Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-12-18
I'M ORSED THE PETITION.
Action of the San Francisco Supervisor
upon the Sacramento Memorial.

I'M ONSED The PETITION.
Action of the San Francisco Supervisors
upon the Sacramento Memorial.
The San Francisco Post Of last evening
reports that the Supervisors of that city
met yesterday morning in Committee of
the Whole to consider the request of the
Sacramento Supervisors and Board of
Trade to the Board TO join in memorable
ing Congress and the Secretary of War
| upon the necessity of some action being
taken to prevent the rivers and bays of the
central part of the State from being filled
by debris. Mr.. Farwell was chosen Chair
man of the committee. Senator Chandler,
of Yuba, George Ohleyer and s. J. Stab
Ter were present in behalf of the Sacramento
Valley Anti-Debris Association. The cir
cular of the Association asking the Super
visors to join in the request for Federal aid
to prevent the destruction of the rivers and
harbors of the State, and the Endorsement
Of the Board of Trade of Sacramento were
read, and Mr. Stabler addressed the Board.
He said there was little to add to the me-
mortal. 1t was prepared by the Anti
Debris Association and the Board Of Trus
! tees of Sacramento. The design was to
have the people and their public bodies.
| official and commercial to act in unison
in memorializing the Federal authorities to
| render aid in preventing the destruction OF
| the principal waterway OF the State. He
| believed that the Endorsement of Supervis-
ors of this wealthy and populous city
would have great weight with Congress and
the Secretary of War. With the people of
Yuba this question was one of life and
IL TI,orr Il to- -
or S. 100000, and had to pay 6 per cent. OF
that to protect their levees. The little town
Of Marysville, with $500 people, had paid
out $500 GOO, and the people of the county
of Yuba had expended 100000. The
condition of the river was
CONSTANTLY GROWING WORSE,
And if it continued it would bankrupt the
people. He contrasted the condition of
the rivers years ago with their present
state recounted the thousands upon thou
sands of acres of rich alluvial lands de-
stroyed by hydraulic mining; recited the
litigation to stop it, and concluded by stat
ing that the people of the central part of
the State wanted the sympathy of San
Francisco and its assistance. In all the
rivers upon which there was no hydraulic
mining there had been but little change,
and he cited the Sacramento itself, above
its confluence with the Feather, as evil
dence. 1t was necessary TO scour the rivers
in order to clear out the channels. Con
gress had appropriated $250,000, but Secre-
! tary Lincoln, under whose direction it was
| to be expended, would not permit the APP
| preparation TO be used, because tie debris
| question was still in litigation. 1t was de-
sirable to have this appropriation for the
| purposes for which it was made applied, and
that was the object of the memorial If
! the Government had, ten or twelve years
| ago, undertaken to assist the farmers by
| protecting the navigation of the streams,
their farms would not be covered with
debris.
George Ohleyer, of Yuba City, said it
| might seem presumptuous for the people of
| his section to ask assistance from San
| Francisco-it was with them a matter of
| life and death
| THE WHOLE STATE WAS INTERESTED
In this question. and no part of it more so
| than San Francisco. The recent Conven-
| ton in st. Paul, Mimi, showed that the
people were vitality interested in the pres
eryatiOn of water navigation 1t is abso-
| lutely necessary to the proper adjustment
of transportation charges The people of
the interior might get along without their
| rivers, but If they had no rivers San Fran
cisco would have no bay. Any one cross
| ing the Straits of Carquinez on the Solano
| could see what was happening through the
| destructive agencies of hydraulic mining.
| The water was yellow and thick with silt
and debris in solution. The process of de
posting this debris on the edges of the bay
might not for fifty years iniure the metrop-
! oils, but what was fifty years in the life of
a city. Law had enjoined hydraulic min
| ing, but there was plenty of moonshin-
| ing going on. The General Government
| should do something, and the purpose of
the memorial was to awake 1t to action.
Senator Chandler corroborated all that
| the previous speakers said. The banks of
the Yuba river were on a level with the city
of Marysville, when twenty years ago it
was twenty feet below the base line. On
| the spot where he farmed twenty years ago
| there was now
TWENTY FEET OF SAND AND DEBRIS.
If the present state of things continued
much longer, it would be impossible for
the farmers to send their crops to market
| by water.
| Supervisors Pond and Gates stated that
they were perfectly familiar with the Sac
| ramento river, and Endorsed all that was
said concerning its condition: and the
| Committee of the Whole was about to re-
| port in favor of the official Endorsement of
the memorial when W. A. Skidnlore, the
Secretary of the Miners Union, asked for
delay. He suggested the appointment of a
committee to ascertain the facts. The min
ing industry of the State was very great
one. 1t was now producing S10000,GOO in
gold and had been producing S24, 900 900.
lie objected to that portion of the memo
rial which set down as true the area of land
destroyed, the value of the same, and tie
statement that the hydraulickers were lille
| gally conducting their business.
Mr.. Stabler said that the gentleman was
| placing himself in the position of opposi-
| ton to the improvement of the navigable
rivers of the State by the Federal Govern
ment.
On motion the Board unanimously re-
solved to indorse the petition, and the
members Individually signed it.