Mr. Pickett, 
428 DISCUSSION : FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
the areas of open land are as great as those which are forested, and, 
with few exceptions, these areas can be reforested. 
There is a great length of the Continental Divide whose summits 
are not above the timber line, and are not as well adapted for the 
storage of snow as the mountain spurs making out from the main range 
and forming dividing ranges between the numerous streams having 
their origin in the main divide. These spurs are almost invariably 
high, and their. numerous gulches are suitable for the storage of snow. 
That part of this divide between the heads of the Jefferson and Wind 
Rivers, with its mountain spurs branching eastward, is an example. 
Thesé mountain ranges separate the West. Gallatin, the Yellowstone, 
the Clark’s Fork of the latter stream, and the North and South Forks 
of the Stinking Water and Wind Rivers. There are many portions of 
these subsidiary mountain ranges above the timber line with their 
summits topped off by peaks from 10000 to 13 300 ft. high, such as 
Emigrant Peak, Bear Tooth, Pilot, Index, Franks Peaks, and the 
Washakie Needle, a mass of mountains about 100 miles in length and 
opposite the Yellowstone Lake, extending about 80 miles eastward. 
The valleys between these streams are narrow, sometimes partaking 
of the nature of cafions, with the dividing ranges on each side from 
8000 to 4000 ft, above the valleys. These mountains have been 
explored by the writer and are probably more suitably fashioned for 
the storage of the winter’s snows than any similar groups along the 
Continental Divide, but there are many others of somewhat less merit. 
There are also several groups of mountains, detached from the main 
renge, that store up a great deal of snow. The Big Horn Range, about 
100 miles in length, crowned with Cloud Peak, more than 11000 ft. 
high, is the most extensive. North of the Missouri are the Bear Paw 
and Little Rocky groups, and these, though not of great elevation, 
are well adapted for the storage of snow. 
The benefits to be derived from reforesting portions of the timber 
belt are: First, its importance for the irrigation of the arid belt 
contiguous to the tributaries of the Missouri. Secondly, its benefits, as 
a factor, in keeping apart the annual spring floods of the Ohio and the 
June rise from the Missouri. In his paper, previously quoted, the 
writer gives an estimate of the annual yield, in dollars and cents, of 
the land which will be reclaimed by the prevention of such floods. 
The data on which this estimate is based are given, so that any one 
can correct it according to his views. The estimate totals $376 200 
annually. Thirdly, its favorable effects in controlling the floods of 
the Mississippi, by enabling the Mississippi River Commission to 
confine the stream to a fixed channel, thereby making safe the levees 
already constructed. If the writer’s views and the reasoning sus- 
taining them are correct, it is evident that one dollar spent in re- 
foresting at its head-waters will save two or more dollars in the lower 
