The record-union., 1895-03-05

man elect johnson, to publish Major
Heuer's report in full, also that of Lieu
tenant Graham d. Fitch, in command of
the snag- boat Seizer, which has been op-
Grating on the upper Sacramento River:
LIEUTENANT FITCH'S REPORT.
L. S. SNAG-BoAT SEIZER, J
| SACRAMENTO RIVER, California,
October Is, 1894.
! Mayor W. II. Heuer, Corps Of E31qi-
| neerS, y. s. A.-MAJOR: / have the honor
to submit the following report upon an
! examination of the Sacramento River,
between Redding and Red Bluff, made
| by me in accordance with your insIruc-
| tions.
| Accompanied by two oarsmen from the
| United States snag-boat Seizer / arrived
at Reddlng early in the morning of Octo-
Der IA, 1894. After collecting some infor-
nation l started down stream about 9
a. NJ, in skitf, which | had sent by rail
to Redding few days before. We were
several times warned to beware of the
rocks and the whirlpools in the channel,
and though l had expert oarsmen, great
precautlon was necessary. l had eX-
pected to make Red Bluff that night, but
Lat p. NJ. we reached Iron Canyon,
the men refused to go through by the in
sufficient light of the moon. Accord
ingly we decided to bivouac, but discov-
ering house, spent the night with a
rancher. Shortly after O'Clock the next
morning we started again and arrived at
Red Bluff at $3.50 A. NJ, October 10Th.
l had been informed at Redding that
the distance to Red Bluff was estimated
at 46 miles. In my opinion it is fully 90
miles. The distance by rail between the
two towns is 80 miles. In this portion OF
| its course the Sacramento flows in gem
eral direction little east of south. though
with many crooks and turns. The river
rises and falls very rapidly. Usually the
difference between high and low water
is about 20 feet. In 1886 the extreme rise
was % feet. The highest stage is of short
| duration, about three days on an average.
! The low-water period generally averages
about five months in the year. The river
! begins to rise in December, reaches its
maximum in January or February, and
does not fall to its low-water stage until
| June or July. AT the time of my exam
lnation the gauge on the bridge near Red
| ding registered ILL., the gauge at Red
Bluff -0.7. The total fall of the Sacra-
mento River between Redding and Red
Bluff, as given to me by Mr.. Luning, a
civil engineer, who had run lines of level
| at both points to connect the river with
railroad benchmarks, is 234.6 feet. This
fall is very unevenly distributed.
The river consists essentially of series
! of shallow rapids alternating with deep
pools. The average width of the river is
about 300 feet, though there are many
places where it is 100 feet and $50 feet
wide, and one place where for half a
mile it is only sixty feet wide. 1t is still
narrower in Iron Canyon. These figures
refer to the total width of the river. The
| depth in the pools varies from four and
a half to twelve feet, according to the
soundings | made. Over the rapids the
water is mainly concentrated in a narrow
channel twenty-five to forty feet wide,
! nd hol To foat lie
elsewhere the depth is few inches only.
| These channels are not only narrow but
| crooked and frequently full of powders.
| The river flows like a torrent through
some of them, the water mass of white
/ breakers. There are thirty of these shoals
between the bridge below Redding and
| Iron Canyon, and one thence to Red
Bluff. Above the bridge did not count
them.
About nine miles above Red Bluff is
the so-called Iron Canyon, where the
river, now extremely narrow and very
| deep, flows for several miles through
walls of solid rock. For about three
fourths of a mile the width of the river is
not over fifty feet, nor is the canyon
straight. | was told by the rancher with
| whom we stayed over night that the least
width was thirty-two feet. That is not
impossible, though the least width L
found was thirty-five feet, accurately
IL
This place was forty feet. A short dis
tance down stream bottom could not be
touched with a sounding line fiity-five
feet long. | measured the surface veloc-
ity here and found it to be five feet per
second. Elsewhere in the canyon depths
were obtained from twenty-five feet to
forty-eight feet.
The bottom of the river consists of
cobblestones in most places, occasionally
of hardpan or OF rock. The banks are
mostly of cemented gravel and hardpan,
i'll Iron Canyon of rock ana in some
places of sand or loan. The night of the
| banks is usually from fifteen to twenty
tive feet. In the neighborhood of Red
ding the left bank is at intervals a verti-
cal gravel bank about seventy-tive feet
high. At the lower end of Iron Canyon
the bluffs are about 200 feet high, close to
the river and with vertical sides. In the
narrowest part of the canyon the banks
rise with gradual slope from the river S
edge to about the same hight.
There areSvery few snags in the river;
not a dozen were seen in the antire dis
tance. The greater portion OF the land
bordering the river remains unculti-
| waited. 1t is wooded, but not densely
some grazing land was passed and few
| orchards and grain fields. An occasional
farmhouse was seen. Two small villages,
| Anderson and Cottonwood, are situated
respectively about two and four miles
from the right bank of the river. They
are both on the railroad, the first eleven
and the second eighteen miles south OF
Reddlng.
Three highway bridges cross the river,
one at a short distance below Redding,
one at point two miles from the village
of Anderson, and one at Red Bluff. The
first is a wood and iron truss bridge. the
other two are iron truss bridges. At the
time Of my examination the clear hight
above the water surface of the first was
| twenty-eight feet, of the second twenty
eight feet, and of the third thirty-tive
and tive-tenths feet. None of these
bridges are provided with draws. Be-
tween the Anderson bridge and Iron Can
yon there are four flying bridges. operated
from wire ropes stretched across the
river.
Many years ago, before there was rail-
road communication with the outside
world, a few attempts were made to reach
! Redding by steamer, but without success.
The only attempt during low water was
made by the steamer Annie with barge
of about so tons burden. The Annie was
between ITO and 1l5 feet in length; her
| breadth OF beam was a or 20 feet. She
started from Red Bluff on Monday morn
ing and by Saturday afternoon was still
from II to 10 miles, by river, below Red
ding. Beyond this she was unable to
ascend. As far as l have been able to
asce1 tain, but six attempts in all have
been made to navigate the river above
Red Bluff. The bridge at Red Bluff was
completed in 1876.
Redding is town of about ?, 2,000inhabi-
tants, situated on the right bank Of the Sac
ramento River and on the main line of the
Southern Pacific Railroad, 260 miles from
San Francisco. 1t is the county seat OF
Shasta County and the distributing point
for supplies to the mines and mining
towns in the vicinity. Wool and hides