Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1885-09-12

complaint is made Of q lower stage Of
water in the Hudson and Missouri
rivers than there Wasin former years.
This exposure of the mountain SHOWS
to the sun increases the danger Of
floods and foundations. This imme-
date melting Of the SHOWS from nom
protection is bound to send a body of
water down the rivers and creeks in q
few days, which ought, if natural
laws had been complied with, taken
as many weeks. This in its turn is
productiyeof the formation Of rayines,
bad-lands, etc, by the exposure Of the
soil to the action of the water.
Severe and widespread hail storms
and cyclones are caused by the de-
stTuction Of forests, and also q terri
bic reduction in the rate Of tempera-
ture. All mountaineers know how
warm the wooded valleys Of noun
tains are compared to the treeless
prairie. In Switzerland we find III
the valleys Of the Rhine and Tessino
the destruction Of the woods has ex-
posed the soil to the erosion of tor
rents, to the utter ruin Of sodded
slopes and vegetable soil. The ten
perature has also gone down in pro
portion as the wooded surface de-
scendea, and the higher regions are
now desert expenses OF ice. It was
also found in several other ~cantons
that the trees being felled gave great
en- scope to the wind, and in conse-
quence several communities were al
most ruined by their crops being de
stroyed by hail. Now mark the diff
ference. The government took it in
hand, replanted the mountain sides
with young nurseries, and as the trees
grew in height, the rayages from that
cause are decreasing from year to
year.
It is well known that the great storm
center Of the United States is the
treeless plains Of the Mississippi
Basin; yet it is estimated that ten
millions Of acres Of forest land in this
country is used and destroyed annu-
ally, and about 10000 acres planted.
It would be well for the New World
to learn wisdom by the misfortunes Of
the Old World before It be too late.
Il this destruction Of trees causes
catastrophes in one country it will in
another. Large areas Of desolate
country caused by lack Of moisture,
are sometimes made by destruction Of
trees. Instances Of this are in parts
Of the great plain Of Lombardy in
Italy, the province Of Palestine, and
the site Of the ancient Kingdom Of
Chaldea. It is historically known
that these countries yer exceedingly
fertile and well timbered: 10Y the
trees have disappeared by the agency
of man, and sterility is the rule and
not the exception.
The United States is now The only
civilized county which does not make
forestry a part Of the government.
Russia. whose forests cover 43 per
cent Of her immense territory, has all
cuttings and removals done by the
most rational and economical meth
DDS known to forestry. Moreover the
government occupies itself in the care
Of the forests with a zeal and activity
worthy Of the highest praise, con
stantly replenishing the areas cut
over by r~eboisement- These remarks
on Russia also apply with equal force
to Norway, Sweden, Germany, France,
&c. The laws in this country regard
ing the preservation of forest lands
have thus far been imperative, owing
to the difficulty attending the detec-
ton Of persons letting out fire in the
woods. The reboisement Of the coun-
try intended by the passage Of the
timber culture act is in many, very
many, localities a failure, owing to
ey%asions OF the law. BUTT is morally
certain that the time is now at hand
when the Federal government will
have to assume strict control Of for
ests on government lands, appoint for
estecs and rangers to see that the laws
are obeyed, and not evaded, and thus
prevent those vandals, who through
criminal careless or diaboIical intent,
allow great confiagrations to rage over
the country, a loss not only to the
present generation, but also the pri-
mary cause Of innumerable evils for
the succeeding one.
0. G. MORRISON.
SPLENDID M0NTANA STALLION.
Robert Vaughn's Great Western
showed up handsomely in the $50
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