File:Forest and stream (1885) (14594005530).jpg

Identifier: ForeststreamXXIV (find matches)
Title: Forest and stream
Year: 1873 (1870s)
Authors:
Subjects: Periodicals Hunting Fishing Outdoor life Sports
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : (Forest and Stream Publishing Co.)
Contributing Library: Smithsonian Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: Biodiversity Heritage Library

View Book Page: Book Viewer
About This Book: Catalog Entry
View All Images: All Images From Book
Click here to view book online to see this illustration in context in a browseable online version of this book.

Text Appearing Before Image:
Snake River. No one can look upon this map without per-ceiving that the country which it covers is one aboundingin water. Lakes, rivers, creeks, brooks and springs are in-numerable here. Through the spring aud early summerthey collect and store up the moisture from the rains andmelting snows—all the precipitation of this great region—and in summer and fall they give it forth again, to be carriedon by the great rivers to fertilize the dry regions east andwest of the mountains. The soil here is rich aud black,composed of decaying vegetation, and forms a spenge whichsoaks up and holds the moisture, giving it forth gradually asit is needed. Suppose, now, that this territory were to be denuded of itstimbers. It matters little, so far as the final results are con-cerned, whether the destroying agent were fire, kindledthrough carelessness, or the axe of the lumberman. Butsuppose the timber gone, this would be tbe result: The Feb. 5, 1885.1 FOREST AND STREAM. 23 X10°2# rJ0Bo30 ,2^ ;M:^M^
Text Appearing After Image:
SKETCH MAP OF THE YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. COMPILED FROM THE LATES1 GOVERNMENT. SURVEYS. heavy rains in spring and the wash of tbe melting snowswould, in a year or two, .carry away all of the forestfloor, which at present acts as a kind of reservoir for thesewaters, and deposit it in the stream beds, or in thelakes through which the streams flow. Thereafter, whenthe water fell, it would no longer he received by this spongeand held for a little while. It would fall upon the hard, drymountain side, and at once rush clown toward the mainchannel, swelling the river beyond its banks at one season ofthe year, while in a dry time its tributaries would carry nowater and the main river would be reduced to half its pres-ent volume. This would be the beginning of the evil. Howfar it would go no one can tell; but if we may judge fromithe experience of European countries with certain streams,its results would be most lamentable. Certainly a streamwhich is beyond its banks for three months in the

Note About Images