The record-union., 1893-01-30

and beyond them and formed great areas
of solids under veil of water of small
depth behind them-just what was want
ed to insure his work, but of all others
the thing he never expected or suspected
until discovered accomplished. 1t was
mamma for him such as never descended
to stay on the brush dams he recon-
mended in California for a toyrentidL cur
rent OUeT rock and grGUet. The United
States charts of the South Pass of the
Mississippi show to-day, or rather did in
1890, the same substantial features i'm
pressed by the first experiment of Eads,
to-wit: depth of twenty-seven to thirty
! feet between the jetties and of eight to
fourteen behind them. Let us resume
epitome.
| In the light of failure after failure, it
| should be plain that the attempt to re-
strict the floods of the Sacramento River
to the channel proper must be abandoned
and lateral escapeways into the western
tule belt allowed; and equally plain that
the conveyance and re-entry of the es-
capped waters-reintorced by the floods
from the Cache and Putah Creeks-upon
the delta arteries of the river proper
practically deprives the river of a scour-
ing force from several feet of fall other
wise available: and that by reason of the
unavoidable additional rise the Sacra-
| mento usurps the lower Joaquin channel,
obstructs and restrains its floods and
vastly contributes to embarrass and in
jure every artery and TO threaten over
flow on every island on the Sacramento
joaquin delta. The smallest benefit by
way of offset, either aqueous or terres-
trial, is not found or hoped for from this
state of affairs.
If perhaps less obvious, it is neverthe-
less veritable that the operation of nat
ural forces as heretofore directed and per-
verted by man tends toward cessation of
/ n0ViutitiOI in a ~ v nf thn
lower Sacramento river; to the actual
dammlng OF the valley on an entire latl-
tudlnal section miles IN longitudinal eX-
tent near the City of Sacramento; to la
custrine effects both above and below that
city; and finally to abandonment, or
worse, of the present river channel be-
low. 1t is a faithful though frightful
/ picture, in which the limner takes no
/ pleasure other than that OF a duty done.
! II the flood water that accumulates in
| the western tule belt in YOlo and Solano
/ counties in U. 5. Townships i, 5, 6.
| Z, 8, g. 10 and IL north, ranges 2, and 1
/ east, Mt Diablo base and meridian, is to
| await and consume months of each flood
! season in tardy transit to tide water at
sea level, it will eventually work the de-
| struction of navigation in the lower
| course of the Sacramento River and in
tlict sure disaster if not caIamity on the
denizens Of its neighborhood and the
! uella lSlanuS or the j JOaq Uln.
! There may be palliative, partial reme-
dies, alternative methods of temporary
! benefit TO one locality and danger to
another. Such has long been the effect
of effort on the part of lowland holders.
/ The outcome of this contention in indus
/ try can never be permanently beneficial,
| or subserve the purposes Of intrinsic Just
1 Ice. 1t is not only an industrial war for
/ advantage between neigh OOrS as against
each other; but a combat against nature
itself. Not by the petty rescourse OF
! merely local adoption are the inseparable
problems of land reclamation and
| thorough improvement of the river chan
mel to be solved. The prime requirement
for the benefit of both is ire absolute
abatement Of the deit0 mater dum.
The way and the only way to do this is.
and for two score years has been, plain,
practicable, proven by the most irrefragi-
! bic evidence to the senses of every com
moner at each recurring flood season,
fairly thrust upon the observation OF
''gentle and simple, foolish and witty
as the Mother Gooseo song goes. Dur
ing ali these years it has been commonly
known and admitted indisputably that
| high floods at the water dam northeast OF
the neck of the Montezuma have reached
an elevation of from twelve to fifteen
feet above and veiled the land surface
within about three miles of tide water in
] SulSun bay on INC southwest.
Yet, apparently glamoured by that
occasional strange fatuity of man in i'm
portant affairs, often observable in his
tory, both ancient and modern, the people
of the valleys have steadiastly neglected
and turned away from the sure means OF
reclaiming their lands and piled up their
cash, labor and painstaking on expedi-
ents more or less delusive and Intellectual.
This, too, under presumably scientific
auspices.
After many years of futile effort to free
its own Italy from the grasp of the Garth
ginian invader Hannibal, ancient Rome
became inspired by her illustrious Scipio
to carry the war to the gates of Carthage
in Africa. Immediately, as by miracle.
the OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES dropped away
| from Italy without struggle, and on
the single field of Zama was pronounced
| the fate sof Carthage and the supremacy
! of Rome. If the United States is to per-
manently restore the navigable Sacra-
mento River it will not be simply by an
preparations to dabble in its channel but
| by severing the neck of the MonteZuma
in abatement of the delta water dam and
| thereby conierring on the river channel
its uniform fall TO tide water in Suisun
Bay. Add to this, permanent side reliefs
I on the west between the delta and the
mouth OF the Feather River and little
more will be required to rehabilitate the
channel and make it trusty boon and
| beauty forever.
With the necessary side reliefs above
the delta and the final tidal channel
through the Montezuma, the lighter
detrtus from hydraulic mining could
hardly be danger to the navigable chan
mel and would be of positive benefit in
the matter of warpage in the tule bottom
and on the muddy marginals of Suisun
/ Bay. But the former ecklessness in
| STING down maintains Ghnnll na fosA
fully restrained within the limit of safety
to agricultural lands. What that limit
may prove to be must be ascertained by
the careful steps Of judicious experiment.
No theory should be trusted unless APP
proved under this test no matter what
or whom the authority. That much of
! evil has been attributed to mining and
that part of the same is properly charge
able to the stoppage of the river side vents
| with view to farming against the law OF
nature is certain.
! Incident to the restoration and preser-
! vation of the navigable rivers would be a
! most radical and permanent advance in
the means for reclaiming lands through
out the Sacramento and those portions of
the san Joaquin Valley now affected by
/ the uSurpatiOn of its lower river course
| by floods from the Sacramento. All the
islands and mainland margins of the San
Joaquin delta are inminently subject to
this danger. The immediate effect OF the
| Montezuma Channel would be to enter
tain and conduct with ease a rushing
stream during floods, and to uncover at
the earliest moment after subsistence OF
instant flood causes the western margin
of overflow south of the mouth OF
| Feather River; tentatively, to relieve
the overhowed country between the
American and Feather, Feather and Sac
ramento and the upper western over
flowed margin OF the last-named, and to
insure to every portion of the valley the