CALIFORNIA. 



77 



flow or overflow the said lands situate along the bank 

 thereof. 



3. That the said acts of defendant constitute a pub- 

 lic nuisance, in that they are an obstruction of the 

 free use by a considerable number of the citizens of 

 this State of their said lands situate along the banks 

 of said rivers as aforesaid, so as to interfere with the 

 comfortable enjoyment thereof, and in that they un- 

 lawfully obstruct the free passage and use in the cus- 

 tomary manner of the said Sacramento Kiver. 



4. The mining customs, usages, and regulations 

 authorized by the statutes of this State, or recognized 

 by the decisions of its courts, are local in their opera- 

 tion, and have not, and are not intended to have, any 

 effect beyond a mining-bar, diggings, or district in 

 which they have been adopted or recognized. 



5. That the mining laws and mining customs or 

 practices of the said Gold Run mining district, in 

 which said defendant's mines are located, mentioned 

 and referred to in the findings of fact herein, were 

 not intended to, and did not, and can not, protect the 

 defendant in the doing of the acts, matters, and things 

 complained of in this action. 



6. That the plaintiff is entitled to a decree of this 

 court restraining and enjoining the defendant, its su- 

 perintendent, agents, and employds from discharging 

 or dumping into said North Fork of the American 

 Eiver, or into Canon Creek, and also from suffering 

 or causing to flow into said river any tailings, bowl- 

 ders, cobblestones, gravel, sand, clay, debris, or ref- 

 use matter perpetually, or until it shall be first shown, 

 upon application made to this court for a modification 

 of such decree, that dams shall have been built in 

 said American Eiver, which will prevent the heavier 

 portion of said material, including the coarser sands, 

 from coming below Alder Creek, or until some other 

 means equally efficacious shall be adopted to impound 

 said debris, and which, in the opinion of the court, 

 upon such application, will certainly prevent sand, 

 and all heavier material than sand, from being carried 

 by the water below Alder Creek. 



The following is the decree made : 



This cause having been duly called for trial upon 

 the complaint and answer, and both parties appear- 

 ing and waiving a jury trial, the said cause was duly 

 tried before court without a jury, and the court hav- 

 ing heard the evidence and the argument of counsel, 

 has duly signed findings of fact and conclusion of 

 law therefrom, which said findings are now duly filed 

 in this court. 



Now, therefore, by reason of the premises and of 

 the law, it is considered by the court, and it is or- 

 dered, adjudged, and decreed: 



That said defendant, and all the officers, superin- 

 tendents, foremen, agents, and employes thereof, be 

 perpetually enjoined and restrained from discharging 

 or dumping into the North Fork of the American 

 river, or into any stream tributary thereto, and espe- 

 cially into Canon Creek, any bowlders, cobblestones, 

 gravel, or sand from the mines ; also from causing 

 any such material to flow or to be washed into said 

 river from its said mines or tracts of mineral land. 



Subject, nevertheless, to this, that said defendant 

 may at any time, as it shall be advised, apply to this 

 court to have this decree and restraining order modi- 

 fied or vacated and set aside. And whenever upon 

 such showing it shall appear that efficient means have 

 been provided to impound, detain, and hold back such 

 tailings at any point on said American Eiver above 

 Alder Creek, and that such means are sufficient to 

 detain all bowlders, cobblestones, gravel, and the 

 heavier sand, then said defendant shall be entitled to 

 have said decree vacated and set aside. 



This result is regarded as a compromise be- 

 tween the extreme views of the farmers on 

 the one hand, and the miners on the other, 

 and as such is favorably looked upon in many 

 quarters. The case will doubtless be carried 



go 

 Ju 



by appeal to the Supreme Court. In the course 

 of his findings the judge made the following 

 statement respecting the mining industry of 

 the State : 



Competent persons estimate the entire product of 

 ld from California mines at $1,154,689,039 up to 

 une, 1881, $900,000,000 being from the ancient chan- 

 nels. The present yield varies between fifteen and 

 twenty millions per annum, and there is, no doubt, 

 much more gold still remaining in these ancient chan- 

 nels than has been washed out. 



Present investments in California mines are esti- 

 mated at $150,000.000, $100,000,000 of _ which is in 

 hydraulic mines. Some portion of this is, no doubt, 

 in mines which can not be profitably worked.. 



Mining for gold is the principal industry in fifteen 

 counties of the State, and. 1 the population of the min- 

 ing counties is over one hundred thousand. 



This decision was followed by conventions 

 of persons interested on the one side and the 

 other of the question. 



A convention of miners was held in Nevada 

 City on the 22d of July, which adopted the 

 following resolutions, among others : 



Resolved, That this meeting, which is composed of 

 all classes in this community, embracing not only 

 miners of all kinds, but also merchants, mechanics, 

 agriculturists, and laborers, fully realizes the fact that, 

 if' mining be stopped or seriously injured, it will re- 

 sult in destroying the value of all sorts of property in 

 these now prosperous counties of Nevada. Sierra, Plu- 

 mas, and the minin portion of Yuba County ; we, 

 therefore, acting in tne defense of all classes, pledge 

 ourselves to resist in all proper ways the attacks made 

 upon us by the anti-miners. 



Resolved, That while we admit that a certain amount 

 of damage has been committed, consequent upon min- 

 ing operations, yet this damage has been grossly ex- 

 aggerated, and represents but a small percentage in 

 value of the vast mining industry and the interests 

 which directly and indirectly depend upon mining. 



Resolved, That with the help of the aid proposed to 

 be given by the General Government, it is now within 

 the power of the miners, and particularly of the min- 

 ers on the Yuba water-shed, to prevent further damage 

 by the construction of one or more dams across the 

 Yuba Eiver, for the purpose of impounding such de- 

 bris as may hereafter find its way into that river, and 

 also for the purpose of retaining the vast quantities 

 of debris now in that stream and its tributaries from 

 passing down into the plains. 



Resolved. That in consequence of the late opinion 

 of Judge Temple, in whom we recognize an upright 

 and non-partisan judge, we advise the miners upon 

 the water-shed of each river flowing from the Sierra 

 Nevada into the Sacramento or San Joaquin Valley, 

 to follow out the mode judicially set forth in that opin- 

 ion, and to organize upon each water-shed where min- 

 ing is carried on, an association similar to that pro- 

 posed for the Yuba Eiver, and for the same purposes. 



An Anti-Debris Convention held a two days' 

 session in Sacramento, beginning on the 26th 

 of September. About one hundred and ten 

 delegates were present, representing the coun- 

 ties of San Joaquin, Sacramento, Yolo, Butte, 

 Sutter, Yuba, Colusa, Placer, Tehama, and the 

 State Grange Patrons of Husbandry. The call 

 for this convention recites that the object for 

 which it is called is the organization of the resi- 

 dents and property -holders of the Sacramento 

 and San Joaquin Valleys into a compact body, 

 in order that complete protection may be af- 

 forded to all persons, property, and water- 

 courses therein, from further injury by the 



