The record-union., 1892-02-10
I"H5 IVUJeIs OF IegTeJ We're reau.
RIVERS AND HARBoRs.

r. L. DevIin and George Ohleyer Be
fore the House Committee.
| WASHINGTON, Feb. 9. = The House
Committee on Rivers and Harbors this
morning gave hearing to Messrs. r. II.
Devlin and George Ohleyer, the delegates
named by the River Convention of Cali
fornia to come to Washington and urge
| Congress to take action looking to the
! Improvement of California rivers. The
| committee held an all-day session. Be-
| sides the two delegates named Represent
atlveS Mckenna and Caminettti of Cali
| fornia were present and took an interest
in the proceedings. The gentlemen urged
| that the following sums be appropriated
! for the improvement of the Sacramento
and Feather Rivers, in accordance with
recommendations Of the Board of En-
gineers, viz: Twenty-Five thousand dol
lars for snagging the eSacramento; S275. 900
! for work on the lower Sacramento: S25.-
600 for Jacobs Slough; 100000 for
work above MarysYille, and $40
600 for the Feather River. Total.
S6i5, 900, $500, 600 OF which could profitably
be expended in fiscal year 1898, and for
San Joaquin River, Sl36, $50; for Mokel-
umne River, S9,l00; Petaluma Creek,
$4,000
They enumerated appropriations made
for California rivers, up to date, as fol-
! lows: Sacramento, S495, ,000 San Joa-
quin, Sl95, $50; Mokelumne, 5000: Peta-
| luna Greek, S29, 774-or the total amount
/ expended for California rivers Of only
! SOS, ,SS2-very small in proportion to the
appropriations for the Atlantic Coast.
They went at length into reports submit
! ted by United States engineers under A ct
of Congress, commonly known as the
''Biggs bill.' They described the pro-
cess OF hydraulic mining and re-
cited the controversy that had
| heretofore taken place between the
! hydraulic miners and river men
and farmers, and stated that at the recent
conventions held in California, the con-
| tending parties had come to an amicable
| agreement by which Congress was to be
| asked to provide suitable dams and other
| works for the purpose of restraining the
mining debris, and that until such works
were provided no hydraulic mining was
| to be carried on.
The gentlemen made statement of the
the value of the rivers as carriers, and
submitted statistics showing the amount
of wheat transported by water and by
existed prior to 1862, when the first
freshet occurred that did great damage to
| the lands of the Sacramento Valley by
reason of the overflow caused by the de-
| bris in the rivers from hydraulic mining
| Prior to this time the river was naviga-
| D16 10 NIdTySNIll0, DuG now CDly TO MACK
intosh Landing. The object was to make
the river navigable forty miles farther
than Maekintosh Landing, viz: to Red
| Bluff. The bargeS now in use on
| the river, engaged in the transpor-
tation of grain and other commodities,
| could not be loaded to their full capacity
! because the river, under existing con-
ditions, only allowed draught of three
and a half to four feet, whereas with the
| improvements contemplated the rivers
viii be rendered navigable to boats and
| barges of from five to six feet draught.
| T. w. Woods of Stockton, who was
also appointed one of the delegates by the
convention, has not yet arrived, and the
| House Committee has announced that to-
morrow will be the last day upon which
| the hearing will be received. Messrs. Nc
Kenna and Caminetti endeavored to
secure a further extension of the time,
| but the committee would not agree to it.
/ 1t Is believed that the House river and
harbor bill will be through within few
weeks, and that it will be law March
| 10th.
| The Rivers Committee is hopeful that
| Congress may be induced to make the de-
! sired appropriation, notwithstanding the
! economical tendency of the Democratic
| House and the parsimonious propensity
of obiector Holman.
The delegation from the Miners Con-
vention is expected to arrive within the
next few days.
Victims of Boiler Explosion.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 9.-Engineer
Hugh Dougherty and Brakeman Faust,