78 



CALIFORNIA. 



side spread their business to the farthest points 

 of the South, and laid the foundation for their 

 remarkable future prosperity. Subsequently 

 Mr. Burnside associated himself with another 

 firm under the title of Burnside & Co. About 

 1852 he began to make investments in sugar- 

 plantations, first among which were those 

 known as Houtnas and Orange Grove, for 

 which he paid $1,000,000. At the time of his 

 death he owned ten of the most highly culti- 

 vated and best improved plantations in Louisi- 

 ana, the value of his possessions being estimated 

 at between $4,000,000 and $5,000,000. At the 

 time of the war he owned 2,200 slaves, but, 

 notwithstanding his heavy loss by their emanci- 

 pation, he continued to accumulate wealth in 

 the dry-goods business, from which he virtually 

 retired in 1857. He was never married, and it 

 is thought he had no relatives in this country. 

 Among the distinguished guests whom he en- 

 tertained were the Grand Duke Alexis, Dom 

 Pedro, and General Hancock. Although not 



noted for his public spirit, he was given to per- 

 sonal charities that he carefully concealed 

 from the world, and in his own way he con- 

 tributed largely to the prosperity of his im- 

 mediate community. He was one of the first 

 to try planting with free labor on an extensive 

 scale, and his eminent success in the venture 

 induced others to follow his example with 

 similar results. Mr. Burnside kept constantly 

 in his employment between two and three 

 thousand persons, who were promptly and 

 liberally paid. His money was spent chiefly in 

 Louisiana, and his annual expenditure in New 

 Orleans amounted to $300,000 in the purchase 

 of plantation supplies. At the time of his last 

 sickness he was arranging to have built on his 

 plantation in Ascension a sugar-house to cost 

 $100,000. According to the sugar report for 

 the season of 1879-'80, the plantations now 

 included in his estates produced 5,373 hogs- 

 heads of sugar and 9,074 barrels of molasses, 

 valued at about $600,000. 



C 



CALIFORNIA. The twenty-fourth session 

 of the Legislature of California commenced on 

 January 3d. In the Senate, Lieutenant-Gov- 

 ernor Mansfield took the chair, and William 

 M. Johnston, of Sacramento, was chosen Presi- 

 dent pro tern. In the House, William Henry 

 Parks, of Yuba, was chosen Speaker. The ses- 

 sion was continued sixty days, as provided in 

 the Constitution of the State, and adjourned 

 on March 4th. More than eight hundred bills 

 were introduced, but only fifty-one received 

 the signature of the Governor. It was antici- 

 pated that the new Constitution would short- 

 en and simplify legislation. It contains a pro- 

 vision against special legislation, and on this 

 ground the length of the session was limited to 

 sixty days. These anticipations were disap- 

 pointed. 



Among the measures considered was the re- 

 peal of the debris act of the previous session. 

 This was defeated. The nature of the injury 

 for which a remedy was sought in the passage 

 of the debris bill was briefly stated in the " An- 

 nual Cyclopaedia" of 1880. It arises from the 

 effects of hydraulic mining, and has, thus far, 

 most seriously occurred on the American, Bear, 

 and Yuba Rivers. It consists in a practical 

 burial of large areas under the mining detri- 

 tus or " slickens " and sand. The property so 

 buried is, in fact, so completely deprived of ag- 

 ricultural value that in the opinion of compe- 

 tent judges it can under the most favorable 

 circumstances be fit for nothing but raising 

 swamp timber for from fifteen to thirty years. 

 As to the extent of the' damage done in this 

 way, the State Engineer, in his latest report, 

 declared that he believed the destruction which 

 might be classed as direct in the loss of agri- 



cultural property could with safety be esti- 

 mated as follows : 



Landed property $4,000,000 



Improvements 2,000,000 



Total $6,000,000 



The indirect damage to property is most ap- 

 parent along the main streams the Feather 

 River, and the upper and lower Sacramento 

 River. For the most part, the difference be- 

 tween direct and indirect damage to property 

 is more in the degree of harm inflicted than in 

 its character. This, however, is not invaria- 

 bly the case. The settlers along the lower Sac- 

 ramento have, for example, expended millions 

 of dollars during the past fifteen years in at- 

 tempting to reclaim swamp and overflowed 

 lands. The failure which has followed these 

 courageous and spirited efforts must be as- 

 cribed to the constant operation of those natu- 

 ral forces which the processes of hydraulic 

 mining put in motion, and which from year to 

 year have been counteracting and nullifying 

 the most determined attempts at reclamation. 

 The State sold the swamp-lands on the condi- 

 tion that they should be reclaimed, and should 

 remove obstacles which render the fulfillment 

 of the conditions thus imposed by it imprac- 

 ticable. 



The indirect injuries which may be traced 

 without any doubt or difficulty to hydraulic 

 mining are, however, very extensive. In all 

 these cases the future can be predicted from 

 the past. On the one hand are lands already 

 covered with the flood of sand and debris. On 

 the other hand are lands threatened with this 

 flood. And the flood is continually advancing. 

 The low lands of the whole Sacramento Valley 



