INFLUENCE OF THE FORESTS ON NAVIGATION. 29 



ance of that our suffering, which had been quite severe, had ceased. But within a 

 very short time the paper industry came in. The paper-pulp industry followed, 

 and the smaller timber, which had at this time begun to reclothe the mountains and 

 to replace the old timber, and to give shelter and shade and give a chance for the 

 moisture, began to be taken away. That was followed by forest fires which took away 

 the original great roots that had then become dry, and when these forest fires swept 

 over any portion of the mountains they burned not only all that was on top of the 

 soil, but burned deep into the soil. They destroyed everything beyond the possir 

 bility of ever producing a crop again. 



When this effect was felt we were obliged to stop our steamers. The steamer 

 leaving Hartford on Sunday evening was obliged to be shifted until Monday evening. 

 The great Holyoke dam, which had always before been full along in June, July, and 

 August, became full by the 1st of May. The vast accumulation of snow had disap- 

 peared; it had gone a month earlier. The springs and lichens and moss were all gone, 

 and by the time June, July, and August came there was a great dearth of water. 



In those days the flow could not be held by the power companies beyond five hours. 

 At the end of the five hours the flow came along and went over the dam, to aid those 

 who were engaged in marine commerce. 



I have had ample opportunity to realize the effect upon our river of the denuding 

 of the forests in the White Mountains, especially of late years, since the cutting has 

 extended to the minor timber, the spruce of 6 or 8, and even 5 inches, which was 

 formerly left to grow. From the beginning of my experience our floods have com- 

 menced from about the 1st to the 10th of April, and they came for the next two 

 months pretty steadily, and for two months longer there was still a steady feed from 

 those mountains. In the last twenty years the freshet has come fully one month 

 earlier * * * coming rapidly in the spring, when it was of no use to the mill 

 man or the man engaged in navigation, and escaping and going by without being 

 made valuable in any way, and has been followed at the present time by an almost 

 total lack of flow, beginning with about the 10th of May and extending through until 

 the fall rains come again, nearly to the 1st of October. 



It is the opinion of competent engineers that erosion from the 

 mountains assists in filling up the rivers with silt and forms sand bars 

 that obstruct navigation. Erosion is naturally greatest on the steep 

 slopes, where the water gains great power in short space. Mr. A. M. 

 Schoen, Atlanta, Ga., of the American Institute of Electrical Engi- 

 neers, says: 



I was in Augusta recently with the commissioner of waterways, and we examined 

 some of the dirt that was being taken up by his dredge from the bottom of the Savan- 

 nah River. That soil proved beyond question that it was coming from up about 

 the headwaters of the river. There was nothing in it that was anything like the soil 

 down in that section; and in further talking with this gentleman he told me that he 

 had found there had been more filling in of this stream in the past eighteen months 

 since they had been cutting the timber on the headwaters than there had been pre- 

 viously in thirteen* years. 



Mr. C. C. Goodrich points out that in the lower Connecticut 

 $10,000 yearly are devoted to the removal of deposits that come 

 from the north, and without the aid of this sum marine commerce 

 would be impossible. He added that as long as rivers run these 

 bars will go on building, but " with the wash of the unprotected moun- 

 tains and clearing away of these forests, we are getting far more than 



[Cir. 168] 



