44 



smallest sufferer of the three rivers named, but more complete 

 data may be had for it than any other large stream flowing from 

 West Virginia mountains. A report by the United States Geo- 

 logical Survey, published in 1907, shows that 838 square miles of 

 forest soil on the Potomac had been so damaged by fire that tha 

 humus was practically destroyed, and double that area had been 

 burned so badly that the soil was greatly damaged. The entire 

 basin of the Potomac, under consideration, contains less than 10, 

 000 square miles. The black burn of 2,500 square miles is more 

 than a fourth of the whole basin. 



Figure a little, and see what that means. The burning of the 

 humus from that soil lessened its capacity to absorb storm water 

 by no less than six billion cubic feet. That would equal a rain- 

 fall of one inch. Six billion feet of storm water, poured quickly 

 from that burned area is enough water to maintain a 10-foot flood 

 tor 30 hours in the Potomac at Harper's Ferry. That much wat- 

 er now goes off' quickly after a storm, that formerly was held by 

 the loose soil, and was allowed to flow gradually away. Does not 

 this help to explain the flood increase in the Potomac? Yet, the 

 Potomac ha.s suffered less than the Monongahela and the Kana- 

 wha. 



Instances and examples might be multuplied without limit, all 

 exhibiting the damage to timber, soil, farm lands, and rivers from 

 forest fires. The tight against fire belongs to the State, and the 

 counties. It is too big for the individual owners. The farmers 

 can plant trees, the lumberman can cut with an eye to the future, 

 and the State and counties can handle the question of fire protec- 

 tion. There is work for aU, and the work grows greater with 

 every day of delay. 



