The record-union., 1897-06-25
AS TO THE NEVTOWN SHOALS
Results Of the Examination Now Being
Made by Engineers.
A Hardpan Bottom, Which, Once
Cleared, VIII Facilitate
Securing.

Marsden Manson, President of the
Department of State Highways, yester-
day morning returned from trip down
the river, where he had gone at the
instance of Commissioner of Public
Works Leake to investigate and ascer-
tain the progress and nature of the
borings which are being made on the
Newtown Shoals, a short distance above
Rio Vista, by Engineers Nurse and
Randall
AS is pretty generally known, the
borings on the Newtown Shoals are be-
ing made with a view of ascertaining
the composition Of the material enter
ing into their formation, so that the
Commissioner of Public Works may in
telligently take steps for their removal.
From careful surveys and observations
made within the past few years by
Engineers Price and Nurse. it is con-
ceded that once the shoal in question
is removed, thus giving increased fall
and consequently greater securing ca
pacity to the water, the latter will
wash away the debris and sediment
now in the channel, and without any
great expenditure of labor regain its
original depth.
Engineers Nurse and Price have been
at work on the shoals for the past two
weeks, and that the work has not pro-
gressed as rapidly as was expected is
not their fault To begin with, the
boring apparatus supplied them was
not of sufficient strength to do the
work required, and a breakdown was
the result
Commissioner Manson says the work
is now progressing slowly but surely,
however, and the borings already made
show that the shoal is composed of a
movable layer of sand and gravel of va
riable depth, OVERLAPPING yellow hard
pan, which is, in reality, a continual
tion of the hardpan upon which rests
the Montezuma Hills.
Mr.. Manson brought with him speci-
mems of the hardpan, both from the
bottom of the river and the Montezuma
Hills, and his original theory that the
former is simply a continuation of the
latter seems to be proven beyond ques-
tion.
The greatest depth at which the
hardpan has as yet been struck is
eighteen feet and it viii require the
boring of numberless other holes before
the engineers viii be able to make an
estimate as to just what proportion
each holds to the other.
From. the fact that the upper layer
of the shoal is composed of sand, En-
gineer Nurse is of the opinion that a
jetty system will be necessary to main
tain the channel after it is opened by
dredging. This may not prove neces-
sary, however, as the hardpan bottom
Will show smooth, even surface,
which will offer no impediment to the
sediment passing through the channel.
WHAT ENGINEER NURSE SAYS.
In addition to the above, Engineer
NJ. A. Nurse, writing from Rio Vista
under date of Wednesday, to the
Record Union" says:
A partial investigation of the New
town Shoals in the Sacramento River
near Rio Vista, consisting of a series
of wells bored to a depth of about
twenty feet below low tide, and ex-
tending along the crest of the shoals
from the right bank for a distance of
about 800 feet out into the channel,
has SO far been made
mo extent of material not easily
to be removed by either dredger or a
perfect jetty system has as yet been
encountered. The investigation is be-
ing continued as rapidly as the crude
appliances at command will permit.
and results will be given to the public
at an early date.
From the data and evidences so far
collected as to the character of mate
rial composing the shoal am
clearly of the belief that it is wholly
a sandbar, the formation of which
may be easily understood. True, pro-
jecting tongues of hardpan in char
acter like that underlying the Monte
yuma Hill country, extend from the
right bank some distance into the
channel
Complete investigation may deveI-
op more general extent of this hard
pan character beneath the water sur
face than I now believe to exist, but
evidences so far point to material loose
In character and easy of removal