Talk:Lorenzo Sawyer

Bot-created subpage
A temporary subpage at User:Polbot/fjc/Lorenzo Sawyer was automatically created by a perl script, based on this article at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges. The subpage should either be merged into this article, or moved and disambiguated. Polbot (talk) 20:13, 5 March 2009 (UTC)

Incorrect statement regarding the Sawyer ruling on mining
The present sentence reads: In 1884, he handed down what became known as the Sawyer Decision in Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company which abruptly ended hydraulic mining in Northern California's Gold Country. It did not "end" anything, the mining companies had to begin impounding the debris, using dams and holding structures. See Hydraulic mining article for a good description. I would like to change the sentence to reflect this. Here is an excerpt from the book Mining California by Andrew Isenberg, 2005 p.175-6 :

In Jan.1884, Sawyer ruled in Woodruff's favor. He declared mining debris a nuisance and perpetually enjoined miners from discharging debris into rivers (emphasis mine). Moreever, he left open the possibility that in the future, a more "safe and effective" technology might emerge, in which he would lift the injuction. Acting on Sawyer's decision, mining companies transformed the artificial craters ... into ponds and installed steam-powered dredges...which created as much debris as hydraulic mining but was impounded at the mining site. Any comments? Marcia Wright (talk) 00:57, 26 June 2009 (UTC)