112 FOREST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 



It will not be attempted to discuss Colouel Chittendeu's remarks with refer- 

 ence to reservoirs, as these are not here under consideration. 



Finally, it must be remembered that the acquirement by the Government of 

 forest reserves in the Appalachian and White Mountains will be of benefit to 

 the navigation of the streams not simply in proportion to the area of these 

 reserves. By acquiring a foothold, the Forest Service will be able to demon- 

 strate to owners of adjoining tracts the benefits of wise forest management, 

 and will be able to cooperate with them on the ground in using similar methods 

 in their own forests. The Government, also, for the same reason will be able 

 to restrict forest fires, not only on the government reserves but on private 

 lands. The effect of the government reserves, therefore, will be much larger 

 than in proportion to their area, and by wise management and by cooperation 

 with private owners not only will erosion of the ground be prevented and the 

 flow of the streams favorably affected, but the timber supply will be conserved. 



UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, 



Seattle, Wash., January 12, 190!). 



Hon. CHARLES F. SCOTT, 



Chairman Committee on Agriculture, 



House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. 



MY DEAR SIR: Your letter of the 4th instant, inclosing a paper ,by Dr. George 

 F. Swain, with a request for my opinion thereon, has only just arrived, the 

 delay being doubtless due to the heavy weather prevailing along the Northern 

 Pacific roads. 



As you are doubtless anxious for an early reply, I will dictnte one at once, 

 without taking time for a more careful consideration of Doctor Swafn's paper. 

 I therefore ask your indulgence with the somewhat disjointed and fragmentary 

 character of my reply. I should be glad to put it in better form. 



Taking up seriatim Doctor Swain's criticisms, I note that in the first place 

 he says " the great majority of engineers conversant with the subject believe 

 that forests act as equalizers of stream flow." This statement would be more 

 correct if he said the great majority of engineers not* conversant with the 

 subject; i. e., with the subject of stream flow in our navigable rivers. I do not 

 myself know a single hydraulic engineer of wide experience in these matters 

 who believes that forests have any particular effect in diminishing great floods 

 or in preventing extreme low waters. I believe this also to be the opinion of 

 foreign engineers. There is a very wide sentiment in both countries to the 

 contrary, but this sentiment is very largely explained by the persistent argu- 

 ments of forestry advocates, to which hydraulic engineers take no particular 

 exception, because they do not wish to go on record as opposed to forestry 

 extension. 



In this connection I will pass to the last portion of Doctor Swain's paper, in 

 reference to foreign opinion on this subject. I have searched this matter a 

 great deal, and I believe that I am entirely correct in saying that the schools 

 of thought on the subject in Europe may be divided into forestry advocates 

 and river engineers. I am unable to find among the latter any that advocate 

 forests as a corrective for the extremes of flow in our rivers. Doctor Swain 

 cites the report of M. F. Valle as having made no impression at the time. I 

 am unable to say what impression it had, but the report itself is a very forcible 

 one, and cites the opinion of a number of other hydraulic engineers of promi- 

 nence who coincide with M. F. Valle's views. As a matter of fact, this sub- 

 ject was under careful discussion at that time, and there were different views, 

 just as there are to-day upon the subject. Hut when it caine to the question 

 of practical work the French engineers summarily rejected the idea that the 

 forests could be relied upon in any degree to simplify the problems of floods in 

 French rivers. 



In the exceedingly elaborate investigation instituted by Napoleon III, as a 

 result of the extraordinary flood of 1856, this very matter was brought forward 

 by forestry advocates and was considered by the engineers. Their finding was 

 that whatever value forests might have locally in preventing erosion of steep 

 slopes, they could not be relied upon in any degree to diminish the great floods 

 from which France had just been suffering, and that any measures which 

 might be taken in the line of reforestation would have no appreciable effect. 

 Their report cited a very elaborate and exhaustive work upon the floods of French 

 rivers, going back over six hundred years, in which it was conclusively shown 

 that former floods were larger than those at the present time, the progressive 



