FOREST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 37 



gable streams in the East. For twenty years the Government has 

 been conducting stream measurements at Plymouth, on the Pemige- 

 wassett River, which is a main branch of the Merrimac, and I have 

 here a chart made for me by the Geological Survey showing the 

 result of those measurements, and, by the way, the measurements 

 began in 1886 and cover the twenty-year period down to 1906. It 

 was about that time that the great cuttings began in the White Moun- 

 tains, particularly on the southern slopes, the Pemigewassett rising 

 on the southern slopes of the mountains. You will see from that 

 chart, Mr. Chairman, that the low-water period has increased from 

 nine hundred days in a ten-year period to one thousand three hundred 

 days, or four hundred days in a ten-year period, running up sharply 

 from the nine hundred period to the thirteen hundred, while the 

 rainfall has remained almost the same, this line here indicating the 

 rainfall. This chart states the persistency of low-water stages on 

 the Pemigewassett River by progressive ten-year periods, showing 

 number of days in each period from 1886 to 1906 that gauge at 

 Plymouth, N. H., registered 2.5 feet and below. Also corresponding 

 mean annual rainfall for progressive ten-year periods. The chart 

 gives striking evidence, it seems to me, of the effect of removing the 

 forests from the White Mountain region, for that was about the time 

 the cuttings on that slope began. I wish each member of the com- 

 mittee would look at this chart, and I file it as one of the exhibits. 

 I do not know how it may be in the Southern Appalachians, but all 

 we need protected are the high, steep slopes in the White Mountain 

 country. All the rest will reforest itself. It is only on the high 

 slopes, when the forest is taken off, the soil is all washed away down 

 to the bare granite rock. 



The CHAIRMAN. Does that extend all the way to the bottom of the 

 mountain? 



Mr. CURRIER. No ; it is only on the high, steep slopes. 



The CHAIRMAN. When the lower part of the mountain is refor- 

 ested, does it not serve as a sort of retarder ? 



Mr. CURRIER. Not if you have a mile and a half of bare rock above 

 you, where every drop of rain will run off in thirty minutes. 



Mr. WEEKS. You should have used the words " burned away." 



Mr. CURRIER. Yes; burned away, because the fire burns off the 

 growths in the burned-over areas. The fires that come from cut- 

 over lands extend into the virgin growth, but it is rarely indeed that 

 a fire.starts in the virgin growth. But what we need is protection for 

 the timber land for the higher slopes that never can reforest them- 

 selves. 



The CHAIRMAN. Is it, in your judgment, a question of fire pro- 

 tection, largely? 



Mr. CURRIER. No; fire is a very important factor in it. Fire starts 

 in your cut-over lands, started by hunters in the fall. As the hunting 

 season opens early, the timber is dry, and the fire starts and gets 

 under tremendous headway in those cut-over lands, but I scarcely 

 ever heard of a fire starting in a virgin growth, 



Mr. HAWLEY. Did I understand that you had continuous slopes a 

 mile and a half long in the White Mountains ? 



Mr. CURRIER. I think so. 



The CHAIRMAN. Has New Hampshire any fire patrol ? 



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