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Volume 052-2 - April 1998 (8 pages)
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Page: of 8
af
defendants. In this case Judge Keyser issued an injunction
against the mines requiring them to cease dumping debris
into the Yuba River or its tributaries.
Shortly thereafter, the California attorney general got an
injunction against the Miocene Mining Company in Butte
County. Other communities began to take note of the
farmers’ success and moved to improve their positions. A
citizens group in Colusa County formed an Anti-Debris Association. General John Bidwell, himself a farmer in Chico,
helped organize a similar organization in Butte County.
Other legal suits of this nature were brought against the
various mining companies and George Cadwalader’s name
appeared in many of these suits. The state’s legal system
seemed to be in no position to resolve the debris question. At
times the state supreme court would rule some question
favoring the farmers as unconstitutional. Now the miners
would rejoice. And shortly thereafter, the shoe would be on
the other foot and the farmers would appear to make some
headway. But no real progress occurred.
A note of moderation appeared when personnel from the
San Francisco Board of Trade were taken on a tour of the
debris-affected regions by members of the Anti-Debris AssoEnglebright dam and reservoir in July 1969. (Army Corps of Engineers photo)
ciation. The tour included the Upper Narrows Canyon on the
Yuba River, where they were met by a group representing the
miners. The miners indicated their desire to build a large
debris-containment dam. (This was in October 1881—the
dam was built in 1940.) When the visitors asked when the
dam would be built, they were told nothing could be done
until the injunctions were lifted.
About this time, Lt. Col. Mendell had completed the investigation ordered by Congress. He recommended that
debris-restraining dams be built on the Yuba, Bear and American Rivers. This didn’t make anybody too happy. There was
no funding for the dams and the farmers had lost faith in
debris control dams. Also this would allow the injunctions to
be lifted, which would continue the mining operations with
the characteristic muddy water which was unfit for consumption by either cattle or humans.
In the fall of 1882 George Cadwalader attempted the
stratagem of presenting the Anti-Debris Party as a third
political party in the state. The strategy failed completely.
The farmers had tackled their problem in the state courts
and in the state legislature and had failed. But in September
1882 Edwards Woodruff, a citizen of New York State and a
Il