Department Bulletin 1430 
Plate VII 
Ineffective Attempt at Preventing Erosion 
Masonry dams in the mountains of southern California designed to check torrents, reduce 
erosion of soil, and promote absorption of rainfall. Note scanty soil cover in places and 
erosion on slope where the soil cover is thin or wanting. Thirty-eight hundred of these 
dams have been built and the results show that the work has considerable value in pro- 
moting absorption of water on the level benches, but is largely futile in so far as reducing 
erosion on unprotected slopes 
