The record-union., 1893-01-05
TIE RIVER ISLANDS.
Thousands Of Acres of Valuable Land
Are Under Water.
Crops and Other Property Damaged
Grand Island all RiGht-What
River hen Say.

The river still remains high down
about its mouth, and Sutter, Ryer and
! Merritt Islands are more or less under
water, also the Toland tract. 1t is ex-
pected that the water will fall more rap
IDLY from this time on, as the high-tide
period has passed.
Men are constantly employed all along
the island levees in stopping breaks and
! keeping the water back.
THE RIVER NOW FALLING.
The comforting news now comes that
the river is receding from the levees
| where so much damage had been done.
The loss to property-owners can be but
/ wildly guessed at, for the entire damage
cannot he learned until the land is
| cleared Of the wafer that covers it. The
| spring tides finished the work which was
| begun two weeks ago flooding, the
/ Toland tract.
| There are two thousand acres of land in
| the Ioland tract. all Of which was under
/ cultivation and which is now under
water. The land is owned by Mrs.
! Ioland, whose interest is represented
! by +. B. Mastic; the Glasseiie brothers
Of Los Angeles and John Shines, whose
one-third is represented by +. II. Gard
| lner. The latter gentleman went down
to San Francisco from the Hooded dis
| trict on Tuesday night, and told a Post
/ reporter that the people in that city and
/ IN sacramento had no idea OF the extent
OF the damage which has been caused
! by the overflow.
! SIX FEET OF WATER.
| l have been up to the Toland tract, on
and of, ," said Mr.. Gardiner, - tor the past
three weeks. About week ago 1 drove
all over the land and found it IN a splen-
did state of cultivation. For the past
/ two days l have been sailing over it in a
naphtha launch. The water on the land
/ averaged about six feet in depth, and
under 1t are about 30,00G sacks of potatoes
! Which were all ready for shipment. Long
before the flood struck US 1 tried to get
/ the Chinese to ship their potatoes to the
| city, but they refused to do so, thinking
/ 10 get better prices 1or them. l told them
OF The Danger we were in, and when they
! would not ship the potatoes | tried to
| have them warehouse them. There are
| three good warehouses up there, but the
Cinnamon thought that it would be an
! unnecessary expense TO stack them up in
safe place, and now they have lost
| everything
TWENTY THOUSAND IN RENTS.
I'VE are unable at present to give anv
idea Of the damage done. but we will lose
ZOO in rents alone for the next year.
All further danger is over, unless a
strong north wind comes up, but it will
take at least ten months to pump the
water back into the river. Then time
| Will have to be given for the soil to get
| back INTO It's proper state, and it will be
about two years altogether before an
/ other crop can be had. We only finished
putting pack the levee about the island
two years ago, and now we Will have to
go through the same experience again.
! "Ryor Island IS also submerged and
the people there are considerably dis
couraged, For the past three years they
have been dredging there and repairing
| the broken IeVees caused by the last
! food. On the day before Thanksgiving
| they completed the circuit Of the Ievee
around the island, and they thought that
they were secure from floods forever
more. They were woiully mistaken,
however, for the river burst in upon
| them from all sides and completely
wrecked the island"
POTATOES WILL GO UP.
| People on the steamer Aurora, which
! arrived Yesterday morning, say that the
| water has undermined the buildings on
! the TOland tract, and that a number of
/ houses are ahoat. The river is filled with
| tules, and the steamers have to thread
| their way very carefully.
What with Merritt, Sutter and Ryer
! Islands and the Ioland tract under water
| potatoes Will be scarce, and there is likely
to be jump in prices before the new crop
comes in. w. Larzalere, the well-known
| commission merchant, is up the river at
| present. A report is current that his trip
Is one of business and pressing business
at that. In fact, rumor has it that he is
! buying up all the potatoes left on the
river. The vegetable has been low enough
| in price, but OF late indications of a rise
have been unmistakable.
THEY WANT THE CANAL.
The people in the flooded districts have
been long trying to get canal run from
| Maine Prairie to Suisun, which would
carry away the overflow and save their
property. About two years ago the route
was surveyed, but since then all proceed
ings have been dropped. 1t was estimated
! that it would cost s., 100000 to construct
the canal, and the silurians hesitated at
| eXpending such an amount Of money.
| The damage done by this flood alone
/ would go quite a long way toward max
! ing up that amount.
1t is argued that the canal would benefit
| five counties-Colusa, Sacramento, ,Sutter,
| \ olo and Solano. If each county paid its
pro rata OF the expense, the cost to each
would be small, and the saving to all