The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1899-11-19

Win him II ls literally. After mo.
the delugo"
The cattle raiser and sheep hcrder
arc blood rclNtioDs of the lumberman
IN this vandalism. Th,y drive bands
or cattle or nocks " Hhssp up into
the nountnlg In summer These gem
orally mngs over gov rnmrnt reserves
ana private propsty with equal dis
regard " ownership For 80 many
years they have enjoyed this privilege
that they have come b. frel proprie-
tnry rights In thenr pnAturagc lands.
One ~ their customs h 10 burn over
large tracts before the winter rains
begin, In order 10 improve the grass
the following seAsJn, They respect
nothing. and lands on which large
hochH u sheep have bccn ranged are
~ completely rulnd aa though on
had adopted thc ruthless Romnn
method ana plough"d the land and
! snwcd II To ealt
Within the past few years the gov
| crnmcnl has siationd troopf Of cayal.
~ In the Sierra to arrest SHEEP herd
ers and cnttlcmcn who quarter thcir
animals on federal prs-ryen. Many ar
rests have been made. and the courts
have done great work in dealing out
punishment 10 the Offenders Hut the
ground to h. covered IN ~ grt al that
only a few ~ the offenders have been
brought 10 book ThcS, men have becn
persistent Ia their OutcrirH agalns,
what they call government tyranny
and by sending a well paid lobby to
Washington every winter they have
actually made some impressions on
public soaiimchl. ~ that genuine
forestry work In California. which
should have had the sanction and the
active AID of tn, government. has
been neglected
The man who has 1onr. perhaps. the
bcst work In stimulating enthusiasm
Tor IN" preservation Of California FOR
cstS IN William II Mills. land agent
~ the Southern Pnciac company for
many year.. and the best authority In
thnt state IN lls soil and ~ forests
Mr. Mills In his able editorials In the
San Francisco Evening Post has point
ci out the avagcs made In the Sierra
and H. ,h~ shasta region by lumber
melt In a ',-cent artlcl, he called at
icntlon to N, quick extraction of the
great deposit Of gold and silver orr
on the Comstock lode In Nevada as a
specimen of the remarkable work
done by modern machinery. on ID.
slopes II Mount Davidson was an orr
body ,h8, by id methods II working
mines would have lasted for Ave hun
drcl years. hut with dynamite. the
diamond drlL powerful steam hoist
ing works and gigantic pumping ma
chincry this tNaSurV was exhausted
In less than twenty-five years
And then he declares tha, what n,
diamond drill and dynamite wcre To
Wv NV AANk ~ HAAAAflN INV AlAAAAthA tll~ .
Rinc is as an instrument for destroy.
Ing u forest, What the powerful hoist
Ing works and pumping machinery
were TO the Coms:ock lode the modern
band saw is 10 the conversion OF troes
into lumber" Thcn he rch,rs specin-
cally TO the terribly destructive work
done by the great numbering plant IN
the McCloud river In the Shasta dis 1
trict as an example OF what ruin the /
mcdsrn traction engine and logging
outft are capable of In great virgin .
forest,
In California the destruction of tim .
her on IN, ountal lsides is far more
deadly TO the Interests Of the state
than such destruction could possibly I.
be In any Eastern state, which has
ralns during the summer Here III
m,ans the quick drying up OF all the
little streams that feed the rivers. the
rapid melting Of the snow, the wash .
ing away of the surface soil ON the
sidehills by the torrents that flow in
the spriug, and complete aridity OF the
soil during the long dry season. In.
a word, It mems the desolation which
has come TO large parts OF Spain and
Italy because OF the cutting of the
forests In those countries.
What makes forests OF more value
to California than to other parts Of
the Cnt'sd States Is that they serve
10 catch the moist atmosphere from
the sea generated by the warm Japan
current This current acts here In the
same capacity rs the Gulf stream acts
OF the British coast, II makes San
Francisco, which IL on nearly the same
parallel as st, Louis. a city that knows
neither snow nor extreme cold. The
saturated air from the sea Is caught
and condensed by the cool air over the
forests OF the Coast Range and the
SLerra Nevada, and rains fall. When,
however this saturated air passes over
the deserts OF the south or the bare
ridges Of mountains the precipitation
is small and usually In the form Of
snow. Give the lumbermen OF Califor-
MIA for ten years more the same IL
cense to destroy that they have en-
joycd for the last decade and the rain
fan OF California will be cut down by
one-half. and irrigation will be neces-
sary throughout the whole state,
A good move in the direction Of the
preservation of California forests was