The record-union., 1893-12-08

the OeDE1S EEOut LAAO s-RsAAA7-A ~~~AA
Mines in Plumas County.
The report of the California Debris
Commission which was submitted TO the
War Department in November, has been
transmitted to Congress. All important
information in the report is contained IN
the following summary:
LAS REQUIRED by law the commission,
generally by a committee OF Its members,
has in every case visited the locality OF
the application. Some of these journeys
require five or six days of arduous travel
IN the mountains.
1.-The number of applications for per-
mission to mine has not been great. Inc
system is novelty and its workings are
yet to be understood. The miner is IN
the hands of the commission. tie Is un-
certain whether his practical device tor
impounding will be understood. uncer-
tain whether or not, even II all goes well
with the commission, he may be involved
in litigation.
1T is probable that the increased ex-
penditureS and restrictions upon the Tree
dom of operations involved by the new
system of regulations may act to make
mining in many cases less profitable than
formerly, thereby reducing the magnl-
tude Of the output and the number OF
applications.
@Everywhere in mining territory
where auriferous deposits were found OF
sufficient extent and so situated as to be
accessible to the water supply. and at
sufficient elevation above the rivers to
give fall to the slulces equal to carry OH
The detrituS, monitors were put at work
washing down hills ana transferring
them to the beds OF adjacent streams
down which they were moved by freshets
TO the plains and water courses OF the
valleys.
Public and private injuries then Gre
ated in increasing degree gradually de-
Veloped opposition among the valley peo-
pie and gave rise to litigation which
eventuated in the injunction OF the Cir
cult Court in 1884. fOrbiddIng certain
mines to use the beds Of rivers and
streams as a dumping ground for mining
debris. This Injunction remains in force.
sin the course of this controversy,
which lasted over number OF years,
there grew up III the Sacramento Valley
an organization entitled the Anti-debrls
Association. This association has its at
torneys and inspectors. The United
States also appeared in its own cause
and asked Tor an injunction against par
ties charged with depositing mining
debris, not only in the beds of navigable
waters, but resulting in alleged injuries
TO navigation.
1.-TWO cases have been decided. These
cases touch closely the operations Of this
commission as defined by the ACT of
March. The reasons assigned TOR refuS-
ing an Injunction in the North Bloom
field Company and granting it i'll the
other case mark an Important distinction
between detritus impounded III the beds
of streams subject TO a freshet and tribu-
tary to navigable waters, and storage
reservoir site not traVerSed by natural
courses.
''The gold-mining industry is impor-
tant in its bearings upon the general in
terests OF the United States as well as
upon local prosperity, and the rlsk.is so
great that lIl-adViSed restriction upon
activities is to be carefully avoided.
ION the other hand, the great amount
of material that has been handled and
stored by hydraulic processes to get a
little gold makes the problem Of securing
impoundment and OF the protection of
naVigable waters and adjacent lands one
of equal seriousness. Old talllngS have
been reworked without restrictions by
the courts or opposition of the people of
the valleys. This work does not come
within the definition Of hydraulic min
ing"
The commission gives considerable at
tentiOn to the subject Of rewOrking of
detritus or, in the language Of the miner,
sluicing the taillngs, which, according to
the plan of operation of the miners Of
this State, is not hydraulic mining. The
Caminetti Act declares that the meaning
and application given to hydraulic mines
and hydraulic mining in that Act are the
same as given to these terms in this State.
This provision Of the Caminetu Act,
(which is quoted in the report Of the COM
mission, recalls the contest in the Legis-
lature as to the definition OF hydraulic
mining In this contest the mining men
won q victory by causing the acceptance
of the following definition: Hydraulic
mining . is mining by means
of the application of water under pres
sure through nozzle against natural
bank"
The importance of this definition is in
dicated by the following quotations from
the report of the commission, which show
that debris may be carried into navig2ble
streams without violation of the law or
contempt of the Injunction issued by the
Federal courts in the famous litigation
relating TO the debris question:
1.-THE definition of hydraulic mining is
mining by water under pressure directed
against natural bank. 1t has also been
mentioned that throughout the period of
controversy old tailings have been re-
worked without restriction by the courts
or opposition of the people OF the valleys.
This work does not come within the
zle is used and the water is not used
under pressure.
The tailings are shoveled into sluices
and the gold is separated through the
shifting agency of running water by the
aid of rifles and amalgamation with
quicksilver. The effect is to move ma
terial from one place 10 a lower position.
THE work has hitherto been confined
TO the beds of streams filed with tailings.
The operation does what the freshets do
that is, it moves material down stream.
There is no great objection to this process
confined to beds of streams. Doubtless
it disturbs and transports some finer
matter which might never have been
otherwise displaced, but this is of no par
ticular importance.
''The case is somewhat different when
applied to deposits impounded in beds of
streams or elsewhere. 1t is quite practi-
cable and, so far as is known, permissi-
ble under the law to work by SluiceS tall
ings which have been kept out of river
beds by barrier or otherwise, and to de-
liver them reworked to the beds of