Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1911-02-16
EROSIOHs IN SOUTHERN ApPALACHIANS
United States Geological Report Shows ES-
tenSiVe Destruction in Mountain Areas.


southern Appalachians. by L. C. Glenn,
professor of geology in Vanderbilt
University, just published by the United
States Geological Survey, is a timely
contribution to subject now engaging
wide public attention. 1t places in
the hands of those interested in the
best utilization of the great Appalachian
watershed the most authentic and de-
tailed Information yet presented on the
subject. representing as it does the re-
suits of expert field investigation.
The purpose of Prof. Glenn's study
was to note the extent and the effects,
and SC far as possible the causes, of
erosion in the region examined and to
determine the means of preventing the
widespread evil results of unwise agri-
culture and numbering. Accordingly,
he travelled from stream valley to stream
valley through the southern mountains,
noting and recording with great exact
ness hillside and mountain side wash
and wear, soil removal by outlying and
soil burial by overwash, stream clog
ging and stream overflow, the filling of
mill ponds and the wrecking of dams
and bridges, and numerous other evils
that are attributed by many observers,
in large part, to reckless deforestation
and injudicious attempts to cultivate
slopes that are not adapted to agricul-
ture.
Prof. Glenn's studies included parts of
eight States-Pennsylvania. Virginia,
West Virginia, North Carolina South
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Ala
bama. In the course of the study it was
noted that steep slopes formed of certain
rocks could be safely cultivated but that
others, no sleeper, composed of other
different rocks were cultivated with dis
astrous results. Observations were
made of countless gaping chasms started
in steep hillside by the drag of log
''snaked" down from timbered hilltops
-chasms that cave and throw down tim
Der and cause the wash of masses of
gravel and cobblestones over fertile val
ley lands below. Bars and shadows for
med in navigable streams by sand and
gravel loosened far upstream by agricul-
ture and forestry malpractice were no.
ted at hundreds of places and are speci-
fically mentioned in the report.
Accordinging to Prof. Glenn the prob
lens thus studied geologically must find
their solution in methods that relate
largely to forestry and to agriculture.
The agricultural problem involves the
selection of the areas best suited for
agriculture because of fertility and
character of soil and moderate slope of
surface and the study of the ways in
which such areas may best be handled
to prevent their own destruction through
erosion as well as the destruction of
other lands and property by the waste
material they deposit and the floods they
help generate.
Much of the area is not properly sgri-
cultural land and should not be cleared
and forced into agriculturaluse because
that forcing means quick obstruction
both OF the area itself and of the low
Ci-idyihk oAcdo Ol IklS SdulS SIT cdtIlWdyS
Such misuse means also slower but
none the less sure interference with
navigation on the more remote parts of
the major stream systems.
The forester would protect steep
slopes by keeping them clothed with
timber, coax back tree growth on de-
nuded areas, keep down forest fires,
protect and perpetuate the supply of
hard wood, protect the game and fish,
and enhance the beauty and charm of
the region as health and pleasure re-
sort, as we'll as prevent the navigable
streams that flow from these mountains
from filling up with sand and silt whose
removal is now costing annually large
sums of money.
Prof. Glenn gives also an account of a
study made in the basin of Monongahela
River in West Virginia and Pennsylvania
soon after the great flood of March, 1907
which destroyed millions of dollars
worth of property.
The report is published as Professional
Paper u of the United States Geological
Survey, and can be had free by apply
ing to the Director of the Survey at
Washington. 1t consists of 1873 pages
and is illustrated by maps and hslf-tone
plates.