Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1881-08-09
THE CARSON RIvER.
Something OF its Flow in Different
SeasOns-A New Theory.

SeA9On1-A New Theory.
: The theory has long been advanced
r that the cutting of timber in the
' mountains has decreased the flow Of the
Carson River. The Lyon County Times
, publishes this interesting article in
which an entirely different theory is
advanced:
It has long been an accepted and
seemingly reasonable opinion, promul-
gated by the press, and very generally
believed by the people of this part of
the State, that the denuding ofthe noun
tains above and contiguous to the Car
son river, Of their dense covering of
forest trees would have very injurious
effect on the future supply of water
flowing down the channel Of that stream;
and very seriously affect and detact
from its usefulness in affording water
power and irrigation through the settle
ments along its course. The woodmaD's
ak has unrelentingly swept Off vast tracts
of timber lands upon those high and
natural snow fields; acre after acre. Sec
| ton after section and mile after mile, of
| this once beautiful woodland have been
| sacrificed to the necessities of our people;
and still the work goes on-year after
year the bleak and treeless waste is ex-
tended, and it is but mere question of
time, which the near future will reveal,
when the once thought inexhaustible
forests shall have entirely disappeared. |
The earth robbed of the protection |
which the foliage once afforded, the
SHOWS of winter being left exposed to
the penetrating rays of the sun in early
Spring, are soon melted and precipitated
down the steep declivity of the noun
tain's side, inundating the valleys, ex-
hausting the source of supply and leav-
ing nothing behind to feed the rivers
shrunken volume during the latter
months of the year. The above is the
almost unanimous course of reasoning
INDUCED in by our people heretofore,
and it appeared so logical and so much
like cause and effect, that scarcely any, .
one had dared question its truthfulness,
or hope for a mitigation of the calamity {
foreshadowed. But there are those i
among us who have watched and waited
for many years for the realization of
their forebodings, some of them have
seen the swelling tide before the Com {
stock had name, and have seen its ex-
banded bosom quietly shrink into Il :,
harmless little rivuIet, just as we of lat
there are others who positively assert,
that if any characteristic change has
aiken place since the settlement of the E
country, it will be found in the way of -
more steady and uniform flow, with
ever damaging floods and drOuths
since the timber has been cut. In sup
BORT of their belief they tell us that in y
he autumn Of 1859 the river was eX- II
low, SO low that when cold
weather. set in it froze the water to the
'0ttom, compelling them to dig holes in el
he ground below the ice in the form OF y
stump, to obtain water for themselves
nd animals. Reminding US of the ter
ible floods of 1862, they gc. on and II
ompare the years of 1868, '64 and '65
With the same time this year, declaring
he volume of water flowing in the
liver to-day equals if it does not exceed :
he amount in former years. In view
f such oemonstable facts, IL behoOves
he investigator to look for contracting
Influences that may have neutralized the lin
,ernicious effect of removing the forest IN
rees. 1t is not possible, or even pro-
able that the strong winds mat sweep =
yer this broad belt Of open and exposed
urface of the mountains. hurting and =
arriving in their onward rush the light NJ
nd falling snow down into the deep %, %
anyons, filing them up and rearing W.
reat snow banks, whose surface being alb
0 small in comparison to the broad ex- re
anse of ground upon which it fell and wi
where it would have remained, had not :" !"
he winds unobstructed by the forest tic
rees garnered it up and thus preserved W
for a slower process of melting and to
assing awayl The water question on ad
he Carson river may not yet be clearly 'V
olved, but it has been robbed Of its :
errors, not by the reasoning of philoso-
beers, but by its still, strong and steady
OW.
Meat Epic.