146 SURVEYS OF FOREST RESERVES. 



The general question of the extent of the influence of forest denuda- 

 tion on the increase of floods is in such a state of controversy that no spe- 

 ciiic general conclusion can be drawn. We have no information relative 

 to the west slope of the Cascades that throws any new light on the sub- 

 ject. The closely related subject of the washing and gullying of soil Is 

 also one with which this report has little concern. Within the reserve 

 the damage from this source up to the present time is practically nothing. 

 On the treeless plains to the east, however, deep gullies in the hard 

 soil are frequent. For several miles along the main road through the 

 valley of Hay Creek are gullies with vertical walls often 20 feet in height. 

 This has been torn out by water since the region was settled, principally 

 within the last fifteen years, and is due, without question, to the denu- 

 dation of adjacent portions of the plains by the removal of the grass 

 through overgrazing. 



On the eastern slope the reserve is drained chiefly by the Deschutes 

 Eiver, partly toward the south by the tributaries of the Klamath Eiver. 

 The southern sources of the Deschutes and the principal sources of the 

 Klamath Eiver in the Cascades are in a peculiar country geologically. 

 The soil in this region consists chiefly of pulverized pumice stone or 

 volcanic ashes. N"either melting snow nor rain falling upon this soil is 

 drained off' upon the surface, but sinks rapidly and appears in the form 

 of enormous springs near the base of the mountains or upon their lower 

 slopes. These springs are of nearly uniform flow throughout the year, 

 and I question whether the denudation of these pumice-soil areas 

 through forest tires or other causes would have a material ett'ect upon 

 their flow and therefore upon the flow of the streams that depend upon 

 them. These waters are comparatively little used for irrigation pur- 

 poses, but, assuming that they will be used to a far greater extent here- 

 after, I question whether special provisions for the preservation of the 

 forest covering in this portion of the Cascades will ever prove necessary 

 in this connection. 



In other types of soil, however, such as those which exist from the 

 Three Sisters northward — soils in which the water does not at once 

 penetrate, but which usually flows off on or near the surface — the con- 

 ditions are entirely different, and while I can present no positive and 

 conclusive evidence that such denudation as has taken place up to the 

 present time has caused a deficiency of irrigation water, 1 am convinced 

 that further denudation might readily do so. Changes might result 

 which would be of serious detriment to the interests of the country, 

 including all the area from Tumellow Creek northward to the Columbia. 

 At the present time this area is only beginning its development as a 

 grain-raising country, and whenever better methods of transportation 

 are secured, such as are now promised by a railroad system the con- 

 struction of which has already been begun, the importance of water for 

 irrigation purposes will become constantly greater. I was told by Mr. 

 W. E. Booth, keeper of the tollgate on the eastern slope of the Santiam- 

 Prineville road, a man violently opposed to mountain sheep grazing, 

 that many of the mountain streamlets that formerly flowed through- 

 out the season were now drying up in summer. He cited as examples 

 that Cache Creek carries less and less water every year, and that a 

 streamlet 4 miles northwest of the tollgate, emptying into Blue Lake 

 and finally into the Metolias, in 1893 flowed a full stream, in 189J: less, 

 and in 1895 went dry. It was dry in the fall of 1896 and again in 1897. 

 Mr. O. C. Yocum, who has lived at old Government Camp, on the south- 

 west slope of Mount Hood, for fifteen years, stated that on areas burned 

 within that period, streamlets that before ran all the season now became 



