576 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



Meadows once fertilized by irrigation are waste and unproductive, because the cisterns 

 and reservoirs which supplied the ancient canals are broken, or the springs that fed them 

 are dried up. Rivers famous in history and songs have sunk to humble brooklets. The 

 willows that ornamented and protected the banks of the lesser watercourses are gone, and 

 the rivulets have ceased to exist as perennial currents, because the little water that finds 

 its way into the ancient channels is evaporated by the droughts of Summer, or absorbed 

 by the parched earth before it reaches the lowlands. The beds of the brooks have widened 

 into broad expanses of pebbles and gravel, over which, though passed in the hot season 

 dry shod, in Winter sea-like torrents thunder. The entrances of narrow streams are 

 obstructed by sand bars; and harbors, once marts of an extensive commerce, are shoaled 

 by the deposit of rivers at whose mouths they lie. The elevation of the beds of estuaries, 

 and the consequently diminished velocity and increased lateral spread of the streams which 

 flow into them, have converted thousands of leagues of shallow sea and fertile lowlands into 

 unproductive and miasmatic morasses. 



The author finds several causes concurring to turn the fairest and most 

 fertile regions into the barrenest deserts; but the principal cause, to be the 

 depletion of mountains of their forest covering. The lesson should be 

 learned by heart, and have its effect on our national and State legislation. 

 Hydraulic mining is held responsible for all consequences of floods, of all 

 deposits in rivers, of all shallowing of harbors. Yet those who would avert 

 these results must look beyond mining, unless all science is at fault. I do 

 not urge these considerations as a plea for mining. That would be use- 

 less. But I ask thoughtful men to estimate the consequences of the de- 

 struction of the timber of these mountains to supply the valleys as well as 

 the foothills with lumber. Says Marsh: 



When the forest is gone, the great reservoir of moisture stored up in its vegetable mold 

 is evaporated, and returns only in deluges of rain to wash away the parched dust into 

 which the mold has been converted. The well wooded and humid hills are turned into 

 ridges of dry rock, which encumbers the low grounds and chokes the water-courses with 

 its debris ; and, except in countries favored with an equitable distribution of rain through 

 the season, and a moderate and regular inclination of surface, the whole earth, unless res- 

 cued by human art from the physical degradation to which it tends, becomes an assem- 

 blage of bald mountains, of barren, tuftless hills, and of swampy and malarious plains. 

 There are parts of Asia Minor, of Northern Africa, of Greece, and even of Alpine Europe, 

 where the operation of causes set in action by man has brought the face of the earth to a 

 desolation almost as complete as that of the moon; and though within the brief space of 

 what we call the historic period, they are known to have been covered with luxuriant 

 woods, verdant pastures, and fertile meadows, they are now too far deteriorated to be 

 reclaimed by man ; nor can they again become fitted for human use except through great 

 geological changes, or other mysterious influences or agencies, of which we have no 

 present knowledge, and over which we have no prospective control. 



I will not pursue this branch of the subject further, lest I weary you; but 

 it is worthy the attention of all who are solicitous about the filling up of our 

 rivers, that there are great causes at work to effect that result, even though 

 hydraulic mining is stopped, and quite independent of that pursuit. All 

 rivers heading in abrupt mountains must fill up, especially if those moun- 

 tains are wooded and are being denuded of timber; and even in the absence 

 of the latter feature. Scientists assure us that all running streams begin 

 with excavating channels for themselves, or deepening the natural depres- 

 sions in which they flow. But in proportion as their outlets are raised by 

 the material transported by their currents, their velocity is diminished; 

 they deposit gravel and sand at constantly higher and higher points, and 

 so at last elevate the beds they had previously scooped out. Then the 

 rivers overflow their banks in time of freshet, and deposit earthy matter on 

 the sides, so raising the surrounding country, preventing by such elevation 

 the morasses which would otherwise exist. 



Referring again to the main question, the inquiry arises, what is likely 

 to be the result of these legal proceedings ? Will hydraulic miners ever be 

 allowed to resume their work? I have given this matter much thought, 

 and should think myself derelict to duty did I encourage vain expecta- 



