1510 



AMERICAN FORESTRY 



lands. Even these figures, however, do not bring out 

 the full significance of the National Forests in their 

 relation to the water-power resources of the West. A 

 large part of 

 these resources 

 outside of the 

 Forests are so 

 located as to be 

 extremely dif- 

 ficult of de- 

 velopment un- 

 der present 

 conditions, and 

 so a continual- 

 ly i n c reasing 

 p r oportion of 

 new water- 

 power develop- 

 ments is utiliz- 

 ing sites within 

 National For- 

 ests or other 

 public lands. 



Farther 

 downstream, in 

 the lower 

 reaches of the 

 rivers and in 

 the harbors in- 

 to which they 

 flow, water 

 contributes still 

 further to 

 western pros- 

 perity. Inland 

 water t r a ns- 

 portation in the 

 Mountain and 

 Pacific states 

 will never at- 

 tain the de- 

 v e 1 opment of 

 which it is 

 capable in the 

 East ern and 

 Central states 

 but it is already 

 of considerable 

 import ance, 

 and should be- 

 come increas- 

 ingly so as the 

 popu 1 at ion 

 grows denser 

 and traffic cor- 

 respondingly heavier. According to the 1916 report of 

 the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, there were 

 at that time some 26 navigable streams in the Western 



BEFORE AND AFTER 



Upper.— A portion of the Salt River Reclamation Project in southern Arizona previous to irrigation, covered 



only with a sparse growth of desert vegetation. 

 Center. — The same area after water has been applied, covered with a vigorous crop of barley. 

 Lower. — The same area several later, covered with a thrifty young orange grove. 



States, with a navigable length of approximately 1,746 

 miles and an annual movement of over 14,000,000 tons 

 valued at more than $250,000,000. The relation of the 



National For- 

 ests to naviga- 

 tion is not 

 strikingly obvi- 

 ous, since prac- 

 tically all the 

 navigable por- 

 tions of west- 

 ern streams lie 

 outside of the 

 Forest bounda- 

 ries. Yet by 

 far the greater 

 part of the 

 water that they 

 carry origi- 

 nates in their 

 upper courses, 

 which are to a 

 large extent in- 

 cluded within 

 the National 

 Forests. Any 

 influence that 

 the Forests 

 may exert on 

 this water is 

 therefore felt 

 indirectly, but 

 none the less 

 surely, by the 

 streams and by 

 the harbors in- 

 to which they 

 flow. 



O r di n a ry 

 drinking water 

 may lack the 

 romantic asso- 

 c i a t i on s of 

 some other 

 beverages, but 

 it nevertheless 

 is an everyday 

 necessity for 

 t h o usands of 

 families scat- 

 tered on farms 

 and ranches 

 and in numer- 

 ous small set- 

 t 1 e m e n t s 

 throughout the 

 West and for the still larger population comprised in the 

 towns and cities. How much effort and money must be 

 expended by western cities in obtaining a pure and 



