been issued. On June 22 the Commission was informed that an appeal had been taken by the North Bloomfield Mining Company, and that their motion to vacate the injunction pending the appeal had been granted. Under these circumstances it is unknown when an injunction that will cause the cessation of the apparently illegal work of this company will be obtained.

APPLICATIONS AND PERMITS.

The Commission has, since it organized, received 311 applications to mine; 238 permits have been granted. A table showing a synopsis of the applications received and the action taken is appended and marked A. Eight permits have been canceled and 28 permits have been at different times temporarily suspended, generally on account of the neglect of the owners to comply with instructions concerning the impounding works, or from accidents to those works.

Several of the smaller impounding dams have broken or have been damaged during the year, but none of any importance excepting the dam connected with the Manzanita Mine, near Sweetland, Nevada County. The permit for this mine was canceled January 19, 1897, for irregularities in its management. On January 25, the substantially built crib shaft connecting the settling pool above the dam with the tunnel underneath the dam collapsed from some unexplained cause, and the bulk of the material, about 130,000 cubic yards, stored above the dam, escaped or will eventually escape into the Yuba River. This fact, together with the alleged blowing up with dynamite of a number of large dams in Slate Creek, built before the Commission was appointed, illustrates the difficulty of securing permanent dams for large mines in streams of any magnitude, located, as most of them are, distant from inhabited neighborhoods, and dependent for their maintenance upon owners who have no direct interest in maintaining them.

The total amount of material mined under permits during the year is estimated at 1,256,910 cubic yards. The available storage provided at present and partially or wholly completed for future operations is estimated at 11,000,000 cubic yards.

The requirements in respect to storage of detritus exacted by the Commission during the past year have been the same as those during the previous year.

No dam for impounding detritus in the larger streams has as yet been authorized by the Commission.

IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS.

The duty of devising plans for the improvement of the rivers concerned devolves upon the Commission by section 4 of the act. A Board, consisting of the same membership as the Commission, has been appointed, in accordance with the act of Congress approved June 3, 1896, and charged with essentially the same duties. Under the latter act the board has been making the necessary surveys of the Sacramento River. This work has not yet been completed.

The same river and harbor act also provides:

For the construction of restraining barriers for the protection of the Sacramento and Feather rivers in California, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars: restraining barriers to be constructed under the direction of the Secretary in accordance with the recommendations of the California Débris Commi suant to the provisions of and for the purposes set forth in section + the act of the Congress of the United States entitled "An act to creat

Débris Commission and regulate hydraulic mining in the State of California," approved March first, eighteen hundred and ninety three: Provided, That the Treasurer of the United States be, and he is hereby, authorizea to receive from the State of California, through the Débris Commission of said State, or other officer thereunto duly authorized, any and all sums of money that have been or may hereafter be appropriated by said State for the purposes herein set forth; and said sums when so received are hereby appropriated for the purposes above named, to be expended in the manner above provided.

The legislature of the State of California on March 17, 1897, passed an act appropriating $250,000 to be used in conjunction with the above appropriation of the United States. This act provides:

Whenever said "California Débris Commission" or the Government of the United States shall have entered into any contract for the construction of works for the purposes described in this act, in pursuance of plans and specifications that have been theretofore approved by the State board of examiners as in this act provided, it shall be the duty of the Débris Commissioner to carefully inspect such works during the process of their construction and to keep a record of the result of such inspection and to report the same monthly to the State board of examiners. Said Debris Commissioner shall also from time to time during the process of the construction of such works, when requested so to do by the said "California Débris Commission," draw his warrants upon the State controller in favor of such person or persons as may be designated by said "California Débris Commission" for such amounts as shall equal one-half of the cost of the construction of said works; and said Débris Commissioner shall in like manner, and when requested so to do by said "California Débris Commission," draw his warrant upon the State controller for an amount equal to one-half the purchase price of any site or sites necessary for the construction of said works: Provided, That the purchase of such site or sites shall have been first approved by the State board of examiners: And provided further, That no warrant shall be drawn in excess of the amount appropriated by this act.

In compliance with instructions from the Secretary of War, the Commission has been developing a project for the expenditure of the money appropriated by the United States, and it is proposed to make this project so that the money appropriated by the State can be expended under it. The act of the California legislature referred to is appended hereto, marked B.

Money statement.

June 30, 1897, amount unexpended of appropriation for "expenses of
California Débris Commission, 1897".

$8, 983.54

Oustanding liabilities....

10.75

Balance..

8,972. 79

June 30, 1897, amount appropriated by act of June 4, 18.7, for "expenses
of California Débris Commission, 1898".
Amount estimated to be necessary for expenses of the Commission to the
close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1899...

15,000.00

15,000.00

Respectfully submitted.

Quincy Mining North Feather Timber dams, Spanish 3, 000, 000 | Oct. 18

and Water Co.

Creek and old hy-
draulic pit.
do

Stone and gravel dam in

2, 000, 000....do 605,000 Nov. 3

Little Bear River, with
spillway.

Dams in dry ravine

17,000 Nov. 6

Dams, North Branch

10,000 Nov. 14

Dec. 13, 1893.
June 27, 1894.

Nov. 20, 1894

4,025

16, 725

Mokelumne... Brush dam in ravine

Synopsis of applications for authority to mine, with action taken thereon-Continued.