New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-11-12


ing season. They respect nothing. and lands on
which large focks of sheep have been ranged
are as completely ruined as though one had
adopted the ruthless Roman method and
ploughed the land and sowed it to salt.
Within the last few years the Government
has stationed troops of cavalry in the Sierra
to arrest sheep herders and cattle men who quar-
ter their animals on Federal reserves. Many
arrests have been made, and the courts have
done great work in dealing out punishment to
the offenders. But the ground to be covered is
so great that only few of the offenders have
been brought to book. These men have been
persistent in their outcries against what they
call Government tyranny, and by sending a well
paid lobby to Washington every winter they
have actually made some impression on public
sentiment, so that genuine forestry work in
California which should have had the sanction
and the active aid Of the Government, has been
neglected
The man who has done, perhaps, the best
work in stimulating enthusiasm for the preser-
walton of California forests is William II. Mills,
land agent of the Southern Pacific Company
for many years, and the best authority in the
State on its soil and its forests. Mr.. Mills in
his able editorials in THE San Francisco Even
ing Post" has pointed out the ravages made in
the Sierra and in the Shasta region by lumber
men In a recent article he called attention to
the quick extraction Of the great deposit of gold
and silver ore on the Comstock lode in Nevada
as a specimen of the remarkable work done by
modern machinery. On the slopes of Mount
Davidson was an ore body that by old methods
Of working mines would have lasted for hVe
hundred years, but with dynamite, the diamond
drill powerful steam hosting works and gigan-
tic pumping machinery this treasure was eA-
hausted in less than twenty-five years.
And then he declares that what the dia-
mond drill and dynamite were to the boring oi
tunnels the traction engine is as an lnsUru-
mentality for destroying forest what 'h'
nowerful hosting works and pumping ma
cbinerv were TO the Comstock Lode the modert
band saw is to the conversion of trees lh''
lu,nber" Then he refers specifically to the Ter
riblv destructive work done oy the great luhl
herring nlant on the McCloud River in the
Shasta district as an example of what ruin the
modern traction engine and logging outht are
cauable Of in great virgin forest.
DISASTROUS EFFECTS OF TREE CUTTING
In California the destruction of the timber "i
| tb, mountainsides is far more deadly 10 ''
| interests Of the state than such desuucU'i
could possibly be in any Eastern state "Hi'
bae rains during the summer Here il ih'd
tho ouick driving up Of all the little streams III"
feed the rivers the rapid melting OF 'he s"'"
tho washing away Of the surface soIi vi ."
sidabue nv the torrents that flow in the spring
and complete aridity of the soil during 'he Ioi'
dry season. In a word it means the deSo'"''i
which has come to large parts oil SPAN any
| Italy because of the cutting OF the loIcS's u
those countries. ..
What makes forests of more NaIue TO "a"
rornia than to other parts OF the Ohlt'u "''''
i that they serve to catch the moist a'Ilos4'he'
from the sea generated 10y the warm japan Oui
rent This current acts mere III ''e ''
canacity as the Gulf Stream acts OH inc h'''''
coast 1t makes San Francisco Whlch l. "
nearly the same parallel as ST LOUIS CIT! ia
knows neither snow nor extreme coiu I'd"
saturated air from the sea is caueh' anu '"i'
dereed hv the cool air over the iores's oi ~
coast Range and the Sierra Nevada, ana ram
coll When. however, this saturated ar pass
oyor the deserts Of the south or the pare I'u7'
~ Mountains the precipitation Is Sn'di 81"
ueuoIIv in the form of snow. GlVe tie lu''''''
o, of California for ten years more 'he Am
,icorea TO destroy that they have ehJoEeu ~
49, ,oet decade and the rainfall OF Caillofhl
I'm emf down by one-haf. and irrigation WI
no necessary throughout the whole o'a'e
4 good move in the direction OF the prtSF' q
tiop If California forests was maze I"S' N''
,,be, President Mckinley signed the proc'''"'
tior establishing the Lake Tahoe forest 'ese ~,
rho aroa Of this reserve is estimated al I'''''
,.o, and If includes three great lakes an
,,.or,, smaller bodies of water near by Inc '''
many en- ,. tho Goa i Il 200 feet, an