During Lorenzo Sawyer’s career on the senate, he made history and took a step forward for environmental rights. In 1884, the case of Woodruff v. North Bloomfield Mining and Gravel Company hit the court. During the Gold Rush, the Company was using hydraulic mining which was destroying farm land. He handed down what was later known as the Sawyer Decision which ended the use of hydraulic mining. It was the first environmental controversy in California, as well as being one of the first major environmental decisions.</span></p>
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A photograph of Lorenzo Sawyer, an American lawyer, judge, Chief Justice of California, and the first judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.