1903 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



195 



difference with which the nation, until 

 recently, viewed the destruction of its 

 "orests, the progress made in developing 

 i national system of forestry, since 

 effecting a change of policy, has been 

 equally remarkable. Few appreciate 

 die strides made in this direction. 



Historically speaking, our national 

 system saw its inception in 1890, in the 

 creation of the three parks in the State 

 of California known as the Sequoia, 

 Yosemite, and General Grant National 

 Parks. The establishment of these 

 parks for the preservation of the big 

 trees in those localities marked the first 

 recognition on the part of the govern- 

 ment of an obligation resting upon it 

 for action along a line which has since 

 developed into our present forest reser- 

 vation system. As such, it was of an 

 importance out of all proportion to the 

 direct objects to be served by the parks, 

 representing, in fact, what might be 

 termed the opening wedge in the work 

 of inaugurating a national forest policy. 

 It was not, strictly speaking, legislation 

 along the lines of forestry, but it led 

 the way to that speedily. The follow- 

 ing year saw the enactment of the first 

 federal forest law, which conferred au- 

 thority upon the President to establish 

 forest reservations. From a historical 

 standpoint, therefore, the origin of the 

 movement for these parks has, in the 



to form a beach. This was presumably 1 '" 

 fresh water, as amply attested by the 

 abundance of fresh- water shells found 

 all over the area. 



The soils themselves present the most 

 difficult problem of all. Water is plen- 

 tiful, as has already been pointed out, 

 and topography makes its application a 

 simple matter. The bottom of this 

 basin is actual, absolute salt deposited 

 in thick layers. It will naturally be 

 supposed from the geologic history of 

 these soils that they will all contain 

 salts in large quantities. Naturally, 

 too, there will be found considerable 

 uniformity in the soil, practically all 

 having been formed from sediments 

 carried by the Colorado. In some places 

 sand has been mixed with this sedi- 

 ment, making a loamy soil, and in the 

 dune area there is sand alone. The 

 management of these soils would be 



Meadows, my friend said, ' Where are 

 all those wonderful flower gardens you 

 write me so much about ? ' And I had 

 to confess w T oe's me ! that uncount- 

 able sheep had eaten and trampled them 

 out of existence. Then he said, ' Can't 

 something be done to restore and pre- 

 serve so wonderful a region as this ? 

 Surely the people of California are not 

 going to allow these magnificent forests, 

 on which the welfare of the whole state 

 depends, to be destroyed ? ' Then a na- 

 tional park was proposed, and I was 

 requested to write some articles about 

 the region to help call attention to it, 

 while the Century was freely used for 

 the same purpose, and every friend that 

 could be found was called on to write 

 or speak a good word for it. The Cali- 

 fornia Academy of Sciences became in- 

 terested and began to work, and so did 

 the State University. Even the soulless 

 Southern Pacific Railroad Compan}', 

 never counted on for anything good, 

 helped nobly in pushing the bill for 

 this park through Congress. Mr. Stow 

 in particular charged our members in 

 Congress that, whatever they neglected, 

 they must see that the bill for a national 

 park around Yosemite Valley went 

 through, and in a little over a year from 

 the time of our first talk beside that 

 Tuolumne camp-fire the bill organizing 

 the park passed Congress, and a troop 



nf oavfllrv was eruarding it." 

 simple enougn were su^iF maua^n^m. 



not complicated by that dread of the 

 irrigator, alkili. The sand areas are 

 freest from this, and the loams contain 

 the most. Briefly, the alkali conditions 

 are these : by popular assumption alkali 

 soil is that which contains a harmful 

 accumulation of salts. This accumula- 

 tion may be to some degree offset by 

 alkali- resistant growths, chief among 

 which is the date palm, whose cultural 

 possibilities are beginning to be learned 

 in our Southwest. Also it must be re- 

 membered that the presence of lime will 

 enable plant life to withstand a higher 

 percentage of alkali, and in this par- 

 ticular the area under consideration is 

 fortunate, as gypsum ( sulphate of lime) 

 and carbonate of lime are present. The 

 shells left by sea and river contribute 

 to this lime constituent. Some areas 

 show no alkali at present, but it has 



