The record-union., 1896-11-28


fordtnary high water is not only a de-
vastatdon Of property. but will until
mately ruin the navigation Of the Sac
ramento River.
This policy, 1t seems to US, Is a slow
but solemn warning to all land owners
OF the Sutter, and Colusa Basins, as
we'll as to land owners residing along
the banks of the Feather River.
If the present condition Of the rivers
OF the Sacramento Valley Is permitted
to continue, we may expect to see the
flood line Of Sutter Basin gradually in
creased In elevation year by year, un-
til, in flood times, no artificial works
of man san resist the coming of the
flood
EFFECT ON YoLO BASIN.
Should the time come when the low
water line at the site of the crevasses
hereinbefore referred to shall be of an
elevation equal to the natural surface
of the tule in Yolo Basin, then we may
expect to see Sutter Basin in flood time
contain body of water whose surface
will be feet higher than at the pres
ent time, which means not less than 4O
feet above low tide at Knights Landing.
Such condition means a body Of water
Of equal hight with the highest water
| ever known in the river at Knights
Landing, extending over vast area
from the Feather River to the Sacra-
mento, with an increasing surface slope
| from the confluence of these rivers to
a point 30 miles northerly, or to Butte
Slough.
| Such conditions not only mean the
destruction Of Sutter Basin, but also
Yolo. Colusa and Butte Basins. They
all mutually rely upon a perfect out
let-one that will not raise the surface
Of the flood waters
| The results Of flood under such con-
ditions can be foretold only by wise
representation of disastrous results.
| It must be borne in mind by those
living on the upper Sacramento and
Feather Rivers that Cache Creek is
slowly but surely building another dam
from the west side Of the Yolo Basin
to the banks of the Sacramento. The
deposits made by the present crevasses
are only assisting Cache Creek In its
dam building. The Feather River has
built and is building it's ridges from
4 the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the
! Sacramento, River The Sacramento
River below this point is shoaling and
contracting, and will continue to do so
| for many years to come, and for miles
below the confluence of the two rivers.
We therefore cannot expect a cessation
| of the elevation of the flood line until
| nature has made a vast reservoir of all
the upper basins, and the slope below
| has been increased sufficiently to re-
sist further deposits commensurate
| with the wide expanse Of her flood
area. It must therefore be very plain
to the land owners of the upper basins
| that the improvement of the lower river
is their salvation. It must be evident
to every man interested In the rich bot
tom lands Of the Sacramento Valley
that deep waterways are what are re-
qriired for the escape of the floods, and
| that the work should begin at the
| foundation and not at the top of the
structure. We need not tell the land
owners Of Sutter, Colusa and Butte
basins that a lowering of the flood
| line at the mouth of the Feather will
| lower the flood line throughout the
northern portion of the Sacramento
Valley. They all know that the water
dam formed by the union of the waters
of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers
is the cause Of disastrous floods in the
upper Sacramento Valley. The i'm
portant thing to do Is to lower the food
line at the confluence of these rivers,
and this necessarily means the lower
ing Of the flood line from this point
to the mouth Of the Sacramento River.
DEEPEN THE RIVERS.
| We believe from the foregoing dis
cussion we have clearly shown that the
only way to do this is to deepen our
rivers. To deepen our rivers we must
utilize the power Of the water and the
forces that nature has given us.
| We may remark here that no COM
plete system Of reclamation can be ex-
pected until the rivers are under con-
troll Hence we have not attempted
to discuss the question of final recla-
nation, leaving a consideration OF that
important question for a time when all
the agencies to be controlled are meas
urable and not uncertain, as they now
| are The rivers once controlled, 1t
seems to us the reclamation Of the
lands and care Of fugitive waters is a
simple problem which the conditions
themselves will readily solve.
If the General Government will not
undertake the task of rectifying the
disastrous conditions that now prevail.
then must the State, as a matter OF
self interest, by judicious legislation
and liberal appropriation, do her part
to remedy the evil It will not do for
the State to sit idly by and be a party
to the devastation Of it's own resources.
The Sacramento River Is the great ar
| terry of trade for a vast agricultural
community; a free highway for all
competitors in freighting. and the road
over which must be transported the
| products and the return merchandise
of a thrifty and steadily increasing
community. We do not believe that
the city of Sacramento can sit quietly,
with her great future before her, and
witness the destruction of her greatest
| TRANSPORTATION highway. Two hundred
miles of river front from Iron Canyon
| to the city of Sacramento cannot be
abandoned without irreparable loss to
the great metropolis Of the Sacramento
Valley. Sacramento City IS now the
shipping center for this great undevel-
oped region, where fruits and cereal
products must now and in the near fu-
| ture find a market transport to the
world. Close this line Of cheap trans
portation, and other lines OF transpor
! tation, more expensive, perhaps, to the
nroducer. but under better conditions,
will be established.
THE REMEDY.
| The authorities heretofore cited. and
| the living example before us, indicated
by the improvement of the river from
Rio Vista to Collinsville, direct US to
| the remedy desired.
The volume of water discharged dur
ing flood season by the main river must