The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1902-06-19

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largest body of hard wood on the Nortl
American continent. 1t ia a museum
OF forest growth, embracing, on &C
count OF its location, the woods which
can bc grown il temperate, scmitropi
cal, and tropical countries. There are
l3I varieties, making this forest one OF
the most interesting in the world. rhc
deep soil has been forming for thous-
ana years or more, and IN its lntcrlac
ing OF tree roots and humus, of grass
and leaves, there has been created nm
enormous sponge for the absorption
retention, and distribution of the rain.
fall.
The rainfall in this region Is greater
than in any other part of the United
States except the Nolth Pacific coast.
IL ranges from GO to 100 inches h year.
The downpour at one time during the
past year was 30 inches. Where the
forests are intact the water finds its
way through tins thick and porous soil
goes into the crevlc"s of the rocks and
into the gulchess and forms springs and
rlVulets. Nature, always bcncicent
IN her operation, so arrangcs this vast
collection of tho rainy season that dur
ing the rest OF the year it flows out
naturally and cquably through the
rlVulels into the slrea :ls and through
the streams into the rivers, and waite IS
and fertilizes half dozen States.
The results of All attack upon this
fortress, created by nature for the
protection and enrichment of the pco
pie, IS more disa,'trous than the sweep
OF an invading army of savagcs over a
lhickly populated and fertile country.
lhcy Kill, they carry off captivcs, they
burn and they destroy, but after the
war the survivors return TO their homes
and in few years every vesligc of tn,
ruin has disappeared. In it's place there
are again cities, villages, and happy
people. But the lumbcrman selects a
tract OF hardwood forests upon the
Appalachian mountains. The trees,
young and old, big and little, surrender
to the AK and the saw. Then the soil
is sold 10 the farmer, who finds abun
dtnt harVests i'll its primeval richness.
For about three years he gathers a re.
muncrativc and satisfactory harvest,
put he sees, rs the enormous rainfall
aescends, his fam gradually disappear.
AT the end Of three years he can no
longer plant crops, but for TWO years
more, If lucky, he may be able to Craze
Ills stock. AZ the end Of five wears the
rains and floods have washed clean the
mountain sides, have left nothing but
the bare rocks, have reduced his farm
to a desert, and created a ruin which
can never be repaired.
But this is not all. mat farm has
gone down with the torrents, which
have been formed by the cutting off OF
the protecting woods, into the streams
below. 1t has caused them to spread
over the farms Of the valleys and
plateaus. IL has TUNED these pcac.
lul waters into roaring floods, whicl,
have plowed deep and destructive
gullles through fertile fields and across
grassy plains. One freshet in the
Catawba river last spring, occasioncd
wholly by the decreasing of the noun
tains, swept awaya million and a hail
dollars worth of farms, buildings, and
stock. The damage done by the
freshet of last year alone, in the large
territory fed by the streams and rivers
which came from these mountains,
was estimated at over &1S, 900 900.
This destruction can not be repeated
many years without turning into a
desert the faircst portion of our coun-
Try. This process of destruction is
constantly enlarging because of en-
croachments upon the forests on az
count of the growing scarcity of hard
WOOD. The lumbermen are running
light railways 80 as to reach the here.
.of IRE inaccessible depths. The giants
81 the mountains, which are four or
i've hundred years Of age, and many
u them z feet in diameter and from
lao to 150 feet high, are falling in in
;reaslng numbers every month before
lie pitiless and ruthless invasion of
he Ak and the saw. In ten years the |
destruction will be complete, the forests |
will be practically gone, the protecting
'oil will have been washed off the hill
sides, and the newspapers will be filled |
Zach year with tales Of disaster to |
populations, to farms, to villages, and |
% manufacturing enterprises, OCCASION
I'd by unusual and extraordinary rains |
and the torrents which have been
formed by them and flowed down |
through the valleys.
1t has been estimated that there is |
IN these mountain streams 900 900 |
horsepower which can be easily utiliz-
Ell. This means saving of $50, ,000,- |
300 year in coal alone, which would |
otherwise have to be used for the gon-
Grafton of that amount of power for
manufacturing purposes. But it means
more. This ! 100000 horsepower that
these streams, which flow equally all
The year round because Of the nature
of the sponge which forms the reser-
voir that supplies them, would create
an incalcnlable amount of electrical
power. With the successful demon
STATIONS which have been made in
California and Niagara Falls of the
distance to which this energy can be
the value of these streams,
kept in their original condition, to the
future of these States can not be
estimated. There arc IN these condi.
tlons all the elements necessary for
transportation, for light and neat, for
manufactures and mining, in very
large section Of the United States.
The proposition in the bill is to au.
4 1.