The record-union., 1896-02-06

At the mouth of Old River we found
the deepest water TO be about thirty
three feet, giving a bed elevation of
I'D feet below low tide in Suisun Bay,
or 2O.5 feet lower than the bed of the
! river on the bar.
/ At the lower end of Wood Island the
| bed of the river is eighteen feet below
low tide in Suisun Bay.
! At Horseshoe Bend we found the bed
of the river all the way from thirty
two to fifty-five feet below low tide in
| Suisun Bay.
! At Toland's Landing the river bed is
from eighteen to twenty-eight feet be-
| low low tide in Suisun Bay
Now, bearing in mind that the river
bed in its lowest elevation on the New
town Shoals is 2015 feet above the river
bed at the confluence of Old River and
! Steamboat Slough, and 8 feet higher
than at the foot of Wood Island, we
must expect the surface of the water to
raise as it passes over this hill in the
river and to spread into a broad chan
mel, only to check the velocity and in
crease the deposit upon the shoals.
DAMNED AND DOOMED.
The soundings confirm this view of
| the proposition and we are prepared to
say that the bar is constantly increas-
ing in elevation, forming a dam across
the Sacramento River.
The shortest distance between nat
uraI banks below the confluence of the
| Sacramento River, Steamboat Slough
and Cache Slough is about 1 100 feet
AT a point less than one-half mile below
and at the head of Newtown Shoals the
| stream widens out TO a width of ,656
! feet from waters edge to waters edge
! at low tide, and at the head of Wood
| Island the stream has a width of no less
than 1000 feet
In our remarks regarding the eleva-
| ton of the bed of the river we have
| taken elevations of deepest water, while
IN fact a greater portion of the bed of
| the ivercrossing Newtown Shoals is but
very little below, and in some places
above low tide in Suisun Bay, making
a much greater contrast between
depths of waters above the shoals and
those on the shoals.
THE RESULT.
Now let us see what the result of this
condition of the river leads to in flood
periods.
On February 1, 1896, we find the
gauge at the Ryer Island pump plant
in Cache Slough, registers II feet 9
inches above low tide At the same
time the gauge at Rio Vista registers
II feet inches above low tide, or a diff
ference of 2 feet 3 inches in a distance
of less than four miles The greatest
surface velocity in Cache Slough at this
point was D 1-3 feet per second, with a
fall of 81 inches per mile to Rio Vista
At the same time the surface of water
had fall Of ? feet 10 inches from Rio
Vista to Toland's Landing, a distance
OF IA miles, or a fall of about 40 inches
TO the mile We therefore have, as a re-
suit of the Newtown Shoals, a fall of .. ?
inches more over the shoals than after
passing them, with less depth of
water.
Cache Slough is noted as a deep wa
terway, and at the Ryer Island pump
plant, when the gauge read IA feet 9
inches, was passing into the Sacra-
mento not less than 66000 cubic feet
per second. AT the same time very
large volume of water was passing over
the swamp lands known as the Egbert
District, and entered the river at and
below the confluence of the Old River,
Steamboat Slough and Cache Slough.
THE GREATEST SURFACE VELOC-
ITY
OF the combined waters just above
"Newtown Landing" was 6 % feet per
second, while at the same time the
greatest surface velocity in Old River.
one mile above its confluence with
Steamboat and Cache Sloughs, was 2115
feet per second, and in Cache Slough, at
a corresponding point, 2.65 feet per
second
It is pertinent to remark that at this
time there was no less than 163, 900 Gu
bic feet of water passing over the New
town Shoals. of which we should say
not more than 10000 cubic feet was re-
ceived from Old River and Steamboat
Slough The remainder came from the
great flood reservoir of Yolo Basin.
SECURING CAPACITY.
Tt is claimed by all engineers that
have written upon the subject of the
Improvement of this portion of the
river that the removal of Newtown
Shoals, the correction of Horseshoe
Bend and the enlargement of the up
per portion of Steamboat Slough will
largely increase the capacity of the
ing its securing capacity and necessar-
lily improve navigation. We believe it
would produce this result, and earnestly
urge you to present the matter to the
Governor of our State that he may
place it before our Congressional del
egation.
THE REMEDY.
We urge the construction of strong,
protected levees by the landown-
ers. to be assisted by a careful align
ment and correction of the river chan
mel by the General Government. This
work, once completed, will do more for
the improvement of our waterway than
any other system that can be devised.
We believe it is the duty of the Cen
eral Government to make all channel
Improvement and construct proper
easements for the control of flood
waters.
It is needless for US to remark that by
the cutting out or removing of Newtown
Shoals you viii lower the surface of the
water at this point, thereby increasing
the velocity of the waters OF Steamboat
Slough and Old River, and inaugurate
a system of river deepening and a par
tial return of the river to its original
condition before hydraulic mining was
permitted to injure the water capacity
of the stream Respectfully submitted,
j. r. PRICE, Chief Engineer.
M. A NURSE, Assistant.
Sacramento, Feb. 5, 1896
CIVICS CLUB.