134 



SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN KECiloN. 



nature, and hence its capacity for absorbing water; liiid 

 the rains being unable to .soak into it wash it away. 



Thus, the lumberman, the forest fire, and the farmer 

 cooperate in the work of forest destruction and the 

 consequent disturbance of the regularit}^ of the flow of 

 the streams. This increases the floods which destroy the 

 valley lands below, and as the irregularit}^ of their flow 

 increases the streams lose their value for water powers 

 during the dry season, and during the season of rain the 

 floods wash awaj' the farming lands in the valleys and 

 carry destruction along their courses across the lowlands. 

 As the rains wash away the cleared fields on the moun- 

 tain slopes and the farming lands in the vallej's, these soils 

 on their way toward the sea incidentally silt up the river 

 channels and the harboi's. Hence, it is strictlj^ true that 

 in destroying forests these agencies are removing the soils, 

 ruining the rivers, and destrojang the mountains them- 

 selves; and along the lower courses of these streams they 

 are thus destroying agricultural and manufacturing intei'- 

 ests, and incidentally seriously afl'ecting important naviga- 

 tion facilities. 



oa^rfhJse England and many of the Northern States the 



reamsV forest lakcs and glacial deposits of sand and gravel, 



rob.em. spread out over the hills and valleys, serve as storehouses 

 for the water and help materially to preserve uniformity 

 in the flow of the streams. In this respect they cooperate 

 largei}^ with the forest cover in that region; and indeed 

 they would accomplish much in that direction were the 

 forest cover entirely removed. But in the southern Appa- 

 lachian region there are no lakes and no glacial gravels 

 and sands; the forest and the soil are the factors upon 

 which the solution of the problem of water storage de- 

 pends. And that the problem resolves itself largel}- into 

 one of forest cover, with its undergrowth and humus, is 

 seen by the fact that in the streams of the Piedmont Plain 

 of the South Atlantic States the irregularit}' in flow, as 

 observed for a number of years, has been almost directly 

 proportional to the extent of forest clearings. Observa- 

 tions and measurements of the southern Appalachian 

 mountain streams made during the last few years show 

 that the same is tx-ue in that region. Hence, here the 

 water problem is a forest problem. 



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