The herald., 1897-12-28
! DlMA@ 70 OUR WATERSHEDS

II the present season should continue
to be one of short rainfall we will realize
what has been meant by the warnings
we have repeatedly received about the
destruction of timber and chaparral on
the watersheds. And we can have even
the average rainfall and still have very
short water at the time when most need
ed for irrigation Of our most valuable
crops. The ground has rarely, II ever.
been so dry as now. and the underground
channels. from which most Of the water
supply comes, have not been properly
filled for four years. Even II we are to
have abundant rain the time has come
when we should face this question in
a different manner from that In which
| it has heretofore been treated.
All discussion of this subject hitherto
has been a detailed explanation of how
and why the stripping of the vegetation
from the watersheds decreases the water
supply. 1t consists of a string OF facts
that no one has ever disputed and which
have become such dreary platitudes that
one should be now ashamed to recount
| them. Every one admits the evil. 1t
is high time to come to the question:
How are we to stop 1t?
| All laws on the subject that l have
ever seen are ridiculous. In our post
office Is q fire notice reciting a statute
of the United States that any nation in
the depths of barbarism should be
ashamed of. No such monstrous ignor-
ance of human nature, of methods OF
proof in courts, of the ways and means
of enforcing public opinion where 1t Is
a trifle lax, or rather where it exists more
in the abstract than in the concrete,
would ever be seen in any country or
Europe or Asia. And yet it is merely the
same as about all the state laws.
The absurdity is in inserting the words
"willfully." "negligently," "carelessly"
or anything tantimount thereto. This
almost invariably throws on the pros
ecution the burden of proving want of
due care. Or If it Is so worded as not
to have that effect. then these words
allow the defendant to prove that he
did use reasonable care and out OF court
he walks.
There Is not one case in thousand
where a district attorney who under
|
prosecution. There may have been some
convictions under such statute, but
have never heard of any. Ninety-nine
times out of hundred the defendant has
all the proof in his own hands. And
even If someone should see him let the
fire escape it does not prove that he did
not use care. 1t Is a well known fact
that sheephearders fire the woods pur-
posely, but their excuse always Is that
they made a camp fire and 1t got away
from them. Much of the burning of the
mountain brush and timber is by honest
grangers at the foot who wish to burn
some brush on their own land. They
take a dry, hot day, because 1t is then
more easily done. They know the fire
is apt to escape, and do not care. They
take no pains to prevent it, and once
out 1t Is likely to go to the top OF the
mountain. Yet if you attempt to enforce
such a law against them they will get
non-suit, because the prosecution fails
to prove negligence, or they can beat
the district attorney on the proof, be-
cause 1t is all in their hands. They will
always claim they used due care and
that it got away from them without their
fault.
1t is exactly the same with campers,
who are responsible for much of the de-
struction. The damage by the axe is
very triflng Even where there is much
cutting of timber, if there is no fire to
follow it, the underbrush grows up very
quickly and answers nearly the same
purpose. Fires do the most damage and
the camper causes fully one-half of
these. The average camper makes
fire several times as large as there Is any
need of. The night fire rarely does much
damage. 1t is the morning or noon fire,
which is left for the rising breeze to
spread. To make a cup of tea at noon,
the average camper will make a fire
large enough to barbecue an OK. II he
has his choice between dry leaves and
sand in which to make it. he will make
it in the leaves, unless there is dry grass.
which generally suits him better. If
there is a river running within five feet
of it, he will never throw any water on
it, and he even takes pains to empty the
coffee pot away off on one side, where
it cannot get on the fire.
Why should any amount of care be an
excuse for an escaping fire? Every one
who has done much camping will say
that there is absolutely no excuse for
fires escaping. Nothing is more easy
than to make it where it will not es-
cape, and few things are more easy
than to fix it with little water so that
it is impossible. If a man cannot do this,
if he is so stupid that he cannot learn
how, or SO forgetful that he cannot re-
member, then let him pay for his fail
ings or keep out of the woods. The
same with the granger who wants to
burn brush. If his time Is so precious
that he cannot run a fire guard around
his place, or cannot burn little at
time, in such way, or in such condition
Of the weather, that he can control it, let
him pay society something for saving
him his valuable time.
Two years ago spent some two weeks
on the Sequoia reservation, in the high
part of the Sierra Nevada, near the base
of Whitney. A whole company of SOL
diers had charge Of the reservation, and
we met squads of them continually put
ting out fires. Imagine the absurdity of
using soldiers in this way, paying the
expense of maintaining a company of
cavalry at that altitude to extinguish
fires that Tom, Dick and Harry were too