Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

Western Carolina University (20) View all

Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

Item
?

Item’s are ‘child’ level descriptions to ‘parent’ objects, (e.g. one page of a whole book).

  • 4 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. be&t suited to the purposes and plans of a national forest reserve in the hard-wood region. The conclusions of the Secretary of Agriculture are summarized as follows in his report: " 1. The Southern Appalachian region embraces the highest peaks and largest mountain masses east of the Rockies. It is the great physiographic feature of the eastern half of the continent, and no such lofty mountains are covered with hard-wood forests in all North America. "2. Upon these mountains descends the heaviest rainfall of the United States, except that of the North Pacific coast. It is often of extreme violence, as much as 8 inches having fallen in eleven hours, 31 inches in one month, and 105 inches in a year. "3. The soil, once denuded of its forests and swept by torrential rains, i"apidly loses first its humus, then its rich upper strata, and finally is washed in enormous volume into the streams, to bury such of the fertile lowlands as are not eroded by the floods, to obstruct the rivers, and to fill up the harbors on the coast. More good soil is now washed from these cleared mountain-side fields during a single heavy rain than during centuries under forest cover. "4. The rivers which originate in the Southern Appalachians flow into or along the edges of every State from Ohio to the Gulf and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. Along their courses are agricultural, water-power, and navigation interests whose preservation is absolutely essential to the well-being of the nation. "5. The regulation of the flow of these rivers can be accomplished only by the conservation of the forests. "6. These are the heaviest and most beautiful hard-wood forests of the continent. In them species from east and west, from north and south, mingle in a growth of unparalleled richness and variety. They contain many species of the first commercial value, and furnish important supplies which can not be obtained from any other region. '' 7. For economic reasons the preservation of these forests is imperative. Their existence in good condition is essential to the prosperity of the lowlands through which their waters run. Maintained in productive condition they will supply indispensable materials, which must fail without them. Their management under practical and conservative forestry will sustain and increase the resources of this region and of the nation at large, will serve as an invaluable object lesson in the advantages and practicability of forest preservation by use, and will soon be self-supporting from the sale of timber. "8. The agricultural resources of the Southern Appalachian region must be protected and preserved. To that end the preservation of the forests is an indispensable condition, which will lead not to the reduction but to the increase of the yield of agricultural products.
Object
?

Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).