Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-28


on Queen Chsrlo;te Island l: will he
published in pamphlet form.
There was s committee meeting last night.
The Lee and Cotsford race takes place on
Thursday. the 7th Of February. The gen.
eral opinion is thst Lee will win, but not too
easily.
FURTHER PRESS OPINIONS UPON JUDGE
sAwYER'S DECISION.
The Mendociuo Beacon remarks There
is great rejoicing among the lowlanders on
account OF their victory over the highland.
ers which they have gained at last through
the decision Of Judge Sawyer of the United
States Court. The wonder is, and the pity,
that the case was not decided great while
before the mischief was occasioned. 1t al.
most seems like locking up the barn after
the horse has been stolen. For years and
wears the work OF destruction mas been
| going on, until large sections OF the very
| cream OF the State for agricultural and
horticultural purposes have been irretrieV.
| ably ruined. Thousands dFon thousands
of acres of rich bottoms more precious
than gold in this mountain country,
where there is 80 little lsnd to the acre,
| have been hopelessly buried under the bar
rem sands washed down from the hills.
| The water courses, also, If not ruined, have
been rendered uomansgea6le by the beds
having been filled up and the water driven
beyond its natural hanks to spread over
the adjacent lands. It is doubtful whether
the channels can ever become clear again,
and the streams can only be confined with.
in proper bounds by the enormously eXpen-
sive and discouraging process OF keeping
up an artificial aqueduct above the natural
surface of the country. One OF the chief,
as well as the most plausible grounds
of defense on the part OF the
miners, would never have existed
had the matter been decided before
they had invested so much IN machinery
for carrying on the business. II they shall
now be stopped, they are ruined, and If
suffered to go on, the destruction OF the
country below, already partially accom-
| plished, will be completed. It is a great
| hardship in either case, which would have
| been avoided had an early decision by the
! Courts been obtained. Delay has only
made a bad matter worse Now both par.
ties are going to be dissatis6ed-the
! miners, that they are cut shot after so
great an outlay in good faith that they would
| be allowed to carry forward their oper-
| ations undisturbed-the farmers, that the
| thing has been suffered TO 90 on until
so many OF them are damaged past all
hope Of recovery. There was nothing
new to be found out by waiting. The
statement of the principle which is so
much Landed by the newspapers, 80 use
your own as not to injure others, is only
another form of the golden rule, which
4 81 1vrf fho I
in the ''Sermon on the Mount. But
"hetter late than never" and if the con-
! troversy be now allowed to drop, and both
parties in an amiable spirit shall endeavor,
| the one to get the gold from the mines,
and the other to obtain the fruits of the
| earth from the toll, without harming each
| other, they will have mere peace in their
minds and more money in their pockets.
| The Nevada Transcript says: The by.
! draulic mining localities are covered with
/ reservoirs OF great storing capacity, and II
/ these shall be abandoned they will burst
/ some of these days; and when they Go
| pour cut their great volImes Of water the
people , low had better flock to very high
! land. Probably there is no law to prevent
! the owners of these reservoirs from Gbau-
| doning them, but if they should 90 so
| then the people of the valley must take
steps to protect themselves. We repeat,
we have q better opinion OF the by.
! draulc miners, as a class, than to believe
| them capable Of any desiIs 20 revenge
| themselves upon the valley people by
cutting dams, etc, and all alleged threats
| OF such nature we are now disposed to
treat 5s imaginary on t1e part OF few who
seem 70 regard the hydrsulicker as some
sort OF hobgobliR Of the mountains, but
the other matter IS deserving of attention.
| We are told that "the wicked flee when
no msu pursueth, and the trepidston Of
the valley people as indicated by our con-
tempoTary's remarks is readily accounted
for. There Is no hidden meaning to the
dispatch sent from Nevada City about the
abandonment for a time at least OF the
mining canals in the upper part Of this
county. II is a plain. uuyarnished state
ment OF a result already brought abou. by
the vicious and persistent prosecution of
the miners. 0.her caamities Cf
similar but more sweeping character
will follow on It's heels in case some
modification is not obtained Of the prin.
cip.es laid down by Slwy er in his decision
| The ti.miners went little too far for
their own and the States good, as well as
the miners good, when they declared that
they would listen to no terms of compro-
mise. We do not mean By this that the
mners will be foolish enough to burn their
" bridges behind them. as it were, by cut-
ting the dams and drowning out the valley
ties. They are not so inhuman as that
neither would the game pay for the powder.
Another g. flood will sweep away Marys.
vile and devastate the surrounding
country, however, unless the people
OF the Sacramento valley heed our
oft.repeated warning, and, coming down
from their positions of insoient salishness,
join with the mlners in taking precaution-
airy measures against such . catastrophe
Debris restraining dan are the only saliva.
tion for the lowlands, and they will never
be built to stand unless the high-
lands can derive some share OF benefit
from them. TIE ouly danger to the
immense and numerous water dams IN the
mountains tha5 can reasonably be sppre-
hended is from that element of anti miners
who last spring blew up tha English dan:
with giant powder, after having previously
burned the brush down on the Yuba.
There is no telling what these fends ,ncar-
nate may undertake, bnt they will find
any more such games TO be dangerous ones.
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