Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1886-06-26

in all this broad State will have the tie
merity to say 81 could as well have
filed it."
WATER OF THE MOUNTAINS.
If the people of the Sierra mining re-
gion engaged in or dependent upon the
hydraulic mining industry entertain the
idea that there is felt for them any ami
mostly in valley regions, they are griev-
iously mistaken. This people sympathize
deeply with their fellow citizens of the
mountains who are about to be deprived of
vast industry that has meant to them
sustenance But from the outset we have
held that there was silver lining to their
cloud. We have Believed that the true
interests of the mountain region would be
found not to be of necessity dependent
upon the hydraulic mining. We believe
it is accepted that that industry, taken as
a whole ard on the basis of the capital in
vested, has not rewarded the energy it has
demanded so well as if the same amount
of money and the same degree of human
energy had been devoted to mechanical,
agricultural or manufacturing enterprises.
Nor have the people of the mountains
been deceived into the belief that ny
draulic mining could be a permanent in
dustry. In its very nature it was e1-
haustive, and every assault of the monitor
on the hillside wrote the prophecy of the
approaching era when the region being
mined must be abandoned by it to the
waste it created The pioneer habit of
the mining region has led the people,
we fear, into living for the present with
too little concern for posterity. They have
been too content to limit their hopes and
vision of the future of their towns and
communities by the narrow bounds of two
or three decades of years, beyond which it
was wholly improbable that hydraulic
mining would secure prosperity to any
given section Calculated at the rate of
progress it was making when checked, it
is reasonable to suppose that the by
draulic mining process would exhaust the
pay ground Of given sections in from
twenty-five to thirty years. when the de-
vastating machinery would be moved on to
new fields, leaving in its wake decaying
towns and helpless people. Indeed, evil
dences of this process were apparent before
iniunctions were thickly laid upon that
method. Now legal process and prospect
i've governmental interference have brought
about consummation at once that was in
evitable, according to our idea of the en-
durance of the industry. in comparatively
brief period, during which would have
been accomplished the destruction of many
valley interests. For the prosecution of
hydraulic mining industry vast capital has
been invested in water collection and dis
of the water system Of the Sierras in the
waist of the State are comprehended by
only the few. 1t is safe to say that in no
part of the country is there eompleter
system of water collection, storage and
conduct to the mines. The companies
making these investments are to suffer
even greater injury than the miners
proper by the cessation of hydraulic
mining, unless their systems can
be adapted to other uses. There
will always be some demand for
the water running in fumes and bitches
for local domestic uses, legitimate mining,
etc. But these demands will not call for
1.-THE of the water that can be furnished.
The question arises, therefore, to what ex-
tent can the waters be conveyed to the
lands of the upper and lower foothills for
the purposes of irrigation Obviously we
cannot within the scope of single article
, review the whole field opened up by such
: = question. The people of the foothill and
: mountain region are more competent to do
this. They ought to know to what extent
e the soil of their hillsides is adapted for
| production by tillage. Everybody knows
: what has been, is being and can be done
e in the lower foothills. A richer, more
promising, safe and altogether desirable
| horticultural and viticultural section i,
not to be found. The lower foothills In
e the waist of the State have developed hor
e ticultural and small farming capacity
E within ten years that is simply marvellous
e The appreciation of realty values has not
4 been fictitious, but is based upon the abso
t lutte proven capacity of soil and climate
e But the whole section needs water arti
e ficially to develop and make certain its
e utmost possibilities. The vast water prop
: critics of the Sierras above these lands are
: admirably adapted for application to irri-
e CATION systems. Instead of being al
d lowed to go to ruin they will certainly
d be administered to meet the de
e mands of the foothills. The result the
It most sanguine can scarcely overestimate
>. Now the question is whether this appli.
t cation is to cease with foothill development
? Cannot higher attitudes improve these
? water privileges, not in longer washing
! down the mountain sides, but in develop
, ing their productive capacity? Can om
, friends of the mountains do any better
home missionary work than to take W
this question, thoroughly digest it and &C