The record-union., 1895-03-05

Bluff unless Redding is reached, and
now serious difficulties begin to occur.
BY blasting channel through Iron Can
yon, and by deepening the shoals and
widening the narrow places above, it
might perhaps, if sufficient amount
OF money were expended. be possible to
render the river navigable to within
| about ten miles of Redding without re-
sorting to canalization. Beyond TINS,
however, owing to the increasing fall of
the river. some method of slack-water
navigation would of necessity have to be
adopted. If all this were accomplished,
1t is still impro ba BILE that steamers could
make it pay to ascend to Redding and
compete with the railroad.
Estimates of the cost of improving the
river cannot be made without data OBJ
tanned from careful survey. This cost
would, however, be very great, totally
out OF proportion to any possible benefit
that might result. In my opinion the
Sacramento River above Red Bluff is not
worthy of improvement, and a survey is
not needed. Very respectfully your
| obedlent servant,
GRAHAM d. FITCH,
First Lieutenant, Corps of Engineers.
MAYOR HEUER's REPORT.
Y. ;. ENGINEER OFFICE,
| San FRANCISCO, Dec. 4, 1894.
Brtgdd1eI'- General Thomas l.. CdSey,
Chef Of Engineers, U. .S. H., WaShlngton,
". ~,
D1UlStOn ERglneeT, San FraHciSc0-GEN-
| ERAL: The River and Harbor Act of
August II, 1894, contained the following
clauses: "improvlng Sacramento and
Feather rivers, California, continuing i'm
| provement, including = g one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars, of which ten
thousand, or so much thereof as may be
necessary, shall be expended in snag-
ging and other work between Tehama
and Redding on the Sacramento River"
That portion Of the rivsG between Red
ding and Red Bluff has boen recently ex-
amined by Lieutenant Graham D. Fitch,
Corps OF Engineers, whose report is here
with.
In addition to the facts and deductions
in his report, have respectfully TO SUBJ
init the following statements concerning
this river, more especially concerning
that portion of it between Redding and
Red Bluff.
In the early days Of California, before
the construction of railroads. the only
means of communication between differ
ent points in the State were by trail, by
wagon road, or by river. In lS49, and for
several years thereafter, the gold excite
ment being then at its hight, people were
Hooking to the State by the thousand, and
transportation rates tor freight and pas
sengers were phenomenally high. One
result was that line of STEAMBOATS, ran
up the sacramento River as far as Red
Red Bluff was considered the head of
navigation, though six attempts were
maze by steamboats, to reach Redding.
These steamboats, succeeded only in reach
! ing point or settlement known as La
| toma. Captain Foster, who made the six
| trips referred to- states that Latoma was
about nine miles due south of Redding;
This would locate that landing near the
mouth OF Clear Greek, or about fifteen
| miles by river below Redding. On one
OF these trips described by Captain Fos-
| ter, made at a low water stage, he states
| that it took his boat six hours to go from
| Iehama to Red Bluff, seventeen miles,
while it took five days TO 60 from RedBlut
| to Latoma, estimated at forty-tive miles
| by Captain Foster. in this forty-five
miles he had to haul by line torty-two
| times owing to the swiftness of the cur
! rent.
| River service was continued to Red
Bluff until the completion of the railroad
| to this point. The steamboat company
| then, about 1873, withdrew it's steamers
from points above Mcintosh Landing,
| forty-three miles below Red Bluff, be-
cause it was said to be commercially un-
| profitable. For nearly twenty years
| prior to 1892 Mcintosh was the practical
head OF navigation of the Sacramento
| River, ana all approved projects so
| treated 1t, no projects up to that time con-
| templating any improvement of the river
| ABOVE Mcintosh Landing.
| In June, 1892, the Hon. Thomas Geary,
| memb ber of Congress from the First Dis
| trict of California, requested an examina-
| tion of the river above Mcintosh Land
! ing with view to it's improvement as
far up as Red Bluff. Acting under in
structions L made this examination and
| submitted, June Il, 1892, a report on the
| condition OF the river. AS nothing in
| any Act of Congress prohibited the i'm
prOvement of the river above Mcintosh
| and below Red Bluff, the river was inn
mediately thereafter cleared of snags by
| the Government snagboat as far as Te-
| hama, twenty-six miles above Mcintosh
| Landing, and steamb boats followed up the
| river During the succeeding year 1893,
| The snag boat re-opened the river to Red
| Bluff, and since then steam boats have
been making regular weekly trips to that
| point.
| At Red Bluff the river is spanned bv
| an iron truss bridge without draw.
| This alone ettectually bars navigation
| further up stream until the bridge shall
| have been reconstructed. TO convert
/ this bridge into draw bridge would re-
! quire at least three new piers, including
pivot pier, and would involve an ex-
pense of perhaps $4,000 Assuming this
done, it might be possible tor steamboats,
to reach Iron Canyon, some nine miles
above Red Bluff. This canyon, which is
several miles in length, has for three
tOurthS OF mile width at low-water
| surface not exceeding fifty feet actual
! measurement by Lieutenant Fitch, and
in one place is only thirty-fve feet wide.
| 1t is also known that the range of the
| river between high and low water stages
| In this canyon IS as great as fifty feet.
| Within year. according to newspaper
| paragraph believed to be reliable, the
river, in a single day at Redding, rose
| thirteen feet. The maximum recorded
! range of the river at Red Bluff is 2S5
| feet.
| Once through the Iron Canyon there
are some twenty-five or thirty miles,
| more or less, OF open river to opposite the
! town of Anderson, situated on the rail
road about two miles west Of the river.
| Here the river is again spanned by an
iron truss bridge without a draw, which
will have to be rebuilt before the river
| can be navigated There are no avail
able data for establishing the cost of
| changing this bridge to a draw bridge
| but, as at least three new piers would be
required, l would place 1t, on a rough
guess, at S30, 900. In the twenty-five to
thirty miles of river between the canyon
and this bridge there are, by actualsc count
of Lieutenant Fitch. eighteen rapids.
just below Redding there is still
| third bridge without draw crossing the
river. Between the two bridges, some
| fifteen miles apart, there are no less than
twelve rapids, through some of which
''the river flows like torrent, the water
a mass of white breakers" Above the
upper bridge, below Redding there are
! still other rapids. AS far as known, no
steam boat has ever been within ten miles
| of Redding.
The State Legislature of California
| many years ago liked the head of naviga