The record-union., 1897-05-02

State. In that effort the Chamber of
| Commerce rendered valuable assist
ance, as did representatives from the
mining counties and other parts of the
State.
1t is needless for me to call attention
to the vast injury that has been done
to the Sacramento River and its tribu-
taries in the past by hydraulic mining.
| This is fact that has gone into his
| tory. Even the hydraulic miners them
selves recognize the injuries that have
| been inflicted in the past, and the ne
cessity for the prevention of those in
| juries in the future The leading men
of the Miners Association have aided
| the Anti-Debris Association in prevent
| ing illicit hydraulic mining. Hydraulic
| mining has now been placed, to GER
| tain extent. under the control Of Com
| mission appointed by virtue of an Act
of Congress. This Commission has in
many cases granted permission to mine,
and in many cases has refused permits
| sion to mine. 1t has found the same
difficulty that everyone else has met in
| dealing with this question in trying to
compel a large body of people to obey
! the law when it was not to their pecun-
larry interest to do so. The Anti-Debris
| Association is engaged in the work of
| preserving property Of the various
counties composing it, from injury from
mining. We have not and do not
make any fight against quartz mining,
| or drift mining, nor do we make any
| fight against legitimate sluice mining
| But, since the passage of the law of
Congress, preventing hydraulic mining,
| except by permission obtained from a
Federal Commission, certain miners
have attempted to evade the law by
doing what they call sluice mining
| They define hydraulic mining to their
own satisfaction, and then feel that if
| they can avoid some little detail and
yet commit the same damage as by
draullc mining, they should not be sub
| ject to the penalty Of the law There are
| a small number of mines in this State
which are more damaging than any by
| draulic mine in present operation
which are being mined by what is erro-
neouSly called the "sluice process" The
| sluice process in California is we'll I'M
derstood and against that PROFESS
| when legitimately conducted, this asso-
citation wages no warfare.
| The mine in question is one of the
most damaging mines in the territory
| that the Anti-Debris Association pa
| trolls
| In order that I might be accurate on
THIS SUBJECT and not make any mis-
| take, l requested our Manager, Mr.
| Phipps, to send me report as to the
| character Of this mine, it's operations
| the manner in which it was conducted
and the amount of injury that it pro-
duced. He has complied with this re-
quest and 1 append his letter. which
| is as follows:
Marysville, Cal, April %, 1897
R. I. Devlin, Attorney-at-Law Sac
ramento, Cal.-Dear Sir: In reply to
your request for information as to the
Jerry Goodman mine at You Bet,
have to say:
This mine was formerly hydraulic
| NINE running on a large scale, failing
into Bear River from the Nevada Coun-
| ty side or from the town of You Bet;
| it was enjoined several years and since
| the Caminetti Act went into effect. has
| never attempted to operate under any
permit from the California Debris Com
missioners; the banks of this mine
range from 10 to 2G0 feet in hight.
Several months ago reports began to
reach me OF the operations at this mine
which, according to description, showed
| the mine to be doing as much damage
as any ordinary sluicing. /. e., the bank
where the work is now in progress be-
! ing about 200 feet in hight, is disinte-
grated by means of heavy blasts of