

502 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



tumn, the amounts in winter and 

 spring being about the same. It is 

 worthy of remark that the average 

 precipitation at Asheville is only about 

 42 inches the smallest rainfall record 

 made at any station in the region. 



The entire region is characterized 

 by extremely heavy rainfall in very 

 short periods of time, and owing to 

 the steep slopes and the absence of 

 lakes, ponds, or marshes, which could 

 act as reservoirs and hold back the 

 storm waters, protracted heavy pre- 

 cipitation is followed by a rather rapid 

 increase in the flow of the streams, the 

 rise lasting generally for only a few 

 hours, and the stream soon assuming 

 its normal stage of flow. This is more 

 especially the case where there are for- 

 est clearings. Consequently these vio- 

 lent rains, under certain conditions 

 i. e., where rains are excessive and 

 clearings extensive, or where forest 

 areas are burned over so as to destroy 

 the humus and undergrowth give 

 rise to floods which are very destruc- 

 tive to property and which cause occa- 

 sionally the loss of human life. To a 

 certain extent the forest acts as a res- 

 ervoir, for it keeps the soil porous, al- 

 lows it to absorb and hold the water 

 for a time, and gradually gives it forth 

 in the form of springs and rivulets. 

 Where the areas have been deforested, 

 however, the rain water forms small 

 but swift-flowing torrents down the 

 sides of the mountains, and quickly 

 reaches the streams below. Deep 

 channels are cut in the mountain sides, 

 and all of the top fertile soil is car- 

 ried off, leaving only the underlying 

 clays, which are of poor quality and 

 do not yield to cultivation. 



After a storm the streams rising in 

 the deforested areas are extremely tur- 

 bid with mud from the mountain sides, 

 while those from the forest areas are 

 comparatively clear. This erosion can 

 be 'noted by the most casual observer, 

 and it forms one of the greatest men- 

 aces to the region. The soil is fertile 

 and deep, as is shown by the splendid 

 growth of forest trees and by its yield 

 under the first cultivation, but it is 



only a question of time, if the forests 

 are wantonly cut, when all of the soil 

 and vegetation will be washed from 

 the mountain sides and nothing will 

 remain but the bare rock. 



These floods, due to protracted rains, 

 are also destructive in strips of valley 

 lands bordering the streams in the 

 mountain region and in the wider val- 

 leys along their courses across the low- 

 lands beyond. Bridges, mills, settle- 

 ments, public roads, dams for devel- 

 oping water power, indeed, everything 

 in the course of such a mountain 

 stream is liable to be swept away by its 

 rapidly increasing force. 



During the spring of 1901 this re- 

 gion was visited by the most severe 

 rain storm of its recent history. Many 

 of the streams rose to unprecedented 

 heights, and the flood damages to the 

 farms, bridges, and dwellings on or 

 near practically all of the streams flow- 

 ing from these southern Appalachian 

 Mountains, were enormous. During 

 the summer season later floods added 

 largely to this destruction. 



Along the valley of the Catawba 

 River in its course across the two Car- 

 olinas, these flood damages to farms, 

 bridges, highways, buildings, etc., dur- 

 ing the high water season of 1901, ag- 

 gregated nearly two million dollars. 

 The storm damages during the same 

 season along the tributaries of the 

 James, the Roanoke, the Yadkin, and 

 the Broad, in Virginia and North Car- 

 olina, added a million dollars; and 

 those on the tributaries of other 

 streams rising about the Blue Ridge in 

 South Carolina and Georgia add still 

 another million, making four million 

 in all for the streams flowing from the 

 Blue Ridge across the Piedmont Plat- 

 eau. Add to this the damages along 

 the streams flowing out of the south- 

 ern Aappalachian Mountains to the 

 north, west, and southwest, and we 

 have another and a larger story of de- 

 struction : 



On the New (Kanawha) and other 

 smaller adjacent streams in Virginia 

 and West Virginia, $1,000,000. 





