456 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION. 



November, 



in this, that no human habitations are to 

 be seen. One could easil}' imagine him- 

 self in a country not yet inhabited by 

 man. 



Shortly after one o'clock we were 

 again under way. We forded the river 

 again and drove for miles down its 

 beautiful valley. We noted the strong 

 srrowth of trees on the river bottom and 

 the bordering hillsides. Here again the 

 Red Cedars are to be seen growing vig- 

 orously, and here also the large trees 

 have long since been cut and taken 

 away. We forded again a few miles 

 down the river and noticed that the 

 volume of water had perceptibly in- 

 creased. These rivers of the " L,oup 

 system ' ' are the most remarkable in 

 North America, if not in the whole 

 world. They flow from a sand-hill 

 country which has a dry surface and a 

 limited rainfall. Thej' have few tribu- 

 taries, and in some cases none at all for 

 a great many miles. The}^ never run 

 dry, and they never rise or have 

 ' ' freshets. ' ' If one gauges a stream 

 like the Middle Loup or the Dismal at 

 some point, and then goes down fifty 

 miles or so, he will find that there is 

 more water in it, even though it has re- 

 ceived no tributaries in that distance. 

 What is the secret of the Loup rivers ? 

 They are spring-fed streams. They re- 



ceive practically no surface water. All 

 the rain that falls in the sand-hills is 

 absorbed by the porous soil and allowed 

 to trickle down slowl}^ to the lower and 

 less pervious layers, where it appears 

 in the form of numberless springs. 

 This is the secret of the steady flow of 

 the Loup rivers, of which the Dismal is 

 perhaps the most remarkable. 



Down the river we went, at last obliged 

 to leave the valley and drive over the 

 bordering low hills. We kept along the 

 southern edge of the reserve for its 

 whole distance and at last passed its 

 southeast corner. It was now late in 

 the afternoon, and we were tired and 

 hungr3^ We drove rapidl}' now, and 

 by 7 o'clock came to the village of Dun- 

 ning, where we found food and lodging. 

 Here our present stud}^ of the Dismal 

 River Forest Reserve ended. 



I promise myself the pleasure of an- 

 other visit to this reserve within a year 

 or two, after some of the work which 

 has been projected has been done. I 

 would suggest, also, that this reserve 

 should be visited by the many Nebras- 

 kans who are actively interested in the 

 work of tree planting. It is to be the 

 greatest undertaking in the tree plant- 

 ing line that was ever attempted in this 

 country. On this account it is worth 

 visiting, if on no other. 



NEW FOREST AND WATER ASSOCIATION 



IN NEW YORK. 



TO ENCOURAGE AND PROMOTE PRACTICAL FORESTRY, WATER 

 STORAGE, AND THE DEVEIvOPME.^lT OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 



THE Forestry, Water Storage, and 

 Manufacturing Association of the 

 State of New York is the title of a new 

 organization which was formed as a 

 result of a recent meeting of manufact- 

 urers held in New York. This new 

 association is the outcome of a general 

 feeling among the people and manufact- 

 uring and other industrial concerns hav- 

 ing interests in the Adirondacks, and 

 along power-producing rivers that orig- 

 inate in the Adirondacks, that a great 



deal for the mutual benefit could be ac- 

 complished by concerted action. 



The object and purpose of the forma- 

 tion of the new association, according to 

 the articles adopted, are as follows : 



" To encourage and promote the 

 building and maintaining of water-stor- 

 age reservoirs in the State of New York 

 for the purpose of checking freshets, 

 maintaining a more uniform flow of 

 water in rivers and streams throughout 

 the year and rendering and making them 



