The record-union., 1896-01-22

4
4 attic improvement is adopted the
Feather River must become a broad.
| fiat waterway, incapable of navigation
during low-water periods. and had it
not been provided with artificial banks
it is safe to say that the Feather River
would now be divided into system of
sub-deltas and a consequent destruction
of all possible navigation. This preser-
walton of the channel can be attributed
to the determination of the settlers to
hold its waters in its channel more than
to any other cause, or to the assistance
of the General Government.
On December II, 1880, the levee on the
right bank of the Sacramento River
gave way and formed what is known as
the Paine Break, a crevasse located
some two or three miles below the COR
porate limits of the city of Sacramento.
This crevasse discharged enormous
volumes of water, thus producing a
superinduced velocity of the flood wa
ters.
| We find from an approximate meas
urement of the river bed from 1 street
to u street. in front Of Sacramento city,
a distance of one mile, the following
conditions:
Fill from 1854 to 1878, l. .767, 900 cubic
yards; from 1854 to 1895, 2, 1872. 600 cubic
yards; from 1854 to 800. 1,06S, 900 cubic
yards; from 1854 to 1895, 2, ,1S7, 900 cubic
yards.
Now, observe that the effect of the
Paine break, or crevasse, was to scour
out nearly 100000 cubic yards of the
fl up to 1873. and over 100000 yards
OF the fill up to 1885. We will also OBJ
serve that the Paine break was closed
| in 1890 by the General Government,
and that in 1895 we lind the bed of this
portion of the river has again filled until
it exceeds the fill of 1885, but only in the
small sum of 5000 cubic yards. 1t is in
teresting also to observe the lesson
| taught by these figures in the effects of
/ hydraulic mining.
| From 1860 to 1878 it is fair to presume
that the filling is equivalent TO /. .767, 900
cubic yards, while from 1873 to to 1885,
| during the cessation of hydraulic min
| ing, a period of seven years, the river
bed filled 415,000 cubic yards, and from
| 1885 to 1895, period of ten years, she
! has increased her fill to the small
amount of 5000 cubic yards. In other
words, we may safely conclude that the
river is on the road to better condition,
I provided we do not gorge it again with
| hydraulic slickens.
Let US now return to the effects pro-
| dueed by the Paine break, for this is
the pith of the subject The erosion of
100000 cubic yards of earth from the
bed Of the stream in front of the city
of Sacramento must be evidence to the
mind that a great impetus was given
f.O ho Of cfr II -
point
The river had quietly run over this
portion of its bed for twelve years
without any eTosion up to the time Of
| this break. Immediately after the break
| was closed we find the disappearance
| of over one-half of the fill since 1854.
What a magnificent process this is
to clear the river of it's slickens Mag
nificent when viewed without reference
to it's effect upon the river below
| the break. But, unfortunately, the
| power used to remove the material
above the crevasse has also been
used to shoal and fill the river below
the crevasse.
See the effect. The low-water line
of 1890 is 2 $40 feet higher than in
1856, and l $40 feet higher than in
1895. While the elevation of the low
water line is not a positive index as to
the amount of filling below the break
it is certain that it indicates a change
in the condition of the bed Of the
stream.
We have already given the fiuctua
tfons of the low-water line, as regis
tered on the gauge at Sacramento, and
from these statistics we see the low
water line of $780, Immediately after
| the closing of the Paine break, was
$40 feet higher than the low-water
line of 1885, five years previous to the
break, and 1 $40 feet higher than the
low-water line of 1895, five years after
| the break was closed.
What do these conditions indicate,
if they indicate anything? Certainly
nothing more nor less than the filing
of the bed of the Sacramento River be-
low the Paine break, during the exces-
sive flow of that crevasse. We may
conclude also that from Sacramento
| City down the stream the river has
commenced to recover from it's disease
since the year 1890 to the present time.
This we attribute in no small degree
to the work of contracting the stream
on the Haycock shoals.
w. H. Heuer, Major of Engineers, u.
| S. A, in his report of February 8, 1891,
| to the Secretary of War, reports in
substance that the filling effect of the
Paine break was perceptible as far as
seven miles below the break. So much,
1 therefore, for a practical illustration
/ of the effect of a crevasse in the bank
| of the Sacramento River.
! Now, let US go to point on the river
| about four miles below the confluence
| of the Sacramento and Feather Rivers.
| On the right bank we find the levee
almost totally destroyed and the nat
ural bank washed down to nearly low
water line in no less than four extern
| sive crevasses. These breaks and the
7 destruction Of levee extend over three
I or four miles of river front Some of the
/ breaks have remained unclosed for two
] or three seasons.
The heavy sands of the Feather River
have poured out through these breaks
into what is known as the Yolo basin,
! until the deposit of white sand has
/ formed to a depth of from one TO four
/ feet or six feet, resembling in their
/ formation the snowdrifts of some more
! frigid temperature. The Yolo basin, as
it is called, is a low, fiat swamp of
unreclaimed land. the ordinary eleya-
ton being at this point about eight
cen or twenty feet above tide water.
The elevation Of the surface of flood
waters at the confluence of the Feather
and Sacramento is not less than thirty
/ three feet above tide water. differ
ence in elevation of from fifteen to
thirteen feet.
Now. we viii suppose the Feather
! River to be in flood period. as it is at