ig6 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



May, 



xoulteri, and Abies venusta, ovXy the first 

 named creating the effect of a forest. 

 With these are mixed the Black Oak, 

 Valparaiso Oak, Tanbark Oak, and 

 Madrone. 



From the northern Santa lyUcias 

 spring three streams of considerable size, 

 beside the smaller ones flowing toward 

 the Pacific. The first of these three is 

 the Sur* River, draining the western 

 slope of the outer range ; it has a con- 

 siderable body of Redwood at lower ele- 

 vations, and scattered groves of the Sil- 

 ver Fir on the high rocky ridges, and 

 flows northwestward into the Pacific. 



MARGIN OF WOODS IN BEAR BASIN, SANTA I,UCIA MOUNTAINS 



3HOWING SPECIMENS OF SII<VER FIR, COULTER'S PINE, 



I,IBOCEDRUS, AND PINUS PONDEROSA. 



The second is the Carmel River, drain- 

 ing the north slopes of this mountain 

 mass. In this irregular drainage occur 

 most of the groves of Pin us pouderosa, 

 and the largest areas occupied by the 

 Silver Fir, besides considerable Tan- 

 bark Oak,t Madrone, and Valparaiso 

 Oak. :|: Much of the mountain portion 

 of this drainage indeed appears to bear 

 a true forest. Here also, in Bear Basin 



* Pronounced ' ' Soor. ' ' 



\ Pasania (or Quercus) densiflora. 



X Quel CHS chrysolepis. 



and Ventura Creek, Abies veniista ap- 

 pears at its best. It nowhere show^s a 

 tendency to a forest, but occupies either 

 the rocky faces of steep canyons, the 

 crests of rocky ridges, or bottoms of the 

 canyons ; always scattered, or in groups 

 of from three to ten or twelve, with the 

 rocks or other trees interspersed. Its 

 preference is the north slope or the vi- 

 cinit}' of a mountain stream. Its roots 

 evidently seek the moisture found in 

 these situations. 



The waters of the Carmel are of grow- 

 ing importance , as they furnish the towns 

 on Monterey Bay, such as Pacific Grove, 

 Monterey, and Hotel del 

 Monte, with their domestic 

 water supply. 



The third stream is the 

 Arroyo Seco, one of the 

 three chief branches of the 

 Salinas River. The Arroyo 

 Seco drains eastwardly, 

 rises in the heart of the 

 northern Santa Lucias, and 

 its watershed occupies a 

 greater share of their ter- 

 ritory. The ridges are of 

 great steepness, the can- 

 yons sometimes impassable 

 and the elevations of a 

 greater share of its moun- 

 tains from 3,000 to 5,500 

 feet above the sea, Santa 

 Lucia peak, on its south- 

 ern boundary, rising to a 

 height of 5,967 feet. A 

 great deal of this basin is 

 covered with chaparral, 

 with a limited amount of 

 hardw^ood timber on the 

 north slopes, some Pinus 

 coulteri, and occasional 

 tracts of the Silver Fir, which be- 

 comes rather common in the northwest- 

 ern part of the basin, where the waters 

 approach the sources of the Carmel and 

 the Sur. In this basin there would be 

 much more timber than exists at present 

 if forest fires of great destructiveness 

 had not repeatedly swept its steep moun- 

 tains. These fires are known to have 

 been set purposely in some cases. I 

 have photographs of Silver Firs de- 

 stroyed b}' the fire of 189S; but the 

 greatest destruction was among the 



