The record-union., 1897-04-17

the American Basin reservoir a great
body of water. In fact the surface of
| the water must be extreme in order
| that any great amount of water can
| be discharged. We simply hold that
could the bed of the main stream be
| lowered so as to give water space
| where sand and slickens now abide,
| the discharge of the river as we'll as
| the basins would pass away to the
ocean on much lower plans of sur
| face elevation. The 10000 or $50, 1000
| cubic feet of water per second would
| not have been presented for distribu-
| tion at the Feather and American
| River mouths with an unlimited supply
! for days of extreme flood but the
water would have disappeared as it
came from the clouds by much more
| expeditions discharge. 1t must be
plain from the facts already set forth
that if we could by proper treatment
| of the river deepen it to a depth of
! 20 feet below it's present bed at the
confluence of the Feather and Sacra-
| mento Rivers, with a corresponding
depth throughout it's whole course from
| this point to deep water, the supply
D,
| never would have filled to their ele-
| vations in 1896. There might arise
such conjunction of causes as to pro-
duce a disastrous flood wave but it
certainly would require a much more
extensive and precipitous rainfall than
| that which produced the flood of jan
| uary and February of the year 1896
CONDITION OF THE BANKS.
| The condition of the river bank above
the Elkhorn Ranch on the Yolo side
| is such that the waters, even with a
| very moderate raise in the river, escape
into the Yolo Basin, being entirely be-
| yond the control of man. We have
written so much on this question that
it seems mere repetition to write fur
| ther upon the subject. The correction
of the evils here prevailing is SO i'm
| pOrtant that whenever we look for
power to do the work required in the
| river, knowing from the vast expanse
of water running at will, that that
power is ready to be utilized. We turn
with an intuitive sense to the crevasses
on the Yolo bank of the river between
the mouth of the Feather and Elkhorn
Ranch. In the light of our previous
| the river system wasting it's energy
on broad acres of fertile land while the
disease continues to ramify every vein
and artery of the whole system. AT no
time during the flood season of the
winter of 1S96-97 has the gauge at
Sacramento City registered more than
"A feet, or an elevation of 27S5 feet,
above the low tide in Suisun Bay, or 4
feet below the high water of December.
1891. This is not however the most
damaging feature of these conditions.
For four months during this time the
| river has stood at 20, u and % feet on
| the K-street gauge, while the
YOLO BASIN.
Has remained an ocean of water This
is $, and 8 feet below the high water
mark of December 1891 1t is control
that We need. This working power
should not be wasted. While it may be
and is impossible to confine all the Hood
waters in the present river, it is not
impossible to control the flood wave in
such a manner as to permit it to es-
cape into the Yolo basin only when the
| river will not safely carry it. These
periods are of short duration: it is an
of attack which under the present con-
d1tlon OF the river We cannot expect to
utilize. How can we expect to intro
duce this power, that is destined to at
tack the particles in the bed of the
stream which have resisted the power
OF the water usually flowing in the riv-
er? Certainly not by a reduction Of
the volume, for We cannot increase the
verticle distance through which it falls.
Again will power applied for several
| months perform a greater amount of
work than if applied only a short time?
Probably not more for given period of
time with constant power applied, but
when the power applied is gradually de-
creased it is evident the work per-
| formed will gradually decrease. We
| may therefore regard the confluence Of
the Feather and Sacramento Rivers as
the source of power and therefore the
| point of control. To say that 1t is
Judicious to permit SO much water to
escape into the basin when the river is
| ., d and feet below the danger point
is equivalent to acknowledging that the
| Skill of man is of no avail From the
above facts we can corne to no other
conclusion than that to control our
| power, we must control the escape of
water into the Yolo Basin. When the
flood wave has subsided to a degree
the American River has ceased to SUD-
ply the water necessary to fill the riy-
er, then it is that the water power
from the Feather and Upper Sacramen-
to should be utilized Then if is that
we may avoid the water dam at the
Steamboat Slough, by confining the
water in the main channel which will
run with more velocity than when the
Yolo BASIN water prevents it from hav-
ing free escape into the lower river
In1s CONDITION OF the river will cause it
TO DO some good work. 1t will give the
river such velocity that it will lift
the sands from the bed of the stream
and transport them to the mudfats of
Suisun Bay. To accomplish this end
we must therefore construct such works
near to and below the mouth of the
Feather as will hold the river waters
within banks up to the danger line. and
when that point has been obtained let
whatever surplus waters necessary flow
into the Yolo Basin.
PREPARATION FOR WORK.
From the above statement of the
case every foot of the river from the
Feather to the foot of Grand Island
must be prepared to do it's work. Levees
must be strengthened on either bank
of the river so as to guarantee the safe
passage of the necessary water. We
are convinced from our knowledge of
the present levee system that it is in
many cases adequate to the task but
there Of