An engineer having planned the work, estimates are made, and thereupon Chinese foremen take contracts for pieces at stipulated rates, and themselves hire their countrymen for the actual labor.

This subdivision, to which the perfect organization of Chinese labor readily lends itself, is very convenient.
The engineer or master in charge of the work deals only with the Chinese foremen, pays them for the work done, and exacts of them the due performance of the contract.
The levee stuff is taken from the inside; thus the ditch is inside of the levee, and usually on the outside is a space of low marsh, which presently fills with willow and cotton-wood.

You may sail along the river or slough, therefore, for miles, and see only occasional evidences of the embankment.
The soil is usually a tough turf, full of roots, which is very cheaply cut out with an instrument called a "tule-knife," and thrown up on the levee, where it seems to bind well, though one would not think it would.

At frequent intervals are self-acting tide-gates for drainage; these are made of the redwood of the coast, which does not rot in the water.

The rise and fall of the tides is about six feet.