The record-union., 1896-01-28
AN IMPENDING DANGER.

T6e DESCRIPTION OF Ine OVeTuOWeO
section in the river and tule basin
given in yesterdays columns of the
Record Union" taken with the paper
by Chief Engineer Price Of the Public
Works Commission, published in the
Record Union" of Wednesday last,
form texts for such preaching on the
question Of river preservation as should
command the attention Of the people Of
the nation.
The Sacramento River is the property
of all the people, We of the valleys are
no more than others interested in it.,
save so far as residence in the valley
brings us more intimately into the pres
ence Of the terrible destruction that is
going on.
It is perfectly safe to say, and within
the bounds of very early probability,
that the Sacramento River, the chief
navigable stream of California, the
drainway of the great Sacramento VAL
ley, will leave it's channel and map out
for itself new and shallow courses un-
less something is speedily done to pre-
vent it.
This great river, so valuable to the
State in a commercial sense. so inti-
mately related to the development of
the Sacramento Valley, and around
which in its present course such vast
fixed interests have grown, is to-day
running upon a ridge, escaping from
its banks, and it's waters coursing aim
lessly through plains and low lands.
uncertain, destructive. a menace to hab-
itations and warning against invest
ment. This is by no means extrava-
CANT statement.
The conditions pointed out are not
due to natural causes. The rapid blot
ting out of the navigability of the river
is not attributable to ordinary courses
and processes. The evils that threaten
the river, the evils that have already
come upon it, are the result Of artificial
works, for nature adapts herself to her
own processes. Mans activities some
times hasten these changes that tend
to the gradual decay of rivers and ne
cessitate dredging and levees; but never
in the history of rivers has there been
q case comparable to that Of the Sac
ramento, where, in a very few years.
foreign material by artificial processes
has been so largely forced and trained
into the stream as to work its almost
complete destruction.
Selfish interests cannot construe this
plain statement Of fact into assault,
try as they may, since it Is simple DEM
onstrable truth that we have stated
Engineer Price has proven this from as
certained data, from records of surveys
and examinations of many years by
numerous engineer corps, and by his
ewn observations. Yet we find some of
the press of the State declaring that the
question of river reclamation and res
toration of river navigation are purely
local questions with which the people
OF the State outside of the Sacramento
Valley have nothing whatever to do
f is only recently that a leading South
ern California paper made this declara-
tion. wholly blind to the fact that what
ever affects the schedule of assessable
values concerns the interest of every
taxpayer in the State, and that injury
to the Sacramento Valley is injury to
the whole State. precisely as we should
deem the destruction of the Salinas
Valley a calamity to this section.
though it is far to the south of us.
The treatment of the Sacramento and
Feather Rivers must be effective, COM
prehensive and immediate. If there is
much more waiting treatment will not
be necessary, because the river will
have departed from its course, formed
deltas north of us. and Sacramento as
one item in the bill Of results will be
left an inland town without terminal
advantages. Those who are disposed
TO consider this improbable have but to
consult their histories for instances Of
greater rivers accomplishing greater
revolutions, though of course through
ages. But we in California have elm
mated time by the application of hy-
drauIics to the washing down Of mount
aims to the sea, that otherwise would
not have sent inches Of their fanks
into the streams IN a thousand years
under operation of uninterrupted nat
ural processes
Engineer Price reports the Ill of the