, IN consequence of the filing up of
the river bed with hydraulic mining
slickens, l have been compelled, at
large expense, to boat my cows
off my place TO save them, and have suf,
fered great damage from loss of crops from
the same source still, knowing that the
right would finally triumph, J have held
to my farm, and by perseverance, made it
productive and valuable. Now I would
saw to the hydraulic miners BE not dis
couraged if you cannot use water to wash
down the mountains to make them give
up the gold that is in them. Try some
other process-some process that will not
hurt our farms OF the valley-and we will
give you our best hopes, our encouraging
good cheer, and you will succeed, and you
will have the double satisfaction that comes
from success that is not secured at the
expense of \ brothers failure.
The large water reservoirs and long
water bitches that have heretofore sup
piled the power TO wash down the noun.
tains, will no longer be needed in the
changed system of mining, but they are
not, therefore, dead property. From Kern
county to Siskiyou, along the western
slope of the Sierras, is a country 400 miles
long and from fifteen to twenty miles wide,
over which rests semi-tropical climate as
fine IS any in the State, and composed OF
soil especially adapted to the production of
semi. tropical and the most valuable kinds
of hardy fruits and berries, and wine
and raisin grapes. The land IN all this
great country, except in a few localities,
has but nominal value. The capabilities
OF this great country can be learned by a
study OF the history and present condition
of these exceptional localities.
Oroville, IN Butte county, in the pslmy
days Of mining, was called the gem Of
the Sierras. 1t is today the paradise
Of the orange and all other fruits At
Wyandotte, six miles east Of Oroville, and
that much further up the mountains are
produced the best lines in the State.
Newcastle, in Placer county, SIX years
since was unknown az a fruit.growing sec
ton. IL Is TO- day not excelled In the pro-
duc,.on OF al the valuable fruits and Der
ries, including the orange and lemon, by
any locslity in the State, and Auburn, Pen
ryu. Colf5l, Grass Valley and Nevada are
all becoming valuable fruit ceuters. Ia Z.
Dorado county may be named Coloma, PIa.
ceryiilc, Diamond Springs and Mud Springs
In Sacramento, Folsom and Na.oms. In
Amador. lore and Dry Creek In counties
further south may be mentioned Alllerton,
near the head Of the San joaquin river st
tlAE cum re VA n .t'" 'ffNA 90 t'tboes'll4 n
snd Thomas, on tac kaWesh river, au3 at
Pottsvi'ie and pisuo, on the Tulare river
At 81 these Il.oes astonishing crops Of
various kinds OF fruits have been produced
within the last fe~ years, and almost mar
Vicious profits have been realized from their
Gale A. Penryn, Placer county, as high
as 81 44O have been real d from single
acre 81 6ve-ycar-old trees, and as high as
81 $50 from the came aged trees has been
received from an acre IN the Tulare foot
hills this year.
In all these localities the wonderful pro-
ductious that have been secured and prof IS
thst have beca made have caused in the i'm
mediate localities an advance IN the value
OF lands from $ to - per acre within the
last few years. The only factor that has
brought these localities ont in such promi.
nence as fruit growing sections is the water
with which the land has been irrigated.
The soil is no better and the climate Is no
better than in almost any other locality
that may be selected in all that vast Y.
panse of foothjll country.
Bring water on TO almost anyone Of these
millions of acres Of foothill lands, and
apply the skill and labor of the fruit. grow
er, and II will not only bud and boom as
the rose, but it will bring forth fruit and
insure to its owner an income compared to
which acre for acre the usual income from
wheat culture on the best lands Of the val
leys will be insignificant. The water here