Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-08-20
.plsAsTRou. FLoops

Highland Rivers Esperisliy Liable to Ne
strscfive Inusdsttons.
It has often been noticed that high
land rivers are especially liable 10 dis
astrous inuEda.sons. but there is no
doubt that the frequency Of such hoods
is enormously increased by the destruc-
ton Of forests. The circumstautial
testimony Of contemporary writer's
makes it certain that inrndations were
almost unknown or extremely rare ID
many countries whose inhabitants are
now exposed to the danger OF yearly
deluge. The River Pc. for instance
the Padans. as the Romans called
twas once famed for the peaceful
regularity Of its current, but is now
one of the worst freshet streams in
Southern Europe The Emperor Jul
lian. who passed many years in North
ern Gaul. incidentally mentioned that
the River Seine never seemed to change
its depth by more than q few feet,
the average at Lntretia Paris) being
about ten feet In midsummer
and twelve feet at the Begin
ming Of spring. The present diff
ference Of the maximum and minimum
depth often exceeds forty feet The
Khone and Ebro. too. are almost sure
to overflow their banks in every rainy
spring. but still more mischieyous riy-
err is the Ardeche--a small highland
stream of southeastern France-and
apt to get very shallow Ia dry sum-
mers. but which in more than one win
ter has done an amount OF damage that
can be computed only by tens OF mil
lions. Its remotest source il only sew
eDty-fiye English miles from its mouth,
but that little stream. which our coun-
trymen would hardly dignity with the
name of a river. has been known to rise
more than sixty feet in few hours,
and in 1927 was computed to have dis
charged 45O.0OO.0O0 cubic yards Of
water in a single day, or nearly twice
as much as the Nile at the end OF y
rainy season. In 1876 it rose SO sud-
denly that number of women who
were busy washing at the brink of the
lower stream had not time to save their
linen, and barely escaped with their
lives. though they fled instantly on
hearing the roar Of the approaching
torrent, Agriculture has almost ceased
TO pay in the lower valley Of that man
trap river which once watered one oil
the most productive districts OF South
1 ern France. The only imaginable
cause Of that change is the almost total
which once clothed the slopes of the
Cevennes from foothill to the highes,
peak. That cause has at last been 80
dearly recognized. that the Agricultur-
al Department OF the present French
Republic is authorized to expend a
yearly sum of 100000 francs in the
work of re-forestiDg the naked noun.
| tain slopes, but as that work of re-
/ demption is sorely needed Throughout,
q territory OF 10000 square miles. the
appreciable result is necessarily very
slow. The floods of the Adige in the
Southern Tyrol aud OF the Martha il
| the Balkans. have been often almos
| equally destructive; but the most ruin
Gus fiood-river on earth is the Yang
| tse-Kiang. which has done the Chinese
Empire more harm than all rebellions
wars and epidemics taken together
I and on more than one occasion ha,
strewn its banks with the corpses o
| half million victins-the computed
loss of life during the three weeks o
the last food being moderately estima
ted at $50. 00l--even after deductine
the victims of the consequent famine
and the thousands slain by marauder:
: and hunger-crazed cannibals.
| natl Enquirer.