1906 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



35 



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 



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 

 rainstorm 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 

 flowing from these Southern Appala- 

 chian Mountains were enormous. Dur- 



Soil Removed and White Sand Spread Over the Surface of the Catawba River Lowlands. 



The damages along this river from the floods of May and August, 1901, 



aggregated about $1,500,000. 



and vegetation will be washed from 

 the mountain sides and nothing will 

 remain but the bare rock. 



The 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 develop- 

 ing water power indeed, everything 

 in the course of such a mountain 



ing the summer season, later floods 

 added largely to this destruction. 



Along the valley of the Catawba 

 River, in its course across the two 

 Carolinas, these flood damages to 

 farms, bridges, highways, buildings, 

 etc., during the high-water season of 

 1901, aggregated nearly two million 

 dollars. The storm damages during 

 the same season along the tributaries 

 of the James, the Roanoke, the Yad- 

 kin, and the Broad, in Virginia and 



