Show ED editorials ITO R I 1 A L S MINING AND CHEMICAL manufactures vs agriculture A PETITION pulon embodying preamble and resolutions was presented to thie thio th e legislature of california jan 8 by alderman bury of sutter county with a recommendation that it be adopted by that body and forwarded to congress the pet tion was by aggrieved property holders of yuba andl andi and sutter C counties oun and it relates vexed question of mining versus agriculture at t the headwaters of the feather yuba bear and american rivers and several smaller et streams reams roams the petition represents 4 that the pres present e lit rit system of hydraulic mining has the ear effect beet of covering up the alluvial lands of the upper sacramento valley valby from one to 10 twenty feet deep with unproductive debris destroying much property antl anil desolating the homes of actual settlers that recent improvements in this kind hind of mining will bring down hundreds of miles of gravel silt into the rivers and valleys that most of the streams named are filled to their highest banks with gravel gravely all the cereal producing lands lauds in the upper valleys are de des troyed many beautiful cities and lands annually inundated and sacramento is threatened with destruction truc tion that niri niru already ady land lias has been destroyed that would be worth now if in its primitive condition exclusive of improvements made and destroyed and of personal property driven away besides the depreciation of adjacent property that the farmers have expended 2900 in levees on the lowlands adjacent to those streams sacra mento has raised its its Itu business portion fifteen feet and surrounded the city with an embankment of the same height at an expense lof a million dollars marysville marksville Marys maryb ville has ex expended pen several hundreds of dollars do 1 1 r on similar account yet lost a million dollars by inundation a year ago and the river is now above her streets other othel cities and towns have expended greab great amounts for the same general purpose and all are taxed to their utmost tension for these works but still the hydraulic debris galas gaias on their efforts resulting in precarious protection exhausted ha treasuries and the prospect of total destruction in the near future as the people cannot clear the debris and protect themselves from it as fast as it comes down that the sacramento and ind feather rivers are nearly destroyed for navigation the bay of han ban francisco is menaced I 1 the debris being elent clont to cover cove r one square equate mile forty one feet deep annually suisun bay will be filled up in fifteen years and san pablo bay in thirty one years after which ban francisco bay will be filled up the more rapidly being the only place left at the present rate of discharge of debris the above results being lia iia liable bleto tb be intensified fied by future improvements la in hydraulic mining therefore the petition resolves thattie that the subject be pressed before co congress agress that the laws lawa be amended so that no mineral lands lauds shall be disposed dis ased of by congress for hydraulic mining only on conditions to prevent suun such as the above named injuries uries urles that congress be urged to adopt measures to td prevent the destruction st tion of rivers and bays etc and that congress con Coa gress gresa be urged to send a a competent engineer to collect information on the subie subject ct the resolutions were referred to the committee on mining and agriculture thus it ia in evident that mining minin C is not an unmixed blessing by a long way in fact in the valleys above named hydraulic mining is a palpable curse producing swift desolation and sterility in place of and there are other evils connected with mining such as attend reduction works and divers chemical processes and manufactures some of which evils are already complained of by agriculturists in this territory the fumes fumea and deposits from smelters shelters sm elters and from a number of other chemical esh esL establishments tb lish ments are noxious both to animal and vegetable life tonly no toniy poisoning the air butare but bub are markedly injurious jUlIOUS iD to field and garden crops and the farmer ought in justice to have some redress in england such redress is common and damages are aro ar collected by action at law actually agriculture is the basis of prosperity p rity for without it men could nob not prosper nor even exist of th this bay lay valley alley we may say that there is not a rod of it except that which is too swampy or too rocky or too thoroughly saturated with salt or alkali to be reclaimed that can not be made to produce either fruit or roots or grass or grain or timber one or more or all of these when the proper steps are taken for that purpose bo so that although mining in places may now and for some years pay best agriculture is the enduring interest the fhe permanent interest for by a judicious jude I 1 policy it lt will last forever an and d never wholly fail while it possesses infinitely the advantage over ever mining indof of rendering the landscape more beautiful and the country desirable fot foh for fox habitation |