National Republican., 1884-02-22
Forests and Floods.

produce floods are constant in their opera.
tion, and under ordinary conditions the re.
suits will be substantially the same in q
given series of years In these latter times,
however, we have changed the conditions to
such an extent that outraged nature no longer
waits for the periodic elimination of her ac-
cumulated forces, but oxponds them with
prodigal profusion at times and seasons when
such phenomena are tho least expected.
Floods occur every year, sometimes in the
early winter and sometimes in the late spring,
and are always attended with more or less
destruction of property, and occasionally
with loss Of life.
Prof. N. IL. Egleston, Of this city, in a re-
cont paper discusses this subject from a scien-
tifc standpoint, and finds no difficulty in
coming to the conclusion that the disastrous
floods of the past three years have been
caused by the destruction Of tho forests on
the banks of tho rivors and on the mountains
in which they have thoir sources. His theory,
although not now, is strongly stated and is
fully borne out by recent experience and
observation. Every person of middle age has
noticed that the streams with which
he was familiar in boyhood have
greatly shrunken in volume Of late
years, and that some Of the smaller
ones entirely fail during tho summer
months. For few weeks in the spring a
food Of water rushes down the channel and
overhows tho banks, but after the freshets
have passed the water constantly recedes from
the SCARED and wasted shore. Deep wells,
which were formerly regarded as never
falling" frequently go dry in the summer,
and the ''od oaken bucket" hangs idly from
the windlass until the spring floods restore it
to its useful and poetic office. This change
in the habits of streams and springs Prof
Egleston attributes entirely to the wasting
Of tho forests.
Where the trees have been growing for GEN.
turies the fall and decay of tho leaves have
formed porous bed several feet thick, which
absorbs and holds the water like a sponge.
Whether the trees grow OH the mountain side,
in the valleys, or on the banks of the rivers,
| the ground on which each one stands becomes
a sort of reservoir, which takes in the rain
fall and holds it until the water percolates
through the spongy mass and finds
its way to the little assures which
lead to the subterranean fountains
and springs This process is slow,
regular, and constant, and when rivers
and creeks are fed only from this source,
there are no foods nor is there such dimi-
mutton of volume in tho dry season as causes
n water famine. The woodman, however,
with his unsparing ak, has denuded many of
the mountains and hills of their natural COW
ering, there is no spongy mass to absorb and
distribute the rain fall, the water dashes
upon the bare, hard earth, and flows off as
from a roof to the nearest drain, and a flood
in all the neighboring streams soon ensues
1t must not be supposed, however, that
floods are to be attributed entirely to the
bare hills. The sudden melting of a great
|
beyond the capacity of the forests to absorb
and sweeping floods often occur from this
cause in the great forest regions. Tho OBJ
struction of rivers by accumulated masses Of
ice is also frequent cause of overflow and
disaster. Against these operations of ma
ture's laws it is impossible to provide, be
cause they are caused by conditions which
are beyond the control of man. 1t is main
tanned, however. as general proposition, tina
forests retain and distribute the rainfall in
way that prevents foods and drouths. AS
rule floods are less frequent in thickly
wooded country, and the streams do no
dwindle away in summer.
In the eastern and middle states tho ~
IN an has probably done his worst unless per
chance he is permitted to slash down the
Adirondack forests The timber bearing
mountains Of eastern Pennsylvania wer
robbed of their trees years ago by the rapa
ious charcoal furnaces, but the anthracit
era has set in since then, and iron is nov
mado without the consumption of wood. !
new growth Of trees now covers the noun
tains, and unless some now demand is mad
upon them they will ere long perform thei
accustomed Office in the economy o
nature. In the lumber regions, however, tn
reckless destruction of timber is still goin
on; and, orse than all, the bark peeler i
following in the wake of the lumberman ant
is telling the treas which tho wOodmal
spared, stripping them Of their bark an,
t leaving their bare trunks to rot on the spo
, where they fall. A stranger passing over tn
| Philadelphia and Erie railroad, from Will
+ Transport westward, cannot resist u feeling q
melancholy apprehension as he contemplate
; the prodigal and wanton waste of timbe
? caused by the lumbermen and bark peeleI
t in northern Pennsylvania. There will com
. a timo when these gigantic trees would be O
+ immense value If they had been left stand
e ing,
, Legislation can do nothing in this matte
0 except to preserve the forests on the publ
r domain and to encourage the planting
! trees everywhere The people should be edv
: Gated up TO a truo appreciation Of the otiic
a ,y1,fch traaa uarfortn In fha acnuomu Of M