Lyon County times. [volume] (Silver City, Nev.) 1874-1907, 1881-08-06
THE FLOW OF THE CARSON
RIVER

1t has long been an accepted and
seemingly reasonable opinion, pro-
mnlgsted by the press, and very gen.
orally believed by the people of this
part of the State, that the denuding
Ct the mountains above aud contig
uous to the Carson 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
serie uslv affect and detract from its
usefulness in affording water power
andirfigation through the settlements
along.its course. The woodlands ak
has unrelentingly swept off vast
tractsAof timber lands upon those high
andnatural sno fields ;acre after acre,
section after section and mile after
mile, of this once beautiful woodland
have been sacrificed to the necessi
ties of our people; and still the work
goes on-year after year the bleak
and treeless waste is extended, and it
is but a 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 precipi-
tated down the steep declivity OF the
mountains side, inundating the yal-
leys, exhausting the source OF supply
and leaving 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 anyone has dared
question its truthfulness, or hope for
a mitigation of the calamity fore
Swallowed. But there are those
among US who have watched and
waited for many years for the realiza
ton of their forebodings, some OF
them have seen the swelling tide be-
fore the Comstock had a name, and
have seen its expanded bosom quiet
) " shrink into harmless little rivu-
let, lust as we of later date see it IN
its ups and downs; there are Others
that positively assert, that if any
characteristic change has taken place
since the settlement of the country,
it will be found in the way of a more
steady and uniform flow, with fewer
damaging foods and drouths since
the timber has been cut. In support
of their belief they tell US that i'll
the autumn of 1859 the river was ex
tremely low, so low that when cold
weather set in i. froze the water to
the bottom, compelling them to dig
holes in the ground below the ice in
the form of stump, to obtain water
for themselves ana animals. Re
minding as of the terrible floods OF
1861 2, they go on and compare the
years of 1868, "a and '65 with the
SINE time this year, declaring the
volumn of water flowing in the river
to-day equals if it does not exceed
the amount in former years. In view
of such demonstrable facts, it be.
hooves the Investigator to look fol
ceunteraetipg influences that may
have neutralized pernicious effect OF
removing the forest trees. Is it not
possible, or even probable that the
strong winds that sweep over this
3 broad belt of open and exposed sur
face of the mountains, hurting anc
carrying In their onward rush the
light and falling snow down into the
deep, caf1ons, filing them up ant
rearing great snow banks, whose sur
face being so small in comparison t.
the broad expanse of ground upor
which it fell and where it would have
3 remained, had not the winds unob
structed by the forest trees garnerec
it up and thus preserved 1t for 1
slower process of melting and pass
ing away9 The water question OF
the Carson river may not yet be-
clearly solved, but it has been rob
bed of its terrors, not by the reason
ing of philosophers, but by its still
strong and steady flow.