Los Angeles herald., 1908-06-28

SHOWS IN Its neaQ waters, rose Until
the pumping station OF Wenatcnea
interests were greatly threatened. Al
Emporia, Kas the Neosho and It's
tributary. the Cottonwood, brought the
worst flood that section has expert
enced. The far northwestern HOOD
plain suffered most. Continued rain
and snow of early June days set the
rivers and creeks rushing from their
banks, telephone and telegraph COM
munications were cut off and trains on
the Northern Pacific were tied up for
ten days. Anaconda, Butte and Helena
were cut off from the rest of the world.
until the old time pony express was
revived to meet the situation. Mines
in that region were closed and business
operations in the city suspended. At
the extent of $4,000 or more and COM
munication with Spokane cut off for
days.
And so on through the list of floods
that have recently swept a wide area
of the country in the west, the low
lands of Arkansas and Texas, the val
legs of the Ohio and of the rivers on
the Atlantic slope. In the trail of each
overflow has come loss of property in
the shape of eroded mountain and hill
sides, corroded river banks and silt
ch oked river beds. And greatest of
all has come the great waste of water
that rushes unimpeded toward the
seas, depriving the earth of the moist
ure 1t needs for the summer and fall
crops, defrauding the rivers of the
water necessary to maintain that even
current and depth throughout the
years. so necessary to the support of
that great traffic which the nation
- H. 49,
And the deplorable thing about It, the
thing which Is a sad commentary on
our national thrift and intelligence, is
that the greater part of this great
waste and incalculable loss is our own
fault. The headwaters of these over
flowing rivers lie among the noun
tains which in the beginning of things
wise Creator set with forests That
were designed to conserve the winter
SHOWS and vernal rains. and then re-
lease them later through underground
springs. and rivulets to the thirsty val
leys below. The river courses lay
through plains set with trees and I'M
dergrowth that would hold the water
from an overflow and keep It safe in
the sponge of fallen leaves. the roots
and old logs, until such a time as the
winds or the soil asked 1t again.
Man, in his misguided idea OF PROS
perity, Is denuding the slopes of their
trees as rapidly as human and me-
chanical agency can effect 1t, and
when the SHOWS and heavy rain water
find no abiding places as In olden
days and rush down the valleys to
bring death and destruction In their
wake, this same man sits and wonders
Of "a n ftAy
will so interfere with his material
prosperity and happiness! AS the first
settler of the country, the white man
began the work of deforestation as a
protection to his home from Indian
ambush and as a means of acquiring
tallable land. Later he did 1t to ac-
quire needed building material, fuel,
etc.
With the increase In foods comes the
yearly increase In danger to the
riparian cities of the nation. The
earliest cities were naturally built on
waterways to secure the needed trans
portation facilities. Eighteen OF Illi-
nois' twenty-one biggest cities are on
rivers; fifteen OF Indiana's eighteen
biggest ones, nearly all the leading
ones of Missouri, and two-thirds OF
those of pennsylvania. Over half the
population of Iowa is riparian. and In
Ohio there are not over a half-dozen
big cities in the uplands. OF 1855 cities
lying below the fall line" Of eastern
rivers between New England and the
10th meridian, 204 with an aggregate
population of about 6,000 900, are river
towns. All these cities, through their
churches, pray weekly for deliverance
from war, pestilence. fire. flood and
famine, and through the exercise of
modern invention and dfScoyarv hava