1903-4. | THE FLUCTUATIONS OF LAKE ONTARIO. 5 
In 1858 the average of seventeen years was 36.940 inches. 
In 1868 the average of twenty-seven years was 36.273 inches. 
In 1878 the average of thirty-seven years was 35.464 inches. 
In 1888 the average of forty-seven years was 34.632 inches. 
In 1893 the average of fifty years was 34.338 inches. 
Showing a gradual diminution from the highest in 1858 to the lowest in 
1893 of 2.602 inches, for fifty years. I then stated that “the cause of 
the diminution was not far to seek, the reckless destruction of the forests 
in Ontario, also Michigan and Wisconsin, in the United States, by 
lumbering, and consequent fires, in the area of the watershed of the 
great lakes, without a partial or corresponding substitution of trees by 
planting, is a sufficient explanation of the result, apart from other prob- 
able causes.” This statement has been more than corroborated by the 
observations of the last ten years, namely, from 1893 to 1903, as follows : 
The diminution of the rain and snowfalls has been 1.583 inches, and the 
fluctuations of Lake Ontario, for the same period, has been 10.34 
inches. This decrease may be partly explained that the decade from 
1893 to 1903 has been a period of very low water (see record). With 
respect to the diminution of the rain and snowfalls from 1854 to 1903, 
the statement has also been corroborated by a return recently made by 
the Harbour Master, Mr. Postlethwaite, and published in the Toronto 
“Telegram.” In this return the average from 1854 to 1863 was 34.668 
inches ; from 1863 to 1873, 34.919 inches; from 1873 to 1883, 31.311 
inches ; from 1883 to 1893, 31.801 inches; and from 1893 to 1902, 
30.218 inches, a diminution of 4.450 inches for the last forty-nine years, 
from 1854 to 1902. (V.4.—The rain and snowfalls for 1903 are 30.631 
inches, but not included in the above return, which would be slightly 
diminished.) 
The following extracts from the “ Report on Forestry ” for 1896 are 
so pertinent to the intimate connection between the diminution of the 
raim and snowfalls and deforestation that I cannot avoid quoting them 
at length (see page 8): “ The question of the preservation of the forests 
has simply been forced upon public attention by the sheer necessities of 
the case. With the steady expansion of the settled and cultivated area, 
and the growth of population, the evils resulting from deforestation have 
become greatly intensified. The climatic changes foreshadowed by the 
earlier students of the subject, as the inevitable result of the reckless 
destruction of the woods, have been developed in a large measure, and 
the lessons of practical experience have brought conviction to those who 
would have been impervious to the universal teachings of history. Al- 
most every spring now brings calamitous floods and freshets down the 
