River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-07-29
I SH,0W co0H1cE ar ZHon1AS c7TNOW

along the northern end of the Car
son range from Verdi to Lake RANCE
and over Mt. Pluto, have led TO solife
practical conclusions On the retatloh
of timber to the conservation Oh
enow Further trips are In conteIn-
nIation to verify the conclusions al
ready reached and copfous notes ana
illustrative photographs have Deen
made for bulletin on the subject.
one phase Of the timber and snow
problem that has evidently received
little attention, so far as could De de-
termined from available publications,
and one Of great importance to the
arid mountain states will be briefly
outlined here.
The chief concern Of the arid belt
is to obtain natural reservoirs OF
moisture of the greatest possible ca
nacitv in order to keep the flow OF
the streams as constant as possible.
Artificial reservoirs have been con-
strncted at large cost chiefly by the
government. but without the larger
natural reservoirs-the lakes and the
snow-behind them, their capacity
would be quite insufficient to accom-
plish the irrigation planned.
Now to keep the reservoirs OF sno"
long unmelted it is necessary to nave
as small a surface as possible e1-
nosed to the sun and the wind ana
particularly to keep the snow at
high altitude, where the nights are
cold and the melting is retarded. me
CANYONS, which serve as deep p1ns
into which the snow is blown from
the higher slopes, increase the oeptn
Of the snow ond decrease its exposed
surface. But the timber on the hlgn-
or slopes-often the timber l1ne-ac-
complishes far more, causing Ihe
drifting snow to bank, each tree OF
island of trees producing mound OF
snow where the wind current loses
tic momentum. These hummocks
often remain after the canyons
depths have released their snow. Inc
ideal situation, however, for conserV'
ing the snow is on the lips OF can
vons fringed with timber. Then the
sharp snow cornices fashioned by the
wind are made deep and broad Dy
the timber fringe, which breaks the
violence of the wind and causes IL 10
deposit it's freight of snow most al
vantageously. Thus the bulk or the
snow on the high mountains is pre-
served where 1t falls, in cold storage
so to sneak. against the late summer
Although the timber high on the
slopes of mountains may, in general
be the last to be destroyed, yet the
increasing demands for timber anO
the presence of a supply OF water &c
fume this timber lay 1t open to at
tack. And the timber belt, almost
even the timber line, on Mt. Rose
was so attacked and greatly depleted
in the days of the Comstock boom
as evidenced by the whitening
stumps and abandoned saws above
the altitude of 5000 feet. None toe
early has the government protected
; the high mountains around Lake Ia
hoe and the Ruby mountains, the
natural sources of the streams O.
northern Nevada. The protection o.
smaller areas on other high ranges
of the state have now secured to the
streams flowing from them the per
petuity Of their present flow. Inc
government should also extend It's
protection to the lesser branches o.
the Truckee river and especially u
Hunter creek, the partial source o.
Reno's future water supply. u
| Church, Jr.. Phi. d.