HARDWOOD EJECORD 



27 



of transmittal Mr. Roosevelt stated that the document involved 

 the final results of the investigation authorized by a previous Con- 

 gress, and its conclusions pointed unmistakably to the necessity for 

 the creation of a national forest service in certain parts of the south- 

 eastern states. He urged that the report set forth an economic need 

 of prime importance to the welfare of the South and to the nation as 

 a whole, and pointed to the necessity of protecting through wise use. 

 a mountain region the influence of which flowed far beyond its borders, 

 with the waters of the rivers to which it gave rise. Specifically this 

 letter recited : 



Among the elevations of the eastern half of the United States the 

 Southern Appalachians are of paramount interest for geographic, hydro- 

 graphic and forest reasons, and as a consequence, for economic reasons 

 as well. These great mountains are old in the history of the continent 

 which has grown up around ihem. The hardwood forests were born on 

 their slopes and have spread thence 

 over ths eastern half of the conti- 

 nent. More than once in the remote 

 geologic past they have disappeared 

 before the sea on the east, south 

 and west and before the ice on the 

 north ; but here in this Southern 

 Appalachian region they have lived 

 on to the present day. ■ 



Under varying conditions of soil, 

 elevation and climate many of the 

 Appalachian tree species have devel- 

 oped. Hence it is that in this region 

 occur a marvelous variety and rich- 

 ness of plant growth • * * and 

 it is the concentration here of sci 

 many valuable species with such fa- 

 vorable conditions of growth which 

 has led forest experts and lumbermen 

 alike to assert that of all the conti- 

 nent this region is best suited to the 

 purpose and plans of a national for- 

 est reserve in the hardwood region. 



The conclusions of the Secretary 

 of Agriculture are summarized as 

 follows in his report : 



1. The Southern Appalachian re- 

 gion embraces the highest peaks and 

 largest mountain masses east of tli'- 

 Rockies. It is the greatest physio- 

 graphic feature of the eastern half 

 of the continent, and no such lofty 

 mountains are covered with hard- 

 wood forests in all North America. 



2. Upon these mountains descends 

 the heaviest rainfall of the United 

 States, except that of the North Pa- 

 cific coast. It is often of extreme 

 violence, as much as eight inches 

 having fallen in eleven hours, thirty- 

 one inches in one month and one 

 hundred and five inches in a year. 



3. The soil, once denuded of its 

 forests and swept by torrential rains, 

 rapidly loses first its humus, then 

 its rich upper strata and finally 

 is washed in enormous volume into 

 the streams to bury such of the fer- 

 tile lowlands as are not eroded by 

 the fioods, to obstruct the rivers, 



and to fill up the harbors on the coast. More good soil is now washed 

 down from these cleared mountain side fields during a single heavy rain 

 than during the centuries under forest cover. 



4. The rivers which originate in the Southern Appalachians flow into 

 or along the edges of every state from Ohio to the Gulf, and from the 

 Atlantic to the Mississippi. Along their courses are agricultural, water- 

 power and navigation interests whose preservation is absolutely essential 

 to the well-being of the nation. 



5. The regulation of the flow of these rivers can be accomplished only 

 by the conservation of the forests. 



6. These are the heaviest and most beautiful hardwood forests of 

 the continent. In them species from east and west, from north and south 

 mingle In a growth of unparalleled richness and variety. They contain 

 many species of the first commercial value, and furnish important supplies 

 which cannot be obtained from any other region. 



7. For economic reasons the preservation of these forests is impera- 

 tive. Their existence in good condition is essential to the prosperity 

 of the lowlands through which their waters run. Maintained in produc- 

 tive condition they will supply indispensable materials which must fail 

 without them. Their management under practical and conservative fores- 



A BEAUTY SPOT AMONG THE BIG TIMBER, EAGLE CREEK, SWAIN 

 COUNTY, NORTH CAROLINA 



try will sustain and increase the resources of this region and of the nation 

 at large ; will serve as an invaluable object lesson in the advantages and 

 practicability of forest preservation by use and will soon be self-support- 

 ing from the sale of timber. 



8. The agricultural resources of the Southern Appalachian region 

 must be protected and preserved. To that end the preservation of the 

 forests is an indispensable condition which will lead no't to the reduction 

 but to the increase of the yield of agricultural products. 



9. The floods in these mountain-born streams, if this forest destruc- 

 tion continues, will increase in frequency and violence and in the extent 

 of their damages, both within this region and across the bordering states. 

 * * • Their continuance means the early destruction of conditions 

 most valuable to the nation, and which neither skill nor wealth can 

 restore. 



10. The preservation of the forests, of the streams and of the agricul- 

 tural interests here described can be successfully accomplished only by 

 the purchase and creation of a national forest reserve. The states of 



the Southern Appalachian region own 

 little or no land, and their revenues 

 are inadequate to carry out this plan. 

 Federal action is obviously necessary, 

 is fully Justified by reason of public 

 necessity, and may be expected to 

 have most fortunate results. 



It will be noted that this letter 

 of e.x-President Roosevelt dealt 

 very largely with forest preser- 

 vation and conservation, as well 

 as the effect of rainfall and tor- 

 rential stream flow in effecting 

 erosion and river obstruction. 

 Both the analysis and deductions 

 were accurate and timely, and 

 the present legislation doubtless 

 is largely due to the propaganda 

 he instituted. 



Drainage 



It should be noted that the 

 Southern Appalachian region is 

 drained by many rivers, most of 

 which rise in the Blue Ridge and 

 flow outward from the mountains 

 in all directions — New river 

 through the Kanawha into the 

 Ohio; the Holston, Watauga, 

 French Broad, Big Pigeon, Little 

 Tennessee and Hiwassee into the 

 Tennessee; the Coosa and Etowah 

 through the Alabama and Chat- 

 tahoochee into the Gulf; and the 

 Tallulah, Chatooga, Toxaway, Sa- 

 luda, First and Second Broad, 

 Catawba and Yadkin into the 

 Atlantic through the Savannah, 

 Santee and Peedee. 



The descent of these streams 

 of necessity is very rapid. They 

 head at altitudes of from three 

 thousand to six thousand feet and leave the highlands at one 

 thousand to two thousand feet. Hence they fall two thousand to 

 four thousand feet within the mountain region. This mountain 

 descent is in a great part by cascades, but after the rivers leave 

 the mountains they are much less rapid. It is estimated that 

 more than a million horse power could be developed from these 

 streams in the mountain regions. 



Settlement 



It should further be recalled that this lower Appalachian region is 

 so thinly populated and so little known by the public as to be re- 

 garded as the "unknown land" of the United States. The total 

 population of this great area is less than three hundred and fifty 

 thousand, and is made up almost exclusively of a white population 

 whose forbears emigrated to this section more than a hundred years 

 ago, and whose descendants have lived here in successive generations 



