418 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



September 



lowing words which every well-wisher 

 of the South might we'.l lay to heart: 

 "Take, for example, the rice plan- 

 tations on the South Carolina side of 

 the Savannah River, which has its 

 source in these mountains. Formerly 

 they were more productive. The lands 

 were exceedingly valuable. They were 

 all cultivated in the most careful man- 

 ner and yielded splendid returns. 

 Whoever was so lucky as to own one 

 of them was considered a rich man. 

 What is their condition now ? Manv 



which commenced some twenty years 

 ago, just before the time when de- 

 structive freshets became so frequent." 

 It is well to bear in mind that the 

 exhaustion of the timber resources of 

 other sections of the country, together 

 with the wonderful industrial develop- 

 ment of the South during the past two 

 decades, has produced an enormous 

 demand for all kinds of southern lum- 

 ber, not to speak of the devastating ef- 

 fects cf forest fires. It is true these 

 and similar dangers arising from a 



Water Power on Broad River at Columbia, S. C. 



of them, including their elaborate and 

 expensive systems of irrigation, have 

 been substantially abandoned, and the 

 remainder generally show a loss at the 

 end of the year instead of a profit. In 

 the course of less than twenty years 

 there has been a complete revolution 

 from a state of great prosperity to one 

 of utter prostration. What is the cause 

 of all this? None other than freshets, 

 all the time increasing in number and 

 destructive power. All the evidence 

 goes t ) show that the cause is the de- 

 struction of our mountain forests, 



neglect of our best interests have been 

 frequently pointed out. It is true we 

 have in our various states Arbor Days 

 and Forest Associations and sundry 

 statutes directed against wantonly set- 

 ting fire to woods. But the practical 

 objects indeed the impossibilities in 

 the way of separate state control of the 

 proposed reservation are obvious. 



It is a matter of national importance 

 and ought to be entrusted to federal 

 administration. No part of the coun- 

 try need gain more by transferring the 

 management of this proposed domain 



