DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 541 
that if absolutely no rains visited the Ohio valley for several weeks Mr. Chitten- 
at a time during the summer, the river would literally dry up, for I 
have no faith that the perennial spring of the forests, supposing the 
region were a virgin forest, would support the loss due from evapora- 
tion in the long, wide, and shallow pools which exist in the main 
watercourse. ‘Therefore it matters little if the “saw-mill’ man’s 
ereek has been dried up by the denudation of forests; the river will 
preserve its constant average. Occasionally the saw-mill creek may 
burst, its banks, rising possibly more suddenly and higher than be- 
fore its banks were denuded; the river accepts it as just one of those 
‘ninety-seven square mile floods’ due for one day.” 
III. 
The following article, so far as the writer is aware, is the first 
ever written in which the injurious effect of forests upon the run-off 
from snow-melting is set forth; it has reference only to the intra- 
mountain regions of the Far West. It is by Mr. R. L. Fulton, and 
was published in Science, April 10th, 1896. 
“When American enterprise invaded with its iron cavalry the 
mountain regions of the West, many established theories were put to 
new tests, and not all sustained themselves. The relations of plant 
life to water supply, as found on the eastern half of the Continent, 
had led our fathers to believe that the destruction of forests would 
invariably and inevitably result in the depletion of adjacent streams 
and in all consequent evils. So potent is the thick shade which 
eovers the ground in many parts of the Eastern States that no one 
imagined that conditions existed elsewhere that would produce entirely 
different results. The building of long lines of railroads [in the Far 
West] and the opening up of mines have led to the cutting off to 
the very ground of extensive tracts of timber, and the effect upon local 
-gtreams has led observing people upon the spot to the conclusion that 
Nature has surer and wiser methods than she has been given credit 
for; that she has storage facilities among the mountain tops, capable 
of resisting the attacks of any human vandals, and that the foun- 
tains of her rivers will be preserved to send down precious floods 
throughout all future time, regardless of what man may say or man 
may do. : 
% * * * * * * % % * 
“Close observers, after long years of study, have been led to be- 
lieve that if there is any difference in the flow of streams and the 
size of springs before and after the trees are cut from above them, the 
balance is in favor of the open country. 
“That water which drops on shaded ground which is thickly over- 
spread with spongy leaves and the air so near the dew point that it 
cannot absorb much more moisture should be held back, while that 
coming down on open ground should run off quickly, seems very 
natural, but in high mountain regions there are peculiar combinations 
which do much to modify the action of the law. The pine and fir are 
the only trees. found growing at a high altitude in any abundance, and 
