The San Francisco call., 1905-03-04
loss OF MANY MILLIONS.

Last year hydraulic mining had practically
ceased. drilt mining. quartz mining and dredg-
ing had increased enormously what they
had been, and yet the gold pl duct of the
State was only SIT, coo, 000 about one-half Of
what it formerly averaged OF course Sloo 600
a day not all produced by hydraulic min
ing, but the great bulk of it was. This money
went to enrich the valley In the early days
of the Argonaut Marysvle and Sacramento
were the Chief Intellectual and business CEN
tiers of the State. and their existence and pros
perity were made possible by the hydraulic
miner. The farmer had direct market Tor
his products. he was paid in gold, and the
whole community was PROSPEROUS
Mr.. Bow.e in his book on hydraulic mining:
estimates that in 1885 there was Sioo 600 goo
of capital invested in hydraulic mining; all
of this is now practically destroyed The
energy with which this industry was prosecuted
by the men of those days is the admiration
and the model of the world. The reservoirs
built above the snow line; the ditch lines
over mountain tops and along the faces OF
precipices and maintained through summer 8
heat and winters snow; the pipe lines going
down thousand feet into the valleys and up
again to ditch grades: the hydraulic monitor;
the whole paraphernalia of hydraulic mining
show an inventiveness, fertility of resource
and an energy in the execution which has no
parallel in the world
But all this has been swept aside. All
this has been made useless by the decisions
of the courts. At the present time there are
few things more pathetic than the position OF
some OF those old Argonauts who worked these
wonders Worn and broken by lonely years
spent in the DEVELOPMENT of the State. they
sit beside their ruined cabins and gaze upon
blasted hopes BY violating the law, by turn
ing loose the hydraulic monitor in the night
time they might easily enrich themselves. but
with very few exceptions, they have loyalty
respected and upheld the law that ruined
The farmer. whose lands have been over
whelrned with sediment has been ruined also
And we have here one Of the most pitiful
situations in the history Of our State. Though
hydraulic mining has been destroyed the
farmer still finds himself deluged with debris
frnrr maintains according
to the newspapers. the slogan OF the Anti.
Debris Society now is All kinds Of mining
these two fundamental industries is public
calamity. 1t has come to have all the bitter
PROSECUTIONS nro and there have been prosecutions
and ii is a great misfortune to all that when
ever anything goes wrong along the rivers of
California hydraulic mining is blamed for It,
FOR HYDRAULIC MINING.
No concealment was made in conven-
ton of the fact that the California
Miners Association desires to rehabil-
itate hydraulic mining If it can be done
with advantage to both the miner and
the farmer. OF course this would be
ideal If a great industry could be op-
Grated without injury to any one and
with benefit to all. The coming inves-
tigation is calculated to determine that
very proposition and hence the great
and absorbing interest that will attach
to every step. The farming lands along
the courses of the Sacramento and San
JOAQUIN rivers and the gold deposits of
the mountains that can only be worked
to advantage by the hydraulic process
are equally concerned. Professor
Christy said, in one part of his ad-
dress, voicing the sentiment Of miners:
The first and most vital measure is to re-
move the coarser sediment from the torrential
streams before they enter the naytgabie
on waste land. If this is done on a proper
scale. and in a systematic manner, hydraulic
danger to the interests of any other Industry.
II it is not done. even If hydraulic mining is
for they 01 will spv w, n oe
sure the conveyance Of the natural sediment
Into TIE bay of San francisco. and IL the
sediment is removed the river will clear it.
self with little aid from an inexpensive
levee system.
The suggestion concerning memo
rial to President Roosevelt came also
from Professor Christy. as follows:
would. therefore. suggest that this associa-
ton either directly or 1,,t through s its executive
President Of the United States, requesting him,
through the Department OF the Interior. to IN
struct the 11 ncS sss n United nit States
tions of the storage of waters and the reclama-
ton OF waste lands. the fcothill areas of the
fected by the deposits from the torrential
streams; to devise means whereby. first: The
waters may be stored for use and floods pre-
vented and second: BY which the sediment
now carried by these torrential streams may
be diverted and deposited on waste lands and
thus removed by natural means before the
waters are discharged into the navigable wa
ters of the State: and further: That the In
vestigation be begun at once and prosecuted
with all dispatch consistent with thorouzh-
ness 90 that the fundamental interests Of agrf-
culture and mining may be carried on with
out injury to each other or to the navf-
ratle waters of the State.
HTTCHCOCK'S OPINIONS.
The investigation will follow along
the lines indicated herein. In letter
that Secretary Hitchcock wrote to the
president Of the California Miners As
ISOLATION is the following:
co-operatfon with the State Of California and