23 



stream discharges only in violent freshets, recurring usually as great 

 flood waves, subsiding almost as rapidly as they arrive. During the 

 larger part of the year the channel is almost dry. The area of the 

 drainage basin is 143 square miles. * * * In contrast with Queen 

 Creek is Cedar Creek, in Washington. The drainage area is the 

 same as that of Queen Creek. It is heavily timbered, and in addition 

 the ground is covered with a heavy growth of ferns and moss. The 

 total annual rainfall in the Cedar Creek basin in 1896 was about 

 eight times that in the Queen Creek basin, yet the maximum flood 

 discharge per second is only 3,600 cubic feet for the former, while 

 the maximum for the latter was 9,000 cubic feet per second. The 

 mean discharge for Queen Creek was 15 cubic feet per second, and 

 for Cedar Creek 1,089 cubic feet per second. These two streams rep- 

 resent extreme types. The radical difference in their character is 

 believed to be largely due to the difference in forest cover. 



A. P. DAVIS, 



Assistant Chief Eng-ineer, Reclamation Service. 



* * * The development of irrigation will in the future lead to 

 the rapid opening and development of timbered areas which are now 

 merely in their natural state. This fact emphasizes the necessit}^ of 

 placing the forests at once under the rigid . scientific supervision of 

 trained Government experts. If left to the manipulation of selfish 

 interests, as in the past, the result will be lavish and wasteful use and 

 probable destruction of the forest. * * * Eventually the forest 

 must be replanted and restored at enormous expense of time and 

 money, which can all be saved by a wise supervision, without dimin- 

 ishing the present utility of the forest or destroying its future 

 value, by merely protecting and fostering the tendency of nature. 



E. S. GOSNEY, 



President Arizona Wool Growers' Association. 



* * * The necessity for the fullest protection of the homes of 

 our count r}^ and the builders of those homes is seldom realized and 

 never overestimated. * * * This is especially true of the western 

 forest reserve management, because it embodies a radical innovation 

 on the customs, rights, and life of the people. They dwell in the 

 towns, villages, and the country throughout these reserves, and in the 

 irrigated and unirrigated districts below and about the reserves. 

 They are cattlemen, horsemen, sheepmen, farmers, or miners, as the 

 case may be, and the confidence and cooperation of each of these men, 

 especially the stockmen, is necessary to a full protection of the forest 

 reserves and a full realization of the high purposes of forestry. 



