506 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



November 



grain for a year, and one or two years 

 in grass. Then it may be pastured 

 for a year or two until with increased 

 barrenness the grass gives place to 

 weed and the weeds to gullies. 



Within two or three years after 

 these mountain-side fields have been 

 cleared the soil loses its color, chang- 

 ing from dark gray or black to red, as 

 the organic matter disappears. Mean- 

 while it is losing more and more its 

 porous nature, and hence its capacity 

 for absorbing water ; and the rains be- 

 ing unable to soak into it wash it 

 away. 



Thus, the lumberman, the forest fire, 

 and the farmer co-operate in the work 

 of forest destruction and the conse- 

 quent disturbance of the regularity of 

 the flow of the streams. This increases 

 the floods which destroy the valley 

 lands below, and as the irregularity of 

 their flow increases the streams lose 

 their value for water powers during 

 the dry season, and during the season 

 of rain the floods wash away the farm- 

 ing lands in the valleys and carry de- 

 struction along their courses across 

 the lowlands. As the rains wash away 

 the cleared fields on the mountain 

 slopes and the farming lands in the 

 valleys, these soils on their way toward 

 the sea incidentally silt up the river 

 channels and the harbors. Hence, it 

 is strictly true that in destroying for- 

 ests these agencies are removing the 

 soils, ruining the rivers, and destroy- 

 ing agricultural and manufacturing in- 

 terests, and incidentally seriously af- 

 fecting important navigation facilities. 



In New England and many of the 

 Northern States the numerous lakes 

 and glacial deposits of sand and grav- 

 el, spread out over the hills and 

 valleys, serve as storehouses for the 

 water and help materially to preserve 

 uniformity in the flow of the streams. 

 In this respect they co-operate largely 

 with the forest cover in that region ; 

 and indeed they would accomplish 

 much in that direction were the forest 

 cover entirely removed. But in the 

 southern Appalachian region there are 

 no lakes and no glacial gravels and 



sands ; the forest and the soil are the 

 factors upon which the solution of the 

 problem of water storage depends. 

 And that the problem resolved itself 

 largely into one -of forest cover, with 

 its undergrowth and humus, is seen 

 by the fact that in the streams of the 

 Piedmont Plain of the South Atlantic 

 States the irregularity in flow, as ob- 

 served for a number of years, has been 

 almost directly proportional to the ex- 

 tent of forest clearings. Observations 

 and measurements of the southern Ap- 

 palachian Mountain streams made dur- 

 ing the last few years show that the 

 same is true in that region. Hence, 

 here the water problem is a forest 

 problem. 



STREAM FLOW IN THE REGION AND ITS 

 MEASUREMENT. 



The region is well watered, and 

 from it several of the largest rivers 

 of the country receive their supply. 

 The chief rivers in the States of Vir- 

 ginia, North Carolina, South Carolina. 

 Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and 

 West Virginia rise in these mountains. 

 One of the principal tributaries of the 

 Ohio and one of the largest feeders of 

 the Mississippi head here also. So 

 that this region may justly be consid- 

 ered one of the important watersheds 

 of the United States. The Yadkin, 

 Catawba, Broad, Saluda, and Chat- 

 tahoochee flow into the Atlantic. The 

 Chattahoochee and the Coosa flow in- 

 to the Gulf. New River flows to the 

 north and enters the Kanawha, whose 

 waters finally reach the Mississippi 

 through the Ohio, while the Tennes- 

 see, with its large tributaries, the 

 Holston, the Nolichcucky, and the 

 French Broad, flow to the west 

 throng the State of Tennessee, finally 

 entering the Mississippi. The Cheoah, 

 the Nantahala, the Oconalufty, and 

 the Tuckasegee, all large streams from 

 50 to 100 yards wide, join their waters 

 to the Tennessee and flow in a narrow 

 and rocky gorge through the Great 

 Smoky Mountains, while the Hiwassee 

 unites with that river in the State of 

 Tennessee bevond the mountains. 



