74 



CALIFORNIA. 



Not only are the agricultural bottom-lands 

 in these valleys threatened with destruction by 

 submersion or detrital deposits, and the harbor 

 and river-channel in danger of being choked 

 up and rendered unnavigable, bur, if the sedi- 

 mentation is allowed to continue, in not many 

 years the sites of Sacramento and Marysville 

 will lie below the high-water level, and no river- 

 walls will be sufficient to save the cities from 

 their consequent doom. The State Engineer 

 considers that the rivers can be soon restored 

 to their condition of twenty years ago by the 

 elaborate system which he proposes. This em- 

 braces the widening of the channels in some 

 places, the deepening of them and the removal 

 of bars in others, the deflection of some of the 

 creeks into a new outlet, improving the chan- 

 nel of the lower Sacramento so as to obtain the 

 maximum effect of the tidal scour, a relief-canal 

 in the lower basin to divert a portion of the 

 flood-waters for the security of the delta islands, 

 and the construction of a uniform system of 

 levees along the river-banks which shall be 

 higher than the present ones and capable of 

 confining the waters of the ordinary annual 

 winter freshets, though not intended to hem in 

 the extraordinary floods which occur at inter- 

 vals of about ten years. None of these works 

 would be of effective and permanent utility 

 without first solving the debris problem and 

 finding means to prevent the constant silting of 

 the river-bed with mining detritus. A part of 

 his plan was to dam several of the more heavily 

 charged rivers, notably Bear and American 

 Rivers, at different points in the valleys below, 

 and spread their waters over the low swamp- 

 tracts, where the sediment which is injuring 

 the river-channels would be arrested and pre- 

 cipitated at all times of the year, except in the 

 freshets, thus answering the useful purpose of 

 building up ground in these extensive sinks, 

 and rendering their now worthless area ulti- 

 mately productive and valuable. 



A report of Lieutenant-Colonel Mendell to 

 the Chief of Engineers at Washington recom- 

 mends a similar system of dams and storage 

 reservoirs for the preservation of the navigable 

 channels of the rivers fed by mining streams. 

 The most convenient place for such dams he 

 thinks is in the foot-hills, where the material 

 for their construction is at hand. He estimates 

 the quantity of debris washed annually from 

 the mines into the Yuba at from fourteen to 

 fifteen million cubic yards. The quantity now 

 lying in the beds of the Yuba and its branches 

 between Marysville and the mines, ready to be 

 swept down into the valleys by the next great 

 flood, is estimated at 143,551,864 cubic yards. 

 The accumulations in the bed of the Bear River 

 are estimated at 148,248,000 cubic yards, of 

 which 86,160,000 yards are in the bed of the 

 stream above the foot-hills, and 62,088,000 in 

 the plains below. The quantities of tailings 

 which are being dumped into the cafions every 

 year are so great that the mining streams change 

 their channels almost yearly. The bed of the 



Yuba has been filled with this material at 

 Smartsville to a depth of one hundred and twen- 

 ty-five feet, and about fifteen feet at Marysville, 

 increasing the slope of the river between the 

 two places by one hundred and ten feet, about 

 doubling the original fall. By the increase in 

 slope in the upper mountain-streams, the gravel 

 is rolled farther and farther down, and will in 

 time.be washed into the Feather and Sacramento 

 Rivers, and form obstructions which will de- 

 stroy navigation and the alluvial valleys. The 

 quantity of workable auriferous drift on the 

 Yuba is estimated at 700,000,000 cubic yards. 

 The quantity of silt which has already been 

 washed down into the plains, and deposited in 

 the beds of the rivers, is calculated at 40,000,- 

 000 cubic yards in the Feather, and 100,000,000 

 in the Sacramento to below the mouth of the 

 Feather. The fine sand and clay, or sliclcens, 

 is not precipitated on the river- bottoms, but is 

 carried on by the current into the outer bay 

 or ocean. Colonel Mendell recommends the 

 construction of nine dams in the Yuba to stop 

 the drift of detrital matter into the river-chan- 

 nels. He suggests that Congress make an ap- 

 propriation of $250,000 to commence the im- 

 provement, which will cost altogether nearly 

 four times that sum. 



The area of the Sacramento Valley is 4,769 

 square miles, of which 2,331 square miles are 

 high plains situated above the reach of over- 

 flow, 755 miles are hill-lands and rolling coun- 

 try adjacent to the foot-hills, and the remainder 

 consists of low alluvial bottom-lands, swamp- 

 lands, delta islands, lands covered with debris, 

 and all other land subject to annual flooding. 

 The area under water after the March freshet 

 of 1879 along the Feather and Sacramento Riv- 

 ers was 847 square miles. The area of good 

 farming-land in the valley which has already 

 been destroyed by mining debris is estimated 

 by Mr. Hall at 43,546 acres. 



Four or five different bills for debris relief 

 were drafted, in accordance with the sugges- 

 tions of the State Engineer, and discussed in 

 the Legislature. The question whether the ex- 

 penses should be raised by general taxation, or 

 whether only the districts immediately benefit- 

 ed should be taxed, was the chief point of dif- 

 ference. The Young bill, which was finally 

 passed in an amended form, imposes a general 

 and equal tax of five cents in the hundred 

 dollars for this object, and lays a special tax of 

 a maximum rate of $3 per acre upon over- 

 flowed lands which are benefited by the drain- 

 age-works, graduated according to the extent 

 of the benefit received, and levies another on 

 the miners, which will yield an amount equal 

 to about one quarter of the general State tax, 

 by taxing the quantity of water used in hy- 

 draulic mining. 



Captain Eads afterward visited the country, 

 and, in consultation with Colonel Mendell, 

 offered some new suggestions to the Washing- 

 ton authorities. He approved in the main of 

 the plans of Mr. Hall, but opposed the division 



