Year: 1879

The Destruction OF our Forests.


OF desolation which is recorded far
back Of the days of Roman or even of
Grecian glory, we read that "a man was
famous according as he had lifted up
axes upon the thick trees" In the days
when American forests were considered
practically limitless, our fathers were
far too famous for lifting up axes upon
the thick trees, and the resultant destruc-
ton is even now upon us like the Phil
lstines upon Samson. This destruction
comes upon us in many forms, most of
which are, in fact, rapidly and terribly
cumulative. Here is beautiful stream
OF water, for example, which was great
element of wealth to the region through
which it flowed, 1t might not only have
continued to be so. but to have gained in
usefulness instead of being either dead
or surely and swiftly passing away. The
numberless little hollows on the hills
where were the springs which grew into
rivulets to feed it have been stripped of
the MISUNDERSTANDING yerdure with
which the Creator clothed them, and so
the springs are dry, and the rills no long
er murmur their once glad songs of labor
as they hastened down the valleys to
turn the mill wheels Of mechanical in
dustry. In this one matter Of destruc-
ton Of hydraulic power with which we
have been already smitten, hundreds Of
millions Of dollars Of annual damage has
been and is the actual result That this
drying up of the streams is attributable
not only chiefly to deforesting, but al
most solely to it, cOmmOn-sense-whi
is, in fact, the very essence of both fact
and philosOphy-must make plain to
every candid mind. Rain feeds the
springs. To feed them economically, it
should be gentle and frequent, not vic
lent and at long intervals, Intelligent
forest engineering would require that
such portion of hills be clothed with a
mantle of green trees as by its cooling in
fuenee it would more frequently so con-
tract the aerial sponge as to give US
showers at short intervals. This is the
case in fOrest-clothed, beautiful
Britain. The reverse is true in
tree-stripped Spain, whose people
have become as prOverbial for
their hatred of trees as their country has
for sterility of soil and sleeping streams
There, and on eastward, all through the
Orient, relentlessly brilliant sky and
an appalling absence Of yerdure will
teach one as nothing else can, how beauti-
full are clouds that weep, and, in its prop
er time, how delicious driZzling rainy
day. These deforested Eastern lands
are as famous for seasons of binding
storms, and valleys torn by terrible tor
rents, as they are for the reverse. They
will soon find their counterpart in all
these characteristics in America, unless
we rouse ourselves with a will to under
stand and to master these evils. Forests
promote streams available for our pre-
ciOus manufacturing interests, also, by
luIIllSDllS NdoI dIlu dlluOob IuuuLlCAdDlO
beds of fallen leaves and of moss, which
act on the earth like huge everything
sponge, to check the sudden rush of the
rainfall into the valleys and down into
the streams. Very rapidly in recent
years are mournful instances multiplying
in which these manufacturing streams
are transformed by freshets from spirits
of blessing-tO give homes and food and
clothing to thousands who live in the


hamlets, by turning the machinery which
helps them by their labor to help them
selves-to demons of destruction For
ests also promote such steadinesS of flow
of the streams as to make them sources
of national wealth in giving employ


ment to skilled labor, by preventing the
rapid evaporation of moisture. PrObab-
ly more than half the water that falls on
a defOrested region in dry season is
whisked off by evaporation Just at the
time when it is most needed to strength
en- the depleted mill-streams. The steam
engine, to be of any practical use as
motive power, must have its action con-
trOlled by the conservative influence OF
the balance-wheel. Otherwise its wheels


would whirl at one time with fury
which would result only in destruction,
and then they would move too slowly to
be Of service. Thus the forest, by in
creasing the frequency of gentle rains,
and so decreasing the volume and the
length of intervals between showers.
also by regulating their too sudden
plunge into the streams, is the great
regulator provided BY nature for their
control in the services of man. All over
the manufacturing portions of our cOun-
try we may find instances where large
amounts of capital have been invested to
develop and make available our once
magnificent and almost numberless hy-
draulic powers. Trusting to what
seemed certainty of employment for
themselves and their families,
thousands of skilled lab0rers have
in many cases cOnfdingly made their
homes at point where the stream SEEM
ed abundantly powerful and permanent,
Then, as the summers came and went
the river seemed to sicken, and grow
more and more feeble, till there would
be \ week or two each year in which the
spindles and the looms would be silent.
As time went on these periods of idle
ness have heightened into months, in
which the labor struggle for bread and
clothing, for means to pay for the hum
BILE little home, or debts incurred in
sickness, was compelled to be suspended
The cause Of all this was that the
sources of the rivers life had been de
stroyed or injured by the ignorance,
eupidity, or recklesSness of men who
lifted up axes on the thick trees far up
the mountains, where the mill-stTeams
had their birth.-G. W. POWELL. in
Harper's Magazine for August