103 



Past and I'kesent Conditions in the County. 

 Forests. — Early settlers in the county fonntl a vast forest ; broken only 

 here and there by paths left by cyclones, and by marshy prairies. Their 

 way had to be cut with the axe, and, from the first, war was made on the 

 tree as an enemy to prt),i;ress and civilization. Clearings were made and 

 regular logging bees were held where thousands and thousands of trees 

 were cut, rolled together, and burned. Great amounts of timber were used 

 for cabins, fences, corduroy roads, etc. Practically the entire county was 

 covered with this virgin stand of timber. The northern part of the county 

 in the neighborhood of New Pichmond, Linden, and Kirkpatrick borders 

 on a prairie country which extends northward up into Tippecanoe, but 

 even there the forests were in evidence. The soil over the greater portion 

 of the county was covered with leaves, underbrush and general litter, under 

 which was a thick layer of humus which acted as a reservoir for the rain- 

 fall of the region. 



The needs of a growing population and civilization lias increased the 

 drain upon our once luxuriant forests until, today, little I'emaius to remind 

 us of them. Only here and there are patches of woodland, and these are 

 so thin that they cannot be called forests at all. Fields, pastures and bar- 

 ren slopes have taken the place of our great stands of timber, and this 

 has done much to lessen the efficacy of the soil as a retainer of rainfall. 

 The following figures from the report of the statistici;in show the above 

 conditions in the county: 



1881 07,574 acres of timberland 



1882 62,983 acres of timberland 



1883 C9,390 acres of timberland 



1884 C9,451 acres of timberland 



1885. 46,508 acres of timberland 



1880 44,183 acres of timberland 



1900 7,184 acres of timberland 



Inaccurate data is respoi;sible for the discre])ancies in the early re- 

 turns; the later reports are more reliable. 



Sircams. — It is evident to any one who has given the matter the 

 slightest consideration that the flow of streams in the county is much 

 changed. The amount of water carried by the streams is probably no 

 less, but the flow is much moi*e irregular, being greater than formerly in 

 times of rain and lower in times of drouth. This is yer^' noticeable \n 



