APPALACHIAN AND "WHITE MOUNTAIN AVATEKSHEDS. 29 



in 1903. Once a fire starts on cut-over lands, with wind and weather 

 favorable to its spread, it is usually impossible to combat it with any 

 success. Where the cut has been heavy and the resulting debris cor- 

 respondingly large, all the difficulties of fire fighting are proportionately 

 increased. All kinds of waste material left in the woods supply food 

 for the flames, but the leaving of large, unlopped softwood tops on 

 the ground adds enormously to the fury of a brush fire and greatly 

 prolongs the length of time that a slash remains a menace to its own 

 and surrounding areas. These large tops, propped up from the soil 

 by their branches, are yery slow to decay and become very dry. A 

 large area in the Zealand Valley was burned over in 1903, eleven years 

 after the last lumbering. This valley, which had been logged for 

 spruce saw logs only, is an example of the great length of time that 

 cut-over land must be specially protected against fire even when a 

 very large proportion of the stand is left after logging. 



Fires on cut-over land usually Idll all standing timber left, as well 

 as all the young growth. On the steep slopes, where they are par- 

 ticularly likely to spread, owing to the method of clear cutting on 

 such slopes, the destruction of the soil is almost certain. On many 

 slopes the presence of any forest growth whatever is due to the 

 accumulation, through the ages, of a mass of organic matter which 

 held the mineral particles of rock as they were gradually disinte- 

 grated, preventing their being washed to the bottom of the slope. 

 The soil that obtains to-day on such areas is very largely organic 

 matter, and when fire-swept, if dry, is so nearly consumed, especially 

 by repeated fires, that the remaining mineral particles are easily 

 washed away until nothing but bare rocks remain. A thousand 

 years will not replace this soil and a growth of trees upon it. 



On such areas the water run-off is much more rapid than on uncut 

 or even on cut but unbiu-ned areas, as nothing remains to retard or hold 

 the rain water on the slopes. There is little left but bare rocks, and 

 the water runs off very rapidly, causing floods and freshets in the 

 valleys below and extremely low water soon after, owing to the fact 

 that little water is retained on the slopes to be given out later as on 

 forested land. 



VALUE FOE RECREATION. 



The White Mountains are visited annually by thousands of people 

 from every State in the Union, and from foreign countries as well. 

 No other section of the country is so accessible to so many of the 

 greater eastern cities. In consequence, it forms a great recreation 

 ground for thousands of people. The very existence of the region 

 as a summer resort depends directly upon the protection of the forest 

 from fire and destructive lumbering, which absolutely destroy the 

 beauty of the landscape. The virgin forest still remaining in the 

 White Mountain region proper is practically confined to two locali- 

 ties — one on the northern slope of the Presidential Range, and the 

 other that in Waterville. Clear cutting of this virgin growth will 

 undoubtedly greatly detract from the value of these localities for 

 summer resorts. The natural beauty of the mountains is enhanced 

 by their forest covering. Without this they are bare and unattract- 

 ive, and when fires occur after logging the landscape is rendered 

 bleak and desolate. 



