6 REPORT ON THE FOREST TIMBER OF 
country is so rugged that nearly seven eighths of its area lies: 
in slopes of great steepness. If stripped of their timber, the 
water will not lie on these slopes much longer than on the 
house tops. 
By the forest covering a large part of the water is retained. 
as by a sponge, and is allowed to filter away slowly into the 
streams. A heavy rain of say five inches in depth, falling 
within say two days, will have at least one half of the precipi- 
tated water retained for some days in the mat of decaying 
leaves of the forest, which would otherwise be precipitated at. 
once into the streams. To strip away the forests is to double 
the amount of water thrown at one stroke into the rivers. A 
glance at the map of the Big Sandy or Chatterawha Valley will 
show that this stream has a great many branches, and gathers. 
the water from about five thousand square miles of mountain- 
ous country. Every part of this area is made up of narrow 
valleys and steep hillsides. As it is, the floods of the Lower 
Sandy rise to about fifty feet above the low-water stage of 
the river, and are formidable in their violence. If the country 
should ever become stripped of its timber, the consequences. 
would be disastrous in the highest degree. Some of the val- 
leys of a similar character in Europe, which have been reck- 
lessly stripped of their timber, have become almost devastated! 
by the violence of the floods. There are several such cases. 
in France where the soil has been in good part stripped away 
since the timber was removed, and the government has been, 
compelled to intervene in order to restore the forests. When 
this restoration has been accomplished, an immediate change 
for the better has been brought about. Thus we see that there 
are two good reasons for endeavoring to retain the forests of - 
the Big Sandy Valley. Firstly, that they may remain a source 
of supply for valuable timber, which each year must enhance 
in price on account of the increasing population of the Ohio. 
and Mississippi Valleys; secondly, on account of the safety of 
the agricultural and mining interests of the region which must 
be located along the valleys, and thus be in great danger from 
any increase of the floods which now sweep them. 
6 
