The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1902-06-18

IN The streams and that their count,
. was likely to become a desert. The
were the pioneers in this industry ,
= industries. AS eally as the beginnin
OF 1900 they had complete system {
forest preservation and control. In III
six hundred years of which they hav
bad the records they have brought thei
system to such perfection that th
: Swiss forests not only are the salvs
lion of Swiss agriculture, both on th
hlllsides and in the valleys, but the
yield net to the government So ne
acre year. 1t is II form of revenu
which is not subject to accidents, bu
can be realized upon with absolute Ger
tainty under all circumstances. For
ests under such conditions are q per
petual and increasing mine of wealtl
to the government on the one hant
and to the whole people on the othel
In their influence upon farms and har
vests and upon Industries.
While 46,000,0OO acres of land hav,
been rescued to the West, there has
been nothing done in the East. Th,
country had superb property, unique
in every way, unequalled for richness
and rarity and for the value of its
product, in the redwood forests of the
Pacific slope. Through carelessness
simply Congress yielded to the shrewd
representations of the speculator, who
under that homestead pea, which is
properly 80 attractive to the American
secured the enactment of laws by
which any settler could secure 100
acres in these forests of priceless value.
Then came the harvest of the lumber
men. Each of their employees staked
out 1G0 acres. The sailors upon the
vessels that carried off their lumber
were induced to make claims for their
lG0 acres each, and the land was then
transferred to the lumber companies,
until, for mere song, this magnili.
cent inheritance of the people fell in
TO the hands of different corporations
who are mercilessly destroying the
timber.
Negligence of this kind on the part
OF Congress becomes almost crime
Those wonderful woods should have
been preserved, not for SPECTATORS and
bogus settlers, but for the whole peo-
pie of the country. They would, under
scientific forest management, have
been for all time to come not only
self.supporting and revenue producing,
they would have been more-they
would have been the source of supplies
of wood for all purposes for the inhab-
ilants of the Pacific coast. They
would have been additions to the rural
scenery, which in every State and
country, when attractive, helps culture
and civilization. They would have
been the home of game, where sports.
men could have found health and
pleasure. But, instead, the land will
become an arid waste, the streams will
dry up, and the country will lose not
only one of it's best possessions, but
there will be inflicted incalculable
damage upon vast region which
otherwise would have remained always
full of happy homes and cultivated
farms.
The Appalachian forest reserve as
proposed in the pending measure is
about 100 miles in lengt hand of varying
breadth. It's from 400 to 600 feet above
the sea. 1t runs through the States
of Virginia, Virginia, North West
and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama,
and Tennessee. The slopes of these
mountains are very steep, varying from
20 at the lowest to 40. The waters
which flow from the perpetual streams,
fed by the perpetual springs, run on
the one side TO the Atlantic and on the
other TO the Gulf of Mexico. The
streams from this mountain forest are
the tributaries of these important
rivers: The James, the Roanoke, the
Catawba, the Savannah, the New
Qkanawha), the Tennessee, the French
Broad, the Coosa, the Yadkin, the
Chattahoochee the Broad, the Hiwas-
see, the Nolichucky, the Pigeon, the
Tuckaseegee, the Watauga, and the
Holston. The region affected by these
streams is from 100 to $50 miles in
width on the Atlantic side, and more
than that on the other. 1t comprises
part of the richest agricultural country
in the United States. The timber in
this forest is all hard wood, and is the
largest body of hard wood on the North
American continent. 1t Ia museum
of forest growth, embracing, on ac-
count OF its location, the woods which
can be grown i'll temperate, semitropi
cal, and tropical countries. There are
1877 varieties, making this forest one OF
the most interesting in the world. The
deep soil has been forming for thous
and years or more, and IN it's lnterlac
ing of tree roots and humus, of grass
and leaves, there has been created ar
enormous sponge for the absorption
retention, and distribution of the rain
fall.
The rainfall in this region ls greater
than in any other part of the United
States except the North Pacific coast
Ii ranges from 60 to 100 inches year
The dOwnpour at one time during tht
past year was 30 inches. Where th,
forests are intact the water finds it,
way through this thick and porous soil
goes into the crevlces of the rocks ant
into the gulchess and forms springs ant
rvulets. Nature, always benefcen
in her operation, so arranges this vas
collection of the rainy season that dur
ing the rest of the year IL flows on
naturally and equally through tn
rivulets into the streams and through
the streams into the rivers, and water
and fertilizes half dozen States.
The results of an attack upon thi
fortress, created by nature for tn
protection and enrichment of the pee
pie, ls more disastrous than the swee
of an invading army of savages over
thickly pOpulated and fertile cOuntr,