1902, 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



109 



only solution. The state laws for the 

 protection of the forests are inadequate, 

 and were they of a character more 

 nearly suited to the case, it is doubtful 

 if the state would be able to secure their 

 proper enforcement. The constantly 

 increasing danger from floods and the 

 ravages to crops and farm lands is a 

 serious thing in itself, but coupled with 

 this is the rapid sacrifice of the noblest 

 forest lands east of the Rockies. 



The interest manifested b>- the people 

 of this state in the esta1)lishment of a 

 national forest reserve in western North 

 Carolina is manifested in a special act 

 passed last year by the legislature, which 

 gives to the United States the power to 

 acquire by purchase and condemnation 

 lands in the high mountain regions of 

 western North Carolina, and authoriz- 

 ing Congress to legislate concerning the 

 control of said acquisition. 



IL 



THE MAY FLOOD IN EASTERN TENNESSEE, 



By H. B. Ayres, 

 U. S. Geological Survey. 



THE mountain torrents of eastern 

 Tennessee, like other torrents, are 

 habitually surprising to non-resident 

 people ; even the mountaineers, who 

 have lived among them since childhood, 

 sometimes lose buildings or fences, or 

 have fields gullied by the overflow of 

 the streams ; roads are blocked by every 

 freshet, but farmers and the town people 

 of the river valleys suffer most notably. 

 The mountaineer is near the source 

 of the stream and can see the storm 



and its intensity and provide somewhat 

 against it ; but the valley people seldom 

 have much warning of a coming flood. 

 The most thorough destruction, too, 

 occurs along alluvial bottoms, at those 

 points where the torrents capriciously 

 change their courses or leave their loads 

 of boulders, sand, or clay during one 

 flood, to be carried further during an- 

 other. The most dangerous places are 

 near the points where the beds of the 

 streams lessen their grade and the tor- 



WRECK OF A MILL, HAMPTON, TENNESSEE. 



