336 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



August, 



session a bill for this purpose passed 

 the Senate. Consideration of it in the 

 House was prevented through lack of 

 time. However, the bill will be taken 

 up again by the House during the next 

 session, and there is a reasonable pros- 

 pect of its becoming a law. 



Much has been written about the 

 forests of the Southern Appalachians, 

 especially since the campaign for the 

 reserve was begun. A recent valuable 

 publication* by the U. S. Geological 

 Survey, contains a description of the 

 water supply of the region and empha- 

 sizes the importance of the streams in 

 the development of the countr}'. This 

 report was prepared by Mr. Henry Al- 

 bert Pressey, and is the result of a sys- 

 tematic measurement of the water sup- 

 ply from this area. 



* Hydrography of the Southern Appalachian 

 Mountain Region. By Henry Albert Pressey. 

 Parts I and II. Being Water Supply Papers 

 62 and 63. Illustrated with 44 half-tone plates 

 from photographs. Published by U. S. Geo- 

 logical Sun'ev. 



In the report it is shown that this 

 great mountain system stretches from 

 Maine southwesterly for nearly 1,300 

 miles, terminating in northern Ala- 

 bama. From the Potomac soiith the 

 ranges are higher and broader than in 

 Penns3'lvania. The}" spread out into 

 the Blue Ridge, the Shenandoah, the 

 Alleghany, and Greenbriar Mountains, 

 extending, with broad and fertile val- 

 leys between, in nearly parallel lines 

 through Virginia and West Virginia 

 into North Carolina and Tennessee, and 

 culminating in the Iron and Great 

 Smoky ranges, the great mountain re- 

 gion of the southeastern states. 



In this southern mountain mass 63 

 peaks equal or exceed a height of 6,000 

 feet, 25 peaks are higher than Mount 

 Washington, and 288 peaks are over 

 5,000 feet. From North Carolina and 

 Tennessee the ranges, leaving spurs in 

 South Carolina, tttrn more westward 

 through Georgia and Alabama, and 

 sink into the hills of the gulf water- 



TYPICAL FOREST-COVERED MOUNTAIN SIDE. 



