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Forest and Water.

COPYRIGHT
BY
ABBOT KINNEY

B. R. BAUMGARDT, &}CO.
PRINTERS,
Los Angeles, Cal.

ee “ aio
ES ons ame lipoma” eggs 3

GRIZZLY GIANT

Height 234 feet ; diameter 35 feet ; lowest branch 100 teet from soil: Showing how this Species, Sequoia
Gigantea, Dwarfs the other Magnificent Sierra Forest Trees

Forest and Water

BY

ABBOT KINNEY

Vice-President of the American Forestry Association; President of the Southern California
Forest and Water Society; President of the Southern California Academy of Sciences;

AUTHOR OF
“Eucalyptus;” ‘‘Conquest of Death;” ‘‘Tasks by Twilight,” Etc.

With Articles on Allied Subjects

BY
EMINENT EXPERTS

ILLUSTRATED

THE POST PUBLISHING COMPANY,
LOS ANGELES, CAL.
1900

11

CONTENTS

FOR LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS see Pages 249 and 250.

CHAPTER I
Definition and History.

CHAPTER II

Practical Forestry.
CHAPTER III

Origin and Continuance of Forests.
CHAPTER IV

Proportion of Lands in Ferests.
CHAPTER V

Destruction of Forests Admits No Adequate Compensation.
CHAPTER VI

Forest Fires.
CHAPTER VII.

Forest Fire Districts.
CHAPTER VIII.

Pasturage in Forests.
CHAPTER IX

Pasturage in Different Districts.
CHAPTER X

Damage to Forest Lands from Sheep.
CHAPTER XI

Government Control Required to Abate Evils.
CHAPTER XII

The Forest Problem in the West.
CHAPTER XIII

Forests in Relation to Torrents.
CHAPTER XIV

Sources of Water Supply.
CHAPTER XV

A System of Forest Management a Necessity.
CHAPTER XVI

Outline of a Forest System for Southern California.

12 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVII
Physical Qualifications and Condition of Patrol.
CHAPTER XVIII
Dietary in Detail.
CHAPTER XIX
Suggestions to Improve the Efficiency of the Forest Patrol in Southern
California,
CHAPTER XX.
Principal Authorities on the Forest Trees of the California Reserves
and Forest Growths.
CHAPTER XXI
Study of Trees and the Pines.
CHAPTER XXII
Cedar and other Forest Trees.
CHAPTER XXIII
Fish and Game of the Forest Reserves, by C. F. Holder, Author.

CHAPTER XXIV
Some Relations Between Forests and Water Supply, by H. Hawgood,
M. Inst. C. E.
CHAPTER XXV
Practical Irrigation, by S. M. Woodbridge, Ph. D., Director of the
Agricultural Department of the Academy of Sciences of Southern
California.
CHAPTER XXVI
Irrigation in the Southwest, by Jas. D Schuyler, Hydraulic Engineer.

CHAPTER XXVII
The Underground Waters of Southern California, by T.S. Van Dyke,
C. Engineer and Author.
CHAPTER XXVIII
Forest Reservoirs, by Geo. H. Maxwell, Ch. National Irrigation Com.

CHAPTER XXIX

Relation of Stream Flow, and Suspended Sediment Therein, to the
Covering of Drainage Basins, by J. B. Lippincott, Resident
Hydrographer, U. S. Geological Survey.

CHAPTER XXX

Forestry and its Relations to the Water Supply of Sonthern California,

by A. H. Koebig, Consulting Engineer.
CHAPTER XXXI ‘

The Reclamation of Drifting Sand Dunes in Golden Gate Park, by
John McLaren, Supt., and Memorandum from Hon. Wm. Alford,
of San Francisco.

CHAPTER XXXII
Reports from Special Agents on Forest Fires.

13

INTRODVCTION.

There is a notable lack of forest literature in the English language
Recent works on Forestry in English are the ‘Primer of Forestry,”
a public document and a most valuable work by the Government For-
ester, Mr. Gifford Pinchot, and a volume received by us, as this treatise
is going through the press, entitled “North American Forest and For-
estry,” by Ernest Brucken. The circulation of other works has been
inadequate to awaken any general interest. Yet in the Far West,
forestry is closely related to the development and to the life of the
country. The improvements and occupation of the vast empire of the
arid public lands are dependent upon the preservation of the water-
holding power of the forests on the mountains. These are the natural
reservoirs.

In the Western Forests the prevention of torrents and the preserva-
tion of perennial water supply overshadow all other forest questions,
except in the western part of Washington and Oregon and in North-
western California. In these districts the timber supply is paramount.
The rapid exhaustion of the Forests in other portions of the United
States is forcing attention to this rich timber resource. It is a pleas-
ing thing to note that the general tendency throughout this district
is toward a more rationa! and scientific system of lumbering. There
is plenty of room for improvement. The lumbering in these superb
forests has been on most reckless and wasteful methods. The forests
have been cut and burned without regard to the future, neglecting
even present safety.

Sheep packing Forest land so that it sheds water and cannot absorb:
it is demonstrated by the practice formerly prevalent in Southern Cal-
ifornia of puddling and rendering the reservoir bottoms water tight by
driving sheep into the excavations. This method was effective. From
this we can perceive the effect of large bodies of sheep on watersheds.
Fires diminishing water-holding power of mountain water sheds is well
understood by all forest students. There is another effect that has
been recognized in Southern California by a number of careful ob-
servers and carefully checked up. This is the cementing up of our
torrent-cones by the ashes washed down from the mountains after
fires. This detritus fills the interstices of the gravel and sand and

14 INTRODUCTION.

thus allows the water delivered to flow across and beyond the great
natura] reservoirs of our largest springs and streams. These are what
we call the second tier springs. One of the largest of these is a tier
of springs supplying the Los Angeles river and constituting the do-
mestic supply of this large city and of the irrigated vegas to the south.
Whenever a watershed is burned over we see the mountain streams ex-
tend their flow beyond the usual limits because of this channel cement-
ing. Thus on a light rainfall we see streams flowing clear across the
natural reservoir when without such fires only long and continuous
rains produce this result. In this country it is a misfortune to have
storm water fiow off. We want it to sink in so that the perennial
springs can be supplied. It requires a heavy flood rolling the gravel
and boulders about to break these ash-cemented channels up so that
they can again absorb the torrent flow. This is one of the serious
dangers growing out of our mountain forest fires. The watershed
fires affect the first tier of mountain springs disastrously. The reduc-
tion in permanent water flow from these springs by such fires is from
one quarter to three-quarters of the regular supply. Comparing the
flow from the Deer Creek Springs with water-shed unburned with
springs on each side of it and on burned districts for the past two years
of light rains we find a slight shrinkage in the Deer creek supply and
a frightful shrinkage in the springs from the burned water sheds. The
exact figures are: Burned watershed, Cucamonga Canyon—Ordinary
flow, 210 miners’ inches; after fire, reduced to 29 inches. Burned over
and second growth again burned on Alder canyon—Former flow, 6
inches; after fire, 0—or absolutely nothing. Deer creek canyon, un-
burned, ordinary flow, 48 inches; in present dry year flow, 40 inches.

These and other cognate subjects on which I have extensive notes
are more fully discussed in this volume under appropriate heads.

Tree planting in Southern California has been more general than
in any district with which I am acquainted. The entire aspect of the
country has been changed. The objects of the forest tree planting were
for roads, wind breaks and fuel. At present the large eucalyptus
groves have become valuable for piling. The leaves of the Eucalyptus
are also used by several local establishments for the medicinal oil and
for eucalyptol. These trees and the Acacias grow with wonderful
rapidity and insure a fair fuel crop at seven years and a good one at
ten years. 3

The Forest societies of the South have this year started to replant
portions of the burned areas of the Sierra Madre with indigenous

INTRODUCTION. 15

forest. This is being done by seed planting. About seventy thousand
seeds will be set out. This work is in charge of Mr. T. P. Lukens and
immediately under the auspices of the Los Angeles Society.

Mr. T. H. Douglas of the Waukegan Nurseries gives an encouraging
report on forest tree planting in the Middle West. Railroad companies
appear to be the largest planters. Mr. Douglas has been unable to
give me the statistics of forest tree planting in his section, but he
reports the interest to be increasing. This year he says the largest
demand for seedling forest trees within his experience has occurred.

The distinguished writers and engineers who have contributed to
this work speak for themselves in their chapters. Every forest lover
will thank them as I do for their work and co-operation. Special
thanks are due to Prof. W. R. Dudley, holding the chair of Botany
at Stanford University, for his aid in the chapter on trees of the Re-
serves. Dr. John Woodbridge of South Pasadena also receives my
hearty thanks for his arduous work in the detail and editing of this
book.

Los Angeles, September, 1900.

NOTE.

ARIZONA PETRIFIED ForEST.—Lest mistake be made in regard to the
age of the Arizona Petrified Forest alluded to in this work, the following
note is made :

These stone trees of agate, amethyst and other beautiful crystalizations,
that have replaced the wood tissue, grew in the Mesozoic age. Buried in
ancient seas they were covered and petrified. The bed of this ancient ocean
was raised. Untold ages of erosion have brought these beautiful and strange
mementoes of an extinct forest againto light. Geologists estimate that the
age of the petrified trees approximates fifty million years.

‘ayueig uo BIIZIS UL yso104

17

FOREST AND WATER.

CHAPTER: I,

DEFINITION AND HISTORY.

Forestry is a broad term covering the subject of forests in all re-
spects as ihey exist in large outlying and uncultivated districts. (The
Latin Foris—foresta.) Questions of every sort connected with the
natural growth, care and uses of forest trees appeal for answer to the
forester and subjects allied to forestry occupy many fields of thought
and study. « , :

The origin of forestry may have been in man’s instinct. There
was a point beyond which forest destruction was man’s destruction.
Amongst primitive men, game and fish and the natural products of the
forest glades and streams formed their food resources and in fact all
their resources. These resources required large forest areas for their
life and reproduction. This reason for the evolution of an instinct for
forest preservation was.in addition to the less proximate one of the
destruction of the earth’s life-supporting power growing out of undue
forest Genudation.

The instinct in favor of trees was first formulated in primitive re-
ligions. Trees were made sacred in themselves at first and later
groves became sacred to both religion and learning. Religious feeling
favorable to trees is still perpetuated in Gothic architecture. The great
Gothic cathedrals of Europe are in imitation of great forest groves.
Their interiors clearly show this origin. Learning in early times was
a religious monopoly. We have the Greek word “Academy” meaning
a grove to perpetuate the connection of forestry with learning.

In Mediaeval times forestry was perpetuated by the Kings and nobles
for their hunting and pleasure. These forest reserves were found to have

2

18 HISTORY.

other value. Their products could be taken and sold under judicious re-
strictious without injury to them as game preserves or to their per-
manence as forests. Here we find the first evidence of the use of for-
ests as a continuous source of revenue. Both kings and nobles counted
their forests as income bearing resources. The evolution of European
society gradually diminished the value of the feudal system and finally
made it an impediment to human progress. The power of the nobles
went first and that of kings or hereditary rulers is gone in some coun-
tries and with the present social movement continued, will go every-
where. With the elimination of the useful action of the feudal lord
went his fortune also. Forests were sold for court expenses or other
extravagance. ‘l'hese forests were first cut off and then in many cases
entirely destroved as to new growth by continuous sheep pasturing.

RESULTS OF FOREST DESTRUCTION.

Observers and travelers had already commenced to note the serious
results of forest destruction in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Men like Arthur Young have left us accounts of what was happening
in Europe at that time. The center and south of France and Spain
are the principal countries in which injury was then noted as resulting
from forest destruction. The creation of torrents and intensification
of flood action and the reduced navigability of rivers due to deposits
of detritus and diminished perennial flow of water were first observed.
Later came the appreciation of climatic change, especially the increase
of frosts and warm winter spells. These changes continually moved
the northern limit of profitable growing of various fruits and crops to
the south. Amongst the more notable instances of this is the shrink-
age of the olive-growing area in France. At the time of the French
revolution the causes of forest destruction were rapidly increased.
The lands of the nobles were appropriated and forests were cut wher-
ever there was a market for wood. This market was best of course in
those districts with the least wood—the very ones where the forests
were at a minimum and where in many cases the forest cutting meant
total denudation of the water sheds. The results of this forest de-
struction were disastrous in Provence. Districts were depopulated, ex-
tensive productive areas became deserts of wash, boulders and detr.tus
from torrent action and the productive output of the district was ma-
terially diminished. It was a series of such serious results that finally
forced the great central European powers into a rational system of
forestry. Commencing with France forestry has spread even to India

CHAPTER I. 19

and Australia. Canada has a fair forest system. In fact about the
only civilized country in the world today without a forest system is
the United States of America.

SYSTEMATIC FORESTRY REQUIRED.

The attention of Central Europe once attracted to the need of ra-
tional forestry the students of forest conditions commenced to note
the disastrous results of undue forest denudation in Persia, Palestine,
Macedonia, Greece and North Africa. Every series of observations
showed the need of rational forestry. It is now admitted to be estab-
Lished that every country requires a certain proportion of its territory
to be reserved in forest for the highest productive agricultural results.

This proportion to preserve in forest varies with the topography and
climate of the country. As to Europe, it is now the accepted opinion

that the minimum forest area requisite for the largest agricultural pro-
duce of the whole country is one quarter. Southern California, like all
of our semi-arid territory, has far less than this proportion of forest
and has immense desert territory in proportion to its productive area.
We certainly cannot safely reduce our forest area at all.

In the United States forestry has been discursively discussed since
1834 and even earlier. In 1885 California established a State Board of
Forestry. This was an attempt in the United States to deal practically
with forestry. This board did a great deal of good work. Amongst the
things it accomplished were the following: Making forest maps of
the State based on actual surveys; botanical and popular account of
all native trees of California; examination of lumbering; methods
and saw value of timber; presentation of results of torrent action
and reduced springs consequent upon forest fires in Southern California;
introduction of exotic trees suited to California, especially species of
eucalyptus; arrest and prosecution of those starting forest fires;
stopping ot unauthorized timber cutting on public lands.

Under Governor Waterman the Board of Forestry was used for
the reward of political partisans and neglected forestry entirely. The
board was shortly after abolished and its experimental forest stations
and property were turned over to the University of California. Noth-
ing has been done for forestry by the State since, but the work done by
the State Board did great good. Its efforts helped the movement
which has resulted in the reservation by the Federal government of
nearly all the important mountain’ water-sheds south of Lake Tahoe

No. 2

The Forest at Mt. Shasta.
No. 1 is from a photo taken in 1887, Before Lumbering. No. 2 was taken in 1892, After Lumbering.
By courtesy of W. H. Mills, Esq.

CHAPTER I. 21

in California as forest reserves. Jast year (1898) was the first time
that the Federal government has recognized its duty to manage and
care for these reserves. While the patrol appointed under the usual
political methods was imperfectly crganized and not effective, still it
was a step in the recognition of a plain duty.

We have opened in Los Angeles this year (1899) the first forest
school in California; the first on the Pacific Slope, the first west of
the Alleghenies. It is an auspicious event and hopefully the pre-
cursor of a new era. It is high time for us to make a study of our
forests and of their importance and proper treatment. We are without
foresters in America. We need foresters.

The forest conditions of California and the arid West are different
from those in any other country. They are entirely different from
those of the Adirondacks where the Cornell students are studying and
where they will be employed. They are different from those of Bilt-
more, N. C., where apprentices are taking up forest work. Our condi-
tions both of water-sheds and forests, of climate and government or-
ganization are so different from those of Europe that an educated for-
ester fitted for European work would have to learn much of his busi-
ress over again to be fitted for California work. There is then a need
of foresters educated to meet California and Western conditions.
There is from this fact the promise cz a career to young men in taking
up this work. The study of Forestry ought to find a place in every
State of the Union.

Next year we hope to have the students of the Los Angeles school
recognized and made the basis of the local forest patrol.

22

CHAP IE: 1,

PRACTICAL FORESTRY.

ADVANTAGES OF FORESTED WATER-SHEDS.

Forestry has two distinct objects:

1st. The management of the forest so as to secure the largest
returns consistent with permanence of crop. Under such a system
the ripe timber is judiciously marketed and the other products econom-
ically treated.

2nd. The guarding of water-sheds as natural forest reservoirs
to secure perennial flow of springs and streams and to prevent torrent
and flood action.

A denuded water-shed delivers the rainfall on it suddenly
and always with detritus, such as sand, gravel and boulders. This
fills the lower channels and is often deposited upon agricultural lands
to their great damage. This is the feature of forestry that is of para-
mount importance to Southern California and to much of the
arid West. To these main objects of forestry there are cog-
nate interests that may properly come within the scope of
forestry. Of these the provision for mountain’ resorts and
for the preservation of fish and game are of importance to us. But
the most important is the storing of the surplus winter rains in arti-
ficial reservoirs. The Federal government is committed to this action.
It has reserved numerous reservoir sites in Southern California from
sale and private development. It is consequently bound to go on and
provide these reservoirs for the development of the country. Under a
judicious land policy this can be dcne without any permanent cost.

‘lhe increased value of otherwise desert lands will pay for the reser-
voirs.

CHAPTER II. 23

FOREST DESTRUCTION AFFECTING RAINFALL,

Amongst matters that must be considered in the study of forestry
is the effect of forest destruction upon the rainfall. This is still an
open question. Does forest destruction diminish the rainfall is
cne question, and another in this connection is: Does forest destruc-
tion change the character of the rainfall? Does the rainfall in denuded
districts become more diluvial than when these were forested? Other
questions for our study and investigation are: The delivery of rain-
fall through forest leaves and branches to the soil; the evaporation
area; the retentive power for water of the forest soil mixed with
humus; the detaining effect upon rainfall off-flow of forest humus,
leaves and roots; the electrical effects of forests; the chemical ef-
fects upon air and soil of forests; the climatic effects of forests; the
radiation of heat from forested as compared with bare areas; the ef-
fect of forests on winds; botany, geology and biology all come into
the study of forestry. Replanting desolated districts and the selection
of trees for these must not be overlooked.

QUESTION OF TORRENTS.

The immediate and paramount question for us now in Southern
California is the prevention and extinction of forest fires. A close sec-
ond to this is the management of torrents already created and the
Prevention of these in the water-sheds where they arise. In the Austrian
Tyrol the policy of diking and valley protection has been followed to
deal with the dangerous torrents, while in France the policy has
been more to extinguish the torrent by dealing with its source. These
methods we will contrast. In dealing with all these subjects remember
that it is our own eyes with which we see. We have the opportunity
like all students of increasing our horizon by mounting on the shoul-
ders of those who seek to instruct us. Or to take another simile. They
who address us are in resemblance to sign boards on roads. They point
the way, we hope the best and shortest way to the goal, but it is we
ourselves who travel the road. We will never reach the goal by simply
sitting and studying the sign boards.

I have been around the world, yet I have never seen elsewhere a
union cf fertile soil, steep boundary mountains, delightful climate and
light rain*all with periodic diluvial downpours such as exists in South-
ern California, nor have I seen elsewhere any land so clearly demanding
protection and management of mountain forests. Forestry here means
the iife of the community.

Redlands Rescued from the Desert by Irrigation from the Sierra.

25

CHAPTER III.

ORIGIN AND CONTINUANCE OF FORESTS.

In the study of forestry it becomes a matter of interest to inquire
into the conditions under which a forest can come into existence. The
theory of evolution takes us back to the single cell from which to im-
agine the building up of cells and combinations of cells into our tree
growths as a preliminary to past and present forests. A long and in-
teresting inquiry opens along these lines. While the evolution of our
trees from s.:mple vegetable forms or from the cell is not proven the
theory follows the lines of least mental resistance. Besides this, evo-
lution offers us a reasonable hope for further development and im-
provement for life especially in its human form. This adds greatly to
the attractiveness of the theory. If life has evolved from the single
cell to the present varied and complex forms it is easier to assume
further progress than to assume that life has reached its highest
limit. With this doctrine we have a just expectation of better things
for our descendants if not for ourselves.

The first land that appeared in this world could not have
had forests on it “ab initio.” We must take a mental flight
from the times of the first appearance of land, covering
aeons of time, before we can arrive at forests like those we
now have. The erosions and vicissitudes of tide, flood and tornado in
the earliest history of the earth’s land would of themselves preclude
at that time the possibility of any forests whatever. We are forced to
the opinion that great extremes in these matters of air and water
movement existed. How vegetat:on first had a start and hold on land
is an interesting subject for speculation. It is probable that the con-
ditions under which the earth’s life, including vegetable life, took its
evolutionary initial movements no longer exist. Th:s presumption is
probable as to all present forms of life. If the world was without life
today it is reasonable to assume that any life developed would be in

26 FOREST RENEWAL.

entirely different form from forms now existing. In fact the earth
has probably passed the point where life could orig:nate at all. The
first conditions under which vegetation occurred were doubtless such
as to have proved fatal to later and especially to present forms. It is
not only the extraordinary tidal action and storm power but also a
probable difference in the chemical composition of the atmosphere that
would have made primit.ve conditions fatal to present forms. Tne vio-
lent and frequent upheavals and subsidences that the location of the
coal strata demonstrate to have taken place during the carboniferous
epoch indicate a rapid growing and dense forest and one taking pos-
session of new soil easily. These coal forests were of a different char-
acter of growth from any forest now existing. They were probably
produced on alluvial deltas subject to elevation and submergence and
to a co.ncident heavy deposit of detritus during the periods of subsi-
dence. Thus the fern like forests grew, were destroyed, were covered
with rock-making detritus, were compressed and carbonized and then
the delta elevated above water again produced forests; and again going
through such histories we find veins of coal alternating with veins of
rock one above another. We can then feel confident from the rock ree-
ords of the coal forests that a forest destroyed may be renewed by
natural means. In fact we know that in most forested districts a mere
absence of human action will insure a new forest growth. Perhaps
this growth will not be as valuable as the primeval forests but for its
effects in conserving the water holding power of water-sheds there
would be little if any difference. Man by aiding nature can increase

the certainty and rapidity of reforestation. He can also secure a more
valuable crop and determine what the forest shall be within limits.

A FOREST DESTROYED MAY NOT ADM.T OF RENEWAL.

We noted the presumption that conditions in the world were chang-
ing. However slow these changes are we cannot escape from the conclu-
sion that changes are going on. There comes a time then when condi-
tions may be so close to the limit of permitting forest life that a very
slight change may determine the issue. The change may be so slight
that nan or animals may make it. That a time does come in changes
of climate and perhaps in other conditions when a forest destroyed can-
not renew itself nor be replaced by any growth is subject to positive
demonstration. I have visited two petrified forests in which the stone
trees lay thick on the desolate desert valleys. ‘These petrified trees

Petrified Korest in an Arizona Desert Demonstrating Former Presence of Forest there.

28 PETRIFIED FORESTS.

produced beaut.ful sections when cut and polished. One such petrified
forest is in the Sahara in Africa and the other in the Territory of Ari-
zona. In these cases forests had existed where there is now only desert.

A modern instance of somewhat’ similar purport is
the burnt and dead forest on a southeast spur of San Bernardino.
This forest was killed by fire nearly fifty years ago. It is now without
renewal. Valuable forms of our forest vegetation in Southern Cali-
fornia probably had their origin somewhere else and have been intro-
duced here from the north. It is reasonable to assume that all forest
forms were evolved on comparatively level plains and that mountain
forms have been modified by slow elevation and change of climate and
condition. In most parts of Southern California we are too near the
edge of conditions favorable to forest growth to take any chances on
allow.ng important forests to be destroyed. All our forests are on
steep watersheds, all are of the highest importance and therefore with
us the demand is for the preservation of all our forests.

Arizona Desert Native Growth.

30

CHAPTER. TY,

PROPORTION OF LANDS IN FORESTS.

In most countries it is reasonable to examine the area occupied by
forests with a vicw to an intelligent determination of how much land is
to be or should remain permanently cleared to secure the largest agri-
cultural returns. We have seen that in the countries of the temperate
zone this question has been looked into with the average result of a de-
termination that one-fourth of the total area should be in forest for the
highest crop results. This determination is without regard to the agri-
cultural value of the land held in forest. In other words one hundred
million acres of agricultural land in a body would produce more annual
crop for periods of ten years with one-quarter in forest than all under
the plow. Topography and climate alter these judgments. An amount
of clearing on level land that would be advantageous to the general
producing power would on steep mountains like our Sierra Madre be
without any possible benefit and would be certain to increase torrent
action and diminish springs, and so diminish the output of the true
agricultural lands.

If we should take the east line of the principal mountain chains of
Southern California and consider the land between this and the Pacific
ocean we will realize what a large proportion is unavailable for agri-
culture because of its mountainous character. Part of these
mountains is covered with chaparral or brush; part is in
trees and another part is either very scantily and scatteringly
covered with brush growth or is bare of any vverdure at
all. The nearer the sea, other things being eaual, the denser the
growth. This growth is usually brush on the lower hills and moun-
tains. On the higher levels open forests of spruce, pine, fir and cedar
exist. The golden live oak is prominent on the lower edge of these
forests and is replaced by the black oak higher up. Portions of this
mountain area, always above the four-thousand-foot level, show a prom-
ising tendency to renew themselves in forest when occasion occurs to

Sierra Madre Range. This Range is as devoid of Level Land as any Range in the World.

22 PROPORTION OF FOREST LANDS.

invite it. Over another section the tendency is for brush to take the
place of trees destroyed. This is also the case in considerable sections
of the Sierra Nevada on the east face of the range. Again there are
Cistricts in which the reproductive power of trees and brush are both
weak or are entirely absent. The nearer the desert the more this
reproductive weakness is noticed. On the east side of the mountains
of Southern California the State is desert with an occasional oasis.
This desert may be divided into two broad divisions.

Ist. The high plateau of the Mojave. In this desert the rainfall
is greater than in the Colorado. Some years there is considerable feed.
Toward the west the rainfall is from time to time sufficient for field
crops. The extremes of temperature are very considerable. This
desert is both very hot at times and very cold at other times. Irri-
gation has been commenced in several sections of the Mojave. The
streams used come from the forest reserves. Big and Little Rock creek
and the Mojave river are the ones used.

2d. The Colorado desert. This is much lower than the Mo-
jave—considerable areas being below sea level—and while hot
for eight months it is not so subject to cold. There is great
promise for parts of this desert to become productive. These parts are
ailuvial depos.ts of the Colorado river and to them its waters can be
conducted. There are also districts in this desert with artesian water
and others subject to development by streams like the Whitewater.

ALL AVAILABLE FOREST LANDS REQUIRED FOR IRRIGATION.

Taking the north line of Santa Barbara and Ventura counties con-
tinued northeasterly along the summit of the Tehachapi range to the
north line of San Bernardino county and thence to the Colorado river as
being the natural north line of Southern California we will consider this
territory as segregated from the rest of the State. It requires special
consideration. About one-ninth of this territory under present condi-
tions is susceptible of profitable crop bearing. The large results from
this comparatively small area under plow amounting now with a fair
rainfall to about 25 million dollars a year indicate the value of our
Geep lands, sunshine, mild climate and system of irrigation in giving
profitable agricultural returns and large product from a smail district.
Two-thirds of the area is desert. One-sixth is in forest, including
brush from 4 to 15 feet high. We are thus seen to have already far
less than the proportion we should have in forest for the temperate

Backbone of Sierra Nevada.

34 FOREST PROPORTION.

region. Besides this we are on the limit of sufficient rainfall which
condition should call for a higher forest proportion than that accepted
for districts with larger rainfall; a proportion limited practically by
the possibilities of forest growth in the Southern California Sierras.
The topography is mountainous with many small and a few large val-
leys. The forests are all on the mountains. This is where the forests
should be and is where they are most needed and can do the most
good. In our steep Sierras with heavier rainfall than that o1 the val-
leys it is of the highest importance to preserve and extend the forest
covering to secure a perennial delivery of the season’s rainfall and to
prevent the rainfall from becoming destructive in flood and torrent.
None of these mountain forest lands are available for agriculture.
There are valleys here and there in the mountains with meadows or
capable of supporting a few fruit trees such as the apple but in a gen-
eral way there are no mountain ranges in the world with less possibility
of agriculture than the Sierra Madre.

CHAPTER V.

DESTRUCTION OF FORESTS ADMITS NO ADEQUATE
COMPENSATION.

The destruction of our forests began with the earliest settlement,
when our forefathers first landed on the Atlantic coast. They must
clear the trees from the land in order to grow crops for food, and there
was no way the ground could be cleared so cheaply and quickly as by
fire. This method was adopted, and no effort whatever was thought
necessary to confine the fire to the little farm, but the destroying ele-
ment was allowed to burn itself out. They believed the forests were
inexhaustible, and there was formed the habit in America of destroy-
ing the forests. Notes of warning have been frequently sounded by
thoughtful, observing men, in the past thirty years, that the supply
of lumber would soon be exhausted, unless greater care be exercised
in preventing waste, especially by fire, and that a tree should be planted
for every one removed or destroyed. Thus the impression is held by
many that the commercial value of the forests alone is to be considered,
when in point of fact, the loss to the agricultural interests, especially
in the arid and sub-arid regions is far greater than could possibly be
from a commercial standpoint. Many substitutes are found for the
uses to which lumber is put, but the certain diminution of the rainfall
following the destruction of the forest covering, means the failure of
crops. The mountains covered with trees and brush are the natural
and best conservers of water, but denuded, are a dangerous factor.
While the rain fall will be much less, it will descend in torrents, but
little remaining to percolate into the mountains to supply our springs
for irrigation. There are so many illustrations of this, that nearly all
agree to it.

35 DANGERS FROM FOREST DESTRUCTION.

A writer recently cited the fact that many of the eastern rivers
flooded their banks nearly every year, doing great damage to property,
while in the rainless part of the year the same streams are fordable
where they were once navigable for large steamers. The cause was
plainly apparent when investigation was made along these streams,
and especially in the mountainous regions at their sources. The for-
est covering had been removed, and there was nothing to hold the
rains in check, conseauently the floods,—and nothing to shelter the
surface from the evaporating winds and sun, consequently the scarcity
of water in the streams out of the rainy season. And the farm that
half a century ago produced a good crop nine years out of ten, now
1s producing one good crop in three, owing to the lessened and irregu-
lar rainfall, caused by the destruction of the forest covering.

The great destroyer of forests is fire, and it must be prevented.
Next to fire, sheep; where they are permitted to range in our moun-
tains, especially where it is precipitous, they do untold damage. Ther
not only eat or trample to death every living thing, but they stari
rocks rolling down the steep slopes, until every little shelf where soil
had begun to accumulate, and had given a home to a tree seed, is
lLroken and tumbled, until the whole steep surface is smooth with no
lodgments, nothing but a thick, smooth surface for the rains and melt-
ing snows to gully and run over, leaving no water for summer use.
Jn a country where there is excessive rainfall, extending over the
greater portion of the year, as in Oregon, it matters less, but in South-
ern California, where our rain fall is slight, and the sunshine so pre-
dominant, it is useless to attempt to re-forest our mountains, if sheep
are permitted to be upon them. There is no possible excuse for fires
in our mountains; every fire that is permitted to get out and destroy
the mountain covering, is the result of criminal carelessness, and can
be prevented in a great measure by inflicting severe punishment for
every offense. But when the growth has been destroyed, however rep-
rehensible the act which caused it, there should be no time lost in re-
planting.

It is as practical to re-forest our mountains as it is to re-stock with
fish our depleted streams, though much more expensive. The German
government has found it directly profitable, or at least self-supporting.

The seed will be planted generously at first, and as the trees be-
gin to crowd each other, a portion can be removed, with benefit to the
whole.

While there is a struggle for supremacy in the growth of any one

Overlooking Grand Canyon of the Colorado, Showing the Wild aud Desolate Claracter cf the Country in that Region.

38 FOREST DESTRUCTION,

species, there is a far greater struggle between different species; there
fore, the best results can be attained by planting the species apart ,and
before this struggle becomes pronounced, they must be assisted with
good judgment so as not to retard growth by over-crowding, but the
value of keeping the entire surface covered is apparent, to protect from
the winds, and to prevent the growth of inflammable brush. The im-
portance of quickly covering the area made naked by the fire must be
apparent, for the winds and floods will in a decade or two have re-
moved the little soil that escaped destruction, leaving naught but bare
rock.

It would be folly to plant any species not indigenous to the locality,
or to similar conditions as to character of soil, altitude, climate etc.

NO REASON FOR DESTROYING THE FORESTS

There is no interest here in Southern California asking for or
seeking the destruction of our forests. The policy suggested by some
Northern persons of constant consecutive fire setting in the mountains
on the claim that an annual forest fire does little or no damage and
that fire cannot be kept out of public forests entirely and that there-
fore where the fire is not annual it must be more destructive has no
hearing on Southern California. Our forests are largely chaparral.
Fire destroys this brush if repeated twice after short intervals. The
chaparrai once destroyed we have bare and arid hills and mountains.
Artificial planting or impossible periods of years for renewed soil and
renewed growth are our only hope after successive fires kill the brush
roots. Whatever interest this fire sett.ng theory may develop for oth-
er sections it can have none for us. Southern California has no capital
or body of people asking for the destruction of the forests or excusing
any of the practices that are deemed injurious to them. On the other
hand we have for the primary friends of forestry every resort owner
in or near the mountains, such as the Alpine Tavern, Mt. Wilson, San
Antonio Canyon, Squirrel Inn, Seven Oaks, Bear Valley, Fredalba,
Strawberry Valley, etc.; we have every irrigating and domestic water
company and every power company representing millions of money
and the prosperity of 300,000 people. As secondary friends every city,
colony and fruit orchard, every valley land owner, merchant and every
city and transportation company is vitally interested in the preserva-
tion of our mountain water sheds. This means the preservation of the
productive power of the country and consequently of its power to sup-
port all the interests in it.

CHAPTER V. 39

Without enemies and with nothing but friends forestry ought to
have a progress and place in this community held by it nowhere else.
The policy of Southern California is perfectly clear. We must pre-
serve our forests. Without hostile interests, with no great combines
of vested right to do a wrong against a rational forest management, we
have only to make these facts clear to the federal authorities and to
overcome the inertia of official routine to succeed in our work. The
cost need not be large for such management. Less money than was
spent last year in putting out fires by the Federal government could
have entirely prevented any serious forest fires that season. The sys-
vem of permit and patrol will do it. The beauty of our country is no
negligible quantity. We hold in Southern California something in cli-
mate as near perfection as humanity can hope for on earth. Not only
do we offer cities of refuge from the relentless frost king to the winter
frozen world, but we also offer the unique condition of delightful
refuges from the fiery breath of the desert and the long fatiguing heats
of the interior. It is estimated that climate tourists spend about ten
million dollars a year in Southern California. To these people the
beauties of California are no small part of the charm that attracts.
Let us assume that the conditions now present on some spurs of our
Sierras and due to fire were general to all the ranges. Then we should
have hill, Sierra and peak an arid desolation showing a blackened face
to the sun. Compare this with brush covered mountains with the
canyons lovely and picturesque and the higher districts well forested
with spruce, pine and fir. For beauty alone and beauty considered
only as a commerc:al asset we should put an end to the folly of forest
fires.

SAB) YOY B MOI uaye}] se ‘Vuoziay Jo yasaCT

41

CHAPTER Wi.

FOREST FIRES.

Fire is more dreaded than any other destroying agent by those
interested in forests. Fire is more dreaded in fact than all other forest
destroying agencies put together, though in California forest fires are
regarded differently by different classes. It is well for the forester to
have some knowledge on this subject.

WHO OPPOSE FOREST FIRES.

The following enumeration has exceptions but may in general
be deemed fairly accurate. he student, philosopher and statesman
are all opposed to forest fires. All water companies, all irrigators and
all water power companies are opposed to forest fires; all mountain
resort owners are opposed to forest fires; all residents and land owners
along rivers subject to overflow or used in navigation or on dry washes
and torrent beds are opposed to forest fires. Railroad owners are op-
posed to forest fires, but are not active friends of the forest. News-
paper men have recently enlisted as active friends of the forest and are
consequently hostile to forest fires. The farmer is opposed to forest
fires, but without much enthusiasm. The general body of the people
is hostile to forest fires and favorable to forest preservation; usually
more for sentimental and aesthetic reasons than for economic ones.
Lumber men are as a rule opposed to forest fires.* Miners are hostile

*Location and climate modify their interest in respect to fires. In the
redwood district, for instance, fire set after the trees selected are felled
is a part of the lumbering process. The climate is there cool and damp,
the green redwood timber will not burn and the undergrowth that will
burn is dense. In that district, therefore, the danger to merchantable
timber cut or uncut is stight and the clearing by fire of the under-
growth facilitates the mill man’s work. The redwood belt condition
is exceptional. Owing to the practice of firing as a part of lumbering

42 FOREST FIRES.

to forest fires and actively say so. Placer mines are of course espe-
cially so. These all depend on the water in the streams or stored in
their reservo.rs and conducted scmetimes 50 and 60 miles to be used for
the continuance of their business. The prospector, however, sometimes
sets forest and brush fires the better to study a country. Outside of
this one interest of study in a new district the prospector is also ex-
tremely hostile to forest fires. He loses feed for his horse or burro.
Pot hunters sometimes set fires to move game. These people are, how-
ever, scarce in California and confined almost entirely to duck and
bird shooting. Sportsmen are all opposed to forest fires. Cattle and
horse owners and herders are as a rule against forest fires. They
usually own more or less land in the districts where their animals
graze and consequently have an interest in other forest lands on ac-
count of their own holdings. These herders are for the most part in-
telligent men and very rarely live less than two or three together. Oc-
casionally the cattleman sets fire to brush hills to improve cattle feed.
A few cases are reported of cattle men setting fires in the Sierra and
in the San Bernardino range for revenge against other mountain occu-
pants. Sheep owners are opposed to early season forest fires but some
advocate and instruct herders to burn off districts in the mountains
after the sheep are taken out in the fall. The herder of sheep is a
careless and irresponsible person living alone and from his habits and
indifference the probable source of more forest fires than all other
causes put together. Tourists and campers are opposed to forest fires
but are often careless and cause much damage.

It is seen by this resume that the forester has after all only a small
and unimportant element that is now favorau.e or even neutral on for-
est fires. On the other hand the largest and most powerful interests
are opposed to forest fires and some of these are intensely opposed to
forest destruction by fire or otherwise.

After scientific study and a demonstration of what is best for the
mountain forests, for their highest use and for the protection of min-
ing and agriculture from water famines or injurious floods we may

in the redwoods there are in that tree belt some of the ugliest scenes
of forest desolation to be found anywhere. I have visited lumbering
districts amongst the redwoods that made one think of the wreck of
the world. A great deal of lumbering in this country is still done upon
King Louis’ doctrine—‘‘after me the deluge.” In these cases the lands
are cut over and abandoned to the tax collector.

Forest Fire in the Sierra Madre. Photograph taken Ten Miles from the Fire.

4} FOREST FIRES.

reasonably assume that the forester will find no class in favor of the
irresponsibly-set forest fires of the present. Forest fires today are
the outgrowth of ignorance, reckless indifference or criminality.

HOW FOREST FIRES ORIGINATE.

In the Eastern and in the Southern States especially locomotives
often originate forest fires. This is seldom the case in California. The
d.fference is due to the following points:

1st. FUEL: This in California is nearly all coal or petroleum.
Where wood is used the districts are the least dry in which railroads
run.

2nd. CLIMATE: The long season of sunshine and absence of
rain renders everything in California very dry. Field crops are dry
before gathering especially the vast acreage in grain is every summer
especially liable to fire. For this reason railroads running through
these districts are unusually careful about cinders and fire from their
locomotives.

3rd. The care required to protect bridges, culverts, trestles, t:m-
bered tunnels and snow sheds protects the forests also. The locomo-
tive is not an important source of forest fires in California.

The causes of forest fires in California are estimated to be as fol-
lows:

1st. Sheep herders, mainly carelessness, also to improve feed for
next year.

2nd. Campers—carelessness.

8rd. Mountain residents to clear off undergrowth and improve
feed for small local bands of animals.

4th. Stockmen—same.

5th. Var_ous persons for malice or revenge.

The reports in regard to some of the temporary fire patrols, both
of last year’s government forces and of some of those sent out the year
before by water companies along the Sierra Madre, invite us to add
another cause for forest fires. This is the irresponsible political
loafer about street corners, setting forest fires to get a job to put out
forest fires. No proof of this has been adduced, but there is a good
deal of cumulative circumstantial evidence that forest fires were set and
were reset or renewed by those seeking to be or in the government pay
as fire extinguishers. This cause, as far as it exists, will be eliminated
by a proper organization of the forest patrol force.

Forest Fire in Sierra Madre Mountains, July 22, 1900. Taken Twenty-five miles from fire.
Prof, A. J. McClatchie, Photographer.

46

CHAPTER VII.

FOREST FIRE DISTRICTS.

From a forest fire point of view, California should be divided into
at least three districts, viz.:

lst. The Redwood belt, along the Northern Coast.

2nd. The Sierra Nevada.

3rd. The forests of Southern California.

The first district is in private hands and has no government
reserves. The climate and principal tree growth be_ng less dominated
or subject to fire than our other forest climates and woods, remove
this district from as immediate an interest to the forester on this

subject as the other two have. For our Southern ranges in general,
fire prevention is our only policy.

THE SECOND-AND THIRD DISTRICTS CONSIDERED TOGETHER.

The statements of early visitors to these forests, the statements
of Indians, and the condition of the forests, all go to show that the
indians habitually and regularly burnt the forest floor of parts of the
Sierra Nevada. In the Yosemite Valley, where there are black oaks
the acorns of which are sought by the Indians for food, there was a
regular Indian clearing system. Every autumn the valley was put
under the charge of four captains by the chief for the purpose of
burning it over. When the whites first visited the valley they found
il an open meadow, with only a few large trees in it. Under the whites
the fires have been kept out. ‘I'he result is an invasion by the forest
into the valley. Entire sections have grown up to dense forest, and
from year to year the remaining meadows were encroached on until
some disappeared and all were reduced. This continued until the
views in the valley were much masked. The landscape treatment
necessary for a park like the Yosemite demanded that the views should
be opened. Two years ago the State undertook this landscape work,
<pending about seven thousand dollars in the most important clearings.

‘sAlasay Peliqey ues ‘arty isyelyeredeyg

48 FIRE DISTRICTS.

This did much for the beauty of the valley, and was essential long
before it was commenced. In the Hetch-Hetchy valley, a similar
granite chasm near the Yosemite, the old clearing method was con-
tinued much longer than in the Yosemite, and after the Ind.an rule
heavy stock pasture continued tc keep the trees down. In that valley
the meadows have remained open as they were at first. It is less
certainly reported that the Indians, at least every few years, burned
over the forest growth both in the Sierra Nevada, in the oak groves
in the valleys, and also in parts of the high Southern Sierra. I have
known the Indians fire the pinyon pine groves late in the fall on the
San Bernardino range. At General Bidwell’s ranch near Chico, Cal.,
there was a few years ago, on my last visit, a large field fenced in that
had been thus protected for a long time, forty or more years I think
the General told me. The field originally had been one of the beautiful
open groves of large oaks which are such a striking feature in certa.n
of the California valleys. After the fencing a dense growth of young
oaks came up. While of the same species, these young trees grew tall
and straight, and were in marked contrast to the old trees, heavily
branched, still standing amongst them. The young oaks were thick,
while the large old ones stood from 60 to 200 feet apart.

The old-timers report that all of the Sierra Nevada forests were
open park-like forests, with many meadows and extensive breaks in
continuity when they first saw them. Much of the Sierra Nevada forest
is still in this form. A great deal of forest territory, however, has a
heavy growth of young trees packed closely together under the old
ones. This new growth is too thick to make good timber, and is often so
dense as to be impenetrable to a man on horseback. Nearly all the
raountain meadows and nearly all the old breaks in the National
Yosemite Park, where the military patrol has kept out sheep, are
being encroached on by forest trees—mainly tamarack. These facts
demonstrate that the absence of fires in the forest tends to produce
over the central and main timber belt of the Sierra a heavy new growth
of coniferous trees. The absence of sheep and fires increases the area
and density of the forest in the mountain areas affected. This is
probably also the case in the oak lands and lands damp enough for
tree growth in the valleys. The presumption from these facts is that
the park and grove-like growth of the forests of California when first
noted by civilized man, was not a natural growth, but was due to the
Indian practice of more or less regular firing prolonged over an indefi-

Bima

Third Day of same Fireas seen trom Martin’s Camp. Point of Commencement on Extreme Left

50 FIRES.

nite period of time. A second presumption is that as a tree died from
age, disease, or other cause, no new tree could take its place on account
of the system of forest burning. Therefore, what had made the valley
groves cpen and the monntain forests park-like, would finally have
destroyed the forests and exterminated them entirely. If we undertake
to imagine the open forests of the Sierra to have been produced by
this constant burning, we cannot escape from assuming a long period
of time for the production of the result. We cannot but believe that
the present features of forest reproduction in the Sierra have existed
since the species of trees now prevailing existed. From this we can
realize the time of the process likely to have been necessary to
rroduce the present Sierra Nevada forest. A confirmation of the
cpinion that the open meadows and park-like forests of the Sierra
were produced by Indian burnirg of the forests is found in the oak
openings of the central western states, including Tennessee and
Kentucky. When the Indians were driven out, and the annual fires
set by them late in the fall in.these oak openings ceased, the openings
grew up to forest just like other surrounding woods. The strong
reproductive power of the Sierra Nevada forest, especially throughout
the main timber belt, and the way the young trees come up when
sheep and fires are kept out, practically force the opinion upon us
that the open mountain meadow and open forest are the result of
man’s work. There is a well-known tendency in dry climates for
arboreal vegetation to be scatiering and open. This is reasonably
assumed to be due to lack of sufficient moisture to support any denser
natural growth than exists. In the Sierra foothills we can see this
illustrated. The point where trees first commence in these foothills
always shows a very scattering open growth that cannot be considered
a forest. As the elevation of the hills increases the rainfall increases
and the heat diminishes. The tree growth shows the change of climate
by an increased density of growth and increased value of timber up
to from six to eight thousand feet elevation. At or near the latter
elevation conditions become less favorable for trees generally. That
point passed, inferior timber varieties take the place of the great
Sierra timber trees. This can also be seen in the cross-range of the
Tehachapi, where the rainfall is less than in the Sierra Nevada. The
tree growth is less dense and of less valuable species at the same
elevation in this range. A large proportion of the Australian forests
‘have this open form of growth. We should from these facts reserve
cur judgment on the cause of the open character generally of the

Burned Forest on Right Showing Fire Line to Unburned Trees.

52 FIRE DISTRICTS.

California forests. A long period of survival of the most hardy trees
to drought, or the most favorably situated individuals, might produce
the same final results of an open forest that the known Ind.ans’ regular
firing of the forests did in certain valleys, like the Yosemite. The
best demonstrated effects of regular forest fires by Indians are in the
Sierra Nevada valleys, where the oaks grow producing the favorite
acorns of the Indians. Of these the Yosemite is an illustration of
what happens when the firing is stopped, and the Hetch-Hetchy of what
happens when it is not. The fire means shrinkage of the forest area,
with probable final forest extermination. We cannot, therefore, join
with some of the old mountaineers of observant qualities in the
opinion that a forest firing by sections to secure, within, say, six years,
the burning over of the entire area, would be a proper forest policy
for the Sierra Nevada. Besides the general objection to this so-called
Indian system, there is the expense and damage that would inevitably
accompany it. Private interests, mines, ranches, lumber mills, indi-
vidual holdings, fences, resorts, and even towns, are scattered through
the forest districts. These interests are now so general and so much
threatened by forest fires that any large forest fire is sure to secure
a body of local volunteers to confine or extinguish it. Should the
government set such fires it would be responsible for any damage that
might be done. There are, however, belts of forest, and especially
places on ridges and spurs, that could be safely burned over in the
late fall, and after the first rains, without local damage or danger of
the fire’s escape. Such burned-over districts or ridges would constitute
fire breaks. Without recommending definitively such a system for the
Sierra Nevada, I am inclined to the opinion that along judiciously laid
lines, with a view to the use of the natural topography, fire breaks
can best be made by fire. The accumulation of dead wood, windfalls,
etc., together with the increase of undergrowth now noticeable in the
Sierra Nevada forests, demand fire breaks as a part of any effective
forest system. The only other way to obtain these is by hand clearing
of the inflammable matter along the lines selected. Even then the
piles of waste could not be practically disposed of without fires. The
cost would be far greater by hand clearing. The cost of any forest
system proposed must not be lost sight of. The cost is one of the
main questions. It must be reasonable, and should give fair prospect
of being met by the forest receipts.

A resume of the points just discussed gives us the following
positions:

‘ainqpnotis Vy ‘dad ‘Ss A 19}sa10 ‘JoYIUIT PIOP!IO ‘Asajinoj—"ysaioy pauing

54 FOREST FIRES.

1st. Opposition to forest fires.

2nd. Use of fire in forests to control forest fires.

We should not leave this part of the fire question without calling
attention to a customary exaggeration of the damage done by forest
fires. Several estimates of such damage have been current within the
last few years. All of these have been based on a large estimate of
the entire forest area, both cut and uncut, over which fire has run
during the year, and then taking the ground that wherever fire has
run the forest has been destroyed. This is not correct. The majority
of forest fires in California do not destroy the forests they traverse.

Damage is done and much waste takes place, especially in territory
long protected. From time to time important areas of forest are killed

out. There is an immense district of dead fire-burned forest in
Western Oregon of this kind. I traveled through an extensive fire-
killed forest in 1873 in Utah, and have seen many smaller forest tracts
fire-killed. The truth is bad enough. We need no exaggeration to
impress upon the people the danger of uncontrolled fire.

‘pLIsId peuing jo anry Surmoys

56

CHAPTER VIIL

PASTURAGE IN FORESTS.

The pasture of domestic animals on forest lands has always been
a troublesome question.

Pasturage in forests has been at all times and in all countries a
difficult problem to deal with. In Europe the use of forests for pasture
persisted for a long time, and in some cases still persists, through the
rights of communes holding forest lands in common. This right is
that each member of the society could use the forest communal land
for pasture.

There were also certain rights of the people under the feudal sys-
tem to uses of the forests.

Both our laws and customs in this country, dealing with the public
forest lands, reflect this older system.

COMMUNAL USE UNJUST AND RUINOUS.

The feeling amongst our people, and especially amongst pioneers,
is that the forest is common property. Its values go to the first comer.
The first comer can take the wood, or use the pasture, or kill the fish
and game. For many years the lumber bus:ness was operated on the
public lands on this theory. Even recently, lumber companies have
cut over immense areas of the public land, without acquiring title to the
land. In a case examined some years ago one lumber company,
amongst others, was proved to have cut and marketed in this State
over two million dollars’ worth of timber from public lands, and a
proportionately large amount from State school lands, without pay-
ment of a single cent to anyone.

The law permits settlers to take from the public land timber for
buildings, fences, flumes, etc., for their own improvements. Miners
enjoy similar privileges under laws or permits from the Interior De-
partment.

CHAPTER VIII. <7

Communal rights in forests, that is, the right of individuals in a
community to individually use the forest for personal benefit, is fatal
to the forests.

This method of use involves in practice the lack of management.
Temporary and small personal advantage is the dominant factor in
such use. The general interest in regard to watersheds, renewal of
forest crop, etc., are necessarily not considered. The forests should
be used. The highest use will and does vary with location. In South-
ern California the highest use is in the preservation of the water-
sheds.

The European communal use of forests has been disastrous to
both forests and communities. Our communal system has been equally
injurious, considering the time that it has prevailed.

Pasturage on the forest lands, held in common by the communes
of France, has always been injurious to the forests. It has destroyed
the economic value in most cases, and has often resulted in their ab-
solute annihilation.

An incident of this communal forest pasturage has been its rank
injustice. Use in common of the forests for pasture has the result
of throwing their use to the strongest and wealthiest members of
the communes. Of these wealthier members, it is the more violent and
least conscientious who get the lion’s share. Finally a few get the en-
tire advantage of communal forest uses. This use, however, has
proved to be a constantly diminishing quantity. In those districts of
Europe that are situated in a climate similar to ours, the end of these
methods has been:

1st—The extinction of the forests.

2d—The destruction of the mountain pasturage, after the forests
are gone; and

8d and finally—The injury and frequent destruction of the valley
lands.

This last is accomplished by the injury of the water supply, and by
torrent injury to the land.

The French government has done a hard and constant work to re-
duce or expropriate these old rights. It has reforested extensive dis-
tricts, denuded and injured by improper policy, both in sandy districts
with drifting dunes and on mountain ranges from which the soil has
nearly all disappeared with the forests. There have been national, as
distinguished from communal, forests in France ever since the science
of forestry started in that country. The present forest laws in Europe,

58 EVILS OF THE SYSTEM.

especially in Germany, France and Switzerland, give a large control
to the Forest Departments over both communal and private forest
lands. In some cases not a tree can be cut without a government
permit. In the United States, the federal public forests on moun-
tain ranges, and, therefore, of the highest importance to the character
of water delivery from them, are all in or west of the Rocky mountains.
In the irrigated portion of California the forests are confined to the
mountains.

In all these public forests, as on all the public lands, there has
been more or less common use of the pasturage. This forest pasture
is scant in California. The only districts which have any pasture of
importance in our forests are those upon the Alpine meadows of the
high Sierra. These high Alpine districts are variable in their contents
of meadows. They are calculated to carry an average of five thousand
head of sheep, or eight hundred to nine hundred head of cattle or
horses to a surveyed township. In a general way, we can say that
two acres of this Alpine district will carry a sheep for three months,
and about ten acres will carry a horse or steer.

Our American experience has been short in the common use of
public forests. As far as it has gone, it has duplicated that of South-
ern Europe. Everywhere the forests are injured by it. Everywhere
the pasturage itself is injured both by premature and by excessive
use.

We have had the same result as to the fairness and equality of
use as in European communal forests. In our experience, large stock
or sheep owners generally parcel these forest pastures out by agree-
ment, and enforce these agreements by armed men. New men, large or
small, are trespassers. Their animals are in constant danger, and they
often pay the penalty of life in attempts to obtain a share of the
common pasturage. When small men come in, it is a question of life
and death with them.

While I was in the Sierra Nevadas last year, 1898, there were
three shooting affrays amongst rival stockmen within ten days, all

in the Yosemite National Park—in which none of them had any right
whatever. When powerful interests meet, the result is little short

of open war. In Wyoming, a few years ago, the stockmen’s war to hold
common lands against settlers passed beyond the control of the State
authorities and necessitated the sending of Federal troops to end the
trouble. The National Parks in our forests have required details of the
army to keep the pasture-seekers from irreparable injury to them.

CHAPTER VIII. 59

Tax evasion is general amongst those using the public forests for
pasture. Use in common of our forests has resulted in cruelty and in-
justice. It has been almost exclusively for the benefit of the rich and
powerful. It has been accompanied everywhere by violence and fire.
It has been the occasion of ccnstantly recurring arson and murder.
Who can defend such a system? It is no system. It is anarchy, with
the true accompaniments of anarchy—FIRE, KNIFE and GUN.

RELIEF FROM THES# ABUSES.

The defense of these uses or misuses of our public forest lands is
confined to those engaged in the business. These persons acting together
have influenced politicians to prevent regulation or removal of abuses.
We must take politics as they are in seeking a remedy. This means an
organization of the general public, led by irrigators and intelligent pub-
lic-spirited citizens generally to show the politicians that the vast pre-
ponderance of voting power is opposed to the robbery and destruction
of the public forest property. Such an organization will end these
abuses. Such an organization is now in process of formation in South-
ern California. Stock and sheep men are now taking a more intelli-
gent view of the public land question. Nearly all desire relief from
the present irregularities and uncertainties. These men endorse a
lease system, and admit that exclusion of all stock from some sections
is essential for the safety of the public interest.

While we take up this line of practical politics, none of us should
overlook the need of modification of our present political system. It
is the system that is at fault. It is not the people nor popular govern-
ment that is more defective than in other times, but the system of get-
ting at the people’s will that has been outgrown by industrial changes
and by our vast increase and concentration of population. We cannot
now go into this question. It must satisfy us to say that human nature
has not changed much in the historic period, and that men are at least
as good now as they ever were. It is then by a sound, honest, practical
system that we will get our best men into public life and get the best
instead of the worst there is in a man into use, when he goes into public
life.

60

CHAPTER IX.

PASTURAGE IN DIFFERENT DISTRICTS.

In the San Jacinto range, al] the public forest lands are practically
without pasture.

In the San Bernardino range, there is no public land that has pas-
ture of value in the forests. There is, however, more or less scattered
pasture on private holdings, which, with the customary use of adja-
cent, unimportant public pasture in forests has brought sheep and
stock into the mountains irregularly. The whole of this pasture is of
comparatively small value.

In the Pine Mountain reserve, there is rather more pasturage than
in the San Bernardino range.

In the Trabuco reserve, there is very little.

In the Sierra Madre range there is very little pasturage, and this
little is very difficult of access. This reserve is in our county, and for
that reason, we will find interest in going into its pasture question
somewhat in detail.

This extensive and precipitous range has not in its entirety as much
pasture as a single high Sierra township. From repeated personal
visits, I believe it safe to say and well within limits, that the entire
range would not carry five thousand sheep or eight hundred horses. If
it could carry such an amount of stock, how infinitesimal would be the
value of that interest, compared to the value of the interests of the re-
sorts, power companies, and above all, of irrigators on its water-sheds.
We still say nothing of the valley lands subject to injury or destruction
by torrents. The stock interests in the mountains is nothing. In fact,
I do not believe that the entire Sierra Madre reserve could carry two
hundred and fifty horses during the open season.

The range has, however, long been used on and off by a few
horse owners. Sheep have been a small factor in this reserve. The only
occasion when even an attempt was made in an extensive way to in-

CHAPTER IX. 61

troduce sheep was during the drought of the sixties. The experiment
was disastrous, resulting in the death of the sheep. The sheep men,
who go into the reserve, rely on the brush for feed. This they fire, on
retiring, for the new growth in the Spring. In the Spanish and Mexi-
can times, the back Sierra Madre ranges were used in a small way by
horse thieves. Some old Indians and half-breeds informed me about
twenty years ago that these distinguished gentry had a great deal of
trouble with bears eating their stock. Later along, other horse own-
ers going in from the Soledad pastured for years an average of fifty
head of horses in the forests. To improve the feed they burnt the
brush cn the back ranges for a number of years quite extensively.
The water-sheds most affected were those of the Soledad, Tejunga and
San Gabriel. This went on until the heavy rainfall of 1884. The re-
sult of this was the destruction by torrential action of a widespread
character along these water courses. The damage in the lower reaches
of the San Gabriel was tremendous. The Tejunga floods swept away
roads and bridges and destroyed a great deal of land and washed away
a considerable number of houses in the city of Los Angeles, of which
latter event I was an eye witness. The Soledad canyon became over
and over again a raging torrent. Damage commenced by tearing out
bridges, which were repaired or replaced only to be swept away again
by the next rain. Finally the entire Southern Pacific road-bed and
bridges in this canyon were utterly destroyed. Railroad travel was
suspended for six weeks. The railroad was rebuilt at a higher level
as the only means of safety. When we consider that this railroad
had before these repeated and extensive mountain forest fires remained
uninjured, though heavy rainfall years had recurred from time to
time, we are justified in blaming the horse owners and their fires for
damages that ran into the millions. If the Southern Pacific had paid
ten thousand dollars a piece for the 50 head of scrub horses that oc-
casioned this devastation and had thereby kept the mountain covering
intact, the $500,000 involved wuold have been a cheap escape from the
loss of property and business they suffered from. Since that time until
last year, there has been almost no pasturage attempted in the Sierra
Madre.

A review of the Southern California reserves shows us that the
pasture interests in the mountain forests is so absolutely small as to
be a negligible quantity in any scheme of forest management. When
considered in comparison with the vast interests at stake in the pres-
ervation of our mountain water-sheds, the pasture interest sinks into

62 INJUSTICE OF THE SYSTEM.

an infinity of nothingness. It is clear that absolute prohibition of pas-
ture on the public lands of the forest reserves of Southern California is
the only rule to make. We have left the private holdings within the
reserve lines. In these private holdings, I do not include those of
water or power companies or of resorts. This is because these help and
do not injure the forests. In the Pine Mountain reserve, the private
holdings are nearly all confined to the springs and available water
lands. These are said to be all held or controlled by one man. This
gentleman informed me recently that he was considering the fencing
in of all these springs and the use of the forests for sheep. While
sheep can go without water for consiaerable periods, when the feed is
green, they cannot do this during the dry season. Consequently these
spring holdings with the reservation open, would mean a pasture mo-
nopoly to the controller of the water. This is a scheme of control that
has been availed of elsewhere ir. the semi-arid districts to secure pas-
ture monopoly. Its rank unfairness to the public interest and general
taxpayers is apparent. The only other reserves with extensive private
holdings are the San Jacinto and the San Bernardino. The patrol can
restrict the pasture to such private holdings, but it is a most difficult
thing to do.

63

CHAPTER X.

DAMAGE TO FOREST LANDS FROM SHEEP.

To return to our sheep, we note that the excess of damage to the
forests due to these animals over all others that enter our forests in
serious number is in the following points:

1st. Close group feeding and general close order habit of resting,
traveling and eating.

2nd. Sharp, hard feet that cut and pack. By this means both
young trees and grasses are destroyed; the land does not take the
water and permanent damage is done by off wash of immediate sur-
face, lack of rain penetration with consequent dryness of slope and
of course increased detritus and flood damage by streams draining dis-
tricts affected.

8rd. The close grazing of the individual sheep. Sheep eat seeds,
bite out grass roots, feed on brush and either tread down, bite off or
eat young forest trees when other food growth is scarce. Sheep may
follow horses or cattle and find something to live on. To follow sheep
is to find nothing. No grazing animal can live with them. Neither
domestic nor wild animals can find a living after sheep. Sheep pasture
in the Sierra Nevada exterminates game and forces the prospector
traveler or forest officer to carry feed even for his burro. No one
knows what desolation can invade a country until he sees .. after the
ravages of sheep.

4th. Fire setting by the herder. Parties reporting on this ques-
tion say that the sheep-herder in the public forest makes from two to
four fires a day for personal reasons. The herder rarely puts out such
fires. It is also a common practice with sheep men when leaving the
mountains to set fire to improve the feed for the next year. Whenever
sheep occupy the public forests in our dry summers there is always
a haze or pall of smoke over the entire forest country which fre-
quently extends to cover agricultural sections. When sheep are kept

64 DAMAGE TO FOREST LANDS FROM SHEEP.

out of the public forests as for several years was done by the U. 8.
cavalry patrol in the Yosemite National Park, the feed recovers and
the smoke nuisance is mitigated. Even the several incendiary fires
set in this Yosemite reservation and due to the hostility of local resi-
dents or occupants to the military, had only a temporay effect in re-
newing smoke in the air in that quarter. The claims of the sheep men
and the public forest pasture question will again be discussed. We
can say now that whatever opinion may prevail as to the Oregon for-
ests or upon the pasture question in the northern part of California,
Southern California conditions admit of but one opinion. This is
against any sheep grazing in the public forest reservations. The sheep
industry is now very small in this section of California. Higher uses
of land have constantly and for years been driving sheep out of South-
ern California. We can do better with the land than to keep our
valleys great plains of brown dust with far separated herds of sheep
followed by howling coyotes and carrion feeding buzzards. We can do
better with our men than to force them into a life of solitude; into
the life of the sheep-herder, where the family is impossible, manhood
debased and where for months the herder sees no human being. In
early times on the large sheep ranges here the herders’ supplies were
taken around once or twice a month and left at the night corral. The
herder was always away at that time. It is no wonder that these
sheep-herders thus so much isolated from humanity produced by far
the largest proportion of insane of any class in California. The effect
of the herder’s life was mentally the same as that of solitary confine-
ment.

There is no record known to me in the world of sheep pasturage on
public or communal lands but what shows the following results:

A. Diminished value to the point often of final destruction of the
pasture for sheep. The outcome of sheep pasture on public or com-
munal lands is in the end reduced to no pasturage for sheep. That
has been the history everywhere. The most recent instances are
Greece and Asia Minor, South France and Spain. France and Ger-
many have substantially brought this under government control. In
Southern California even the private pastures under sheep have dimin-
ished in sheep-carrying capacity.

B. Final and absolute extermination of public forests thus used
by sheep. This includes trees, brush and everything.

C. Diminished water holding power of such water-sheds.

D. Flood and torrent destruction to valleys and lowlands.

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66 DAMAGES FROM SHEEP.

E. Consequent progressive diminution of agricultural output.

F. Diminution of population.

G. Finally the desert.

With such results as these is there any community that can afford
to allow the misuse and abuse of its public forest lands for sheep?
Can any community be so indifferent to its interests or so insane as to
sign its own death warrant?

67

CHAPTER XI.

GOVERNMENT CONTROL REQUIRED TO ABATE EVILS

The only true and permanent solution of the question
of pasture or settlement of private holdings within forest reservations

is expropriation of them by the government. This is what we must
work for. Expropriation of private holdings in the forest reserves
is a comparatively small question in Southern California. It is a large
question in the Sierra Nevadas. A person has, under our present laws,
a@ right to use land to which he has title wherever it may be. Access
to it is a part of the right of use. The only limit to this right is that
its exercise shall not damage others. In the forests such a damage
from pasturage could reasonably be vonsidered to have four forms:

1st.—Destruction to others and to the public lands by fire spread-
ing out of private lands.

2nd.—The pollution of springs and streams.

3rd.—-The damage by diminished water supply.

4th—The damage incurred from increased torrent action.

The practical question is who would bring the injunction suits to
prevent injury, or damage suits to pay for injuries done. The choice
lies between the Attorney-General or organized societies. It must be
assumed also that the courts would take some time in accepting and
applying efficiently this doctrine. It has been so applied in Switzer-
land, but with the aid of very severe laws against the use of private or
communal forest lands in such way as to threaten the community with
injury. The shortest and safest road for us is expropriation of pri-
vate holdings. We can, however, use and continuously use the other
more tedious legal remedy for immediate protection against greed and
injustice.

Along the fringe of civilization, there is always a tendency to re-
vert to primitive types of life and to primitive types of government and
property holdings. Primitive pian was everywhere and is everywhere
more or less of a socialist. It may be more strictly accurate to say
acommunist. Most property and all land is held in common in primi-
tive communities. The legal dcctrine of ‘“‘ferae naturae” is a survival

fart
ow

GOVERNMENT CONTROL.

of this common ownership theory. Property in primitive life is con-
fined to possessions in hand; so it is yet with wild things. These are
still incapable of private ownership and may be taken wherever found.
This is with us limited by the doctrine of trespass. You may raise a
trout from the egg, but the taker from a boat or public place, or from
any neutral ground, is the owner. This is not so with a cow or horse.
The use in common of our public forests is another survival of primi-
tive socialism. The results of this system are at first not unfavorable
to the general public.

With increasing wealth, it becomes more and more unfair in its
operation. Besides this, the pasture is of less value than the timber,
which its use threatens. It is of less value than the water supply. It
is of less value than the valley lands threatened by the torrents forest
pasturing finally creates. And the end of it all is the extinction of the
mountain pasture itself, as in France, Spain, North Africa and Asia
Minor. Thus common pasture in forests destroys far greater values
and finally destroys the pasture.

In a general way experience uniformly and everywhere is against
pasture in the forests for the highest and best interest of the com-
munity. Our unregulated pasturage in public mountain forests is un-
fair, injurious and immoral. It should be everywhere ended. In the
Sierra Nevada there is a condition which justifies investigation with
a view to determining whether there is not a district in which reg-
ulated pasturage, with payment to the public for such use, could be per-
mitted without an injury greater than its returns.

In that range there is an alpine district containing extensive natur-
al pastures. They are often above the timber belt and nearly all above
any commercial timber. It is worthy of careful examination to learn
whether a limited amount of stock only allowed to enter at the sea-
son when the grasses can seed themselves and hold their own is not
compatible with the safety of the forests and of the water-sheds.

Sheep probably derive the most benefit by summering in the moun-
tains, both as to their health and their wool product. These animals,
however, are the ones that do the greatest damage to the forests and
water-sheds. Sheep herders are also the class that do the most damage
by fire. They are, in fact, the most difficult men to deal with we find
in the mountains. Force alone controls them. Pasturage in forests is
a delicate question to deal with and can best be dealt with by restricted
experiments with careful water measurements, study of water delivery
and forest examination before and after pasturage.

CHAPTER XI. 69

In Australia large districts have been leased to sheep men there
known as squatters. This policy has probably greatly retarded the
growth of that community. These sheep ranges are generally in more
or less forested districts, called ‘‘the bush.’ In a great many of these
ranges, the forest trees still stand, but entirely dead. The death of
these mature trees in Australia has been due to the sheep men’s prac-
tice of ringing—a practice common in our own early growth. But in
our case, it was to permit small farms, while there it permits vast
lease-holds with a sparse and unsettled population.

Australia has been suffering severely for four years from drought.
Whether this drought suffering has any connection with the sheep use
of forest lands, I cannot say, but the drought has been coincident with
extensive forest destruction. The intelligent forest officers in Australia
have more power than we have given to any one in forest matters,
but they have been unable to deal with the squatter sheep interests at
all. They recognize the injury it is doing to their forests and water-
sheds. The principal sources of injury both to mountain pastures and
water-sheds is premature and excessive pasturage. Under our present
lack of system this cannot be controlled. Even wild animals, when
kept in excessive numbers upon a range, injure or destroy the forests
and the pasture. Several instances of this are mentioned by Marsh.

A striking illustration of the effects of excessive pasture by wild
animals exists in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco. Considerable por-
tions of this park have been reclaimed from sand dunes. In a part of
this reclaimed district, a large area was fenced in for deer and other
wild animals. The number of animals grew and the end of the result-
ing over-pasturage has been the destruction of all the grass and shrubs
and the death of nearly all the trees. This corral is now as bare and
sandy as the worst of the dunes. It is in great contrast to the sur-
rounding park. Of browsing domestic animals, the camel does most
forest injury, the goat next and then the sheep.

Southern California is fortunate in having no vested right to do a
wrong fixed upon her mountain water-sheds.

We can prohibit pasture in the forest reserves without stepping on
too many big men’s toes.

All we require for the safety of our mountain forests and for the
safety of our mountain water-sheds, is an intelligent scheme of man-
agement for the forests; an intelligent body of men to carry the scheme
out and a forceful leader to see that they do it.

70

CHAPTER XII.

THE FOREST PROBLEM IN THE WEST.

The economic interest of the American people in their forests
everywhere, and especially in the West, is to preserve the integrity
and water holding power of the mountain watersheds of the country.
This is clearly the public interest, whether these mountain watersheds
could or could not support by their products and wise use a system of
management guaranteeing the integrity of their water-holding power.
The public interest is both economic and humanitarian in preserving
the mountain forest covering. Without forest preservation, most of
our remaining wild public land districts cannot be settled, and districts
aJready settled are likely to lose in man-sustaining power. This has
occurred already over wide areas of the world from undue forest de-
nudation, on the one side by the irregular or exhausted water supply,
and on the other by the destructive action of flood and torrent through
sudden rainfall delivery from bared areas. The proper preservation
of forest balance does not require that ripe timber should not be cut,
or that other uses, such as mining, should not be enjoyed.

The interests and requirements of districts vary in what treatment
of forested areas is most advantageous. In most of the West, and in
a]l of the Southwest, the conditions of topography, rainfall and climate
exact the highest care and treatment of the comparatively small
forested area, all of which in the Southwest is on mountains or high
plateaus only.

JUDICIOUS USE OF FOREST PRODUCTS ADMISSIBLE.

In this district it were better for the country and for its people
that no use should be made of forest lands or forest products than to
have the forests wasted and burned, as at present is generally being
done.

However, no such drastic remedy as the isolation of the forests

CHAPTER XII. 71

from human use is necessary. Under a proper and intelligent forest
system, the integrity of the watersheds can be safely maintained, and
yet plenty of use can be found for both land and products; uses that
can go cn without fatal results to the forested area.

It is only in the extreme Southwestern mountains that the condi-
tions are such as to counter-indicate the cutting of any timber, or
even fire-wood, in the mountains. But even there mining, resorts, power
companies, and irrigation works can be established with no disad-
vantage to the trees or chaparral, but rather to their increased safety.
The nation can gain by preserving its forests in safe proportion, and
can in no way consent to see this proportion of safety to its people
diminished. The nation will gain by forest preservation, even though
the system be without any resources or power of self-sustenance.

While forestry has become a living issue in the Atlantic States,
through the depletion of perennial flow of springs and streams and
increased flood action, and probably by greater and increasingly in-
jurious extremes of frost and heat arising from forest destruction, in
the West and Southwest effective forestry is a question of life or
death.

With irrigated districts, wresent or prospective, the conservation
of the Forest Natural Reservoirs is at least as important as the con-
servation of any part of the rainfall by artificial storage, diversion or
distributing systems.

FEDERAL MANAGEMENT REQUIRED.

The lands on the mountains and watersheds in this part of the
United States are in large part Federal public lands. By the ex-
tensive reservation of forested mountain lands from sale or settlement,
the Federal government has committed itself to a rational forest
system. What the situation demands, and what the people desire, is a
forest management of these important mountain watersheds that will
serve the highest interests of the entire community. Interests built
up under the neglects and waste and abuses of the government’s
forestal mistakes and laches should be treated with all the consideration
the safety of the communities affected and the welfare of the great
Majority of the people permit.

All foresters, and especially all foresters in the Southwest, endorse
aud must endorse a Federal forestry policy, whether the forest man-
agement pays its way or not.

The government forestry systems of European nations, of Canada,

72 THE PROBLEM.

Algiers, India and Australia, are self-sustaining, and for the most part
bring in considerable revenues. Curiously enough, it is in the coun-
tries like Spain, Arabia, Persia and Turkey, in which forestry is
neglected, where national productive power has most diminished, and
in which both nation and people individually are poorest.

The success of other countries in maintaining national forest sys-
tems invites our attention to this subject.

The principal revenue from all forestry systems is from the sale
of forest products. These are mainly merchantable timber and fuel.
The Western districts, in which the principal areas of public lands
exist, are situated so that one part or another of California would
resemble their conditions closely enough for preliminary plans and

cullines of forest management appropriate for the entire Western
public land area.

California contains mountains and plains, valleys, farm lands and
deserts. In the Northwest, its climate is one of, if not the moistest
in the United States; in the Southeast, it is one of the most arid. In
the Redwood belt there is a very large rainfall, and almost continuous
fog and mist between the rain seasons. In the Cocopah desert years
pass without a drop of rain, or even a cloudy day.

California conditions, carefully considered, can do much to outl.ne

a forest and public land policy for the entire West.
What is the public land situation here?

California contains 99,361,083 acres of land; of this land, the area
appropriated is 40,392,418 acres; the area unappropr.ated is 43,841,044
acres; the area reserved is 15,127,621 acres.

This gives a substantially accurate picture of our land situation.
In other states, including and west of the Rocky mountains, the pub-
lic lands are in much larger proportion.

The above figures, however, do not give the exact facts. Of the
appropriated area, some has gone to the State for taxes. In some of
the mountain counties this tax area is quite considerable. The State
Controller and the county officers thus far have found no general record
of this tax land; therefore no one can tell what it amounts to.

Of the area reserved, a considerable part is patented and in private
hands. In some reserved districts the proportion of private holdings
is large, in others very small.

The National Yosemite Park, of about one million acres area, is a
little more than half in private hands. The San Gabriel Reserve,
from the Cajon west, has a very small proportionate area in private

CHAPTER XII. 73

hands, while the San Bernardino part of the forest reserves of the
South has a considerable area in private hands.

The reserve system suggests the policy of Switzerland. In that
republic experience has demonstrated the immediate and often awful
results to lower agricultural lands from forest denudation on steep,
high mountains.

From this experience has been evolved a forest system which lays
out as a part of its functions forest reserve districts. The lands within
these, whether public or private, are under public control, and not a
tree can be cut w:thout public authority. We may come to this system
seme day.

There are in this State about eighty-three thousand square miles
of public lands in the hands of the Federal government. An examina-
tion made by expert civil engineers on section lines, and mapped by
the old State Board of Forestry, in its reports, shows that the mountain

land with merchantable t:mber is substantially all in private hands.
‘There is, generally speaking, little or no timber of merchantable quality

and accessibility in California not in private hands.

Fuel and small wood costs more to haul out of the high Sierras
at present than it will bring. There are restricted districts where the
waste and fallen wood, or small standing timber, could pay its way
for use as ties, posts, fuel or mining, but no large revenue is in sight
frem this source at present. Consequently, the sources of revenue and
support of foreign systems is in a great degree absent in California.

We may assume that the known condition of California in this
respect in one or another of its districts applies to those of the entire
West.

There is, however, a source of revenue to the government from a
rational management of its mountain forest lands, when handled in
conjunction with the development by public irrigation works of the
vast area of arid public land.

The reason why there is such a large amount of public land in
California, and in the West generally, is that the land is nll in an

arid climate, and that it is therefore incapable of supportina, a farmer
or settler, without a secure supply of water for irrigation and often
for domestic use.

The mountain forested areas are all incapable of agriculture in
the Southwest. There is consequently no gain of productive area, as in
the settlement of Ohio, for instance, by denuding them. On the other
hand, these forests are the natural reservoirs of the Southwest.

74 FOREST CONDITIONS.

The forests in this section are of the highest importance both to
the irrigation districts already developed and also to the enormous
areas that may by future irrigation works be made fertile.

Storage reservoirs, diversion works, ditches, etc., are all safer and
more permanent when under a forested watershed than when under a
bare one. In the first case, with forest covering, there is a minimum
of flood action, and practically no torrential detritus to fill up the
works. From a denuded watershed, the water delivery is irregular,
torrential and detritus laden.

The public land now at its limits or near its limits of support of
population can, by judicious irrigation works, be made capable of sup-
porting a population of between fifty and one hundred millions.
Irrigated land has always been that capable of supporting the densest
population from agricultural returns. We see this in the history of
the Euphrates and the Nile. In both of these cases, and in the more
modern developments in India, we see that the important works were
carried out by the community or government, were managed by the
community, are thus managed, and that new work for further develop-
ment in the application of water to land in genial and dry climates,
such as those of India and Egypt, is planned or being executed solely
as government undertakings.

There are three good reasons with us for this policy. The first is
that the lands susceptible of improvement are largely public lands.
The second is that the undertakings are too large for most private
initiative, and the third is that a public administration of irrigated
lands is the only one in which the land occupants can feel safe in not
becoming serfs of the water company, as is now practically the case
in the rich irrigated valley of the Po, where the returns are large, but
the people in misery.

Governments in the past and governments now recognize the ad-
vantage and propriety of making their lands productive by public
irrigation works. The peoples who have done this in the past have
been amongst the greatest. One of the most powerful governments
of the present day, that of Great Britain, is now, as it long has been,
engaged in such irrigation development. The dam on the River Nile,
near Assouan, will be the greatest land reclamation works in the world,
The values created by the application of water to land in Egypt will
far exceed the values created by the exclusion of water from land in
Holland. Both are government undertakings. In our country the

CHAPTER XII. 75

government has undertaken land reclamation by excluding water, as
by the Mississippi dykes. It has also added to land values and product
values by the construction of harbors and canals, thus reducing or
removing freight tariffs or lighterage and landing tariffs. The states
on, or having, rivers have been benefited by this policy. So also the
Coast States, or those on the Lakes, or served by the great Saulte
St. Marie Canal have been benefited; so has the country generally
been benefited. It is eminently proper that the people’s government
should apply this policy to the development of the rich and sunny
Western lands that cannot produce and serve mankind without water.
Tm this case, the benefit is direct to the public. It is the public land
that will be most benefited. Homes for the people will be
created. It is of course markets and a population of high productive
power in our own bounds that we thus create. It is the conservative
agriculturist that we thus introduce and encourage to balance the
more radical bodies of employees in the great manufacturing districts
Fifty million such Americans will consume more American products
and support more American trade than all our present foreign trade
combined.

RECAPI1ULATION.

Taking the public land area as a whole, we find some that is
inherently worthless, some that can be made good and productive
some where forests and their products can be safely used undei
reasonable regulations, some where the forests can only be safeguarded
but not used, as in the chaparral mountains of the South, and a wide
district that is at present used for pasturage. This pasturage of the
public lands is umregulated. The pasture use is premature ané
excessive. ithe pastures thus constantly deteriorate and carry lesa
stock. The public land pastures have deteriorated and are deteriorat-
ing in stock and sheep carrying power. Fighting and disorder it
everywhere present amongst the pasture users. Sometimes they have
wars. These stock and sheep men, as far as seen, welcomed a proposeé
system of leasing the public lands appropriate to pasture, under judi.
cious restriction as to number of stock permitted on each section and
the time of year when the stock should go on. The public lands iz
California have a present value for pasturage that varies with seasons
It is estimated to have an annual rental value of not less than $250,-
000, and may exceed half a million dollars. Its rental value varies
with the seasonal rainfall. The stock men would be glad to pay rent

76 FOREST CONDITIONS.

and thus know upon what feed they could rely, without the present
accompaniments of murder and arson.

Those districts where pasturage injures the watersheds could have
the stock reduced to a safe number by reasonable regulation, or entirely
removed. When we consider the vital importance of the entire forest
question, and past and present precedent in the matter of forestry and
irrigation; when we consider the effect of forest denudation in filling
up navigable rivers and harbors, the importance of water to miners.
to cities and to irrigators; when we further reflect on the empire at
our hand and in our borders to be created by irrigation works, we can
agree that forests, reservoirs and public land management all go hand
in hand.

There is considerable timber in the San Bernardino and San Ja-
cinto ranges that might be used for lumber if prices increase. The
timber areas, however, are small compared to other Pacific Coast dis-
tricts. They are difficult of access. In addition to these drawbacks
the forests are open and the timber is therefore more knotty and less
clear than that from the North. For these reasons no important lum-
bering has been done in our mountains for a long time. Reduction
in transportation rates by railroad extension and harbor improvements
have removed the profit from local lumbering. Lumbering is recom-
mencing in the South because of higher prices. There is also very
little pasture in the mountains. The most of this being in the Pine
Mountain Reserve. The little pasture that exists is only practically ac-
cessible by long detour and entry to the mountains from the less abrupt
approaches on the desert. Horses and cattle do comparatively small in-
jury to the forests while in these pastures. Under judicious regulation
it is reasonable to believe that the natural mountain meadows and
high alpine pastures could be used by stock without appreciable injury
to the water-sheds. The trouble with this use of the forest now is
principally excessive pasture and lack of any regulation. From these
causes grow the constant fights, arson and murder in our mountains
between stockman and stockman and between sheepman and sheepman
and between stockmen and sheepmen. Feuds, fires and assassinations
curse our entire western mountain area of public lands used without
lease, tax or charge by pasture men. Leav:ng out the questions of the
value and conservative effects of forests, of lumber, mining, water
storage and preservation of water-sheds which all demand a rational]
management of the forests, humanity alone demands a reform in the
conduct of the public lands in forests. Present conditions in our

CHAPTER XII. 17

western forests give a premium to violence and invite to crime. The
forests are important resources of the entire people. The integrity of
mountain forest areas must be maintained in the interest of the body
of the people. The Nation’s strength demands it. Yet here insensibly
has come upon us in our western mountains an unmoral condition.

In some places in these semi-arid districts a man will enter and pur-
chase the few springs over an immense area of territory and fence them
in. In this way control is obtained over empires of land by the purchase
of afew quarter sections. In all pasture land cases the nation is never
paid for more than a fraction of the land used. Generally none is paid
for. Taxes to support both the nation and local community are evaded.
The herders pay no land tax and rarely any other tax and in addition
to all these shortcomings, their usual operations, their carelessness and
their vendettas, so often accompanied by setting fire to each other’s
ranges, all go to destroy the capital and productive power of the com-
munity. It is the sheepmen with whom the forester has the greatest
quarrel. All over pasture of any district deteriorates the value of the
pasture. When these pastures are in forests or brush lands the injury
tc the pasture by over stocking sinks into utter insignificance compared
to the injury of the forests and the injury of the water-sheds. Such in-
juries to water-sheds in the south of Europe, in Africa and in Asia
have ruined rich districts, depopulated towns and destroyed nations.
In no case of these fatal consequences coming from forest destruction
on hill and mountain water-sheds is there an instance of topography
and climate indicating more danger from such action than in Southern
California. Whatever damage and cost has come elsewhere from a
neglect of water-sheds we in Southern California must anticipate
greater damage and cost. In fact, we have no reason to expect any-
thing short of eventual annihilation in case we go on burning and
wasting and baring our steep mountain water-sheds.

The public land system as a unit can be self-supporting and reve-
nue producing. All interests can be fairly dealt with, and the country
brought to its highest productive power.

Those who engage in promoting this great work have strenuous
efforts before them; They deserve the garlands of reward as civic
patriots as much or more than those who foment distant foreign wars.
The conquest of this empire within our bounds for our own children
is more useful, more profitable, more secure and more glorious than
any foreign conquest can ever be.

78

CHAPTER XIII.
FORESTS IN RELATION TO TORRENTS.

A torrent is an intermittent stream. At times, a torrent is a con-
siderable body of rushing water loaded with detritus. At other times,
its valley course is a broad belt of boulders or sand, with a thread of
water, or no water at all.

A torrent is always a destroyer. It is never beneficial. The term
is not applicable to rivers, even though these have distinct flood periods,
and carry large amounts of detritus. like the Nile, or our own Sacra-
mento and San Joaquin rivers.

A torrent cannot origirate on level land. Man’s use of level lands,
however, generally increases the volume of torrents.

ORIGIN OF TORRENTS.

A torrent is caused by rainfall on a broken or steep water-
shed in such conditon as to be unable to detain and prolong the de-
livery of the rain. There is no record of a torrent arising from a well-
wooded water-shed. A forested water-shed cannot have torrents. This
is a fact which the student and the political economist should always
bear in mind. To the extent that a water-shed is without forest cov-
ering will be the possibility of torrents arising from it. So also will be
the destructive power of these. A bare mountain water-shed with any
rainfall must produce torrents. The steeper and more extensive the
bare mountains are, the more dangerous and destructive will be the
torrents arising from them. These points are not guesses. They are
facts. They are not matters of theory. They are demonstrated with-
out a single break or a single exception.

Complete denudation of a mountain water-shed means, with abso-
lute certainty, the creation of torrent action. We do not have to sup-
pose that this will be the result of mountain denudation. We cannot
think that it only may be the result. We know that torrents will result
from the destruction of forests on mountain water-sheds.

The situation as to torrent extension and creation in Southern Cali-
fornia invites our attention. More than this, it demands action. This
need grows out of three things:

1lst.—Our topography. We have here a series of Sierras. These

CHAPTER XIII. 79

are steep, high and extensive. They are almost without foothills.
‘yney rise directly out of the vegas and irrigated valleys that mainly
depend on the water delivery from them for life.

2nd.—We have a climate that has a prolonged dry season of sun-
shine. This is alternated with a season of possible rainfall that is oc-
casionally almost as dry as the summer. From time to time there isa
diluvial summer rain on the eastern part of the Sierra. One of these
rains produced torrent action tbat did a considerable amount of dam-
age in passing through the City of Redlands. In a decade, there always
have been one or more seasons of very heavy rainfall during the period
of expected rains. The rainfall increases with the elevation to at
least four thousand feet. It is therefore greater in the Sierras than in
the valleys.

During the season of ’84, the rainfall in Los Angeles was 38 inches,
most of which fell in a period of six consecutive weeks. At the same
time, the rainfall on the Kinneloa ranch, at the foot of the Sierra Madre
range was 60 inches. This illustrates the difference of rainfall between
mountain and valley. A notable fact in this connection, shown by
twenty years’ observation on this ranch, compared to the observation at
Los Angeles is that the greater the rainfall the greater is the excess
precipitated on the mountains.

3rd.—The rainfall in Soutkern California is so near the limit of a
possible support of mountain tree and brush vegetation that forest de-
struction, and consequent injury to the water supyly and increase of
torrent action, is unusually difficult to correct and demands preven-
tion.

A recent examination of the Guadalasqua, Siques, Malibu and Gar-
battan districts in the Santa Monica Sierra illustrates this. This Sier-
ra is neither so high nor so steep as the great main ranges. The cov-
ering is almost exclusively chaparral. It has long been exploited by
wood-choppers and cattle and sheep men. Its stock carrying capacity
is small and is constantly diminishing. To eke the feed out, the cus.
tomary methods have been adopted on both private and public lands.
Fire is set in the chaparral in the fall, so that the stock can have the
new shoots from the roots to feed on the next season. This operation
followed two or three times kills the brush. The rains then carry off
the soil, and there is neither grass nor brush nor feed of any kind. A
report just made to me on these districts shows that there are extensive
areas where the native growth is destroyed and the mountains bare.
Springs never known to be dry by the oldest American and Spanish set-

80 TORRENTS.

tlers, are now entirely gone. The supply of drinking water has for the
first time become a vital question. This situation is going to be diffi-
cult to improve. If done, it will be quite costly—in fact, it will prob-
ably cost more to reclaim than the district is worth.

Several cases of what appears to be permanent destruction of for-
ects exist on the eastern edge of our reserves. One of the most ac-
cessible of these is on the southeastern flank of the San Bernardino
range, fronting on the San Gorgonio Pass. This forest was still stand-
ing, when I last saw it, twelve years ago. Fire had killed it many
years before. The trees stood white and stark, where they had burned
to death. The soil must have been burned up at the same time, or else
bad been washed away. There was not any. The dead forest had
neither grass, flower, bush, or living thing in it. A torrent-wrecked
canyon debouched below it off to the desert where it has repeatedly
washed out the railroad. The desert is at our door today. It is push-
ing up against the mountain barrier that divides us. It is creeping up
on the passes, north and east and conquering a corner now here, now
there and even has footings on and inside our mountain wall. The
deserts even now come into our lovely valleys for a few days with their
fire and furnace breath to look at the rich booty they may some day
hold. The armies of the forest, steadfast and true to their posts, are
our allies. It is the forest that mans the rampart between our or-
chards, fields, flowers and cities and the frost and fire of the glittering
wastes of the deserts of death. What shall we do with these forests?
Shall we destroy our own friends and protectors? The fact is that this
is just what we are doing. Greed, ignorance and crime dominate and
destroy our forests. We stand by and fiddle, while the forests burn.

Along the Sierra Madre, the fire scars are becoming more and more

numerous. They are growing larger and larger. All this is in plain
sight from a steam-sped car window. Back in the range, it is a hun-

dred times worse. What the next heavy rainfall season will do in tor-
rent action is a serious quetion.

In level or nearly level lands, within settled districts, the rainfall
cff-flow becomes more and more concentrated. Ditches for roads and
railroads bring the off-flow together and increase the cutting action
of the running water. As the land is more rolling and gullies or in-
cipient torrents commence, the land owners block them here and
divert them there, and so create considerable torrents within culti-
vated districts. A striking instance of this is the torrent created by
cleaning off low brush and concentrating small washes, at Altadena.

CHAPTER XIII. 81

This place used to be called Las Flores because the old sailors could
see the masses of golden poppies on that mesa clear from San Pedro
roadstead. I knew the mesa and the entire plain below it well, before
settlement. There was no barranca there, when I came early in 1880.
There was no wash, no torreat and no sign of any across the plain
below Las Flores. Then came settlement and clearing. The first
neavy rainfall, after the clearing, started the Monks Hill barranca and
carried a newly created torrent out over the valley. That was in 1884.
Every heavy rainfall since has increased its force and destructiveness.
Orchards, farms and gardens have been cut through and destroyed.
Bridges to the number of eight have had to be constructed just for
barrancas and cuts and temporary torrent flow.

The Monks Hill barranca is twenty-three feet deep in one place.
The torrent now extends for miles in uncertain and destructive course.
This is a place very easily visited. It is just east of Pasadena,
and all the east and west roads cross it. Then there are still the old
settlers like Barney Williams, Charles Bell, P. M. Green, T. P. Lukens,
and a number of others who remember the time when there was no
barranca and no torrent. All along the foothills or mesa, one will find
the evidence of increasing torrent action. There are several forcible
illustrations of this action just east of the one just cited.

CONDITIONS OF OFF-FLOW. .

The effect of plowing or cultivation on off-flow seems to vary with
soils and grades. On level land, it probably increases the water-hold-
ing power of the land. On hilly land, this effect is doubtful. At Kin-
neloa there is an apricot orchard on a hillside, with a grade of one in
eight and a half feet. It was planted twenty years ago. *The orchard
has always been prepared by grade furroughs for the rainy season and
no distinct wash has occurred. A piece of land by its side and with
the same grade was not cleared and has remained in chaparral. There is
today a difference of two feet between the cultivated and the brush
land. Two feet of the orchard surface is gone. The soil in the brush
is soft and spongy with the humus. Water does not run on it, steep as
it is. The orchard soil is hard, bakes easily and takes water with
slowness and difficulty. A sharp rain will start little rills in the grade
furrows.

Another interesting thing that has been demonstrated on this ranch,
which was originally covered with chaparral, is the fact that when it

—¥* Barranca, a deep large gully.

82 DEVASTATION BY TORRENTS.

was first cleared, it required irrigation much less frequently than later
for annual crops, such as vegetables. Progressively with the years,
the land took in the irrigation water more slowly and the evaporation
from the soil was more and more rapid. The reason for this is that at
frst the soil was well filled with humus, which the sun and air grad-
ually burned out. In a small way and on parts of the ranch water run
in a very small stream on the ground will go furthest at first. The
soil deprived of humus seems to have to learn to take the water. Thus
you can take a little rill of water on hard ground for say fifty feet.
As the ground takes the water and softens it, the ground takes more
water, until your rill will end at thirty-five feet.

A somewhat contradictory case is that of the torrent bed of the
Whitewater on the desert. This stream flows out of the San Bernar-
dino mountains and takes its name from a sort of white clay it carries.
Qut in its boulder bed it deposits this clay and makes a water-tight
channel, which extends the flow further and further out towards the
desert. This goes on until there is a heavy rain and flood flow. This
flow is short. It rolls the boulders abqut and breaks the clay bottom.
As soon as the flood flow is over, the permanent water flow is found to
be far back toward the mountain. This is the contrary of what we
would expect. It then goes back to zanja building and so again ex-
tends its flow desertward.

In the usual experience of irrigation, the longer the time of flow,
the further the water goes to its limit.

This ranch experience of the value of humus in getting land to
take and hold water, and its value in preventing on hill lands storm
off-flow is being availed of by bringing in and dressing the land with
humus-making manures or plowing in green crops. It is astonishing
to observe the difference that a good dressing of stable manure will
make in the water-taking capacity of clay land.

OBSERVATIONS AT THE KINNELOA RANCH.

The Kinneloa ranch has its main orchards on mesas one to two
hundred feet above the general level on the three sides. The slope is
from one in eight and one-half feet to one in twenty-two. Before the
chaparral was cleared off, there was not a barranca, gully or wash on
the mesas, nor on the steep slopes from the mesas to the lower lands.
The question of the storm off-flow became important the second year
after the clearing. In spite of all the care taken to guard against soil
cutting by storm off-flow, several have occurred. One barranca and

CHAPTER XIII. 83

duite a number of gullies have been made in the mesa sides by storm
waters that before the clearing did no damage. Constant care is re-
cuired to prevent serious results. Barn yard manure dressing, freely
used, increases the absorbative water power of the land and diminishes
ihe off-flow. In this, it approximates in its effects to the old humus.
Two systems have been tried on the ranch to prevent the rain off-
flow. The first of these was the basin system. Furrows were run on a
water-grade and turned into each basin reached. In this way, no fur-
row ran over twenty-five feet before coming to a basin reservoir. The
land, however, took less and less water, as the humus was burned out.
At last, in a diluvial rain, delivering three and one-half inches in a
short period, every basin was filled to the brim. Several broke, break-
ing others and doing some damage. It became apparent that there
might be a rainfall that would smasn the whole ranch.

There were three other objections to this system:

1st.—That the basins would not be broken up. This interfered with
ream cultivation.

2nd.—They were costly on a side hill.

38rd.—Silt and clay were deposited in the basins. This reduced the
absorbative power of the land and made the basins almost water tight.
{t also prevented proper soil ventilation. This soured the soil and pro-
duced sickness in the trees.

The present method is a continuation into the rainy season of the
system of irrigation. Five furrows are always kept with the least
grade water will flow on, between each row of trees. With this sys-
tem, storm off-flow has lost its terror for the steepest cultivated side-
Bill.

At this ranch there was a small alfalfa field on the slope of from
one in ten to one in twelve. A part of this field is still in alfalfa. On
no occasion has the rainfall on this field ever flowed off it. More than
this, storm furrows, bringing the rain off-flow from the cultivated or-
chards above it and terminating in the alfalfa leave their water divided
and absorbed in the field. It is in fact a torrent extinguisher on a
small scale. I have repeatedly tried the effect of grass on a flow of
water. Turn a strong flow of water on a lawn. You will have no cut.
‘The water delivered from a hose concentrated will be sub-divided, and
if it flows off the grass at all, it will do so in a gentle and broadly dif-
fused way. With a large lawn and a large enough flow of water to
finally cross, you may have another valuable experience. The water
will continue to flow from the lower part of the lawn for a long time.

84 TORRENTS.

If pow you turn the same force of water on a cultivated field, and let
it find its own outlet, at the same distance as in the grass, you will find
the flow stop almost the minute you turn the water off. I have tried
this in 4 number of cases. It is easy to try and it is a striking illus-
tration of what a difference in water delivery there is between bare land
and grass. I tried this experiment in a larger way on my ranch.
There is there an orchard in the canyon. Storm water rushed through
this, cutting in some places and depositing several feet of detritus in
others. I had this storm water conducted out of a channel it was cut-
ting and turned into a eucalyptus grove. The stream was immediately
sub-divided; its load of sand was dropped in a miniature cone, the
water was absorbed; the torrent rushing into this grove was extin-
guished. The water absorbing power of the Sierra Madre range, witb
its chaparral covering is almost incredible. Steep as the range is at
my place, I have only once seen a rainfall delivery across the ranch ir
the wash of the three canyons. It is very rare that storm off-flow oc-
curs in these canyons at all. The brush till last year had been without
fire for probably over forty years. The springs have been celebrated
for their volume and regularity. The rainfall was absorbed in the
mountains almost entirely and slowly percolating to more open quartz
ledges, flowed through these to the springs. All the quartz ledges are
curiously and conveniently faced on the south and lower side with a
water-proof dyke. Mr. Koebig, the distinguished engineer, who has
made such a study of the San Gabriel water-shed, indicates what an
enormous difference in the Sierras forests or no forests make in their
water-holding power. Mr. Koebig states that this fearfully denuded
water-shed has a storm off-flow of over 95 per cent. in some places,
while it ought not to be over fifty. He speaks of his own observation
of the increased storm off-flow from a canyon just burned. He also
compares the reduced summer flow due to storm off-flow from this
great and much-injured water-shed with the summer flow from the
small water-shed of Lytle creek, which has been but slightly injured.
Lytle creek, with less than a third the water-shed, has about the same
summer flow as the San Gabriel. This Lytle creek is also far more re-
liable and steady. Neither has Lytle creek anything like the destruct-
ive torrent power of the San Gabriel.

An interesting illustration of the soil-holding power of humus
can be observed in a forest and on a road in a forest. Where the
ground is covered with humus, you will find no mud. The soil does
Zot stick to your shoes. The road soil, if wet enough, will stick to

CHAPTER XIII. 85

your shoes. The same thing may be observed by running water on a
grass plat. There will never be any mud. It does not matter how
much water is put on. The only effect is to make the soil more re-
ceptive and to render the sod soft and elastic. The same water on
bare soil, hard or cultivated, wili make mud.

These experiences can be easily demonstrated, even within the
limits of a city. They are all germane to forestry.

VALUE OF HUMUS.

No one observing these results can overlook the importance of hu-
mus in the soil. The forest makes and protects the humus. When the
forest is burned so is much of the humus, and sometimes all of it. A
burned over forest, whether the trees are destroyed or not, cannot be
expected to take care of as much rainfall as an unburned one.

Torrent action may and does occur from fire, without the destruc-
tion of all the trees. The destruction of the humus alone will account
for a large increase in storm off-flow, and a necessary diminution of
the springs. There are a number of instances in France of torrents
created by forest destruction and of their subsequent extinction by a
renewed forest growth. I have seen quite a number of the charcteristic
torrent cones at the outlet of mountain canyons to plains not now
active, and the stream that made them again perennial.

TORRENT CONES.

The torrent cones have a very important influence upon the water
supply in Southern California. These cones are composed mainly of
boulders at the outlet of the canyons and the change of grade from the
mountain to the valley. As you go out into the valley, the boulders
become smaller and more and more mixed with gravel and sand. At
the lower end of the torrent cones there is all sand. Far out at the
end of cur storm flows, we find silt and clay. Tremendous deposits of
clay are found at present and former river outlets to the sea along
the county coast.

The torrents grind the boulders into gravel, and the gravel into
sand, dropping the load both with the diminished grade and the dimin-
ished water flow. The water flow diminishes with every foot it runs
on the torrent cones and washes. Our storm off-flow is well-known to
be entirely of mountain origin. It is not so well known that our entire
summer supply is the rainfall of the mountains.

Neve in the Sierra Nevada

87

CHAPTER XIV.

SOURCES OF WATER SUPPLY.

Our water supply is of two distinct types:

First: That derived directly from springs or streams in the
mountains. It is plain that this type of supply is due to a rainfall in
the mountains. Where the water-sheds are forested, other things be-
ing equal, the supply is largest and most regular.

The rainfall by the aid of trees, brush and humus gets into the
mountains. These mountains are porous and have a great absorbative
power for water. The water percolates slowly through these rocks and
broken quartz veins or fissures, until it reaches an open vein. Through
this, it flows to a low point and appears as a spring. The mountains
are a reservoir and require the forest tc detain the rainfall long enough
to allow it to get into the rocks and soil. Our canyons carry summer
water only because they cut at the lowest places the water carrying
strata. It is the water-shed of the strata and its size and condition
that determines the summer flow of every spring and stream in the
Southern Sierra. :

The water-shed of the canyon carrying the stream is not the govern-
ing factor. In a climate like curs, with usually six to eight months
without rain, and sometimes without rain of importance for a year or
more, there can be no reliable surface flow to supply springs and
streams.

A vareful examination of our mountain springs and streams dem-
onstrates the fact that all of them have their summer flow from cut
strata. These sources are sometimes masked in cienegas or deposits
of detritus and silt. I have demonstrated by experimental tunnels in
three of my own canyons that these mountain cienegas in canyons are
supplied by quartz ledges, cut by the canyon and not by a bed-rock
flow in the canyon. There are canyons, where there is a bed-rock flow,
but such flow also originates in an open vein above from the rock. In
the high Sierras, there are places like Bear Valley, where from the ex-
tensive and comparatively level district, a good year would doubtless
Iturnish a prolonged summer supply of not deep seepage water. This
is never the case in our canyons.

Above the Clouds at Echo Mountain, Sierra Madre.

Below the Clonds at Echo Mountain. Taken same day and just below the Picture Above
the Clouds. Eucalyptus Plantation next to the Mountain.

CHAPTER XIV. 89

Second: The water from the tier of springs in the valley. This
water is also and exclusively derived from rainfall in the mountains.

There are in our valley lands between the Sierra and the sea
at least two distinct water-bearing districts. Une of these is repre-
sented by the tier of springs and artesian wells running across the
San Gabriel from the Santa Anita to the Marengo ranchos; a second
water-bearing strata comes to the surface at Los Angeles and El] Monte
and a third in the low lands back of Ballona, Long Beach and Newport
Landing.

The Santa Ana water-shed and its off-flow in that valley, has the
same general feature. The waters from our artesian water belt and
from such springs as those on the Santa Ana, San Gabriel and Los
Angeles rivers are derived from subterannean lakes in which seepage
water is upheld by strata impervious to water. Sometimes, this sub-
terranean water is under pressure and between double lines of im-
pervious strata, as in all of the artesian belts and sometimes it is not,
asin most of the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

This water comes from the winter rainfall in the Sierra, which
coming out of the mountains into beds of boulders, gravel and long
sand wash, sinks down into the soil and by slow percolation and large
valley areas of storage, forms the reliable supply of our great second
tier springs. These again, with surplus winter flow, store the wide
lowland valleys with water available in summer.

THE RAINFALLS ON THE VALLEYS INSUFFICIENT.

The rainfall on the valleys themselves cannot furnish this water.
The rainfall is inadequate to do it. There is a subterranean lake in
each of our large valleys. These are very generally tapped by wells.
We have generally learned what this water level is and can now cal-
culate just what the depth of a well must be at any point to strike
water. This is found by taking the known water level and calculating
the higher or lower land surface level above it, where the well is to be
dug. If we take these wells in the San Gabriel, above the line of
springs toward the mountains, we will find that they run from forty
to three hundred feet deep according to the land-level.

In digging these wells, we find the surface moisture to vary in
depth with season and treatment of land. There is always dry soil at
all seasons between this surface moisture and the water level. It is
therefore clear that the rainfall on the valley and above this lake is
not the source of its supply.

If you go out to the roaring mountain torrents flowing from the

Precipice Canyon, Irrigating Stream Sierra Madre.

CHAPTER XIV. 91

mountains in heavy rains and note the waste winter water sinking in
their boulders and gravels, you will see where the water does come
from. It is only in extraordinary years that any of our torrents cross
the valley and flow to the sea. The exception to this rule is the water
delivery from denuded and burned off water-sheds. More of such rain-
fall storm-flow is lost.

The moisture on the San Gabriel valley lands this year from the
rains in no case penetrated three feet. Eighteen inches is apout the
average penetration. It is very rare that the rainfall moistens more
than ten feet down. The water level will average 150 feet in depth.
San Fernando wells shows the same condition. Those deriving their
water from these lower valley springs and dug or artesian wells derive
it in fact from the rainfall on the mountains just as surely as do those
whose pipe lines and ditches take the water directly in the mountains.
Their interest in the preservation of the mountain water-sheds is equal
to that of the mountain system owners. The damage from floods and
torrents is as great in the valleys as near the mountains. The volume
of flood water is undoubtedly less the further from the mountains you

go.
This is one thing that makes the torrent more dangerous while it

has any flow. It cannot carry its load of detritus as its volume de-
creases. This deposited in channels however, well defined in the start,
must and does raise them constantly. It becomes difficult, costly and
at last almost impossible to control torrents with water absorbing cones
like ours and increasing detritus delivery from burned and denuded

mountains. The worse the fires and forest destruction, the worse will
be the fioods. Besides this, the more damage there is to the mountain

water-sheds, the more rapid will be the water delivery from them.
This lack of percolating time for the rainfall to get into the mountain
rock and soil will also result in a lack of percolating time to go
through the cone and washsieves into our subterranean lakes.

Run one hundred millions of gallons of water from a mountain
water-shed to its cone of boulders, gravel and sand, and the time of
its delivery will govern what becomes of it. If this delivery is made
in one hour, you will have a flood, most of. the waters in which will
pass by. If this delivery is over a period of ten days, no water will be
wasted at all. It is not necessary to go any further into an argument
or detail on this question in Southern California. We have seen the re-
sults of unwisdom in forest treatment. We know it from personal ob-
servation, and we fear for the future, uniess our mountain water-shedr

92 WATER SUPPLY.

are safe-guarded. Every one here is in favor of forest preservation or
the mountains. In the matter of the water absorbing power of our tor-
rent cones and washes, we can gain an idea of what such porous chan-
nels must do by taking the absorbative power of large rivers generally.

The Po, a great river of northern Italy, at its junction with the
Ticino, has sometimes delivered 19,500 cubic yards per second. This is
near its outlet from the mountains or in its upper course. At Ponte
Lagoscuro, near Ferrara, pretty well down its course, the measure-
ment has never exceeded 6,730 yards.

The Mississippi, below the mouth of the Ohio, has had a delivery
of 52,000 cubic yards per second. This discharge at Baton Rouge, in
spite of many important tributaries, was only 46,760 cubic yards.
Marsh, who is my authority for this, states that the Rhone and other
large rivers, are affected in the same way by absorption of water in
their course.

Southern California everywhere shows how near it is to the line
of torrent destructive action. Every stream here has a more or less
torrential character. Every mountain canyon has its torrent cone now
with the beds of boulders, gravel and sand extending valleywards.
There is no true perennial stream from mountain to sea in this sec-
tion.

One has only to take the government contour maps and observe
the rise of grade at every canyon outlet due to the deposits of detritus
by the streams’ torrential action to see the importance of the torrent
question. In fact, you do not have to leave Los Angeles City to note
this character of action. The river bed has been raising itself and now
flows on a sort of ridge between artificial dykes. A great deal of the
elegant Southwestern section of the city is lower than the bottom of
the river bed. In some places the river bed is over twenty feet above
the level of the street grades.

A torrential stream, like the combination of the Tejunga and San
fernando torrents, that flows out through Los Angeles, is a dangerous
thing. A lot of old rotten wooden dykes do not make it safe. In
1889 the river broke out of its channel and did a great deal of damage
about Nadeau and on the Laguna. It flowed out that time to the East.
If it took a break to the west, people would commence to take an
interest in forestry in the city of Los Angeles.

Every year the water-holding power of the water-sheds, the off-
flow of which must go through Los Angeles, is diminishing. The city
people have an idea that the Southern forests interest the irrigators

CHAPTER XIV. 93

most. They think forestry a good thing, but that the immediate in-
juries of undue denudation would only fall on them secondarily through
the lessened power of purchase of irrigators with less water and there-
fore with less crops. The truth is that no part of the community stands
in more immediate and greater danger from forest destruction than
does Los Angeles city.

1st.—In the loss of its permanent water supply by the flood de-
livery of the rainfall suddenly from the burned and bare mountains.
every year getting worse, and

2nd.—Because it has a torrent bed running right through the city,
which has already, by the deposit of detritus, elevated itself above the
general level.

Some city people have never seen the Los Angeles river in its tor-
rent form. If they do, they will at once realize what a menace it is tc
extensive sections.

All our streams gradually diminish in flow of water, as soon as
they leave the mountains, or even before. Most of them do not really
get clear of the mountains in their normal fiow. It is only in flood
or torrent time that they go far out toward the sea in a continuous sur-
face flow. In the minor streams, you will often find, after rains, a
roaring and unfordable stream close to the mountains and hardly any-
thing a few miles out in the valley.

Torrents are only found where mountainous water-sheds are in part
or wholly without adequate covering of forests. Forests with us al-
ways include chaparral. After a torrent has been created, the great
question is how to deal with it, and how to diminish its destructive ac-
tion. All of the methods that have been used in dealing with torrent
action are also in use in dealing with floods in general.

First is extinction of the torrent. This can only be completely
accomplished by reforestation of the denuded water-shed. Reforesta-
tion has occurred by the operations of nature. It has also been done by
man. Nearly all of this artificial treatment is in France. The work of
replanting denuded mountain water-sheds and the fixation of drifting
sand dunes by forestation in the south of France is of the greatest in-
terest and value to forest students in the West and especially in the
Southwest. An expedition has been proposed by a number of
Americans to make an early tour through the German forests. It
would be worth every forest student’s while to make the trip through
intelligently and efficiently managed European forests. For us, how-
ever, the trip should be through the south of France and Algiers.

Spring in a Sierra Madre Canyou—Water for Irrigation.

CHAPTER XIV. 95

Extinction of torrents by re-planting forests has been done. It i:
an expensive thing to do. However expensive it is, the ultimate cost
is far less for any community than palliative measures in the valleys
and plains.

Second—Dykes to keep the torrent waters within a defined chan-
nel is the most general method of dealing with torrents. The draw-
backs to dykes are several. In case of a break in the dyke, the injury
the torrent can do is concentrated. In this way a flood that without
aykes would cause inconvenience and some damage by wide diffusion,
would, in concentration and confinement, by a dyke system, do tre-
wnendous damage in any locality, where it migti1 break through th
dykes. This possibility is shown in the experience of dyked torrents
in Europe and in great river systems, like the Po and Mississippi, as
contrasted to the action of unconfined rivers, like the Orinoco ana
Amazon. A person who has seen a crevasse on the lower Mississippi
knows what a failure in a dyke system means.

Dykes work differently in their effects on streams under differeni
conditions. At the outlet of tbe Mississippi a jetty or dyke system
scours and deepens the channel. This is not the case at the junction
of two materially differing grades. A torrent coming out of a moun-
tain range at say, a grade of one to five and then taking the valley or
plain grade of one to fifty, is no longer able to carry the load of detritus
it brought from the mountain. The dykes cannot always overcome
this condition; consequently, the channel in the valley is filled up ané
raised. This necessitates raising the dykes. Finally a torrent so treat-
ed flows on a ridge. A break must be attended with great destruction.
The most striking instance that I have ever seen of this effect of dyk-
ing was in the Austrian Tyrol on the Italian side. Above the old city of
Boetzen, there is a water-shed made naked by communal pasturing. It
is large and steep. This denudation created a torrent. To control the
torrent, an extensive system of dykes has been erected and from time
to time heightened to control the rise of the torrent channel. This
system has cost millions of dollars to a comparatively restricted dis-
trict. Several times bad breaks have occurred. From one of these,
shortly before my arrival, two valleys had been flooded to the third
story of the houses. Cattle, horses, etc., were drowned and many hu-
man beings lost their lives. The Tyrol was built up as it now is during
the feudal regime. The population was concentrated in walled towns
and the houses are therefore high. At Boetzen the houses are four
and five stories. The evening that I arrived in that town, I went out

96 DYKES.

to walk and saw running by the city a very high bank, higher than the
top of the houses. At one place, there was a stone stair. Going up
this, I found a wide, gravelly stream-bed, quite dry on top, with the
inside banks built of stone.

This was the torrent. The dyke walls had been raised from time
to time to counter the channel raised from debris deposits,

The dyke system is not so simple as some people think it is.
Surely it is a cheaper thing to prevent your torrent.

Dykes are also used to check and diffuse flood water. This is the
Egyptian system. Diffusion and division of flood current requires en-
gineering skill not easy to find.

Diversion of torrent channels from localities where they do damage
to others where they do less, is a method of treatment that, under fa-
voring circumstances, may be effective.

An interesting work of this kind exists at the Lake of Thun, in
Switzerland. A torrent had been created there which was doing great
and frequent damage. It was beyond any ordinary method of control.
The plan of diversion was devised and carried out at a large cost,
which has proved to be a great economy. The torrent was diverted to
an artificial channel on a steep grade, through a hill to the Lake of
Thun. The water in the lake at the precipitous point, where the torrent
was delivered, was 200 feet deep. In a few years the torrent filled in
an extensive area, and has made a delta for itself, where a short time
before was deep water.

An important and valuable plan of torrent palliation for us is that
of artificial rainfall storage reservoirs. A torrent that has once gained
volume is almost impossible to deal with on this plan. The reasons
are: First, that there can be no efficient method of flood diversion
from a mountain flood in the mountains. If there were, your catchment
basin, or reservoir, would soon fill with torrent detritus. Second, that
a dam in the canyon of the torrent would soon fill with sand and
stones, and might break and deliver an accumulation of flood water.
Several dams in creek and river courses have burst, with damage and
loss of life. Arizona has a number of such cases. The Johnstown dis-
aster is one of the most notable cases in this country, both from the loss
of property and of life. It was proposed by the miners to build a dam
across the outlet of the Yuba to the plain, by tremendous blasts
in the rock at the outlet gorge of the river. The object was
to control the hydraulic mine slickens, which is artificial torrent
action. The trouble with the plan was that the dam might

CHAPTER XIV. 97

burst and do damage, the extent of which could not be foreseen, and
that the silckens would soon fill any dam that could be constructed.

Reservoirs about the head-waters of our streams, as in such loca-
tions as Bear Valley and Hemet, will beneficially reduce flood and
torrent action, while furnishing such held back rainfall for summer
use.

Another method that has been quite extensively used is the cross-
filling of canyon torrent channels with large rocks and boulders. This
makes what may be called a half dam. It detains the detritus, and does
also detain the flow of floods.

98

CHAPTER XV.

A SYSTEM OF FOREST MANAGEMENT A NECESSITY.

Forestry in the United States is still in its infancy. We have no
system of forest management. Forestry with us is without form and
void. The makimg of a forest system of management is before us in its
entirety.

A Forest School, to provide a career for young men in the Ameri-
can forests, must formulate a system of management for the forests.
We have none, and so we are forced to make it.

DEFECTS OF PRESENT METHODS.

The Department of Agriculture has had for some years a Division
of Forestry. At the head of this division there have been several ac-
complished foresters and splendid men. The forestry division, how-
ever, has had no power. It has been, so far, little more than a literary
bureau for forest missionary work, with an occasional technical mono-
graph of value issued. Under its present chief, the work is developing
in a promising way, but it can never accomplish results in the gov-
ernment forests while these are not in its charge and in no way under
its control. The Department of War has sent detachments of the
army iato those parts of the forest reserve called National Parks, for
some years. These army squads merely prevent injury to the
parks. There is no pretense that the army is doing forestry
work, except in preventing, or extinguishing fires. The power of
dealing with the public forests is in the Department of the Interior,
and is there delegated to the Land Commissioner, an officer with other
large and absorbing duties. We thus have really skilled men in forestry
in the Department of Agriculture, without power, and unskilled men in
forestry in the Department of the Interior with such power as there
is of making rules and regulations or a system, and of appointing a
number of executive forest officers. Then in the Department of War is
the only body of disciplined men in an organization of sufficient force
to execute anything.

The forest officers of the Department of the Interior are all un-

CHAPTER XV. 99

trained men, without organization or discipline. However good men
they are, very little forestry work can be expected of them.

This is truly an extraordinary condition of confusion. We must
all work to have its radical defects cured. It is clear that the skilled
forest officers are the men to formulate forest rules and establish a
Federal forest system.

The present Federal system, if we can call it a system, is as follows:
The forests are directly in charge of the Land Commissioner. This
gentleman is not a forester. Under him are a number of Forest Super-
intendents and Supervisors. One of these has charge of all the forest
reserves of Southern California. Until recently, the Forest Su-
perintendent now having charge of the northern reserves resided
at Redlands, in this district. Not one of these officers is a
skilled or trained forester. Under the Forest Supervisors there
are Rangers. It is claimed that most of the rangers are at
least experienced mountaineers. These are few in number for
the territory covered. Each one of these has a district as-
signed to him, which is necessarily very large. In such district he
works alone. There is no system of checks by which it can be known
where a ranger is or how much work he does. His duties are to patrol
the district assigned to him, and to enforce the regulations about pas-
ture that may be made at Washington. In case of a forest fire, he is to
come out of the forest, if he happens to be in it, and gather up men
and tools, and conduct this force back into the mountains to fight
the fire. There can be but little expectation that such a body of hastily
gathered men would be composed of experienced fire fighters. It is
impossible that it should be a disciplined force. Time, which is of
the essence of the contract in fighting fire, is fearfully wasted under
this plan.

There is no system of fire prevention. Fire prevention is the one
great thing to do to save our mountain watersheds.

It is claimed by the Land Commissioner that the law of the last
Congress which gives citizens free ingress and egress to the forests,
prevents any system of control of those entering the reserves, or the
establishment of a permit, or even of a registry system for those going
into the mountains. The law is bad, but it is not as bad as the com-
missioner thinks it is.

This entire plan of action has proved to be unsatisfactory. It
has been inefficient in every particular. It is a practical failure.

100 MANAGEMENT REQUIRED.

Theoretically such a plan could not be expected to be efficeint. Super-
vision of officers is impossible. Fires are not prevented. No method
is adopted to prevent forest fires. The plan of attacking a forest
fire sacrifices time. When a fire does occur, promptness in getting to it
is the key to success. Under this method prompt attack is impos-
sible.

The water companies, resorts, irrigators and power companies most
directly interested in the protection of our mountain watersheds, all
agree in condemning the present plan of forest mismanagement.

PROPER METHOD.

With this destructive criticism, we pass to what the plan of man-
agement for our forest reserves in Southern California ought to be.

First, we can say that there are temporary and palliative measures
that may be advisable. Of these we may mention the employment of
army details for patrols, and a plan like that of Mr. Lukens for an en-
roliment of call men near the mountains. These to be picked and
reliable men of experience, ready to fight fire at a given signal. This
would be like the old town fire systems. This is a method still
general in small communities for extinguishing fires of buildings.

The ultimate system of forest management must have a permanent
and skilled force of men to carry it out. How shall we obtain such
men?

There is but one way. This is by Forest Schools. Work and study
in the forest is an essential part of every forest course. Civil service
rules are a “sine qua non.” Fcrestry is now a career in Europe and
in India. There are also fairly effective forest systems in Australasia
and in Canada. These forest systems all afford us valuable lines to
work on. The conditions here, however, are “sui generis.” The best
system for American forest work in the great American forest reserves
of the West remains to be formulated. It cannot be exactly upon any
of the forestry lines heretofore or now followed elsewhere.

Our system of forestry has many different climates and conditions
to meet. A complete plan cannot be expected to appear all at once and
fully ordered to fill varying needs. It seems only prudent for us to
outline a system for the Southern California reserves.

101

CHAPTER XVI.

OUTLINE OF A FOREST SYSTEM FOR SOUTHERN
CALIFORNIA.

Force—This must be mainly permanent. Appointment to it must
be on merit solely. It must be absolutely divorced from politics or
personal influence. Its officers must be trained to the duties of forest

guardians. Pending the creation of a trained force, the force itself
should be used as a school. Its members should be made up of those

who can pass the best examination in theoretical forestry. Preference
should be given those making a study of the subject and declaring it
to be their intention to make forestry a career. With the assistance
of the agents of water and power conpanies and of resort proprietors
in the permit or registration system and signal station plan, a force
adequate for our immediate safety need not exceed thirty-six men.
This force should primarily be divided as follows:

PP ADUCOOM iiisircan est thiaelslenn raul aaunimie. (arerehr eae il 3 men
SAN JACINCO? cihsta ses sue warewe trae se mad ares polkas s 5 men
Pine MOuUntaIN 24 anaarie cmnindmun nalteuiecaininaies 6 men
San! Bermardinos ts ccicdvainese ce damoheenoneecneseturae 10 men
Slerra: Madre: .s...a50 Gisesvend waeecdareacarancsawss 12 men

These allotments of men should be kept together and patrol their
ditsricts as a body, in each case. Each patrol should have a captain,
to be the best man in it. The patrol can be divided at times. There
should never be less than two foresters together. The policy should
be to keep the force united. There must be a system of check reports
deposited at certain designated places to show the passage of the patrol.
The chief forest officer must visit the patrol in the field from time to
time.

102 REQUIREMENTS.

STATIONS should contain the fire-fighting tools and imperish-
able supplies. Log huts can be constructed by the patrol for this
purpose. The object of having tools at strategic points in the moun-
tains is to save time in reaching a fire, and to save packing as much as
possible. These stations should be at points accessible to the widest
districts.

TRAILS. Trails must be gradually constructed from the stations
to the various points designated for meeting fires within its fire radius.
These trails can be best constructed after the fall rains commence or in
the spring. In other words, the best time to devote to them is when
the danger from fire is least. In open winters a great deal of trail
work can be done.

FIRE BREAKS. These should be gradually constructed and care-
fully maintained along ridges, spurs and washes, as the topograpdy
may indicate. The same seasons are appropriate for this work as for
trails.

MAPS. The reserves should be mapped and districted as far as
possible on lines of topography to meet and contend with fires. These
maps should be numbered, so that signals could be given, src as to lo-
cate not only a fire, but the place, in any given wind, to fight it. The
maps should also indicate the tool stations, the trails, signal stations
and springs and streams. The map should be made to show the forest
growth, the character of trees or brush, fire scars, etc.

MEASUREMENTS of springs and streams should be made from
time to time. These measurements should also carefully note the
condition of the watersheds, especially with reference to changes
from fire injury on the one hand or re-forestation improvement on the
other. Rain gauges should be set up in numerous places to ascertain
the rainfall. With this, and the measured stream off-flow, we would
know how conditions affected the rainfall delivery. Some of these
gauges in the back mountains could not be visited often during the
rainy season, and would therefore have to be large enough to hold a
season’s rainfall. Snow measurements should be provided for. The
United States Signal Service rain gauge allows least evaporation, which
in the seldom visited ones would be important. Many rain gauges
can be arranged for with the various interests of our section, so vitally
affected here by forest conditions.

SIGNAL STATIONS. These also can be arranged for without pub-
lic cost, by the same interests. All persons I have spoken with having

CHAPTER XVI. 103

interesis in water or power companies, timber lands or resorts, tell me
that they would cheerfully do these things to protect their own in-
terests. Four such stations with the heliograph system would be am-
ple for the San Gabriel reserve. Two would do in the San Bernardino
range. It would probably be wise to ultimately have an alternating
flag system for our rare cloudy days, and a colored light code for
night work. Several stations should be set apart in the burned district
for experimental tree-planting and re-foresting study and work. We
all have a great deal to learn about re-foresting our Sierra. In fact,
we have got to learn how and what to do from pretty near the head of
the forestry alphabet.

PROVISION must be made for dealing with forest products. In
the Southern reserves, practically all of what little merchantable
timber there is, is in private holdings. But the handling of mature
forests, to know how to provide for the sale and right use of ripe
timber, should be studied. The principal thing remaining is the
sale and use where possible, or gradual destruction, of fallen timber
and limbs, to reduce the injury by fire and fire danger. This system
cannot safely, at present at least allow the exploitation by private
persons of wood or timber killed by fire. The sale of such wood must
be by government foresters cutting and removing for the benefit of the
service. The Santa Monica Ranch owners have twenty-five thousand
acres in brush-covered mountains. They used to allow people to cut,
remove and sell fire-killed brush. The result was a forest fire when-
ever wood brought a good price.

PERMIT OR REGISTRY STATIONS. No forest system can ever
be effective in dealing with the paramount question of forestry in
Southern California, which is fire, without a plan for permits, or, at the
very least, registry for those entering the forest reserves. Pre-
vention is the one great thing to provide for in dealing with forest
fires. A permit plan will do this. Every road or trail into the moun-
tain forests should have a permit station. Private interests will pro-
vide assistance in this matter on the San Gabriel, San Jacinto and
San Bernardino reserves, and probably on the others. These permits
should be in books, with a stub to be left in the book for each permit.
The permit should be given free. There should be entered on the per-
mit and stub the name of the applicant, his home address, the object of
the visit to the mountain, the expected duration of stay, and the dis-
trict to be visited. On the permit should be printed the rules of the

104 FOREST SYSTEM.

forest, and especially the rules for small cooking fires, prohibition of
large bon-fires, and the rule obliging all fires to be extinguished by
water, and a condensed statement of law and penalties for fire setting.
This will at once insure responsibility on the part of visitors and in-
form them of the danger and penalties of careless fire setting. It will
also furnish a clew for the apprehension of careless or malicious per-
sons. Any one found by the patrol in the forests, without the permit,
should be removed, and, when the law permits, be subjected to arrest
and penalties. We will probably be forced to provide an alternative
system, until present laws are changed, on account of the hostile atti-
tude of the Interior Department to the permit system. The explanation
of this opposition by the department is a law tackeu on to the forest
laws, at the last session of Congress, providing that citizens should
have free ingress and egress to the forest reserves. I do not see that
a free permit system would violate this law. It might be deemed a
proper precaution to see that only citizens did thus enter the reserves
without any regulation. Free transportation is always regulated by
a pass or check system. Still, a pass holder travels free. This is so
with other things of like free use, such as free theater tickets. When
there is any class or personal privilege, it seems to be eminently
appropriate, and in fact necessary, to see that the privilege is not
abused or used by those not entitled to it. This Congressional law
does thus discriminate againt persons not citizens. Therefore a free
permit system must be lawful. Should the department fail to take this
view, it can inaugurate a voluntary registry system, which would
have much the same results. To each visitor could be handed a copy
of the forest rules, as above outlined. Prevention of fires being the
ideal method of dealing with our great forest danger, some provision
of this kind to create a feeling of responsibility in the fast increasing
campers and visitors to the forest, and to inform them of rules, laws
and penalties of carelessness or criminality of fire handling should
be adopted.

DEALING WITH FOREST FIRES.

The method of dealing with forest fires in California may be con-
densed as follows: Outfit, canvas suit, similar to hunters’, strong shoes,
shovels, brush hooks and axes. Shovel should have long handle. The
handle can have hinge and bolt, to facilitate carrying on horseback.
Some prefer rakes or pitchforks instead of shovels. For back-firing
pitchforks should supplement shovels. There should be ample rations

CHAPTER XVI. 105

and large water canteens, besides the individual men’s canteens. There
should be one man with a pack mule to carry water and rations, and, if
practicable, an extra mule to pack blankets and tools. Fires should
be attacked direct with largest available force. Promptness is one
of the secrets of success in stopping fire. When wind is high, there
is generally nothing to be done beyond going along the s:des of the
fire, out of range of the wind, to keep it from lateral spreading. When
the wind permits, go well ahead of the fire, selecting natural fire
break aids where possible, and back fire. The rakes and shovels can
be well used here to make the back firing safe. An axe is often needed.
Sacks with a little dirt in them and green p:ne boughs are used to beat
cut fires. I believe a shovel is better. Care must be observed to see
that the accumulation of pine needles, often partly buried or outof sight,
does not carry fire underground past the fire line, and start it up again.
Fire on steep mountains starts small slides, and often sends large
boulders bounding down the mountains. Therefore, care must be
taken in attacking a forest fire that is coming down a hill. Another
trouble with a descending fire, especially on steep declivities, is the
fall of burning sticks or logs, which sometimes roll past the fire
fighters and start the fire below these. This is a dangerous pos:tion.
A fire going up a mountain can only be tackled at the ridge or summit.
Ridges are natural fire breaks, and stop a great many forest fires.
Wind and fire is the dangerous combination. In California there is
curing the dry season, when forest fires are usual, a trade wind that
often blows quite briskly during the day. This breeze dies out at
night, end is replaced by a very gentle down draft, generally in the
cpposite direction to the trade wind. In the day the sun also dries and
heats the material, and makes the fire run more rapidly. Night and
early morning are consequently the most effective times to fight forest
fires. At night one is pretty sure to know whether a fire is out or not.
This is not so easy to know in the day. Dead trees burning have to
be watched or visited from time to time until they fall. A forest
patrol should select the points of fighting fire in any watershed under
its jurisdiction before there is any fire. This will greatly facilitate
such work as may be needed in a fire crisis.

The response to fire signals to the patrol in the forest can be
prompt. The patrol, with three to ten men, together, if they reach
the ground promptly, can put out nine out of ten fires. What two
men can do in limiting and extinguishing a forest fire within a short
time after it starts, may taxe a hundred men to effect after it has

106 QUALIFICATIONS OF FORESTERS.

burned a day or two. We saw this demonstration in last year’s forest
fires. Some of these burned two days before any force reached them,
and one at least five days. The ineffective system of last year still
prevails. It is the plan of one ranger to a district, without checks,
without signals, and who is expected to look up, outside of the
mountains, a lot of men to help him. A patrol of trained men, having
forestry in view for a career, with a signal system and patrolling in
fair sized numbers together, can deal effectively with forest fires. The
present system can never do it.

TORRENT STUDY. The forest officers will be under the neces-
sity of dealing with this serious question as they have in Southern

France. Extinction of the torrent by re-forestation will come next
to torrent prevention by protecting the forests. Palliative measures

will also have to be studied in the matter of dykes, their height and
width, diversion, etc., as outlined in the chapter on Torrents.

SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS FOR FORESTER.

What must a forester know to be efficient in Southern California?
We may summarize the answer to this as follows: Know forest trees
from each other, and their species and range; know fertile seed cf
forest trees; know how to plant and rear them in nursery form and
in the open; know how to transplant and secure free growth on the
mountains; know how to measure standing or cut timber, and how
it should be cut for commercial purposes to secure the reproduction of
the forest, and to prevent even temporary injury to water-sheds;
know how to dispose of lumbering waste or fallen timber as a pre-
caution against fire; know the effects of forest on rainfall delivery;
(this includes the good effects of forests on the perpetuity of springs
and streams, and the evil effects of forest destruction on flood and
torrent action); know how to limit and extinguish forest fires; know
the signal system; know the trails, roads, natural fire-breaks and wa-
ter supply of his reserves; know how to make a trail; know what
supplies are the least required for exigencies, and how to ccok them;
know how to pack tools and supplies on such animals as may be
available for the character of country to be traversed; (burros are
considered the most useful all-round mountain pack animals); know
about game and fish in his district; know the laws governing forest
fires, game and fish, and forest user and occupation; know how to
take care of the physique so as to be fit for work; know how to
advise or direct property owners in tree plantations, either in the

CHAPTER XVI. 107

mountains or on the plains. There is a promising field for develop-
ment in this latter line in Southern California.

He must know the geology of the reserves. This is important on
account of the rainfall delivery from different geological] formations,
and also because different soils often vary greatly in the amount and
kind of forest growth they will best support.

Finally, some attention should be given to appropriate sites for
storage reservoirs; with sufficient watersheds and rainfall to fill them.
The forester’s work in this line will be in the nature of aid to the
skilled Federal officers already charged with this work. The rain
measurements on watersheds, together with the measurements of off-
flow from them, provided for in our forest system, will be a valuable
guide to an intelligent decision on the value of reservoir sites.

(The Coast Range is with us in several places in low hills, like
the Mission, San Joaquin and Puente hills, and in other places we have
rolling lands, not profitable for crops or orchards. Certain trees do
well on these hills, and can be made a source of profit as well as
prove a prevention to gullying and torrent action. At the same time,
such tree plantations are likely to create springs, as was artificially
done by Palissy in France by tree planting.)

103

CHAPTER. XVII,

PHYSICAL QUALIFICATIONS AND CONDITION OF
PATROL.

There should be a physical examination of applicants to the patrol.
It is not necessary that such examination be as exacting as the
present examination for army officers and recruits. Serious physical
defects alone need be considered. Organic disease of the heart abso-
lutely counter-indicates mountain patrol work. Outside of troubles
and weaknesses that would be so apparent as to suggest avoidance of
the physical stress of a mountain forest patrol, heart disease is about
the oniy thing that should prevent appointment to the force. Life in
the forest is health giving. The pure air and balsamic odors of our
mountain forests together with the freedom from city nerve tension,
the exercise and simple food would undoubtedly increase the health
of all those in the patrol. The career of forestry is health and life
giving. In this respect it is the opposite of such occupations as glass
blowing and file grinding. Our race is not yet adapted to constant
indoor life, such as our city careers so generally impose. Consequently
life in the forest will make a man more vigorous and manly than life
behind a counter possibly can.

The patrol once constituted, it becomes a first duty of the officers
to maintain the health and full vigor of each individual in it. Without
physical vigor the patrol cannot utilize any knowledge of forest con-
ditions. To the extent that physical vigor is diminished, the efficiency
of the patrol is diminished. This is true of all occupations. The
question then is how to maintain the efficiency of the patrol for the
forest work it undertakes. We must consider the health of the indi-
viduals in the patrol to do this.

CHAPTER XVII. 109
PHYSICAL VIGOR—HOW MAINTAINED.

Let us take up salient points of management that are germane to
this issue.

AIR. Avoid camp grounds that are relatively low or damp. The
low lands in mountain valleys or cienegas are bad. The night air in
such situations is always colder and damper that on mesas, ledges, or
somewhat raised ground. Another reason for avo:ding low camp
grounds is the danger from sudden torrential floods. These floods are

rare in our mountains, but they do occur. Such floods are mainly
confined to the eastern part of the forest reserves that from time to

time are covered by the Arizona summer rain belt. I have been a
witness in both the San Bernardino and San Jacinto ranges of sudden
and considerable local summer floods. The more denuded the water-
shed, the more violent and destructive these so-called cloud-bursts
become. In the desert, where the low mountains are quite bare, these
semi-occasional cloud-bursts will deliver for a few hours a tremendous
yolume of water. The experience of the railroads crossing the desert
is a warning of how serious the rain delivery from a diluvial rainfall
on a bare watershed is. In no part of the United States has the damage
from washouts on railroads been so great as in the arid deserts to the
east of us. Miles of track have been washed out even in the Colorado
desert, dry and desolate as it is. And this, too, from short, local rains
on the low, bare mountains. Oregon, with its sixty to one hundred
inches of rainfall at the pass near Roseburg, shows us no such wash-
outs as does Arizona, with its almost entire absence of rainfall on the
deserts. In the one case forests detain and reservoir the great amount
of water, so that danger is slight, and in the other the bare rocks shed
the occasional water like a roof, which water destroys everything in
its line of escape. Everything is afloat while it rains in Arizona, while
everything is dry as soon as the rain is over.

Avoid low places and especially washes or dry torrent beds for
camps. Take this precaution in an arid district more than elsewhere.

The result of a large rainfall in Oregon, with forests, and of a very
small rainfall in Arizona, without forests, is a sermon on forestry that
cannot be made more forcible. In Arizona, the high mountain districts,
where forests still exist, show the same conservative effects on rainfall
delivery as do our own and the Oregon forests.

WATER. The forest maps should show all points where water

— Cienega, low moist ground.

110 CONDITIONS CALLED FOR.

can be obtained in summer. This is of high importance in case of
fire. In the summer the natural dryness of the air, when added to the
extensive forest fires, causes an evaporation from men in action that
must be replaced by a liberal supply of water. The patrol should know
the nearest point in any part of a district from which the water supply
can be renewed.

The water in our mountains is generally superior in quality; at
some points, however, the springs are overcharged with minerals.
These springs should be noted. Constant use of such mineral waters
is likely to derange the system. Digestive troubles, calculus, kidney
disease, etc., may result.

In the higher districts in the mountains, the springs are sometimes
found very cold. This cold water, taken when in repose, is not danger-
ous. When a man or animal is heated by a hard mountain pull, or
by fire fighting, these cold springs are injurious and occasionally fatal
to users. Unfavorable effects are especially to be noted from cold
water on heated animals.

I generally recommend tea in a ration for the special purpose of
giving an excuse to have all water boiled. A body of men in the field
must depend mainly on surface water for drink. Boiling such water
removes its dangers. In traveling in Asia and Africa I have seen the
immunity from sickness the sole use of weak tea for drinking gave,
and the striking contrast of disabling sickness in large numbers of
those not taking this precaution. I have seen the advantage of boiled
water on many occasions. Boiled water also deposits a portion of its
surplus mineral, which usually more than balances the evaporation.
Thus boiling diminishes mineral contents especially in a covered vessel,
from the lid of which the condensed evaporation may fall back into
the vessel. In our mountains this practice has not the importance
that campers on the plains would find. Officers and patrolmen will note,
however, that resorts, tourists and even patrolmen can pollute and
infect springs and streams. This danger must be guarded against. I
do not think it would be of benefit to boil the water from the spring
at the timber line of Grayback, but it would be to boil the water of the
Santa Ana river just below Seven Oaks resort. It is the proper duty
for the patrol to measure and analyze the water of all springs and
streams in the forests. Some of these waters are medicinal, and if
properly known, would deservedly attract visitors to California and
doubtless aid in the return of health to our own sick people.

Water is, after air, the element requiring most frequent renewal

CHAPTER XVII. 111

to maintain life in human beings. A man can do without food for a
considerable period. Three to four days’ fast is not necessarily fatal
or even harmful. It is claimed that men have endured fasts of con-
siderable periods. There is fair authentication of fasts exceeding forty
days. The body can endure no such deprivation of moisture, or any-
thing like it. The needs of the body in this respect vary with exposure
and exercise. Heat, dryness and work together make a heavy drain
on the liquid of the system. If this drain is not supplied, the entire
body suffers. One of the striking effects of lack of water is derange-
ment of the nerves and mind. The extreme sufferer becomes idiotic
or insane. The importance of liquid to the system is shown by the
injection into the veins of a saline solution, when an extraordinary
drain threatens or has produced collapse. In the case of severe loss of
blood by wounds, the recovery of system-tone by this procedure is
surprising.
In a climate like ours, the water supply must never be neglected.

Many springs are of a small capacity. The marking of springs
on the forest map should indicate the amount of water delivered. For

springs the number of gallons or fractions of gallons delivered per
minute is the most convenient measure, and one comprehensible to the
largest number. A spring sufficient for one household might scantily
sustain two, and fail entirely for three households. A mountain spring
sufficient for one man only in the twenty-four hours may exist, but I
do not know of it. All the springs and streams, however, have their
limits of capacity in what life they can sustain. Most of them are
large enough to leave this question unimportant for our patrol. There
are a number of springs and water holes the capacity of which is
insufficient for twenty men with horses and pack train. Consequently
a patrol route and time card fixed upon certain springs for camps might
be perfect for two or three men, but destructive and impossible for a
large force.

A military expedition from Suakim, on the Red Sea, in pursuit of
certain Bedouin tribes, lost nearly all its animals and was obliged to
retreat from the African Desert, simply because the water holes relied
on could not fill fast enough to supply the men and animals.

Dalton’s experiments show that man requires in the temperate
zone an average of fifty-two fluid ounces of water for his health and
vigor per diem.

Care is required in bringing animals up to a water supply so as to
prevent their rushing in and spoiling the water. Of course this acci-

112 SUPPLIES.

dent can be corrected by letting the pool or spring stand, or by boiling
the drinking water; or, if need be, you can take the mud to get the
water. It is wise, however, to consider and guard against these draw-
backs, both for yourseives and for your animals.

FOOD. There is no such thing as a ration suited to all men under
similar conditions. There is no ration suited to one man under varying
conditions. The best we can do is to approximate the ration to the
requirements. This has been done very closely. A ration suited to a
sedentary life would not be suited to mountain forest work. Neither
would a ranger’s ration be suited to a clerk or book-keeper.

Climate has a great deal to do in fixing the food best for human

beings. In the Arctic regions fat, blubber, candles—in fact anything
to produce heat is welcome and necessary to the system to resist cold.

The natives of these frozen distr.cts have their digestive organs perma-
nently modified to meet these needs. This modification is fatal to them
in the tropics, or even in the temperate region. Inhabitants of tropical
countries have also a heavily increased death rate on going, or being
taken, into cold countr.es. It is probable, therefore, that there are
both permanent and temporary modifications of the human digestive
system to suit both occupations and climates.

From these points we can see that a winter ration ought not to be
the same as a Summer one. The essential difference between a summer
and a winter ration is the proper amount of heat makers for each. There
is besides this also the form of the fat in the food to consider. Much
grosser forms are appropriate for cold than for warm climates.

I have never seen this point much discussed. From personal ex-
perience and observation I believe it to be important. Fat is necessary
in the tropics in some form. A summer ration even for one of our
most fiery deserts should have some fat in it. Olive oil is the best form
of fat for use in warm weather or warm climates. The Greek, Italian
or Spanish plain laborers furnish us in their diet a ration that we know
supports body and health, and fairly hard and long continuous work.
Its defects seem to be in nerve food. In any event, these people lack
initiative and energy in their own country and on their own diet, but
improve in these respects in this country when they arrive. Whether
the stimulus of change and hope for fortune in a new country, or the
change in food, has most to do with the increased activity of foreign
laborers immigrating to this country, we do not know. Both causes
should be looked after.

I have seen hard work done in both Italy and Spain on a ration

CHAPTER XVII. 113

composed of coarse, rough bread, onions or garlic, and oilves or olive
oil. In Italy the southern laborers, I noticed, eat the black olive, such
as we pickle here. The brine furnished them with salt. In Southern
Spain there is the same square-set, heavy race, neither blonde nor
brunette, that is found in the interior of Sicily. These people I have
only seen casually loading or handling freight along the South coast of
Spain, but then noted their use of olive oil on coarse bread. Olive oil
is rather expensive and is an article of common use amongst but
few of those likely to be in the forestry service. We could not, there-
fore, make it a part of the general ration. What we can do, however,
is to introduce it and try the men on that form of fat, as compared
to other forms. It is of special importance to find the best form of
fat for human use in a climate as mild as ours is and to be consumed
during the warmest season. Fats not only furnish body heat, but also
nerve energy. In a warm or mild climate, that form of fat should be
sought that goes most to energy and least to heat, except as a mani-
festation of such energy. In the tropics there are no strong civiliza-
tions. None have ever originated there. Even those primitive forms
of society found in Mexico and Peru were on the high plateaux, and
consequently in comparatively temperate climates. It is to be pre-
sumed that man originated in the tropics. This makes the absence of
noted human advance in the moist warmth of these regions a subject
of interest. Two reasons for this are theoretically presentable.
First—Civilization is the result of human energy. Energy is only
possible by the development of heat. Heat in the tropics is already
and constantly near that of the living, human body. Human energy
in the tropics produces heat that requires other energy to get rid of.
The greater the heat and moisture of the air combined, the greater be-
comes the difficulty of getting rid of surplus body heat produced by
energy. The exercise and energy which we seek in the temperate zone
is in part sought because we feel better physically because of it. In
the moist tropics, exercise of body or mind is irksome and evaded be-
cause we suffer with the heat our own action creates. A dry-warm
air enables the rapid evaporation of moisture from the body to easily
neutralize the surplus heat. In very cold climates or very high alti-
tudes, the energy required to neutralize the cold, prevents the human
being from using energy for development. As there is no civilization
that has come out of the tropics, so there is none that has come out
of the Arctic Circle. The climate of Southern Colifornia is the type
out of which all the great civilizations of the past have come. Doubt-

114 SUPPLIES.

less we will be the civilizing center of America—a continent that needs
civilizing just now.

To come back to our fats—we can remark that oil was the form
of fat most largely used in both ancient Greece and Rome. This is still
the case all about the Mediterranean. We produce excellent olive oil,
and I believe that we would do well to use more of it.

Bacon is an excellent form of fat combined with meat. It is easily
kept and easily packed. The salt used as a preservative aids its di-
gestion.

Corned beef in cans is a good form of meat for a change.

We pass without comment the rubbish called canned roast beef.

Nitrogen is most easily kept and transported in the form of beans.
Pork and beans with bread is a fine ration. The one point in beans is
to cook them adequately. Thoroughly cooked, this food is not dif-
ficult of digestion. Imperfectly cooked, beans are a source of trouble.
Cooking is a very important part of every ration. All foresters should
have instruction in how to cook in camp. This includes the making of
the fire and arrangements for cooking.

Salt is a prime necessity.

Pepper should also be provided.

Sugar is both a food and a stimulant. In proper amount, it is a
great advantage in a ration.

Flour provides us with the hydro-carbons and various minerals.
The more of the grain there is in the flour, the better it is as a food.
Fine white flour is therefore not so good as brown flour or as whole-
wheat flour.

A diet or ration without certain acids, and especially when com-
posed ijiargely of salted meats, is disadvantageous and ends in disease.
Scurvy is a disease due to diet, and with the ration unchanged means
prolonged and horrible suffering, ending in death. Sailors have been
the greatest martyrs to this disease. It is, however, still common in
prisons and in armies. Corrupt contractors, who do not furnish the
food prescribed, are the probable present cause of scurvy. Potatoes
and vegetables at the central camps will prevent this trouble. Dried
fruit is also a good thing and easily packed. It must be examined,
when exposed, to keep out moths and worms.

Lemons and limes are anti-scorbutics—easily procurable here at
most seasons. Some anti-scorbutic should always be provided.

Variety in diet is always an advantage. Even a change of cooks
is occasionally a good thing.

CHAPTER XVII. 115

Stimulants or narcotics at the present time form a feature in every
official ration known to me.

Alcohol was formerly quite generally a part of both army and navy
rations. It is far less so now. Alcohol and tobacco are, however, still,
officially or unofficially, quite generally used by men in organized
bodies. In our California jails and penitentiaries these narcotics are
replaced by smuggled opium. This shows us that while corruption in
one place reduces or removes important parts of a ration, in another
it can add an injurious element.

Alcohol is a narcotic as well as opium or tobacco.

We know by great numbers of experiments that all narcotics di-
minish physical power. All athletes are aware of this fact. I have
used a glass or two of claret at my dinner for many years. It is to me
a break or an ease-off of nerve strain. I know from repeated personal
experience on a measured track, with a time-keeper and stop-watch,
that even this amount of narcotic reduced my physical power.

Smoking reduces my mental power. While smoking I am incapa-
ble of the same mental concentration on any difficult problem that I
am without it. I only notice this effect on occasions requiring continued
and concentrated effort.

A brake is doubtless a good thing in its place. Going down hill
from my ranch to the railroad there is one mile of stiff grade. A brake
on my buggy gains me ten minutes’ time on the drive. On the level,
or going up hill, a brake set would be a disadvantage.

The narcotics, when we are off duty, may be an advantage, when
used with care, in removing nerve-strain. The trouble with them and
us is that we are so liable to use them to excess, or at inopportune
times. In this way we get a physical or nerve brake on, when we are

going up hill, to our very great injury. It is best to have none of them
in use when on duty.

Smoking in our forests has the great disadvantage of its constant
liability to set fires. I put out a fire in the Yosemite Valley set by a
cigar stump, thrown out of a wagon just ahead of mine by one of the
commissioners.

Last winter a small brush fire was caused in Eaton canyon by a
cigar stump thrown out by a tourist.

I smoke myself, and consequently know what a tobacco prohibition
means. Prohibition of smoking by foresters is, however, the only safe
course.

Tea and coffee should be our reliance for stimulant or restful in-

116 SUPPLIES.

fluences on our nerves. Tea is the easiest carried and the easiest pre-
pared. Drunk in moderate strength it has no known disadvantages.
Strong tea, however, in many produces nervousness, insomnia and de-
ranges the digestion.

Coffee is a delicious beverage. It is not so well suited to camp life
as is tea. To have its full value, coffee should be roasted and ground
just before using. I have seen this done, while travelling, in tents in
Asia. This preparation of coffee requires more time and trouble than
that of tea. Tea is more agreeable also without milk than coffee is.

The hygiene of men, animals and camps can never receive too much
attention. No knowledge of forestry you may ever have will be of
any use unless you have the physical power to use it. There is noth-
ing so disabling as sickness in an organized body. Powder and lead
are not a circumstance to disease as destroyers, even in an army.
Everywhere it is disease that disables most men engaged in war.
Disease with us will be mainly confined to errors of diet or to pol-
luted camps or waters. Our forests are free from dangerous malaria;
the water, with few exceptions, is perfect; the air pure; the extremes
of temperature never severe—in fact, we have all the natural conditions
ready at our hand for increasing the health and vigor of our men.

A sound, healthy life requires sound, healthy morals. True moral
life is a life in harmony with the laws of nature.

Marriage is one essential of a life in harmony with natural law.

Every man in the forestry force should be married by thirty.
Preference in appointment should be given, other things being equal,
to the married. This is not only in consonance with the highest states-
manship to preserve the population in its reproductive power, but also
for the highest responsibility end vital strength of the forestry force.
The recently published report of Wm. Farr, M.D., F.R.S., and Su-
perintendent of the Statistical Department of the Registrar General
Office of England, shows that the death rate of bachelors is very nearly
double that of married men, at all ages. In France, it is eleven in the
thousand for bachelors and only six for married men, between the
ages of twenty to thirty. The same thing is true of women. A death
is deemed to be accompanied by five disabled with disease. We can
thus see how important marriage is as a vigor preserver. Between
thirty and forty, the death rate is 12.4 for the unmarried and 7.1 for
the married. Women who are mothers have a two years’ better pros-
pect of life than those that are not mothers.

CHAPTER XVII. 117

I therefore advise all young men to marry early. If not for the
State, then for their own health and longevity.

Life is a good deal like a rose bush. The thorns we have with us
always. The only thing that makes the rose bush tolerable is its
moment of love, represented in the rose. Life is but a straggling bush;
the thorns are always present. It is sound sense to develop the roses,
which can alone be done by healthy love.

118

CHAPTER XVIII.

DIETARY IN DETAIL.

As far as our digestive organs at their present stage of evolution
are concerned, it has been ascertained with sufficient accuracy for all
intents and purposes, what character and quantity of food is required
for men in the temperate zone. We have prison diets, soldiers’ diets,
sailors’ diets, etc., now arranged on a scientific basis in place of the
old empirical one.

Yeo’s table for the adult is:

Albumiinous 10008). .iccawceed-vninaarpenead ey any Vhse ss 100 grammes.
Pate is Siew ea an based seas lacweerinet ae eneee as 90 grammes.
Starcho seeks io psa eae eae Smee sayee we Nees 300 grammes.
DAMS 6255552 5546 4G NSN SS OT VR MOAN EEWRORU SNORE RESO EMER 30 grammes.
WEtel dances Wi Reheat eUee eee edd RNS NPE Oe kT Rae eee ee ee 2,800 grammes.
Foster and Voit’s table is:
AIBONTNOIMS sie saa havea webct s4eeeee FEARS SRE RES 118 grammes.
Carbohydrates 3 occccasideud-ieseeaa wdeatee se sa sae eee Pete. 392.3 grammes
Pats! see sinhe sks at tes ce aaa eee ae Osea Gees BENS aes 88.4 grammes.

In these foods there is of nitrogen 18.83 grammes; carbon, 328
grammes.

Dr. Chaumont’s table for an adult of 150 pounds weight and doing
an average amount of work is:

Albuminoidsr oie nnccas senesced De iaa tenn aean Sean ss anys 4.50 ounces.
AUS eosin eae e ee Aes S MOEN DIS SSI WOLTERS OSC wT CaaS WO RS 3.75 ounces.
Carbohydrates. c.c6.ccsccseeeecasegecheres va ngs Obes sa a%e 18.00 ounces.
Salts is ik ce Pesca ed Sead Kesey Mesieg hin eke as sine miarasien aidan 1.12 ounces.
The British soldier’s ration is:
Albuminoids\o.o.¢.20c040 eens 4s Sawai Grecia eecwe tee artes 3.86 ounces.
ALES Decece asta alesse uss sebctye east ceaneseha aust e nen aataresc ene or rata tra Save tatenene 1.30 ounces
Carbohydrates: iacsd ceed canis oo tree ee teak nae awin es 58 meee" 17.43 ounces.
ST Sie a secaliace eocrnsg Pua tava Gs ecbvete avis vor ese eal ecark ae Brews URL NS recon te Taree uals .81 ounce.

This ration is deficient in fats, and the high mortality of British
soldiers in garrison may be attributed in part to this error. A con-

CHAPTER XVIII. 119

siderable part of this excessive mortality is in diseases for which fats
are generally prescribed. :

The following tables are taken from the Best Rations for the
Soldier, by Col. Jos. R. Smith, M. D.

By general experience and individual experiment, we have dis-
covered a certain amount of food which will sustain an average indi-
vidual in good health; and, also, that much less than this will not suf-
fice, though we do not know that a little less would not suffice. We
have discovered, too, that certain combinations and proportions of
different foods are best in the larger number of cases.

As large numbers of men are involved in these experiments, the
application of “averages” comes to our aid, viz.: That property of
the “average,” in virtue of which, from a large number of specific
cases, every one inaccurate in different directions, an idea may be de-
duced which is very near, indeed, to accuracy in the aggregate.

I proceed to give the amounts of food necessary to sustain in
health and strength an adult male for twenty-four hours, as determined
theoretically and (by experience) practically by different parties.

TABLE I.

Amount of food required per man per day, as determined in actual trial.
1.—By Prof. J. C. Dalton.

Average.
Eres hic meats si cares vn ok bas Scie sieiowh incase ba Sen cb aieancunsets 16 ounces.
BrOa ds ic aatiacnais Sennen a oa ada: DOR AES OTA Oe 19 ounces.
Butter: 0%: fat nisccsereee unr sda eo ocr eeeed neti me aie 3.5 ounces.

Total solid food, 38.5 ounces.
For a “man in full health, and taking free exercise in the open air.”
2.—Typical Ration of English Army,

Meaty ome Sen bok mene e Awe Rel eae Se ores Beene does ones 16 ‘ounces’
BLOAG): wajitenrasa voter eone ce tuee 6 8 ieee tree teen wn A baer 20 ounces.
Or Disclite. .ccaccscaeouscas eee sae aneed eo heet anes age £16 ounces.
Vegetables. “(fresh sscvene.csnies sneaanenles peaksasacaas 8 ounces.
Or vegetables (preserved) or rice or peas............... 2 ounces.
SUB aT ecto s weak cee Saas icra ets iran saecan Sepa ee 2 ounces.
POD oS citered Recapa nists Grae ke ANG es Rete NOH ES HAE MeO noni ES 1-6 ounce.
COG eneid vise cceas Dede dmocaiin ad aa Sagielaa anal 1-3 ounce.
aL Gra ae at oaivis eb cmerk sane as de ee Sua Oana nace Wacker 1-2 ounce.
PODDCLe isa see eae Sig DRE SEE nN ONC eis 1-36 ounce.
Lime juice (when fresh vegetables are not issued)......... 1 ounce.
Rum ..... Elaioiats ochaecks catia Saetnnitens Gualesou Mae onaem easter: 1-2 gill.

Total solid food, Max. 46 ozs. to Min.. 36 ozs.

120 DIETARY.

Lime juice at discretion of the general officer commanding, on

the recommendation of the medical officer.
3.—Italian Army, Type B.

IBICAG, -cscictaigcete vi teks 2 -aigrei gre eeed Stans nize Oi God are ease SRO
Meat; freshyiis hiciens ceases Bee a Fo oes she ew ee a Siler Faces

BACON! silo eae vians ie ae diwsoa esata als ig snenereon ares eee
Pastry (macaroni; ete.) 0205 oc scsdaaae a teeaed scacad can

Vegetables: ouiscccce audi Miainccsennecea faa ee eee ees
Halt. ands “MEP DEMS i spraicsguacessonsvenstae alstotnes Sina eue aralaeraverse eee
Total solid food, 47.015 ozs.

32.378
5.291

529

7.654
1.763

ounces.
ounces.

ounce.
ounces.

ounces.

.7054 ounce.

In Nos. 3 and 4, wine, 25 centiliters; coffee, 15 grammes (over

1-2 ounce), and sugar, 22 grammes (over 3-4 ounce), should be added,

being allowed.

4.—Italian Army, Type E.
COTT Meal iis 5% ah alec hie nee bh eaiees sso en Gun ni avo inal Shao
Meat, -freshiss ic o.cn5 4 sarang dehos, oneiee anes Gata deseo
BA COM 532055. Sass Hacaist aves cod, od aid oe bp ees bends Raw eitbd bie aR

NCES OA Aran tras a ercuasn cial eh nc aia te MEA PA Rodin ate Mlorheh Giants
Salt And) PEPPer ss cisaw snes aerate eden, eamavnalanoina sas
Total solid food, 34.318 ozs.

ounces.
ounces.
ounce.

ounces.
ounces.
ounces.

5.—Ration of the Army of the United States of North America.

POVIE1OL +s DACON sp jeenat oan eho nae ONL eee Ras
Or fresh: beef, OF sMUttON 24... joss a Adee dn ees aoe ea ees
Ore-salt, | DECE 1.4.6 csewe Gash 08. co Nee AOR Ono AU ae OND

Beans: OF. “PCAs i. seen cea hionaaacesaiianeesaws Ute tn as
CP P26e OY POMING s hoon takes ae se nadese On ee ei eee eeeae es
DORA; (RTCCs se cena s haces bees ohana week eae een
Or coffee, roasted and ground................0ce ee eeee

DUP AL ick sist nctslvistavau site Mace sie Ae eaten ro aN Gatun moeta ass
Sat cicacs tareteetannch Gass, Ch cracnaesewlsa soomenmal hachans ulate suena aiaees

(PONDER eciraalsnawmouion a ounntila om ee tetas aee mrt eer ra el atte
Total solid food, Max. 48.6 ozs. to Min. 32 ozs.

1.28

ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounces.
ounce.

ounces.

gill.
ounce.
ounce.

6.—Rations of the Navy of the United States of North America.

CHAPTER XVIII. 121

No. 1
Salt. pork yadactusae ass peeks see eda eit ace eee ieee 18 ounces.
BGANS>- OF SPO ASs wiscecisccuers eunttcaualsueipessaee cneyerseenaquueas sucks or beeirene ees 7.5 ounces.
Bis@uit: | aenuwssuesin corded Hepes wean tatta ita trs teuietaned Batt tress syspeeeacesiaae 14 ounces.
EO eis aren yah as oh Ae Pac i haere ee ea anos ev asso EEN nee har easntsen Ne caomernas 1-2 ounce.
SULT ease versus rarct hice care 10 Ae Wea rename a acum Succes Srntlauca cane a taladonnvseastensile: Sysco 4 ounces.
PIGCKGIG: caGiuda ee NaaneOnnadis Reeen ta eee eee eee 1.14 ounces.
MGIASSES S ocac as Aiton coerorne nena et wen ate Sacro enn Soubusy: 1.57 ounces.
VINCE os ccahies elo cice vate ale ale Siacevats Maen Rate Haare aaa Ta 1-2 pint.

No. 2.
Salts Deel yscwtesioca et aseewca yee uanwiewe ee eg rans ak Goats 16 ounces.
EOUTH! Git daie, cteicwen sie asia akauteue worse. eta eee: seen sr eora ye Sesm ee are 8 ounces.
DIiSd SETUIG iAH etieasshd aes olay wore chonslathewsiols loterancte sleieelarela enaceers 2 ounces.
Biscuit, tea, sugar, pickels, molasses and vinegar the same as in Ra-

tion 1.

No. 3
IPTESERV EG: AIGA tie yaaa Siler are le a 1b eave ais orn eeldlstneae ores wanes 12 ounces.
WLiCE: ese Wn vee Ve Ree Reda aren ele eende LEM sane A era Eee 8 ounces.
FIULEGT? aves Kite ve eared ov ay AUeeRG Seu Mea e eeu memes 2 ounces.
Dessicated mixed vegetables........ Dba wonen eas ete leans 1 ounce.
Biscuit, tea, sugar, pickels, molasses and vinegar as in Ration 1.
Preserved «Meats .cucad auryccanwece pe eea sense deo 12 ounces.
Butter inca ha ak Se Ses aw we she GRE eas MM ERRANDS 2 ounces.
Dessicated tomatoeS........... 0c cee eee eee eee ete 6 ounces.

Biscuit, tea, sugar, pickels, molasses and vinegar as in Ration 1.
Total solid food, Max. 48 ozs. to Min. 36 ozs.

In the above rations, fresh meat, 20 ozs., or preserved meat, 12 ozs.,
may be substituted for the ration of salt pork or beef. Soft bread or
flour, 16 ozs., may be substituted for biscuit. Coffee, 2 ozs., or cocoa,
2 ozs., may be substituted for tea; rice or beans, 8 ozs., may be sub-
stituted for each other. Vegetables of equal value may be substituted
for beans or peas in No. 1, and for flour and dried fruits in No. 2.
Canned vegetables, 6 ozs., may be substituted for dessicated vegetables
in No. 3. Canned tomatoes, 6 oz., may be substituted for dessicated
vegetables in No. 4.

The foregoing amounts of fcod are in avoirdupois ounces, and have
undergone the test of experience.

Concerning the first, Dalton, in his work on physiology, says:
“From experiments performed while living on an exclusive diet of
“‘bread, fresh meat, and butter, with coffee and water for.drink, we have

122 RATIONS.

“found that the entire quantity of food required during twenty-four
“hours, by a man in full health and taking free exercise in open air,
“is as follows: Meat, 16ozs.; bread, 19 ozs.; butter or fat, 3% ozs.;

“water, 52 fluid ozs.”
(COPY.)

Pasadena, Cal., April 17th, 1899.

Dear Mr. Kinney—Below you will find my list of food for one man
for one year. This is made up from a careful account of food used
cn different trips. At first I would have a surplus of some things, and
be very short in others, but of late years I have had neither trouble.
If one or more of the party are especially fond of some one food they
can take an excess of it, and less of something they don’t care for.
Where green vegetables are taken, take six times the weight of the
evaporated. Nearly all new hands run out of salt in a few days; the
amount I mention will not be any too much. Take plenty of matches,
in tight-fitting covered can. Also, each person should fill a small vial
with matches and seal with wax and keep in a secure place, so that if
you fall in the river or get wet in rain you can start a fire. This list
is intended for good living, where there is good transportation by pack
animals or wagon, but for a trip on foot with no animals, one-half
pound of grape-nut, with a little salt, will sustain life very satisfac-
torily for a week or two, with perhaps a little tea. Yours very truly,

(Signed) T. P. LUKENS.
PROVISIONS FOR ONE MAN FOR ONE YEAR. .

Pounds.

SALE < 5 Rae et cocci aiapo ee ey ele aTaee encanta ae ei ormiersne SRA ZEr nce aT OR Bele dlr eo ainntecs ahve 20
PIOUL: 4acins Aanesien es saciows ed or SUS p eS VET AA MEER S TaN aS Hteetademe weaween 200
Corn: meals vis .a8 cavin dice gevoosanieuaed canes me eee te cas naeee scores 25
Rolled! Oat. vchavsicn cee cass sonia sissies thes Sedo eae ty Meee Thue we eee NS 25
RIGO: “Saadansa dowd iwa i Wo OOKED.C 65 2 RUE SFR SERED Re OI OEERS eae eas 20
CWOMECG® fos icths ee ioi Sek SS es RE lds FE AF He aa eae ae cee 25
Par ae is env saad eae y Oeee CINE A MERE DLR HERE PERE EER HE TERETE RDS 30
TEUATE Bat cana cin accu at aoe Moka Lowe She ede eee aE GSP eee ey eek Daa 2
Dried: peaches: (pared) sca arava veka dlvithe nie -caacbdnns eae Oa ore 15
Prime | (Ute) Coe eews eh a dese es kek are eae e enae eee ae Sees oe ree 10
RAISINS? a seassreteriised crane: coaster arwhie a eaeeal vision vieteis oad Sanne agi No ne eave ns ee 10
aon: -ee sieeve eat aracaw teehee aspen ae uaiee mee rardee eee BD:
Dry? salty POrks wsirseuw AS Gee ia cans aheen Hele ehnwe ents merase eee 50

Dridd apples s ises dies cca voce etek das cn eeie san enews deeuwe peesleeereers 15

CHAPTER XVII. 123

Baking - POW GeV is easicsssaise ea dee dsccwdes See sews sl saw eheea hoa dea Geese ee 10

Butter—in sealed Cans........ ccc cece cece eter ence rene eenesteeeres 20
MaGcarOni: “acwseriin: ses ouk dose tare eae chee ce smo, LO.
Two “Hdam: Cheese 4 ccesvvc. Cow eels von e omnes a genre Dae STS eae Di 12
Beatie’ sc daswangentinn Seve e 3.0 ein ae RU nes Fate guesses wea, SOO
Onions: (€vaporated) «cscs cedeewas cae Monee bade ove sedan eee Semmes 15
Potatoes: (€vaporated) s.cs can sacs ees ce dso tea ee bie eae piers ee we epuais 25
Horse radish (grated) scicssecs cvscaso ease theca wedelos saan aceaien 2
Citric acid “Crystals” for vinegar and lemon acid................ 1
Bxtract-of beet sesiyescsackawhrae eens sidecka ea ne mwas acelin 2
One-half pint of Jamaice ginger, hops, food and medicine........ 3

Thirty packages Knorr’s soup.
Sugar (granulated) sic sak cava esas Peewee iGo s es @ cele Ale vere Bees 15
Condensed milk, 24 cans.

Twenty cakes dry yeast.
One can black pepper.

One ounce Cayenne pepper.
One bottle Tabasco sauce.
(COPY.)
Los Angeles, Cal., March 7th, 1899.
Mr. Abbott Kinney. Dear Sir—In compliance with your request
for a list of the quantity and nature of provisions necessary for a
week’s supply for one man, I submit the following.

BRA COM asserts esadens Gen dease hess ee naee ars eed eater iuas ener aoe ae a fi rarebaLeaa eee wees PS 4 pounds.
Corned beef (ome pound CaMs).............. cee eee ee eee 3 pounds
IGE sok es oo Oe wae PNET ERATOR SEES EARS ORI REDE 5 pounds.
SUIT eis a atanie lesb gs toes tose antdhing: tubs bee Duo ebaretnns ae Agee win Madonna see aT 2 pounds.
aR VEPIE Ges aaa Pes ease aw Bera hehe eras Pa ee eter ea aeons 2 pounds
POCAUOSS oy av asisicseastes eich ceca hater oe ses Ses ate car auecttiomeas weac es uae ecoamecences earn 5 pounds
OTT OS Saisie oeacete here aus arhatecr ee avasTiaceeeeate Diao eves toy Sune eee on eev eS 1 pound.
Beans (one pound cans).............06- eerie taushegiese: oeyentonnarerete 3 pounds.
COMO Serbo AB eee aac ntaya nee cue antayareaateh a lesa G acovstatie terse tuancSotac sible ears Baayen % pound.
PAU ECCI Sascelore eee hed aera el Nea oY SALEM Raine Cle aU ertene he Rat ¥% pound.
A little salt and pepper.

Bakin& “POW GED scdas weds naew an es or tones aireeienuven erage ebuns ae Y% pound.
Condensed MW ess edeece byes ties cao OS Sa en chase aac aeeteue aes 1 can.

It is necessary that one should carry a coffee pot, frying pan,
small stew pan, water canteen, tin plate and cup and a knife, fork and
spoons.

The above list is intended for one travelling every day and alone.

124 DIETARY.

If a party are travelling together, it could be more varied, but about
that amount is what would be required for one person. For a party of
ten, it would not require ten times that amount. Less meat could be
taken, and more flour and beans, and eight such rations would feed
ten men. One person must carry more in proportion than larger num-
bers, as there is more waste, which can hardly be avoided.

I will be glad to furnish at any time any information which I
may possess on forest reservations and the fires therein.

After the fire of last October I wrote an article descriptive of the
damage caused by such fire to our present and future water sup-
plies. In it I also suggested the formation of a popular Forestry Associ-
ation for the purpose of co-operating with the Government in the
protection of the watersheds, etc. I submitted the article to one of our
newspapers, but it was returned with the remark that it was not
timely.

I trust that your efforts to arouse public interest will meet with
the success which the matter deserves. Very respectfully,

(Signed.) E. B. THOMAS.
416 East Eleventh street, City.

CHAPTER XIX.

SUGGESTIONS TO IMPROVE THE EFFICIENCY OF THE
FOREST PATROL IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

The available funds for this purpose are now used in three ways,
viz.: supervisors or officers, regular patrol and exigency patrol.

One head officer is necessary. Los Angeles is his proper location
The other officers should cither be on the mountains during the fire sea-
son, supervising the patrol and checking up its work, or removed and
the money applied to the increase of the regular patrol. I consider
these subordinate officers to cost more than they are worth at present,
and especially with so little money available.

The exigency patrol fund should be applied to the increase of the
regular patrol. There are exceptional cases where an emergency or
exigency patrol would be an advantage. In such cases interested par-
ties are ready to assist the work while the government funds remain
inadequate. As a matter of fact all the large forest fires in the past
two years have been effectively fought only by private interests such
as the Mt. Lowe R. R. Co., Martin’s Camp and the San Gabriel Electric
Power Co.

Of the numerous reports I have of the exigency patrol fire work ev-

eryone condemns the system. In no case reported to me has a fire
been controlled by @n exigency patrol. The funds thus used are wast-

ed. The exigency patrol system has congenital defects which render it
impossible to make it effective.

First, Time: No one can gather up a fire patrol in a minute. In
this chaparral country, time is the essence of the contract in extin-
guishing fire. Forest fires have here three stages; first, when it is
small and starting; second, when it is in full force, roaring up the
mountain; and third, when it is smouldering at natural fire breaks and
creeping over into new territory. The first and third stages are those
alone in which the fire can be controlled. Only little side work can be
done when a forest fire is in full blast in our brush.

Now an emergency patrol cannot be organized to reach a forest fire
in time to take advantage of the first stage. It is useless or worse at

126 PERMANENT PATROL.

the second stage, and ignorant, incompetent and undisciplined for the
third. An increase of regular patrolmen, however small, would be
much more useful than the exigency patrol. The work of exigency
patrols has been reported to me in a number of cases. The shortest
time was the patrol sent to the Henniger Flat fire. This fire was on
the south face of the Sierra Madre within two hours of the City of Pas-
adena. The patrol reached the scene of the fire the next day, sixteen
hours after it started, and after the fire was out. The Martin’s Camp
force and my Water Company force stopped this terrible fire at natural
fire breaks on ridges and in washes. This is not a criticism of any
officer, but of an impossible system. Too much time must be wasted in
reaching a fire by this method. Reports on other exigency patrols show
that from two to five days elapse between the starting of the fire and
the arrival of the patrol.

Generally these exigency patrols have been hastily gathered in
towns and cities. The character of men thus recruited is not of the
best. There can be no discipline in such a force. They are not prop-
erly clothed or shod for mountain fire work. ‘They do not know how to
fight fire. They do not know how to care for themselves either as to
water or food. Few of them are physically fit for the arduous work.
If, on the other hand, you have call men located in and about the
mountains for exigency patrol work, you are very likely to have fires
occur when other sources of money are stagnant, a frequent condi-
tion with this type of men. It is charged now that forest fires
have been set and renewed to secure work on fire extinction. An ex-
igency patrol is not of much if any account. Three or four intelligent
and capable men can do more good on fire work than a hundred corner
loafers pitched into a brush mountain on fire. I wish it clearly under-
stood that no officer is criticised. It is the system which is at fault.

The money saved by cutting off some of the subordinate forest
supervisors and thus saved by dropping the exigency patrols, would
couble your present regular patrol in all the most dangerous districts
in the south.

At the present time the forest reserves in Southern California are
divided into patrol districts. In each of these there is one patrolman.
These patrolmen have no defined relation to each other. In case any
one of them needs help he goes to the nearest point at which commun-
ication with an officer can be had and asks for it. Valuable time is
necessarily lost in this way. What would seem better would be as fol-
lows:

CHAPTER XIX. 127

Arrange the camps of the rangers at the points contiguous to the
greatest number of districts. In this way, with the present force, three
to four men would have their camp together. At this central camp
would be the tools for fire fighting and trail making. Supplies could
be delivered at these camps and the head officer visit them for reports
and inspection. It would cheapen the cost of telephone or signal sys-
tem. The rangers now have to come out of the mountains for supplies
and once a month to make a report. By the above method the ranger
would not have to leave his district. He would also have company
and aid. The rangers of districts so arranged should be instructed to

give each other aid.
The fire signal should be an imperative call for assistance with

tools. The fire signal in this section is plain and unmistakable. It is
a cloud by day and a column of fire By night. In this way at least four
competent men would be after a fire at the first sign of smoke. In most
cases enough of them would reach the fire in the first stage to control
it. The economies suggested would enable the dangerous districts to have
a double patrol. Eight trained men would then be promptly available for
flre work. Very few fires would get beyond the first stage by this sys-
tem and all would be dealt with by a good force at the third or resting
stage. All forest fires of wide range go through this third period sev-
cral times in their course. The recommendations of the Forest Society.
now being partly carried out, were:

1st: That the rangers should be appointed Deputy U. S. Marshals.
This the U. S. Marshal in this district refused to do. A marshal could
be appointed who would do this. In one district the rangers have been
appointed Deputy Sheriffs by the county. In all the Southern reserves
most of the rangers have been appointed deputy game and fish ward-
ens, at the suggestion of our society to the Fish and Game Commission.
These stars enable the Rangers to arrest offenders against State laws.
The stars also add greatly to their influence and power.

2nd: A free permit system was suggested. Any one in the mount-
ains without a permit would be taken out. These permits were to con-
tain, with a duplicate register on a stub in the permit book, the name
and address of the holder, the part of the Reserve to be visited and the
person’s object. At the bottom was to be printed the rule against large
fires and obliging every fire set to be extinguished by water and the
penalties for setting forest fires. Every permit holder would surely be
in a more responsible frame of mind with the permit than without it,
and would use more care. Ignorance could not be pleaded as to the fire

128 SAFEGUARDS.

rules and laws. Permits would prevent forest fires. Prevention is
better than cure. Our attorneys deemed this. permit system to be en-
tirely in accord with the last Congress’ law on the forest reserves.

In place of this permit system there has been quite a general action
by the Rangers in taking the address of persons met in the mountains
and warning these on the fire dangers. This is better than nothing,
but it is not complete. The permit system is complete. All the com-
panies interested in water, power, resorts, etc., in the mountains, would
aid in this by keeping the permit books and issuing these without cost
to the government. These companies have stations now at all the en-
trances to these southern mountains.

3rd: Trails to be built by rangers as time served. Some rangers
have done a little of this, but there is no regularity or plan about it.
What the Forest Society recommended that could be done by the pres-
ent force that has not been attempted at all, was:

lst: Map making, to show natural fire lines, water sources, trails
and timber. However rough such maps were they would be a great aid.
Two of our society rangers have made such maps.

2nd: Recognition of Forest School started here.

38rd: Measuring water in springs and streams and setting rain
gauges.

4th: Collection of tree seeds to be planted in burned districts.

Your future system of reserve management in the south should
provide for a permanent force. In winter the rangers should receive
instruction in forestry and prepare seedling trees for planting and plant
them as funds permitted in the burned and denuded districts. They
could also make trails and maps during this season; build log huts at
the central range stations; erect telephone lines, etc.

In this connection, there is a movement started by the Forest and
Water Society to have a part of the 800 acres of the National Soldiers’
Home at Santa Monica used as a grand National Botanic Garden. All
the trees that will grow in the United States will grow there on its
plains, canyons, foothills and mountains. This would be the place for a
forest training school and forest tree propagation for re-foresting.
We would be glad to have you help the movement.

The Division of Forestry should be placed under the Commission of
Lands, Dept. of the Interior, or else the forestry work should be turned
over to the Division of Forestry, Dept. of Agriculture. It is an anomaly
that the only division of the government service dealing with forestry
should have nothing to do with national forestry work. Our Forest and

CHAPTER XIX. 129

Water Society is of the opinion that at least in all the arid district
where the great bulk of the remaining public land is, the public lands
should be managed as a unit. The mountain forest lands should be
considered as a reservoir system to store the rains, maintain springs
and prevent torrents. Reservoirs and irrigation should be developed
and paid for by the sale of the improved lands. All the public lands
fit for pasture should no longer go to the strongest and most violent
but be leased under proper rules to preserve the pasture, prevent
bloodshed, protect the forests and give some return to the people of
the United States who own them. The money available from such rents
is estimated to be, from the public lands in California alone, from
$250,000 to $500,000 a year.

THE AUTHOR TO LAND COMMISSIONER AT WASHINGTON ON
FORESTRY SYSTEM FOR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

Oct. 9, 1899—Hon. Binger Hermann, Land Commissioner, Wash-
ington, D. C. My Dear Sir.—Your kind favor of the 19th ult., re-
questing my suggestions on an improvement in the Forest Patrol sys-
tem, has been received. Your request is complied with in a separate
paper herewith enclosed.

We all appreciate your interest in the forestry question. We also
appreciate at least in part the difficulties that surround the creation of
an efficient forest system. You have had to create a system fitted to
deal with very divergent conditions. This work had to be done without
previous American landmarks and under circumstances that made Eu-
ropean experiences of but small value.

Lack of funds has also been a most serious handicap to your ef-
forts.

The government under your administration of the Land Office has
accepted the responsibility of caring for and managing the government
forests. You have earnestly undertaken a great work, which will be
the starting of an epoch in the west. While we believe that the system
can be improved, it is a pleasure to say that the work in this section
has been better done this year than last. We desire to aid your great
work in all possible ways. Permit me to present two important con-
siderations in regard to Southern California forestry work:

' 1st: Southern California conditions are different from those in
any other forest reserves in this country. The climate, topography
and industries here demand a care of the water-sheds nowhere else so

130 LETTER TO COMMISSIONER.

urgent. The forest growth is chaparral or brush. Only in the canyons
and high ridges is there any timber and this so scattered and inacces-
sible as to be out of any calculation for revenue product. There are a
few exceptions to this when timber in sufficient amount grows to be
available for commerce. These districts are in private hands. Chap-
arral is the principal covering of the mountains. No other forest re-
serves have this predominant chaparral character.. Where the fires
have gone the springs and streams have dried up. Existing torrent
cones and increasing flood damage warn and unite our people in a
aesire for forest protection, which is self-protection.

2nd: The forestry movement here is not on the same footing as it
ig elsewhere. Here the theoretic and aesthetic basis of forestry is sec-
ondary. Every irrigator, water company, resort, establishment, rail-
roud company, power company, and in fact all citizens, are actively
favorable to forestry. There is no sheep or grazing industry of any im-
bortance here using th forest lands for pasture. Only on the north
siue of the mountains, and mainly in the Pine Mountain reserve, is
there sheep invasion from the San Joaquin.

This community is for forestry for immediate and practical rea-
sons. Conservation of the water supply and prevention of torrents is
the life question in Southern California. What I said to you in the
Palace at San Francisco over a year ago was that the situation in
Southern California could only be realized by a personal visit from you
and inspection of the vast interests dependent on irrigation and a view
of the chaparral covered nwuntains, of the great fire scars, of the dried
springs and torrent damage. No one can realize the situation without
seeing it.

Your letter indicates that our printed plan of management, together
with several of my letters to you, must have miscarried. Please ad-
vise me if you receive this one. In case I do not hear from you, I will
forward a copy to a friend in Washington to be delivered to you person-

ally.
Yours respectfully,

ABBOT KINNEY.

131

PRINCIPAL FOREST TREES OF THE CALIFORNIA
RESERVES.

CHAPTER XX,

PRINCIPAL AUTHORITIES ON THE SUBJECT.

The men who have described the forests and forest trees of Cali-
fornia have all written poetry into their descriptions. True poetry is
that higher insight that inspires the soul. Indeed, it is but natural
that the poetic feeling should be shown when the grandest forests of
the world are being brought to the knowledge of mankind.

Muir’s ‘Mountains of California’ is oue of these beautiful descrip-
tions of our mountains and their forests. It is well worth the forester’s

study.

The earliest attempt, of any importance, to give a complete scien-
tific description of the forest trees of California is that of Sereno
Watson and Dr. George Engelmann, in the “Botany of California,”
published in 1880, uniform with the volumes of the Geological Survey
of California. The order Coniferae was largely written by Dr. Engel-
mann, the most acute student this group has had in America; and
his judgment is likely to be the final one in regard to our most difficult
species.

Next came Prof. J. G. Lemmon, who treated of the forest flora of
the Pacific Coast as an entirety by itself. This work was done under
the orders and at the expense of the old State Board of Forestry. It
is to be found complete in the biennial reports of the State Board
commencing with that of 1887-1888. Like a number of the works in
these reports, it has been republished in several editions. No State
reports have received the same amount of quotation and republication
by private enterprise as those of the State Board of Forestry. The
State should republish these reports.

The latest and much the mogt elaborate work on the trees of
this country is by Professor Charles S. Sargent, “The North American
Silva,’ in thirteen volumes. Vols. 10, 11 and 12 treat of the Coniferae,
containing plates of the flowers leaves and cones of all our species
and varieties and a vast amount of information in the text.

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CHAPTER XX. 133

FOREST GROWTHS.

For the purposes of the forester, it is only essential to present at
first the most important forest growths, with the expectation that the
student will finally know all the forest growths by mountain study.
Nor will we now go beyond the reserves themselves in our tree exam-
ination.

The forests of the reserves in California are predominantly ever-
green. While there are a few deciduous trees, the black oak, “Quercus
Californica,” and the hickory oak, “‘Q. chrysolepis,” are about the only
ones of general importance. Speaking in a broad way, our reserve
forests are evergreens and belong to the order of the Coniferae. That
is, the trees are cone bearers. Our California conifers are divided into
three tribes, the Cupressineae, Taxodineae and Abietineae, with char-
acters as follows

Tribe I. Cupressineae:

Scales of fertile aments, opposite, in pairs, becoming a small dry
cone, or a drupe-like berry in juniper; leaves opposite or ternate, often
cimorphous, a large tribe of four genera: Juniperus, the junipers;
Cupressurs, the cypresses; Thuja, white cedar; Libocedrus, incense
cedar.

Tribe II. Taxodineae:

One genus only; Sequoia, the big trees.
TRIBE III. Abietineae.

A large tribe of five genera:

No. 1—Abies, the firs; leaves sessile, leaving circular scars whep
they fall; cones erect on the upper limbs, their scales deciduous from
the axis; seeds with resin vesicles.

No. 2—Pseudo-tsuga, Douglas spruce; leaves petioled (stalked), the
scars transversely oval; cones pendulous; scales persistent: seeds with-
out resin vesicles.

No. 3—Tsuga, hemlock; branchlets rough from the prominent per-
sistent leaf bases; bracts of the cone smaller than the scales; cones
pendulous; seeds with resin vesicles.

No. 4—Picea, spruces; tre2s having also character of the last, ex-
cept leaves sessile; seeds withcut resin vesicles.

No. 5—Pinus, pines; cones requiring two years to complete their
growth (three years in two American and one European species), their
bracts becoming corky and thickened, leaves (the conspicuous foliage)
in fasciles of two, three or five (golitary in one species), and surrounded
at base by a sheath of scarious bud-scales; pollen two lobed.

Timber and Timber Line on! Sierra Nevada.

CHAPTER XX. 135

The lumber trees in our reserve torests are the pines, firs, Doug-
las spruce, incense cedar, and in one district of the Sierra Nevada, the
sequoia.

Of the pines, there are but two in our reserves that as yet are an
important source of lumber. These are the yellow pine and sugar pine.

The incense cedar is principally used for posts, ties, shingles, etc.
In our southern reserves the yellow pine is the principal lumber

tree. The sugar pine is indeed the king of the pine genus, but it has
a much more restricted range than the yellow pine, and but seldom
grows in masses. It is scattered through the forests of the middle Sier-
ra region. One of its peculiar properties is its straight grain and facility
for splitting. This invites the woodman to it for a source of shakes.
No lumbering in our mountains is more distressingly wasteful than
shake-making. Only parts of these giant trees are used, and quite fre-
quently the woodsman tires or the tree proves refractory. Thus it hap-
pens that the mountain traveler often sees sugar pines of two to two
hundred and fifty feet in height felled, with only a few feet of the trunk
used. The rest remains to rot, or furnish destructive fuel to some for-
est fire.

(Foot Note: All of our lumbering is very wasteful. Under private
ownership and at present lumber prices, it will so continue, without a
forest system. A method has been proposed whereby the cutting of
lumber by private parties or corporations might be so conducted as to
promise a new forest crop and remove the danger and destruction by
fire, usually severe in cut-over districts on account of the lumbering
waste. This method is that rules be drawn up by foresters for the tree
cutting and removal of waste. The consideration to the lumber com-
panies to so conduct their cutting being an agreed price to be paid by
the government for the cut-over land thus treated. The rules to secure
forest safety and insure new growth are simple and not costly. A
number of lumbermen have expressed approval of this or some other
fair and reasonable plan. The only other way out of this difficulty is
by expropriation of private timber holdings. There is, however, an
increasing interest amongst lumbermen in a private forest management
to secure continuous crops. This will surely grow with higher prices.

A good deal of cut-over forest land is allowed to go delinquent for
taxes. Such lands, while falling back into the people’s hands, fall into
State or local jurisdiction. This result is not satisfactory, because
‘ue state has no forest system and, besides, has no part in the man-
agement. of the Federal] reserves.)

136

CHAPTER XXL

STUDY OF TREES.

One of the interesting things about our forest trees is that these
have such a tendency to grow in pairs. This fact will simplify your
study of the trees.

PINES, HOW DISTINGUISHED.

Taking the grand yellow pine as our most important forest tree,
_we find that it has a brother called the Jeffreyi, or black pine. Let
us commence with these in furnishing points not purely botanical for
identification. First, how will you know a pine from any other conifer
of our mountains? You can know them by the leaves alone. These,
whether short or long, single or in bundles, are always needle-like and
always in a sheath at the base next the branch. That is one point, and
it is enough. When you find a cone bearer with a needle-like ever-
green leaf, with a sheaf from which the leaf or leaves spring, it is a
pine. The only other genera of the sub-tribe ‘“fasciculares’’ are the
cedrus and larix, neither native to California.

The name of the yellow pine is pinus ponderosa. It is a splendid
tree of very wide range and several varieties. Its habit is straight, of
regular form and it grows tall, 120 to 300 feet. The leaves grow out
of their sheaths in threes. Their color is medium green. Their taste
and odor aromatic and piney. The leaves are from four to ten inches
long.

The yearling cones are green and of rather oval form. The mature
cones are brown and generally small, three or four inches, although
sometimes four to five inches long. The cones always break off the
tree, usually leaving some of the scales on the tree. From this it is
called a base-broken-cone. It is always widely open when on the
ground. The general shape is ovate-conical. The seeds are about one-
half an inch long with wings an inch long. Male flowers large and
jong. The typical bark is a bright salmon color, very thick and fis-
sured into large plaques, suggesting the skin of an alligator. No other
pine has bark like it. The great stem of these pines, when thus typical,
is a beautiful and grand column of the forest, recognizable as far as
cne can se2 it.

Tamarack Pines on Alpine Lake in Sierra Nevada

138 THE PINES.

From this type, the bark varies with less and less striking color
and marking to dark, almost black color and longitudinal fissuring.
These darker barked varieties in California usually have the larger
cones, and for the most part are found in the lower altitudes, where
ihe ponderosa grows. Nor are these dark barked varieties as tall or as
large as the salmon colored plaque barked, small coned ones. The
dark bark is not so thick as that of lighter color, and there is a larger
proportion of sap to heart wood in the dark trees.

These varieties in the cone and bark have persuaded some botanists
that the yellow pine’s brother, Pinus Jeffreyi, is but another variety
and not a true species by itself. Better acquaintance corrects this
mistake.

The black pine is found in the higher altitudes and is at its best
about 7,000 feet above the sea. It is also found at lower levels. In
Northern California the black pine appears to affect hotter, drier
ground than P. ponderosa and at about same elevation.

The striking differences between these species are as follows: The
yearling cones are purple instad of green, with larger prickles. The
mature cone is much larger, more base broken and of. pyramidal
shape, and not so flaringly open when ripe. The leaves are covered
with a delicate silvery powder, not present in ponderosa. Their taste
and odor are much more delicate and sweeter. In fact, these pines
have songs of their own, tastes of their own, odors of their own, and
wood of their own. The yearling cone color is enough to separate these
two species, even to the most casual observer.

There are several varieties of Jeffreyi also with bark color, vary-
ing from brown in broad check co dark red and black, with lateral
fissures.

While these varieties of form make some confusion for the begin-
ner, these species can be separated by an examination of the yearling
cones and a careful look at the foliage; the silvery powder of the Jef-
freyi is, however, very light on the leaves and has to be looked for and
rubbed off to be sure of it. The taste and smell of the leaves is very
different. That of the pondercsa is strongly of the pine, while that
of the Jefferyi is delicate and suggestive of oranges.

This pair of pines is easy to separate from the others by the broken
base of the cone. Other cones that are base-broken are those of the
long persistent cone-holding pines. Such cones are forced off by the
growth of the tree, or by violence.

The first pine you meet in the foot-hills of the Sierra Nevada is

Granite Dome aud Upper Timber Line Pines, Sierra Nevada.

140 THE PINES.

a nut pine with a large edible seed. It is sometimes 180 feet high.
This is Pinus Sabiniana. It is of a branching, forked, or rather strag-
gling growth. The trees are generally far apart and mixed with white
oaks (Q. Douglasi). Its leaves are long, of a dull gray color, and the
foliage is usually so thin as to offer but little shade. The cone is
long persistent on the tree. This pine is freauent in the Tehachapi.
Gray-leaf pine seeds are large, black, sweet, and with a very hard shell;
a favorite Indian food. It is not found in our neighborhood. The
cone is very large, dark colored and with hook-like spines. Two
other pines take its place in our neighborhood ranges. These are P.
attenuata (P. tuberculata of American authors) and P. Coulteri. P. at-
tenuata is a small, straggling tree with green foliage and a long
knobby cone. It is a rather poor looking tree. It also grows on hot
foot-hills. A striking peculiarity of this tree is that its cones re-
main firmly closed for indefinite periods, often until opened by fire.
Thus, when a fire kills these trees, a plentiful sowing of seed for a
rew growth takes place. A few of this species are found in the Sierra
Nevada warm belt.

I forget whether it was Muir or Lemmon who noticed the uniform-
ity of age of trees in tuberculata or attenuata groves. This we may
assume to be due to its habit of seding all at once after a fire. In
such fires the old trees seem to have been killed. Some people think
that this tree resists fire better than others. I find no adequate con-
firmation of this opinion, unless it be 1ts method of producing new trees
after a scorching fire.

P. attenuata is scarce here, as elsewhere. It is found on the south
face of the San Bernardino range.

The other foot-hill tree, P. Coulteri, is quite handsome, with green
foliage, leaves in threes and never to be mistaken, on acount of its
gigantic hooked cone. This cone is the largest in the world. When
mature it is of light color, growing darker on the ground, and is
armed with large, curved hooks. The cone is quite persistent, so much
so that the tree wood often grows around the base so as to enclose
some of its scales and cause it to break like base-breakers. The male
flowers are cream color. The cone weighs from five to eight, and, it
is said, even ten pounds. It was first found in the Santa Lucia moun-
tains, where it is in a forest of its own. In San Bernardino, it ranges
from 1,800 feet to 7.000 feet above the sea. It makes fair lumber.
The seeds resemble those of P. Jeffreyi.

The curious Torrey P’ne has an unusually large cone. Its foliage

‘Pines in the Sierra Madre Summits.

142 THE PINES.

is rather dull grayish. It is only found in a few places, with a few
trees at each, along the San Diego coast near Del Mar and on the island
of Santa Rosa. The trees are not very old and there is no sign of
any former extension of the species. In fact, it seems more like a new
adventurer to the State. It comes easily from the seed. The leaves
are in fives. Along the San Diego coast this pine crouches and lies
on the ground and rocks of the bluffs and barrancas to resist the sea
breeze, much as P. flexilis and P. albicaulis dwarf and creep under the
Sierra snows and winds.

Once in our high southern mountains, the forest is of P. ponderosa,
cedar, sugar pine, firs, Douglas spruce and, in damp places and higher
up, of the tamarack pine. With these, in the lower levels, is the
golden live oak (Quercus Chrysolepis), and in the middle, higher, the
deciduous black oak with large edible acorns.

Let us go on with the pines. The chieftain of pines of the whole
world is Pinus Lambertiana, the great sugar pine. This giant is
not plentiful in the Southern Sieras. It is easily recognizable, both
in its detail and general appearance, from other pines in our moun-
tains. The stem or bole is long, without limbs. The bark is of
a dark reddish brown of warm effect, finely fissured. From wounds
in it issues a sweet pine gum that is edible in small quantities, and
very laxative in any amount. This gum has given the tree its com-
mon name of sugar pine. The leaves are much shorter than those of
the yellow pine, and are always in bundles of fives. The leaf color
is a pleasant blue-green, very different from the sad, dull gray of P.
Sabiniana. Its most striking characteristic is the fruit. The cones
are the longest in the world—ten to eighteen inches. These hang
generally in clusters far out on the long branches, and bend these
down in graceful curves. The seeds are large, sweet and edible, but
‘very difficult to get. The mature trees have great individuality of
form. The foliage is often quite thick and concentrated about the
top. The branches stretch out over the lesser forest trees in an ad-
venturous, independent way. One tree lover has suggested them to
be the priests of the forest, forever extending a benediction to their
fellows.

The sugar pine leaves have less of the pine taste and odor than
any other tree of the genus.

Pines generally are inclined to a stiff, formal growth. The sugar
pine has nothing of this. Each of these trees has character of its own.
Bach tree is interesting as an individual. In fact, the sugar pine is

Yellow Pines (P. ponderosa) Sierra Madre Mountains.

144 THE PINES.

amongst the most strikingly individual trees we have. Its brother,
the Pinus monticola, is not known to me in our Southern Sierra. It
is found in high altitudes of the Northern Sierra, from the headwaters
of the Tule river northward, and usually above the sugar pine belt.

P. monticola, like the sugar pine, has five leaves in a fascicle, and
the foliage of the two is similar in color and texture. It is usually
less thun 100 feet in height, with a trunk stout in comparison, covered
with a blackish bark, which is suffused with a rich, dark red tint. Its
cones are pendulous and green when young, like the sugar pine cones,
and resemble that species in the texture of the scales, but only four
to six inches long usually. This species has for an associate Abies
magnifica, the “Silver Fir’ of certain portions of the Sierra Nevada;
and the two forming the upper belt of the thicker forest, are the most
important protectors of the headwaters of the reservation rivers, and
the chief builders of the forest-floor at these altitudes.

Above P. monticola in altitude, in the great Sierra reservation,
occurs the thinly scattered, but beautiful ‘‘Fox-tail Pine,’’ P. Bal-
fouriana. Sometimes it forms an open park-like forest, as at the
southern base of the Kaweah peaks, and west of Mt. Whitney and
Sheep mountain. It has the stout and comparatively short trunk of
}. monticola, but its leaves, in fascicles of five, are short, stiff, form-
ing cylindrical plumes at the ends of smaller branches, hence the
common name of ‘Fox-tail pine.” The cones are nearly the size of
those of P. monticola, but the scales are of different texture and form,
and chocolate purple when young.

There are also two alpine pines that grow dwarfed near the North-
ern Sierra snow line, above the Fox-tail pine, that have some charac-
teristics of the sugar pine. These are P. flexilis and P. albicaulis, the
former much rarer than the latter. The twigs and branches of the
alpine pines are very tough and flexible to resist the weight of snow
by which they are crushed down. Very old trees of these alpine pines
are often found only a few feet high, but widely spread over the
rocks. Sometimes one can walk over their tops, just as you can over
a close cropped cypress hedge. I do not see how anyone in our moun-
tains could be troubled to recognize the five-leaved, long coned sugar
pines.

In the damp alpine valleys and on the edges of meadows we find
the tamarack pine (Pinus Murrayana). Its brother pine is the P.
contorta, a northern maritime pine. There is an extensive forest of
the tamarack pine on the northern base of the tree line of Grayback,

5000 feet above Sea.

,

Madre

Forest Growth on Sierra

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SEEM. RRR S:

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Pine Forest Sierra Madre, 6000 feet above Sea.

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146 THE PINES.

while in the Sierra Nevadas they cover thousands of acres at an ele-
vation cf 8,000 to 10,000 feet. It is very easily recognized. Its leaves
are short and in twos. That is a character in our mountains that is
conclusive. The bark is very thin, brown, with a chrome yellow
veining. It is easily wounded so as to bleed and gum up. This,
and the thin bark, make it an especial mark for the fire demon. It
suffers more from fire than any forest tree we have. The leaves are
of a strong, dark green. Altogether, it is a handsome tree. Cones
small (one and one-half to two and one-half inches) and seeds small.

The last of our mountain pines is the pinyon (P. monophylla).
This is a generally short branching pine, justly celebrated for its ex-
cellent edible pine nuts. Its foliage is of an agreeable bluish color,
not cold and forlorn like tne foot-hill pines. Nor is it so bright and
handsome as the sugar pine coloring. This pine has a wide range
along che eastern base of the Sierras and over into Nevada and Ari-
zona. There are many handsome specimens about Bear valley in the
San Bernardino range and also along on the east side of the Sierras
in smajler form; a few are found scattered on the west side. There
is one on the summit of Mt. Lowe. The pinyon can always be recog-
nized from the fact that it is the only pine in the world with but a
single leaf to the sheath.

While the Monterey pine is not found in any of our forest re-
serves, but is confined to a small district about Monterey, and with
a variety on the island of Guadaloupe, it has been more planted than
any other native tree of California, except the Monterey cypress. From
this reason we should give this pine some attention. Its foliage is
iv. fascicles with three leaves each, a bright green, and is very dense.
The cone, when mature, is ovate-conical, oblique at the base, three
to five inches long, tubercles at base outside large; prickles small de-
ciduous. Seeds pale, strongly reticulated with brown; wings an inch
long, beautifully veined with reddish brown. Bark thick fissured,
very hard, black without, bright red on inner face (Lemmon). A
variety with two leaves exists on tne island of Guadaloupe, and else-
where. The attention given: to this tree in mild climates is due to
the remarkable rapidity of its growth. It is the fastest growing pine
known. It is from this cause called in foreign countries the ‘Re-
markable Pine.” The Monterey pine is suited in California to dis-
tricts near the sea, or subject to sea influence. In these places it
is hardy and long lived, and grows well in light sandy soils. In the
interior, however, where the air is dry and the climate warmer and

El Capitan, Young Tree Growths iu Protected State in the Yosemite.

148 THE PINES.

more continuously sunny, this pine has a tendency to short life and
commences to die out after the tenth year, especially where the soil is
also dry. In these respects it resembles the Monterey cypress and the
blue gum or Eucalyptus globulus. All of these trees support the con-
ditions of our interior valleys very well when water is near the sur-
face, or when irrigation supplies them with moisture.

Logging in California.

149

CHAPTER XXII.

CEDARS AND OTHER FOREST TREES.

Next, we will take our cedar: Libocedrus Decurrens. The first
or generic name means “Incense cedar.” This name is derived from
the fragrance of the wood when cut into. The second name is due to
the small scale-like leaves, which are decurrent. The foliage is flat
and massed, of a bright green livened up with yellow tendencies. The
bark is light brownish yellow, deeply furrowed and thick. The tree
is striking, and has no close relative in our Sierra. The incense
cedar, cnce seen, cannot be confused with any other local tree.

The spruces are represented in the California forest reserves only
by the genera Pseudotsuga and Tsuga, or hemlocks; the first by two,
the latter by one species. The spruces can be distinguished from the
firs by the position of the cones on the branches; in the former they
are pendant near the ends of the branches; in the latter they stand
upright and are mostly lateral. Moreover, the scales of the spruce
cones adhere to the axis long after maturity, and even for several
years. The cone scales of firs fall as soon as ripe—in September or
October.

Pseudotsuga is characterized by a straight and perfectly erect
leader or terminal shoot, by leaves which spread every way from the
stem, and large cones (three to six inches usually), whose three-lobed

sharp-pointed bracts project beyond each rounded cone scale. The
hemlocks or Tsugas are much more graceful trees, whose terminal

shoots, especially in younger trees, are slender and recurved-droop-
ing, whose leaves are in two nearly opposite rows on the stem, mak-
ing usually a flattish branch, and whose cones are smaller than Pseudo-
tsuga cones (one to two and one-half inches), never with projecting
bracts. Both of the above genera have short-stalked leaves, while
the Piceas, or true spruces, represented in California by the Sitka spruce
and the weeping spruce, in the northwest part of the State, have no
stalks to the leaves.

The only hemlock of the reservations is the alpine species, Tsuga
mertensiana (formerly T. Pattoniana) occurring near timber-line in
small groves from Mt. Tallac to the head-waters of Kings river. It

Showing Black Oaks of the Sierra Nevada in the Yosemite Valley—Young Yellow Pine in Left Foregrcund.

CHAPTER XXII. 151

may be known by its dark green, short and dense foliage, the slender
nabit of the tree and the slender nodding terminal shoot. It is certainly
one of the most beautiful trees of the north, for it is found even in
Alaska.

Pseudotsuga taxifolia (the P. mucronata of some authors) known
under various names, such as ‘‘Douglas spruce,” ‘Oregon pine,’ ‘Red
fir’ (although it is neither pine nor fir) comes into the reserves from
the north, like the hemlock, and extends southward along the Sierras,
at the same elevation of the cedar and Yellow pine, in decreasing areas,
to the Yosemite Valley and the headwaters of the San Jouquin river.
lts bark is black and rough like the old White firs; but its foliage and
branches are much less stiff than the firs. The leaves are very fra-
grant and are even preferred by some to those of the fir for pillows.

The spruces are represented in the southern reserves by the Pseu-
dotsuga macrocarpa. This tree was considered for a time to be only a
variety of the great Douglas spruce, but now its specific standing is
recognized.

The Macrocarpa is mainly distinguished from the Douglas spruce
(Pseudotsuga taxifolia) by the greater length of its cone. These pen-

dent cones are often quite long. One of their peculiarities is the
growth of the bracts beyond the cone scales from an inch to an inch

and a nalf or more. These bracts have two teeth and a central projec-
tion. There is another cone that far exceeds the bract growth of the
Macrocarpa. This is the cone of the Abies Bracteata, a species of fir
.confined to the Santa Lucia mountains. The bracts in that case are
more like long thick switches.

Our two firs are the white and red. Abies concolor, the white, and
Abies magnifica, the red or balsam fir. The firs are very handsome
trees with dense, dark green foliage. In youth, and sometimes in the
older white firs, the tree is quite silvery from the numerous stomata
mainly on the under side of the leaves. The bark is rough, thick and
furrowed. In the white fir, the bark is lighter in color. in the balsam
fir, the bark is dark or reddish. The fir cannot be mistaken for any
other of our mountain trees, because, first. its cones are erect or stand
up on its branches, and second, because the cones do not drop off en-
tire. The scales drop off piece by piece, leaving the cone axis persist-
ent for a long time. For this reeson, one does not find fir cones on the
ground. The red or balsam fir can always be distinguished from the
whi.e fir by the delicious, persistent and p2netrating fragrance of the
foliage. Mountaineers select branches of the balsam fir for their beds.

*panoisaioy Ut sao pauinqiy) ‘QIPBIAL VIII FY} UT WIIIsIq pauing V

CHAPTER XXII. 153

on this account. The leaves are picked and put up in pillows or sachets,
in which this tonic and pleasing odor is long maintained.

The California nutmeg, with its long, prickly, needle-like, shining
leaves, and its fruit resembling a small, green plum externally and a
nutmeg internally, is related to the Conifers, and will be found spar-
ingly along stream-banks in the northern or Sierra reservations.

Here also, at much higher altitude, among the bare crags below
Tl'arewell Gap, and near Half Dome above the Yosemite Valley, grows
the Western juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). Its foliage is cypress-
like, and its fruit a small blue berry, but its trunk is remarkable for
its great breadth as compared with its height.

Sequoia gigantia, the “Big tree’ or “Redwood” of the Sierras, is so
well-known and is so conspicuous from its huge light brown or salmon-
colored trunks, its crown of cypress or juniper-like foliage and small
oblong cones, that it requires but brief mention. It appears on the Na-
tional parks and reservations rather frequently south of the Kings riv-
er in Tulare county. Northward to Placer county the small scattered
groves are mostly in private hands.

These are the outline sketches of our leading forest trees. The
few striking characteristics of each mentioned it is hoped will enable
the student to identify the species and then to complete a knowledge or
them by personal observation.

Thcre are, in wet places and along canyon streams, some other trees
we should not entirely neglect.

The alder is the dense foliaged, dark green leaved, deciduous tree
on the lower mountain water courses. In these, we also find the native
maple. The native Bay tree is another water seeker. This handsome
evergreen becomes more scattering and fina!ly disappears from the can-
yons as we recede from the ccast. Its leaf has an intensely pungent odor.
In the Coast Range canyons ii: the northern part of the State, where the
bay, ‘“‘Umbellulaia Californica,’’ grows into a superb tree, I have been
oppressed after a foggy night or going into the canyons as the sun come
‘out by the powerful odor of the bay trees.

The sycamore and cottonwood pop/ar go out in the canyons and
washes toward and into the valleys.

The California cottonwood poplar is a remarkably hardy tree,
standing both alkali and rocky soils, and the alternate frosts and fiery
heats of our high des:rts.

The poplar has two species here, the principal one being P. Fre-
monti, the cottonwood, and the other P. Trichocarpa, the Balsam pop-

Douglass Spruce in the Sierra Madre

CHAPTER XXII. 155

lar. The former of these has flattened leaf stalks, downey leaf buds
and the young wood is light or yellowish in color. The latter has
shiny, sticky leaf buds, round leaf stalks and dark colored young wood.

The Mesquit is a fine tree for alkaline and hot places. Its wood is
a great heat maker. I have seen fine, large tree specimens of Mesquit
grown in the San Gabriel Valley. It is native to one desert district.

The California walnut, ‘“Juglanus Californica,” has a sweet nut with
a thick, hard shell. It grews along in the tertiary foothills. This
makes a handsome shade-giving tree in cultivation, or even without
care. It is deciduous.

We have also willows, elders, etc. The elder makes a remarkably
durable post.

Out on the plains, we have the white and red live-oaks, both beau-
tiful trees. The red oak is very much the most attractive and often
runs pretty well into the canyons, and accompanies the sycamores out
into the washes.

‘SYBIg [VIPS 7e ‘BpeAIN BIIIIS ‘QUT JeqMIT], puw Jaqury

157

CHAPTER XXIII.

FISH AND GAME OF THE FOREST RESERVES.
Charles Frederick Holder.

The splendid domain know as the Forest Reserves, reaching from
Lake Tahoe on the north along the Sierra Nevada mountains, and in-
ciuding the ranges of Southern California to the Mexican line, is a
natural park thousands of square miles in extent, embracing features
so varied in character that it has become world renowed. Its scenery
is impressive beyond description, and the Sierra Nevada range alone,
with its stupendous ravines and gorges, reaching from the land of living
glaciers about Mount Dana to the semi-tropical regions of its foothills,
is a world in itself. Within its borders are alpine lakes, trout streams
and pools six or seven thousand feet above the sea. The black-tailed deer
and grizzly wonder through forests of titanic size—a nature’s wonder-
land. In the heart of this region are rifts, gulches and canyons, so nar-
row and abysmal that the light of day rarely reaches into their depths.
Here is the home of the receding glacier, and other more ancient giants
of snow and ice have left their mark as clearly as the eroding hand of
time itself. There are strange contrasts in this natural park. Cliffs
a mile high, mountains which in their height and rugged splendor chal-
lenge the world; alpine lakes scintillating like gems; streams which
flow along the mountain tops, born of winter snows, leaping madly over
precipices half a mile high, as in the Yosemite, foaming among the
rocks, finally to emerge into the broad valleys of the summerland be-
low and flow on amid nodding flowers to the sea.

The Forest Reserves may be considered the land where the game
animals of the State have made their last stand, and where they should
find adequate protection. Not fifty years ago, vast herds of elk roamed
the Reserves; the antilope covered the San Joaquin and other valleys in
bands, while deer and bear were the common animals of nearly the
entire region. Now they are so rare that the antelope has almost dis-
appeared, the elk is but a memory, and in the extreme southern section
the grizzly, the most common animal half a century ago, is only oc-
casionally seen. In the inacessible portions of the Sierra Nevadas the
grizzly, Ursus horribilis, is still fairly abundant, and the black bear,

The Mountain Lion.

CHAPTER XXIII. 159

Ursus Americanus, and several varities, as the cinnamon, are to be met
by the hunter along the river bottoms, well representing the large car-
nivora. Unlike the bears of the extreme north and east, those of the
southern Reserve do not hibernate completely, roaming the forests in
search of food almost if not the entire year.

- In this natural park, perhaps more plentifully to the south, is found
the Leon del monte—the mountain lion, Felis concolor, of California
and the West; the largest American cat, remarkable for its wide geo-
graphical range. It is seen in the forests of Washington and Oregon;
as the puma it ranges the deserts of Patagonia. I have followed its
trail as the panther in the deep forests of the Adirondack mountains,
and have seen its footprints on the keys of Florida near the mainland
where it swam from key to key, the very antipodes of the ordinary
feline, at least in ths respect.

The carnivora is well represented in the forests of the Reserve. but
only those which are considered game will be mentioned. It might be
considered a stretch of the imagination to apply this term to the lynx,
two species of which are known in the mountains of California, but I
have witnessed their courage and ferocity on many occasions when fol-
lowed by hounds. The spotted lynx, Felis maculata, is a striking and
beautiful creature, often seen in the foothills and main ranges of South-
ern California, and is a southern representative of the great northern
lynx. It can be traced as far south as the City of Mexico. The other
species is the red lynx, Felis rufa, common everywhere in California;
both forms being known as wild cats in many sections. They usually
‘make their home in the mountains but are the familiar of almost every
large arroyo coming down these roadways and so reaching the foot-
hills of the Southern California mountains. They frequent the luxuriant
tangles of wild grapes and the thick brush of the orroyo bottoms, living
cheek by jowl with the raccons, skunks, wood rats, raccoon-foxes, and
uther small carnivora which make up the interesting fauna of the re-
gion.

In the upper ranges, more particularly in the Sierra Nevadas, though
rare even there, lurks the gray wolf, Canis lupis; as ghostly, grim and
gaunt as the fancy has painted it; skulking among the big trees, or
stealing down the canyon, perchance eying some sheep herder, far away.
This animal is rarely seen, especially in the southern portions of the
Reserves, but on the eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevadas it becomes
fairly common, and in the adjacent territories is considered a menace
to the best interests of the herder. In California it is found in the

160 MAMMALijA.

upper Sierras, running in small herds, and preying upon deer. Another
wolf is found in this vast stretch of woodland, though on its lower
levels, where it breaks up into focthills. This is the lowland wolf,
the coyote, Canis lutrans, one of the most characteristic aniamls of the
West. The coyote is a hanger-on of civilization, the familiar of town,
village or hamlet, making its home in the ledges of the foothills, per-
haps in burrows or natural caves from which it emerges at night, travel-
ing long distances down the valleys to visit the hunting grounds of its
choice. At ¢uch times is heard its strange laughing bark, whicn has so
marked a ventriloquistic quality that one coyote can easily convince
a novice that a desperate pack of lowland wolves is lurking about the
stock. The coyote follows the arroyo beds down into settlements and
ocassionally preys upon domestic stock, but its game is the ground
squirrel,’ the jack rabbit and cottontail, which it is very expert in tak-
ing. It occasionally varies its diet, being fond of grapes, guavas and
possibly other fruit. The coyote is withal one of the cleverest of its
tribe and may be said to be the jackal of America.

Among the hoofed animals of the Forest Reserves, five typical forms
stand out: the black-iailed deer, the mule deer, the antelope, mountain
sheep and elk. The latter, owing to the lax legislation of past years,
have nearly disappeared, but the two former, it is believed, are holding
their own. The elk* is included as it is thought that a few are still to
be found on the slopes and foothills of the Sierra Nevadas. When Cal-
ifornia was discovered the horns of this magnificent animal were seen
from San Diego far to the north. The clumsy mule deer—Cariacus
macrotis—with long ears, is occasionally seen, its large size making it a
conspicuous object. It is a mountain and lofty plateau form. In the
Sierra Sadre and Coast ranges of the southern portion of the Reserves
it is rarely seen, its place being taken seemingly by a smaller variety
which has been described by Judge Caton. This deer is especially com-
mon in the ranges which reach down to thé sea from Point Conception
south.

In the leafy coverts of Southern California, the arcades formed by the
alder, willow and bay, where the canyon streams splash out into the
open and the manzanita, wild lilac and holly grow, one may meet the
black-tailed deer (C. Columbianus), while farther north it ranges in the

*Mr. H. W. Keller, late Fish Commissioner, writes me: ‘The only
elk I know of in this State are a few in the northern part of Humboldt
county, and about one hundred and fifty in Kern county, west of Bak-
ersfield.”’

Ir

CHAPTER XXIII. 161

upland regions and is the typical deer of the Forest Reserve. I have
seen it on the slopes of steep canyons which radiate from the San
Gabriel, where it finds almost absolute protection in its resemblance to
the chaparral; a dainty little creature, as graceful as an antelope, and
while affecting the deep brush, it may be seen in the wide washes, or in
the early morning on the mountain edge of some remote ranch. This
beautiful deer ranges up to an altitude of five or six thousand feet in
Southern California, frequenting in summer the groves of large trees on
the summit of the Sierra Madre mountains; in winter it is driven down
to lower levels by the snow.

Not many years ago the Forest Reserves were the home of the big-
horn or mountain sheep—Ovis montana—the representative in this
country of the nayaur of Nepaul and Thibet; a noble animal to have
met comparative extermination at the hands of the pot hunter. The
male has an imposing armament in its curved and cyeased horns which
attain enormous development. The animal may still be found from one
end of the Reserves to the other; but hunted from peak to peak, from
plain to valley for years, without laws for its protection or hunters to
obey a law if it was in force, it has gradually disappeared, and it would
be difficult to find it in the southern ranges today. I have seen three
heads of bucks taken on the slopes of San Antonio within the past ten
or twelve years, and doubtless a small flock still holds its own on the
precipitous sides of this mountain; but unless game laws are enforced,
the complete extermination of the animal in California will soon be ac-
complished.

One of the crimes of the century was the destruction of the bison.
Another is the wiping out of the only American antelope—Antilocapra
americana—which is now in progress. It is the most interesting and
graceful of all the American ungulates representing the great African
family in America. Formerly vast herds could be seen in the San Joa-
quin valley, and undoubtedly it ranged all the valleys of California, It
is a lowland form affecting the great stretches of level lands and val-
leys which characterize California; but it often strolls up the canyons,
small herds having been seen browsing on the foothills of the southern
and central portions of the Reserves. This animal is the swiftest of all
game and but for its singular curiosity would be rarely captured. This
fatal habit has resulted in its almost complete extermination in Califor-
nia. Sportsmen and others steal upon the herds, and by standing on
their heads, or waving a limb with a red or white rag, or exhibiting
any strange object, they can attract the attention of the timid animal

California Bear.

CHAPTER XXIII. 163

which, urged on by its curiosity appreaches, step by step, until within
range, and then pays the penalty. Other hunters who commend them-
selves more to the true sportman, hunt the antelope upon the great plain
and run it down upon horesback—a most difficult and dangerous pas-
time.*

Among the rodents of the Reserves is the jack rabbit, or more prop-
erly, the jack hare, Lepus californicus, a typical and interesting form.
It is found all over California, in the southern portion of the State, living
in the upland valleys, as the San Gabriel, and in the brush which bor-
ders the chaparral of the slopes of the Sierra Madres. In the great
valleys, as the San Joaquin, adjacent to the Forest Reserves and the
Sierra Nevada mountains, these animals abound in vast numbers and
are a menace to the farmer. The natural enemy of this hare is the
coyote, and I have always opposed the slaughter of the latter, believing
that it was a vital error. The coyote may kill a few turkeys and chick-
ens, but it also devours thousands of these tree girdlers. The hare is a
swift runner, yet the coyote outwits it in long chases. The jack rabbit
does not burrow, forming a crude nest among the scant brush of the
open plain. This is often disputed from the fact that the animal is
scmetimes chased into holes by the hounds; the retreal, however, is
the home of the burrowing owl or a badger. Living more completely
in the ranges are the coitontails or rabbits, several species of which
inhabit the foothill regions of the ranges of the Forest Reserve, and
have a decided economic value.

In the deep canyons of the Sierras the stroller may see perched upon
a branching limb a gray squirrel with a silver brush, out of all propor-
tion to its size, folded gracefully over its back. This is the gray squirrel
of California, Scrurus fossor; a little creature which to me is one of
the charms of the beautiful canyons which open into the San Gabriel
and other valleys of Southern California. With these are chickarees,
or chipmunks, whose graceful movements are a constant delight to the
observer.

BIRDS.

Ranging down from Northern California into the Forest Reserves
in the desert side of the Sierra Nevada is the sage grouse, Centrocercus
urophasianus. It is, as an ancient epicure once said of the do-do, more

*Mr. H. W. Keller states that he found about seventy-five antelopes
about forty miles east of Yreka, Siskiyou county, running in the timber,
and a band of twelve in the west end of the antelope valley. ‘I do not
think,”’ he writes, “that there are five hundred antelopes in the State.”

*sda1Z PIO ISSUOUTY YZMOID FLO BuNoO’ Zurmoys ‘VrusOJIPBD ‘OOTYD Je 9A0ID ABO iy M

CHAPTER XXIII. 165

pleasing to the eye than the stomach. It is a fine appearing bird, the
largest of the family in America. The courtship of the male is a remark-

able performance, during which the bare yellow spots indicating the air
sacs are enormously expanded, producing a strange sound. Perhaps
the most peculiar feature of the bird, is that unlike all other gal-
linaceous birds it has no gizzard.

The common grouse of the Forest Reserves is the Sooty grouse—
Den dragapus obscurus fuliginosus—also called the California grouse

;

f
i
'
t

}

Heau of Quail, Life Size.
by some sportmen. Mr. F. S. Daggett tells me that me that he has seen

it on the head waters of the Tule river, and has shot it at the head
waters of the Kern river not far from Mount Whitney. It inhabits the
evergreen forests of the Sierra Nevadas six thousand feet above the sea
in summer, but in winter is found on the lower spurs at an altitude of
two thousand feet. In the early spring the wanderer through the for-
ests may hear the remarkable love note of the male, produced by con-

166 bIRDS

tracting and inflating the large air sacs found one on each side of the
throat. Unlike the sage grouse, the bird is desirable as game, the meat
being of excellent quality.

High in the mountains, up to the very snow line and far beyond, we
find a bird somewhat larger than the Eastern Bob White, yet calling
it to mind. Its dark-blue breast, the tints of crimson and white, the
four bands of white, the bluish head. and above all the two jaunty
slender plumes which rise like quill pens that might have been tucked
behind it ears, tell of the mountain quail—Oreortyx pictus—one of the
most artless, beautiful and characteristic game birds of California. Its
note is sweetly modulated, sounding like ‘‘cloi, cloi, clio,” or ‘‘quit, quit,
quit,” strangely resonant in the wild rock-bound regions of its choice.
I have never had the temerity to shoot the bird, as at each attempt the
birds in flock of ten or fifteen, instead of flying, approached me, walking
directly along until within forty or fifty feet, then standing and with
exprebsive gestures endeavoring to solve the question as to who this
intruder was. Their heads were extended forward in wonderment as
they eyed me, their plumes vibrating, and for a moment they were
silent; then came sweetly, ‘‘woi, woi,’” or ‘‘tch, tch, tch,’”’ from some-
where in the brush, and tke pattering of feet on the dried leaves began
again and the mountain qauil went their way.

Every wash and canyon, every elevated plateau along the borders of
the Forest Reserves is the home of the valley quail,—Lophortyx cali-
fornicus,—fast disappearing before the insatiate sportmen who reckons
numbers as the test of skill, In former years vast bands of these at-
tractive birds could be found all over California, affording much sport
and possessing a decided economic value. If the mountain qual or
patridge is jaunty and debonnaire, what can be said of this lover of the
valleys whose sweet note, ‘“‘ka-loi-o,” with the accent on the second syl-
lable, comes softly on the wind. The female is a demure little creature,
but the male, with its splendid attire and graceful plumes, is the type
of all that is attractive and beautiful among game birds. The head
marked with white, the back a slate blue, the swelling breast black,
white and cinnamon; a collar of white, the nodding plume which,
as the birds run, bobs up and down before their eyes like a pom-pom out
of place, constitute an ensemble which gives this quail a marked in-
dividuality among the game birds of the world. In early spring, when
the land is green the nest is formed beneath some bush, and when the
sun is high and the glory of the poppy begins to fade, and the ground
is carpeted with the twisted seeds of alfileria, long velvety lines of young

CHAPTER XXIII. 167

may be seen running in and out among the late flowers. The espionage
of the mother is not needed long; in a few days the young birds can
fly, and a few weeks later are members of some big flock which fillls
the air with a roar of wings as it rises to plunge over the divide into

some deep ravine.
FISH.

The lakes and trout streams of the Forest Reserves commend them-
selves to the lover of nature and sport. In the north lies Lake Tahoe,
with its system of lakes and tributary streams and brooks well stocked
with trout. About Mount Whitney are glacial lakes, while the river
which forms the Yosemite Fall, comes down in one stupendous leap of
half a mile, rushing boisterously through Boulders and rocks to form

A Night Catch of Trout at Bear Valley Lake.

later a trout stream; eddying through banks of flowers and arcades of
grateful shade to the summerland below. ‘he streams of the southern
portions of the Reserves are like nearly all the characteristic rivers of
Southern California dry at intervals and often throughout almost the
entire length from the mountain to the sea, but in reality flowing on
beneath the deep sand bed in which they are seemingly lost. Such are
the San Gabriel and Los Angeles rivers, the Santa Ana at times, and
others which can be traced into the green heart of the Sierra Madre
mountains, where under normal conditions they are rushing, living
streams, the home of the rainbow trout.

168 FISH.

The Sierra Madre range, representing the southern portion of the
Reserves, is cut by the rains and melting snows into myriads of canyons,
whose sides are well wooded or covered with chaparral; and hardly a
canyon, with its high beetling cliffs, but is a river of verdure, a source
of delight to the stroller. These trout streams rise high in the range,
often twenty miles in its very heart, and flow on over polished rocks
and boulders beneath the sycamore, bay and pine; now out into the
open, by masses of wild lilac and California holly, heavy with its
bunches of vivid red berries

In ascending such a stream the trail winds across it again and again,
and it is not in the deep pools that we shall always find the largest
fish, but along shallows. Here is the home of the rainbow trout,—
Salmo irideus,—a marvelous creature in blue, silver and red, rang-
ing up to six pounds and more. This is the common trout of the Coast
Range and of the Sierra Nevada mountains. About it there is a little
niystery. Some affect to believe that it is merely the young of the Steel-
head, while others contend that it is a distinct species. The existence
of this fish is seriously threatened by over zealous anglers who fish for
numbers alone and who take out the small fry by thousands every
year.

The largest trout of the southern portion of the Reserves is the
steel head,—-Salmo Gairdneri,—a magnificent creature, attaining at times
a weight at times of twenty pounds, and leaping when hooked four or
five feet in the air. In the Santa Ynez it finds its way forty or fifty
miles up into the range to spawn. It is a most attractive fish in ap-
pearance, having a rich olive-hued back, sides gleaming with silver,
while the head, fins and tail are dotted with black. In Southern Califor-
nia the Santa Ynez and the adjoining streams are its favorite haunts;
where excellent sport is had in early spring, the fish coming in at
this time to spawn

In the Kern river, which rises in the Forest Reserves, is found
an ally of the rainbow trout—the kern river trout (Salmo irideus Gil-
berti). It attains a weight of seven or eight pounds; is dotted with
pronounced spots of black, while older individuals have splashes of
orange on the under jaw. In the very heart of the Forest Reserves, on
the slopes of Mount Whitney, and living in the cold waters of the melt-
ing snowbanks, the most beautiful of all these fishes, the Golden trout,
(Salmo irideus agua-bonita), is found. It seems to be confined to the
streams on the west flank of Mount Whitney, tributary to Kern river,
and is especially abundant in the south fork of Kern river and Volcano

CHAPTER XXIII. 169

creek; it is also found in the streams about Owen’s lake, and he who
observes it in its haunts must climb to lofty heights and enter some
of the most inaccessible regions of the Serra Nevada range. So brill-
iant and scintallating is this little creature that to seems to have im-
bibed the nectar of yellow gold that has filtered down through the rocks
of ages. Its upper surface is a delicate olive; the sides blaze with golden
lights and hues, while the loteral line is vivid scarlet. The belly has a
broad scarlet band, the lower jaw is bright orange, and orange splashes
or spots are upon other portions, making it the very harlequin of the
tribe an example of what altitude, the high Sierras, and peculiarity of
environment will accomplish, as this living flash of gold is undoubtedly
a wanderer from the Kern river, and a variety of the trout of that
stream previously described.

In Lake Tahoe is found the large trout known as the Tahoe trout,
silver trout, or Truckee trout—Salmo mykiss Henshawi; a radiant
creature usually caught at eight or ten pounds, but ranging up to twen-
ty-nine pounds, possibly more. The largest specimen ever seen, which
weighed twenty-nine younds, was presented to General Grant. The
Tahoe fishermen recognize two forms in its deep waters—the ‘‘pogy”’
and “snipe,” the latter the young, but the fishes are identical. They
spawn in the lake and affect the clear deep water of this attractive body
of water. The Tahoe trout is colored a dark green above, silvery
upon the sides; but in the salty waters of Pyramid lake it becomes a
lighter green, the sides having a flush of coppery red. On the lower
jaw there are spleshes of red, while the head bears pronouncd black
spots—an adornment which makes it a striking and resplendent crea-
ture. The specimens I have taken were from the artificial lakes about
San Francisco and were a disappointment, but I understand that the
fish in its native streams and in the big lake at Bear Valley, and its
tributaries, where it has been introduced, displays game qualities which
give it high rank among sportsmen and anglers.*

In the limited space of a chapter but a mere mention or enumeration
can be made of the principal animals wuich inhabit the Reserves. There
are many more which while not strictly game, render the great ranges
of California and its forests one of the most fascinating resorts for the
naturalists, layman or sportsman.

~*Besides these native forms, the Reserves and lakes have been
enriched by the introduction of several kinds of trout, among which
are the Scotch trout, German brown trout, Eastern brook trout, and the
Mackinaw trout.

170

FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION.

“ He calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the
face of the earth, the Lord is His namz.” Amos, 800 years B. C.

CHAPTER XXIV.

SOME RELATIONS BETWEEN FORESTS AND WATER
SUPPLY.

By H. HAWGOOD, M. Inst. C. E.

We must start out with the fundamental principle that the waters
of the earth derive their existence from the heavens above. There is no
spontaneous process of production, no water manufactory in the re-
cesses of the earth. The water which falls upon the earth in the form
or rain or snow passes away in flowage and evaporation. By flowage
is meant the underground movements, as well as the visible surface
streams of the springs, brooks and rivers. Evaporation includes the
direct evaporation from the surface of the ground, from objects animate
and inanimate, and the water which is taken up by plants and tran-
spired as vapor through their leaves. And while not strictly correct,
the much smaller portion of water that is permanently absorbed into
plant structures may, for simplicity’s sake, be charged under the com-
mon head of evaporation.

We now have a simple expression of supply and demand. Total
rainfall equaling the sum of flow and evaporation. It is from the flow
that practically all waters for the use of man are drawn. For the primi-
tive direct collection of the rain from house tops and other exposed
surfaces, is on too minute a scale to be given a place.

Evaporation decreases the quantity of flow. Floods decrease the
flow available for economic purposes. The total quantity of water
being fixed, whatever rushes past in a torrent to the sea is lost for
useful ends.

CHAPTER XXIV. 171

TWO-FOLD EFFECTS OF FORESTS.

The problem before us is to trace what influence forests may ex-
ert upon these points of rainfall, evaporation and floods, and see what
foundation there is for the almost universal belief that they increase
the one and decrease the other two.

Many meteorological stations in connection with forestry have
been established in France, in Germany, in India, and elsewhere.
In this country the subject has also received attention, but on a
more limited scale. Progress in the conclusive establishment of
definite effects has necessarily been slow. It is an unfortunate
fact in regard to all subjects connected with rainfall, that sys-
tematic observations must have been conducted over a long series
of years, forty to sixty, in order to obtain data upon which to predi-
cate positive results. The records of a few years may be, and they
frequentiy are, very misleading. The secular meteorological changes
tend to move in cycles of wet periods and drouth. No conclu-
sions can be safely accepted that are not based on records extending
sufficiently back into the past to include and give full weight to these

cycles.
RAINFALL IN PHILADELPHIA.

The records of precipitation at Philadelphia extend back to 1825.
Charting these precipitations gives a wave-like curve descending very
low in 1825, but with its sinuosities all well above that point until 1881,
when the minimum precipitation of 29.57 inches in 1825 was again
closely approached. The 1881 fall was 30.21 inches. The years of
maximum precipitation were 1841 and 1867. The cycle of extreme
low precipitation had a longer period than that of extreme high—56
years against 26 years.

Taking a total period of 64 years, and averaging the annual rainfall
by periods of four, eight, sixteen and thirty-two years, the averages
by four years run from 22 per cent. low to 19 per cent. high, as com-
pared with the entire period of 64 years. The eight-year grouping
gave results from 11 per cent. low to 11 per cent. high; the sixteen-
year groups, 6 per cent. low to 9 per cent. high, and the thirty-two-year
2 per cent. low to 2 per cent. high.

LOS ANGELES RAINFALL.

Analyzing the recorded rainfall at Los Angeles for the past twenty-
seven years, and averaging by periods of five years, gives results rang-

172 WATER AND FOREST.

ing from 35 per cent. below to 16 per cent. above the average seasonal
rainfall of 16.56 inches for the entire 27 years. The extreme low points
of the Los Angeles precipitation curve are situated 22 years apart,
being 4.49 inches for the season 1876-77, and 5.6 inches for the pres-
ent season up to date. (June, 1899.) :

The fluctuation to which the average annual rainfall is subject
was very exhaustively considered by Mr. Binnie, M. Inst. C. E., in a
paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers, London, in 1892.

from a close analysis of records of forty-two stations at various
parts of the world, covering periods of from 50 to 97 years, he drew
the following conclusions:

That, for records of five years, the probable error in averages
ranged from minus 16 per cent.to plus 17.6 per cent., falling as the length
of the period was increased to about minus 2 per cent.and plus 2 per cent.
for periods of 30 years and more. And that: The least number of
years the records of which would give an average annual rainfall
that would not be materially altered by extending the record, would
be thirty-five years. He aiso concluded that dependence could be placed
on any good record of that duration to give an average rainfall correct
within 2 per cent.

UNCERTAINTY OF RAINFALL RECORDS.

These examples have been presented to illustrate the uncertainty
attached to any deduction based on rainfall records of short duration.
As acase directly to the point, we have the French observations, made
about 50 to 75 miles south of Paris. The observations of one year
gave the precipitation over woods as 33 per cent. in excess of that over
open ground. Three years continuous observation changed this to 2
per cent.

Long records for forest purposes are rare. This necessity for long
records is but one of the many obstacles in the way of arriving at ab-
solute comparisons of the relative precipitation over woods and open
ground. And after sufficient time shall have elapsed to reduce this
difficulty to a minimum, there will still remain the errors inherent
to measuring rainfall. There is great difficulty in obtaining two loca-
tions, the one covered with woods and the other bare, that are subject
to precisely the same conditions. Again, the rain gauges themselves
are not instruments of precision, and no conclusions can be more accu-
rate than the data upon which they are based. In scientific work it is
very necessary to fully realize and attribute a true value to data. Rain

wo

CHAPTER XXIV. 17

gauges record all that falls actually within them, but, except in very
still weather and with gentle rains, they do not intercept all that they
should. The wind sweeping across them carries away a portion of
the precipitation, varying from 4% to 7 per cent. for protected gauges,
and from 7 to 40 per cent. for unprotected gauges. The decrease in
catch of rain gauges raised above the ground, formerly believed to have
been due to height, has now been shown to be due to the increased force
of the wind. Some very interesting data on this subject has been pub-
lished by the United States Department of Agricuiture. It also ap-
pears that the deficit during gente, fine rains is very much greater,
eecording to the strength of the winds prevailing at the time, than
during heavy rains. There was from 18 to 52 per cent. shortage during
fine rains, and 6 to 17 per cent. during heavy rains. The standard for
comparison being what is known as the“pit gauge” at ground level. That
the loss should vary with the strength of the wind is readily explained.
Draw a diagram of forces, the perpendicular representing the down-
ward force of the rain drops, the horizontal the force of the wind in its
sweep across the rim of the gauge. It is obvious that the resultant
will deviate more and more from the vertical as the rain movement is
light and the wind strong.

OTHER ELEMENTS OF UNCERTAINTY.

There is still a greater element of uncertainty, viz:. the smallness
of the actual collecting area of a gauge and the comparative immensity
of area of country to which its readings are applied. If to every four
square miles there was a 10-inch gauge, and this is much closer than
we find them, the ratio of areas would be as about 200 million to 1. At
Rothamsted, in England, they have a rain gauge measuring 7.26 feet
by 6 feet, giving an area of 43.56 square feet on exactly one thousandth
ct an acre. The catch on this gauge from 1853 to 1880, twenty-eight
years, was about 9.8 per cent. more than the catch in an adjacent
5-inch gauge. The ratio of their respective catchment areas is as
320 to 1. Now, if this ratio of area gave a variation of nearly 10 per
cent. in the catch, we must not rely too implicitly on the results shown
py applying the readings of a gauge to an area of country several
hundred million times the area of the gauge.

All the various difficulties considered we are not warranted in
hoping for any decisive direct quantative comparison between the
rainfall over forests and open ground. However, while lacking in this
direct proof we do know from the records of the various forest stations

174 WATER AND FOREST.

that woods reduce temperature and increase the absolute and relative
humidity of the air, and, therefore, must to some extent increase pre-

cipitation. = _bEFECTS OF FOLIAGE ON MOISTURE.

The efficiency of foliage in mechanically arresting and condensing
moisture is well known to everyone who has pushed through the brush
on a misty morning, or watched the steady drip from the trees during a
fog in the lowlands, or during clouds in the mountains.

A notable instance of this feature of vegetation is seen at Ascen-
sion, a volcanic island lying about eight degrees south of the equator
and nearly midway between Africa and South America. The island
is about 30 to 40 square miles in area. It is used as a naval station by
the British government. The water supply is obtained from near the
tcp of Green mountain, at an elevation of about 2,800 feet above sea
level. The mountain gets its name from being about the only green
spot on the island. Its verdure is maintained by the nearly constant
drip from trees and rocks of the moisture mechanically collected from
clouds and fogs, and light, passing showers. It is this drip which is
chiefly instrumental in maintaining the ground-storage upon which the
water supply of the station depends.

That the drip from trees should play a prominent part in a do-
mestic water supply is remarkable testimony to the efficiency of woods
in mechanically increasing precipitation. It illustrates beyond any
yeradventure that trees and brush, in situations of cloud and fog, have a
decided value as agents for adding moisture to the soil. Interesting
experiments have been made as to the amount of concentration of
aqueous vapor by leaves, but it is probable that these experiments,
nade on detached leaves, did not include the effect of air currents. We
know that in evaporation a rapid movement of the air is found to
contribute very materially to the rate of evaporation by bringing
itresh surfaces into contact. Similarly, air movement must materially
augment the rate of mechanical condensation. (In the more modern
formula for computing evaporation, wind velocity is always a factor.)
Cloud or fog is a manifestation of water in suspension, and it is obvious
that the more rapidly the cloud is moved against any surface the more
water will be brought into contact with that surface in a given interval
of time. We all know the wetting through capacity of a mist on a
jJriving wind. Unless the condensation tests were conducted with
ceference to velocity, they would fail to give full value to the con-
densing action.

CHAPTER XXIV. 175

It is questionable whether a numerical value can ever be satisfac-
torily established for the action of forests in direct increase of rainfall,
but it is believed that sufficient has been advanced in the foregoing to
show beyond doubt that they do have an effect in that direction, the
matter of uncertainty being the question as tc quantity only.

CONSERVANCY OF FORESTS.

In the matter of conservancy of the water that has fallen, forests
play a very important part. They intercept the sun and rain, and save
the earth from packing hard under the baking of the one and the per-
sistent beating of the other. They appreciably decrease the quantity
that would otherwise pass rapidly off into the runs and waterways,
and be lost in floods. Not only do they lessen the wasteful and de-
structive expenditure of water in floods, but they afford greater time
ior the earth to absorb to its full capacity the water held back by the
mechanical obstructions of the forest floor. They reduce the quantity
lost by evaporation. These things we enter on the credit side of the
forest account, and on the debit side make the sole entry of the water
used in supporting plant life. It remains to ascribe values to these
various items, and strike a balance.

The effect of sun and rain in producing a hard ground surface that
sheds water like a roof is known to us all, and we equally know how the
broken surface of a ploughed field absorbs rain. The condition of the
ground surface is of first importance, and it is here that forests exer-
cise one of their most beneficent functions, a quality which in itself is
more than sufficient to justify our constant exertion in preserving and
extending our wooded areas. All permanent water supplies are drawn
directly or indirectly from the rainfall absorbed and stored within
the earth. Directly in the shape of wells, tunnels and infiltration
pipes. Indirectly through the medium of running surface streams,
which in turn draw their supply from visible springs and the unseen
accretions that come in along their beds from ground-water at higher
elevation. The surface water which flows into the streams after rains
gives but a temporary supply. The permanent flow comes from
ground-storage. It must not be thought from this that all ground-
water reappears at some time or other in the surface streams. Much
passes on unseen to the sea. Its place of discharge into the ocean is
sometimes well marked. Off the east coast of England there is a sub-
marine valley, called the Silver Pit, twenty miles long and 50 to 250
feet in depth below the adjoining bed of the sea. The extraordinary

176 WATER AND FOREST.

depth precludes it being due to currents, and from the circumstance
ef the depression occupying, as it were, the focus of the concave chalk
formation of eastern England, it is believed to be the point at which
the inland ground-waters are discharged through the chalk. Right
at home we have a submarine valley of great depth heading near Re
dondo, with an oil well discharging, about two miles from the shore.
The direction in which the ground-water flows is sometimes very diffi-
cult to trace. It does not always follow the trend of the surface con-
figuration. Latham, the noted sanitary engineer, in some of his
investigations, found the ground-water of a valley passing partly
straight down the valley and part turning, going under the hills and

coming out on the further slope.
The capacity of the earth to receive and convey water is all-im-

portant to us. The large sums that have been expended in damming
valleys and impounding water, the legislature that has been invoked
regarding reservoir sites, and the extent of agricultural interests de-
pendent on reservoirs, all give evidence of the appreciation of a store
of water.

The pervious rocks, gravels and soils of the earth afford a time-
tried storage, beside which the largest surface reservoirs are small
affairs. The rain is the source and the earth the grand storehouse of
our water supplies. Whatever agencies give the rain freer access to
the earth should be well studied. As previously stated, the condition
cf the ground surface is of primary importance. All soils are dependent
upon their top surface as to whether they will get any water to absorb
or not. Take an extreme case: Sand covered by an asphalt pavement;
a great capacity for water, but no mouth to take it in. Take an or-
dinary case, as exemplified by tests made at Colby, Kansas, by the
United States Department of Agriculture. The moisture in the soil
was measured at a depth of twelve inches below the surface. Meas-
urements were made under three separate conditions: First, a covering
of natural prairie sod; secondly, bare soil, cultivated; thirdly, bare
ground sub-soiled. The tests were continued daily throughout the
months of June, July, August and September. The cultivated soils
showed throughout the tests over twice the moisture of the soil under
the natural prairie top. It has been suggested that the chief cause of
the difference was the water taken up and evaporated by the grasses.
This is not supported by the records. It is obvious that there would
be little moisture drawn from the ground and evaporated during rains.
The increase of soil moisture at such times must represent the evapo-

12

CHAPTER XXIV. 1i7

ration saved, plus the rain penetration. This increase amounted to 3.4
per cent., with a rainfall of over 14% inches. The average differenc>
between the sod cover and the cultivated soil was 10144, per cent. more
moisture in the latter. Now, as penetration and evaporation taken
together amounted to only one-third of this difference, it is very
certain that evaporation alone could only explain a very small portion
of the difference. In fact, it is of interest to note that evaporation may
not have reduced the percentage of moisture at all. This would be the
case if capillary action was sufficiently active to bring up all tne water
needed by the grasses, and there was plently of sub-water to be brought
up—conditions that seem to have existed during the test. If the
supply is good, a pipe does not show less waste because the faucet at
the end is open.

At Rothamsted, the place previously spoken of, there are drain
gauges for observing the proportion of rainfall that percolates through
the soil. Determinations are made of the quantity passing at depths
of 20, 40 and 60 inches. The 20 and 60 inch gauges are in similar soils.
The 40-inch is in sub-soil of more gravelly nature, and yields from 214
to 5 per cent. more water than either of the other two. Observations
conducted for twenty years show that an average of 47% per cent. of
all the rainfall percolated through 20 inches of soil, and 44.9 through
60 inches. The rainfall was measured on the 1-1000th of an acre
gauge.

As the Rothamsted records are classic in the literature of rainfall
and percolation, a description of the gauges used may be found inter-
esting.

The funnel portion of the one-thousandth of on acre gauge is con-
structed of wood lined with lead, the upper edge consisting of a vertical
rim of plate glass beveled outward. The rain is conducted by a tube
into a galvanized iron cylinder, and when this is full it overflows into
a second cylinder, and so on into a third and fourth and finally into
an iron tank. Each of the four cylinders holds rain corresponding to
% an inch of depth, and the tank an amount equal to 2 inches. Each
cylinder has a gauge-tube attached graduated to read to two-thou-
sandths of an inch and by estimation to one-thousandth. Smaller
quantities are transferred to a smaller cylinder with a gauge-tube grad-
uated to one-thousandths.

The three drain gauges were constructed by digging a deep trench
along the front, gradually undermining at the required depth and put-
ting in perforated cast-iron plates to support the mass of soil. The

178 WATER AND FOREST.

plates were kept in place by iron girders and the edges of the plates
and ends of the girders supported by brickwork on the back and two
sides. Trenches were then dug around the block of soil and it was
gradually enclosed by walls of brick laid in cement. Below the per-
forated iron bottom a zinc funnel was finally fixed, and the drainage
water collected and measured in galvanized iron cylinders with gauge-
tubes as in the case of the rain-gauge.

These soil drain-gauges being kept free from vegetation give re-
sults not directly applicable for etimating the percolation over a drain-
age area more or less covered with vegetation—conditions for which
due allowance is made in applying the results.

The capacity of sand for receiving and transmitting water can be
well illustrated by the water supply of The Hague, the capital of the
Netherlands. The city is situateu about two miles inland from the
North Sea, and has a population of about 190,000. Its domestic water

supply is drawn from a tract of uncultivated country lying near the
sea and covered with sand dunes like parts of the New Jersey coast.
The sand is described as very pure and white. The water is fresh to
a depth of sixty-six feet below the sea. It is gathered by infiltration
pipes and pumped to its destination. Through the courtesy of Mr.
Corey, the United States consul at Amsterdam, I have been able to
make a comparison between the rainfall and the percolating water in
point of quantity. The average rainfall from 1878 to 1898 was 30 96-100
inches per annum, of which about 40 per cent. is estimated as per-
colating.

According to other information, from 30 to 50 per cent. of the rain-
fall can be collected. The variation being principally due to the sea-
sons in which the rains fall. In summer a loss is stated to take place
by reason of vegetation. This draws attention to the point that
whether vegetation conserves moisture or not depends very much on the
nature of the soil. In the case of sand it impedes the ingress and
aids the abstraction of moisture. A sieve would profit nothing as a
sieve by planting trees over it.

CONDUCTIVITY OF FORESTS.
The water conductivity and capacity of various soils has received
much attention at the hands of forest experimenters.
By conductivity is meant the capacity to transmit water. It in-
volves three units: Quantity, distance and time.
By capacity we understand the quantity of water that a given vol-

CHAPTER XXIV. 179

ume of soil can oe caused to receive into its interstitial spaces, gener-
ally spoken of as its voids. Of the volume that can be introduced
into dry soils a portion is susceptible of being removed by drainage,
and the remainder, held within the capillaries and as films on the grain
surfaces, is removable by processes of evaporation only.

It requires no effort of thought to comprehend that conductivity
is an important factor in storm run-off, and in estimating the probable
yield of a ground storage. The literature of the subject is scant and
unsatisfactory. A splendid field is open here for systematic experi-
ment. Such records of experiments that I have been able to obtain
indicate that the tests were made by downward filtration. In my
own tests I have found it practically impossible to get uniform results
by this method. There is always a conflict between the ingoing water
and the outgoing air it has displaced. Very uniform results were
obtained by reversing the method and filtering upwards. It is true
that this does not exactly meet the conditions of rain soaking down-
ward, but it is free from any complications arising from imprisoned
air, and furnishes an uncomplicated base from which to start. Then
we must remember that the horizontal movements of the underground
water are greater than the vertical, and the upward filtration method
will give true results for these lateral movements.

The texture of the soil is the governing factor as to rate of conduc-
tivity. It ranges from well rounded pebbles, through the intermediate
stages of sand and loam to clay. A study of the mechanics of the
granular soils presents some particularly interesting points. Assume
the granules to be all true spheres and assorted by sizes. It can read-
ily be demonstrated that the voids form the same percentage of the
total cubical contents whatever may be the diameter of the spheres,
and the area of the passage between the spheres bears precisely the
same ratio to the area of the circumscribing cross section irrespec-
tive of the diameter of the spheres. The closer a soil approximates
to spherical grains of uniform size the greater the capacity for water
and the larger the percentage of waterways. This is a property of
uniformity of size. By mixing many different sizes together in such
proportions that each succeeding smaller size enters the interstices o*
the preceding layer a soil may be made impervious to water save by
capillary action. Proper mixtures of gravel and sand make good water-
tight dams. This feature of mixture will frequently explain the im-
perviousness of stream beds in sandy gravel.

To return to the matter of voids and water passages. Although

180 WATER AND FOREST.

these have the same percentages of total volumes and areas in grains
of uniform size, the rate of the passage of water will be higher the
larger the grains. With very minute grains the passages become
capillaries entirely, gravitation is overcome. The larger the grains
the nearer the flow approaches that of free water acting under gravita-
tion only.

Capillary action is one of surface tensions. Imagine a membrane
enclosing each grain and stretched thereon. The tension of this imag-
inary membrane is analogous to surface tension. It can be demon-
strated by very simple mathematical reasoning that the surface ten-
sions increase with decrease of radius—the sharper the curvature the
greater the tension. When neighboring interstitial spaces are filled
with water to a greater or less degree, surfaces of films of sharper or
flatter curvatures are produced. The surfaces are not in equilibrium,
ard a movement from the flat to the sharp curves takes place and con-
tinues until by readjustment of the curves equilibrium is established.
This is the nature of capillary action, it takes place in all directions
according to the surrounding ccenditions. Gravity always acts down-
wards. In soils the conditions are such that capillary action is usually
upwards. The limit of the action varies with the texture of the soil.
In chalk the limit is not reached at sixteen feet. In sandy soil one and
one-half feet has been found to be the extreme. In very open mate-
rial the limit may be but a few inches.

In further illustration, imagine a tall box filled with soil com-
pletely saturated with water—and the bottom of the box be suddenly
removed. The water drains away with gradually decreasing speed.
At first a stream, and then drops decreasing in frequency. Capillary
action is opposing gravity. The topmost spaces are being emptied
by water leaving films around each grain. As the depletion continues
the films draw closer to the grains, their curvature grows sharper,
their tension increases. They exert an increasing upward pull on those
below, and these in their turn begin to pull on those below, and so on
down the full depth of the box. Presently the chain of films exert
together sufficient force to balance the attraction of gravitation. The
dropping from the box ceases.

Add more water to the crop—the interstices are re-filled, the films
destroyed or flattened in curvature, the surface tension is lessened.
The films below lose all or part of their support from those above.
The attraction of gravity prevails, the dropping re-commences, chang-
ing to a stream if the supply at the top be ample. The speed with

CHAPTER XXIV. 181

which this takes place depends upon the texture of the soil and the
viscocity of the fluid.

In any case the drops that first appear are not part of the water
just added. This is one of the many difficulties in the way of accu-
rately measuring the speed of filtration. The quantity that passes in
a given time can, of course, be easily measured, ubt the speed in
inches per minute, or in any other unit of distance and time, is
quite another matter. That is the difficult point. If we knew the
area of the passage ways between the grains we could divide the
quantity discharged by this area, combine with the time of dis-
charge and arrive at the speed. Unfortunately we cannot measure
these passageways—we can measure the cubical voids but not the area
of the passageways between the grains.

An instructive experiment, one easily made, is to fill a glass tube
or glass sided box with small marbles and pour oil through them.
The use of the slow-moving oil in place of water gives time to note
the changes in the shapes of the films and in the filling of the inter-
stitial spaces. Coloring the subsequent additions of oil will aid in
tracing the movements of the fluid.

The viscosity, or internal friction of water, has been previously
alluded to. Experiment shows that it increases with decrease of
temperature. If the viscosity at 32 deg. Fahrenheit be assumed as
100, it will be 50 at 77 deg., 45 at 86 deg., and 31 at 112 deg. This vari-
ation of viscosity due to temperature has a marked effect upon the rate
of percolation. This effect is very important. The following quo-
tation from experiments of the United States Department of Agricul-
ture will serve to illustrate and emphasize the point:

Flow at 48 deg. Fah., 6.15 grams per minute. Flow at 90 deg.
Fah., 10.54 grams per minute. The ratio of the two rates of flow being
as 100 to 171. Now the viscosity of water at 48 deg. Fah. is to the
viscosity at 90 deg. Fah. as 75.6 is to 32.5, or as 177 to 100. The flow
should be in the inverse ratio, and this agrees very closely with the
ratios of the actually measured flows.

The viscosity of gases, contrary to that of fluids, increases with
increase of temperature. Air is frequently used in making “perme-
ability” tests of soils, and unless corrections are properly made for this
different characteristic very erroneous and misleading results will
ensue.

Speaking of air as a means of testing permeability of soils re-
calls an instance in connection with coal mining. Water broke into

182 WATER AND FOREST.

the workings of a mine and, as it rose, imprisoned air in some of the
mine chambers. The rising water forced this air through the rock
in several places—failing to do so at other points. A hydraulic head
of forty feet forced the air through two hundred feet of solid coal and
the water filled the chamber. Upon pumping out the water it took the
air two weeks to find its way back through the two hundred feet of
coal and fully destroy the vacuum made by the falling water. On the
other hand, slate—with its laminations lying at right angles to the
pressure—was perfectly tight and retained the air against a hydraulic
head of eighty feet.

Tests at the German forest stations show that the general effect
of forests is to raise the soil temperature during the cold months and
lower it during the warm months. As the bulk og rain falls in the
cooler months, it follows that the raising of temperature during such
times is favorable to increased percolation by reducing the viscosity
of the water. A portion of this advantage would be offset by lowering
temperatures during the hot months. The surface tension of water is
also lowered by increase of temperature, as well as the viscosity.
This decreases the tension in the capillaries, causing less resistance
to gravitation, and more water passes down on this account.

The following percolating velocities are quoted in the publications
of the agricultural experiment station of the State of Colorado. They
were deduced by the Italian Professor Nazzini from data obtained from
the filter beds of London, Paris and Berlin. They will serve to il-
lustrate the variation of velocity due to texture of material. The
velocities refer to that of vertical filtration:

MINUté BT aVel sig i c8551hs scenavarsa a ers 86 1-2 feet per hour. «
Coarse: ‘Sand seecsscains See saieiles bh cate 9 1-8 feet per hour.
FUNG SANG: esr y Ree ataincasee eee eos 1 7-10 feet per hour.
Sandy =S0llsscy acct eoad eens 8-10 feet per hour.
Handy AGlay ee sewage ccceaada eon mane 4-10 feet per hour.

These figures cannot, however, be taken as proper for universal
application. Each soil is more or less a law unto itself, and where ex-
act results are sought must be studied by itselt.

There is one great distinction between water flowing freely in
open channels or pipes of measured size, and percolating water. The
flow of the former is a function of the square root of the head, while
water finding its way through minute passages is found to vary in flow
directly with the head and not with the square root thereof. The

CHAPTER XXIV. 183

mathematical demonstration of the reasons for this is interesting, but
would scarcely be pertinent at the present time.

Capacity, as previously stated, is the quantity of water which can
be introduced into a dry soil. It is usually expressed as a percentage
of the soil volume. The total quantity that a soil is capable of im-
bibing is termed its maximum capacity. This quantity is divisible
into two parts. The one removable by drainage, the other by evapo-
ration. The latter is again sub-divisible into two parts. One part
is brought to the surface by capillary action and there evaporated, the
other is almost permanently retained within the soil, requiring for its
removal long continued application of heat. This is termed hygro-
scopic moisture.

From German authorities we have the following maximum capaci-
ties of various soils, expressed in percentages of volume:

PIOUS Gc. oO plas ah oe ka eae eae oP eae 70.3 per cent.
Garden: “mOldis.5 i525 600% canewaeaes hl seeeeens 69 per cent.
POA siaenG ss osc Daye nntla dy ota tiers Va ae SATA aOR 63.7 per cent.
DO AINS eian ae Geacaenre cease eed Avaya ntaeo araahe-aye) pit 60.1 per cent.
DTIC <a has erste ate ees at NS NCU ARB Wie es 54.9 per cent.
CHAU eave Gale matawsencle ae ati py Send Sa aera ae 49.5 per cent.
Quartz, Sand), 245 osibGadies cane oie Bee -weoes 46.4 per cent.

For minimum water capacity, or water remaining after gravita-
tion, we have—varying according to depth—

HUMMUS): JOOSE: sesicceist Suess dues gaavernions eine eae 43.6 to 49.1 per cent.
Loam, fine, loose...............00 000s 38.4 to 48.3 per cent.
Sand. lOOse we kes vac nd eons maaeews 17.6 to 27 per cent

The hygroscopic moisture was determined by Loughridge, of the
California experiment station, to be as follows: 3

CLAY Sree a settee nena aeon craton from 2.6 to 14.5 per cent.
TORS) o's ae tiscenn tae, yee from 4.9 to 9.2 per cent.
Sandy ~ SOUS « pccc.co%:5, sie bleed viaeere from .8 to 3.5 per cent.

The wide range in these figures serves to illustrate the necessity
of experimenting directly with the soil itself, if exact data is re-
quired of any particular soil.

The precise nature and mechanics of hygroscopic moisture are but
little understood. There is a good field here for independent inves-
tigation.

Of the different capacities the hydraulic engineer is more par-
ticularly interested in that which relates to the quantity that may
be drained out; on the other hand, the aboriculturist is most inter-

184 WATER AND FOREST.

ested in the amount of capillary water from which plant life largely
draws its supply. The capacities are interwoven and the experimental
determination of the moisture coefficients of local soils will be a fruit-
ful field for forestry students. To return to capacities. An author-
ity on effects of forest cover (Dr. E. Ebermayer) found that except for
the top layers unshaded soil had more capacity than shaded soil.
Taken as a whole, however, for a depth of thirty-two inches he found
the soil under young spruce trees to have 2 per cent., and under old
spruce trees 7.6 per cent. greater capacity than naked soil.

It is manifest that the character of the forest floor, the litter cov-
ering the soil, must have a marked effect upon the absorption of
water. Wollny found, as a result of his experiments, that under a
grass cover there was 50 per cent. less percolation than in naked soil.
He found a litter of oak leaves te pass 42 to 74 per cent. of the rainfall.
Spruce litter passed 46 to 78 per cent. Pine needles, 52 to 69 per
cent. Moss, 39 to 53 per cent. The variations are due to varying
thicknesses of cover. The shallower the cover the less the soil re-
ceived. This may be attributed to greater rate of evaporation with
the shallower covers.

As previously stated, the Rothamsted tests gave the percolation
of bare soil at 44 9-10 to 47 1-2 per cent. of the rainfall. It will be
seen, therefore, that ordinary forest litter can pass more rainfall than
the earth ordinarily imbibes. Consequently the cover will remain
wet for a greater or less period of time, and during that period save
the soil from evaporation. A soil covering of humus, however, would
scarcely allow any filtration to the soil beneath. It would be bene-
ficial in lessening the force of storm water, but otherwise would work
a loss to ground storage.

Ebermayer says that besides clay it is especially humus which
imbibes almost all precipitation and gives up little water below; and
adds, that if the earth were covered with a humus soil of one metre
in depth subterranean drainage would be so slight that springs would
be scanty, and continuously flowing springs absent.

The forest floor is a most important factor in retarding storm
water and protecting the earth from erosion. This is particularly
true on steep mountain slopes. The destruction of forest litter by
fire or de-forestation is little short of a calamity. Each rain washes
away tons upon tons of loam, sand and rocks to cover up the lower
lands. A double disaster. The fertile soil of the higher lands is
destroyed, the fertile soil of the lower lands buried.

CHAPTER XXIV. 185

EVAPORATION.

We have another subject to consider—that is, evaporation. Under

this head will be included transpiration from foliage.

On the subject of evaporation there exist many experimental
data. Temperature and wind are the chief controlling elements.
Woods lower temperature and reduce the velocity of the wind. It is
to be expected, therefore, that evaporation in woods is much less than
in the open. Such is found to be the case.

The observations of sixteen forestry stations in Germany show a
marked saving effected by the woods. Of the rainfall, an average
of 42 per cent. was evaporated in the open and 24 per cent. in the
forest. A clear saving of 18 per cent. The Prussian stations showed
the evaporation under trees to be about 43 per cent. of that from
fallow fields; this percentage for the previously mentioned sixteen
stations would be 57 per cent. The evaporation from water sur-
faces in woods was found to be about 38 per cent. of that from water
surfaces in the open.

As an offset to the saving in evaporation comes the moisture
transpired through the foliage, and that retained in the substance of
the tree. The transpiration computed by various observers ranges
from an equivalent rainfall of one-fourth inch per annum for four-year
old firs, up to fifteen inches for cereals and thirty-seven inches for
grasses. Forests of mixed growth transpire about 6% inches. Ac-
cording to observations at the Austrian stations, deciduous trees trans-
pire during the period of vegetation 500 to 1,000 pounds of water per
pound of dry leaves, and the coniferous from 75 to 200 pounds. (This
suggests the natural selection of conifers for our mountain slopes.)
One remark of Hohnel, regarding the Austrian observatories, is very
suggestive. He says “a plant will transpire in proportion to the
amount of water which is at its disposal.’’ This remark serves well to
mark the point that willows and other water-loving growths along
our streams consume more water than they save.

It is estimated that a coniferous forest will transpire 8 per cent.
of a total rainfall of 20 inches, and a beach forest 48 per cent of the
same precipitation. The water annually absorbed into the structure
of the trees has been estimated as ranging from 19 to 52 per cent. of
the weight of the wood, and 54 to 65 per cent. of the weight of the
leaves. By the hardwood deciduous trees, 38 to 45 per cent; the soft-
-wood, 45 to 55 per cent., and the conifers, 52 to 65 per cent. These

186 WATER AND FOREST.

quantities require about 2 per cent. as much water as the water of
transpiration and in additioon thereto. On these figures a coniferous
forest, which of all the trees makes the best showing, will give a net |
increase to the ground storage of about 10 per cent. of the rainfall, to
say nothing of the storm water held back until the earth has had
time to drink its fill—an important item in itself.

As a practical illustration of actually observed results, the fol-
lowing quotations from a report of the State engineer of New Jersey
are most appropriate:

“We believe it will be helpful to the cause of forestry in the
“future if the effects of forests upon stream-flow are more carefully
“and accurately stated. ;

“Their effect of holding and preserving the soil upon slopes is very
“well known, and besides this they create a mass of humus and ab-
“sorbent matter upon the surface which has an effect upon stream-
“flow, and the general evils resulting from de-forestation are a mat-
“ter of careful observation and record, so that too much stress cannot
“be laid upon the desirability of preserving a proper area of forest.

“The study of the streams shows that in every case, almost, it
“is the watershed on which is the largest proportion of forest which
“shows the largest flow from ground water.”

This is a very positive statement, but being based upon continu-
ous gaugings of the streams in question, it cannot be controverted.

187

CHAPTER XXV.

PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.
S. M. Woodbridge, Ph. D.

Irrigation is the artificial watering of the soil for the production
of crops.
Although irrigation is looked upon by many as a new proposition,

it is, in fact, the most primitive method of producing crops; that is,
it is the oldest method, for according to written history, ‘A river went
out of Eden to water the garden.” Furthermore, it was the only

method of producing crops for the first third of human existence; for,
from the same authority above quoted, we read: ‘‘The Lord God had
not caused it to rain upon the earth.” As it appears that water was
only distributed through irrigating ditches for the mrst third of the
world’s written history, it is not improbable that when Abel took
his sheep down to Cain’s irrigating ditch to water them, that he made
this water business a pretext for ‘doing up’ Abel. The precedent
of making trouble over water thus established, has been pretty well
followed down to the present time.

The first rain that we have any record of was in the year B. C.
2349, and there has been nothing equal to it since; that rain is com-
monly known as Tue Flood. Agnostics think that they have scored
a point when they state that the properties of light must have been
just the same before the flood as since, and claim that the bow must
have existed from the beginning; but they overlook the fact that the
whole agricultural business was run on an irrigation plan and that
there was no rain previous to the flood.

Water for irrigation purposes is derived from three sources in
California.

1. Mountain and otker streams.

2. Wells—fiowing or pumped.

38. Reservoirs.

Of the above named sources, it would seem that the reservoir is the
most important, for every available foot of land can be made a res-
ervoir. In the technical sense a reservoir is ‘‘a basin, either natural
or artificial, for collecting and retaining water or other liquids.”

There are two essentials to make a reservoir a success: First,

188 PRACTICAL [RRIGATION.

there must be means for collecting the water; and second, means for
retaining it until it is needed. When we speak of soils and moun-
tains as reservoirs the word is not used in the technical sense, for
I believe that the great volume of water that continues to flow from
our mountains are held in the interstices of the soil and rocks.

My own investigation shows that our different soils hold from
17 to 26 per cent of water, although some authorities make a much
larger percentage.

Different kinds of soils vary in regard to their porosity, and
the same soils vary to a very great degree in regard to their ab-
sorptive power of water, depending upon the amount of moisture
already contained in them. For example, on the red mesa soil at
South Pasadena, where the soil was practically dry, containing a little
cver one per cent. of water when the water was turned on, it only
absorbed one-twentieth of the amount of water in a given time that
was absorbed by soil of the same kind which contained at the be-
ginning of the experiment about eight per cent. of moisture. This
may be an extreme case but it is remarkable how much water will
run off from the soil when it is dry. We see the same effect if we
dip a dry feather in water, when we pull it out it comes out dry.
But if we moisten it, and then dip it in water, it comes out saturated.
It seems neccessary then in order to have our land absorb the maxi-
mum amount of water in the mininmum amount of time, that the
soil should retain a goodly percentage of moisture. Or, in other words,
if we wish to fill our mountains and soils with water and preserve
the greatest amount of rainfall, they should be kept moist.

Having shown that it is necessary to have some moisture in the
soil in order to have it absorb the rainfall readily, and thus make
our mountains an arable reservoir, let us look at the other side of
the case—that of retaining the moisture; and I regret to say that
the experiments are not so complete and numerous as they should
be, as they have only been fairly begun.

In the first place let me call attention to the fact that capillary
action in soil is in every direction from a given point. Water spreads
out sidewise as well as upwards and downwards by this action. Soil
that was thoroughly irrigated was taken and the amount of water
determined at 26.12 per cent. Some of this soil was put in beakers,
filling them about half full and placed in the laboratory. On the fol-
lowing day 66 per cent. of the moisture had dried out. Tin cans
without either bottoms or tops were pressed down into the soil and

CHAPTER XXV. 189

the soil taker from the side of the can so that a slide could be passed
under it, thus cutting off connection from the earth beneath. It
was found that about the same amount of water had disappeared from
these cans as had disappeared from the beakers. Where these cans
had been pressed some inches below the surface of the ground and
the soil raked or cultivated above them, there was practically little
loss of moisture. Conclusions from these facts are very obvious,
that in order to make reservoirs of our mountains and arable lands
it is necessary to keep them in such a condition that they will readily
absorb water and retain it, and this result can be brought about
only by keeping them covered with the product of growh, or in other
words, with forests, as these forests and their products make a cover-
ing or riulch for retaining moisture. And the same reasoning per-
tains to our cultivated lands, that in order to retain the moisture
we mist keep them well cultivated.

MEASUREMENT OF WATER.

It is a pity that there is no uniform unit of measure upon the
rietric system for stating a definite amount of water.

We are at present compelled to use the arbitrary and often puz-
zling term of acre foot or inch, second foot, weir inch and miner’s
inch. An acre foot of water is the amount of water that will cover
an acre of ground one foot in depth. A second foot is a cubic foot
of water per second. A miner’s inch of water is the amount of water
that will flow through an inch square hole in an inch board under a
pressure of four inches in twenty-four hours; such an amount of water
has been determined legally to be 12,960 ga.ons.

I would venture to suggest that the miner’s inch, having been
legally established to be a definite amount of water, be used as the
universal unit of measure in irrigation matters, and the following
table based upon the French decimal or metric system be used in
conjunction therewith. The Greek prefixes being used to denote the
multiples and the Latin prefixes the fractional parts of the unit.

The Greek prefix “DEKA” to mean 10 units.

The Greek prefix “HECTO” to mean 100 units.

The Greek prefix “KILO” to mean 1000 units.

The Greek prefix ‘“‘MYRIA” to mean 10,000 units.

The Latin prefix “DECI” to mean 1-10 of a unit.

The Latin prefix ‘‘CENTI” to mean 1-100 of a unit.

The Latin prefix ‘‘“MILLI” to mean 1-1000 of a unit.

190 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.

Proposed table for the measurement of irrigation water:

1 Myria-inch- 10 Kilo-inches 10,000 inches
1 Kilo-inch 10 Hecto-inches 1,000 inches
1 Hecto-inch 10 Deka-inches 100 inches
1 Deka-inch 10 inches 10 inches
1 Inch 10 Deci-inches 1 inch
1 Deci-inch 10 Centi-inches 1-10 inch
1 Centi-inch 10 Milli-inches 1-100 inch
1 Milli-inch 1-1000 inch
TABLES OF EQUIVALENTS.

1 Myria-inch 129,000,000 gallons

1 Kilo-inch 12,960,000 gallons

1 Hecto-inch 1,296,000 gallons

1 Deka-inch z 129,600 gallons

1 inch 12,960 gallons

1 Deci-inch 1,296 gallons

1 Centi-inch 129.60 gallons

1 Milli-inch 12.96 gallons

Water is contained in the soil in three different states, as:

1. Hydroscopic water.

2. Capillary water, and

3. Water of percolation.

Hydroscopic water is that which is not perceptible to the senses,
but is appreciated by a loss or gain of weight in the soil which ac-
quires or is deprived of it.

Capillary water is that which is held in the fine pores of the soil
by the surface attraction of its particles.

Water of percolation is that which fills the interstices in the soil
and would percolate through or filter out from the soil.

An acre of ground contains 43,460 square feet; allow 100 pounds
per cubic foot of dry soil, we would have 4,356,000 pounds every foot
in depth. Let us make a reasonable assumption as to the reservoir
capacity of our soils. They will hold as hydroscopic and capilliary
water about 20 per cent. of their weight. Assuming that our soils
are only wet to a depth of ten feet in the rainy season, we would

have 8,712,000 pounds of water stored in each acre of ground, or more
than ten times the amount of water necessary to raise 20,000 pounds

of oranges per acre, if all the water was available, which it is not.
Professor King has estimated that it takes to raise different crops,
such as hay, barley, clover, etc., from 300 to 500 tons of water to
make one ton of dry matter. My investigations lead me to think
that it takes much less to raise fruit, about 200 tons of water to raise

CHAPTER XXV. 191

one ton of oranges or lemons; now, allowing 20,000 pounds of fruit
per acre, let us see how far one inch of water would take us. Oranges
contain in round numbers 18 per cent. of solid matter and 82 per
cent. of water, therefore, 20,000 pounds of fruit would contain 3,600
pounds of dry matter; if we multiply this factor by 200, the number

of pounds of water it takes to raise one pound of dry fruit, and with
this result, namely, 720,000, divide the total number of pounds in an

annual inch of water, we would get 54.5, which would represent the
number of acres of oranges producing 20,000 pounds of fruit per acre,
that one inch perpetual flow would supply, making no allowance for
water put into the ground by winter rains.

SURFACE IRRIGATION.

There are four systems of surface irrigation in general use in South-
ern California. The first method is a basin method where they cover
the whole of the ground; a double furrow runs down between every
other row of trees, the furrow large enough to carry from fifteen to
fifty inches of water. Let us trace this stream, starting from the

head ditch. The attendant breaks down the furrow enough to let all
the stream flow into the first basin, requiring from one to three min-

utes to fill it according to the size of stream and basin, every other
tree is irrigated until the last tree is reached, when the attendant works
back, irrigating the trees he omitted on his downward course; thus
when the last tree is irrigated in both rows, the attendant is back at
the head ditch, where he can quickly turn the stream between other
rows without loss of time. The cost of making these basins is vari-
ously estimated from $1.50 to $2.50 per acre.

The second method is also a basin method, the basins covering
the whole of the ground but without furrows. The water is run into
the first basin until it is filled; when a portion of the lower side is
broken down and the water allowed to flow into the next basin; and
so on down through the whole row. When the last basin is filled and
while the water is still running, the attendant goes back to the head
ditch and turns the water into the next row of basins.

The third method is where the basins are made only over a por-
tion of the ground, thus omitting to irrigate a part of the land.

The fourth method is called the “Modern Method.” It consists in
having a head ditch at the highest side of the orchard and running
the water down through small furrows to the lowe end. The num-
ber of furrows used varies from one to eight. It is an easy, conven-
ient and cheap method. ;

192 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.

Inasmuch as the roots of trees in an orchard form a perfect net-
work through the whole soil, it is necessary to get an even distribu-
tion of the required amount of water over the whole of the land,
i. e., where surface irrigation is resorted to. This certainly can be

done by the basin method first above mentioned. This method, al-

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THE MODERN METHOD—SURFACE IRRIGATION

though perhaps the oldest in use, finds many objectors, who say it
is impracticable, expensive, and even impossible in some instances.
There are those who maintain that it washes the ground too much,
and that where the ground is rolling and the basins have to be made
small, too much expense is incurred. The third method is to be con-
demned in every instance. For as has been observed, the roots of
trees form a perfect network throughout the soil and these roots are
feeders. If, therefore, the roots which have grown during the rainy
season into the unirrigated portion are left without water and the
soil becomes dry, they languish and die. The fourth method called
the “Modern Method,” should never be resorted to except where ab-

13

CHAPTER XXV. 193.

solutely necessary, and then the head ditches should be very near

together and the furrows small and numerous. This method is very
easy, popular and cheap, and what is more the pity, many people

are in the habit of so irrigating.

The different methods seem to be persistently followed in different
localities in the state.

Where surface irrigation is practiced and where the ground is kept
cultivated to the depth of six inches, it follows from the premises,
that from one-half to two-thirds of the water (allowing one miner’s
inch continuous flow to ten acres of ground) is wasted—for the por-
tion of the water which is soaked up by the cultivated ground is. lost
to the tree, for in the cultivation the moisture in the cultivated soil
goes off in the air. To save this immense proportion of water, it fol-
lows then as a natural sequence that the water must be placed below
the cultivated ground, i. e., sub-irrigation must be resorted to.

SUB-IRRIGATION

Has always given satisfactory results as to a proper distribution of
water, but no system heretofore has been satisfactory from a prac-
tical and economic standpoint, owing to the fact that the pipes have
become broken or filled with roots and clogged; no underground
valve having been invented that was economical and at the same time
tight and impervious to roots. We have tried and can recommend as
an absolute and almost perfect system of sub-irrigation, that an
orchard be piped between each row, with one inch iron pipe at the
depth of about 18 inches from the surface, and that in the center of
the square formed by four trees, a hydrant be placed, as appears in
the cut herewith. This is a very cheap and simple device. It con-
sists of nothing but a short piece of pipe with an extra number of
threads on one end, say seven or eight; there are two slots cut down
through a portion of the threads; this pipe is screwed down into a
tee in the main pipe. To start the flow of water, this pipe with slots
in it is partially unscrewed, which permits the water to run _ out
through the slots. Anything that would grow through the slots is ef-
fectively cut when the water is turned off by screwing down the pipe.
A depression about four inches deep and three inches in diameter is
left around each hydrant and the water is turned on sufficiently when
it appears at the bottom of this depression. Rev. C. F. Loop has
such a system of sub-irrigation at Claremont, except that the valves
are much more expensive, costing about 35 cents each. Dr. Loop says
that the system has given him perfect satisfaction, and he is of the

194 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.

opinion that he does not use half the amount of water that he for-
merly used, and that he saves more than half the expense ordinarily
incurred in cultivation, etc.

Other systems have been invented, and some patented, but all, so
far as known to the writer, have proved failures. From the best in-
formation that can be gathered, all cement systems have proved fail-
ures; although when first put in use, they did the work designed
for them with satisfaction. Cement pipes have not proved a success

SLOT VALVE
owing to the fact that they break and become leaky, necessitating con-
stant repairs. And they also become filled with roots.
Experiments with cement pipes were begun in California about
twenty-five years ago, and have continued to the present time, and
yet the writer does not know of a single orchard, nor can he get

CHAPTER XXYV. 195

any trace of one, that is being irrigated now by such a system that
has been in existence five years.

Mr. Jas. Campbell, of Pasadena, tried a system of sub-irrigation in
two and one-halr acres of orange orchard some twelve or fifteen years
ago, with three-inch continuous cement pipes laid twenty inches deep.
He says the system worked with perfect satisfaction for three or four
years, which was as long as the pipe kept in good order. He does
not think that he used one-third the amount of water that he did by
surface irrigation. Indeed, he could not have used as much as one-
third, for he states that the reservoir from which he irrigated his
two and one-half acres contained but 10,000 gallons of water, which
would only be at the rate of 4,000 gallons per acre per irrigation; al-
lowing two irrigations per month, it would only be 8,000 gallons per
acre, or equivalent to one miner’s inch continuous flow to about 48

LOM ELBE

VEZ

aM UY:

SuB-IRRIGATION

acres. He also says that the labor for cultivation was much less than
in orchards irrigated by the surface method.

There are several patented systems, which require the underground
discharge to be surrounded with coarse stones or gravel, or both, and
even with cement flagging under the outlet; but all these only increase
labor and expense to a system without any corresponding good to be

196 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.

gained thereby. Elaborate tests in actual practice have shown that
the water will seep out in the same length of time a radius of ten feet
from a valve buried in the ground, or from a mere post hole three
inches in diameter, or from a hole that is one foot in diameter, or
from one that is two feet in diameter. This may seem a strange state-
ment, yet if we will consider that the contents of a circle twenty feet
in diameter contains 314 square feet, and that by making a hole two
feet in diameter, we would only take away 3.14 feet, or‘about one
per cent of the soil within the larger circle, it is apparent that little
is saved in point of time by making a large hole to be filled up
with extraneous and perhaps expensive material.

As the cost of such a system as is recommended above would be
about $100 per acre, it still puts the system beyond the reach of most
of the ranchers, although the annual] saving would be about 15 per
cent on this investment in labor, etc., without any reference tu saving
the water. It is also impracticable where the water is distributed in
open ditches. as it requires some little pressure in order to distribute
the water through an inch pipe. Other means less expensive were
therefore tried, one of which has been quite successful. This system is
called, 2 INTER-IRRIGATION.

It consists in distributing the water above ground but in disseminat-
ing it below the surface. This is done by means of holes the width of
an ordinary shovel dug to the depth of from 1v to 24 inches, accord-
ing to the nature of the soil, in the center of each square formed by
four trees. On ground that is level or nearly so, a single furrow is
run down a little to the side of these holes; a furrow at right angles
from that furrow is dug to run in and fill up the hole, which is kept
full during the period of irrigation. The water then passes on down
the furrows and into the next hole, and so on to the last hole in the
orchard. Where the water can be run down diagonally through an
orchard, or if the orchard is set quincunx, there need be but one fur-
row in every other row. Where the ground is rolling, or on side hills,
it will be necessary to have wooden or other troughs or a system of
movable pipes to keep the ground from washing, and it is always best
to have troughs or pipes. The troughs in use at Lenapuente are made
from wooden strips 1x2 nailed on 1x3, making a V-shaped trough. No
joists are required as a single length is run from hole to hole. The
cost of such troughs is about $18 per acre where they run on the
squares, or $12 per acre where they are run every other row diagonal-
ly. The pipes used at Lenapuente, where the water is delivered under

CHAPTER XXV. 197

pressure, are one-half inch iron with a valve, such as is above de-
scribed, over each hole. The pipes are connected and disconnected
by means of a Wilgus union. Both troughs and pipes can be easily
transferred from one portion of an orchard to another.

As to the objections to the system, there are apparently but two.
The first and most important objection is the difficulty of getting a
sufficiently long run of water to be able to irrigate in this manner;
for it takes from two to four times as long, according to the nature
of the soil, to irrigate by it. :

INTER-IRRIGATION

We think this objection would in practice amount to little or noth-
ing, if a community should adopt the system. If the existence of an
orchard depends upon it, or the successful maturing of a crop, we
apprehend that arrangements could be made for giving the individual
rancher his water in from two to four times the length of run, cut-
ting him down in quantity correspondingly.

It has been ascertained that soils differ in regard to their porosity
and, consequently, in their absorbing power. The extremes seem to
be in different soils, that a single hole will soak away from five to
fifteen gallons of water per hour, this largely depending upon the
amount of moisture that there is in a soil; a perfectly dry soil re-
quiring much more time than the soil containing six to eight per
cent of moisture. This must be determined by each rancher for him-
self. It is done by placing a barrel containing a known quantity of

198 PRACTICAL IRRIGATION.

water, on the ground at the side of the hole with the faucet over it;
allowing the hole to be filled with water from the faucet to the de-
sired height, regulating the flow so that the water will stand at this
height in the hole. Assume that you desire to soak away 389 gallons
in this hole (the equivalent of one miners’ inch continuous flow to
ten acres where there are 100 trees per acre) and that it took 38.9
hours to soak away the 389 gallons, this would be at the rate of ten
gallons per hour; one would then know that such irrigation must
continue by this system for 38.9 hours in order to get what would be
equivalent to one miners’ inch, continuous flow, to ten acres.

And the second objection is, the trouble of cultivation where there
are troughs and holes throvgh an orchard. But if the troughs are
set deep enough, there is little objection on this hand. The holes form
little or no objection. It must be remembered that not one-half the cul-
tivation is necessary as in the other system. Besides there is nothing
good in this world without its corresponding evil.

It has been found that orange trees that are twenty years old and
upwards, which were wilted, were revived by the application of 200
gallons of water per tree in this way, and remained in a fresh con-
dition for over thirty days. How much less might have answered the
purpose will be determined in the future by actual measurement.

The system of sub-irrigation or inter-irrigation is especially adapted
to small flower beds ana garden purposes generally.

Two modifications of the above described plan for interirrigation
have been installed on a number of ranches in Southern California
during the past year with the most beneficial results. The first and
undoubtedly the best method is conducted as follows: One or two
deep furrows, not less than 12 to 14 inches deep, are plowed between
each row of trees, parallel to the head ditch, then the irrigating fur-
rows are made at right angles to the flume, but some two or three
inches shallower than the cross furrows. The cross furrows are then
run over with a single horse shovel opening the connections with the
irrigating furrows on one side and closing them at the other side—
thus making a pocket in which the water is held during the period of
irrigation.

The second method merely consists in making one deep furrow be-
tween each row of trees, the furrow being not less than 14 inches deep
—made by running a turning plow both ways in it and where neces-
sary running a subsoiler in the bottom of the furrow so made.

199

CHAPTER XXVI.

IRRIGATION IN THE SOUTHWEST.
By Jas. D. Schuyler, Hydraulic Engineer.

In the arid portion of the United States embracing fully one-half of
the entire area, there prevails a climate of such marked healthfulness
as to afford a perpetual charm to the pleasure of living. Added to this
is an exemption from violent storms, destructive tornadoes, and ex-
cessive extremes of temperature. Furthermore, the arid region is us-
ually blessed with soils of great fertility,and a greater proportion of sun-
ny days than other less favored portions of the country. All of these
advantages, conducive to health, long life and comfort, are only offset
by the one disadvantage of unequal distribution of rainfall, by which
ihe arable lands of the valleys are left with an insufficiency of moisture
to mature crops without artificial irrigation, while the mountains alone
receive the amount of precipitation which in the east is distributed
impartially over mountain and valley as well. The mountains thus be-
come practically the sole feeders of the western streams, and these
streams become the main source to supply the lacking moisture re-
quired by the valley lands. The wealth and material resources
of the country are thus dependent upon irrigation, upon the flow
of the streams, and upon the precipitation and run-off from the
mounains. Any influence which tends to diminish the power of the
mountains to supply water to the streams retards the development of
irrigation, and checks the progress of all agriculture, horticulture
and their dependent industries. Forest growth upon the mountains is
the mother of the springs and streams, and needs to be fostered and
maintained at all hazards if the population, which is naturally attract-
ed by the many charms of the arid region, is to continue to grow and
increase in wealth.

There are no drawbacks to an irrigated country, provided the water
supply of the streams is maintained. Agriculture under a system of

200 IRRIGATION IN THE SOUTHWEST.

irrigation is really superior in point of convenience, certainty, rel-
iabiiity to that which depends upon the caprice of the summer rainfall
for the nourishment of crops. There is every incentive, therefore, for
the fullest development of all the water which the mountains will
yield and its conversion to useful purposes.

FORMATION OF IRRIGATION DISTRICTS.

The beginning of every irrigation district is naturally made by
the construction of canals and the diversion of the flowing streams.
At the outset the water so diverted performs a limited duty, as the
thirsty lands absorb it greedily, and a large stream will wet but a small
proportion of what it will ultimately water when the subsoil becomes
saturated and the water plane rises nearer and nearer to the sur-
face with each successive year. Gradually the stream is able to
care for more land, cultivation is extended, additional canals are
made possible, and the irrigated settlements grow in extent and
area of cultivation. Occasionally there will come a season when
the rainfall is below the normal, and the run-off of the streams.
which in the rainy season may still be abundant, will, in the
months of greatest need, be so far short of the usual flow as to
cause serious inconvenience and emphasize the need of storage reser-
voirs. This is the stage of progression which is everywhere reached
in course of time. The third stage after the reservoir period is that
which implies the development of underground waters by wells and
pumps. In some sections of the country where the streams are quite
irtermittent, and only flow during the rainy season, development
must begin with the storage of water. In other sections, where reser-
voir sites are scarce and dams expensive to build, irrigation begins with
wells and pumps, to be followed later by the more costly works. The
final stage is that where a water supply can only be obtained by works
that are beyond the reach of private capital or individual effort by
reason of their magnitude, and where government aid must be invoked.
Over a large portion of the arid West it is believed that this stage has
been reached, and further progress can only be attained by inaugurating
a liberal policy of governmental control and construction of storage
reservoirs, and there is a growing sentiment in favor of such a policy.

THE TONTO BASIN RESERVOIR.
In the great Salt River valley of Arizona, the natural stream flow
has been utilized in the cultivation of some 250,000 acres of land, whose
fertility and productiveness form the basis of the agricultural wealth

Cuyamaca Lake, San Diego County, California. Used for Irrigation.

202 IRRIGATION IN THE SOUTHWEST.

of that verntory. The valley contains a boundless extent of equally
valuable desert land, whose only hope of development lies in the
coustruction of reservoirs. The one chiefly relied upon is known as
the Tonto Basin, at the junction of Tonto Creek and Salt River, some
80 or 90 miles above the city of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona. A
Gam is here projected which will impound over 1,000,000 acre-feet, or
sufficient water to cover one million acres one foot deep. The tribu-
tary watershed area is over 5,800 square miles, from 2,500 to 8,000 feet
in altitude, affording an annual run-off sufficient to supply the reser-
voir. The dam will be constructed of masonry, and will be 250 feet in
height, whose length between the solid sandstone walls of the canyon
will be 150 feet at base and 650 feet at top. The dam is estimated to
cost $1,500,000, and three years’ time will be needed to build it. The
work has been undertaken by a corporation styled the Hudson Reser-
voir and Canal Company of New York. The enterprise is one of the
most extensive and important ever projected in the arid region, and
one of the very few which has a prospect of being profitable to the
stockholders, by reason of the fact that the water can be immediately
sold at wholesale to a population waiting, with canals already built,
for its utilization. The canal system of Salt River valley commands
a greater area of unimproved desert land than the water of the unres-
ervoired stream will serve.

RESERVOIRS ON THE GILA RIVER.

The Gila river, above its junction with the Salt, is quite as com-
pletely utilized as the latter stream, although the development of irri-
gation by canals has taken place upon the upper valleys at a much
greater rate than in the main valley of the stream. This has resulted
in depriving the lower appropriators of their usual supply in the dryer
portions of the year, and caused great loss and privation, particularly
among the Pima and Maricopa Indians on the Sacaton reservation. As
these peaceful and industrious tribes are the wards of the government,
an effort is being made to restore their water supply and furnish
their parched fields with the needed element, by impounding the flood
waters of the Gila in a mammoth reservoir. To this end the United
States Geological Survey has been charged with the task of investi-

gating the various available sites to determine where a dam can be
most advantageously constructed. Borings have been made at the Buttes,

some fifteen miles above Florence, at Riverside, fifteen miles higher up
and at the western end of the San Carlos reservation, where the Gila

CHAPTER XXVI. 203

breaks through a high mountain range in a narrow canyon. The
latter site has proven most favorable, not only on account of the
superior character of the rock available for construction, but because
the bedrock is nearer the surface, and the canyon walls are but 100
feet apart at the stream level. The reservoir capacity of the dam is
very great, and with a dam 150 feet high the water impounded would
exceed 360,000 acre-feet. This volume would not only amply supply
the Sacaton Indian reservation below, and render the Indians self-
supporting, but it would supply the white settlers above Florence, and
open a large area of desert government land to occupation and settle-
ment.

These two reservoirs, when completed, will more than double the
present productive area of the territory, and their importance to the
nation cannot well be over-estimated.

RESERVOIRS ON THE RIO GRANDE.

The Rio Granade, which heads in Colorado and passes through New
Mexico and along the Texas border on its way to the gulf, has reached
the stage where reservoirs are required to promote further irrigation
possibilities. Increasing diversion of its upper waters, as in the Gila
valley, has deprived the lower appropriators of their customary supply.
To meei this condition, one of the greatest reservoirs of the Southwest
has been projected by an English company at Elephant Butte, 112
miles above El Paso. A masonry dam is to be built at this point which
is to be 100 feet high, 300 feet long at base, 550 feet at top, and im-
pound 253,000 acre-feet of water. The flood waters passing this point
rar ge from 500,000 to 2,200,000 acre-feet annually, the greater portion
flowing off in May and June, while in August and September the stream
is frequently entirely dry. The construction of the reservoir will permit
of the irrigation of 250,000 acres of new land, and afford a reliable
supply to 100,000 acres more that now receive such a precarious and
uncertain volume as to be of little permanent value. The dam and
the 200 miles of canal involved in this enterprise are estimated to cost
$850,000—an insignificant sum in proportion to the enormous addition
which the works will make to the material resources of New Mexico
and Texas.

Immediately above the Elephant Butte reservoir is another site,
where a dam 80 feet high will impound 175,000 acre-feet of water.
These reservoirs are only second in importance to those of Arizona, just
described.

“BPBAIN BIIIIS ‘JaATY auuINnoy ‘Aj1dedeD aBv10jg ysea JoazIg meq pasodoig

CHAPTER XXYVI. 205

The Pecos is one of the principal tributaries of the Rio Grande, but
its normal flow is of less volume, although subject to greater maximum

THE PECOS RIVER.

floods. Irrigation from this stream never reached to any considerable
amount until reservoirs were constructed, and its flood waters were
controlled by two great dams, located above the town of Eddy, in
Southeast New Mexico. The upper and larger of these reservoirs
covers an area of 8,331 acres, and has a capacity of 82,640 acre-feet.
It is known as “Lake McMillan.” The dam, constructed in 1893, is
1,686 feet long on top, 52 feet high, with an auxiliary embankment
5,200 feet long, 18.8 feet high. The dam is composed of an embankment
cf loose rock, faced with an earth embankment of greater volume, the
two having a total base width of 280 feet, and a top width of 20 feet.
Its cost was $170,000. The lower dam is 48 feet high, 1,380 feet long,
and is of the same type of construction as the upper dam—loose rock
and earth. The lower dam has comparatively small storage capacity,
but acts as a diverting weir to raise the level of water to the main
canal leading down the valley. The canal carries 1,300 cubic feet per
second for 3.2 miles, to a point where it divides into two main canals
passing down each side of the valley. The town of Eddy, and a
large and growing farming settlement surrounding, is dependent solely
upon these two reservoirs. Here is located the only sugar beet factory
in the territory, manufacturing sugar from beets grown by irrigation.

In the San Joaquin valley the normal stream flow still supplies the
land brought under irrigation, without artificial storage, chiefly for
the reason that, being fed by melting snow, they are highest during
the early part of the irrigation season, although the need for reser-
voirs is being sharply felt, and there is a constantly recurring agitation
on the subject. The only important private enterprise in this direction
is the conversion of Buena Vista Lake, on lower Kern river, into a
broad, shallow reservoir, by the wealthy cattle firm of Lux’& Miller.
An earthen dyke, five miles long, ten feet high, serves to enclose the
lake, but the success of the enterprise is questionable, in view of the
enormous loss from evaporation, which is estimated to reach as high
as 130,000 acre-feet. This loss can be reduced to a fraction of this
amount by storage reservoirs of greater depth and less surface area
exposed, located in the mountains.

The investment in canals, lands, and improvements, depending
solely upon irrigation from Kern river, is estimated at $6,000,000 to

206 IRRIGATION IN THE SOUTHWEST.

$8,000,000, while the development of the waters of Kings and Kaweah
rivers has created values many times greater than these figures.

IRRIGATION IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

In Southern California irrigation has reached a greater degree of
refinement than elsewhere in America, because of the scarcity of water,
the high value of the products grown, and the frequent combination
of irrigation and domestic supply in one system. The waste of water
in open canals by seepage and evaporation has led to the general
employment of cement lined ditches for the larger volumes carried,
or cement, vitrified clay or iron pipes for smaller quantities. The
prevention of waste by these expensive methods has thus permitted
an enormous increase in the duty of the flowing streams, and ex-
tended their sphere of usefulness. The building of small farm reser-
voirs has gone steadily forward with the growth of the industry, until
the farm or orchard which is not thus supplied is the exception rather
than the rule. This has increased the general cost of water to con-
sumers, but has at the same time increased the productive area by
adding to the economic measures for waste prevention. These indi-
vidual reservoirs, however, are in no sense a substitute for the larger
and more expensive impounding dams needed to regulate the streams
and control floods.

The first of these of any importance to be constructed was the
Bear Valley dam, built in 1883. At that time the site was well nigh
inaccessible by wagon, and the cost of cement at the dam was so great
as to induce the projector to cut down the dimensions of the dam to
what is unquestionably the slenderest structure in the universe of
equal height. It has special interest to the engineering profession in
that it is capable of withstanding the pressure against it, and yet it
has continued to defy preconceived theories for thirteen years. It is
64 feet high, and barely 3 feet thick at top, and but 8 feet thick at a
point 48 feet below the crest. It relies solely upon its arched form
_ for its support, and upon the fact that it is of a superior quality of
masonry. It is reported to have cost $75,000, although it contains but
3,400 cubic yards of masonry.

The capacity of the reservoir is about 40,000 acre-feet, and the
watershed area about 56 square miles, from which the run-off reaches
an estimated maximum of 100,000 acre-feet. The maximum run-off of
the dry season of 1898-99 was less than 1,000 acre-feet.

Sweetwater Dam, in Southern California,

208 IRRIGATION IN THE SOUTHWEST.

THE SWEETWATER DAM.

In 1887-88 the Swe2twater dam was constructed, on the Sweetwater
river, twelve miles southeast of San Diego, on a stream from which
no irrigation was possible prior to the erection of the dam, because
of the fact that it was generally dry every year after June 1st. The
dam is built of masonry, founded on porphyry bedrock, at a point seven
miles inland from the bay of San Diego, at an elevation of 140 feet
above tide. The height is nearly 100 feet; length, 150 feet at base, 350
feet at top; arched up stream similarly to the Bear Valley dam, but of
much heavier section, being 46 feet thick at bottom and 12 feet at top.

The reservoir had an original capacity of 18,000 acre-feet, en-
larged in 1896 to 22,866 acre-feet, and is fed from the run-off of 186
square miles of watershed, whose extreme elevation is about 6,500 feet.
The mean annual run-off from 1888 to 1896 ranged from 1,007 to 70,625
acre-feet, averaging 18,708 acre-feet. The drought of the past two
years has failed to replenish the reservoir, and its supply in the sum-
mer of 1899 is quite exhausted, and reliance is had upon water pumped
from wells.

From the dam water is conveyed and distributed through iron
pipes, over an area exceeding 5,000 acres, planted chiefly to lemon
orchards. The cost of the dam and distribution system has exceeded
$1,000,000, but it has added many millions to the wealth of the county.
It is a striking illustration of pure development of water from a
stream that had been useless and valueless without the reservoir.

THE CUYAMACA RESERVOIR.

A similar case of the conversion of a useless stream into one of
usefulness and value is that of the Cuyamaca reservoir, built in 1887
by the San Diego Flume Company, for the irrigation of mesa lands
lying east of San Diego, and the supply of the city of San Diego.
This reservoir is located in the Cuyamaca mountains, at an elevation
of 4,500 feet above sea level. It is formed by an earth dam, 41.5 feet
high, and has a maximum capacity of 11,410 acre-feet, covering 959
acres of surface. It has a tributary watershed of but 11 square miles,
which greatly restricts the usefulness of what would otherwise be a
very valuable reservoir. Up to 1896 the minimum annual catchment
was 1,158 acre-feet, the maximum 11,464 acre-feet, and the mean 5,397
acre-feet. The evaporation loss was a mean annual depth of 4.73 feet,
amounting to 25.5 per cent. of all the catchment entering the reservoir.

The area irrigated by the reservoir prior to 1898 is given at 5,700

14

CHAPTER XXVI. 209

acres, for which a portion of the supply, estimated at 16 per cent., was
taken from the direct flow of the other tributaries of San Diego river,
while the reservoir was filling. One-fifth of the water supply of the
system is usea for the domestic supply of San Diego, and the remain-
der for irrigation. The water is conveyed in a wooden flume, 5 feet
wide, 37 miles long, supported on a level bench cut in the hillsides, or
on high trestles crossing depressions. It delivers water to the pipe
system ten miles east of San Diego, whence it is distributed in iron
pipes under pressure throughout the irrigated settlements supplied.

THE LA MESA DAM.

At the lower end of the long flumes a reservoir has been constructed
on the mesa at an elevation of 433 feet, which serves to impound the
surplus flow of the flume, and catch the run-off of a small local shed.
The reservoir covers 70 acres, and has a capacity of 1,500 acre-feet.
The dam was built by the hydraulic sluicing method, by which the
material composing it was loosened, conveyed and deposited by water,
which was afterwards caught in the reservoir behind the rising dam.
This is one of the most interesting structures of its class in the coun-
try, and illustrates a simple and cheap method of building dams of
earth and loose rock. It contains 38,000 cubic yards, and was built for
$17,000. It serves a useful purpose in economizing the water and in its
distribution.

The cost of the entire irrigation system, including the long flume,
was nearly $1,000,000.

THE OTAY AND MORENO DAMS.

All of the streams of San Diego county have the characteristics
of intermittent flow, which renders them practically valueless except
when their floods are controlled and impounded by reservoirs, but they
have the compensating advantage of possessing reservoir sites of
unusual capacity and excellence. Two of these sites have been utilized
by the Southern California Mountain Water Company, by the erection
of imposing dams of unusual height on the Otay creek, in Jamal
valley, and on Cottonwood creek, at the outlet of Moreno valley, while
a third, designated as the Barrett dam, is under construction at the
junction of Pine and Cottonwood creeks.

The lower Otay dam is located some five miles southeast of
Sweetwater dam, and is an embankment of loose rock, 130 feet high,

“BIUIOJNBD dary auunnoy ‘meq yoru sy,

CHAPTER XXVI. 211

with a central core cf sheet steel, in the form of plates riveted to-
gether ‘and imbedded in masonry at bottom and on either side, con-
necting it with the bedrock abutments. The dam is 565 feet long,
20 feet wide on top, and contains about 140,000 cubic yards of rock.
It forms a reservoir covering 1,000 acres, and having a capacity of 42,190
acre-feet. The tributary watershed has an area of 100 square miles, but
with a run-off which cannot be relied upon to fill the reservoir with
frequency or regularity. It is necessary, therefore, to construct an
expensive conduit 11 miles long, from the Cottonwood, to bring a
supply to the reservoir. This conduit is to have a capacity of 220 cubic
feet per second, and will head at the Barrett dam, some 50 feet above
the base of the latter.

The Moreno dam, which is still unfinished, will have an extreme
height of 150 feet, and is of similar character to the lower Otay dam,
except that the embankment is to be made watertight by a layer of
asphalt concrete upon its upper face, connecting with a concrete toe
wall that extends to bedrock at the bottom of the dam. The elevation
of the dam is 3,100 feet above sea level, and has a tributary watershed
of 135 square miles, reaching to an extreme elevation of over 6,000
feet. The capacity of the reservoir at the 150-foot level is 46,733 acre-
feet, extending over 1,370 acres of surface.

The Barrett damsite at the 160-foot contour has a capacity of 35,160
acre-feet. The dam to be erected is simiiar in plan to the lower Otay. -

These three reservoirs are to be united in one system, and supply
water for irrigating lands lying between San Diego and the Mexican
border, consisting of high mesas and valleys reaching back some ten
miles or more from the ocean. The rolling nature of the topography,
as well as the economical use of water, will necessitate its conveyance
in pressure pipes of iron and wood. The city of San Diego, as well as
Coronado Beach, will receive at least a portion of its domestic supply
from these sources.

THE ESCONDIDO DAM.

In the northern portion of San Diego county lies one of the fairest
valleys of California, whose character is implied by its Spanish name,
Escondido, (hidden), surrounded and sheltered by rugged hills. Some
12,000 acres of this valley, including the town of Escondido, was or-
ganized into an irrigation district under the Wright law, and in 1894-95
constructed a notable dam in the adjacent mountains, to which was
brought a water supply from the San Luis Rey river, through a canal

“emnozIy ‘Nol; e SII] 10OJ weg

CHAPTER XXVI. 213

and flume 15.6 miles long, tapping the river at an altitude of 1,600 feet.
The conduit has a capacity of 28 second-feet, and cost $116,328. The
dam is a rock-fill, faced with plank, .v feet high, 380 feet long on top,
100 feet at bottom, with a top width of 1u feet and a base of 140 feet.
Its cubic contents are 37,159 yards, and its cost complete was $110,059.
The reservoir covers an area of 150 acres, and has a capacity of 3,500
acre-feet when filled to the level of the spillway.

Distribution is made by cemented ditches, flumes and pipes. The
entire system of works cost $352,509. The lands irrigated are chiefly
planted to citrus fruits, and exceed 2,000 acres.

Prior to the construction of the works no use had been made of
the water of the San Luis Rey except in a small way by the Indians
living along its course at the Cuca reservation. To the extent of their
needs, the prior rights of the Indians are still respected, and only
flood waters are diverted to the reservoir.

THE HEMET DAM.

On the flanks cf Mt. San Jacinto, one of thee loftiest peaks of
Southern California, whose crest reaches to a height of nearly 11,000
feet, lies Hemet valley, whose outlet through a narrow granite gorge
has been closed by the erection of a masonry dam 122.5 feet high above
the stream bed. The altitude of the dam is over 4,200 feet, and the
difficulties of transporting machinery and cement to the site were very
great; but the structure resulting from the efforts of the Lake Hemet
Water Company is one of the most massive and perfect structures ever
built, surpassing in safe dimensions all similar works on the Coast.

The reservoir covers 365 acres, and the volume impounded when
filed is 10,500 acre-feet. Water released at the dam flows down a
natural canyon some ten miles, descending 2,000 feet in a succession of
cascades, and is then diverted into a flume 38 inches wide, 18 inches
deep, built down the canyon to its mouth, 3%, miles, on a grade of 140
feet per mile. Thence it is taken in a 22-inch pipe for two miles, and
delivered to a ditch lined with masonry, having a capacity of 3,000
miner’s inches, leading to the distributing reservoir, five miles. From
the latter, sheet-steel pipes convey and distribute the water to irrigated
lands and to the town of Hemet. The full duty of the reservoir has
not yet been reached, as the area irrigated has never exceeded 1,200
acres. The district is one of great thrift and fertility, and the orchards
of deciduous fruit trees and olives have made phenomenal growth.

‘QUINTH PUB aUUN Fuyjesiwy

“BIMLOJI[BD ‘AVuUNOD O8a1q ues

ee AS

Ai!

"

CHAPTER XXVI. 215

The works have reclaimed a tract of 7,000 acres from a desert to a
condition of high productive capacity.

In addition to the greater works here described for the impounding
of water, many other worthy projects are outlined and contemplated
of a similar character, and it is felt that such development has only
fairly begun.

It may be said that every canyon affording a living stream in
Southern California has been appropriated and its waters put to use,

while the springs and cienegas have been opened out and developed
by cuts, tunnels and bored wells. Not only this, but in all the im-
portant water courses issuing from the mountains, the underflow has
been sought after, and the subterranean supply brought out by exten-
sive systems of tunnels. This method of development is not confined
to the canyons, but tunnels have been driven into the: sides of the
mountains to intersect ledges or across dykes that intercept the perco-
lating streams filtrating through the rocks.

SUBTERRANEAN RESERVOIRS.

On the three principal rivers of Southern California, the Los
Angeles, San Gabriel and Santa Ana, nature has formed subterranean
reservoirs of unknown capacity in the gravel beds formed by the
debris carried out from the mountains. These gravel reservoirs are
periodically filled, and the flow from them is constant and remark-
ably uniform. The Los Angeles river reservoir yields in this manner
from 4,000 to 5,000 miner’s inches, all of which is diverted for the uses
of the city and the irrigation of adjacent lands. The San Gabriel
river reservor overflows in the narrow pass of San Bartolo, where the
stream goes through the Coast Range, and gives up in the aggregate
some 5,000 inches,which is used for irrigation in numerous ditches
in the Rivera and Downey district.

The Santa Ana river reservoir is divided into two sections, one
of which supplies Riverside, Agua Mansa, and North Riverside, while
the lower division yields up its flow at the passage through the Coast
Range, whence it is diverted in canals to Orange, Tustin and Santa
Ana on the south, and Fullerton and Anaheim on the north side of
the river.

The aggregate yield of these two natural reservoirs is in excess
of 10,000 miner’s inches, and to their existence is due the prosperity
of the populous regions they supply. If these rivers flowed in rocky
beds from the mountains to the sea, they would be quickly exhausted,

*BIMIOJIVD ‘OAIssay voemredny

CHAPTER XXVI. 217

and in seasons of drouth would be destitute of water. Thus nature
has again demonstrated her superiority to the works of man.

Every inhabitant of Southern California is conscious of the fact
that all of her productiveness and capacity of supporting population
rests upon her resources for irrigation by some one of the many
systems of development described in the foregoing sketch, and that
without irrigation the country would be practically uninhabitable,
except in seasons of abundant rainfall, when grain crops are produced.
The natural rainfall would not, however, sustain her prolific orchards,
from which comes her chief source of wealth. They are equally
conscious and alive to the fact that our water sources depend in large
measure upon the preservation of our mountain forests, and in this con-
viction there is no division of opinion.

218

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE UNDERGROUND WATERS OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.
By T. S. VAN DYKE, Civil Engineer and Author.

The discovery of water underground available for irrigation at
prices that the products of Southern California will justify is nothing
rew and its development has been going on for years. But the amount
found in the past year just after a series of six years of short rainfall,
of which four were only about one half the average, and the other
two not above it, exceeds all that has ever been imagined and is possi-
bly equal to the total of all other years combined.

Nearly all of this development has been in the four counties of Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange where the older orange
orchards in full bearing made such a demand for water to mature the
present great crop. These four counties once lay in the lap of a cres-
cent of granite mountains which were then far higher than they are
today, and the whole country from coast to mountain was also higher.
All lay open to the sea and the whole drainage downward was unin-
terrupted from the mountains to the coast. As the mountains began
to disintegrate and wear down and the valleys to fill up with the wash,
the heavier discharges of flood years carrying gravel and heavy boul-
ders far down the slope began to arrange their debris exactly as we
see them doing today. They swung from side to side to of an immense
flood plain, one river perhaps running into another at times of great
flood. Here the track was a vast wash of heavy gravel which, in suc-
ceeding years, became covered with fine gand if the flood waters moved
to the other side of the valley, or with fine wash if they stayed on that
side but were not so heavy for a series of years.. Or if the waters of
summer and succeeding years continued to flow over them they became
covered with fine concrete lime or silica carried in solution. As in
the course of ages they became covered with other layers some of the
layers of sand or gravel decayed inio clay just as they lay. By some or
all of these ways layers of gravel which were once old stream beds,
became separated from one another by layers of impervious material.

CHAPTER XXVII. 219

They became farther separated by shifting from one side to the other
of the great valley in different ages, just as we see them doing today.
The consequence is a vast number of different gravel channels of dif-
ferent sizes, depths and disiances from each other.

Most of these are probably still connected with the original source
of supply by a thread of gravel or sand, while some have a well defined
channel directly connected with the water that sinks at the foot of the
mountains today. While it is impossible to say how large any of these
are or how much water they contain, it is certain that their number
is very large. The area through which they have swung is so great
and the period so immense that it cannot be otherwise. It is reason-
able to suppose that the older ones formed when the mountains were
highest and the wash into the valleys was the coarsest now carry the
most water today, although most of them must be out of reach of all
ordinary well boring.

In the course of time and probably long after the valleys began to
fill, the country sank and a part became lower than the sea. Then
came in a vast wash from the west or north, or both, perhaps from
the melting of the great northern glaciers. This brought in vast banks
of gravel, sand and clay and other deposits far more recent than the
granits of the interior hills. In San Diego county this formed a mesa
some fifty miles long, ten mile wide and nearly five hundred feet high,
lying along the coast. How deep it is no one knows, but in the Sweet-
water Valley, five hundred feet below the highest levels of the mesa,
a well was bored eleven hundred feet without going through it. This
would make it over sixteen hundred feet thick at that point. In
Orange county this formed the hills of shale that lie along the lower
coast, which have since decayed upon the top into adobe. Its oldest
form is probably in the conglomerate that. lies across the mouth of
Santiago Canyon, running many miles up the canyon, and reaching
some distance on each side of it. Back of Whittier and Fullerton this
runs into hills of shale again, and these continue on to Los Angeles,
running on the west and south into gravel, sand and clay deposits, but
all of the same general formation. On the northwest and west they
run into the granite of the Cahuenga hills, and these again into con-
glomerate of an older date in the Santa Monica mountains, changing
into an older conglomerate in Ventura, and from there continuing along
the coast of Santa Barbara.

Nowhere east of its course is there any track of its path showing

220 UNDERGROUND WATERS.

that any of it came from the great mountains of the interior. On the
contrary the sand and gravel it contains are so full of porphory, finer
sandstones and shales that it is certain that it did not come from the
granite ranges on the east. It has also penetrated the interior as far
as Redlands where a vast bank of it underlies the present top soil of
that place. This seems a continuation of the Puente hills which are
found about Pomona traceable again at Colton, south of Rediands, it
crosses San Timateo Canyon and runs nto the grey hills of lime shales
that lie on the northern edge of San Jacinto.

Commencing far in Lower California, a range of porphory rises a
few miles from the coast, crossing the line at San Isidro, and forming
the ledge on which the Otay Dam is built, doing the same for the
Sweetwater Dam and the La Mesa Dam of the San Diego Flume Com-
pany, crossing the lower edge of Escondido, and continuing on through
Santa Margarite, forming the great backbone of the hills between
Santa Ana and San Jacinto and sinking at Santa Ana Canyon. Where
the conglomerate laps upon this in the upper part of Santiago Canyon,
the uplift of many miles of it shows plainly that the conglomerate was
formed before the porphory rose. In parts of San Diego county it is
just as plain that the conglomerate was washed in afterward and lies
in position against the slopes of the porphory.

These formations and the various layers itself compose all the geo-
logical features of that portion of Southern California west of the
desert.

Now it is certain from many borings that old water channels lie
beneath this immense wash from the west and that the streams once
ran beneath where we now see nothing but hills. The water that sup-
plies the artesian wells between Whittier and Fullerton on the dry
mesa never comes from the local watershed of those low hills back of
the mesa. The Santa Ana, the San Gabriel or the Los Angeles rivers—
(perhaps all three of them)—in’ some distant day had one or more
channels running over a broad valley that is now covered by those
hills. That wash turned the main body of the stream but the gravel
of the old channels still continued to carry water.

It is almost equally certain that water from the Santa Clara River
enters San Fernando Valley under the range of tertiary In which the
Southern Pacific tunnel is built. A little to the west of the tunnel
the granite begins, but from there west the hills are all wash. And
there is more water at the head of San Fernando than the local water-
shed can reasonably explain.

CHAPTER XXVII. 221

In many other places this is found so plain that dry hills of this
tertiary or wash may have better underground streams than the more
recent wash of the open valleys where we would naturally look for
water. The well would generally be more expensive on account of the
depth and the boring seems a little more of a venture than in the open
valley but otherwise there is little difference, except where water under
pressure is plainly indicated.

It is equally certain that water channels lie upon top of the first
wash and below a more recent one. Remarkable finds of water have
been made at Redlands this year in low hills, so dry that no one would
dream of looking for water there. One well gives one hundred and
twenty inches, while another one but a hundred feet away yields eighty
to the pumps without being affected by the pumping at the first well
more than seven inches. These are in gravel channels unuer the pres-
ent surface soil which seems a wash or slump from Yucaipe and San
Gorgonio. At four hundred feet one well struck the old wash, which
is the same hard conglomerate as that at the mouth of Santiago Can-
yon, and penetrated it eighty feet, finding it as hard as flint and perfect-
ly dry. All the water strata are above this.

The results of many hundreds of borings, made all over the country
show that the best chance to get a well that will furnish a good irri-
gating supply is in the modern wash of which the valleys are now
composed. One cannot always be sure of hitting it even here, but with
the right kind of care the chances are better for a cheap well than else-
where. We see this wash going on every wet year and many have seen
good springs completely drowned with it so that there is no sign of
their existence on the surface. Even lagunas were drowned in 1884.
In the dim past this must have happened often and those same waters
are there now only in sand instead of an open reservoir.

Next to this wash the old channels under the hills of tertiary, or
most ancient wash, are the best source of supply, such as the great gas
well near Santa Fe Springs. This pressure was quite plainly indicated
by Fulton Wells, which is as clear a case of artesian spring as one
could wish. There are many places far more promising than the dry
hills about Redlands that have never yet been prospected with any
care. But such prospecting is so expensive that if we have a series
of good years there is not likely to be much of it.

These old gravel channels are the only ones that have a reliable
supply of any size. There are many cases where sand wells may be

222 UNDERGROUND WATERS.

made that will furnish considerabie seepage water if not too heavily
drawn on. But they will not stand heavy work very long. It is much
the same with mere standing water in gravel. There is, however, very
little of this and it is doubtful if we have anywhere water under-
ground so nearly at rest that it would be called percolating water by
our courts.

The decayed granite that lies upon the hard core of the granite
hills is one of the surest sources of supply for a small well. For do-
mestic use and a very little work witn a windmill they are quite cheap
and reliable in most seasons, holding out in years of drouth wonder-
fully if not too heavily drawn on. But they are of little use for heavy
work in irrigation but rather a vexation and a loss.

It is much the same with wells bored into the hard core of granite
below the rotten top. Unless a seam is struck there is no chance for
water and when one is found that furnishes good water it cannot be
relied on for much beyond domestic use. I know of no artesian wells
in hard granite and any attempt to get one would probably fail. Even
finding a seam is quite accidental and I have known many to fail to find
that.

The porphory is one of the most difficult formations in which to
find irrigating water. And it is none too good for domestic water.
It is fissured perpendicularly so much that the water falls through it.
Most all attempts that I have known to get a good well in it have
failed. I know of none that flow under pressure and have seen holes
made in it that were perfectly dry at over one hundred feet. At the
same time it is certain that water goes through the ledges of it on
which the Sweetwater dam and the old Mission dam at El Cajon are
built. And in Lower California on the San Domingo river are several
ledges that look solid enough to cut off the underflow, yet there is as
much water just below them as above.

Even worse if possible than the porphory is the ancient wash from
the west. There is little hope of getting anything in it more than a
fair farm well, unless the boring is carried through it into some old
gravel channel beneath. The most solid looking conglomerates, such
as that in Orange county and the southern part of Ventura, as on the
Simi Rancho, are so fissured up and down that the water can drop
through them very readily. And one may often travel miles without
finding a single spring where in granite of the same elevation and
rainfall springs ‘could be found in almost every gulch.

CHAPTER XXVII 223

There is positively no ground for the belief that any of our under-
ground waters come from anywhere beyond the rim of our own moun-
tains. Many think there are underground rivers from the Sierra Ne-
vada or the Rocky mountains, while others are sure that the Mojave
finds its course back from the desert under the mountains of San Ber-
nardino. Resort to all such theories is very unscientific if there are
conditions nearer home that will explain the facts as well. There is
positively no need of going beyond our own watersheds to account for
all the water underground and far more than has yet been brought to
light.

Consider first how wide these ancient valleys are. The best part
of Orange county and some two-thirds of the coast line of Los Angeles
county was once a flood plain over which the Los Angeles, the San
Gabriel and the Santa Ana rivers gamboled for long ages, changing
places with each other probably as we have seen them do to some ex-
tent in our own time, but certainly shifting their beds with every
fresh burst of heavy flood water. Each one has made hundreds and
even thousands of channels and bed of gravel, miles away from one
another and no well has yet passed below the bottom layer, though
many have gone over a thusand feet. The same thing has happened
on smaller scales with other streams. The effect is to make countless
reservoirs that will hold many times the amount of water we have
seen developed. The outlet to the ocean from these cannot be very
free or they would not have remained so full during all these dry sea-
sons.

Is there water enough from the rain to fill them? In very wet sea-
sons some of the rainfall from the low country probably finds its way
into them while the mountains turn in some even in ordinary dry sea-
sons. In wet seasons the quantity turned off from the mountains is
so great that a very few winters would fill all the underground chan-
nels. Once filled, with plenty of friction to fight on the way to the
ocean, the water wouid remain in these with a far smaller supply than
was necessary to fill them in the first place.

As resources in dire necessity these old channels are a mighty
blessing. They have actually saved this year one of the very finest
of our settlements and insured nearly a million dollars worth of
oranges where from the failure of a great reservoir would have
been almost nothing. They have helped out many another settlement
that would have been mourning over a short crop while individuals

224 UNDERGROUND WATERS.

by the hundred are rejoicing in prosperity who would have nad abso-
lutely nothing but for the old streams that flowed unsuspected beneath
the ranch.

From the very nature of these streams, one can understand the ab-
surdity of attempting to say how long they will continue to furnish
water if steadily drawn on. But one thing can be definitely known.
And that is if they are reserved for emergencies like the present they
will be full enough when we need them. But if drawn on all the time
it is certain that some of them will not be full when the emergency
comes. How long will it take them to fill when once exhausted I am
not bold enough to guess. The time will vary with almost every one.
How many taps an underground stream will stand for even one year is
a question that one will hesitate to answer if he will for a moment
consider the formation of the gravel beds and how they are cut off one
from another or connected only by a thin thread of gravel, or even
fine sand, and how they may be connected in the same way even with
the main source of supply. We know not how long it took them to
fill in the first place and we know as little of how long it will take
if they are once emptied. But it is quite probable that the time re-
quired will be far greater.

it is, however, certain that for the maintenance of these supplies
the preservation of the forests is quite as essential as for anything else.
The inlets to these great beds of water bearing gravel and sand are
small and thin, and covered often with soil so that it takes much time
for the water to soak into them. To fill them needs a long, slow run
of water. Quick discharges simply pass over them and let in very
little. If the water from the mountains is laden with fine silt and
slime from fire burned ground these inlets tend to puddle and close
and in the course of time it would take much longer to fill the old
gravel reservoirs than now, while many of them might in that way be
closed almost completely against even the slowest run of water.

15

225

CHAPTER XXVIII.

FOREST RESERVOIRS.

By GEO, H. MAXWELL, Ch. National Irrigation Com.

A flowing artesian well!

Stand and watch it.

See the glistening sheet as it cures so gracefully over the rim,
sparkling in the sunlight as it falls and flows away to moisten the
parched earth and quench its thirst.

Could anything be more beautiful—more potent with promise of all
the gifts that bountiful nature showers upon him who tills the soil
by irrigation?

Or go where you will see the crystal stream gushing forth from some
great pump that is steadily drawing it up from a hidden reservoir.

In either case, watch the water as it flows.

Where is its source?

Whence does it come and how long will it continue?

Will it keep on coming forever? Or some day will it grow less
and less until it ceases altogether, and leaves the beauty and fertility
and wealth that it has created to be blighted and destroyed by drouth?

Every irrigator from an underground source and every commun-
ity sustained by such irrigation is face to face with this question. Its
mighty importance may be realized when we read the midwinter
number of the Los Angeles Times for January 1, 1890, that

“There has been an immense development of water for irrigation in
wells during the past year, the amount so developed being estimated
at over 50,000 miners’ inches, sufficient to irrigate 500,000 acres of land.
In this way the value of such land has been increased several hundred
per cent. The work of developing the underground water supply still
goes forward and in few cases are the prospectors disappointed.”

These great underground supplies of water are as inexhaustible as
the forests of the mountains are enduring, unless wilfully destroyed

226 FOREST RESERVOIRS.

by the hand of man, avd so long as the forests are preserved the un-
derground flow will continue.

Destroy the forest cover of the mountains and not only will the
surface streams be deprived of their summer flow, but the underground
supplies will no longer be replenished and wiul fail, and the desert
will resume its sway over the lands’that were fertilized from the ex-
hausted underground sources.

The original source was not underground. As you watch the ar-
tesian well you will realize that the beautiful drops that are thrown
up from below by an unseen power to sparkle in the sunshine have
uot come up underground direct from the sea. They were at some
time evaporated from the ocean and carried in clouds to the mountains
and precipitated there. Now what checked them from rushing down
the mountain sides and back through stream and river to join again
the ocean from whence they came?

Somewhere in their onward course they were stopped by some leafy
covering which held them until they were turned downward into the
earth. Then they percolated through some underground channel or
strata until they found a vent through the artesian well that has
brought them once more to the surface.

If we allow our mountains to be deforested and permit the destruc-
tion of the undergrowth and foliage, the waters which should find
their way down into the earth to come up again in our wells will rush
down the steep and bare mountain slopes in torrents to the sea. Not
only our underground supplies but our surface supplies as well will
be gone. and aridity will overcome our fertile fields just as it has where
the forests have been destroyed.

This need not happen and will not happen if the people will wake
up to the possibility and danger of loss of water supplies from forest
destruction. If we are to preserve the water we must preserve the
forests.

The forces that are working the destruction of our forests are more
dangerous than a foreign foe, because more subtle. A shot fired from
a hostile battleship upon one of our seaboard cities would electrify the
people of the nation and rouse them to superhuman efforts for defense.

Year by year our noble forests are being devastated by fire or
some other destructive agency and water sources which are the very
life of whole communities impaired or ruined and the great majority
of people pay no more heed to a forest fire than they would to a fall
ing star in the heavens.

CHAPTER XXVIII. 227

The protection of our forests from destruction, and their restora-
tion where already destroyed is as much a great national duty as
the protection of our boundaries from foreign invasion or of our sea-
port cities from the sea.

Let us not spend for ships and forts all that we spend for national
defense. Let us provide for protection against the deadly encroach-
ments of the desert. A city ruined by bombardment could be far more
easily restored than a forest destroyed by fire.

228

CHAPTER XXIX

RELATION OF STREAM FLOW AND SUSPENDED SEDIMENT
THEREIN, TO THE COVERING OF DRAINAGE BASINS.
By J. B. LIPPINCOTT, Civil Engineer, Resident Hydrographer U, S. Geological Survey

Purpose of the work of the Hydrographic Branch of the U. S. Geo-
logical Survey.

The irrigation Survey, under the management of the U. S. Geo-
logical Survey, was authorized by the following Act of Congress, ap-
proved October 2, 1888: “‘For the purpose of investigating the extent
to which the arid region of the United States can be redeemed by
irrigation, and the segregation of irrigable land in such arid region,
and for the selection of sites for reservoirs, and other hydraulic work
necessary for the storage and utilization of water for irrigating, and
the prevention of floods and overflows, and to make the necessary
maps.” This survey lasted until 1891, when a discontinuation of ap-
rpopriations by Congress brought it to an end. One of its principal
duties was the study of the water supply of the arid region. It was
considered as important to find the manner in which the streams
discharged as to determine the amount of the annual output. A stream
of constant flow, and with few floods, largely eliminates the necessity
for storage reservoirs thereon, the province of storage being primarily
to catch flood water and hold it ever for periods of drouth. Records
were begun on numerous typical western rivers, and were maintained
until 1891.

Appreciating the value of this work, Mr. F. H. Newell was retained
by the Geological Survey to continue as many stream observations as
were possible, but in 1894 the Director decided that it was impossible
to set aside funds for this hydrographic work unless a special appro-
priation was made for that particular purpose by Congress. Mr. Newell
at once energetically undertook the task of getting this appropriation
to be expended under the direction of the Geological Survey. He was
successful in obtaining $20,000 to be available during the fiscal year of
1895-6. The work has been gradually developed in all portions of the
United States. It is evident that this work is closely allied to for-
estry. In addition to the question of lumber supply, the aim of for-
estry is to regulate the water supply. In an arid region this is the
principal province of the forest,

CHAPTER XXIX. 229

Stream observations have been maintained and expanded particu-
larly in the arid regions during the past five years. Discharge meas-
urements are made almost entirely with meters. These meters are
first rated so as to show the relation between the revolution of a wheel,
which is immersed in the water, and the velocity of the passing water.
By the determination of the velocity of a given stream, and its area
of cross-section, the volume of flow is obtained. A gauge rod is placed
at the point of measurement, which is called a rating station, and
the height of water on this gauge rod is always noted in connection
with the measurements. If the stream has a permanent channel, and
observations are made at a number of different stages of river height,
the relation between the height of water on the gauge rod and the
volume discharged may be interpolated for intermediate river heights,
and corresponding volumes determined. By reading the rod daily, daily,
monthly and annual determinations of discharge may be obtained.

The results of stream measurement are published in annual reports
by the Hydrographic Branch of the Geological Survey. There are also
issued “Water Supply and Irrigation Papers,” the purpose of which is
to get quickly before the public the result of the year’s work, pending
the final and complete publication of the annual report. These docu-
ments can be obtained by application of parties who are interested in
this subject to the director of the Geological Survey. The Twelfth,
Bighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Annual Reports are of especial
interest in this connection. They describe methods and results in
detail. VARIATION IN STREAM FLOW.

The relation of rainfall to run-off is very uncertain, depending upon
the nature of the storms, whether gentle showers or violent rains, the
steepness of the drainage basin and its covering, and whether the pre-
epiitation is snow or rain. It has been found that in the districts where
the forest cover is small the output of the basn occurs in violent floods
of short duration. Because these floods are violent, and of large vol-
ume, and owing to the fact that the soil of the drainage basins is not
held together by a network of roots, extensive erosions occur in these
barren basins, and the water carries much silt in suspension. Where
the basin is covered by forest the mat of twigs and leaves which covers
the ground is an absorbent sponge, retaining in itself large quantities
of water and preventing evaporation from the underlying soil. This
permits of a holding back of the floods and the gradual draining off
of the water, this largely accomplishing the purpose of regulating
reservoirs.

230 DRAINAGE BASINS.

An exception to the above conditions might be noted where a pre-
cipitous granitic drainage basin is expanded at the mouth of its can-
yon into a valley which, in turn, contracts at its outlet. This valley.
during a geologic age, becomes filled with gravel and boulders. When
a storm occurs on a drainage basin of this class, and the flood is pro-
jected upon these gravel beds, it is rapidlv absorbed. The same ab-
sorption of irrigation water occurs on these valley lands. Slow perco-
lation, or underflow, then follows towards the mouth of the valley,
which has been more or less filled with water. At the lower narrows
the regulated water again appears at the surface and produces a stream
of great constancy. Even under this condition the forest cover of a
drainage basin is important, owing to the fact that a constant flow
is desired at the point where the water leaves the upper portion of
the basin, and because floods often are discharged too large in volume
te be wholly absorbed, and they in part pass completely over the gravel
ted, escaping through the lower narrows, to be permanently lost. These
conditions exist in the Los Angeles, the San Gabriel and the Santa Ana
rivers, in Southern California.

A striking example of the output of a barren drainage basin is
shown in the diagram of Queen Creek, Arizona, for the year 1896. In
this diagram the vertical axis indicates volumes discharged, and the
horizontal axis indicates time. This stream discharges only in vio-
lent freshets, recurring usually as great flood-waves, subsiding almost
as rapidly as they arise. By making from two to three current-meter
measurements of each of these freshets, and keeping an hourly record
of the gauge height, the discharge can be approximated. The floods
are usually not to exceed twelve hours in duration. During the greater
portion of the year the channel is entirely dry. Queen Creek rises in
the mountains to the southwest of Phoenix, and flows in a general
southwesterly direction, losing itself in the desert north of the Gila
River Indian Reservation. The area of the drainage basin is 142.5
square miles, of which 61 per cent is above an elevation of 3,000 feet,
and 39 per cent below that elevation. The annual discharge is ap-
proximately 10,000 acre-feet. The basin is almost entirely bare, there
being a few pinon trees and very little brush or grass. The follow-
ing table of discharge for the year 1896 for Queen Creek is taken from
the Eighteenth Annual Report of the Geological Survey, Part IV, Hydro-
graphy. It represents a typical year’s output:

Estimated monthly discharge of Queen Creek at Whitlow’s Arizona.
Drainage area 143 square miles.

CHAPTER XXIX. 231
MONTH | DISCHARGE IN SECOND-FEET Total for RUN-OFF
1896 | Month in| Depth in | 2d-ft. per
: Max | Min. I Mean, | Acre-Ft. “inches sq. mile
JANUARY 656 6 ssnasas 2 2.0 2.0 123 0.016 0.014
February .... ...... 2 2.0 2.0 115 0.015 0.014
March:-< o-2tcseotae 2 2.0 2.0 123 0.016 0.014
YG 0) a [eae eer are cere 2 1.0 1.5 89 0.011 0.010
MAY. coo iaksicentcon de 1 1.0 1.0 61 0.008 0.007
DA 1: Renee eentenrcre ene sina we 1 1.0 1.0 60 0.008 0.007
TU ang tensa aan 9,000 0.0 121.6 7,477 0.980 0.850
AUB USt Me can cscn ant 1,433 0.6 13.1 805 0.106 0.092
September ... ...... 3,428 0.5 17.1 1,016 0.134 0.120
October oc oeesaas 1,188 0.5 13.3 818 0.108 0.093
November ..... 80 0.6 1.3 77 0.010 0.009
December ..... ..... 207 0.6 2.0 128 9.016 0.014
Per annum ......... 9,000 0 15. 10,887 1.428 0.104
1896 «697
Seo.-ft. JAN, FEB. [MARCH] APRIL MAY JUNE} JULY AUG. SEPT. oct NOV. DEC. JAN,
13 000 10 20 10 20 | 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20 10 20
12, 000
11, 000
10, 000
9, 000
8, 000
7,000
6,000
6, 000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000 F | t+}
0 ae |

Discharge of Queen Creek at Witlow’s Ranch, Arizona.

The basin of the Gila River adjoins Queen Creek to the south.

Its

general character resembles Queen Creek. As the area of the Gila River
basin is 17,834 square miles above The Buttes, a general storm passing
over it will produce a longer period of flood discharge, owing to the
length of time it will require the water precipitated near the head of

the basin to reach the point of measurement of The Buttes.

is given of this stream for the year 1896.

A diagram

232 GILA RIVER BASIN.

0

12,000

11,000

S96)
10,000

9,000

8,000

Discharge of Gila River at the Buttes, Arizona, for 1896.

In contrast with-the Gila River and Queen Creek in Arizona, a dia-
gram is given showing the discharge of Cedar Creek, Washington, for
the year 1897. The point of measurement of this stream is at Clifford’s
bridge, in section 19, town. 22 north, range 7 east, Willamette Meridian.
The drainage area is estimated to be 143 square miles, and it, therefore,
is the same as the area of the basin of Queen Creek. The basin of Cedar
Creek lies on the western slope of the Cascade mountains. It is heavily
timbered, and in addition the ground is covered with a very heavy
growth of ferns and moss. The precipitation for the year 1897 was
about 93 inches in the lower portion of the basin, and is estimated to
have been as great as 150 inches on the mountain summits. The rain-
“all of the Queen Creek basin is estimated to be about 15 inches. The
maximum flood discharge in 1896 on Queen Creek was 9.000 cubic feet
per second, and the maximum flood discharge on Cedar Creek in 1897
was 3,601 cubic feet per second. The mean discharge for Queen Creek
was 15 cubic feet per second, and for Cedar Creek 1,089 cubwe feet per
second. While Queen Creek is frequently dry, the minimum discharge
of Cedar Creek during the period in question was never less than 27
per cent. of the mean for the year. ‘These two streams represent ex-
creme types. The radical difference in their character is believed to be
largely due to the difference in forest cover. The discharge of Cedar
Creek for the year 1897 is believed to be fairly reprsentative. The

CHAPTER XXIX.

10 20

FEB [MARCH] APRIL | MAY JUNE | JULY AUG SEPT OcT
10 20 | 10 20 10 70 to 20 10.20 | 10 20 10.20 10 20 1020

NOV. DEC
$0 20] t0 20

3,000

2,500

2,000

1,500

1,000

500

Discharge of Cedar River, near Seattle, Washington,

fur 1897.

following table of discharge is taken from the Nineteenth Annual Re-
port of the Geological Survey, Part IV, Hydrography.

MONTH Pessoa IN SECOND-FEET |Total for | RUN-OFF
1897 | Max. | Min. | Mean. jacre-Ft. | pena hed

January .... ...... 2,812 815 1,430 87,928 11.55 10.00
February ..... ... 2,415 823 1,803 72,365 9.49 9.11
March .... ........ 1,366 723 901 55,400 7.28 6.30
April acesyae Cece 2,752 790 1,599 95,147 12.47 11.18
MAY on cron eens 2,143. 939 1,562 96,048 12.61 10.92
TUNE? c50% Misia chess 1,410 780 1,060 63,074 8.26 7.41
Dilly Creo eon ee 2,284 572 1,185 69,788 9.15 7.93
August ........ ... 561 342 427 26,255 3.44 2.98
September ..... .. 418 311 350 =: 20,827 2.72 2.44
October .... ...... 433 294 339 =. 20,844 2.74 2.37
November ..... ... 8,155 323 1,818 78,426 10.28 9.22
December .. ...... 3,601 674 1,639 100,778 13.28 11.46

Totalisn. .0u 3,601 294 1089 786,875 103.22 7.61

“It will be noted. that the vertical scale showing the discharge is

twice as large on the Cedar Creek diagram as on that of Queen Creek.

If they were on the same scale the contrast would be greater.

Estimated monthiy discharge of Cedar River near Seattle, Washing-

ton.

Drainage area, 143 square miles.

234 THE BUTTES.

SILT.

The amount of solid matter carried by a stream is a very serious
problem in connection with the construction of storage reservoirs
thereon. The most astonishing stories are told of volumes of sediment
carried by the rivers of Southern Arizona from their barren drainage
basins. It is said that when these floods first appear discharged off of
ranges that have been travelled by the large herds of cattle in quest of
grass, the soil, which is exposed to the direct action of the sun, being
exceeding light and dry is washed off in quantities that are enormous.
In order to determine the amount of silt in the Gila River at The
Buttes, the GeologicalSurvey has made observations by taking samples
of the water daily, and permitting the mud to settle in graduated tubes.
This amount of mud is then determined by reading its height upon the
graduations. The mud which is deposited has then been treated in the
case of numerous sampies to a temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit,
and the final amount of solid matter determined by weight. Observa-
tions were continued from July 29, 1895, to December 31, of the same
year. Beginning on January 1, 1899, and continuing until July 31, 1899,
similar observations were made at the same station, the amount of mud
and solid matter being determined as previously. During the first
period the volume of water discharged at The Buttes was .60,523 acre-
feet, and it was found that this contained 37,984 acre-feet of mud in sus-
pension. This reduced to 7,704 acre-feet of solids. The average amount
of light sediment during this first period was 10% per cent, and the
amount of solids a little over 2 per cent. The total amount of water
discharged during the second period in 1899 was 118,981 acre-feet, which
containing 1.6 per cent of solids or 8 per cent of mud. Frequent ob-
servations were made, showing 20 per cent of mud in suspension during
the high stages of the stream, and in one instance 27 per cent. of mud
was observed. The average amount of mud for the twelve months’ ob-
servation was 10 per cent., and the amount of solids 2 per cent. No
other stream in the United States is known to carry such a high per
cent. of mud sediment. This is in striking contrast with the clear
streams of our northern forested basins. The water supply used for
domestic purposes from Cedar Creek, Washington, does not re-
quire filtering or settlement.

The serious nature of this silt problem can readily be appreciated by
those who have studied the storage of water for irrigation. It is prob-
ably the gravest of all the engineering problems related thereto. For-
estry should assist greatly in removing dufficulties of this nature.

235

CHAPTER XXX.

FORESTRY AND ITS RELATIONS TO THE WATER SUPPLY OF
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA.

By A. H. Koebig, Consulting Engineer.

It is a common belief that the forests upon the watershed of any
river have a great influence upon the water supply in that river, al-
though, this belief being a general one, the facts must be enumer-
ated in order to understand the reason why we should plant forests
upon watersheds to protect our water supply.

The forests of Southern California are situated almost exclusively
upon the high mountain watersheds of the streams. The north side
ot the mountains produces a very much denser growth than the South-
ern exposure. On the northern slopes at an altitude of about 3,500
feet above sea level we find the black oak, the yellow and sugar pines,
the fir, cedar, hemlock and others of the family of the needle-bearing
trees, also a luxurious growth of underbrush, consisting of ferns and
mosses, while the southern exposure and the lower altitudes of the
northern slopes only produce a spare growth of wild plum, scrub oak,
manzanita, sage brush, grease wood and others of that class.

Our forests in the mountains have for many years past suffered
by the continuous cutting of the trees for fire wood and lumber, and
by frequent and extensive forest fires; also the herding of many
thousands of sheep has destroyed the undergrowth and many trees.
until it is almost impossible for the forests to recover, unless artificial
means are employed to assist the same. This denuded condition of
the mountains which constitute the natural watershed for our rivers
and creeks has a most damaging influence on the water supply delivered
to our valleys.

It is a well established fact that wooded mountains have a greater
power to attract the clouds saturated with water and cause precipita-
tion of the same. The forests on the mountains also moderate the

236 WATER SUPPLY.

winds which have a tendency to shift the clouds before they have had
time to give up their saturation in form of rain or snow.

The precipitation upon the surface of our watersheds is used in
three different ways, as it were, viz.: 1st, for evaporation and plant
life; 2d, for seepage into the earth, then collecting into surface, sub-
terranean streams and gravel beds; 3d, for the storm run-off and run-
off during. the irrigating season.

FIRST—EVAPORATION AND PLANT LIFE.

There is a certain amount of the water precipitated in form of
rain, snow and fogs upon the watershed which is taken up by the
evaporation from the ground caused by atmospheric conditions, and
also as nutriment necessary to sustain the plant life covering said
watershed. This amount is varying with the conditions of the water-
shed, and also the atmosphere. Upon undulating surfaces in the val-
leys and foothills of Southern California we have learned by experience
that ten to twelve inches in depth are necessary to maintain the plants
and to supply the evaporation. However, on the mountains there is
only from eight to ten inches required for this purpose. The waste
caused by evaporation is, of course, greatly increased by high winds,
also if the precipitation falls in form of snow upon an unprotected
surface exposed to the sun on winter days and the winds sweeping
over the open surface. In the latter case the evaporation becomes
greater, and the major part of the entire snow fall will be lost.

SECOND—SEEPAGE INTO THE EARTH.

That portion of the rainfall which seeps into the ground beneath
the capillary attraction finds its way into the underflow of the rivers
and into the underground channels, saturating the gravel beds of the
valleys and filling the strata carrying the artesian supply.

The saturated gravel beds feed the surface springs and supply
the streams of Southern California, which after having disappeared
from the surface reappear again and form a valuable part of our ir-
rigation systems. The lower San Gabriel river is in summer entirely
dry from the mouth of the canyon down to El Monte. At this place it
reappears at the surface. Another instance of the same occurrence
we find in the Santa Ana river, and many others of Southern Cali-
fornia. The artesian supply is made up in the same manner, by the
seepage of part of the rainfall falling upon the mountain watershed.
This part finds its way through the strata which carries it on a

CHAPTER XXX.

steep grade into the valleys and there delivers the same with suf-
ficient force to rise upon or above the surface of the ground after be-
ing allowed a free passageway by a pipe inserted through the cap-
ping material of the stratum into the water-flow itself.

The amount available for the seepage into the underground chan-
nels cannot be measured, it can only be calculated as the remainder
of the rainfall after deducting the amount necessary for plant life and
evaporation, and also deducting the run-off which, under certain
conditions, can be measured.

It is, however, very easy to see that the condition of the surface
of the ground governs largely the proportion of rainfall which runs
off quickly from the watershed and the proportion which is retained
to seep into the ground. The rougher the surface of the ground is
and the more porous we find the same, the more it will facilitate seep-
age into subterranean channels.

THIRD—THE RUN-OFF.

The run-off consists of the storm run-off and the summer run-off.
The storm run-off is that part of the run-off which flows from the
surface of the watershed after the upper crust of the same has been
sufficiently saturated and no more water can be absorbed by it. This
saturation depends not only upon the amount of rainfall and the time
in which it fell, but also upon the character of the surface of the water-
shed. It is readily seen that if the moisture falls in torrents the
surface of the ground quickly becomes super-saturated and the greater
part of the rain runs off rapidly without having time to enter the
subterranean reservoirs of the earth. It is also apparent that if the
surface of the watershed is denuded of timber and underbrush, the
storm run-off will be largely increased over the same from a well-
timbered watershed upon which the trees and undergrowth form a
resistance to the run-off and retain the water longer upon the surface,
giving it more time to penetrate into the pores of the earth and sub-
sequently into the subterranean channels and reservoirs which retain
their water and give it up gradually during the summer into the
streams or artesian supplies of the valleys. Of course, the more water
we are able to save from the storm run-off and turn into the sub-
terranean channels, the more we increase the usefulness of the water-
shed for irrigation.

The storm run-off from watersheds varies a great.deal. Observa-
tion has shown that in Southern California it is as high as 95 per cent.

238 WATER SUPPLY.

of the total run-off from the watershed, while from the eastern and
from the wooded watersheds of the middle and southern Europe it is
as low as 50 per cent. This is chiefly due to the condition of the sur-
face of the watersheds, if we assume tnat the precipitation has fallen
under normal conditions, excluding extremes, cloud-bursts, etc.

In order to make this clear to you I will compare the San Gabriel
river with Lytle creek. The watershed of the San Gabriel river is
greatly denuded, having only a very spare growth of trees and under-
brush. The extent of this watershed is about 226 square miles; dur-
ing the rainy seasons there are frequent and enormous floods in this
river, while the normal summer run-off is only estimated to be from
sixteen to twenty-two feet.

The watershed of Lytle creek is only about fifty-seven square
miles, and is fairly well timbered, but it shows about the same av-
erage summer run-off as the above mentioned, while its storm run-off
is considerably less.

The run-off from the watersheds depends largely upan the rain-
fall, of course, but it is not proportionate to the same.

Mr. F. H. Newell, of the geological service of the United States,
has successfully attempted to show the relation of the ranfall
to the run-off by platting the depths of the rainfall in inches, horizon-
tally, and the mean annual run-ou, vertically, which resulted in two
curves, one showing the run-off from undulating surface and the other
from the mountains. This is found in a pamphlet issued by the En-
gineers’ Club, Philadelphia, Vol. 12, No. 2, July, 1895.

By decreasing the run-off from the watersheds, we do not only
increase the direct supply in the rivers and artesian belts, but also
increase the facilities for irrigation upon lands situated on lower
altitudes in the drainage basins of the rivers. The water which
is used direct upon the higher levels of the drainage basins will be
detained by seepage into the ground and forced to the surface again at
points further below. The amount which has not been used for plant
lite upon the first irrigated lands can be made available for irrigation
at the lower levels. We see this demonstrated in the drainage basin
of the Santa Ana river, San Gabriel and others.

I have tried to make clear to you how necessary it is to have tne
watersheds well timbered and covered with underbrush in order to
create a good water supply for irrigation. We have, however, not
alone to cause plantings of new forests, also it is 01 the highest impor-
tance to protect the now existing ones against their enemies.

CHAPTER XXX. 239

The elements which largely destroy our forests are timber and
wood cuting, sheep herding and forest fires.

While excessive cutting of timber or wood has a very bad result
upon the quality of our watersheds, the herding of sheep and the for-
est fires can rightly claim to be the most damaging elements. Sheep
will eat anything in their way and destroy all the underbrush, grass
and small growth on the watershed. In this way they decrease the
resistance of the surface against the running off of the water, in-
creasing the storm run-off from the watershed—which latter is an
entire loss to the irrigators. What is left after the sheep get through
is generally destroyed by the fires left by the herders. Forest fires
destroy all growth and prevent the young growth from coming up
for years; also, the ashes created by the same will seal up the pores
of the surface of the earth and seepage into the subterranean channels
becomes an impossibility, while floods become frequent and destructive.

Again I will call your attention to the San Gabriel river and the for-
est fires on its watershed several years ago. After one of these large
fires I have noticed that by a subsequent rainfall upon this water-
shed, a small flood resulted, showing that almost none of the water
was absorbed by the surface of the watershed and all ran off in a
very short time.

I have tried to express by the above statements the means of pro-
tecting our watersheds against the denudation, and to adopt such meas-
ures as are possible to create a new growth of trees wherever that can be
done, and to replace the forests previously destroyed in order to in-
crease the water supply for the valleys of Southern California, and,
besides, if possible, to give an additional supply for such acreage as

has not yet come under irrigation.
A. H. KOEBIG,

Consulting Engineer, Los Angeles.

240

CHAPTER XXXI.
‘'HE RECLAMATION OF DRIFTING SAND DUNES IN GOLDEN
GATE PARK.

By JO'IN McLAREN

About 700 of the 1040 acres composing the reservation, was origin-
ally drifting sand that moved with every gale, heavy storms sometimes
moving it to a depth of three feet in twenty-four hours. This sand is
sharp and clean, with nothing in its composition of a loamy nature, bar-
ren and poor, so poor that barley sown on its surface, after being
plowed and cultivated in a favorable season with plenty of moisture
enly grew about six inches in height and failed to perfect its seed, al-
though perfectly protected from wind by a high embankment on its
westerly side.

_ The first operation necessary in the reclamation of ground of this
sterile nature, was to bind the sand to prevent its moving. Experi-
ments were made by sowing barley, also by sowing seeds of the blue
and yellow shrub lupin Lupinus Arborea, also by planting seeds of
Pinus Maritima, all of which were partially successful, but the first
complete success was with the planting of the entire area with the sea
bent grasses (Calamagrostis Arenaria), which was done by planting the
roots about three feet apart, and run in with the plow. A furrow was
run about fifteen inches deep in which a few roots were dropped about
three feet apart, then two furrows were turned in which no roots were
set, in the third furrow, roots were again planted and so on over the
entire tract. Where the dunes were too steep for horses to travel, pits
were dug by hand, and roots planted the same distance apart as when
tue land was plowed, care being taken to firmly press with the foot
the sand immediately about the roots. Moist or even wet weather is of
course the best time to plant this grass, the best season for planting
being between December 1st and February 15th. If planting be de-
layed much later, dry weather is apt to set in before the plants be-

CHAPTER XXXI. 241

come firmly rooted and the consequence is, many are lost either by
drought or by being blown out by the winds.

Where any large areas of plants were blown out by the roots, care
was taken to have the ground immediately replanted, a gang of men
being sent after every storm to pick up the scattered roots and to plant
them, if possible, deeper than before. The entire tract being planted
with this grass, the next operation was the building of brush fences
across the wind about 100 yards apart and from four to six feet in
height on the sheltered side of which young seedling trees were planted,
averaging five feet apart. A variety of trees were experimented with,
among which were the Norway maple, which is so highly recommend-
ed in European works of reclamation, the Tamarix and the Poplar, the
Monterey cypress, the Pinus Insignis, the Pinus Maritima, the Acacia
Lophantha, the Acacia Latifolia and the Eucalyptus, Viminalis, Globu-
lus, &c., all of which made satisfactory progress, excepting the Norway
maple and the Poplar, the summer winds blowing every leaf off, almost
as soon as formed. The Acacia Latifolia and Acacia Lophantha, the
Monterey pine, the Monterey cypress and the Tamarix are all about
equally well adapted for standing exposed sea winds, and all seem
to thrive equally well in the sand but we find that the barren sand does
not contain nutriment sufficient to grow trees more than ten feet in
height, or until the tree begins to form heart wood. About that stage
of growth, the tree begins to show signs of distress, the leaves of the
Conifers gradually grow shorter, the bark gets bound and the whole
tree shows a stunted, starved look Acres and acres are now in that
state, and unless given assistance will die outright. Several years ago,
the work of fertilizing the forest trees was begun and wherever a load
of loam, manure or other good rich dressing was spread, the hungry
tree responded very quickly by making good growth, a more thrifty
look was noticed and in less than a year they had a vigorous healthy
look, showing that want of nourishment alone was the cause of their
stunted appearance.

Now that the young Pines, Cypress, Eucalyptus, &c., are up twenty
or more feet high, with good soil and plenty of water, most any tree
that thrives in the neighborhood will do well. The willow, the elm,
and the poplar, as well as the oak and the maple, are doing very well,
and all the shrubs, such as rhododendrons, azaleas, and many others

kinds.

242 MEMORANDUM.

MEMORANDUM FROM HON. WM. ALVORD OF &. F.

I do not believe that any one knows who was the first person to
suggest tae plan of reclamation of the sand dunes in Golden Gate Park
and the ureat Highway, which was successfully carried out by the
Board of Park Commissioners, through its engineer, Wm. Ham Hall,
who is now employed by the Russian Government in great irrigation
schemes in Eastern Russia. In driving Louis Agassiz to the beach, over
Old Point Lobos road, I remember making a « version to tue south,
somewhere between Central and First avenues, to show him the sand
dunes. I asked his advice about the treatment of them for park pur-
purposes. He tore a slip off a newspaper and wrote the names of
severai French books (I have the memorandum pasted in my book of
autographs); then said the subject had been studied by an able Ameri-
can author, our United States Minister to Italy, Geo. P. Marsh, who had
published a-volume on the subject called ““Man and Nature.” I think
we all read it carefully, and were influenced by it

The first effort at reclamation were with barley and lupine seed
sown broadcast on sand that had been turned over a lictle with cul-
tivators. Children were ‘employed gathering lupine seed several years.
Afterwards we employed men in gathering the seeds of pines and
cypress in Monterey county, which were sown in boxes in cool houses,
and when fifteen or eighteen months old planted in the open under the
protection of the lupines.

This was followed by the sowing of seeds of the Arundo Arenaria
and other kinds (which we imported from France, ‘20 cases,’ and no
doubt McLaren can give you the names) on the slopes of cuts and on the
dunes oceanward from which the strong winds and drifting sands came.
I may mention here that we had driven Asa Gray and Frederick Law
Olmstead several times to the unimproved portion of the park, and were
indebted to them for good advice.

The opinion is generally expressed that the intelligent and persistent
work done on the wonderfully successful reclamation of the bare, drift-
ing sand dunes of Golden Gate Park was largely due to Hon Wm.
Alvord.

243

CHAPTER XXXII.

REPORTS ON FOREST FIRES FROM SPECIAL AGENTS

REPORT No. 1.

BY SPECIAL AGENT SENT OUT BY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
FOREST AND WATER SOCIETY.

STODDARD’S CANYON FIRE.

This fire was first noticed Sunday afternoon about 2 p. m. from
Santa Monica, and was started by a party of picnickers from Pomona
who came to Stoddard’s Camp. Some of the party went up the Can-
yon and several went up to the third Falls. When they wished to come
back they had great difficulty in getting down the ladder on account of
the fire below them. On arriving at the camp they gave the alarm and
a very conflicting story as to its origin. U. S. Government Ranger
Bradford has taken their names and addresses.

By Sunday night the fire had spread over the ridge around and over
Spring Hill, along the ridge and over the Saddle of the Ontario moun-
tain. Some work was accomplished by the force under Ranger Brad-
ford, but the main reason the fire did not go over to the range leading
to Old Baldy was the San Antonio Creek and Wash, which at this point
is quite wide, with very little growth excepting that along the creek
which is green. By Tuesday evening the fire had reached the western
mouth of Cucamonga Canyon—thus doubling on itself. After reaching
the Ontario Saddle it turned in a southeasterly direction and came down
the canyon.’ At this point the fire could have been very easily con-
trolled had the fire men been set to work to back-fire the canyon; but
these tactics were not employed once during this whole fire. By
Wednesday morning the fire had reached the eastern mouth of the can-
yon. On Wednesday morning, Rangers Bradford of San Antonio dis-
trict and Casey of Lytle Creek started out with twelve men to Cuca-
monga Canyon in a wagon and took a cook and provisions. After tak-
ing the men to the canyon, Ranger Bradford took his team to Ontario.

244 REPORT ON FIRE.

In the meantime, Ranger Bradford sent a gang of eight men by way of
the Fairchild’s trail around to Mt. Cucamonga to intercept the fire; but
as Ranger Bradford had never been over the Fairchild’s trail he did not
know that it had grown up in many places. The gang of eight men
were, however, under a Mr. Norman Allen of North Ontario, who is
a thorough mountaineer and has been over all the ranges in that vicin-
ity; knew all the springs, Saddles and Hogbacks there were. Had Mr.
Allen been given a man and two burros to pack provisions and water
as far as they could go; had he also not been handicapped by orders
from a man who did not know the mountains, the fire could have again
been stopped here. But these men were expected to stop a mountain
fire with three shovels, one pole axe and one hand axe. No files were
provided them with which to sharpen these axes. One man was detail-
ed to carry them provisions to the Ontario Saddle; instead of doing this
he met us at the Forest Supervisor’s camp and asked us to take them
up, which we did. Now these men had worked their way to Cucamonga
Mountain; reaching it, they were in no condition to work, for they had
had nothing to eat since the night before and to get water they had to
climb two miles down the canyon to a spring known to Mr. Allen, and
not being allowed to back-fire there was very little for them to do, for
it would be utterly imposible for them to cut a fire break wide enough
across the mountain with two axes to keep flames back that jump two
and three hundred feet at a leap.

My party reached the Ontario Saddle at 1:15 p. m. Wednesday, and
sat down to watch the fire come up the Cucamonga Mountain. All the
south and east was enveloped in dense smoke. If we could only have
had some of the Washington officials there with us I am sure they
would in the future try and do something to protect the reserves in a
rational way. At 2 p. m. the flames burst over the peak with the roar
of a water-fall, and these men would have been burned to death at their
work had not Mr. Allen known the mountain and the course of the
wind changed for the minute. As it was they had to drop their shov-
els, cover their mouth and nose with their coats saturated “with water
from their canteens and run over the side of the mountain. All this
we saw from the Ontario Saddle. About two hours after this we met
the men on the old Fairchild’s trail, and a sorrier crowd of men I never
want to see. Men who had. been working and tramping over those
mountains for almost 24 hours, with no provisions and their shoes worn
into holes. We gave them the provisions and divided my whiskey
flask among them, gave them tobacco, and one poor fellow, Mr. A. E.

CHAPTER XXXII. 245

Eidson, had to tie up his foot in a flour sack in which we took up their
provision. In my estimation the man who will endanger men’s lives by
such ignorance is just as criminally carel375 as the fool with a match.

Ranger Casey deserves almost as much credit as Mr. N. D. Allen, as
he started up the canyon after the fire, doing the best he coud to save
what the fire missed. He and his men saved the flume in Cucamonga
Canyon. Out of the twelve men that started out with Ranger Casey
only four came through, arriving at nine o’clock last (Thursaay) night
on Thursday’s Overland. Forest Superintendent B. F. Alien arrived
at North Ontario with a full outfit of shovels, axes, canteens and one
brush hook. He told me he had just heard of the fire, and was very
sorry that Mr. Borden, the Supervisor, had not telephoned him sooner.
This will give you some faint idea of the way the men in charge of our
reserves protect them.

From the time the fire started until it reached the big timber on
the Cucamonga Mountain it is estimated that a large and important
watershed has been destroyed. The big timber, which was reached by
the fire on Wednesday, ranges from 4 to 6 feet in diameter and is from
100 to 200 feet high. The forest floor of these high Sierras is from 1
to 3 feet thick—pine needles, cones, etc.

On Friday morning the fire had gone to the east, north and south
from Cucamonga Point. The fire had gone over Ice House Canyon and
Deer Canyon. Lytle Creek is only a few ranges away, and unless
stopped by rain or smothered by its own ashes it will go on to the des-
ert, which would in that event have destroyed the eastern half of the
San Antonio water shed. The entire Cucamonga water-shed, the Lytle
Creek water-shed and the mountains in the vicinity of the Cajon Pass.
The loss in that case would be at the least calculation, one-third of the
entire Southern Reserve.

Respectfully,
CHARLES E. RHONE.

246 REPORT NO. 2.

REPORT NO. 2,

BY SPECIAL AGENT SENT OUT BY SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
FOREST AND WATER SOCIETY.

FIRE IN SIERRA MADRE MOUNTAINS.
(Commencing Sunday, August 27.)

Origin of fire: Supposed to be caused by a party of picnickers from
Pomona, who spent Sunday in Stoddard’s Canyon. Some of the party
went up to the third falls and when they started towards the camp
could hardly get through on account of the fire. Upon arriving at
camp they gave the alarm and told a very conflicting story. Their
names and addresses were taken by Ranger Bradford of the San Anton-
to district. This was at 2 p. m. Sunday.

Methods of fighting the fire: At no time was there a systematic
attack made. No line of campaign was laid out and no one was suf-
ficiently well acquainted with the trails (Saddle, Hog-Back and Spring)
of the mountains, in charge to do so. The only methods employed was
one fruitless attempt to keep pace with the fire and save that which
the fire missed. In this way twelve men under Ranger Casey of Lytle
Creek managed to save the Cucamonga flume.

Mr. N. D. Allen of North Ontario,a trained mountaineer with eight
men provided with three shovels and two axes, attempted to make a fire-
break on top of the Cucamonga Mts., which resulted in failure and for
which they almost lost their lives.

Tools used: All the tools used were borrowed for the occasion
and none arrived from the Department until Thursday noon, when
Forest Superintendent B. F. Allen arrived from Los Angeles. In the
meantime the fire had gotten into the big timber northeast of the Cuca-
monga Mts., and was beyond all hope of stopping it twelve hours be-
fore his arrival.

Men in charge: B. F. Allen, Forest Superintendent, of Los Ange-
les, is a man past middle life and is not fully acquainted with the Sierra
Madre Mts.

Supervisor Borden of Pasadena is a man also past middle life; does
not know the mountains, and did not attempt to get beyond tke old

CHAPTER XXXII. 247

Richard Place in San Antonio Canyon, where he made his headquar-
ters.

Ranger Bradley, who is game and fish warden as well as ranger,
is also a man past middle life; he has never been beyond the Fair-
child’s trail.

Ranger Casey of Lytle Creek is a young and active man, and, con-
sidering that he was working in a district that he did not know, did
very good work: starting out with twelve men up the Cucamonga Can-
yon after the fire and coming down the almost impassable Fairchild’s
trail at nine o’clock at night.

The commissary of the patrol was in charge of Supervisor Borden,
and consisted of such scanty supplies that the men, when they could,
would go to Stoddard’s Canyon and buy their meals themselves. One
Man and a mule were supposed to transport provisions to the men,
which he did, one meal at a time, while the men were ten and fifteen

miles away.

FIRE PATROL AT STODDARD’S CAMP TUESDAY AND TUESDAY
NIGHT.

The men had fought the fire Monday night, and were relieved to rest
Tuesday and Tuesday night; while the fire crossed from the west
mouth of Cucamonga Canyon to the east mouth, not five miles away
by wagon road, and could have been stopped by a few men by back-
firing.

Age of Patrol. When Hon. Abbot Kinney asked Mr. B. F. Allen to
employ the students of the Forestry School he replied that they could
not use them as they were mostly boys. Now, the members of the
Forestry School were with one exception over eighteen; while the pa-
trol had two boys of fifteen and ore man of almost sixty.

249

ILLUSTRATIONS.

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HOTeSst in: SleOrnae. va sees Wotee eta manatee aga Miia e pled siatalewae ta ae a oauennatt 16
Before and After Lumbering ............ 0... cee cee eee ee eee 20
Redlands Rescued From Desert by Irrigation....................0. 24
Petrified Forest: xccoers 94 cka ed setsdatcavacusag eng en eae pheawneeles 27
JIESETE WRU CPOWIN 25s lake csoussud ius etawee eee 1A pene a ee nre as 29
Range Without Level Land | i sicecsayens dives ee eeeus aeaese ewe renes 31
Backbone of Sierra: Nevada: isin. cece g eniee erased caries ot enw deed 33
Overlooking Grand Canyon ............ cece c eee e eens 37
Arizona Desert From. a Rock Cave coc cnacccees sue wedagacieus cemen 40
VOTES GRU Cs aoc ogc aitse -aisseienias oh Saeoet ORS) area Weer ins re ene tee Bea Ne Teed Needed ere ete 43
Forest: Hire July; L900 ss sccccaiocatareaae aden Oa eas sohaecvene oie 45
Chaparral Atter: Hite kee ew citer carsaaiid seus cae ane van woes eels hare 47
First Day After Fire ................ PSUR MON DCR Usiaies DUA ah ea RE a EG LERE 49
‘ThHitd Day Alter FG. cc ccacvvcnsv teres $e 0 DCA RRTR ROR ERE RE EWE 49
Burned District in Sierra Madre............... cece cee eee eee 51
Burned Forest Showing Line to Unburned Trees.................. 51
SSUERE POrest: ecw sieaek dang os ee oe wees eek h eee he pea COED 53
View at Echo Mountain. <3c..5s00c0sa2 5.45 o0ee oe cteada adie ceed sanas 55
Two Thousand Sheep Illegally Herded..................2 000 eeeee 65
Neve in the sierra: Nevada: os nacdeadedebens Sencee es caevene hanna ee 86
Above the Clouds at Echo Mountain, Sierra Madre ............... 88
Below the. Clouds). SAME: GAY acca eee 4 ths oa ed Rice area ane a chlliienerel here stats 88
Irrigating Stream, Sierra Madre............. 2... cece eee eee eee eens 90
Native: California) Palms: 4.55 vececlaieo epic Ghee eadurwek au aeaausanee 94
Spring? in, Sierra: Madre: sc i cers. ates woh A cero een ornare armas 94
Forest Giant and New Growth.............. cece eee cece ene 132
Timber and Timber Line on Sierra Nevada.............000000eeeue 134
Tamarack Pines on Alpine Lake in Sierra Nevada................ 137
Granite Dome and Upper Timber Line Pines, Sierra Nevada...... 139
Pines in the Sierra Madre Summits............ 00... cece eee neces 141
Yellow Pines (P. ponderosa), Sierra Madre Mountains............ 143
Forest Growth on Sierra Madre, 5000 feet above the sea.......... 145
Pine Forest, Sierra Madre, 6000 feet above the sea................. 145

El Capitan, Young Tree Growth in Protected State in the Yosemite 147
Logging: in> California. .cc224 ane ensccnadnden dose neeeeaae saws tink 148

250 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Black Oaks—Young Yellow Pines in Left Foreground............. 149
A Burned District in the Sierra Madre, Unburned Forest in the

FPOTeZTOUNG: (y.cuddaasiniceuwleras oalsradales sien Gare eea en RY ead maweaiun ee 151
Douglass Spruce in the Sierra Madre............. 0... c eee eens 154
Timber and Timber Line, Sierra Nevada, at Cathedral Peaks...... 155
White Oak Grove at, CRICO isn cesisuins sessGagpoeeabscsas anand hes < 164
Mountain sion. .annioysues sion cue sane eas bit neuaus Ohaus ioceted nou 158
California: Bear’ 2% asag ot cb ht, aieen eo be Sadeve die atena serena eieoeie Ne ee 162
White cOadk “Grover cats me sins sun mlisgeine aa axe ae e wer aye nes 164
Head of Quail; Life ‘Sizewe 2. csi diaies as ones aieesG Benne bsee ee . 165
A Night's: Catch: 6f Trout... .22 scioceks boesbhaieew stadia 167
Cuyamacca Lake, San Diego County, California. Used for Irriga-

WIODS Ain eeveci aie csi © acatemusl ie tealitle inceonswaaerre ate a) aoa evialeansone cB om ase wereisear estes 201
Proposed Dam Site, Sierra Nevada..............0ccc cece eee eee 204
Sweet Water Dam "3 vies ciecareneosae so ceantnaeauaeene ataeehaeee 207
Turlock Damintrades sss cxcity aeancincahcegisaiaie sahoats etebaeeie bal eames ees nes ee 210
Dam for Irrigation, Arizona ............ 000. c ccc cece eens 212
Irrigating: ‘Tunnel and. Flume:...cccccen nes<addasteudagscwas hy teee 214

INDEX.

Admission to Forest Should be by Permit....................-065 127
APASSIZ,"ANCCHOLE OL sacar Gree oe has Maleas Ales Shee teal ania nice Melee adie die 242
Alvords’ Memoranqum) wi. i<.o5454¢ cae iichad-ctse eras Raden aeaeeeeaee 242
Arizona Lands Under Irrigation ........... 0.0.00. cece eee eee eee 200
Australian Experience in Pasturage ......... 0.0... cece eee ee eee 69
Authorities: on. Forest Trees: 245.4 cose eo Aes nee eee sa cede epee ean any 131

Muir.

Sereno Watson.

Dr. George Engelman.

Prof. J. G. Lemmon.

Prof. C. S. Sargent.
Benefits of Forests—

WAEEE Sul a5 4 eo ik OSS Sa 4s Nw hae Few ak EEE EE ESY 87

DOOR Cs oo cea Ra oe Rh Reed ERA LOR Dee Sine 76

PaAStuV ae es seisy, lee va aiavatenscotaso aii eas ouelearmten a a iedeane encore ores asst oe ear ereys 60

Scenery suds. oeodetemacie peas VRS Gas Mase eee Fe GG 39

Resorts for Recreation, 2. iiceassccsaneweveaveds sa eevee nies 103
Carnivora aniiesseeds hee & hea cae ene aanys Hawkee ea aeee ewok ee 159

Mountain Lion.

Lynx.

Gray Wolf.

Lowland Wolf.
California State Board of Forestry ............... cece eee nee eaee 19
Communal Use of Forests Disatrous ............... 2... ce eee eee 58
GOMTLELS) oe hcsrs iiss es ercier bigs gs Sak cto cso asl Je HAS as WaT Ie anesads eng eae aes 133
Conservation of Rainfall 2 ss s.4 seccavi cy cus come dae awe eerdee es Sees 79
Capacity of Soil (from German authorities) to Receive Water...... 183
Capacity “Of SAMO fiisia cieells cocoa wade aed aalosaauiean samo wee been é 178
Dams—

MHEG 2POCOSs HIVED ra. awecaate om erasistateenn aieamaie cabin tots lane puna Selo 205

BGar Valle ye acaecsssscecl sans Soares eed chat ss brn dee Sratennises, cueonite Zo ght ds tease 206

THE SWeCt water visa sacs Ga oats etna sda ke hard os hom Rowena timers: arboe 208

il INDEX.

Destructions of Forests—

GA TISES i G.sysytiovene hoses saree laiiete Gilt AS Ue HNC ONARIMLOE MReIoUG oGtcier sayatstenadgeies 18

TOCWINS. cy wadteh sence hws deans eae en vem aULapae ae es earaw MS otekas 18
Devastation by Floods after Forest Destruction—

AIPGRAY SOMCKER, f0056.0254c5i oar ewe es te ce Rl eeas oan eaeenes 61

FPR RCAT CTEM S sie arene eee ethnics nal cep teaaa elolio dyencretaner ekboeGs ceeenn sp eosens 93

DN Ee aa LARS HEROES LEAST AES RSE REE REO TE RE OS 95
FHVADOPACION cai pamieiecans alates ie Riva Welw ecs, wedebauadi ae ean a aaoe asian daeene 185
Engineer of State of New Jersey on Water Supply Connected with

BOSE eS ic a aoa eA Pay Ane eee uk et ON ee RR 186

Fires—

GAUSOSs teases acard Gan aus iaalaretp ase eta Soe ERA Sree wom eee eas 41

POPS OE eo peas in oak OLREE Ka ae CR gie PRR EU AE SORE Sok oe 52

PKOVORUION a4 cN4 66485 4nd ORS ECRTE LAGE O ARERR EERE See GEO 125

How JOStineuinhed osc c5 dsnce ceed os cu Sho hees see oases eneseus 127

Special Report On. Mires ssscac ccs cccew et wea deeded aaa dees 243
Bir EPCOS) jes snap ete aak. bead esbaes TO hOE ee A Ree MN ae wiew ated nnmigeny 243

White

Red.
Foliage and Moisture s.ihssnia sd bacaw ee eeun eas tasers cnesasasten sd 174

Forestry Required by Special Conditions in California, with details 72

Game on California Reserves ............ 0c cee eee cece eens 157
Mammalia ewedcn danced s eres Ones Sees: AGA Ree we Oeekk a nacbos 160
Hoofed: Animals: 2.4652 Mb iaaane can Ge ach ome ole mmshbuern w oupees 160
Deer.

Antelope.

Mountain Sheep.

Elk.

MSL S OM a sree. Garse a tases 2c Gdsvaur ou ph outa sat a tesavaen a tig etonlav acai ctiaratictel deca eneaatoneeen’ 61

FROGONS 5 5 ieee eioractisnde ws Silene sneacahals apie aeetarelat che eG tun wre Em 163
Birds—

GTOUB C2 ge autes Seduce ales Resta a teh bsesisa ate een aly Ne KeSEe PERSE ATER SHOT 165

QUAM, ott niebeiai sink Sisdgraranetel Dayar spel ated soadalaayarates slay cele maracstg evareistars cis 166
Mish ev persak ha Saad nance omen ware arte store eA D coma See One 167

Trout.

General Government Must Relieve Existing Abuses ............... 67

Must also Provide for Irrigation .......... 0.0... ccc cece cece eee 74

Summary of Arguments for Government Control .................5 74

FLO ML OCNE: fis ke se tces tte wwe dace te aharacecdu dosed aera Ao avavalteatondye eeeueae aire iste 149

PUNIPCT £85 <r ceae said wioivatey haanlala eae nm eed eine ean. Morb Sane ene +153

INDEX
Irrigation—See Chapters
SUD-irrigation Mines snes meeaae. Jitaasaaws omens anaes
IN LCrarrig ation. cues aces suacaehinen Seika we Oe. DRUG homes
Surface TLS atiOn —saeic Pacem Mhoaie suse Sins, Save eG HI
Can Supply Conditions to Feed from Fifty to a Hundred Mill-
OE: POOH oie sy cee ai Re RE eRe ARR A Ke Ope ee Cia Eee
Should be a Government Project ........... 0.00. cee eee ee ee
Kinneloa Ranch: Conditions Illustrating Off-flow .................
Letter from the Author to the Land Commissioner ................
Hromy Mrs UURkens. Js saulaiiesisc aniinaieuntin ee asides wleaat aisle taco eduass
From Mr. Thomas ............ Pita Socaeccooueasapauminat Ha aresee sO

Los Angeles City has Special Interest in Dangers from Torrents...
umbering ‘(100t 10tel 24a ceeeeu ken xecouwee vise h ee eRe hee eee

Management of Forests—
A Government Duty and Prerogative ................. 0000s
Needs Entire Renovation ............ 0... c cece eee eens
Present System Confused: Authority without Knowledge,
and Knowledge without Authority ..................0.005
Temporary Tmprovements: cscs ca candkees do ctuwneceuen oeeesven
Restrictions which Government Alone Can Enforce.........
Measurements of Water—
The Miner’s Inch, Fixed by Law, the Best Unit..............
The Metric System Applied ................. Soe eee Ree

WIOIOCTS BE OPEBETY nang es bk ee nae ee eee wawaaw ee haw Ab eee een wes

Off-flow as Estimated by Mr. Koebig .....................05.
Orisine OC POLrests - a oxvek ve warn ewer sy esa es eee a eee Otnen Peer Tees
Origin of Forest Pasturage ............ 0. cece cece eee ent e et nees

POMS bg eniere-Raveenuxeneds etree neasscenerebaates ieee cee
Pasturage of Forests by Sheep ........... 0. ccc cece cece eee eeneee
Results of Such Pasturage: .. si.606 cccs cssaysnss wewean Oana es
In the Golden Gate Park iscccvcsyy seas vnceser esau sunaae nae
PORE Be NS ad ae ucine Rin eee Rewer nad wee eka en eae ere ee
Boe Apo Inted 6.56 cs ew cela ba ys Seaweed Sack oues Hosen
Wan GCAON i Vibes ee ceewes eRe wEs OO oe 5 VSR L OER ea pe eeeRe
SUPDIPCS ness deh Sal ro ae Aaron tle aoe bara Oa a On venece
PCEPINCUHMOTEST Sirti ito xa lchsusarasenrp stone uate esa lalonaca) slate ws enaia abapaslias wie alblanslapaean
Proportion of Forests to Tillable Lands ..........................
THO PINCS ia. 4 eisai este sei Davo Alora el Cade, pomlemialawmechat. eae
Ponderosa. (The Yellow): as22.ci5 eek eae pce e ees eetn seer
Jefireyi CLhe< Black i) tw ons Pate Paw ees Menta a eaee heen wus

ii

me

H
to ty

wo

wo

Hw
bt
orw w bw

H
vo

iv INDEX.

Sabinianas cnse «eee as Sees a Vw rele Sle A ea RS aver
PA PUOWMATG cad caeens Sake EER EOO RRS EONOR. aAME PT eee Ee
CW OUIGS Hiren a eto eiae hate EAN ee ak CIS are INS Liv nan aaa
TOPE .cb scat tea eer esen habe Soke e ee N cen eee sake enee ches
Dambertiana. os. c sc asp cank ter eae Peeing eooe a aainanes nena
MOGLICOIA sc46 cane wrae sede ene 40D SSAGREE REET R ER ONES GeO
SATE OUNIA MA ctate ertamnak thre eaesan Ls wea ecltre aad aee anaes ce racer tian ets
VO KTIS Sg sussie sive ccava: Gea georae teutuahecs instars nner ac aind eaera ies S aces peT RAE Fate
PAD UCAS = areca os cvc tases ve eaters tv Sees ey en EG Lae) Ade UCSD MbA Lad Saray aes
Murrayana. (Tamarack) 26.04 2cenidarvnceuhetaneisy anaes
DeLee 3 6: Se ener ene aha Se ONO eke wee ee Aer cme eye SAY ETH oa ea
MONOURVIUS, Co cvanesae eh as pcs devs pV eae vee eee eee eae sees
Insignia (Monterey) .4iccs.civecacadusewesicdaeceedaas bee ee
Rations as Fixed for Soldiers and Sailors....................0000.
Reclamation at Golden. Park sicicascccu svitianecs eeensecence dessus
Records: of Raina) e555 5+ esenyesdas ec uthes end ise tcaaeeeee cannes
Ie VOIR GIONIS iienacsancowo tourer tina teen nee Ree tae
RiOS- AMCs seni oes eehe ees Ped nee ORhE bees se nee EEE as
WS RICICCTRAI «croc o Gt Ge eats Aiko haa rs oN eee eee tT eae ees
Renewal of Porests <oes wees cdeead yes cheer can eG eseg ees nes ceases
Requirements of Foresters on Duty............. 0. cece cence eee eee
Reservoirs—
The "DONntO Basins <i. cae cca sig are ere-ecs ced Was apavaw aon palm eens orise
Gila RIVEn ainearons cheetah oes Ae eae hese OF REE e
IG AIT SUOEYG Oa Neh dg act COTE AO oe epee SOAS es aay oe wee
CUY AMA CA. c:545saiesinsa Soreness shai ctaledatekc aoe Mane aaee ans aaa gsc a iets
Artificial. See dams.
NAQGTAL cca xcadiaceneears - andes eoee conthse wen seesneeneees ead
Retention: of“ Moisture: iiiucua dees aeea) oki tinue eae aadaaweeus oes
Tests at Colby, Kansas, by U. S. Department of Agriculture...
Reclamation of Sand Dunes .............. cece eee e eee eee eee eeee

Schools of Forestry—
Must Teach Connected Sciences and the Practical Duties....
Al LOS. ANSCIOS 245 355 4i Garde seers NEE eae Rea Ree
At. Cornell University 14. 0siiess staan nase 1ECR ab bo Caan scl
InviNorth.Carollmach ca dissciseile poe aww tad mes tinee aa eee
Sciences of Which a Forester Should Have Knowledge............
Sheep “Pasturage hit teec cise etaceh anes wa ceialense ee tae reer
BODLUCES cts sins: eae yRaalare ew We -ya10 © een ee E4 One ee se FS eT ee
WOUETASS:. sien ei5.ccsiaiee ehh Pee MEG Ad ONS Meee Ue we Ae Re
MACKOCAT DA) secs arsixcctee se craw. tiap atea ine aid Wate eee eaten ele
State Board of Forestry in California—
What It Accomplished and Why It Failed...................

Sediment Discharge ...........

Seepage ......... .. anaseecteneuan tad cei

Theory of the Origin of Forest Trees............ 000: cece ee cen eeee

Torrenus—

Their Sources ...........

Their Evils and Dangers

Effects Seen Along the Sierra Madre...................-00--

How Dealt With ........
Trees of the Forest ..........
Works on the Subject ...

Underground Waters ..........
Their Channels .........
Their Origin 22606680000

Water—
Experiments at Kinneloa

80