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CHAPTER XIII. 



FORESTS IN RELATION TO TORRENTS. 



A torrent is an intermittent stream. At times, a torrent is a con- 

 siderable body of rushing water loaded with detritus. At other times, 

 its valley course is a broad belt of boulders or sand, with a thread of 

 water, or no water at all. 



A torrent is always a destroyer. It is never beneficial. The term 

 is not applicable to rivers, even though these have distinct flood periods, 

 and carry large amounts of detritus, like the Nile, or our own Sacra- 

 mento and San Joaquin rivers. 



A torrent cannot originate on level land. Man's use of level lands, 

 however, generally increases the volume of torrents. 

 ORIGIN OP TORRENTS. 



A torrent is caused by rainfall on a broken or steep water- 

 shed in such conditon as to be unable to detain and prolong the de- 

 livery of the rain. There is no record of a torrent arising from a well- 

 vrooded water-shed. A forested water-shed cannot have torrents. This 

 is a fact which the student and the political economist should always 

 bear in mind. To the extent that a water-shed is without forest cov- 

 ering will be the possibility of torrents arising from it. So also will be 

 the destructive power of these. A bare mountain water-shed with any 

 rainfall must produce torrents. The steeper and more extensive the 

 bare mountains are, the more dangerous and destructive will be the 

 torrents arising from them. These points are not guesses. They are 

 facts. They are not matters of theory. They are demonstrated with- 

 out a single break or a single exception. 



Complete denudation of a mountain water-shed means, with abso- 

 lute certainty, the creation of torrent action. We do not have to sup- 

 pose that this will be the result of mountain denudation. We cannot 

 think that it only may be the result. We know that torrents will result 

 from the destruction of forests on mountain water-sheds. 



The situation as to torrent extension and creation in Southern Cali- 

 fornia invites our attention. More than this, it demands action. This 

 need grows out of three things: 



1st. — Our topography. We have here a series of Sierras. These 



