1006 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



545 



remaining important stand of hard 

 woods. The heaviest and most beauti- 

 ful of such woods on the continent 

 grow here. As stated by Secretary 

 Wilson, "they contain many species of 

 the first commercial value, and fur- 

 nish important supplies that cannot be 

 obtained from any other region." 



Industrial interests of immense 

 magnitude radiate from the Southern 

 Appalachian Mountains. These moun- 

 tains constitute the watershed of prac- 



ton mills, with capital stock of over 

 forty million dollars. A half million 

 of horsepower are already developed 

 and being developed in the entire re- 

 gion concerned, and millions more are 

 available. 



This power is, in places, applied di- 

 rectly ; in increasing measure, how- 

 ever, it is being transmuted into elec- 

 tricity. Subject, in that form, to trans- 

 mission for great distances, electricity 

 developed by water power and utilized 



Landslide stopped by the Forest in the Southern Appalachians 



tically the entire South east of the 

 Mississippi ; for almost all important 

 rivers of that section rise here. 



The valleys of these rivers include 

 much of the best agricultural land of 

 the South. 



Again, the cascades and falls above 

 referred to represent not only beauty 

 but use. As a motive force for driv- 

 ing machinery they are of transcend- 

 ent value to the South and to the 

 whole country. The Carolinas and 

 Georgia alone employ over one hun- 

 dred five thousand horsepower in cot- 



in manufacturing promises to work in 

 the South an industrial revolution 

 hardly second to that effected by Whit- 

 ney's cotton gin. 



Upon these forests three foes are 

 concentrating their attack. First is 

 the small farmer, who, crowded from 

 the rich valleys, is endeavoring to hew 

 for himself and his dependents a liv- 

 ing out of the mountain side. To do 

 this he clears a space, farms it in rude 

 fashion and, in from five to twenty 

 years, exhausts it ; he now moves up 

 the mountain side and repeats the pro- 



