Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-08-14
PRACTICALLY CLOSED.
NAVIGATION TO SACRAMENTO
NEARLY OVER.
Is Anything to be Done
About 1t q?

The closing of navigation on the Sacra-
mento river between Sacramento and the
bay of San Francisco is practically declared.
We have no intention of alarming the pub
lie unnecessarily, but the facts given below
admit neither of denial nor satisfactory ex-
PLANTATION.
IT Is A FACT
That the chief steamer on the river had to
be dragged upon a sand bed to her dock
last evening, and was all day making less
than one mile Just below the city front
The facts are that the steamer Modoc, of
the regular line, which sailed from San
Francisco at 4 P. NJ. Wednesday, and should
have reached Sacramento early yesterday
morning. grounded on the bar near the
foot of y street. the southern boundary of
the city, and stuck there until about 6
o'clock last evening.
The channel at this point, says Captain
FOuratt, in command of the Modoc is only
80 feet wide and runs very swiftly. Sound
ings showed thai it was less than five feet
in depth ut the deepest points The
steamer is flat bottomed and draws but
four and one-half feet of water. She had
Yesterday but very light load of freight
Lines were sent out and fastened
to trees on either bank of the
river, and by working the hand
capstan the steamer was pulled over the
bar for more than quarter of mile, that
being the extent of the obstruction. The
boat arrived at her moorings at the foot of
K street at 6 O'Clock last evening ten hours
after the time she was due. Captain Fouratt
says he 'has been on the river for nearly
thirty-siX years, and never before met with
such obstacles to navigation of the river.
The water is shoaling so badly that he be-
lieves navigation between this city and the
Bay is likely to be entirely and speedily cut
of The trouble is not slic,ens, but sand
The bottom of the river, OF at least the bot
tom OF the present bed, is
COARSE BLACK SAND,
Which packs closely, and makes a firm,
solid and compact bottom. The Captain
expressed grave doubts of his being able
to cross the bar on his return trip TO-DAY.
and says he doubts if the Apache will be
able to reach this city this morning. Two
facts are TO be kept IN mind: first, that the
water is very low" second, that the
steamer grounded, not in slckens and mud
and the usual red and yellow washings
from the mines, but upon a hard sandy
bed, into which an oar can scarcely be
driven. 1t is perfectly clear that the much
feared sands in the tributaries have been
coming down and have choked and packed
the channels, and that nothing short of ex-
cavation will remove them. 1t NAV be
true that in
\ FLOOD SEASON
These bars will cut out to some extent. but
it is fact capable of demonstration with
perfect ease that the sands come down reg
ularly and with increasing rapidity, To
make new deposits. The sIicllens at this
time have been washed of, and the hard
sand is exposed. The water is clearer than
has been known for a long time. This
would indicate that from scarcity of water
hydraulic mines are doing little work lust
now, but it also proves that sands from the
mines and in the tributaries of the Sacra-
mento have reached this point, and will
probably, with each food season. come
sown i'll greater quantities. A few DAYS
ago parties on Third street found that &
single bucket of hydrant water deposited.
Immediately after drawing the water, about
tive-eishths of an inch Of dark sand that
fairly
GLlSTENED WITH MICA.
Investigation proved that the basket of
the suction pipe of the water works was
hanging in the sand in the river. and sand
was thus sucked up. The pipe being
raised, the difficulty ceased, but the fact
remains that the mica-charged sand is in
the riyer-bed at this point. 1t is incompre-
hensible that any one should oppose hav-
ing the real condition of the river reported
to the Government, and the int
minent danger of the closing of
the river to boating pointed out.
1t is, of course, Il dry season.
as ii was twenty years ago when boats
grounded in the Sacramento river. But at
that time it was not mining sand that
checked them and the boats were the larg-
est class side-whcel steamers that sailed the
bay, carrying immense loads and being
deep-draught vessels, whereas now the
boats are fat-bottomed small and of ex-
ceedingly light draught. Since that date
the bed of the river has raised some fifteen
feet at Sacramento.
THE PEOPLE