Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1908-09-16
FUTURE FLOOD DANGER
Are the River Floods Becoming High


er?
The question naturally arises in
connection with the recent floods what
has been the cause of the enormous
increase in the height of floods in the
Southern States during the pase de-
cade? ". w. Ashe, State Forester
Of North Carolina, ascribes it largely
to the destruction of the leaf mold by
to te destruction of the leaf mold by
forest fires, and to tie large areas Of
washed and quilted land which sheds
the heavy rains in place of absorbing
them.
The increase both in the number
and the height Of the floods has been
remarkable during the past fifteen
years. That it is not due to climate
is shown by the weather bureau data,
which shows no noticeable change in
climate since the bureau S been in
operation. The higher rises Of the
floods in the Cape Fear and the Sa-
vannah rivers may be taken as ex-
amples. The flood of 1860 of So feet
was the highest in the Cape Fear riv-
er up to that time. In 1903 a height
of 63 feet was reached, while the
present freshet was s feet higher or
Il feet. The same gradual increase
in, the height Of the foods can be
traced on the Savannah. For many
years the flood Of 1880 was the
standard, but those of the past de-
cade have been higher, eliminating,
up to the present, in the one which
has just cost the city Of Augusta
million dollars and the loss of two
score of lives. The same record eS-
lists on many other Southern streams,
the Yadkin, Catawba, Pacolet, Ohio,
Cumberland, Alabama and Santee.
Cause of the River Floods.
There is no doubt that both the
height of the floods has increased,
and that the actual number has in
creased during the past fifteen years,
and that the same amount Of rain
fall now produces much higher flood
crest than formerly. The destruction
of the forests on the headwaters of
the rivers has undoubtedly been one
of the important causes. The area of
forest land on the steep slopes has
been rapidly decreasing during the
past fifteen years. There has also
been a large area of forest land lum-
bcred and burned destroying the leaf
mold which kept the soil open and
porous and in n condition to absorb
heavy rains. There is in addition to
this about 100000 acres of waste
farming land from Virginia to Geor-
gia, having a hard baked soil, which
does not absorb one-half of the water
which it would were it either in culs
tivation or in timber. These unfavt
orable conditions increase every yea.
Less of every heavy rain is absorbed
and larger portion runs rapidly off
resultirn in higher and more destruc-
tive floods. The upland soils Of the
Piedmont are heavy clays, naturally
impervious, unless kept porous by
deep plowing or by the cover of for
est litter. When dry and baked by
the sun this clay is. as unabsorptive
as brick. 1t is the additional five or
ten feet of food water which causes
the. destruction, and this is the water
which these soils would absorb if they
were open and porous. The rainfall,
also, is of a very heavy concentrated
making it all the more nee
essary that the soils she'll absorb as
fast as the rain falls. The Piedmont
of the Southern States differs very
much in this respect from the north
eastern States.
Can the Big Rivers be Made Safe?
The Southern States have now
reached the point when they must de-.
eide whether the larre rivers and their
valleys are to be made safe. or wheth-
er their enormous value is to be
by the attempt to secure
a higher temporary profit from the
steep hillside land than the conditions
justify. The permanent value of
these lands can only be maintained in
timber and the States which are con-
cerned, should on their own initiative
take some proper measures for per.
oetuating their earning power in TIM
ber, and at the same time protect the
commerce, cities, factories and lands
of the large rivers.
The damage to these States from
floods during the past ten years ag-
sregates more than $20,000,000. How
much will it amount to before the
States act?
Held IJp and ROBBED,