The record-union., 1895-05-03
NOTE AND COMMENT.

The following Will serve as u HlStOry VI
nine out of ten of the so-called restraining
dams offered as pretext for hydraulic min
ing: It is the dam that was used to give an
air of legitimacy to the working of the Kelly
Hill mine, situated near Butte Greek, about
sixteen miles east of Chico. This mine ran
few weeks last summer and fall and was
closed down in October, owing to financial
embarrassments The dumping grOuud was
in a ravine with q watershed above it OF
about three-Quarters of a mile square. The
arrangement for impoHnding debris con-
sisted of two small brush dams few hum
dred feet apart and below these was large
brush dam faced with rock. The rocks were
mostly fat of a slaty formation anu LAID
loose After the first freshets these brush
dams had washed out, and about half of the
rock-and-brush dam bad disappeared, carry
ing with it a large portion ofthe tailings that
had been deposited behind it. And note this:
The tailings which renamed were several
feet higher than the dam, thus showing I'M
mistakably that mining had been carried on
for. some time after the restraining capacity
of the dam had been exhausted BY the re-
turn of another spring, dams, debris and all
else that now remains will be well under way
down the Feather and Sacramento Rivers
headed for San Francisco Bay.
The world will say that Gordon, who killed
voung Brown OF Kentucky and then killed
Mrs. Gordon, whom the husband found in
Browns arms. did precisely the right thing.
And hundreds of thousands will say that
there are times and occasions when the ven-
eeance of the outraged is defensibie If it results
in murder. The weakest thing in the case of
Gordon is the fact that after blotting out the
unfaithful wife and her paramour he at
tempted to kill himself
Our State Department has now pending be-
fore it claims of American citizens against
Nicaragua amounting to more than $780,
600. 1t is altogether probable that these will
all be allowed by our Government. and that
Nicaragua will be called upon to settle. Now
suppose that we had interfered and prevented
Great Britain from pressing her claim for her
citizens: in what sort Of q position would we
be as TO our own?
Early in last February the condition of the
brush dams at the Spanish Hill gravel mine,
near Placeryiile, made it evident just how re-
liable such structures are-Seemingly to be re-
lied Oh for the getting o. a permit, but totally
unfit otherwise. large part of two of them
had given away and gone out, allowing some
of the taIlings to be carried away. They had
all been filled beyond their restraining ca
pacity which, at best, was only meager and
temporary. Two or three other mines in this
immediate vicinity have been permitted to
build brush dams. but they have done but
little, if any, work behind them, so that these
dams are visible in their nakedness and lack
of strength. They consist, in some instances,
of a single length of manzanita and grease
wood brush, laid loose and piled to the hight
of fifteen or twenty feet; in one case the dam
( f,r,it fanu nv in mt
ing to cross it on foot came near upsetting it.
1t was merely a loose pile of brush, with
watershed above it Of more than q mile
square.
The Napa Register says "look out for the
man who detects behind every act of his
neighbor selfish motive. He is the one gen.
orally who has an ak to grind" Worse than
that, neighbor; that kind of man will steal
the ak he wants ground.
The County Auditor reports that the law
requiring births and deaths to be reported
and recorded in his office is entirely ignored,
and therefore O dead letter. Indeed? Then
let some well-paid official, whose duty 1t is to
see to it that the laws are enforced bestir
himself and find out whether the doctors,
midwives and undertakers are superior to the
law. BY the way, where are the District Attor-
ney and the Grand Jury?
| Certain smart people think they have dis
covered hole in the doctrine of the Govern
menu that it has no right to interfere in the
effort made by England to compel Nicaragua
| to pay fair damages for its offenses. These
! "thinkers'' say: "If England can enforce
claim for 81 900. she can with equal right
prefer and enforce one for S7,ooO,oOO or ST.
| OO,OOo,OO0 and that would dsamount to SUBJ
! jugation and conquest, and still. according to
! the non-intervention logic, the United States
cgnnot prevent it," Not SO. What our Gov
eminent holds is that England may protect
her subjects by compelling Nicaragua to re-
spond in reasonable damages. But when the
sum claimed becomes unreasonable, and so
/ oppressive rs to be destructive of the inde-
pendence OF Nicaragua, that will be very
| different matter, and change the whole face of
/ the question.
If it be true as alleged. that Cinnamon are
| put in charge and, with gangs of their coun-
/ tryrnen, work hydraulic mines regardless of
] the restraints put upon it by Congress, the
evasion of the statutes is more than ordina-
/ riIy reprehensible. The use of the aliens as
| fence behind which leasing mine owners Eide
is without excuse or extenuating circum-