Messrs. 
Leffingwell 
and Strong. 
382 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
brush; that the Owens River Basin is bare soil or rock, except. where 
there is a narrow fringe of timber between the northwest side of Long 
Valley and the timber line. From this it is seen that the fluctuations 
of the flow in these streams bear a striking relation, and apparently 
a direct proportion, to the amount of forest cover over their drainage 
areas, the fluctuations being greatest on Kings and Merced Rivers 
with the greatest forest cover, and least on Owens River with the 
least forest cover, with Kern River as an intermediate factor in both 
forest cover and stream fluctuation. 
TABLE 11. 
1905 Merced River,| Kings River, | Kern River, Owens River, 
; 1 090 sq. miles.| 1 742 sq. miles.| 2 845 sq. miles.| 450 sq. miles. 
Tota) discharge, in acre-feet. 771 300 1 289 000 582 100 156 600 
Maximum daily Gischarg®, Mar. 19 June 13 June 15 June 20 
in second-feet........+..+ 8 020 9 795 3 039 5383 
Minimum daily discharge, Sept. 25 Oct. 22 Oct. 8 Aug. 20 
in second-feet............. 35 150 175 146 
Ratio of minimum to maxi- 
mum daily discharge..... 1 to 229 1 to 65 1t017 1to4 
Month of maximum dis- M 
ta f ay June June June 
co eee) 30% 25% 15% 
Month of minimum dis- 
Oct. Oct. Sept. Aug. 
| | Cae 0.82% 2.30% 6.64% 
Ratio of minimum to maxi- 
mum monthly discharge. . 1 to 56 1 to 36 1 to 10 1t02 
Total depth of run-off, in 
iNCHES ......ceeeeere ite 13.26 18.89 4,25 6.60 
Depth of run-off during first) Ma: as May 17-26 
ten days of warm weather, rf i. 1.97 ae ie aid May as 
and percentage of total... 2 a 14 2% 9.4% 3% 
Depth of run-off durin, 
mmomitt of minimum fa! han ee Sept. Det. 
sheen meena MEE 0.82% 2/8504 701% 
Another interesting condition of the Merced and Kings Rivers is 
their minimum flow. Their drainage basins, while having the maxi- 
mum forest cover, give a still less absolute discharge in cubic feet per 
