CALIFORNIA. 



79 



are, in fact, threatened with unavoidable de- 

 struction. That is to say, an area inclosing 

 from twelve to fourteen hundred square miles 

 of fertile territory is indirectly damaged, and 

 is menaced with ultimate destruction. 



Nor is this the whole of the situation, for 

 the injury done to the Sacramento Valley ex- 

 tends, by a reflex action, to the low lands of the 

 San Joiiquin, and to the lands about the upper 

 bays by a direct movement. It may, therefore, 

 be said without exaggeration that the indirect 

 damage actually embraces an area extending 

 from Oroville and Chico to Benicia on the 

 Strait of Carquinez. 



It is necessary to bear in mind that the de- 

 struction of the navigability of the Sacramento 

 River is involved. This would deprive the 

 whole of Northern California of competition 

 in transportation. The wheat-crop alone of 

 that region may be estimated at five hundred 

 thousand tons. It may also be fairly calculated 

 that the removal of competition would result 

 in a rise of freight-rates to the extent of $2 per 

 ton. Thus, then, an additional tax of $1,000,- 

 000 a year on the movement of the harvest 

 alone is involved in this question, as concerns 

 Northern California. An illustrative instance 

 of the influence of river improvements on 

 freight-rates is to be found in the effect pro- 

 duced by deepening the channel at the mouth 

 of the Mississippi. The competition offered by 

 that river after the opening of its mouth reduced 

 the aggregate freight charges on the first year's 

 products of the Mississippi Valley $50,000,000. 



Taking the counties of Colusa, Placer, Sac- 

 ramento, Solano, Sutter, Yolo, Yuba, Butte, and 

 Tehama, and estimating the assessed value of 

 the real estate other than town lots, and the 

 improvements, and of the town lots and their 

 improvements, and making what seems a suffi- 

 cient deduction from the aggregate, it is esti- 

 mated that the property in these counties threat- 

 ened with partial or complete destruction can 

 not properly be put at a lower amount than 

 $60,000,000. 



The evidence furnished by the State and con- 

 sulting engineers shows that the water-ways are 

 in danger of destruction, and that, unless sus- 

 tained and systematic treatment is applied to 

 the rivers, they will shortly cease to be naviga- 

 ble, and that both the Feather and Sacramento 

 Rivers are in a condition in which an unusual 

 flood might cause them to abandon their present 

 channels, and spread themselves abroad through 

 the low lands between Knight's Landing or 

 Grey's Bend and Suisun Bay, ruining the coun- 

 try everywhere, and changing the very face of 

 the State. 



Apart from the burden that would fall upon 

 the northern region of the State by the re- 

 moval of the means of competition by the riv- 

 ers, this injury would affect a population of at 

 least one hundred and fifty thousand, of whom 

 one third would be directly and two thirds in- 

 directly concerned. The effect upon the value 

 of land can not be ignored. It is evident that 



if through any cause the cost of transportation 

 is raised two dollars a ton, the products of the 

 region so affected must by this change be put 

 at an increased disadvantage equal to the re- 

 moval of their lands from a market a distance 

 represented by the enhanced ratio of trans- 

 portation. Their lands are in fact thereby put 

 as much farther from the market as two dol- 

 lars will carry a ton of wheat, and the conse- 

 quence must be to lower the value of land ex-| 

 posed to such an impost. 



An approximate estimate of the loss of values 

 to be apprehended in this direction from the 

 destruction of the principal water-ways can not 

 be fairly stated at less than $100,000,"000. 



This leads to a statement of the value and 

 importance of hydraulic mining, which is the 

 cause of the present and prospective damage 

 to the State. This mining has been carried on 

 for twenty-five years, and the present annual 

 output of the hydraulic mines is estimated at 

 from $12,000,000 to $14,000,000. It is there- 

 fore apparent that an estimate of $150,000,000 

 for the whole period of their working is not 

 extravagant. It is equally clear that while no 

 accurate estimate of their future output can be 

 made, it is safe to assume that it will be larger 

 than it has been in the past, since the extent of 

 gravel-bearing claims remaining unworked is 

 practically unlimited, and since many very ex- 

 tensive workings have either just been opened 

 or are not yet opened so as to be largely pro- 

 ductive. Enough is known to make it plain that 

 the hydraulic mines have contributed greatly 

 to the prosperity of the State, and will contrib- 

 ute still more largely in the future, if suffered 

 to proceed. A very considerable population is 

 supported by these mines, estimated at 30,000, 

 and the indirect support is very much more 

 extensive. The counties in which the principal 

 hydraulic mines are situated maybe said to de- 

 pend almost entirely upon the mining industry. 

 All values in those counties are therefore de- 

 pendent upon the prosperity of this interest. 

 What this involves may be perceived by ref- 

 erence to the comprehensive decline of val- 

 ues in Virginia City consequent upon the 

 depreciation of the mines on the Comstock 

 lode. In that case the mining population was 

 thinned out, the value of real property fell to 

 panic prices, and the general effect upon the 

 prosperity of the community was as disastrous 

 as though every man in the city had been 

 directly interested in the mines. Similar re- 

 sults must always follow where the intimacy 

 of the relations between the various interests 

 is as great as in the mining counties of Califor- 

 nia. The suppression of hydraulic mining, there- 

 fore, would in all probability be productive of 

 a general collapse throughout this region. Not 

 only would there ensue a positive and direct loss 

 to the State in the cessation of auriferous pro- 

 duction, but the entire industries, commercial 

 activities, and general civilization of the min- 

 ing counties would be virtually destroyed, and 

 the tax-paying as well as the wealth-producing 



