Collection: Books and Periodicals > Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins

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Title: Volume 052-2 - April 1998 Collection Type: Books and Periodicals Collection Name: Nevada County Historical Society Bulletins # of Pages: 8 Download PDF: User Login Required Download OCR Text: User Login Required

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Original Held At: Searls Historical Library Location: 161 Nevada City Hwy, Nevada City, CA 95959

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NCHS Bulletin April 1998 Mining Company (near Cherokee in Butte County), seeking damages and an injunction to stop the company from further mining. The case was heard in Oroville, but failed because, with some fifty different companies contributing to the farmers’ problem, responsibility could not be fixed to a single operation. Also contributing to the suit’s failure was the realization that the mining operation was expensive, while the ruined farm land was relatively cheap. The farmers’ complaint continued and the Spring Valley, Mining Company solved its problem by buying some 21,000 acres of land in which to dump their tailings. This was a seldom-achieved solution. The people of Yuba and Sutter Counties had watched the proceedings in Butte County with great interest. Unfortunately the same solution was not available to them because of the complexity of problems presented by the Feather, Yuba and Bear Rivers. However, little enthusiasm could be generated for concerted action until the winter of 1875. In that year a huge storm produced a flood which breasted the levees and flooded Marysville, leaving a large amount of debris after the flood subsided. The damage to the unprotected farmers’ fields can be imagined. The following year Marysville built their levees even higher. The next step of the farmers was to ask the state legislature for help. In 1876 the assemblyman from Sutter County proposed that the state legislature send to Congress a resolution asking that no further new hydraulic mining be conducted until operators could impound their tailings, and that Congress would send out an engineering team to examine the situation and make recommendations to insure relief. The proposal was lost in the bureaucratic shuffle, but it did gain some recognition. Later it was suggested that the state legislature organize its own investigative committee. The mine operators argued against this plan of action by saying it was a waste of money, as a petition of a similar nature was already on its way to Congress. With legislative action having failed, the farmers tumed again to the courts. A group of farmers near Wheatland hired a lawyer, George Cadwalader, to represent them in a suit against 19 hydraulic mining companies operating on the Bear River. In addition to damages, the suit asked for a permanent injunction against depositing tailings in the Bear River drainage. This action woke everyone up. The next month, miners from the northern Sierras met in San Francisco to form the Hydraulic Miners Association. However, it wasn’t really a voice for the typical miner—to be a member of the association, one had to own a mine and the number of votes allotted to each member was adjusted to the wealth of the mine. Representatives of every large mine and ditch company signed the articles of the association. The suit brought by Cadwalader dallied through the state courts and was eventually referred to a federal court. After two years the suit worked its way up to the Supreme Court, 10 where it was determined that it was not a matter for the federal courts, but should be retumed to the state courts. District Judge Phil Keyser of Yuba City heard the case. During the course of the trial, the farmers meeting in Yuba City formed the Anti-Debris Commission in August 1878. This commission was locally funded and was to remain active until there could be a final decision. In March 1879 Judge Keyser decided against the miners and the Sacramento farmers were jubilant. The miners were prevented from discharging their tailings into the Bear River drainage, and had to bear the cost of the suit. The Keyser decision was appealed to the state supreme court, which ruled that until this court gave its decision, the Keyser decision was invalid. It was a nervous moment for the miners. Now the Anti-Debris Commission took up a case where the City of Marysville sued the North Bloomfield Gravel and Mining Company and all Yuba River mining companies. Mr. Cadwalader was again hired to represent the farmers. This was at a time when Marysville was attempting to raise $30,000 to improve its river levees. The Hydraulic Miners Association hurried to offer a compromise, and the farmers, feeling their oats, turned the offer down. The suit was filed in August 1879, and for the first time the loss of clear, potable water was a source of complaint, in addition to the debris. It was all for nothing. In November 1879 the state supreme court declared the Keyser decision invalid because the responsibility of individual mining companies could not be determined. Now the miners were elated. In January 1880 a state engineer made his report on irrigation and mining debris problems in the drainage areas of the Feather, Yuba, Bear and American Rivers. It was a grim report in respect to the farm lands of the area. From this report emanated a hotly contested bill which was presented to the state legislature. This bill, entitled “An Act to Promote Drainage,” was drawn up by William Park, a Sutter County farmer. Primarily, the bill would create a Board of State Drainage Commissioners and, with the aid of the State Engineer and the U.S. Corps of Engineers, would oversee the erection of debris dams. In March 1880 Lieutenant Colonel G. H. Mendell of the Corps of Engineers gave a long-awaited report on the debris question. He suggested that nine dams be built on the river system to hold back the mine tailings. This report reacted favorably on the Drainage Bill. Funding compromises in the bill, which placed most of the tax burden on the areas affected, allowed the passage of the bill in April. With the bill’s passage, levees were strengthened and lengthened on the Yuba and Bear Rivers, and dams of brush, wire and logs were built in each river to restrict the flow of debris. The first winter rains virtually destroyed these dams. Now a host of suits followed. In May 1881 Marysville, under the direction of George Cadwalader, revived its suit against the North Bloomfield Mining Company and 25 other am