American Forest Congress 79 



section, and it was one that could reasonably be ex- 

 pected to be exceeded in violence in the future. How- 

 ever, with the combined conditions of reduced forest 

 cover and filled river channels, a flood condition was 

 produced in the Sacramento Valley last February 

 which has no known equal in the previous history of 

 the State. Fully 800,000 acres of valley lands were 

 submerged and the damages are estimated to have 

 reached into the millions. All this is in spite of the 

 fact that over twenty million ($20,000,000) dollars 

 had been expended in the construction of levees to 

 prevent these overflow conditions. A great State con- 

 vention was called in San Francisco to consider the 

 disaster that threatened the commonwealth. Eminent 

 engineers have been brought to California from the 

 lower Mississippi basin and elsewhere in the East to 

 study this great overflow problem. Organizations 

 have been perfected to urge, if not demand, both from 

 the State and from the nation, relief from impending 

 disaster. It is contemplated that a comprehensive 

 levee system must be constructed the entire length 

 of the valley at enormous expense. 



What a beautiful assemblage of contradictions this 

 situation presents to the forester ! A great intelligent 

 State with popular sentiment, at least in the injured 

 section, set against the creation of forest reserves in 

 this basin ! The assemblage of conventions and engi- 

 neers to devise plans to prevent flood overflow at a 

 contemplated expenditure of millions. Doubtless with 

 the channels of the stream in the condition that they 

 now present a levee system will be required, but the 

 greatest and most lasting preventative for these con- 

 ditions would be the adequate protection of the forest 

 reserves. 



It may be stated that while there is no definite scien- 



