1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



29 



The stripping off of the forest, giv- 

 ing the rain full immediate access to 

 the "sponge," rapidly washes away all 

 of the loose and absorbent material, 

 and the result is quite obvious: Na- 

 ture's storage system is destroyed, the 

 water is no longer conserved and fed 

 down to the streams at an uniform 

 rate, but rushes immediately into the 

 stream heads and thence into the sea 

 in flood. A short period now suffices 

 to carry off the rainfall, and in a brief 

 time (and especially during periods of 

 drought) the streams are without 

 feeders and the water powers without 

 water. 



Such mountain sides, stripped of 

 their soil, can no longer produce the 

 vegetation essential to the building up 

 of a new "sponge," and the result is 

 obvious. 



An endeavor has here been made to 

 draw a picture of what may very well 

 result from a general condition such 

 as that which now unfortunately pre- 

 vails in more than one comparatively 

 extensive area in the Appalachians. 

 There are already a few points where 

 the effect is felt and appreciated indus- 

 trially. Doubtless there are many more 

 where it is felt without any real appre- 

 ciation of the cause. The necessity for 

 checking this danger is too obvious to 

 require enlargement. There are other 

 issues involved, which are immediately 

 associated with that which has been 

 pointed out. One may, for example, 

 point to the washing down of the soil 

 from the mountain sides as having a 

 second disastrous and permanent effect 

 upon export trade. 



This "sponge," washed down from 

 the naked mountains, becomes mud 



and silt in the stream bottoms. Car- 

 ried down yet further, it deposits in the 

 lower reaches of the streams, filling 

 channels and obstructing deep water- 

 ways, and finally, by rendering the 

 harbors unsuited for deep-water ves- 

 sels, has a direct and serious effect 

 upon the shipping industry. More 

 than one harbor which fifty years ago 

 gave anchorage and wharfage to deep- 

 water craft, is today practically ruined 

 for foreign trade purposes; and the 

 constantly increasing activity in har- 

 bor improvement, dredging and main- 

 tenance, which is so conspicuous a fea- 

 ture of our national statistics, is, in a 

 large measure, a result of the bringing 

 down of mountain "sponge" to places 

 where it is not wanted. 



The general sweeping away of the 

 forest areas of the Southern Appala- 

 chians would menace and in a large 

 measure destroy the water powers of 

 the South. The destruction of the 

 water powers of the South would seri- 

 ously increase the gross average cost 

 of cotton fabrics, and an increase in 

 the gross cost of cotton fabrics directly 

 menaces the maintenance and growth 

 of foreign trade in these commodities. 

 The loss of foreign trade in cotton 

 fabrics directly menaces the prosperity 

 of the South. 



The South must save its forest 

 areas. It is obvious that the same con- 

 ditions which have been pointed out in 

 this paper in relation to a single in- 

 dustry obtain directly and with the 

 same arguments and force to most 

 other manufacturing industries ; and 

 to agriculture also, for, with alternate 

 drought and flood, agriculture cannot 

 prosper. 



