Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-07
DEBRIS CUTTING OUT

The Grass Valley Union says that the
fifty inches of water and spring rains have
with the suspension of hydraulic mining,
caused the mountain streams to cut out
the debris from their beds, in some places
to the depth of six or eight feet Is
pecially in the South Yuba is the cutting
noticeable The Union concludes that,
with the streams running clear and by
draulic mining suspended, in a few years
the channels will be cleared of all mining
debris, and enable miners to return to the
cid methods of river mining. 1t con-
cludes, also, that the proof is now at hand
that clear water will send the debris down
to the plains faster than if mining deposits
were going regularly into the streams, be-
cause this latter, containing much heavier
material, good deal of it 81 finds lodg-
ment, and is slower in moving down stream
than would deposits meeting the direct
action OF clear water"
1t is difficult to make out exactly what
our contemporary means to convey. If it
would have Us infer that the valley is in
greater peril from clear than from slickens-
hearing streams it is certainly not reason
able, and no one will accept the proof"
as indisputable. PROFESSIONALLY the de
bris now in the streams and CANYONS will
wash down upon us unless artifcially re-
strained But the jewellers along the
lower streams will not accept the theory
that the debris will come down faster from
the old deposits than if contributions of
slickens are daily poured into the mount
ain streams above But even if, for argu-
ment's sake, it is admitted, then it must
be true that the evil will be of less dura-
ton. That Is 10 say, with the continuance
of hydraulic mining the Slickens would
flow on forever" and in no very long
time would obviate the necessity for advo-
cacy Of cremation in these parts, since we
would certainly be buried whether we
willed it or not. But if clear water flows,
with the increased power of suSpending
and carrying the old deposits that it has,
compared to the muddy discharges from
active mines, the time must arrive when
the cutting out will come, comparatively,
to an end or at least when the equilibri-
UNI between deposition from natural wash
and the cutting capacity of the stream will
be established
But however considered, it is gratifying
to know that cessation, even in part, Of by
draulic mining is giving us purer water,
and that natural forces are beginning to re-
assert themselves in the clearance of the
streams. True, there is coupled with this
the unpleasant fact that many millions Of
cubic feet of sand, gravel and slickens are
being precipitated upon us, and that this
flow must be checked or il Will choke, and
possibly destroy, the navigable streams as
we now know them, for We have got far
away from the idea that our evening con-
temporary, the Bee, once so industriously
advocated, that we need the slickeus to fat
ten the land. IL abandoned that theory,
and adopted the better one that hydraulic
mining is not a desirable agricultural
method. The REcoRD-UNIoN, in all the
hydraulic mining debate, has held that the
deposits of slickens below the mines must
be restrained. This is now accepted on
every hand. The only real issue that ever
existed between valley people was one of
policy as to interposing obstacles while by