Arizona silver belt., 1889-06-08
Importance es Preserving ,he Forests.
fCentury for June. ]

Almost thc only forests remaining on the public lands are those of the mountain region of the Pacific States and these forests have special inter- est and value because of their relation to the agricultural capacity of vast extent of country lying along the streams which have their sources IR these mountain woods. These regions adjacent to the streams, or near enough to be irrigated from them, are not fer tile in ther present arid condition, but they are capable of great produc- tiveness. All the elements of fertili- ty are in the soil in abundant prepor- tons, except water, This can be sup piled only by irrigation. 1t does not come 10 these thirsty lands naturally, hy rainfall, but must be assisted by the ingenious devices of man on its way to thonsands of fields which wifi thus be made to blossom as the rose, where nature, uIhelped. leaves wide expenses desert and unpioauetiye. This water, which is the magical els- ment by which this wilderness is tr ans formed into a fruitful and populous country, is stored in the everlasting hills, where the rivers have their springs. and the forests are It's natural custodians and distributors. The wa ter supply IS abundant, and while the forests stand guard around the sources of the rivers. their flow IS as everlast- ing as the hllS themselves.
 A mountain forest has more func- tiens than mast people have consider ee It covers the hllb Hitii a vast mat CT network Of living root-fbers, and hold. ln place the cver-aceumula- ting mass of maid and decompoSlng vegetable matter, which absorbs and retains ths water of tho rainfall and the melting snows. Such q forest is q great sponge, winch receives all the water ibat falls on lhemoantains, and allows it to escape gradually, so as tG maintain the steady flow of the rivers which IL feeds A fsrcst is thus nat Hral reservoir for the storage and dis tribution of the water which falls up- on it; and It IS far more efficient, as well as lar more economical, than any system of artificial storage reservoirs that can be substituted for It. Ii the forest is removed, this mighty sponge IS destroyed, and there is then nothing ts perform its function of holding back the water, which will rush down in overwhelming floods and torrents.
 The first thiag 10 be noted IS that the water will thus all run at once, at d time " hen but little of is wanted, and there will be little or nons of 1t felt for the season when 1t Is most needed. The rivers which have been fed by the mountain springs will sosn be dry great part of the year.
 The next thing to be observed is that when tue forests are destroyed the hills themselves are net everlasting. When the great sDonge-iike mass CT cap of liying root-fberS, mold, and de- caying vegetation which the forest held in place as a crewn for the hills IS destroyed, the mountains themselves begin 10 crumble and melt away. The soil which fer thousands of years has been meshed and matted along the steep slopes and around .he shoul- derS of the hills has HOW netbing 10 keep It in place, and 1t begins 10 slip and sink away Wben it Is heaviest with accumulated water whole hlll- sides are dislodgea from their sup porting framework eff rocks, and de- scend with resistiess fierce to the plain below, carrying ruin ln their path, and leaving the once beautiful face of the mountain scanned and scared. The rivers are eheked, their channels  sllted up, and the valleys and adjacent plains are buried irreceverably be- meath the vast accumulatioBs of sand, gravel, and debris which the resistless annual floods brlng down from the disselying hills.
 All this has been tried in every part of the civilized werld, with the same unvaryipg result. There appears to ba serious danger that these disastrous and fatal experiments will bs repeated in our treatment of the nountaln for ests of the western part of our coun- try; out as the forests now belong ts the nation they should be effectively guarded against the short-sighted sol- fshnass winch would thus ruin them, and, by destroying them, forever pre- vent the development of tke regions along the course of the streams below.
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 Mark Smiths remarks at last night s gathering at Schieffelin hall were so earnest and sensible, so clear, and GOV cred the ground so thoroughly, com