Mr. Labelle, 
444 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
tion leaves the country as bare as the bluffs of Eastern Nebraska. On 
some of the hills, where thick forests existed 25 years ago, not a tree 
nor a bush can be seen; the second growth, owing no doubt to the 
scarcity of rainfall, has not materialized; there is almost no grass, and 
the ground is bare and sun-baked. Still the erosion is not remarkable 
from year to year, and is almost entirely confined to the stream 
beds. It is true to say, however, that floods have more violence now 
than before deforestation. 
Silver City, a town in Southwestern New Mexico, about 8 miles 
from and on the eastern slope of the Continental Divide, was founded 
about 1870. Although the business part of the town was often flooded 
during the rainy season, no material damage was done until about 13 
years ago. At that time the forests in the water-shed had been con- 
siderably reduced and a flood of unusual severity coming then de- 
stroyed several buildings on the main street, including a large hotel, 
and started to cut a new channel on the line of that street. The 
gulley is now about 50 ft. deep and 100 ft. wide in some places. The 
people of Silver City consider the occurrence a blessing in disguise, 
for it has confined the floods, and the town is now free from further 
damage. The people also believe that the deforestation of the water- 
shed has been the primary cause of the erosion, and it is really hard 
to believe that any other cause could have produced it. It is believed 
that this part of New Mexico is eminently well adapted to the gather- 
ing of evidence in the matter discussed herewith, especially as to 
erosion, owing to the favorable conditions of rainfall, slope, and soil, 
surface and subsurface. 
We must not, however, give to soil erosion an importance so great 
as to induce us to believe that our highlands are surely, if slowly, being 
washed to the ocean. We can permit ourselves to doubt the imminence 
of this peril if we consider for a moment the Chinese Empire and its 
vast area feeding its millions of mouths. In spite of the fact that 
China has been deforested for hundreds, nay, perhaps for thousands: 
of years; in spite of the fact that the quantity of material eroded 
from its surface has been sufficient partly to fill and discolor the 
waters of the Yellow Sea, without mentioning the enormous quantity 
of deposits brought into the China Sea; in spite of the high rate of 
rainfall and the destructive floods occurring in the basins of its rivers, 
the land is still able to feed a population five times as large as ours, 
and the end is not yet. No, let us rather believe that the husbandman, 
with the help of fertilizers, proper rotation of crops, and other scientific 
modes of culture, will be able to work faster than the destructive forces 
of Nature, and stay the progress of erosion. With the example of 
China under our eyes we are warranted in believing that our high- 
lands will not cease to be productive for three or four thousand years; 
this should satisfy the most rabid devotees of the great-grandchildren 
