282 



THE FORESTER. 



November, 



extraction of ore. For the most part, the 

 grade of timber is not high, nor would it 

 bear long transportation. The interest of 

 the miner, therefore, is especially bound 

 up with the preservation of the forests 

 near his mine. It is one of the hopeful 

 signs that the more intelligent miners and 

 the managers of the more important mines 

 are becoming rapidly convinced of the 

 necessity of safe-guarding their supply of 

 timber by the protection of forests near 

 home. Mining may thrive temporarily 

 on the destruction of forests but such thriv- 

 ing cannot last. Successful mining, there- 

 fore, is impossible without prosperous 

 forests, and for the most part, such forests 

 must be found in the immediate neighbor- 

 hood of the mines." 



In the Cripple Creek district many mine 

 operators may be found who can speak 

 with authority on the scarcity of wood for 

 mine purposes. Already mine timbers are 

 being shipped to Cripple Creek from 

 Oregon, and as the necessity for securing 

 timber from distant markets becomes more 

 pressing in like measure will the profits of 

 mining companies be affected. 



The case of the Great Homestake mine 

 at Lead, South Dakota, should prove a 

 warning to mine operators. During the 

 early years of this company's operation the 

 timber near at hand was cut indiscrimin- 

 ately. The result of careless cutting was 

 repeated fires and suddenly a great scarcity 

 of wood. But the evil effects did not stop 

 there; the hillsides on the headwaters of 

 the streams of this region were denuded 

 of timber and soon the water supply began 

 to fail. To-day the Homestake Mining 

 Company is constructing a flume, at a 

 cost of $1,500,000, to carry water from a 

 distance. It may further be added that 

 this corporation is now one of the firmest 

 advocates of the policy of protecting re- 

 maining forests and of cutting timber on 

 conservative lines. Their wisdom has 

 cost them a high price. In Colorado care- 

 lessness is likely to bring about the same 

 state of affairs, and the owners of mines, 

 in view of the present rate of forest destruc- 

 tion, must also expect to purchase experi- 

 ence. 



Mr. F. H. Newell, Hydrographer of the 

 U. S. Geological Survey, who has for a 

 number of years been making a special 

 stud) r of the water resources of the western 

 states, has the following to say regarding 



the necessity of forest protection in Colo- 

 rado. 



"There is probably no state in the 

 Union where the necessity for the protec- 

 tion of the forests upon the high moun- 

 tains is more important than in Colorado. 

 A possible exception to this statement is 

 the case of southern California, but even 

 here the disastrous consequences following 

 the reckless burning of the forests are 

 hardly more apparent than in the country 

 around the headwaters of the Platte and 

 Arkansas. 



" Not only are the trees of great impor- 

 tance in maintaining favorable conditions 

 for the perennial supply of water, hut the 

 forest cover has peculiar value in prevent- 

 ing 1 erosion of the soil and the washing of 

 silt into the reservoirs. The soil on many 

 of the upland mountain parks is extremely 

 light and easily moved by the beating of 

 the rain. This is shown where cattle 

 have traveled through the denuded areas. 

 Each trail or path serves to collect the 

 water from the occasional rains. A few 

 sharp showers quickly cut out these trails 

 into gulleys, and a few years suffice to 

 convert them into miniature canyons and 

 bad lands. 



"About twenty years ago when I first 

 visited Colorado there were to be found 

 throughout the mountains little valleys with 

 smooth fertile bottoms. On mv last trip 

 through this same country I was dismayed 

 by the appalling change that had taken 

 place. Each of these valleys was tra- 

 versed by a steep-walled gulley which in 

 places widened out and left no room even 

 for a wagon road. All the rich light soil 

 has been carried away down the streams, 

 sorted into sand and clay banks and left 

 by floods along the rivers or carried out in 

 irrigating ditches, filling them with sedi- 

 ment and increasing the cost of cultiva- 

 tion. 



" This rapid erosion among the moun- 

 tains has been due to cutting and burning 

 the timber and brush, and by the over-graz- 

 ing of the lands thrown open to the passage 

 of cattle, by the destruction of the thickets 

 and underbrush. Thus not only is the 

 state losing one of its most valuable re- 

 sources in timber, the material needed by 

 the farmer and miner, but also the soil 

 valuable in one locality is being carried 

 away to become a nuisance in another." 



The following statement by Mr. Pin- 



