The Value of Forests 17 



of the Grand River decreased 40 per cent during the five 

 years from 1890 to 1895, and that this decrease was due 

 to the clearing of the land about its sources. 



Mr. C. H. Keefer, C. E., says the spring floods of the 

 Ottawa River reach the city of Ottawa two weeks earlier 

 than formerly, owing to the clearing of the drainage basin. 



In the western provinces the effect has not yet been ap- 

 parent, because some of them are largely prairie and in 

 other places the timber has not been entirely removed. 

 The Assiniboine River rises in the wooded districts of the 

 Duck and Riding Mountains, and the depletion of timber 

 in these regions has had a marked effect on both flood con- 

 ditions in the spring and the flow of water during the 

 summer. The Saskatchewan has its source in streams 

 rising along the east side of the Rocky Mountains. If 

 this region became treeless so that the snow on the eastern 

 slope of the mountains and their foothills melted suddenly 

 and rushed into these rivers, the effect in floods might be 

 disastrous. The more steady flow in rivers during the 

 summer, when the water is retained in the wooded slopes 

 of the mountains, helps to keep the water level in the soil 

 nearer the surface all summer, and the effect of this on 

 growing crops would be hard to estimate. In the mountain 

 regions the danger from the too great denuding of the slopes 

 would be quite as apparent, although there is not the same 

 likelihood of its being done. 



Still another value which comes from the forest is the 

 protection which it affords against storms in summer and 

 cold winds in winter. This is particularly true of the 



