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The damage to the environment was considerable. In areas where
hydraulic mining was used the soil has been totally denuded of
nutrients, leaving nothing but gravel and toxic metals like mercury,
which was used to separate gold from the ore washed through the
sluices. The soil in turn was washed into rivers, raising the bed
of the Yuba River, for instance, over one hundred feet. Farmers
downstream of these mines suffered from floods of debris, which would
cover their farms and orchards. Eventually, the state government stepped
in and provided some measure of relief with the formation of the
California Debris Commission in 1893, which tried to implement plans
that would allow hydraulic mining to continue while minimizing its
impact on farms downstream of the mining sites. During its existence
the California Debris Commission built dams and levies to keep the
millions of tons of silt generated by hydraulic mining out of the
Sacramento River.
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