Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-01-22
INDUSTRIES WHICH May SUCCEED
THOSE OF HYDRAULIC MINING.

EDs. RECORD UNION; Referring to your
editorial of few days since, concerning in.
dustries which may follow that Of hydraulic
mining in the mountains, permit me to say:
Mining is s legitimate industry, aud gall other
industries must of necessity be friendly to it.
But that class known as hydraulic has grown
to be intolersble, and its stoppsge has become
inevitable. Nothing in the line of human
enterprise can be permitted to measure i'm
portance with agriculture. Hydraulic min
ing is q landmark never TO be obliterated in
the history If this State, both because of its
good and bad results. The bad results are
seen and known by al. They have caused
vast expenditures, ruin, terror and desola-
tiOn. To effect even partial restoration to
lands, streams and navigation viii require
vast sums in the future. But | believe,
aud all with whom l have converted
seem convinced, and We fOndly hope that,
with the stcppage of hydraulic mining,
new and important era in the near future
will dawn upon California. and witness st
least the beginning of restoration-.he once
crystal waters to purity, the streams to navi-
CATION, etc.
The good results of hydraulic mining do
not wholly or even chiefly consist Of the gold
produced. Vastly more gold will yet be eX-
trscted from these same mines by other pro-
cesses. Nor do they consist III having given
employment to labor, for the other processes
will employ vastly more labor. But this is
the good that hydraulic mining has done: 1t
has taught us Low to make bitches, 20 divert
water courses, span chasms with aqueducts,
overcoming obstacles seemingly insurmount-
able.
Irrigation is the natural successor to hy-
Iran min i'm hayppA
putalion. Without il we can never know or
have any conception If Caliiornia's produc-
tive capacity. By showing. that waters can
be conducted almost everywhere, hydraulic
mining has Uuwittinely solved most i'm
portsnt feature in the problem Of irrigation.
take it for granted that many have seen
the remarkable adaptability of the western
slope of the Sierra Nevada to fruit cult
ure, especially that vast belt reaching mp to
an altitude of say three thousand feet.
The water already flowing in artificial
channels on that belt has made the transition
from mining to cultivation not only possible,
but easy aud inviting In such chsnge there
may be cases of hardship; but these will
scarcely be more severe or frequent than the
failure of mines. There is no humsu employ
ment not subjsct to losses or Interruptions.
We have the best Government in the world.
For every real wrong there should bs rem
edy. Let US be wise. Are we equal to the
occasion? l believe we are. Let us then ac-
cept the inevitable. without boasting, without
recrimination, without dependency.
Our markets will increase with our cultiva-
ton, aud there is 10 reason TO doubt that the
new order of things will bring with it, by
timely and wise effort on the part Of all con-
cerned, an era of prosperity beyond cur most
sapguine conceplions-not suddenly, OF
course, but surely, as the dawn that emerges
into dsy. Healthy expansion is the result of
growth.
These thoughts occur to me as among the
possibilities that await US. Very truly yours,
JOHN BIDwELL.
Chico January 10 1884