Report of the Secretary of Agriculture 



on the 



Southern Appalachian and White Mountain Water- 

 sheds. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The agricultural appropriation bill approved March 4, 1907, re- 

 quires the Secretary of Agriculture to investigate the watersheds of 

 tne Southern Appalachian and White Mountains "and to report to 

 Congress the area and natural conditions of said watersheds, the 

 price at which the same can be purchased by the Government, and 

 the advisability of the Government purchasing and setting apart the 

 same as national forest reserves for the purpose of conserving and 

 regulating the water supply and flow of said streams in the interest 

 of agriculture, water power, and navigation." 



I have endeavored to have completed all investigations necessary 

 to give Congress the information desired. 



Each one of the several problems involved has been handled by 

 the most competent men whose services could be secured. The 

 Forest Service detailed to the work several of its most experienced 

 experts. The Bureau of Soils, after careful field study, has sub- 

 mitted information on soils and agricultural possibilities of the 

 Southern Appalachian region. The Geological Survey of the Interior 

 Department has made available the results of seven years of inves- 

 tigation of water power and navigation conditions of Southern 

 Appalachian streams. Desirous of securing the most competent 

 authority on every phase of the question, I have gone outside of the 

 Government service to secure from Prof. L. C. Glenn, of Vanderbilt 

 University, of Nashville, Tenn., the results of a three years' study of 

 soil erosion in the Southern Appalachians, and from Mr. Phihp W. 

 Ayres, of the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests, 

 a report on the commercial importance of the White Mountains. 



Approaching their subjects from different points of view, these 

 men without a single exception have arrived at results v/hich lead 

 irresistibly to these conclusions, namely, that the Southern Appa- 

 lachians and White Mountains are of vast commercial importance 

 to the industries of the country; that the good or evil influence of 

 these regions in an unusual degree depends upon the treatment given 

 them, and that both are encountering well-advanced destructive 

 influences, which, unchecked, will bring widespread devastation to 

 the regions themselves and ruin to many of the industries of this 

 country. 



