The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1884-11-19
ssgI.Izzoo aocsog


,For.two successive years tbe ,dW6A.
ers in thu, valley Of the Ohio River have
been. visited by the disaster Ct desEuo,.
tive foods Whole villages haze been
submerged beneath the swelinGwatere.
Thousands of persons have been mada
destitute by the.ruin these foods hava
wrought and manyoives have bean
loGt.tasg 5z8$ al - - Glss -fs--ss.a
These foods were rendred,possibls,
and even inevitsbleS BY The recklesgdG
struction of forests, which has been GO
ing on for years IN Tie regions visited
by food and tempest. 1e . :. e -. -
The same result, indeed, follow
wherever the woods ARE cut down re-
gardless Of their nses to the land, and
of their protection Of tha safety and
health Of man Floods Hnd cyclopsA
are now common in California, whore
the forests have been lwsntonly de-
stro5ed. O4ce these dread yiatess
were almost. unknown on our Pacific
Slope. III Il itE@q ~r ~tLl l~I
, The bed of the beautiful river Ural
in Asiatic Russia has become in process
of time the channel Off frikhtfu1 tor
rents. whieh rush down and wreck the
hunsn settlements on its picturesque
banks, The river used t0ibe broad and
clear, and full Of Fish. TIE destruction
of forests in the upper valley has caused
it to dry mp to a-small and sluggish
stream, no longer navlgablej and de-
prived Of its finny habitantss When
The deep SHOWS upon, the ural. Noun
kains begin to thaw. there is no longer
any barrier to the freshets which come
roaring down the river hasin. '.iyi3 IA
The foods which, toverdowing the
banks Of the river Danube, carried such
havoc and misery to the Hungarian
dwellers on its banks few years ago,
must be attributed to the same cause.
In many parts Of Europe, Asia, and
America, indeed, regions may be found,
once fiourishing and fruitful, which are
now dreary wastes, deserted long since
by human beings, as a result OF the cut
ting down of the forests.
In Norway, alone, Of European couh-
tries. Is great care taken by the Coy
ernment to restrict the wholesale de-
struction of timber growths; and it la
the only European country, perhaps,
where Hoods of serious character are
unknown. -. :.
The reason why. foods and wind
tempests invariably follow the disap-
pearance of forests is q very simple one
Forests hold the moisture which pro
ceeds from heavy rainfalls. They en-
able that moisture to be gradually dis
4ributed, and to filter slowly to the
3river valleys, instead of rushing into
4hem from mountains and hills. They
hold the snow and protect it from the
rays of the sun, so that it taxes weeks
for d to melt and flow down the slopes
The rivers, when thus protected, an
supplied with only . moderate and nor
NAL amount of water. As soon as th'
forest disappears the rivers and streams
inevitably dry up; and the floods poul
from the highlands down through tn
channels. when tho thaw comes, unim
peded by the protesting tree. al,
1T is stated that for some years pas
there has been . waRton and rockies
I cutting down of the forests in the re
4 pion Of the Alleghanies. and near th
sources of the Ohio River: and We ca
a.easily trace the floods to that unwis
]!policy. -
I Cyclones, too, are unnecessarily NOR
violent and desolating in districts whek
they sweep, unchecked by the barrie
1of dense forest growths, over man
miles of open country. They thus y
!: ouire q force which, if broken by NEE
ing in their progress the obstacle whic
the woods mterpose, would lose muc
of it's yiolence.-Y0Mth,s Companion