io6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



March, 



waste in recent years of thousands of 

 acres of woodlands in the western part 

 of this state. 



The illustrations accompanying this 

 article were taken along the Catawba 

 River during and after the flood of Ma}^ 

 2 1, 1 90 1 , and a study of them will give 

 a better idea of the destruction wrought 

 than could be obtained from any written 

 description. 



The rainfall which produced this flood 

 began falling along the Catawba and its 

 headwaters on May 1 8 and ended on May 

 2 1 . The rise of the river was ver}- rapid , 

 and the current was at different pouits 

 10, 12, and 15 miles an hour, making an 

 average of over 12 miles. This was in 

 the lower section of the state, where a 



VIEW OF A CORN FIELD BURIED UNDER A BED OF SAND TWO 

 TO SIX FEET IN DEPTH. 



current of that swiftness was unprece- 

 dented. Along the upper Catawba the 

 current was, of course, much swifter. 

 So rapid was the rise that farmers had 

 no chance to take measures for safety, 

 and great numbers of cows and hogs 

 were lost. 



In many places residences which had 

 never before been approached by the 

 river were partly submerged, but it was 

 not until the flood had subsided that the 

 farmers obtained an idea of the extent 

 of the devastation it had wrought to 

 their lands. Some bottoms were buried 

 under a deposit of sand varying from 

 two to eight feet in depth, while others 

 were washed out to the bare cla5^ These 

 two peculiarities of the flood are shown 



in tw^o of the illustrations. One is that 

 of a corn field destroyed by a deposit of 

 sand. Here and there the photographer 

 could see the corn tassels protruding 

 from the sand. The railroad embank- 

 ment to the left prevented this bottom 

 from being washed out and caused the 

 deposit. 



At other points along the river steep 

 hillsides brought about the same results. 

 The other illustration in question shows 

 where the soil was washed away to a 

 depth of eight feet. The tips of the 

 "cow root," as it is known by the 

 farmers, held up by the man, are yet iu 

 the hard clay down to which it had 

 grown. The leaves at the top show the 

 former level of the bottom land. These 

 pictures represent the con- 

 ditions prevailing to a 

 greater or less extent along 

 both banks of the Catawba 

 in McDowell, Burke, Cald- 

 well, Alexander, Catawba, 

 Iredell, Lincoln, Gaston, 

 and Mecklenburg counties. 

 The most .serious aspect 

 of the situation is that in 

 most cases the damage to 

 farm lands, if not perma- 

 nent, will outlast the pres- 

 ent generation. The cut- 

 ting down of the banks 

 have lowered them so that 

 in the future the lands will 

 be more at the mercy of 

 floods than ever. The crops 

 will be damaged as much 

 b}^ the small freshets now as they were 

 by the larger and less frequent floods of 

 the past. 



Mr. E. W. Myers, of Chapel Hill, 

 who is connected with the United States 

 Geological Survey, made a tour of the 

 Catawba River valle}' a w^eek after the 

 flood, and estimated the apparent dam- 

 age to farming lands at $500,000; but 

 this estimate is probably below the 

 mark. In his official report he says : 

 ' ' The whole secret of the bad effect and 

 extent of the flood lies in the deforesta- 

 tion in the western part of the state. 

 Along the Linville River and in all parts 

 of western North Carolina the countrj^ 

 is being stripped of trees, and this is fol- 

 lowed b}' forest fires, which sweep away 



