The record-union., 1893-01-30

HcbUidA lOECES anu cOQQlt1Ons. IL has
been, is, and if persisted in will continue
to be fruitful of mischief and disaster
and useless expenditure. Mark this,
that copious distribution in the tuie coun-
try through channels always open and
ready was the course of natures engi-
neering that furnished our newly occu
pied California with noble river amer
cetted as q 131dUfgdbte aCdter course 6y any
stream Of IKE dimensions Ia the 1Oortd.
The only approach to fault in the or
iginal channel depth of the Sacramento
was in the delta outlets opposite Cache
Slough through which the conveyance
and reversiOn OF the scattered surplus of
floods TO the main river channels-de
rived from its own waters rejected far
above as well as from the Coast Range
by way of Cache and Putah
a water dam OF vastly superior weight
and resource against the river channels
proper.
just here, where the barrier of the
Montezuma peninsula suspended further
relief by natural side escapes on the west,
shoals formed in the delta channels of
the main river, and navigation was often
delayed at low tide in the dry season. In
Steamboat Slough" !" then frequented, but
now shoaled and abandoned for ordinary
purposes Of chief river transit, the shoal
was celebrated as the "Hogs' Back,'i but
Afforded a greater depth of water than the
"Old River" obstruction, since abated to
a degree. Not even scientific engineer
Will demur to the proposition that these
original shoals in the delta arose by rea-
son of the water dam from which "Cache
Slough" was and is the great purveyor to
the rivor channels, nor will common or
uncommon sense successfully deny that
the water dam itself arises and predomi-
mates in the river channels, by reason of
the absence of a side relief tor the flood,
through the Montezuma peninsula to the
tide III Suisun Bay. This absence is the
natural defect in the drainage of the
valley.
The same stoppage, rise, recession and
str2ngling exit OF current at the water
dam in the neighborhood of the ancient
named "Three Forks" to-wit: Cache
Slough, Steamboat Slough, and Old
River, was noticed in early days even as
now; a tidal channel of side relief through
the neck of the MonIezuma peninsula
would have corrected it then as it ought
to be doing now; but not then as now
had the atrocious error of closing the side
reliets in the river above the delta with a
view to restrict floods solely to the chan
mel of the river proper, but in effect to
constrict and fill up that channel with
debris that otherwise would have slid
away into the tule belt and settled to a
good use, been committed by man.
The inference stated in the preceding
proposition may seem not quite clear,
and as it is of the utmost importance, let
us pass briefly beyond epitome.
The tendency OF running water in river
channels not torrential, is, to wit:
To dispose OF the earthly matter held in
suspension the more plentiful such
matter the stronger the tendency-by
hurting it aside, not only in the depths
lA,
may be observed with a strongly marked
emphasis in the Sacramento River dur
ing floods, especially at the higher stages
thereof.
Not the more rapid current, but the
muddier water, is, with no more than eX-
ceptiOns enough to taiarly prove the rule,
found near the banks; and this without
reference TO the wash from them.
The stronger current conSiguS to the
shore, through the weaker current and
therefore more competent deposition, its
more pronounced charge of solids capa-
BILE of suspension in the aggregate river.
AS the flood in the river eliminates,
broad margins OF new debris form along
the banks and reach near 10 the water
surface, often ofa consistency strong and
tenacious enough to take the weight Of a
man, and hardly the imprint of his foot
step; this even nearly adjacent to deep
and strong current.
AS the high water abates, these depos-
its where fully exposed are caved down
in slices by the current, and their matter,
again suspended therein, goes whirling
down along the banks and finally, as the
motor of flood water decreases in volume
and force, finds place and adhesion to OBJ
struct the river bed, in default OF the nat
ural side reliefs that should have swal-
lowed it and deposited it in the tule belt,
many times multiplied by repetition OF
the performance, but which have been
sturdily closed to accelerate the cur
rent" that needed no such acceleration
and Immortality refuses to so be accelera-
ted to any great extent without bursting
its barriers.
The minor point presented by these
promises is, to wit:
That the lateral relief channels of the
Sacramento River as existing at date of
the AnglO-American occupation would
have remained vital factors in the draw
ing of debris, normal and abnormal,
from the main stream had their process
remained uninterrupted by mans de-
vices; and that the artificial addendum OF
a final side relief for the mouth of the
river through the neck of the Monte
yuma would have vastly assisted this
draught on earthly matter suspended in
food waters, and made practicable the
utilization OF the tule country for agri-
cultural purposes by the inevitable re-
suits, first, of Warping by deposit of
debris, and, second, by the immediate
ceasing of overflow after the subsistence
of immediate flood causes.
The currents of the natural side reliefs,
at the commencement Of floods, the time
OF most copious projection of debris, the
time when the tule belt divested of water,
offered the full strength of its depression
for their feeding, mere jRUdriabtU toJrea-
- q nd
under the quiet water beyond for all
earthly or vegetable matter the river
could bring them suspended in its non
torrentiaI current. But the natural de-
feet in drainage Of the valley supervened.
By reason OF the barrier of the Monte
yuma, the tule belt gradually filled up
with water almost to the level of Its river
attiuent, and the current OF the side re-
lieis became greatly modified as to their
torrential character, such modification
depending upon the strength and contin-
uatiOn of flood causes. Here was the
natural defect in the drainage of the val
lev that caused the delta water dam to
practically deprive the main river chan
mel OF several feet of its proper fall to
ocean level and created the shoals in the
delta arteries that pioneers remember OF
old.
Had a natural or artificial side relief
channel existed at tide land through the
Montezuma peninsula to Suisun Bay,
there could not have been a delta water
dam or any long continued overflow of
the tule country. Reasonable Ievees only
would have been necessary to insure the
permanent reclamation of every island
and mainland margin of the "Overfiowed
Lands" and great areas of the water
curtained mud-hats OF Suisun Bay would
have emerged by warpage to sunlight,
cultivation and high values.
The major point presented by the fore
going premises is of more than local in
terest, to wit:
That by reason of the tendency of non