The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-05-08
Forest Destruction.

ME EpIrrE Thi. n.rruiae came
acfo-: a c1pg of :Lc Et>tLy .,,a. da;ed
Dscen.ter 2,jth, 1873. A,np.: The frs,
piece no.ic.d i, headed Forest De.
-;ructi3n." After wri,iux 0. the Whole
.s!e .lsugf,er 1f ,ae n..iy= f,rss: Of tie
'eIeyaicd part Of northern New York :"
the writer goes on Here may be seen
biackened rock surface. striped Of every
ve.,ige of soil, wi!hou. vegetation and
W:!hou. value, occupying thousand, Of
acres "hese once grew noble forests,
holding the pyil upon the s,eep deciyi.
ties, and hu-banding the water supply of
countless brooks. feeder. Of more imp0r.
,ant streams. These barren, ,reeie.-, nor
rio!e waste. may serve A warning which
no sensible people should disregard"
Ine piece !. closed 10 these word. Two
cour-e. are left 10 the people Of ,h!,
State. They can permit these fpr.-;s 70
DC destroyed, ..eir waterways 10 perish,
their agriculture 90 langui.h, ~ Dficr
tia. few lnmbermen mag grow rich :;
of they may secure BY wise Legislation
the continuance VI their forest, The per.
manency Of their water routes, and tie
stability Of their commerce and agricul-
ture. I. is not possible that an en;igh.
encd people can long hc.i,a.e mhich
course 20 adopt"
had scarcely finished reading the
startling fact. Of that piece before my
eyes fell On an!thcF near hy, headed
"i-ase Ii. Fnres'-" Thi, set me -
thinking. zee now tia: others are
with me, and tha, the number is increas
ing. The writer thereof *as born and
brought W on the banks Of the Hud,oh
River. He writes twenty-five years
ago there were mum eruu. streams, filed
with trout, and many mes have caught
them, using piece "t common twiDe
for "a line. and bent pin for Il hook, in
places where nov there is no evidence
that stream ever existed"
The streams went with tie forest,
Read him again: In those days iaEme,s
could SOW with every assurance q. reap
ing in abundance. \ drouyh. Of two
| week. duration was an unusual occur.
renee. Nov, n Summer season without
a drought Of from four tn six weeks con.
!inuance j, exceptional. Then there
was no season Of the year when boat
fa 4 ~, /,
place now known ns Riverside, then
called Fol,om's Landing Now there are
times when man may cross without
wctting ti- fcr:, and an empty boa,
could not be hoatcd across" He further
writes wind storms are increasing in
frequency and violence, while most Of
and pass us by. believe that these
change- have been brought about by
clearing the forests, aud the consequent
diminu,ion of our water supply, apd that
unless something is done for their pres
ervaliou, twenty-five years hence the
upper Hudson. "a q river. will EXIT only
in nanie." Now, Ar. Editor, what is
going on there, is gradually taking place
here, and all over the land.
believe there are men iu ,his country
now, who. fer money for their children
10 fight over, would kill the las, tree left.
A number Of farms in Anderson County
TO day can't afford one board tree.
Why? Cut down for cotton. And still
the destruction goes on. II you try TO
reason with them abou! it, they say II
must have good lznd to work." when
many Of those very men have acres Cd
acres lying waste nnd only waiting to be
improved and made as good as any
Tell them their children will need tim
Der after while, and some Of them will
say as they have said to me, "let them
do as We have done" In the name of
common sense how can they, when there
is nothing to do with?
Our d.ough.s are becoming longe. and
more frequent, still men ara destroying
timber right and left. Soma Of us did
hope the fence tno-fence) law would
save the timber, but it is going as fus,
"a ever. This is the objection cf many
now to so many railroads. They destroy
so much wood, and that of the choicest
kind. Seventy five years ago. drouth
was almost unknown. Tb. uplands
alone were cultivated. Fine showers fell
every few days and kept the crops in
good order. But then there were swampy
place. and branches in abundance, from
which moisture constantly arose TO fall
back in gentle rain. Now they are
going with the forest, and drouths are
coming in their path. The atmosphere
is SO much deprived OF moisture now
that it requires long time to accumu.
late enough to fall in rain, and when it
does rain, it falls on such a vas. track of
cleared land that it rushes into the
streams, carrying the soil with it and
filling them up, SO that floods" are the
results.
A few years ago when one had land
for sale, about the first ques tion put to
him was, chow much bottous land have
your" 1t will soon be show much GOOD
ldnd?"
One thing more: When will the time
come, when men and women 10 An.
derson and Grecnville Counties can 60
to their respective Court Houses without
being met or overtaken and insulled by
drunken men? The talk with many
now is that the two places in the way Of