LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 330.973 P19c no.1-10 The person charging this material is re¬ sponsible for its return to the library from which it was withdrawn on or before the Latest Date stamped below. Theft, mutilation, and underlining of books are reasons for disciplinary action and may result in dismissal from the University. To renew call Telephone Center, 333-8400 UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS LIBRARY AT URBANA-CHAMPAIGN WEV 2 5 1911 1 df '•©new 3li Lbr.'.p/ ^ 'aVi'Zi'. IRf fC( 6<3;;h i.U8i ^ [)ok is $60.00 Iftiv 2 4 1 ctpg MAR i 7 15 89 L161—0-1096 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2018 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Alternates https://archive.org/details/pamphletsonconseOOunse 330^473 Pl4c^ 63d Congress \ 1st Session f SENATE / Document \ No. 243 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AN ARTICLE ON THE WASTE OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES DUE TO THE NONDEVELOPMENT OF OUR WATER POWERS BY W. V. N. POWELSON )j/ PRESENTED BY^MR. SHAFROTH November 26, 1913.—Ordered to be printed ^\ ASHINGTON 1913 rrom me iiyjruvxj or JOHN AUGUSTUS OCKERSON C LAS 5 Of ] 8 7 5 frcscntei A\ail l,l024 bii his Widow CLA.KA vSHACKEIFORD OCKtRSON No. I N t engineering library f 73 f/?<^ - 'pa-1-^!^ CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. A MEASURE OF THE WASTE OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES DUE TO THE NONDEVELOPMENT OF OUR WATER POWERS. A PLEA FOR LEGISLATION TO PROMOTE THE PUBLIC WELFARE. By W. V. N. PowELSox. To assist the friends of conservation to appreciate the character and to measure the extent of the waste of our natural resources involved in the continuance of water-power sites in an undeveloped state is the principal object of this paper. I have chosen this phase of the problem because I believe the time has come when, to preserve our character as friends of conservation, we must bring about the prompt development of those water-power sites for which a market exists or can now be created. Heretofore, because of our lack of knowledge of the subject, it did not seem good strategy in the fight for control of th water-power sites in the public interest to move quickly toward thei evelopment. We needed time for study, reflection, and counsel. seemed im¬ perative and sufficient that we emplo}^ all our resourc 5 to prevent private parties from acquiring the sites belonging to th^ public until a wise and constructive legislative plan for develop nt could be devised. We must not lose sight of the fact that true conservation of our natural resources requires that our water-power sites be promptly developed, and it is incumbent on us as a people to bring this about at the earliest practicable moment. While true conservation requires that the sites be promptly developed, true statesmanship requires that the development shall be made'in harmony with the public interest. A little reflection will show that it is possible that the evil of non¬ development, if continued long enough, may exceed tlie evil of unwise development. The true interest of the public lies now between these two extremes. We can not remain in.our present situation with a practical embargo on the development of sites now controlled by the Government with¬ out important losses; nor can we without danger permit the develojoA ment of these sites unless we retain an efficient governmental contror over them after development. As illustrating the extent of the Federal control of watl^:)OAver sites, I may say that it extends to every stream declared navigable, and to all sites on lands yet owned in fee by the Government. That the amount of such land, particularly in mountainous sections, where the best sites are as a rule found, is enormous is shown by the data 4 COXSEEVATIOX OF XATUEAL EESOUECES. of the following table, which indicates certain States in which the area of Federal land exceeds 50 per cent of the total area of the States, and it is in these States ancl on these lands that the principal undeveloped water powers of the country are to be found. Table shoiving approximately the percentage of the area of the arid States owned hy the Federal Government. state. Total acreage owned by United States. Percentage of total. Arizona. 67,097,293 92.00 California. . 53 ; 276; 547 37,702,033 52.58 Colorado. 56.67 Idaho. 45 ', 218', 919 61,049,263 62,219,423 49,315,409 32,229,745 43 56' 645 83.80 Montana. 65.80 Nevada. 87.82 New Mexico. 62. S3 Oregon. 51.90 80. IS 40.00 Washington.. 17,684,198 42,613,499 Wyoming. 68.00 Up to this time it has seemed the part of wisdom to counsel delay in dealing with a matter so important and so intricate. So far it has seemed the part of good strateg}^ to throw away one thing of value to gain another which promised to be of greater value. But the process of throwing away the thing of value is still going on, and every day adds to its sum total. We must not continue to throw away until we exceed the value of the thing we are striving for. We have had ample opportunity during the past three years for reflection, study, and the preparation of our plans, and the people are now looking to the leaders of the conservation movement to come forward with a practical scheme of legislation that will bring about the speedy development of needed powers under an efficient public control and thus definitely put a stop to the enormous waste involved in the nondevelopment of these powers. Through the efforts mainly of Mr. Gifford Pinchot, the public has been thoroughly aroused and public opinion has been educated to the great importance of a correct solution of the problem. Through his efforts all sensible men have come to recognize that there must be an efficient governmental control over these sites after development. There still exist differences of opinion as to details of this control, but I believe that there is now no dissent in any responsible quarter to the general principle involved. It is most unfortunate that where there is a substantial agreement on the fundamental principles involved there should continue to be an almost complete tie-up of the Federal controlled water-power sites merely because there exist these differences of opinion as to details. The public interest requires that these differences be com¬ posed without further delay. What these differences seem to me to be I will describe later, after having first pointed out the tremendous waste of our natural resources involved in the continuance of econom¬ ically available water-power sites in an undeveloped state. It may seem a bit paradoxical, but it is nevertheless true, that the same amount of work is being done at a water-power site whether it CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 5 is undeveloped or developed. In the one case the work is mainly expended in agitating the water; in the other, in serving useful pur¬ poses. All over the country, wherever water runs, work is being per¬ formed, but at only comparatively few such places is this work being turned to useful purposes. While we are arguing about the details of a conceded public control, vast quantities of work are being thrown away which we might have in useful form for the harnessing. Once properly harnessed the work will have been permanently changed into a useful form, and it then becomes a national asset of great value, Avhich will forever provide useful employment for men. Every undeveloped water-power site for which a market exists, or could now be created, is a willful waste of a natural resource. If we do not make present use of the falling water of a stream, the useful work it is capable of doing is lost forever, and there is a waste of a natural resource. If^ however, we do not make present use of coal in the ground, it will remain there in undiminished quantity and quality, and we can at any future time convert it into useful work, and there is no waste of a natural resource. It is just as wasteful of our natural resources to burn coal to do work that could as well be done by an undeveloped water power as it would be to permit an equal amount of coal to burn up under¬ ground. We see, therefore, that upon the sum total of our power resources the effect of an undeveloped water power in a locality where it could do work now being performed by coal is precisely as de¬ structive in character as a coal deposit burning underground. Suppose that all over the country to-morrow there should break out in our'underground coal deposits destructive fires whereby tens of thousands of tons of coal per day were being destroyed. How long would the people sit by and see this wasteful destruction con¬ tinue? Would not the cry go up all over the country that our natural resources were being needlessly consumed? Would not pictures be painted of the woeful condition of our country at the time our coal fields began to show signs of coming exhaustion? Would it not be pointed out that our present standards of living, nay, our very form of civilization, is the result of an enormous daily supply of coal at very low prices? Would not the Government-itself step in and put out those fires if they could not be extinguished by private effort? But how different it is when an equally large and wasteful destruction of our natural resources for power occurs through the nondevelopment of water-power sites that could do the work now performed by the daily burning of enormous volumes of coal above ground. There is no outcry from the people at these conditions. The water-power sites give out no distressing signs. No sulphurous fumes warn against this continuous and relentless destruction and waste of our natural resources. On the contrary, these undeveloped sites charm the eye and please the ear, and convey no idea of the destructive waste of power that is continually going on at them. By a strange fatality many people have jumped to the conclusion that it is a conservation of our natural resources to keep our water¬ power sites in their natural condition. Because such a policy if applied to a coal field would be a policy of conservation, it does not follow that it retains this character when applied to water-power sites. In fact, quite the contrary is true. A policy which in its practical effect results in nondevelopment of our 6 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. water-power sites is not a policy of conservation at all, and its con¬ tinuance can only be justified by a clear demonstration that the evil of this policy is less than the evil of any other policy that could be substituted for it. Mr. Herbert Knox Smith has admirably brought out the idea of the inherent waste is an undeveloped water power, and I can not do better than to quote in its entirety section 2, on page 202 of his report, entitled “ Water power development in the United States, as follows: Water power is unlike most other natural resources in that it is not dimin¬ ished by use, nor is it conserved by nonuse. Coal which is not used to-day remains to be used hereafter, but the energy of water which is allowed to flow by unused neither increases or diminishes the future supply, but it is irre¬ trievably lost. Our supply of coal—the principal source of energy—while vast, is not unlimited. The utilization of water power results in the saving of coal for future use. In other words, the real waste of Water power is its nonuse, while its development effects a conservation, not only of water power, but of our fuel supply as well. The importance of effectively utilizing the water powers of the country is therefore obvious. The power now (February, 1912) required to operate the industrial enterprises and public-service utilities of the country (excluding steam railroads and vessels) can be safely estimated at not less than 30,000.()00 horsepower. Approximately 6,000,000 horsepower is now generated by water; the rest is generated from fuel, mainly coal. The quantity of coal required to produce a horsepower hour in steam varies according to the quality of the coal and the size and efficiency of the engines. It is claimed that under the most favorable conditions a pound of coal can be made to produce one horsepower hour. From this minimum the estimated quantity ranges as high as even 6 or 7 pounds. Assuming, however, that on the average a horsepower hour in steam can be produced by 3 pounds of coal (and this quantity probably under¬ states the average quantity of coal required and the corresponding saving by the substitution of water power) the power now produced by water saves at least 33,000.000 tons of coal per vear. This is based on a 12-hour day. By reason of distance from markets, cost of development, and other causes, it will doubtless be many years before a quantity equal to even the “minimum potential ” water power of the country, 32,083,000 horsepower, can be advan¬ tageously developed. It is certain, however, that under favorable conditions several additional millions of horsepower can now profitably be developed from water, thus effecting a still further conservation of our fuel. The millions of water power economically available, but undeveloped, represent absolute waste. In brief, the real conservation of water power is its use. So much of this natural resource, therefore, as can advantageously be used should have prompt and complete development: but in doing this certain important economic forces are called into action, and the effect of these forces upon the public welfare must be fully recognized and the public interests safeguarded. With these sentiments so admirably expressed by Mr. Smith, I am confident all who haye inyestigated the subject are in accord. This extract from Mr. Smith's report indicates that for each horsepower economically ayailable for deyelopment there is now being substituted and burned 5^ tons of coal per year. This is based on a 12-hour day. This represents, as he says, “absolute waste”; at $2 per ton this is eouiyalent to a waste at the rate of $11 per year for each undeyeloped horsepower now economically ayailable for deyelopment. IVlr. Smith states that there are seyeral million of horsepower undeyeloped that can now be profitably deyeloped. Assuming that by seyeral millions he had in mind, say, 5,000,000 horsepower, then the nondeyelopment of this power represents an absolute waste to-day at the rate of 27.500.000 tons of coal per annum. CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 7 In the words of Mr. Smith, “ these millions of water power eco¬ nomically available, bnt undeveloped, represent absolute Avaste.” If the entire 32,000,000 ii inimum potential horsepower, as estimated by Mr. Smith, Avere deAxloped, the total saving of coal Avould be about 175,000,000 tons per annum. It may be of interest to know that our present consumption of coal for all purposes is about 500,000,000 tons per annum, of Avhich about 90 per cent is for indus¬ trial purposes. Does not the possibility here presented of increasing the saving from 27,500,000 tons per annum to as near 175,000,000 tons as prac¬ ticable present a field for fruitful endeavor on the part of the Govern¬ ment? Does not the possibility of so tremendous a saving of our natural resources suggest that the attitude of the Government should be at least sympathetic and not repressive ? Does it not even suggest that the public welfare may soon require the principle of a bounty to encourage the development of its powers? These will be found fruitful subjects for reflection. Eeturning noAV to the estimated present waste of 27,500,000 tons of coal per annum, as based on Mr. Smith’s data, what does this annual Avaste amount to in value? The average price of coal is prob¬ ably in excess of $2 a ton, so that a measure of the present value of this waste Avould probably exceed $55,000,000 per annum. HoAvever, there is some question as to whether we should treat this 27,500,000 tons of coal per annum from the point of view of its present A^alue, or from the point of view of its value at the time AA^hen the reserve, of Avhich this 27,500,000 tons Avould form a part, would be required for use. It would seem reasonable that the smallest A^alue that could possibly be put upon it would be its present A^alue, and therefore it Avould appear that we as a nation are losing at least $55,000,000 per annum as the result of the nondevelopment of 5,000,000 Avater horse- poAver economically available at the present time, or at the rate of $11 per horsepower per year. HoweA^er, as conservationists, I think we are bound to gh^e some consideration to the A^alue of the coal in the ground at the future time Avhen this reserve Avill be needed. At that time it will not be so much a question of dollars and cents as it will be a question of keeping the human race warm, for presumably long before that time the coal resources will haA^e been husbanded and held almost exclusively for this purpose. Coal possesses a tre¬ mendous value for heating, which Avater poAvers do not, and there is a very important question of economics involved, Avhich I shall not treat further here than to mention that Avhenever coal is used to do Avork that water power can do Ave are employing an agent of a very high order to do the work of an inferior agent. The question of the full and true A^alue to be placed upon coal which we could save by the development of water powers is too intricate for treatment here. As against these tremendous losses to the Nation, due solely to delay, what have we gained by the delay? What did we hope to gain by delay? I can not better state Avhat Ave hoped to gain than by adopting the Avords of Mr. Herbert Knox Smith from the report referred to, as follows: If the public permits private parties to develop and operate its water powers, it can charge rental for that right, which will go into the Public Treasury. It is only through some such reservation and through the operation of the one 8 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. agency that represents the public, namely, the Government, whether State or Federal, that the advantages inherent in water powers can be reserved and distributed to the community as a whole. This consideration must therefore primarily dominate the water-power policy. This is what we sought to gain. Now what have we actually gained by the delay? We have caused to be universally accepted the principle of an efficient governmental control, and we have preserved to the Federal .Government the potential opportunity to collect a rental for the use of its water-power sites. I use the word “ potential ” because if the rental fixed is more than the traffic will bear at a particular site the development will not be made and no rental will be collected from it. The most important and the important thing we have gained is universal recognition of the principle of an elncient governmental control. It is probably not of vital consequence to the public welfare whether this control be exercised by representatives of the Federal or the State Government. The important thing is that the control should be efficient and fair and in harmony with the public welfare. Of far less consequence, to my mind, is the preservation to the Federal Government of the ‘‘ potential ” opportunity to collect a rental from a site for the benefit of the Public Treasury, because T doubt the expediency of an attempt in this form to distribute to the people their fair share of the values flowing from the development of their sites. Water powers, like city real estate, exhibit enormous differences in earning capacity. Many water powers have little or no commercial earning capacity in competition with coal. It would require in many cases a bounty to bring about their development. If we charge a rental on all water-power sites at a uniform rate per horsepower of available capacity, only those sites will be developed that can stand the rental. Other sites that might have been developed under a smaller rental or under no rental at all will lie idle and valuable sujDplies of coal will be consumed to do their work. Is it not true that what we might collect for the people as a rental from a dozen developed water powers could easily be lost to the Nation from the waste involved in a single undeveloped power whose development was j)revented by the rental policy? We have seen that at $2 per ton for coal the waste, according to the data of Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, is $11 per horsepower year for each of several million horsepower that are now economically available for development, a total annual loss of around $55,000,000. How can the Nation recoup such a loss by collecting “ for the community as a whole ” a rental from the sites, and if it could, how great per horsepower year would the rental have to be to recoup so great a loss; and would this rental be within what the traffic would bear? Fundamentally the question of a rental collected for the benefit of the Public Treasury is not a question of conservation at all. It is a social question contemplating an equitable division of potential profits, essentially the same as other social questions that have been correctly solved by governmental supervision and control of the service contracts and profits of public-service corporations. No new CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 9 form of wealth is created by the imposition and collection of such a rental or tax, and therefore each year we permit coal to be used to do work that can as economically be performed by water power we, as a nation, are being impoverished by the value of the coal so used, now estimated at about $55,000,000 per annum. The Nation can not as a whole be injured without its effect being felt by every class of which it is composed, so that even if we were to view this question not from the broad standpoint of the Nation itself but from the narrower viewpoint of that class which is most numerous in the Nation, the conviction must still be forced upon i!S that if the Nation itself continues to be impoverished the aggregnte injur}^ to this class may thereby be caused to exceed any possible advantage to it from the “potential” opportunity of the Federal Government to collect for the “community as a whole” a rental (n water-power sites. If the purpose of the rental is to secure to the people as a whole all the profit from the development after capital has had its fair return, the rental policy, in my judgment, will not accomplish this purpose if it is fixed uniformly at so much per horsepower of avail¬ able capacity at the site, as has been suggested. Wliile I am in entire sympathy with the purpose of the rental charge, I must confess that, in my opinion, unless it be based in each particular case either on actual profits earned or on an agreed esti¬ mate of prospective profits prepared in each particular case as the result of a most skillful and exhaustive investigation, the rental policy, if applied generally, may do much more harm to the public welfare than good. But in suggesting that the rental policy may be impracticable, I am not suggesting any abandonment of the pur¬ poses for which that policy was suggested. Excessive profits, if earned, must be returned to the people, but it appears to me funda¬ mental that an excessive profit must have been actually earned before a division is due, and the extent of the division must be con¬ trolled by the amount of the profit. A remedy that will prevent excessive profits without retarding development must, it seems to me, be based either on a policy of price regulation by Government or of profit sharing with Government. If there can be no regulation of price below the competitive price of coal-produced power without unfair discrimination against those consumers of power who are not fortunate enough to be consumers of water power, then excessive profits should probably be distributed to the people through a sharing of profit with Government. But what is the measure of this share of the profit which it has been sought to secure to the people by a rental system? How much has it been suggested should be collected annually for the people from the 5,000,000 economically available horsepower now going to waste? How does the potential value of it as a gain compare with the actual loss to the Nation for the three years that it has been going on and is still going on because of enforced nondevelopment ? I may be pardoned if I take this opportunity to say parenthetically that in suggesting that we now compare our actual losses through delay with the expected benefits to flow from wise legislation I do not mean to imply any criticism of the policy of nondevelopment pending investigation of the questions involved. 10 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. It is often said that a person’s hindsight is better than his fore¬ sight, and if the opportunity to do a complicated thing over again should be presented there are few of us who would not do some things differently. A thing is always wisely done regardless of consequences if in the light of knowledge available at the time it was the logical thing to do, and I think to halt until we could get our bearings was the logical thing to do. I admire the courage of the men who have prevented the develop¬ ment of our water-power sites, their patriotism, their high purpose. I am not one of those who would impugn the motives of these men if they should now insist that these sites be continued a while longer in their natural condition. I would understand that they believed this policy necessary to the public welfare, but I would question their judgment. I do not remember having heard it suggested in any quarter that the proposed rental should exceed around $1 per year per horsepower of site capacity, and the fear has been expressed in some quarters that a charge exceeding 50 cents per horsepower might retard, if not pre¬ vent, the development of many otherwise economically available powers. It may not be out of place to say here while considering the amount of the rental that water powers may be divided into three general classes. First, those capable of producing power considerably cheaper than by coal. The number of powers in this class is not very great. In the second class the saving over coal is small, and the margin of saving may be so small that mistakes in the estimate of cost or unusu¬ ally adverse conditions during construction might easily make the difference between a success and a failure of the enterprise. In this class there are a very large number of powers. But the largest class of all consists of those powers that are not now economically available as competitors of coal. Assuming that the traffic would bear an annual rental of $1 per horsepower of site capacity for the several million horsepower now, in the judgment of Mr. Herbert Knox Smith, economically available, then the largest sum which it has been suggested we gather into the Public Treasury from every undeveloped water power in the country, now economical!}^ available, is but $5,000,000 per annum, if by several million horsepower Mr. Smith means 5,000,000 horsepower. Let us assume for the purposes of discussion that the imposition of this rental or tax does create new Tvealth for the Nation to the extent col¬ lected. How does this potential gain compensate for our losses, actual in the past and present, prospective in the future ? The losses which we are now suffering through waste of our natural resources—estimated at $55,000,000 per annum, or $11 per horsepower per annum—is the equivalent at 5 per cent of an annual sum in per¬ petuity equal to 55 cents per horsepower per annum on the whole 5,000,000 of economically available horsepower. A delay of tAvo years, therefore, represents a loss equivalent to an annual sum in perpetuity of more than $1 per horsepoAver on the whole 5,000,000 horsepower. A delay of three years, Avhich I think it may be conceded Ave have experienced, has probably cost us the equh^alent of a sum in perpetuity at the rate of $1.50 per year per horsepoAver on the whole 5,000,000 undeA^eloped horsepoAver. A superficial aucav of the question might suggest that the country could recoup these past losses by charging a rental of $1.50 per horse- CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 11 power per year and make a profit by charging a higher rental, but no country can enrich itself or recoup past losses by a tax, because a tax merely changes the ownership of a part of the wealth of the Nation. We can never recoup for the Nation the losses that have already been incurred, and it is our imperative duty to bend all our efforts to stop further waste. I think it should be conceded that there would be considerable competition betAveen the different groups skilled in water-poAver de¬ velopment in this country and abroad if the opportunity AA ere offered to develop those sites iioaa" controlled by the Federal Government and that are economically available, and therefore it seems to me the part of wisdom for those having the public welfare at heart to ascer¬ tain at the earliest practicable moment the terms, the best under which responsible capital will come forward in competition to develop our poAvers, and, unless the acceptance of these terms Avill be more harmful to the public AA^elfare than the continuance of our AA^ater powers in an undeveloped state, these terms should be accepted, and all parties should join in securing the legislation necessary to bring about’the developments forthwith. So far as I knoAv, investors are not dissatisfied with the attitude toAvard capital as far as it pertains to the rate of return. I haA^e not heard it stated anywhere that anyone is opposed to investors receiving a fair, even a liberal, return on their money de¬ voted to water-power development. The leaders of the conservation movement have always recognized that capital Avas entitled to a fair, and, indeed, a liberal return, and I can not state their position more concisely than to quote from the testimony of Mr. Gifford Pinchot before the National Waterways Commission in 1911, as follows: I should like to be understood as asserting with a good deal of vigor that I believe investors who go into water-poAver development should be given a much more generous return on their investment than men who go into a less hazardous business, for the risks of a business of that kind are certainly very large. The public needs the development of water powers. I can say, for instance, that it is wholly impossible to expect general water¬ power development under present conditions on a 6 per cent basis. The risks are too large. Ten per cent or 15 per cent would be more like what is required to induce capital to go into that field. So far as I am in touch with the class of investors aa’Iio can be induced to undertake the deATlopment of water poAA^ers, I believe I am justified in saying that, while there are in other quarters decided differences of opinion as to whether the governmental control should be Federal or State, the Avater-poAver investor as a rule does not care which it is, provided it is not both at the same time. He insists that he serve but one master. It is feared that if the control is dual a conflict might arise betiA^een the State and Federal authorities which would result in injury to the inATstor. There is a feeling, however, that because the State has an inalienable right to regulate public-utility corporations doing busi¬ ness within its boundaries the Federal Government should relinquish to the State its right to exercise a control, provided that the develop¬ ing agent takes the form of a duly incorporated public-service cor¬ poration, subject to and recognizing the State’s right to superAuse and control its acts. Since its revenue AAmuld be derived almost Avholly from the sale of its poAver for public uses, it Avould not be a difficult matter to determine what its actual profits are, and the State, through 12 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. its power to regulate, would always be in a position to place a reason¬ able limit upon those profits by reduction of prices, by taxation, or by both. It is for a public use of this kind for water powers that there is now so pressing a need for legislation. It ina}^ not be out of place here to call attention to what seems to be a fundamental difference in the case where a power site is to be developed for private use. When developed for such a use the profits would not be derived from the sale of power but from the sale of commodities manufactured by the use of that power, and it would be much more difficult in this case to put into practice an effective plan of control which would give to the people what might be considered their fair share of the values created by the development. The treatment of this private use of water powers may require for its correct solution more time for further reflection and study, and if this be true it would seem the part of wisdom not to delay action pending the necessary discussion, but to proceed at once to bring about legislation that will enable public-service corporations to raise the money necessary to make water-power developments for public use, leaving until a future time the settlement of the more difficult question of the private use of water powers. While there does not seem to be, other than the desire to eliminate a dual control, any marked preference on the part of the water¬ power investors for Federal or State control, there does seem to exist a very marked preference for a Federal control on the part of those 'who have been heretofore most active in the conservation movement. As I understand the matter, their preference for Federal control springs from a distrust of the State’s machinery for control. They understand the advantage to any community accruing from the ex¬ penditure in it of very large sums of money on construction work, with the prospect of added population and employment after the power development has been made. They fear that if two States con¬ taining water-power sites become active competitors for the expendi¬ ture of money in hydroelectric development capital might obtain con¬ cessions which would limit the opjDortunities of the people to par¬ ticipate to the extent they ought in the values created by the develop¬ ment. In other words, if I correctly understand their position, they regard the people of the general section in which the development is to be made as incapacitated through self-interest to look after the welfare of those to come after, and they desire that the Federal Gov¬ ernment shall exercise a guardianship over the future of the State, because they believe the Federal Government to be free from the evil influences of self-interest. A strong preference in favor of control by the State is held by those who are citizens of the State and who believe that in the long run control by the State will be more truly responsive to the legitimate needs of both the people and the power companies. They point out that the uses to which these Avater powers Avill be put in the different parts of the country and the conditions surrounding these uses will be so different that it is doubtful Avhether a controlling body at long distance from the place of use can be made to understand and prop¬ erly administer to the needs of the particular locality. The question of a limited tenure, however, seems to be the real sticking point. Because I believe there is much merit in the argu- CONSERVATION" OF NATURAL RESOURCES. 13 ments of those who affirm that it is against the true interest of the public to limit the tenure of sites granted to public-service corpora¬ tions, except for breach of contract, I will summarize as best I can their position. A public-service corporation created by the State and engaged in a work of internal improvement is quasi public in character and is entitled in many States to exercise the State’s sovereign power of eminent domain. The generation and distribution of electricity to municipalities and the public generally is a public use, and an association organized as a public-service corporation engaged in generating electricity by water power and offering it for sale to the public is in effect an agent of the State supplying a public use and as such is subject to the State’s supervision and control. Most States have by legislation provided the machinery to give effect to this right to supervise and control, and it should be con¬ ceded that those States that have not yet done so will not neglect much longer to give effect to those rights. The State’s sovereign power to supervise and control a public- service corporation extends not only to the power to regulate and fix prices, but it extends to the character of the service and to every act which directly or indirectly influences the public welfare. The business served by a public-service corporation supplying electricity never ends its growth. It is, so far as experience teaches, continually growing and expanding. In prosperous communities the annual requirements of such com¬ panies for new capital for improvements and extensions often largely exceeds the annual net earnings and at times exceeds the annual gross earnings, so that the ability of the company to give adequate service is dependent upon its ability to continually secure money for its extensions. If for any reason the credit of a company is im¬ paired, its ability to make extensions is impaired, and to that extent its ability to adequately serve the public is impaired. A public-service corporation operating a water power under a limited tenure would not be able to raise money for extensions or improvements which it could not demonstrate would be returned, principal and interest, out of earnings prior to the limit of its tenure. During each succeeding year of operation the sinking-fund per¬ centage on moneys expended for improvements during the year would have to be increased. This would necessitate an increase in price each year, which the State’s right to control might not be able to prevent, because the State’s right does not extend to a confiscation of property, and the prices may not be regulated below a point which would prevent the return to investors of the principal, with interest, at the expiration of the tenure period. Prices would thus grow each year until they reached the limit of what the traffic would bear. Above this they could not go; so that when this limit was reached the demand for new capital for exten¬ sions would automatically cease and growth would end. The community would thus be without adequate service and woidd be paying for such service as was rendered all the traffic would bear, with the further disadvantage of not being able to get any more service even at such a price. 14 CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES. At what stage in the tenure period this condition would occur would depend upon how cheaply the water power could produce electricity. If the cost was substantially equal to that by coal, then this condition would be reached early in the tenure period. If the cost was lower, then this condition would be reached later. To make clear why, after the water power is put in operation, there is need for such a constant supply of new capital, I may say that it is seldom that the initial expenditure at a water-po>ver site fully develops it. The initial expenditure is kept as small as possible consistent with the existing market. As new business is secured, further expenditures are necessary both at the hydroelectric plant and in added transmission facilities. It is proper to include the cost of the transmission facilities in the amount to be amortized, because this is merely the body, in which the water power is the heart. If deprived of the heart’s action, the body dies. To properly perform its function to the public, a public-service corporation should be able, indeed it should be required, to serve within its sphere every legitimate need of the public. If the public welfare requires that the corporation should enter into long-time or even perpetual contracts with its consumers, it should be under no legal disability to do so. One case will illustrate the point. Many of the western power sites when developed will supply large quantities of power for irrigation to be used in pumping Avater on lands that can not be profitably irrigated by coal power. It is the experience that irrigation projects can not be financed unless the water right is perpetual and runs with the land. If this be true, then such irrigation projects as I have described can not be financed without a perpetual contract for poAver. Ob- Adously a public-service corporation may not make a contract for. service bevond the limit of its tenure unless the State is obligated at such date to take over and assume the contract. More could be said on this general subject of credits, prices, and service, but I think I have said sufficient to show the baneful in¬ fluence upon the usefulness to the public of a public-serAUce corpora¬ tion operating a water power under a limited tenure. HoAvever expedient it may be considered to apply the principle of limited tenure to a AA^ater poAver built to serve a priA^ate use, I think we should, in vicAV of the arguments just stated, gravely consider whether in the case of a public-seiwice corporation acting as the agent of the State the proposed requirement of a limited tenure should not be abandoned. I haA^e tried to present the matters herein discussed in a fair and im¬ partial light, and I should be glad to think that I had in Amur opinion succeeded. Facing, as we all are, such a tremendous AA^aste in our natural re¬ sources from further delay in deAmloping our Avater powers, I appeal to all patriotic men and women, AAnthout regard to preAnous coiwic- tions on this subject, to again examine the grounds for your convic¬ tions and to make your conscience the judge of hoAv far you should yield in an effort to reach an agreement that will put a stop to this waste by a speedy development of the powers. o JT v.’*'^.* v-.r^i V ^ '■ v-^'. tSI ^ ■,; vv v • >3. ••. ‘ ,. rl /.'i* -■ . vl: * •, ' ' y:.:'. '-• < ^-' ^ 4 ...'.. -f^'' v^. .jW'\* - -s'^' .-':■ ' lilVikki;' .J •f'- • J^' ■ ^- ;».'.i,rlfir/7; ■■ v> ■; f.^ / ■\ • f »* *o • 4 . p-v.; ;;?ilr^'...y n. 1 . V A p. <; I tv * PROGRESS REPORT OF AND UNDEnFI.OAY INVESTIGATION BETWEEN THE INETY-SEVENTH DEGREE OF WEST I.ONGITUDE AND -- THE FOOT-HILLS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, WITH MAPS AND PKOPILES. PART II. 'SEPARED UNDER DIRECTION OF THE SECRETARY OF ACRICDLTDRE BY EDWIN S. NETTLETON, C. E., ® pHTTcy engineer of INVESTIGATION. WASHINGTOIir • GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1891. DEFORESxAVivy., climate. PWe< 'yvo/-^ exchange the price offered to the producer is actually less than it costs him to gather and prepare his crop, not including its bringing to this -market, and consequently orders have been sent up the river not to gather the cacao, but to let it rot on the trees. Meanwhile no reduc¬ tion has been made in the enormous taxes and duties imposed, and, 1 indeed, there is little doubt that they will be increased in the near I future. Nor has there been any diminution in the prices of ordinaiy I commodities, although at present rates everything is actually costing I nearh^ 40 per cent more in gold than two months ago. Thus a house I renting for 100 paper milreis a month cost the tenant two months ago $24.57 in gold, and now costs him $34.42 in gold. Recentl}^ loans have been effected by various States and municipali- I ties of Brazil which are bringing into the country about $60,750,000, ! and it is thought that this great influx of gold has had something to do with the appreciation in value of the paper milreis, but this theory Ts not tenable, or at least can only in part explain the phenomenon. ! Besides, the interest on this and other foreign loans must soon be paid 'and in gold. Whatever the real causes of the rise may be, it is certain that the I banks are in great distress and doubt. It is not believed that the rise ’ will be maintained, but there is no factor upon which to form an opinion as to the time when a fall will occur in values or the extent of it. The present price of rubber abroad is firm and with a slightly rising tendency, but should the market weaken the effect would quickly be felt here. Fortunately for the rubber producers, the rubber season tjis practically over until fall, by which time some solution of the pres- Jent problem may be expected. The general fear is that this solution will assume the nature of an acute financial crisis, followed by a panic and disastrous failures. Para,^ Brazil, 3Ia2/ 10, '1905. Louis H. Ayme, Consul. \ v_/ DEFORESTATION AND CLIMATE. {From United Slates Consul-General Guenther, Frankfort, Germany.) During the May session of the G*erman Meteorological Society at Berlin a lecture on “Deforestation and climate” was delivered bv Doctor llennig, from which 1 take tbe following extracts: The interest in deforestation and forestry may be called general and public. Whether forests exercise a perceptible influence upon the cli¬ mate is a very old question, and even to-day it is notdefinitelv settled. In many countries a dicing up of the climate has occurred, which is shown perhaps most strikingl}^ in almost the whole of Africa. That deforesting has assumed constantly growing proportions in almost every part of the world is still more apparent. The climate of Greece, where to-day only 16 per cent of the area is covered with forests, has pw liia^- >%•' * - ■ w, ijk,^ t ,'*ll ..J’A',v'"j^.«r, M1W>V ■ ' :■ '^?f^4.^- •*■ , « nWi f, , -.r iVlnMP ; ^ . ■• , ... - .< '•'•' ■■ iair ti%. j2iv;.' .„; .;>fl>l -.'v:|;'3'uiv . Sly.^8^^' '.'ii»l fj/Sw^^apPCII s ' “''jll •^■' V'T.■*••• ■•.'.' ''■' V, •’ ■''•?J|*. - '■ : '.■•■;' i-. |>;| v''||j|' ■ '*< j v jj ■:P.p L..p: ^ ^ ■3^;'!' ■' L'* /%'r* ij'*' ■ -.:i'S«{>’'/‘ 'M‘ . , _.— , _ »S£.;y(^n!!; i^ i •. :') #it/ifi.-, I y;iA;Hi n W**l . r . • ' *n*,-’' 'I ‘ *?. » ' * t * ij * ^ * f'^ ■ -'t ' • '''' ■' (% I ‘ *N » »-'-' W5r- •'• "^ 'V'lf- * ^ " ■ 'S'-J, ■•'■ •' •;i ■ 'Vii«5Jlll '!M' W:'S' •‘1‘",' '•■ vV' '-.isa ' .-J .AiJ^ .i^V‘f'!’’''K ' ’ IK,- “it.' (r%'.'.-•''flSjff. ^ ; %mii «“ V: :.#. ^-'VS;. ii 16iS^ M ■t,, J,, -. ^ - . -.»««,... -■ i<4Jj ':-i*U%li I if i « ‘I*** ^}.r. Ems, . A- ■, .ti. Am • i".%atk. ’ . ■■' •• - >) ■■ 1' , ■ 'irt. , i V-'4« NOTES. 8 Canadian Tenders.—Under date of June 6, 1905, United States Consul-General W. R. Holloway, Halifax, Nova Scotia, transmits the following trade notes: The department of railwa 3 ^s and canals at Ottawa is inviting tenders for the supply^ of stone and the placing of a stone protection along portions of the summit level of the Welland Canal between Thorold and Port Col borne, Ontario. Tenders for the purchase of debentures of the town of Dauphin, Manitoba, amounting to ^35,000, for electric-light plant, power house, and for completing town and lire hall will be received b}" William / Pintoul, secretaiy-treasurer, at Dauphin, Manitoba. D. Quinlan, Barrie, Ontario, will receive tenders for the erection of a reenforced concrete arch bridge over the Mad River at Glen Houror, Ontario; also for a bridge with stone abutments and steel superstructure with reinforced concrete floor at the same place. Destroying Plant Lice.—The Practical Counselor for Fruit and Garden Culture, of Frankfort, recently offered a prize for the best method of destro 3 dng plant lice, for which 58 persons competed. The prize was awarded to the author of the following preparation: Quassia wood pounds, to be soaked overnight in 10 quarts of water and well boiled, then strained through a cloth, and placed, with 100 quarts of water, in a petroleum barrel, with 5 pounds of soft soap. The mix¬ ture is then ready for sprinkling on plants infested with lice. Leaves, even those of peach trees, will not be injured in the least b 3 ^ the solu¬ tion, which can be kept covered in the barrel from spring to fall without deterioration. As soon as lice appear the leaves should be sprinkled with the solution. If this is repeated several times the pests will disappear .—Richard Guenther^ Consul-General^ Franhfort^ Germany^ May ^7, 1905. Imports of Starch into Uruguay.—Under date of Ma 3 " 5, 1905, United States Consul John E. Hopley, Montevideo, Urugua 3 ", trans¬ mits the following statistics, prepared at the request of an American correspondent: Imports of starch into Uruguay during the years 1898 to 1903. Whence imported. 1898. 1899. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903. Belgium. France. Great Britain. Germany. Italy . Metric tons. 102.6 7.4 1.9 169.0 .2 9.9 Metric tons. 81.5 1.2 16.5 158.6 Metric tons. 73.3 1.2 4.5 173.3 5.9 .7 Metric tons. 97.0 2.2 .6 142.9 .2 5.6 Metric tons. 54.3 1.7 166.7 10.4 Metric tons. 29.7 8.2 10.2 233.5 24.9 3.3 United States .*. Total. .7 291.0 258.5 258.9 248.5 233.1 309.8 o I- J. 19' fhi- ? 30 - . / Issued March 11,1912. U. & DEPARTIVTENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester, y^LTGELD HALL STACKS REYIET\ T h OP FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS VOLUME I. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFPIOE, 1913. V.. ■ ^ J „ » • : ^ ^ ^ v*- » ; • > . •- 1 ^.. rar.v . •^*‘- *1 ,11 •»• . ^ 'V*** in> ■ I ^ ' ■••.'.■ .V i •* * V," y >--( V : ■ ly V’ « * * ii L«^ ^ * * ^.■. *. A • iv;?^ <-■ f ■ T. »»w -c. . , ^ ^' ■ ■' ' •<5%. ■>'‘Vs: ‘'^ ^' ^ ■' f ■■■■ -C • ^ .’■ "•'4^; . * -->^ .x. . ^ -5k •, •' » ati _W-.V.- • - u . .y J* . r. - ■ -.:! *■ I r. . •iE^5 ^^SBSW .. i .-tr ' ' ' - ■^• _Tv*;' -■*;^‘V .;<•:■ ^ - V** lA. ' I/' -, .'■ ■ ^ ^ ' is:;4‘>. • '-*V. ii-' 1. ■ ■-■> */•']"«i..' f^s'-\ ' ^"’ *■ . V» 4^ F,* •- _ . . ’ Jit'. ^ S\r ': a -, fev. .'Wi ,. ■, iPod.- ^ < V- :’ ^ .if’ * • '^,#.*is!v;^i;. . • ' j *. *. i 'r -' ■ •(•' - - Jr?''-. •• • J* r -• A * /.jf^ “iP ^ • t ■ pw' Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate I SlJH H‘» ii Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis. Issued Mareli 11,1913. U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, FOREST SERVICE. HENRY S. GRAVES, Forester. REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOLUME I. WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1913. FOREST SERVICE. Henry S. Graves, Forester. Albert F. Potter, Associate Forester. Herbert A. Smith, Editor. Central Investigative Committee. Raphael Zon, Chief of Silvics, Chairman. J. T. Jardine, Inspector of Grazing. Carlile P. Winslow, Engineer in Forest Products. District Investigative Committees. District 1: D. T. Mason, Assistant District Forester in charge of Silviculture, Chairman. C. H. Adams, Assistant District Forester in charge of Grazing. P. R. Hicks, Engineer in Wood Preservation. Elers Koch, Supervisor Lolo National Forest. District 2; C. G. Bates, Chief of Silvics, Chairman. J. W. Nelson, Assistant District Forester in charge of Grazing. Norman de W. Betts, Engineer in Forest Products. C. M. Granger, Supervisor Medicine Bow National Forest. District 3: G. A. Pearson, Chief of Silvics, Chairman. Hugh G. Calkins, Supervisor Manzano National Forest. Don P. Johnston, Supervisor Gila National Forest. Stanton G. Smith, Supervisor Tusayan National Forest. District 4: O. M. Butler, Assistant District Forester in charge of Silviculture, Chairman. H. E. Fenn, Assistant District Forester in charge of Grazing. C. G. Smith, Supervisor Cache National Forest. District 5: J. A. Mitchell, Chief of Silvics, Chairman. C. Stowell Smith, Assistant District Forester in charge of Products. John H. Hatton, Assistant District Forester in charge of Grazing. P. G. Redington, Supervisor Sierra National Forest. District 6: T. T. Munger, Chief of Silvics, Chairman. H. B. Oakleaf, Forest Assistant in Products. T. P. Mackenzie, Assistant District Forester in charge of Grazing. M. L. Merritt, Deputy Forest Supervisor in charge of Reconnaissance. LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL U. S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Washington, D. C., October 11, 1912. . Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith a manuscript entitled Review of Forest Service Investigations,” Volume I, and to recom¬ mend its publication. Full development of the National Forests as productive resources involves extensive research work. Technical forestry is a branch of scientific agriculture and can be successfully applied only as practice is based on accurate knowledge. From the wide range of conditions- which the National Forests present, the Forest Service has found it necessary to adopt a comprehensive plan of studies for the systematic investigation of many problems. As these studies progress it is important that there should be some means of keepmg the entire technical force informed concerning the results obtained, of providing for free discussion of methods and ten¬ tative conclusions, and of making possible such immediate modifica¬ tions of existing practice as the discoveries made may warrant. The Review of Forest Service Investigations has been planned to meet this end. Successive numbers will be issued as the material accumu¬ lated permits. The Review will contain progress reports on uncom¬ pleted investigations and final reports on minor experiments which do not justify separate publication. It will follow necessarily from the purpose which the Review is designed to serve that a certain freedom will be given for the expres¬ sion of individual opinion. In other words, the Review will deal largely with matters on which the Forest Service can not yet speak authoritatively; the views presented are for professional considera¬ tion, on their merits, and their publication by no means implies that full responsibility for them is assumed by the Forest Service. Wliile the Review is published primarily for use within the Forest Service, it will unquestionably be valuable also to professional forest¬ ers who are not in the employ of the Government and to investigators in closely allied fields of work. A limited provision for public distri¬ bution to such persons is therefore recommended. The Review is, however, of professional, not of popular, character. • Respectfully, Henry S. Graves, Forester. Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture. 3 LABORATORIES AND FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS OF THE FOREST SERVICE. Forest Products Laboratory (in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin), Mad¬ ison, Wis. Ground Wood Laboratory, Wausau, Wis. Wood Testing Laboratory (in cooperation with the University of Washington), Seattle, Wash. Priest River Experiment Station, on the Kaniksu National Forest, Priest River, Idaho. Cloquet Experiment Station (in cooperation with the University of Minnesota), Cloquet, Minn. Fremont Experiment Station, on the Pike National Forest, Manitou, Colo. Wagon Wheel Gap Experiment Station, on the Rio Grande National Forest, Wagon Wheel Gap, Colo. Fort Valley Experiment Station, on the Coconino National Forest, Flagstaff, Ariz. Utah Experiment Station, on the Manti National Forest, Ephraim, Utah. Feather River Experiment Station, on the Plumas National Forest, Quincy, Cal. Seed Testing Laboratory and Willow Holt Station, Office of Silvics, Arlington Farm, Washington, D. C. Dendrological Laboratory, Office of Dendrologist, Washington, D. C. 4 CONTENTS, Page. Object of the publication. 9 Organization and scope of investigative work. 10 Description of the different lines of investigation. 12 Dendrology. 12 Forest-distribution studies. 13 Wood-structure studies. 13 Grazing. 14 Artificial reseeding. 15 Natural reseeding. ,, . 15 Distribution and economic importance of forage plants. 15 Forest protection (grazing). 16 Methods of handling stock. 16 Development of stock-watering places. 16 Poisonous-plant investigations. 17 Products. 17 Mechanical properties of wood. 18 Tests on small specimens free from defects. 18 Tests on structural timbers. 19 Tests on manufactured articles. 19 Effect of preservative treatments, moisture, etc. 19 Physical*properties of wood. 19 Fundamental properties. 19 Conditioning experiments. 20 General studies. 21 Relation of structure to properties. 21 Wood preservation. 21 Preservatives. 22 General. 22 Physical and chemical properties. 22 Toxicity. 22 Effect on strength of wood. 22 Inflammability. 22 Ease of injection into wood. 22 Processes. 23 Suitability of species. 23 Cooperative field work and service tests. 23 Products derived from wood, bark, leaves, and the growdng timber_ 23 Pulp and paper. 23 Mechanical or grinding processes. 24 Chemical processes. 24 Wood distillation. 25 Hardwoods. 25 Resinous woods. 25 Naval stores or turpentine and rosin. 26 Miscellaneous. 26 Statistical studies. 26 Annual production of forest products. 27 Uses of woods and the manufacture of wooden products. 27 Lumber prices. 27 Miscellaneous. 27 5 6 CONTENTS. Description of the different lines of investigation—Continued. Page. Silviculture. 27 Forest experiment stations. 28 Fort Valley Experiment Station. .*. 29 Fremont Experiment Station. 29 Wagon Wheel Gap Experiment Station. 30 Priest River Experiment Station. 30 Feather River Experiment Station. 30 Utah Experiment Station. 30 Arlington Farm, Washington, D. C. 30 Forestation. 32 Seed investigations... 32 Nursery practice. 34 Species, methods, and seasons—Sites. 34 Studies in range extension and introduction of exotics. 35 Forest influences. 36 Management studies. 39 Mensuration studies. 40 Protection studies. 40 Regional studies. 41 Silvical studies. 41 Tree studies. 42 Utilization studies. 42 The program of investigative work for 1912. 43 Definition of a project. 43 Dendrology. 44 A. —Description and distribution of North American trees and shrubs. 44 B. —Identification of North American forest trees. 44 C. —Identification of exotic forest trees. 45 D. —Special studies. 45 Grazing. 45 A. —Artificial reseeding. 45 B. —Natural reseeding..*. 45 C. —Distribution and economic importance of forage plants. 46 D. —Forest protection (grazing). 46 E. —Methods of handling stock. 46 F. —Development of stock-watering places. 46 G. —Poisonous-plant investigations (cooperative). 46 H. —Special studies. 47 Products. 47 A. —Mechanical and physical properties and structure of woods. 47 B. —Wood preservation. 49 C. —Derived products or products derived from wood, bark, leaves, and the growing timber. 51 D. —Statistical studies. 53 Silviculture. 54 A. —Forestation.. 54 B. —Influences. 60 C. —Management. 60 D. —Mensuration. 63 E. —Protection. 64 F. —Regional studies. 65 G. —Silvical studies. 66 H. —Special. 67 I. —^Tree studies. 67 J. —Utilization. 68 ILLUSTRATIONS. ^ Page. Plate I. Forest Products Laboratory, Madison, Wis. Frontispiece. II. Fig. ]. Machines for testing the mechanical properties of woods— Forest Products Laboratory. Fig. 2. Equipment for wood preser¬ vation experiments—Forest Products Laboratory. 20 III. Fig. 1. Paper Machine—Forest Products Laboratory. Fig. 2. Equip¬ ment for analyzing and testing preservatives, turpentines, pro¬ ducts of wood distillation, etc.—Forest Products Laboratory. 24 IV. Fort Valley Experiment Station. 28 V. Headquarters of Fremont Experiment Station. 28 VI. Fig. 1. Headquarters of the Wagon Wheel Gap Experiment Station. Fig, 2, Interior view of greenhouse, Fremont Experiment Station.. 32 VII, Fig, 1. Priest River Experiment Station. Laboratory and office building. Fig. 2. Greenhouse. 36 VIII. Meteorological control station.•. 36 7 LV I*' - (' ’ li." I ,■?>.■ y -rr , I . ■ S- ■■ /y, 7 ‘ • '• > ^ * ' <1 /f * • \ M' » » , •-T . / .. . . - '. I ?' , : .. ■i .31^5 7 ;a ■ •I’ ’ .V A f ' -*^arr It, ■i. . • iW‘ t ■^'"« V'-' . .*■.• • I 'i; ' < ■ • , - . • i ' - ' ■■ ■ -.•ijrv' .... , :.,-i' t V y* ^ ^ . AI-, . ■ • ‘"‘T-V ' \ y «.> v" •. y. ' C' 'V. ■'■ .'•' . ‘Viifro’ ] . ■. v;V ^ y A,' / • ■ .. . • _ • >A' i -; '4,- "''75*' I . , .1 . ■ _ ( * • I I •i N.’. ■.•iV’ V'' ■’ ' i % > f X. \; % \ » REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS Volume I. OBJECT OF THE PUBLICATION. The investigative work of the Forest Service has greatly broadened within the last few years. A large and well-equipped laboratory in forest products is now maintained at Madison, Wis., in coopera¬ tion with the University of Wisconsin, with supplemental studies in the East and West. Three Forest experiment stations in the central and southern Rockies, one in the Sierras, and one in north¬ western Idaho have been established on National Forests for intensive study of silvicultural problems. In addition one experiment station is being maintained at Cloquet, Minn., in cooperation with the Uni¬ versity of Minnesota. Aside from these stations an enormous amount of investigative work has been inaugurated in reforestation, growth, yield, various methods of cutting, and other fundamental aspects of silviculture in every part of the country. An office of grazing studies has been established. Its work, already begun at a grazing experiment station in Utah and on several Forests, is being rapidly extended. The growth of the scientific work of the Service is a natural response to increasing demand for thorough scientific facts upon which to base the proper handling of the forest and range. The development of the science of forestry and its application to the management of the forest must go on simultaneously. But meager data are avail¬ able in this country upon which to base scientific forest management and utilization, as the practice and science of forestry developed in the older countries are of little direct value because of differences in species and in climatic and economic conditions. It is very important, therefore, that the results of investigative work be made known, as soon as they are obtained, to the practicing forester, timber owner and user, and to the profession as a whole. The results of the more important investigations of the Forest Service are sooner or later issued as separate publications and become gen¬ erally available. The completion of many investigations, however, often requires several years, during which very little is known of their progress. The results of minor investigations and observa¬ tions, which in themselves are not of broad enough scope or suffi- 9 10 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. cieritly conclusive to warrant separate'publications, yet in the aggre¬ gate are of inestimable value, are frequently lost to foresters outside the locality where they were secured. To provide a means for making the results of such investigations systematically available, as well as the progress attained in the major investigations, a series of publications, to be known as the Review of Forest Service Investigations,has been undertaken. The object of these publications, of which this is the first, is to give periodically a comprehensive review of the character and progress primarily of the investigative work of the Forest Service, and to some extent also of the various States and forest schools. It will aim to keep all of the men engaged upon investigative work in touch with eacli other. It will give them the fresh results of each study as it develops. It will be primarily for the interest and benefit of all the investigators in the Service, in all lines of its work, as a cumulative medium for interchange of scientific data and ideas. It is designed to improve investigative methods, avoid duplication, and stimulate interest in research work. The Review of Forest Service Investigations is issued at intervals as sufficient material accumulates. It is designed to furnish period¬ ically a resume of the character and progress of the investigative work conducted by the Forest Service. Each issue will contain brief accounts of the progress made on the more important studies whose completion may require several years, and more detailed reports of minor projects whose publication in separate form is inadvisable. Similar material furnished by State foresters will be published from time to time. It is the purpose of this Review to keep all of the men engaged upon investigative work in touch with each other. The fresh result of each study as it develops will be reported, and a medium furnished for the interchange of scientific data and ideas. The Review deals largely with matters on which the Forest Service can not yet speak authoritatively and the publication of the views presented does not imply that the Forest Service assumes full responsibility for them. ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE OF INVESTIGATIVE WORK. The broad scope of the investigations now carried on by the Forest Service called for an organization which would unify the various scientific activities, prevent duplication, coordinate and correlate aU studies, and consider carefully all plans to make sure that the most important problems are attacked in the right way and that all the available information and facilities of the Service are utilized. Such an organization was put into effect in January, 1912, in the form of district and central investigative committees. The creation 1913. ORGANIZATION AND SCOPE. 11 of these committees marks a progressive step in the development of the investigative work of the Service. It is a recognition of the old principle that several heads are better than one in perfecting plans which caU for the best the Service has in scientific attainments and experience in research. The plan adopted and at present in effect is in general as follows: In each of the districts, into which the territory occupied by the National Forests is divided, there is a district investigative com¬ mittee, consisting usually of one representative of each of the major lines of investigation conducted in the district and one supervisor of technical training. Aside from the supervisor the members of the district committees, as far as practicable, are men engaged primarily upon investigative work. On or before December 15 of each year each district office chief submits to the district committee an annual program of investigative work, under the direction of his office, this program covering: 1. Projects completed during the past calendar year. 2. Program for ensuing calendar year, consisting of (a) Incomplete projects upon which work will be continued; (6) New projects pro¬ posed. The programs of work submitted by the respective officers are then reviewed by the district committee, special consideration being given to (1) the value of each project under way or proposed; (2) the scope of each project and whether it should be limited or extended; and (3) possible correlation with lines of investigative work in progress or proposed by other offices. The district committee then prepares a program of investigative work for the district with recommendations regarding the policy to be followed. This program is then carefully considered by the dis¬ trict forester and office chiefs in consultation with the committee. The annual program of work for the district in final form is approved by the district forester. Copies of this program are then submitted to the Forester as a part of the annual investigative report for the district. The complete programs submitted by the districts are referred to the branch chiefs of the Forest Service in Washington who review and correlate all the work proposed under the direction of each branch. Each branch chief then submits a complete program of work for his branch to the central investigative committee, which consists of three members representing respectively the branches of Silviculture, Products, and Grazing. The branch programs are reviewed by the central investigative committee, which prepares an annual program of work and outlines the investigative policy for the entire Service. This program is then considered by the For¬ ester in consultation with the branch chiefs and central committee. 12 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS, VOL. I. When finally approved the necessary administrative action is taken by each branch to put the program and policy into eirect. Projects included in the approved program are assigned by the branch chiefs to the various units of organization, the proper exec¬ utive officer in each unit assigning the project to the member of the Service who will be in charge of the investigation. The officer in charge of each project then prepares— 1. A preliminary report reviewing the results of other investiga¬ tions bearing upon the subject and the main features of the work which should be undertaken. 2. A working plan which states specifically (a) the ])urpose and scope of the proposed investigation, (b) the methods to be followed, and (c) the estimated cost. At the discretion of the proper executive officer the preliminary report and working plan may be combined. The preliminary re¬ port and working plan for the project are approved by the branch chief or such executive in the branch or in the field as he designates. The work is then carried on in accordance with the working plan, which can not be departed from without the concurrence of the approving officer. This plan of control applies only to the more important lines of investigation which are to be conducted and does not govern minor investigations or observations conducted by forest officers and othei’s in connection with administrative duties where the use of additional funds is not required. Such minor investigations, however, are directed so far as practicable by the district committees through the office chiefs and are thus correlated with the regular investi¬ gative work. DESCRIPTION OF THE DIFFERENT LINES OF INVESTIGATION. The investigations carried on by the Forest Service fall naturally into four large divisions: Dendrology, Grazing, Products, and Silviculture. DENDROLOGY. Dendrological studies aim to secure information concernmg the distinguishing characters and the geographic distribution of North American trees and shrubs. They also include investigations of the gross and microscopic structure of the woods of the more important North American and foreign timber trees as means for identification. These studies are carried on by the Dendrologist and his assistants located in Washington, D. C., with such help from the National Forest officers as they may give by collecting tree sjiecimens and re})orting the occurrence of species, particularly outside of their supposed range. One important purpose of dendrological studies 1913. , DENDROLOGY. 13 is the preparation for publication of popular works describing and illustrating North American trees, woods, and shrubs. In accordance with the chief aim of these dendrological studies, they are divided under the following heads: FOREST-DISTRIBUTION STUDIES. The object of these studies is to determine the geographic distri¬ bution of North American forest trees and shrubs and their dis¬ tinguishing characters. All available range records are plotted on folio maps,, and exact references are preserved of the source of this information, which is obtained largely from unpublished records of the Service, as well as from current literature, notes collected by examining the different herbaria in the United States, and from data accompanying tree specimens collected by the Dendrologist and his assistants or other forest officers in the field. These folio maps, revised and corrected as often as new information is secured, are available for reference, and from them distribution data are furnished for all publications of the Service requiring such informa¬ tion, particularly the series of works being issued dealing specially with the identification and range of North American trees and shrubs. A part of these studies is the maintenance of a forest herbarium in the Washmgton office. Specimens for this collection are obtained by the Dendrologist and his assistants, by exchanges, and with the assistance of the National Forest officers in the field. This material, systematically classified for reference, is used in the studies of forest floras, in the identification of trees and shrubs, and in making original illustrations of species described. WOOD-STRUCTURE STUDIES. The object of these studies is to secure reliable information for distinguishing different woods by their structure. There are many inferior species which in general superficial appearance closely resemble better kinds of wood and for which they are often sub¬ stituted. It is of particular importance for the benefit of wood consumers, as well as of scientific interest, toffie able accurately to identify different species of woods by their gross and anatomical structure. A fully equipped laboratory is maintained in Washing¬ ton for the purpose of preparing microscopic sections of woods which are used as a reference collection in the identification of wood specimens and from which illustrations are made for publications issued describing the distinguishing characters of woods. The number of foreign woods on the American market is now very great and is gradually increasing. Both the dealers in imported timbers and those who use them are in need of and seeking reliable 14 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. ill formation in regard to these new and unfamiliar kinds. Many different species of foreign woods are being sold in this country under the familiar trade names of well-known sorts which makes it necessary, in the interest of wood users, to determine the true identity of such imported material and the source from which it comes. For this reason it became necessary to extend to foreign > woods also the study of structure as a means of identification. Ameri¬ can capital is now being invested in tropical American timber lands, and there is a growing demand for accurate knowledge regarding the identity, uses, and properties of tropical woods. GRAZING. The aim of the grazing investigations is to secure thorough scien¬ tific information leading to— 1. The production of the maximum value of forage crop. 2. The utilization of timber areas and areas above timber line by grazing without jeopardizing the chances of reforestation and water¬ shed protection further than is justified by the comparative merits of the resources at stake. 3. Securing the greatest grazmg efficiency per unit area in utilizing the forage available for use. Any increase in the value of the forage crop produced must be brought about by (1) successfully seeding range to cultivated forage plants, seed of which can be obtained at a cost which justifies its use; (2) by so managing the grazing of the range as to secure the natural seeding of the most valuable native forage plants in each locality or by developing these valuable native species under culti¬ vation so that seed can be produced at a cost not prohibitive to distribution on the range. The investigations along these lines fall under three headings: Artificial reseeding. Natural reseeding. Distribution and economic importance of forage plants. All the investigations carried on for the purpose of deciding what portion of the forage crop can be used without undue injury to forest and watershed fall under the one headmg: Forest protection (grazing). The investigations for the purpose of securing data which will aid in getting the greatest grazing efficiency out of the forage avail¬ able for use cover the following field: Methods of handling stock. Development of stock-watering places. Poisonous-plant investigations. The grazing projects comprise both intensive experimental studies and studies initiated primarily to put the results of intensive studies 1913. GRAZING. 15 into application in the actual management of the range. The intensive investigations are concentrated at the Utah Experiment Station on the Manti National Forest and on several Forests where there are the best opportunities for studying the problems most important, at present the Coconino, Shasta, and Payette Forests. Less intensive investigations leading to better control of grazing are necessarily carried on in connection with the administration of the range on a number of Forests where particular problems arise. ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING. The aim of studies in artificial reseeding is to determine means of restoring overgrazed areas and improving the quality of the forage by artificial reseeding with cultivated plants. But a comparatively small acreage of National Forest range is adapted to the growth of the forage plants for which seed is available, due to excessive altitude, poor soil, drought, or other conditions. In order to carry on success¬ fully artificial reseeding of the range, it is important to find out (1) the lands where seeding to cultivated species is economically possible as determined by altitude, exposure, soil, moisture, and native vege¬ tation; (2) the species best adapted to any given set of conditions; (3) the time to sow, the cultural methods which should be used; and (4) the necessary protection against grazing. In addition, the most promising native species are being tried under cultivation experimen¬ tally to determine the possibility of their use in artificial reseeding. NATURAL RESEEDING. Investigations of this character aim to determine the possibilities of naturally reseeding depleted lands that still have a part of the native vegetation, and to devise systems of grazing management which will permit of the regeneration of the lands without a loss of forage values. These investigations are both intensive and extensive. The intensive studies aim to find out the important forage plants, determine their absolute requirements of growth and reproduction, and with these data as a basis, perfect a plan of grazing management which will allow the plants to reseed naturally often enough to keep the range in maximum condition—this with the least possible loss of forage. The extensive studies aim to put the data collected from the intensive studies on a practical basis by demonstration application to range management. DISTRIBUTION AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORAGE PLANTS. The aim of this work is to ascertain the species of plants which make up the forage crop as well as the objectionable and worthless plants on each Forest range, and to determine the forage value. 16 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. growth requirements, seasons of growth, time of seed maturity, and class of stock for which each is best adapted. With a thorough knowledge on these points regarding the plants which make up the forage crop on each Forest, there will be greater possibility of devel¬ oping a plan of grazing management which will sufficiently recognize the growth requirements of the vegetation to maintam a maximum yield without unnecessary loss of forage by nonuse. FOREST PROTECTION (GRAZING). The aim of studies along this line is to collect information which will result in a decision as to the proper relation of grazing to National Forest management. The work comprises (1) studies to determine the effect, both detrimental and beneficial, of grazing upon tree repro¬ duction and the possibility of eliminating damage or increasing the beneficial effect by changes in grazing management; (2) studies to determine the influence of grazing upon “run-off” and erosion; (3) studies to determine the influence of grazing as a protection against fire. The projects under (1) and (2) must necessarily be intensive and will be carried on at the Utah Experiment Station or on a few selected Forests. METHODS OF HANDLING STOCK. Investigations of this character aim at eliminating, so far as prac¬ ticable, any waste of forage in utilization of the range by reducing to a mmimum the loss of forage due to trampling and by reducing the damage that comes from interfering with natural processes of revegetation and damage to tree growth and watersheds. The work covers studies to determine: The most satisfactory number of sheep to be run in one band, considering the welfare of the range and the sheep and the interests of the sheep owner; the best method of herd¬ ing or handling, salting, bedding, and watering the sheep; methods of handling cattle, and other grazing animals (swine, horses, goats). DEVELOPMENT OF STOCK-WATERING PLACES. Without an adequate distribution of water for the stock on the range, it is frequently impracticable to adopt a system of grazing management which will place on a range the class of stock to which it is best adapted at the time when it should be utilized, and to plan the handling of the stock so as to secure complete utilization ^vithout waste of forage. The studies along tliis line aim to secure informa¬ tion upon which to base a decision as to the necessary distribution and capacity of watering places under a given set of topographic, climatic, and forage conditions; and how best to develop watering places from different sources of water supply. 1913. PRODUCTS. 17 POISONOUS PLANT INVESTIGATIONS. The scientific data on poisonous plants are very largely collected by the Bureau of Plant Industry. The Forest Service is cooperating in working out the abundance, distribution, and seasons of growth in various localities of the species of plants poisonous to stock. PRODUCTS. The aim of the investigations conducted by Products is to secure authentic information regarding the properties and suitability for different purposes of various species and kinds of forest products. Such information is essential to increase the efficiency of the methods at present in use in the production and utilization of forest products, and is necessary for the most economical management of the National Forests. In accordance with the general policy of centralizing the investi¬ gative work at specific points, practically all of the products studies are conducted at a few definite stations. The Forest Products Laboratory at Madison, Wis., is the headquarters at which is con¬ ducted the great bulk of the work. This laboratory, which is main¬ tained in cooperation with the University of Wisconsin, is well equipped for conducting most of the lines of work discussed later. Laboratories are also maintained at Wausau, Wis., where the ground- wood pulp investigations are all conducted, and at Seattle, Wash., where certain tests on the mechanical properties of woods are car¬ ried on. District stations are also permanently established at Washington, D. C., San Francisco, Cal., and Portland, Oreg., and certain more general investigations are conducted from these points. The investigative work falls into four major divisions, with a number of subdivisions, as follows: A. Mechanical and Physical Properties and Structure of Wood‘. Mechanical properties. Tests on small specimens free from defects. Tests on structural timbers. Tests on manufactured articles. Effect of preservative treatment, moisture, etc. Physical properties. Fundamental properties. Conditioning experiments. General. Relation of structure to properties. B. Wood Preservation. Preservatives. General. Physical and chemical properties. Toxicity. Effect on strength of wood. Inflammability. Ease of injection into wood. 65603°—13-2 18 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. B. Wood Preservation—Continued. Processes. Commercially established. New or proposed. Effect of varying conditions during treatment. Suitability of species. Resistance to impregnation with preservatives. Resistance to decay. • Pre})aration for treatment. Cooperative field work and service tests. C. Derived Products. Pulp and paper. Mechanical or grinding processes. Chemical processes. Wood distillation. Hardwoods. Resinous woods. Naval stores, or turpentine and rosin. Miscellaneous. Production of ethyl alcohol. Production of tannins. Production of gas from wood waste. Production of essential oils from leaves, twigs, etc. Chemical composition of various woods. D. Statistical Studies. Annual production of forest products. Study of uses of woods (by States, industries, and species). Lumber prices. Miscellaneous. MECHANICAL PROPERTIES OF WOOD. These tests are ])rimarily for the purpose of accumulating reliable information on the mechanical properties of various species and forms of timber. The results are of value to all enmneers, manu- facturers, and other users of wood in enabling them to employ the various species and forms most advantageously, and frequently to substitute less well-known species for those which have been com¬ monly used but are now becoming scarce. The nature of the investi¬ gations is such that they may be classified under the following headings: Tests on Small Specimens Free from Defects. The purpose and general nature of these investigations are as follows: (a) To establish scales by means of which it will be possible to com¬ pare directly the bending strength, compressive strength, shearing, stiffness, toughness, hardness, cleavability, coefficient of shrinkage, and specific gravity or dry weight of the commercial timbers of the United States. Such scales will make it easier for users to select sub¬ stitutes for species which are becoming scarce. 1913. PRODUCTS. 19 (b) To correlate the properties listed above with the rate of growth, the position of the specimen in the tree, the physical characteristics of the tree, and the Icxiality and conditions under which the tree grew. Such analyses are primarily for the use of a forester if the conditions in this country ever permit the selection of material in the woods with respect to its suitability for certain specific purposes. Tests on Structural Timbers, The purpose of these investigations is as follows: (a) To supply engineers and architects with data on which to base moduli for use in the design of structures built of timber. (h) To correlate the results of the tests with the physical charac¬ teristics of the timber and with the character and location of defects in order to establish a more correct basis for the grading of large timbers according to their mechanical properties. (c) To establish a relation between results obtained from large timbers containing defects and those obtained from small specimens free from defects, so that the strength of structural timbers may be estimated from tests on small pieces. Tests on Manufactured Articles. This series includes tests on axles, spokes, cross-arms, poles, and other manufactured articles. They constitute, however, a minor part of the investigative work and are made primarily for the pur¬ pose of demonstrating the fitness of a substitute species or a lower grade of material for specific uses. Effect of Preservative Treatments, Moisture, Etc. This series of tests is for the purpose of studying the effect of mois¬ ture, preservative treatments, methods of seasoning, fireproofing, etc., upon the mechanical properties of wood. Both structural forms and small specimens free from defects are used in the various studies, the form and character of the specimens in each case being deter¬ mined by the nature of the problem. PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF WOOD. From the foregoing brief outline of the purpose and scope of the investigations on the mechanical properties it can readily be seen that they are closely connected with similar investigations on the physical properties of wood. The work falls into the following divisions: Fundamental Properties. A knowledge of the fundamental physical properties of wood in general and of the various species individually is essential to the most efficient utilization of the material. Not only is such knowledge 20 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I, of prime importance in connection with studies on the structural and mechanical properties, but it is especially necessary for the most successful conducting of investigations relating to wood preservation and some other wood-using industries. The several lines of inves¬ tigation cover studies of the thermal properties, penetrability to liquids and gases, hygroscopicity, density of wood substance, etc. Conditioning Experiments. These experiments relate primarily to the application of the knowledge of the structure, mechanical properties, and fundamental physical pjoperties of wood in its preparation and handling for commercial uses, and consist largely of investigations into seasoning and drying. The results will be of value to all engaged in the manu¬ facture and utilization of wood products, such as lumber, structural timber, ties, poles, wagons and vehicles, implements, and furniture. In the manufacture and handling of such products much money and time are spent in seasoning the wood, and often a considerable pro¬ portion of the raw material is lost or damaged as a result of improper seasoning. Information on the fundamental principles of drying lumber is needed in order to improve these conditions. The investi¬ gations logically fall into three divisions, as follows: (a) Air seasoning .-—The importance of this work is evident when it is considered that it affects the entire lumbering and wood-manu¬ facturing industries. Not only is seasoning essential in the pro¬ duction and utilization of a large proportion of the products, but much material inadvertently becomes seasoned as a result of enforced storage of raw material or finished product. Furthermore, it is necessary in practically all cases to air season material prior to kiln drying by the methods in general commercial use. In spite of the importance of the subject, however, and the well-known advantages of properly seasoned timber, such as increased strength, durability, and penetrability to liquids, much material is annually damaged by checking, decay, sap staining, and other agencies, with a corre¬ sponding financial loss. It is the purpose of the investigations to assist in bettering these conditions by securing data on the proper methods of piling and the time required to air season various forms and species in various localities. The results are of especial value to the Forest Service in the work under way on wood preservation, kiln drying, and mechanical properties of wood. (Jb) Kiln drying .—The time required to air season wood properly is so great that artificial methods of drying are being almost universally applied. Unfortunately, however, methods do not yet permit of wood being kiln dried without first being seasoned at least to a partial extent. The big problem which confronts the users of wood is to Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate II. Fig. 1 .—Machines for Testing the Mechanical Properties of Woods, Forest Products Laboratory. Fig. 2.—Equipment for Wood Preservation Experiments, Forest Products Laboratory. T». ■y ».^ . -va % • ' ♦li *+■ ••>■ r il ■. * <• ■'* I ^ • * > t~-Tc^ ■ .'i . *-'. - 4 i r •• • ,. .. ^■giw ;•-. ■■ .. ‘ * ;U' A' •'»J — ^v’rgrr ' ‘ - ' ■' ; ^ ■ '•‘^ >; ■ oV'/-' :■ V"' : • VflJJfcijK.*! *. it ■li'AljVifciS' ■‘■■^ .■'■»’* • .-r .’ • • •* - •t . * - ---iflW •' ^ • n ' 1 ^ . ♦v^ y. •''S>-^J- .. - - "-'’k ’'^ ■■ •#i-’’- '• ^ - ■ /fSl- '*V‘*' r- M ^ jf^ • rViV- . •■ - . • •' VV ■^'S ..yij; ». *•." »w* -su. 4 - -tr-. fSaf-jf '•;, "v V-. ♦, • V A « t 1913. PRODUCTS. 21 season it in the shortest possible time. All methods at present in use are more or less imperfect, and it is conservatively estimated that at least 10 per cent of the material dried in kilns is ruined or greatly lowered in value by excessive checking, warping, honey¬ combing, etc. To study the fundamental principles of drying in kilns with a view to finding means of overcoming the present diffi¬ culties is one of the aims of these investigations. (c) High temperature and pressure treatments .—Very little is known concerning the behavior of wood when subjected to high temper¬ atures and pressures or to various conditions of the surrounding medium. Preliminary experiments indicate that certain of the physi¬ cal and mechanical properties, such as density, strength, hardness, and hygroscopicity, can be altered by such treatments. The aim of these investigations is to find methods of altering the properties of the less valuable woods so as to increase their field of use. General Studies. These investigations are so varied in nature that they can not be classified under any specific heading. RELATION OF STRUCTURE TO PROPERTIES. These investigations aim to find the effect of different kinds of structure on the mechanical and physical properties of woods and to show the structure best adapted for certain specific uses. The work may lead to several methods of grouping, based on the use intended and independent of the botanical classification. The study of wood elements and fibers as found in pulp forms an important phase of the work, as does also the effect of structure on the pene¬ trance of preservatives. WOOD PRESERVATION. ' These investigations deal with the protection or preservation of wood from destruction by decay, fire, abrasion, and insects. Of these, decay is by far the most important, and it is with this that the investigations are mostly concerned. The importance of the investigations are illustrated by the fact that over 100,000,000 cubic feet of wood were treated in 1910 with preservatives to protect them from decay, which is an increase of over 500 per cent of that treated during 1904. Although it can be appreciated at once that the industry is rapidly growing and becom¬ ing established in this country, there are still many points on which further and more definite information is required in order that the most efficient methods may be employed. The nature of the investigations can best be discussed separately under the following classifications: 22 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. Preservatives. GENERAL. The cost of preservatives amounts to from 50 to 90 per cent of the total cost of treatment, and the ultimate success of any treatment is largely dependent upon the preservative used. Many substances have been tried as preservatives, and a variety of opinions exist as to what preservative will give the greatest efficiency under different conditions. It is the purpose of the work to secure authentic information on the relative efficiency of various preservatives which are now being used commercially or which give promise of success in preventing decay. The work may be classed into investigations of oils, metallic salts, and other materials, their efficiency depending to a greater or less extent upon the following points: PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES. This is the first step in studying the efficiency of any preservative. It may frequently happen that a determination of these properties is immediately sufficient to prove the product unsatisfactory. TOXICITY. The success of many preservatives depends entirely upon then- antiseptic or toxic properties, or, in other words, upon their poisonous effect upon decay-producing organisms, insects, or marine borers. This is true of all the metallic salts and in a large measure of many of the.other preservatives used. EFFECT ON STRENGTH OF WOOD. However efficient a preservative may be in retarding decay, it is evidently essential for the great majority of cases that the strength of wood should not be seriously affected by its injection. INFLAMMABILITY. There are many instances where a preservative might be advan¬ tageously used were it not for the danger of increasing the inflamma¬ bility of the timber. This is especially true in such cases as mine timbers, where the wet conditions are frequently adverse to the use of metallic salts and where the use of creosote or other oils would be effective were it not for the possible increased danger from fu-e. Furthermore, the protection of wood against ffi-e is an important field in the wood-preservation work, since more stringent rules are every¬ where being put into effect regarding the use of inflammable material in buildings. EASE OF INJECTION INTO WOOD. This is an important aspect in determining the efficiency of a pre¬ servative, since it is evident that its efficiency is impaired if it can not be forced into the wood with comparative ease. 1913. PRODUCTS. 23 Processes. Closely related to the work on preservatives is the investigative work on processes. However efficient a preservative may be in itself, it is important that it be injected into the wood in the most efficient and economical manner. The work covers investigations of the relative efficiency of the various processes in commercial use, of proposed or new processes, and of the effect of varying conditions during treatment. The intention is to determine the effect of each step in various established and proposed processes upon the impreg¬ nation of the wood and its condition after treatment. Suitability of Species. Closely related to the work on preservatives and processes is the determination of the suitability of various species for treatment. One of the chief aims of such work is to increase the use of the cheaper and less durable woods, of which there is a plentiful supply, in place of the more costly and naturally durable woods which are more generally used. Information on the relative permeability of various woods will be of value to the consumer in selecting his material and of special value to the Forest Service in disposing of many species on the National Forests for which at present there is no great demand. The work involves investigations to determine the resistance of woods to impregnation with preservatives, their relative resistance to decay, and the methods necessary to satisfactorily prepare them for treatment. Cooperative Field Work and Service Tests. Owing to the comparatively recent development of wood preserva¬ tion in this country, one portion of the work on this subject consists of cooperative field work and of service tests. The final test of any preservative or process applied to any species or form of material is to place such material under actual conditions of service and note the results. PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM WOOD, BARK, LEAVES, AND THE GROWING TIMBER. The investigations on derived products are divided according to the product under consideration, as follows: Pulp and Paper. The manufacture of pulp and paper is a well-established industry which uses wood and rags as raw material and whose products are in large demand. Its magnitude as a wood-using industry is shown by the fact that in 1909 over 4,000,000 cords of wood were consumed. The cost for this wood alone was over $33,000,000. The annual 24 EEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. consumption of wood for pulp products increased over 100 per cent from 1900 to 1909, while its cost increased over 240 percent. Since 60 per cent of the wood used for pulp in 1909 was spruce and 15 per cent hemlock, the importance of investigating the value for pulp of species at present little used and of various forms of wood waste is evident. Studies of methods to increase the efficiency of established processes are also needed. The pulp investigations may be classified as follows: MECHANICAL OR GRINDING PROCESSES. So far as the immediate needs of the paper trade are concerned, this work is of the greatest importance. Much of the cheaper paper, such as news print, is made from pulp produced in this way. At the present time practically the entire supply of ground-wood pulp is produced from spruce, and the diminishing supply and increasing price of this species makes the search for satisfactory substitutes of live interest to pulp manufacturers. A study of the details of the processes used in making different kinds of pulp is also carried on with a view to determining the most efficient methods of production. CHEMICAL PROCESSES. It is by chemical processes that pulp for use in the finer and stronger grades ol paper is produced, and although a greater variety of woods are used than for the ground-wood pulp the fundamental problem ^ confronting the industry here also is the supply of raw material. In 1909 over 85 per cent of the wood consumed consisted of spruce, hemlock, poplar, and balsam, and it is the prime aim of the investi¬ gative work to determine the relative suitability of other available species and forms of material. In studying the suitability of the various woods, their adaptability for the different established processes must be considered. This involves a thorough knowledge of the various processes and of the effect of varying certain conditions on the final product. The work on species and processes, therefore, is closely connected and may be classified into: (a) Studies with the soda process, which is a well-established process suited for either deciduous or highly resinous woods; (h) Studies with the sulphite process, which is the process now most extensively used in this countiy and is especially adapted for the not too resinous conifers and for the production of pulps where a very white natural color is desired; (c) Studies with the sulphate process, which, although used only to a limited extent in this country at present, gives promise of be¬ coming of more importance especially for the manufacture of pulps from the southern pines and more resinous woods. Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate III. Fig. 1 .—Paper Machine, Forest Products Laboratory. Fig. 2. Equipment for Analyzing and Testing Preservatives, Turpentine, Prod¬ ucts OF Wood Distillation, etc.. Forest Products Laboratory. - i. 1913. PRODUCTS. 25 Wood Distillation. Wood distillation is already a fairly well-established industry, con¬ sisting of two distinct branches—hardwood distillation and resinous wood distillation. Both branches depend on waste wood to a large extent for raw material so that the investigations consist (1) of a study of new species which may be found suitable; (2) of the development of more efficient methods of production and refining; and (3) of the determination of the properties of distillation products not readily marketable at present. The nature of the two branches of the work is as follows: • HARDWOODS. This is an established industry with fairly well-standardized pro¬ cesses. Two of the main products—acetate of lime and wood alco¬ hol—are regularly quoted market articles. The third, charcoal, is usually sold to iron furnaces or in other local markets for fuel. In many of the commercial plants wood cut especially for the purpose is used, while others are operated on sawmill waste, so that only that part of the tree not suitable for lumber is used for distillation. Small¬ sized material, such as sawdust and shavings, is not practicable, since the charcoal produced is so fine that it is difficult to cool and handle, and the small size of the material makes it such a poor conductor of heat that it is unpossible to char it satisfactorily in the ordinary for ms of apparatus. The species most extensively used in commercial work are birch, beech, and maple. The amount of valuable products that can be ob¬ tained from these woods is comparatively well known, but very little information is available for other species. The purpose of the investigations, therefore, is primarily to determine tlie suitability of other species for distillation purposes. RESINOUS WOODS. This is a comparatively recent industry in this country for which standard methods have not yet been developed. Some of the products also have not yet become standard market articles. -The investigations cover the following fields: (a) Destructive distillation .—In selecting material for this purpose the govrerning factor is the amount of resin or pitch present in the wood, and since this resin content is variable for difl’erent trees of the same species, and even in different parts of the same tree, it is usually necessary to select the wood in order to obtain a material sufficiently rich for distillation. The largest portion of material at present used consists of ^dightwood^' from longleaf pine. Stump wood from the same species has been used also to some extent; but the 20 REVIEW OP FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. ^‘lightwood’’ is commonly used, since the stump wood is more diffi¬ cult to collect and prepare for distillation. (h) Steam distillation .—There is another form of material, such as the average run of sawmill waste, sawdust, and slabs from longleaf pine, which on account of its comparatively small resin content can not be used economically for destructive distillation, and apj)arently the only process which is applicable to this class of material is the simple and more rapid steam-distillation process, which recovers only the volatile oils originally present as such in the wood. It is the purpose of these investigations (1) to standardize meth¬ ods of distillation for various species and classes of material and (2) to determine the quality and value of the various products which mav be secured. (c) Extraction methods .—In the distillation of resinous woods one of the most valuable products—rosin—is not secured. Methods have been developed for securing this product by extraction from the wood with chemicals, and these investigations deal with a study of such methods. Naval Stores or Turpentine and Rosin. The naval-stores industry has long been established in this coun¬ try. The general method of procedure is to tap the resinous long- leaf pine trees and collect the gum, which is subsequently distilled and refined into the two major products—turpentine and rosin. Under existing methods of operations there is considerable loss of possible products owing to unscientific methods of tapping the trees and collecting the gum, while at the same time it is believed that other species than longleaf pine might prove of value for this pur¬ pose. The study of new species and the refinement of operations is the main purpose of the investigative work. Miscellaneous. Work under this heading covers investigations which are not so broad in scope as the foregomg. They deal primarily with the uti¬ lization by transformation into other products of waste hicident to mill operations and existing in the forests, and also include studies which do not deal primarily with the utilization of waste, but are nevertheless of value in furthermg this work. Investigations at present under way deal with the production of ethyl alcohol, tannins, gas, essential oils from leaves and twigs, and the chemical composition of various woods. STATISTICAL STUDIES. This work deals with the collection and compilation of statistics on the amounts, prices, sources, and uses of various forest products produced annually and with studies to show where and how the waste 3013. SILVICULTURE. 27 occurs and how it may be reduced. The work is of importance (1) to the Forest Service in so far as it assists in determining the lines of work wdiich require investigations, and (2) to the Forest Service and users of wood at large in furnishing information regarding the consumption and utilization of various woods and wooden products in different sections of the country. The work falls into the following divisions: Annual Production of Forest Products, This work deals with the collection of statistics showing the annual production of the major forest products and is of importance in giv¬ ing a reliable yearly record of the extent and changes in the demand upon the forests for each kind of wood by States. Uses of Woods and the Manufacture of Wooden Products. The purpose of these investigations is to show the annual consump¬ tion of wood by the wood-using industries ai d to determine the con¬ ditions governing its use and the processes of manufacture. The part each species plays in wood economics is thus traced from the saw¬ mill to the finished product. The information secured is of special value to the Government and other owners of timber, since it points out the best markets for each kind of wood. It is also of value to the manufacturer in enabling him to determine where he can best buy the material which he requires. Lumber Prices. The purpose of this work is to secure periodically wholesale prices of lumber both at the mills and principal markets. The informa¬ tion has two main applications: 1. It provides a continuous statistical record of the prices of the various woods in all parts of the country. 2. It determines the part which freight and selling charges play in determining the wholesale price of the different grades. Miscellaneous. This covers minor work of a statistical nature, such as the collection of statistics on the quantity of wood preservatives annually con¬ sumed and the extent of the substitution of other materials for wood. SILVICULTURE. The aim of the silvicultural investigations is to secure a thorough . knowledge of the silvical characteristics and requirements of all for¬ est trees, a solid scientific basis for the silvicultural handling of existing forests, and for the establishment of new forests to secure the most economic use of the timber and other products of the forest 28 KEVLEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. and a more exact knowledge of its indirect benefits. The silvicul¬ tural investigations are necessarily conducted along two distinct lines, as experimental studies and general studies. The experimental work as now conducted at the Forest experi¬ ment stations is by far the most important. For the last few years it has been felt that only by well-ordered experiments can empirical procedure be replaced by truly scientific procedure. The experi¬ mental work is carried on chiefly at the seven Forest experiment stations of the Forest Service: the Fremont Station on the Pike National Forest near Pikes Peak in Colorado; the Wagon Wheel Gap Station on the Pio Grande National Forest, also in Colorado; the Fort Valley Station near Flagstaff, Ariz., and its substations; the Priest River Station on the Kaniksu National Forest in Idaho; the Feather River Station on the Plumas National Forest in California; the Utah Station on the Manti National Forest in Utah, and at the Arlington Farm in Washington, D. C., although a large number of experiments are conducted on various Forests and in cooperation with several States on State lands. General studies which can not be confined to one locality, such as regional or tree studies, are necessarily made where favorable condi¬ tions exist for carrying them on. FOREST EXPERIMENT STATIONS. The Forest experiment stations are the outgrowth of the need for scientific information which can be secured only in a systematic manner and by intensive methods of study. The Forest experiment station idea is not a new one; it has already been developed exten¬ sively in several European countries. The value of the systematic organization of Forest research work was officially recognized in Ger¬ many in 1870, when the first Forest experiment station was estab¬ lished in Baden, in connection with the Polyteclmikum at Carlsruhe. Half a dozen of the German States followed the example, instituting main experiment stations in connection with forest schools, and branches in various forest districts. The cost to the German Govern¬ ment is in the neighborhood of $30,000 annually. The work done is intensely scientific, and the policy of forest experiment stations is steadily growing in favor. In India, where the work of research has been neglected for a long time, the need for scientific investigation has now been recognized by the Government, and an Imperial Forest Research Institute and College has been created at Dehra Dun, with a faculty chosen from the Imperial Forest Service. In the United States considerable research work has been done in connection with forest problems. The beginning of real investiga¬ tive work in silviculture, however, must date from the establishment Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate IV Rear View of Fort Valley Experiment Station Grounds, with San Francisco Mountains in the Distance. To the Right, Residence of Officer in Charge; to the Left, Assistants’ Quarters. Review of Investigations—Vol. 1, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate V. Headquarters of Fremont Experiment Station, Pikes Peak in the Background. 1913. SILVICULTUKE. 29 of the first experiment station at Flagstaff, Ariz., in the summer of 1908. Advantages of economy and greater efficiency in conducting investigative work in silviculture at an experiment station are appa¬ rent. Under the old system of conducting investigative work, assignments to an extensive area were usually necessary, to which the observer could devote but a short field season. Under the system of Forest experiment stations, specially trained men are permanently assigned to a given region with which they have an opportunity to become thoroughly familiar and therefore are capable of conducting the work with the greatest effectiveness and least expense. Each of the experiment stations is allotted an area sufficient for the proper handling of short-period experiments, for experiments requiring a number of years, and for the maintenance of large permanent sample areas which serve as models typical of the silvicultural region. Such areas furnish the most valuable, instructive, and convincing object lessons for the public in general, for professional foresters, lumber¬ men, and owners of forest land, and especially for the technical and administrative officers of the National Forests. The organization of the Forest experiment stations made possible the use of uniform methods in dealing with forest problems. General problems are treated at the different stations simultaneously; local problems in the region to which their results apply. All of the modi- fying factors which enter into the results of experiments are measured by observations covering many conditions and years and are thus determined once for all with the greatest economy and the least dupli¬ cation of work. The stations are distributed in such a way that one station is located in each of the silvicultural regions of the West. A single Forest, representing as much as possible the conditions typical of the region, is selected and a portion of this area set aside for the purposes of the experiment station. Fort Valley Experiment Station. This is the oldest station, having been established in the summer of 1908. It is located on the Coconino National Forest within 8 miles of Flagstaff, and is typical of the western yellow-pine forests of the Southwest. Fremont Experiment Station. This station was stablished in 1909. It was named in honor of Gen. John C. Fremont, .a famous explorer of the Pikes Peak region. It is located on the front range of the Pocky Mountains, 75 miles south of Denver, 10 miles west of Colorado Springs, and 2 miles from Manitou, wffiich is at the base of the mountains. The situation may be said to be on the slope of Pikes Peak, although the station is nearly 4 miles from the Peak and 1 mile lower than its summit. At ap- 30 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. proximately 8,850 feet elevation, the Fremont Station is almost at the middle of the forest range, timber line on the Peak being at 11,500 feet, and the lower limit of forest growth at about 6,500. Either extreme of tree growth is within 4 miles of the station. The Pike National Forest is an especially desirable site for a Forest experiment station on account of the wide range of altitude which it covers and the versatility of jdiysical conditions within its limits. The forest types surrounding the station are those of western yellow pine, Douglas fir, and Engelmann spruce. Wagon Wheel Gap Experiment Station. This station was established in 1910. While it is almost in the same region as the Fremont Experiment Station, the purpose for which it was organized is entirely distinct, namely, the study of the effect of forest cover upon streamflow. It is located on the Rio Grande National Forest near Wagon Wheel Gap, and the watershed studies are carried on in cooperation with the United States Weather Bureau. Priest River Experiment Station. This station was organized in the fall of 1911. It is located on the Kaniksu National Forest about 14 miles from the to^\^l of Priest River. It is typical of the limited silvicultural region composed of western white pine and western larch. Feather River Experiment Station. This station was organized in the fall of 1912. It is located on the Plumas National Forest on the west side of the Sierras. It is within a region typical of the western slope of the Sierras where the most important species are western yellow pine, sugar pine, and incense cedar, which occur in mixture with each other and mth other species such as Douglas fir and white fir. Utah Experiment Station. This station was organized in the fall of 1912 on the Manti National Forest, chiefly'for the purpose of carrying on intensive grazing studies, especially studies of the effect of grass cover and grazing upon floods, erosion, and purity of the water supply. Since this station is located in the Wasatch range of mountains in the midst of vast areas of aspen, opportunity is afforded also for carrying on silvicultural investiga¬ tions in the management of aspen stands and their replacement by conifers. Arlington Farm, Washington, D. C. The work at the Arlington farm is limited to seed tests in the green¬ houses of the Bureau of Plant Industry and to basket-willow studies, propagation of different varieties of willows, and raising small quan- 1913. SILVICULTURE. 31 titles of basket-willow rods of the recognized commercial species. It , is not, therefore, a forest experiment station in the sense all other ' stations are. The experiment stations in the different districts do not attempt to ' duplicate the work of each other, but each aims to concentrate on [ problems most typical and most urgent in the district in which it is located. Examples of this are as follows: District 3 (including Arizona and New Mexico) has a problem of f the first importance in the study of the western yellow-pine forest, j its management and reproduction. The investigations in this district I are therefore chiefly directed to the solution of such problems. All ^ other districts have western yellow pine which enters more or less I into the management of their Forests, but to a less extent than in i District 3. In District 2 (Colorado and W 5 ^oming) lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, J. and Engelmann spruce form the bulk of the Forests. Their manage- ■ ment and reforestation is therefore the main field for investigation. In District 1 (Montana and northern Idaho) the western w^hite pine j and larch types, and to a considerable extent, also, lodgepole pine, attract especially the attention of the investigator. As far as the } problems in the lodgepole-pine type are concerned, however, the inves- Itigations are divided, as far as possible, between Districts 1 and 2. I'Thus the investigations in District 1 are chiefly of growth, volume, ^^and yield; in District 2, chiefly of seed collection, seed extraction, ‘(land reforestation. ^ In District 6 (Oregon, Washington, and Alaska) the experiments |iiin the Douglas-fir type are emphasized, while in District 5 (California) ji the mixed forest of sugar pine, yellow pine, and incense cedar as well }as eucalyptus problems are brought to the front. ! The silvicultural investigations carried on by the Forest Service are conveniently classed under the following headings: : Forestation: General studies. Seed, production, fertility, methods of extraction, etc. I Nursery practice. Species, methods, and seasons for artificial forestation. Sites—limits upon the growth of each species fixed by site conditions. Introduction of exotics. ’ Species. f Forest influences upon climate, stream flow, erosion, etc. ^Management: I General systems and their technical basis, j Methods of cutting. Brush disposal. I Natural reproduction. Thinnings. Valuation—immature growth, merchantable timber, soil for forest production. Mensuration. 32 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. Protection from— Fire. Grazing. Diseases. Insects. Animals. Snow. Regional studies of types and forest conditions. Silvical studies : Distribution of forest trees and types. Forest types—description, basis of tree associations, etc. Special studies. Tree studies: Growth, yield, silvical characteristics, methods of management, etc. Utilization studies. FORESTATION. The studies and experiments in forestation cover the entire field of establishing a forest by artificial means—from the collection of the seed to the final sowing of seed or planting of trees in the field. They include investigations in regard to the collection and testing of seed; factors influencing the amount and quality of seed produced, such as site, age, and condition of the tree; periodicity of seed years; effect of the source of seed, such as the locality in which the seed was pro¬ duced and the condition of the mother tree, upon the size and hardi¬ ness of the seedlings. They cover experiments in the nursery as to the time of sowing, depth of covering, necessity for shade, protection from birds and rodents, age at transplanting, methods of transplant¬ ing, use of fertilizers, etc., for the various species, also experiments in seed sowing and planting of nursery and forest-grown stock to determine the comparative values of each for the various species and sites, as well as the best seasons, the best age of stock, methods of sowing and planting, the possibility of extending the range of native species, or of introducing exotics. Seed Investigations. The extensive seed collecting and seed extracting operations now carried on by the Forest Service called forth an important line of experiments with seed. This included methods of collecting, clean¬ ing, extracting, testing, and storing of seed. The technique of handling large quantities of cones and of handling the seed receive special attention, since it is felt that-this work, involving the expendi¬ ture of thousands of dollars, must, by all means, be on a scientific basis. From the tree to the final storage room seed under artificial treat¬ ment is liable to a great many injuries in careless hands. The prob¬ lems have not been thoroughly worked out by commercial seed deal¬ ers because the demand for forest tree seed has been small. Even the procedure worked out by European foresters can not be closely fol¬ lowed in han^liing our native species, such as lodgepole pine or western Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate VI. Fig. 2.—Interior View of Greenhouse at Fremont Experiment Station, where Seed Tests are Made for the District. 1913. SILVICULTURE. 33 larch, which have peculiar cones. ^ No doubt much difference exists in the resistance to heat, moisture, and mechanical injury of our various native species. The problems which are aimed to be solved by these experiments are: How can cones be handled to yield the largest quantity of seed of the best quality, without impairing the germinative power under processes which are not natural but which must be resorted to for the sake of economy; how can the seed be best stored so as to retain the greatest vigor and value in producing immediate results from sowing; how to determine in the shortest time possible, and yet accurately, the fertility of the germinative vigor of the seed as a guide for sowing in the nurseries and in the field, and how the source of seed affects the vitality and future growth of the seedlings. The source of seed has a great bearing upon reforestation work. In the practical work of planting, it frequently becomes necessary to choose between two supplies of seed available for the work, both pos¬ sibly from distinct sources. To what extent the source, as well as the germinative value of the seed, may influence the success of the opera¬ tion and to what extent stock from distinct points will prove adaptable to local conditions are always doubtful questions. Some of the problems encountered are: 1. Is it advisable to use on one Forest seed collected on another Forest, which may be somewhat different as regards latitude, precip¬ itation or character of soil, or even seed collected in a situation on the same Forest, differing radically in any of these respects? The extent to which the source of seed may have a bearing on the success of direct seeding work determines the procedure to be followed in collecting seed, in centralizing seed-extracting operations, etc. 2. Do trees which are especially heavy seed bearers necessarily produce the most thrifty and vigorous seedlings ? If so, seed collect¬ ing should undoubtedly be restricted to such trees as much as possible. 3. Are certain defects of parent trees, which may, in some instances, make them prolific seed bearers, especially attractive to the collector, likely to be transmitted, as weaknesses, to their offspring, and are defects in the technical quality of the wood hereditary or purely the result of the conditions of growth? There is much evidence leading to the former supposition. If this is well grounded, every effort should be made to improve the quality of our timber while regenerat¬ ing the immense areas of burns and cut-over lands. 4. Are the most rapid-growing climatic varieties adaptable to change of environment; and, if so, will they prove more valuable in any locality than the native form, or will they revert immediately to the same form and rate of growth ? 65603°—13-^3 34 KEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. 5. In the introduction of species to a new region, such, for instance, as the Nebraska sandhills, where all forest trees maybe considered as exotics, many unexpected natural enemies make their appearance. Probably the most important factor in success or failure, however, is climate. Despite all efforts to care for seedlings in the nursery, to protect them from disease, excessive light, and drought, and despite the efforts to make the conditions at the time of planting as favorable as possible, results so far obtained indicate that in a given situation only a certain proportion of the orginal number of seedlings of any species will survive. Failure to adapt to new conditions is the only j)ossible explanation. Can the* quality of adaptability, or original hardiness, be traced to the parent trees ? These problems are only different phases of one problem—when and how shall the seed for reforestation work be selected ? A number of experiments to answer these questions are now car¬ ried on at the different experiment stations. In order to yield conclusive results, however, these experiments will have to be carried on for several years. Nursery Practice. Experiments in nursery practice are confined to raising stock in the nursery. There are many problems in the handling of a forest- tree nursery in a given region which must be determined for that particular nursery. To accept the findings of an investigator who has worked with entirely different conditions of soil, climate, and tree species may be worse for the nurseryman than to be ignorant of any such investigations. For instance, nursery practices which have proved very successful in the New York State nurseries have been almost disastrous when attempted under the absolutely different conditions of the Halsey nursery, Nebraska. There are practices which would be bad under any conditions, others which mth discre¬ tion might well be applied anywhere, but for the most part each nurseryman must work out his own problems. Species, Methods, and Seasons—Sites. Experiments with species, methods, and seasons, as well as vdth sites, are designed to determine what measure of success may be expected from different species and methods for planting or sowing on various sites. With respect to the latter point, the problem is mainly one of determining where the efforts may be best applied in the hope of encouraging the reforestation work on favorable sites, and it will usually follow, too, that the site w^hich is most favorable for sowing and planting will produce the best timber in the shortest time. On the other hand, situations most in need of a protective forest are usually the most difficult to stock. 1913. SILVICULTURE. 35 The methods of procedure in sowing and planting must be thor¬ oughly worked out on a small scale in order to execute larger opera- ! i tions, which are much needed, most ecoiiomically. The importance of this line of work can not be overestimated, nor should the value of small, carefully studied experiments be deprecated. Viewed on the basis of present plans for reforestation work, and the experience ; gained at experiment stations during the last few years, a thousand dollars expended in experimental work at two or three points would furnish a knowledge of methods and seasons for sowing a given species, while in a single year $10,000 might be expended without results if the work happened to be done at the wrong time or in the wrong way. The value of any method of sowing or planting must be judged entirely by the results which it produces, or, in short, the num¬ ber of trees estabhshed in a new site, for each dollar expended. The numerous problems encountered in the reforestation work, the -solution of which is being attempted, may be grouped as follows: 1. Effect of situation (slope, aspect, etc.) on success of sowing and planting. 2. Effect of herbaceous, shrubby, or arborescent cover on the success of sowing or planting. 3. Effect of grazing on the work of reforestation. 4. The best season for sowing and planting. 5. The best methods of sowing and planting, or comparison of both processes, including the preparation of ground. 6. The best kind of stock for planting (in a given species). 7. The destruction of rodents, and other means to insure the suc¬ cess of sowings. The best methods of reforestation and the most favorable season For sowing seed and planting nursery stock are being tested with all important trees upon the National Forests. Studies in Range Extension and Introduction of Exotics. Within the National Forests, as well as outside of them, in the I nountainous regions, the several forest types are found in distinct > iltitudinal zones. The chief differences between successive zones lie in the amount of 1 precipitation which they receive and, less important, in a decreasing | nean temperature toward the higher altitudes. To what extent the amount of moisture present in the soil and the temperature absolutely imit the altitudmal range of a species and to what extent this limita. 'ion of range of any species is due to the more successful competition )f another species is still a matter of speculation. It is believed that my species is capable of adapting itself to less moisture on the one land and lower temperature on the other than are found in its native labitat. Such being the case, it is possible that yellow pine and k 36 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. Douglas fir, for instance, by far the most valuable of the four principal species concerned in the Rocky Mountains, can be made to grow in place of the less valuable pinon on the one hand and the less valuable Engelmann spruce on the other. It goes without saying that this is a problem in reforestation to be considered where there is to be no competition between the natural species of the type and the species whose range is extended into that type. In other words, can we not create temporary types in reforestation more valuable than the natural types ? To answer this question, two experiments have been inaugurated at the Fremont Station with the extension of Douglas fir by artificial sowing and planting to higher altitudes and with the extension of yellow pine to lower altitudes. These experiments, if serving no other useful purpose, will furnish more definite information than is yet available regarding the climatic limitations of successful reforestation. What is true of altitudinal range is also true of geographic range. There are many species which occur in some National Forests and are absent in others, although the climatic and other physical conditions may be nearly the same. Thus, lodgepole pine is absent from the southeastern portion of the Rocky Mountams, yet there are many localities where it could apparently grow well. Experiments were mstituted in several of the National Forests, and especially m the Fremont Experiment Station, for the purpose of determining the possibility of mtroducing, by means of sowing and plantmg, such species as eastern white puie {Finns strohus), western white pine {Finns monticola), lodgepole pine, Norway pine, and several others which do not occur there naturally, but whose climatic require¬ ments do not differ essentially from the other species growing in those localities. While the Forest Service is not directly concerned with the intro¬ duction of any foreign species mto this country, and believes that our own forest flora is so rich m species that it is possible to find trees practically for any situation and soil, yet there are a few species abroad the advantage of which is so evident that the Forest Service carried on several experiments for the purpose of determinmg their suitability in this country. Among the species are cork oak, mari¬ time pine, Austrian pine, European larch, Norway spruce, Scotch pine, eucalypts, and acacias (wattles). FOREST INFLUENCES. Experiments in forest influences aim to determine the relation of forests to climate and stream flow and also to obtam data necessary for a proper understanding of all other silvicultural experiments in which the climatic factor enters into the results. The essential fea- Review of Investigations—Vol. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate VII. Fig. 2.—Priest River Experiment Station Greenhouse. Review of Investigations—Voi. I, Forest Service, U. S. Dept, of Agriculture. Plate VIII ' 3 i I Control Meteorological Station on Benton Flat, Priest River Experiment Station. In Back¬ ground AN Even-Aged Stand of 50-Year-Old Western Larch. Situation Representative of . THF I ARP.M Tvpr OF Mortm\vccit-cdm ^/loMTAMA a m ry, I (-i a, > ■<-> 1913. SILVICULTURE. 37 tures of these experiments are meteorological observations arranged in such a way as to bring out the relation l)etween vegetation, climate, and stream flow. These observations are carried on in cooperation with the United States Weather Bureau. The cooperative plan agreed to by the Weather Bureau provides that it shall furnish the instruments for observations of air, temperature, humidity, precipita¬ tion, and wind velocity. In most cases three sets of instruments are installed at the same experiment station, either in different forest types or in the forest, on the edge of the forest, and in the open. One of the most important forest influences is considered to be its effect upon stream flow. There is still some skepticism as to the great value of the forest cover in retaining the water of precipitation and preventing its rapid run-off. The results of European investigation of this and other matters concerned with the indirect influence of the forest must not be taken as final, or even as having very great bearing on the question as presented in this country. The fact that Europeans have found very little difference between the climate inside and that outside the forest, that they have noted no great change in the flow and quality of their streams, etc., is easily accounted for on the ground that their observations have covered no great range of clunatic conditions, and that they have practically all been made since the time when the forest area assumed its normal position in the balance. No such extremes ' of climate as this country possesses, or such a change in the forest ! cover as has been witnessed here in the past century, are to be imagined for any country m Europe, and hardly for the whole continent. The study of the effect of forest cover upon stream flow is studied at the Wagon Wheel Gap Station, which has been established entirely for this purpose. The object of the stream-flow experiment as it is con¬ ducted on the Rio Grande National Forest is to determine by means of the most highly accurate measurements the effect of forest cover upon the high and low water stages of mountain streams, the total run-off from mountain watersheds as compared with the annual precipitation, and the erosion of the surface of such watersheds. The measurements of factors concerned are so made as to furnish in a I general way an estimate of the relative amounts of run-off and evap- B orated water of . each watershed. Since, as has been shown by geological examination, there is very small possibility of an esca})e of the water of precipitation, by percolation, other than through the main channels of the streams involved, there is no third element to be measured. In the present case the comparison of the forested and nonforested mountain watershed is obtained in a manner which can not fail to give convincing results. ^leasurements of the streams in two watersheds, both moderately well covered with forest, will be con- I 38 KEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. ducted for a number of years with the measurements of all the fac¬ tors which may affect the character of the flow of each stream. Bv this process a certaui relation will be established between the two streams for different sets of conditions of different characters. For instance, it will be found that a given amount of precipitation produces in one watershed a flood of a given height and in the other watershed a flood of slightly different height, but both influenced by forest covers of practically the same character. Or, again, a given amount of snow melting under a given maximum and mean daily tempera¬ ture of air and soil produces a given flow in each stream. When this comparison has been carried long enough to furnish a number of relations between the two watersheds, one watershed will be de¬ nuded and the forest cover upon the other will be retained. There will be, therefore, upon the forested watershed the same conditions affecting the flow of the stream in that watershed as during the earlier part of the experiment, while upon the denuded watershed the condi¬ tions will have been changed only so far as forest cover is concerned, and any changes in the relative behavior of the two streams as before and after the denudation must therefore be accredited to the change in forest-cover conditions. To cite a hypothetical case: With the forest cover on both watersheds a rauifall of 1 inch in 1 hour produces a flow in the watershed A of 1 foot of water over the weir, the crest of the flow occurring 2 hours after the begin¬ ning of the precipitation as recorded by the time record at the head of the watershed and automatic stage register at the measuring point of the stream. In watershed B the same precipitation pro¬ duces a flow of 15 inches over the weir, occurring If hours after the beginning of the storm. The two streams during the progress of this flow deposit an equal amount of silt in the settling basins as measured by actual weight, and samples of the water passing out of the basins are shown to be carrying the same amount of finer silt which does not settle. After the denudation of watershed B, a similar storm produces in watershed A a similar flow as regards volume and time, while in water¬ shed B it produces a flow of 20 inches, occurring IJ hours after the beginning of precipitation, and it is found that a much larger amount of silt has been deposited in the settling basm. It must be admitted that such comparative records as these, whether or not they prove the contention as to the value of forest cover in retarding run-off and preventing erosion of the slopes of watersheds, must carry conviction which can not fail to be of assist¬ ance toward a proper understanding of the value of mountain forests. 1913. SILVICULTURE. 39 MANAGEMENT STUDIES. The purpose of these studies is to determine the best methods f of cutting in the different forest types in order to secure natural [ reproduction in the shortest possible time. The most economical ' and best method of reforestation is, of course, by natural seeding from the trees left on the cut-over land or from trees adjoining the cutting. These studies include also experiments in assisting natural reproduction by various methods of brush disposal, destruction of unfavorable ground cover, soil preparation, and other means. By the study of cut-over areas in which there is already partial reproduction much time may be saved in obtaining results. The old cuttmgs, however, did not follow any distinct silvicultural systems, and few, if any, followed the systems which we may hope to adopt in the future. For the most thorough studies, therefore, it is necessary to select small areas of timber sales and follow out an ideal system of cutting, sometimes at slight additional expense, since it is fre¬ quently necessary to overreach the terms of the contract under which the main cutting is being done. While a fair beginning has been made in experiments of this character, there are few results available as yet, since it will take several years before the effect of one or another method of cutting will show itself upon the success or failure of natural reproduction. • Studies in management include further experiments in thinnings to determine the effect of improvement cuttings on the volume and quality increment of the remaining trees for various exposures, types, and species with special reference to the relation of the cost of such thinnings to the value increment. While thmnings as a dis¬ tinct cultural operation will be hardly applicable yet for many years in most of our forests, there are types where the removal of certain .classes of trees is practicable at present and is of benefit to the remaining stand. Such stands are found in the lodgepole pine, Douglas fir, and in some instances also in the yellow pine types. Thinning experiments are now conducted on a number of Forests, especially in Districts 1 and 2. Methods of determining the value of land for agricultural or forest purposes, and of ascertaining the damage caused by fire to immature or mature stands, -form also a part of management studies. While there are definite mathematical formulas for calculating the pro¬ ductive capacity of the soil and the value of immature timber, the application of the formulas depends on many factors, such as the rotation adopted for the different species, stumpage prices, cost of natural or artificial reforestation. These factors must be carefully studied before we can be certain that the formulas used answer the present economic conditions of forestry in this country. 40 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. 1 VOL. I. MENSURATION STUDIES. The proper handling of timber sales as well as the management of the forests must necessarily be based on reliable data as to the growth, volume, and yield of the different species and types of forests. They are also essential for determining the damages caused by fires, tres¬ pass, etc. The purpose of growth studies is first of all to collect such data, and from them to establish certain laws of tree grow.th. In addition, studies in mensuration include comparison of different methods of gathering data; for instance, whether tlie accretion borer or stump analysis should be used for determining the rate of growth, tape or calipers for standing trees on sample plots, strip surveys, or ocular estimates for determining yield in reconnaissance work. The work of collecting growth and yield data is carried on largely in connection with the reconnaissance work in the districts and is confined to timber-sale areas which afford the best opportunity for measuring large numbers of trees, and to permanent sample plots which present the best means for measuring the growth of standing timber. Such data are also collected in connection with tree studies. To the growth and yield studies belong also the establishment of permanent sample plots. The purpose of the sample plots is to have in forests typical for a given region and species definitely and dis¬ tinctly marked areas on which all the trees are carefully measured and within which certain silvicultural operations, such as thinnings, improvement cuttings, etc., are made. These areas are measured at definite intervals for each experiment, and the results of thinning, opening up of the forest, or removal of the litter which find their expression in the growth of the trees are studied. These areas at the same time furnish yield data, that is, the amount of timber that, can be secured from forest land at certain ages of the stand. Most of the sample plots are now established on the National Forests in connection with other studies. In the East sample plots were estab¬ lished on State and private land, and many of them which were established five years ago were recently remeasured. Wilde these sample plots are extremely valuable in themselves, they are also used in connection with other studies, such as tree studies or the best methods of handling timberlands or farmers’ woodlots. The sample- plot method is the most reliable one for studying forest problems, and '1 1 *•] furnishes the basis for American forest management. i PROTECTION STUDIES. These studies aim to ascertain the extent of the effect caused by fire, grazing, diseases, insects, anunals, and climatic agencies, such as snow, had, and wind, upon standing timber and natural repro¬ duction. The studies of the effect of grazing form a part of the graz- 1913. SILVICULTURE. 41 ing studies conducted by the Branch of Grazing and are taken up more fully under the head of Grazing. The object of these investiga¬ tions is to secure definite data in regard to actual amount of damage done to natural reproduction by grazing, and of devising a system of range control whereby the damage may be minimized without the total exclusion of stock. The relation of grazing to fire protection, the use of goats for destroying chaparral, and thus preparing for reforestation are among the problems taken up under this head. While the investigations of the diseases of trees are under the direction of the district pathologist of the Bureau of Plant Industry, much information is being collected by the Forest Service as to the effect and extent of various tree diseases, such as rot, mistletoe infestation, witches’ brooms, leaf and seedling diseases. Similarly, while the investigations of insect infestations are in charge of the ‘ Bureau of Entomology, studies of the actual insect control, the location and extent of infested areas are carried on by forest officers. Specimens of injurious insects, together with specimens of their work, are collected and forwarded for identification to the Bureau of Entomology. Habits and detrimental or beneficial effects of wild animals upon forest growth, damage by rodents and birds m destroying seed or seedlings, and methods of combating such animals are a part of the studies conducted under Forest Protection. These studies are carried on in cooperation with the Biological Survey, which decides upon the most effective methods of combating the animals. REGIONAL STUDIES. Regional studies aim to secure authentic information concerning the forest resources of State or forest regions. They deal with problems peculiar to the region or State and are therefore of direct benefit to the timber and woodlot owners of that State or region. Most of the studies are carried on in cooperation with the States and are published by the States. The regional studies provide informa¬ tion applicable to the timberland or woodlots within that region. This enables the Forest Service, in advising the individual timber or woodlot owner, to do away to a large extent with the necessity of examining each individual woodlot. Aside from the practical value of such regional studies they contribute to a more exact and fuller knowledge of the forest resources of this country and then distribution. SILVICAL STUDIES. The proper aim of silvical studies is to establish a definite relation between the forest region, forest types, and forest trees in general, and the climatic and physical factors affecting their distribution and growth. Silvical studies are, therefore, largely forest ecological 42 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. studies. The silvical studies proper are largely concerned with the studies of types, their origin, characteristics, permanence, and their development from the seedling stage to maturity. They seek to correlate the vegetative phenomena of tree growth, such as leafing, flowering, seed ripening and dissemination, and leaf falling, with climatic factors. They attempt to determine soil, moisture, and light requirements of the different species and the methods of deter¬ mining these requirements of forest trees. These studies are basic and form the foundation upon which the practical application of the silvicultural methods must rest. TREE STUDIES. The purpose of tree studies is to secure information concerning the important forest trees of this country as a basis for their proper management. The results of such studies appear as monographs dealing with the range of each tree, its silvical characteristics, yield, and management. The studies of individual trees in the forest embrace those points usually included in a silvical study, habitat, silvical characteristics and requirements, form, volume, growth, seeding capacity, enemies and diseases, phenology, etc. The requirements of trees are studied not only by general observations but by actual measurements of the physical factors in which they are grooving, and the results are expressed as far as possible in absolute figures. Thus, in studying the light or moisture requmements of a species the actual light intensity or water contents of the sod in which it grows is measured. UTILIZATION STUDIES. While problems in the utilization of timber are best handled by the Madison laboratory, yet the field studies in silviculture also present many opportunities for experimentation along this line. The vast areas of fire-killed timber bring up the question as to the length of time during which the fire-killed tunber may still remain serviceable and therefore merchantable. The rapidity and the causes of deterio¬ ration of fire-killed timber is of vital interest, and studies to determine these facts are now carried on in a number of National Forests, espe¬ cially within the area visited by the disastrous fires of 1910. Since it is frequently necessary to leave mature or overmature trees for seed production, it is important to know how long such trees will continue to bear seed and how soon thev will become unmerchant- • * able. To this end records are estabhshed at several of the experiment stations on a number of trees in various stages of decadence. The records include the number, location, diameter breast high, crown and bole description, and effects for each individual tree. 1913. PKOGHAM OF WORK. 43 Aside from the utilization studies there is a distinct field for silvical investigation in connection with the studies of the technical qualities of wood. There should be established a definite relationship between i the technical qualities of timber and conditions of their growth— j various altitudes, soils, and slopes. This relationship would enable ‘ such handling of the growing forest as to secure the most desirable qualities by means of silvical operations. THE PROGRAM OF INVESTIGATIVE WORK FOR 1912. In accordance with the investigative organization adopted this year a program of investigative work for 1912, submitted in the prescribed manner, has been approved by the Forester. This program includes 353 investigative projects. DEFINITION OF A PROJECT. In preparing the Service program each investigation having a single object but involving one or several similar operations was considered a distinct project. The object, however, must not be too minute, but must aid at the solution of some problem of broad importance. What is considered as a project can best be shown by the following examples: In reforestation work aU methods of sowing or planting the same species at different times of the year in a single district were included under one project: Thus yellow-pine sowing ! or planting by different methods and at different seasons in District 2 constitutes a single project. In products work aU tests of me¬ chanical properties of wood, based upon small specimens from com¬ mercial species in the United States, are classed as one project, not the tests on each individual species. By thus combining as one project a number of operations having the same object, an opportunity is afforded to correlate the results and arrive at more definite conclusions than if each operation is considered separately. The final determination of what constitutes a problem of sufficient importance to class as a project must rest with the administrative officers directing the work. 44 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. The j)rogram of work, as approved, is given below: DENDROLOGY. A.—DESCRIPTION AND DISTRIBUTION OF NORTH AMERICAN TREES AND SHRUBS. Project. Object. Forest trees of the United States: Rocky Mountain region, Northeastern re¬ gion. Shrubs of the United States. Forest distribution studies... Study of the forest flora. (Herbarium.) To bring together in a comprehensive manner all the available information on botanical and silvical char¬ acteristics of forest trees by regions. To brin^ together all available information on the botanical characters of shrubs for the purpose of identification. To determine the geographic distribution of North American trees and shrubs. To collect specimens of different species of forest trees and shrubs for use in dendrological and silvical studies, and in the identification of specimens which are sent in, and also for supplying the W^hington and district herbaria with a full set of specimens. B.—IDENTIFICATION OF NORTH AMERICAN FOREST TREES. ^Vood structure. Distinguishing characteris¬ tics of the wood of North American trees: North American walnuts, syca¬ mores, elms, pines, hick¬ ories, jack pine, red pine. Hand collections of 75 spe¬ cies of commercially im¬ portant North American woods for distribution to educational institutions and to Forest districts. To determine the structural and other distinguishing characters of different species and groups of woods for the purpose of identifying them. To furnish collections to schools and districts. General. Identification of seedlings and mature catalpa trees by means of the wood structure. and external characters. The distinguishing charac¬ ters of turpentined pine woods of the South. To determine reliable means for identification of the wild and cultivated species of catalpa. The identifications of wood from trees that have been turpentined. 1913. PROGRAM OF WORK. 45 C.—IDENTIFICATION OF EXOTIC FORES'J' TREES. ^yood structure. Project. Object. Distinguishing characteris¬ tics of Circassian walnut w'ood. Distinguishing characteris¬ tics of tropical and sub¬ tropical woods: True mahogany. To determine the structural characters which dis¬ tinguish this wood from common substitutes. To furnish information on the distinguishing characters of the different grades of true mahogany wood. To furnish information on the distinguishing characters of commercially important woods of the Panama zone. To furnish information in regard to the distinguishing characters of greenheart wood. Panama woods. Greenheart. D.—SPECIAL STUDIES. Pith flecks in North Ameri¬ can woods. To determine the cause of pith flecks in North American woods and their value as distinguishing characters. GRAZING. A .—ARTIFICIAL RESEEDING. Restoration of overgrazed areas and improving the quality of forage by artifi¬ cial reseeding with culti¬ vated plants. Introduction of forage plants in the Southwest. Relation of soil acidity to artificial reseeding. Cultivation of indigenous forage plants with a view to their use for artificial reseeding of the range. To determine under what conditions seeding can be successfully undertaken, methods of seeding, time of seeding, amount of seed, cultural treatment, and methods of handling the lands during the restocking period. To determine the possibility of improving range con¬ ditions in District 3. To determine (1) cultivated species best adapted to acid soils; and (2) how to recognize strongly acid soils by character of native vegetation. To carefully select a few promising native forage plants, collect seed in native habitat, put it under cultiva¬ tion at Forest experiment stations, and to determine the possibility of securing seed for distribution at a cost not prohibitive. B.—NATURAL RESEEDING. Restoration of over^azed areas by the natural re¬ seeding of native forage plants. Rotation grazing. Range improvement by nat¬ ural reseeding. To determine (1) the possibilities of naturally reseeding depleted lands that still have part of the stand of native vegetation; and (2) to devise a system of graz¬ ing which will accomplish this result if possible. To study the practical application of a rotation system of grazing developed as a result of the preceding study to determine more fully (1) the advantages of this system, over existing systems, to the range and to the stock; and (2) to what extent it can be applied in the practical management of Forest ranges. To determine the possibility of increasing carrying capacity of much depleted range on Hayden P''orest without total restriction of grazing. 46 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATION'S. VOL. I. C—DISTRIBUTION AND ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE OF FORAGE PLANTS. Project. Object. Life history, forage value, and ecological require¬ ments of important forage in the mountains of north¬ eastern Oregon. Distribution, life history, and economic importance of forage plants. Distribution, natural habits, and economic importance of forage plants. To determine the entire life cycle of important forage plants in this locality as a basis for judicious manage¬ ment of the grazing of lands supporting these plants. To bring together valuable information on this line col¬ lected in connection with range reconnaissance by special grazing men. The collection and identification of forage plants on important grazing Forests, accompanied by notes on distribution, growth requirements, and forage value. D. —FOREST PROTECTION (GRAZING). [Listed under “Silviculture—Protection.”] E. —METHODS OF HANDLING STOCK. Small coyote-proof inclosure in connection with range lambing allotments. Improved methods of han¬ dling sheep on Forest range. Using range without water for sheep grazing. Carrying capacity of range... To determine the possibility of (1) decreasing damage to range during lambing period; (2) increasing per¬ centage of lambs saved; (3) decreasing cost and diffi¬ culty of handling. To study the practical application of results from Ore¬ gon pasture experiment to determine (1) possibility of keeping sheep away from an establidied camp; (2) advantages of such a system to the range and the sheep as compared with existing methods; and (3) determining how many sheep should be run in a band. To ascertain (1) kind of forage; (2) climatic conditions; and (3) method of handling sheep which are essential if range without watering places is used for sheep grazing. To secure actual figures on the number of acres of range of a given type necessary to support a sheep. F.—DEVELOPMENT OF STOCK-WATERING PLACES. Methods of developing stock¬ watering places. To bring together available data on subject to deter¬ mine (1) under Avhat conditions to develop water; (2) rnost efficient methods of development; (3) capacity of watering place necessary per head of stock. G.—POISONOUS-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS (COOPERATIVE).! Loco-weed disease. To determine (1) poisonous species; (2) under what conditions poisoning occurs; (3) antidote; (4) man¬ agement of stock on poison areas; and (5) eradication of plants. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above. Larkspurs as poisonous plants. Rubber weed as a poisonous plant. Lupines, death camas, and miscellaneous poisonous plants. 1 Forest Service cooperates by selecting field stations, aiding in equipping stations, collecting informa¬ tion as to extent of losses and locality of loss, and to the extent of $2,000 for salary and expenses. Has nothing to do with collection of scientific experimental facts. iai3. PROGRAM OF WORK. 47 H.—SPECIAL STUDIES. Project. Object. Reclamation of mountain meadows depleted by erosion. Effect of grazing upon ero¬ sion, streamflow, and purity of water supply. To determine possibility of constructing small dams in erosion gullies, checking velocity of water, and silting up gullies. To determine the effect of grazing upon erosion, streamflow, and purity of water supply. PRODUCTS. A.—MECHANICAL AND PHYSIC.VL PROPERTIES AND STRUCTURE OF WOODS. Mechanical ‘properties. Project. Object. Tests on small specimens free from defects.- Mechanical properties of woods grown in the United States,^ The relation between static and_ impact loading in testing- mechanical prop¬ erties of wood. Tests to determine the strength of wood beams under continuously ap¬ plied loads. To establish scales by means of which it will be possible to compare directly the bending and compressive strength, shearing, stiffness, toughness, specific gravity, etc., of the commercial timbers of the United States. To determine the relation between static and impact loading on the mechanical properties of wood. To determine the effect of continuously applied loads upon the mechanical properties of woods. Tests on structural timbers. Tests on redwood Tests on green and air-dried western yellow pine. Tests on western larch. ._ Tests on the mechanical efficiency of joints and fastenings in wooden structures. Investigation _ of lumber waste in building scaffold- . ing, and the introduction of new methods. To determine the mechanical properties, and to in¬ vestigate the influence of different localities on strength. Same as above. Same as above. To determine the efficiency of various types of joints and fastenings used in wooden structures. To secure information which will assist in reduction of waste in building scaffolds and in the possible utilization of thinnings for this purpose. Tests on manufactured articles. Tests of packing boxes, in cooperation with the bu¬ reau for the safe transpor¬ tation of explosives and other dangerous articles. To deterrnine the suitability of various types of boxes for use in the transportation of explosives and other dangerous articles, and to secure data upon which specifications and improvements in design of such boxes may be based. ^ Select species for test to correlate with Silviculture’s commercial tree studies. 48 KEVIEW OE EOEEST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. A.—MECHANICAL AND I^HYSICAL PROPERTIES AND STRUCTURE OF WOODS—Contd. Mechanical 'properties —Continued. Project. Object. Tests on manufactured arti¬ cles —Continued. Tests of poles. To determine the comparative strength and stiffness of various species which are not now used extensively for poles, but which are believed to be satisfactory for this purpose. Study of wood which may be used as substitute for dogwood and persimmon for the manufacture of shuttles. To determine what woods are suitable substitutes for dogwood and persimmon for use as shuttles. Effect of preservative treat¬ ments, etc., on strength. Effect of commercial proc¬ esses of creosoting on the strength of structural timbers. Effect of mechanical opera¬ tive features of pressure wood-preserving plants on the strength of wood. Relative efficiency of vari¬ ous wood preservatives. To determine the effect on the strength of southern yellow pine and Douglas fir bridge stringers of treat¬ ing with creosote by the Bethell and boiling processes. To determine the effect upon the strength of wood of the various steps and manipulations of commercial wood¬ preserving processes. To determine, in conjunction with other experiments to be conducted under this project, the effect of various preservatives on the strength of wood. Physical propfcrties. Fundamental properties. Specific heat and heat con¬ ductivity of wood. Penetrability of woods to liquids and gases. To determine the specific heat and heat conducti\dty of different woods. To secure information on the exact ways in which liquids and gases penetrate wood and wood sub¬ stances. Relation of the hygroscopic condition of wood to tem¬ perature and vapor pres¬ sures. Determination of the heat of absorption of water in wood. Specific gravity of wood sub¬ stance. To determine the hygi’oscopicity of wood, or its relation to atmospheric moisture at various temperatures. To secure a short method to determine the relative hygroscopicity of various woods. To determine the specific gravity of wood substance. Conditioning experiments. Air seasoning of structural timber. Experiments vdth small single chamber experi¬ mental kiln. Experimental operation of a continuous chamber dry kiln of commercial size. CoiTelate, analyze, and compile all available data on this subject. To determine the best methods for controlling the humidity and temperature conditions in the kiln with different forms and species of lumber. To determine the best methods for controlling the humidity and temperature conditions in a continu¬ ous chamber dry kiln of commercial size. 1913. PROGRAM OF WORK. 49 A.—MECHANICAL AND PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND STRUCTURE OF WOODS—Contd. Physical properties —Continued. Project. Object. Conditioning experiments — Continued. Operation of single chamber dry kiln of commercial size. Study of commercial proc¬ esses used in kilndrying. To determine the best methods for controlling the humidity and temperature conditions in a single¬ chamber dry kiln of conmercial size. To secure information regarding the present commercial practice in use at various types of kiln in various sections of the country. Analytical study of artificial methods of drying wood. To determine the effect on wood of subjecting it to high temperatures and pressures, and to various condi¬ tions of the surrounding medium, and the investiga¬ tion of the fundamental factors in the treatment and seasoning of woods. General studies. Temperature changes in wood under treatment. To determine the temperature changes which occur in wood when subjected to various conditions and temperatures of the surrounding medium Experiments in gluing black-gum lumber. To determine methods of seasoning and conditioning which give best results in gluing black-gum lumber. Structure. Correlation of the micro¬ scopic structure of com¬ mercial woods with their properties and uses. To determine the relation of the structure of woods to its properties and uses. B.—WOOD PRESERVATION. Preservatives. General. Tests of the comparative ef¬ ficiency of various wood preservatives. Efficiency of various frac¬ tions of coal-tar creosote in protecting southern yel¬ low pine from marine bor¬ ers. Investigations relating to problems connected with the use of treated wood¬ block pavements. To determine the relative efficiency of various pre¬ servatives which are in commercial use or proposed. To secure data on the comparative value of fractions of creosote in preventing the ravages of marine borers. To secure information which will assist in solving the problems which confront the wood-block pavine in¬ dustry. ^ Physical and chemical properties. Classification of authentic creosotes. To determine the composition of creosotes obtained from commercial tars in this country in order to cor¬ relate the methods of production with their composi¬ tion and properties, and to develop methods by which the important differences in composition can be distinguished. 65603° 13 4 50 ItEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. B.—WOOD PRESERVATION—Continued. Preservatives —Continued. Project. Object. Toxicity. Toxicity of preservatives with pure cultures in Petri dishes and jars. Fungicidal properties of coal- tar creosote fractions. To determine the relative toxicity of various preserva¬ tives which are in commercial use or proposed. To secure data on the comparative fungicidal properties of the various fractions of coal-tar creosote. Processes new or proposed. Boucherie experiments on the Eldorado National Forest. Boucherie experiments on loblolly pine. To determine a cheap and efficient method for treating poles where costly preservatives can not be economi¬ cally secured. To determine the practicability of using the Boucherie method of treatment with loblolly pine. Effect of varying conditions during treatment. Experiments on mechanical operative features of pres¬ sure wood-p reserving plants. (Project 119.) To investigate the effects of the various operations on the absorption, penetration, and other features of the treatment of wood. Suitability of species. Resistance to impregnation with preservatives. Relative resistance of com¬ mercial angiosperms to in¬ jection with creosote. Relative resistance of com¬ mercial gymnosperms to injection with creosote. Relative resistance to decay. Relative resistance of un¬ treated woods to decay by pure cultures of fungi in jarsd Determination of the mini¬ mum and maximum mois¬ ture content of wood which permits the growth of fungi. To classify the various species according to their rela¬ tive resistance to creosote. Same as above. To secure data which will show the comparative dura¬ bility of different species of woods grown in the United States. To secure data which will show the limits of moisture in wood which are necessary for the development of wood-destroying fungi. 1 In conducting these experiments and in the preparation of bulletins an attempt should be made to correlate and combine the results with those secured by the experiments of the forest pathologists on the National Forests. 1913. PROGRAM OF WORK. 51 B.—WOOD PRESERVATION—Continued. Cooperative field work and service tests. Project. Object. Service tests. * Inspection of treated and untreated timbers of vari¬ ous forms placed under actual conditions of serv¬ ice. To determine undey actual conditions of service the comparative efficiency of various forms and species treated with different preservatives and processes and untreated. Includes inspection of treated and untreated ties, poles, posts, mine timbers, paving blocks, etc., of various species placed for test pur- Durability data on untreated fence and pole lines on the National Forests.^ Service tests on treated and untreated eucalyptus crossties. Service tests on treated and untreated Douglas fir ties. poses. To secure data on the length of service of untreated post and pole lines constructed on the National Forests. To secure data on the suitability of this species for ties Same as above. C.-DERIVED PRODUCTS, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM WOOD, BARK, LEAVES AND THE GROWING TIMBER. Pulp and paper. * Mechanical or grinding 'processes.'^ Pulp-making qualities of various species of wood other than spruce. Fundamental laws of grind¬ ing. To determine the value of different species for the pro¬ duction of ground-wood pulp. To determine the effect of pressure, speed, surface of stone, temperature of grinder, diameter of wood, and length of time wood is seasoned on the horsepower per ton, production per day, and quality and yield of pulp. Effect of using different natural and artificial pulp stones on the quality and production of pulp. using spruce as a species. To determine the effect of the Lombard (natural;. Walker (artificial), and Hercules (artificial) grinding stones on the horsepower per ton, production per day, and quality and yield of pulp, using spruce as a spe- Effect on ground-wood pulp of steaming or cooking the wood. cies. To'determine the effect of steaming and cooking the wood in different ways upon the production, horse- pow'er, and quality and yield of pulp secured. Chemical processes. Comparative pulp-making tests on various woods. To determine the value of different species for pulp produced by the soda, sulphite, and sulphate proc¬ esses, and the suitability of the pulps for various grades of paper. The following species to be tested in 1912; Redwood and its bark, red fir, lodgepole pine, weathered tamarack, jack pine. ‘ In carrying out these experiments, cooperation with the experiment station in the district should be secured. 2 The individual experiments listed under this heading will all be conducted more or less jointly; that is some of the data secured from one experiment will be of assistance and use in the other experiments. It is important that the various projects be conducted together and at very nearly the same time. 52 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. j j C.—DERIVED PRODUCTS, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM WOOD, BARK, LEAVES,' AND THE GROWING TIMBER—Continued. Pulp and paper —Continued. Project. Object. Chemical processes —Contd. •Fundamental cooking con¬ ditions in the soda process. Study of the fundamental cooking conditions in the sulphite process. Study of the fundaineiital cooking conditions in the sulphate processes. Effect of mechanical treat¬ ments on the quality of chemical pulps. Effect of preliminary treat¬ ments with steam _ and vacuum on the cooking of chemical pulps. To'determine the effect of the fundamental cooking! conditions on the yield and qualities of pulp, cost of production, and consumption of wood and chemicals,, aspen to be used as a standard species and results to be checked with other species. To determine the effect of the fundamental cooking' conditions on the yield and qualities of pidp, cost of production, and consumption of wood and chemicals, white spruce to be used as the standard species and results to be checked with other species. ^ ( To determine the effect of the fundamental cooking, conditions on the yield and qualities of pulp, cost of production, and consumption of wood and chemicals.: To determine the effect of various mechanical treat-: ments of chemical pulp on its quality. To secure data on the effect on chemical pulp of pre¬ liminary treatments prior to cooking. Wood distillation. Hardwoods. Destructive distillation of hardwoods. Methods for increasing the yields of valuable prod¬ ucts in the destructive distillation of hardwoods. Study of the refining meth¬ ods for hardwood distil¬ lates. To determine the yields of valuable products whict; can be obtained by the distillation of various speciei of hardwoods not used for this purpose at present. The following species to be tested in 1912: Birch, maple, j and beech (tested for purposes of comparison with othe:' species); oak, red gum, hickory, and chestnut. ' To determine what methods will result in the greatest i yield of valuable products secured in destructive ' distillation of hardwoods. | To determine best methods for refining hardwooc j distillates in order to secure the greatest quantity o j valuable products. | Resinous woods. Distillation experiments on northwestern woods in cooperation with the Uni¬ versity of Washington. Study of methods and proc¬ esses used in securing rosin by extraction from the wood with chemicals. To secure information re.garding the value of north western woods for distillation. ’ * To secure data regarding “extraction” methods fo securing rosin. 1013. PROGRAM OF WORK. 53 C.—DERIVED PRODUCTS, OR PRODUCTS DERIVED FROM WOOD, BARK, LEAVES, AND THE GROWING TIMBER—Continued. Naval stores. ' Project. Object. uThe naval-stores industry... General review of past and present methods, and recommendations. ‘^Turpentine experiments. To determine the value for turpentining of the follow¬ ing species: Digger pine, western yellow pine, sugar pine, lodgepole pine, Jeffrey pine, and Douglas fir. Miscellaneous. Production of ethyl alcohol from wood. Production of tanning ma¬ terials from woods and barks. Investigations into the man¬ ufacture of producer gas from wood waste. ' Investigation of the produc- I tion of volatile oils from leaves and needles of va¬ rious conifers. Comparison of the chemical ‘ composition of different woods. I To determine the best conditions for digestion of the wood, such as diameter, time, pressure, and kind and amount of acid, for the production of ethyl alcohol. To make experiments with various species from time to time as is deemed advisable to determine their value for the production of tannin. To determine the economic value of the manufacture of producer gas from wood waste. To determine the character and quantity of the volatile oils which can be secured from the leaves, needles, and cones of various conifers. To secure information regarding the chemical com¬ position of different species. D.—STATISTICAL STUDIES. Annual production of forest products. I Collection of statistics of forest products in coopera¬ tion with the Bureau of the Census. To show in detail the annual demand upon each kind of wood in the forests of the United States, the fluctuation in years of prosperity and depression, tendencies in wood utilization, changing use of species, and progress in methods to increase the service of wood. Uses of woods. Study of the uses of commer¬ cial woods. By States. By industries. By species. To secure authentic information and statistics regard¬ ing the present uses of the various commercial woods in the United States. To make an inventory of the annual demand by the various wood-consuming industries in each State for raw material. To secure authentic statistics and information regarding the uses of different woods classified by industries. To secure authentic statistics and information regarding the uses of different woods classified by species. 54 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. D.—STATISTICAL STUDIES—Continued. Lumber prices. Project. Object. Quarterly statistics on lum¬ ber prices f. o. b. mills. To secure periodically wholesale prices of lumber at representative mills in different sections of the conn- Quarterly statistics on lum¬ ber prices f. o. b. markets. try. To secure periodically wholesale lumber prices at rep¬ resentative markets in different sections of the country. Collection of statistics on wood preservatives con¬ sumed and kind and quan¬ tity of timber annually treated in the United States. Service tests of eucalyptus and tan-bark oak for coop¬ erage, cross-arms, and in¬ sulator pins. Miscellaneous. To secure data on the kind and quantity of wood pre¬ servatives annually consumed, and kind and quan¬ tity of material annually treated. To secure data on the suitability of eucalyptus and tan-bark oak for cooperage, cross-arms, and insulator pins. Mill scale studies. [See “ Silviculture—Mensuration.”] SILVICULTURE. A.—FORESTATION. General. Reforestation in the East.... To obtain reliable data as to the results of planting in the East with different species as a basis for recom¬ mendations to the farmers, and incidentally secure data on growth, volume, and yield of the different Reforestation. { species. To prepare manual of nursery work and field planting. Seed. Seed-storage experiments_ To determine the best method, temperature, and geo¬ graphical location for the storage of seed. Physical characteristics and vitality of forest-tree seeds. To obtain information as to the germ inability, variation in size of the same species but from different sources, and other physical and biological properties of the seeds of coniferous species. Influence of age and condi¬ tion of the tree upon seed production in western yellow pine. To determine the effect of age and condition of seed trees upon the quality of seed produced and resulting generation. 1013. PROGRAM OF WORK. 55 A.—FORESTATION—Continued. Seed —Continued. Project. Object. Seed cleaning: Western yellow pine_ Seed extraction: District 1— Eastern white pine, Norway pine, jack pine, west¬ ern larch. District 2— Lodgepole pine. Lodgepole pine Lodgepole pin Seed testing: District 7. District 1.. District 3 Comparative germina¬ tion in the greenhouse and field. Seed production: Western white pine, lodgepole pine, Doug¬ las fir, yellow pine, Engelmann spruce. Source of seed: District 1.. District 2— Douglas fir, yellow pine, lodgepole pine, Engelmann spruce. District 3. To determine the effects of moisture treatment for the removal of wings from western yellow-pine seed. To deterrnine the best temperature and conditions for extraction of seed. To determine the relative value of lodgepole-pine seed extracted at various periods during the fall and win¬ ter. To determine the limitation on heat, soaking, etc., de¬ sirable in the extraction of lodgepole-pine seed.’ To determine also the merits of wet and dry cleaning of seed. To determine the possibility of opening cones of lodge¬ pole pine in direct flame. To determine the true value of seed collected in the districts. To determine the germinating power of samples of seed used in the district; also for the purpose of deter¬ mining the results of seed-extracting methods. To determine the germinating power of all seed samples, concerning which information is desired for the next season’s sowing in the district. To determine the comparative germination of seed tested in the greenhouse with that which occurs in actual field operations. To develop a method for determining the amount of seed produced, and determine the periodicity of seed years of different species. To test the source of seed of western yellow pine, white pine, and Douglas fir. To determine the relative value at a middle point of seed and stock from the middle, northern, and south¬ ern parts of the range of the species. To determine the suitability of seed of western yellow pine from different sources to local conditions. 56 REVIEW OP FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. A—FOREST ATION-Continued. Nursery. Project. Object. Nursery practice: District 1. To test different amounts of seed for seed beds, methods District 2. of sowing, and depth of covering. To determine the final effects of different degrees of watering in the nursery on the stock when it is set out in the field; the effect of shading for different periods on the hardiness of trees when placed in the field; the relative values of manure, leaf compost, and commercial fertilizers; the best time for transplanting and the latitude in time of safety in spring trans¬ planting operations; the most advantageous seasons for seed sowing in the nurseries; the best depth for sowing seed in seed spots and in the nursery; the effect on root development of Engelmann spruce of pruning roots at time of transplanting; the effect on root and crown development of square and oblong spacing in the transplant beds. District 3. To determine various phases of nursery practice, such as the preparation of the beds, amount of seed of dif¬ ferent species to be usefl per seed bed, watering, and shading; the effect of spacing and the methods of preparation of the ground upon the development of Districts 2 and 3.. the root system. To determine whether it is practicable to grow stock near the planting site without watering and much care. District 4. 4 To determine to what extent small and weak trees can be eliminated from the nursery by the use of seed graded by weight. District 5. To carry on experiments to determine the proper amounts of seed of different species which should be sown in nursery beds; to determine the depth of cover, the proper seasons and methods for sowing the seed beds, etc. District 6. Same as above. Species, methods, and seasons. Experimental planting: District 1— Norway spruce, su¬ gar pine, bass¬ wood, white ash, shagbark hickory, western white pine, yellow pine, Douglas fir. District 2— Yellow pine. To test the suitability of different species to northern Idaho. To determine the best method and season of planting in the following subdistricts: Southeastern, northeast¬ ern, and in Kansas sand hills. Scotch pine. To compare the value of Scotch pine for the north slope of the sand hills, and also for the mooter sites in tne Pikes Peak region; and to determine its relative merits for Kansas sand-hill planting. Austrian pine. To determine comparative value of Austrian pine for planting on certain areas of the western yellow-pine type, and its relative merits for Kansas sand-hill planting. 1913. PROGRAM OF WORK. 57 A,—FORESTATION—Ck)ntinu3d. Species, methods, and seasons —Continued. Project. Experimental planting—Con. District 2—Continued. Lodgepole pine. Eastern white pine, western white pine, Norway spruce, Norway pine, Japanese larch, sugar ma¬ ple. Black locust and honey locust. Engelmann spruce.. Douglas fir. Experimental planting and sowing: ^ District 3— Western yellow pine. Douglas fir Jeffrey pine Alligator juniper.... Arizona cypress. ... Black locust, white elm, green ash, desert willow, honey locust, Russian olive, Norway spruce, limber pine. District 5— Sugar pine, yellow pine, Douglas fir, white fir, incense cedar. Eucalyptus. District 6— Object. To determine the best method and season of planting in the northwestern subdistrict. To find species which would be adapted to the moister sites in the Pikes Peak region. To determine relative merits for Kansas sand-hill plant¬ ing on plowed and cultivated ground. To determine the best method and season of planting in the southeastern and northwestern subdistricts. To determine the best method and season of planting in the southeastern, southwestern, and northeastern subdistricts. To test experimentally western yellow pine on a com- ppatively^ large scale on different Forests and on different sites. Also to reforest by means of the seed- spot method. To determine the best method of planting western yel¬ low pine in pots and with balls. To test experimentally Douglas fir on a comparatively large scale on different Forests and on different sites; to reforest by means of the seed-spot method; and to determine the best time of planting. To test experimentally Jeffrey pine on a comparatively large scale on different Forests and on different sites, and to reforest by means of the seed-spot method. To find a practical way of handling alligator juniper seed and to determine its behavior by the seed-spot method. To determine the suitability of Arizona cypress for reforestation in Arizona. To determine the suitability of these species to local conditions and the behavior of less common species in artificial planting. To determine the best season and the best methods for sowing and planting important species on favorable and unfavorable sites. To determine experimentally the suitability of the less common species to different sites in southern Cali¬ fornia. Douglas Fir. To determine the best^ method and season of direct seeding and planting in lower slope type west of Cas¬ cade Mountains; on denuded areas within various types in the Siskiyou Mountains; in humid coast region, Siuslaw Forest; and on denuded areas on slope type of Blue Mountain region. and seasons are listed under specific wnicn are to ser\e as a check on this experimental planting on a large scale. 58 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. A.—FORESTATION—Continued. Species, methods, and seasons —Continued. Froject. Object. Experimental planting and sowing—Continued. District 6—Continued. Western yellow pine Sugar pine, Sitka spruce, Scotch pine. Eastern hardwood species. To determine the best method and season of direct seeding and planting on denuded areas within various types in the Siskiyou Mountains; on denuded areas in slope type of northeast Washington; and on de¬ nuded areas on slope type of Blue Mountain region. To determine the best method and season of direct seeding and planting on denuded areas within various types in the Siskiyou Mountains; in humid coast region of Siuslaw Forest; and on denuded areas on slope type of Blue Mountain region. To determine the suitability of eastern hardwood species to bottom lands and slope types west of the Cascades, and to a very small extent east of the Cas¬ cades. District 7— Loblolly pine Maritime pine. Cork oak, shortleaf pine, 1 0 n g 1 9 a f pine. Eucalyptus plant¬ ing in Florida. Effect of cultivation upon success of planting. Stock for field plant¬ ing— Jack pine, yel¬ low pine, Scotch pine. Sheep bedding. Aspen cover. Effect of an aspen nurse in Douglas- fir planting. Comparison of dif¬ ferent classes of stock in planting: Douglas fir, Jef¬ frey pine, yellow pine. Field planting with gracled stock. Effect of holding nursery stock over winter on plant¬ ing areas upon the success of field planting. Reforestation studies; experimental seeding and plant¬ ing in cooperation mth New Jersey and South Carolina. Same as above. Experimental planting in cooperation with South Caro¬ lina to determine the value of the different species for forestation in the southeastern pine belt. To test the suitability of the different species of eucalyp¬ tus to'different sections of Florida, in cooperation with the State in the Everglades, and in coopeiation with the Tampa Board of Trade at Tampa. To determine the influence of cultivation in its relation to ground cover on the success of planting operations. To determine the best stock (seedling or transplant) for field planting. To determine the effect of continuous bedding of sheep on reforestation or natural reproduction. To determine the effect of aspen cover on the success of sowing vdth Engelmann spruce and Douglas fir. To determine the effect of an aspen nurse upon the suc¬ cess of Douglas-fir planting. To determine the relative value of different classes of stock for field planting. To determine to what extent better results in field planting can be obtained through careful grading of planting stock. To determine the advisability of shipping nursery stock to planting areas in the fall to be held there until planting operations commence in the spring. 1013. PROGRAM OF WORK. 59 A.—FORESTATION—Continued. Sites, Project. Object. Habitat extension: Yellow pine. To determine the possibility of growing yellow pine in the pinon-juniper type. To determine the most successful method and season Douglas fir. of sowing on ground bearing a fair stand of seed trees and also open sagebrush parks. To determine the possibilityof using Douglas fir in the lower part of the Engelmann spruce type. Planting in parks. To determine the possibility of growing trees in the open parks. Planting on brush-covered, timberless slopes: (a) Yel¬ low pine, (6) Douglas fir. Comparison of sites for west¬ ern yellow-pine planting. Reforestation in bear clover areas. To determine whether it is possible to plant southerly steep slopes covered with oak brush and what species should be used. To determine the relative value of different sites for yellow-pine planting in District 3. To determine the best method by which the extensive bear clover areas can be gradually transformed into a forest. Study similar to the brush field study in northern California. Forest extension into the northern brush fields. To determine the best method and species to plant in the brush fields of northern California so as to grad¬ ually extend the forest into the brush fields which once were a forest. Planting on pumice soil: Western yellow pine in District 6. To determine the best method and season of planting western yellow pine on light, pumice soils, east of the Cascade Mountains. Introduction of exotics. A study of California exotics of possible economic value in this country. To determine, by a study of the results obtained by the cultivation of various exotics in California, their possible potential range in this country and their probable economic value, together with data as to conditions best adapted to their success. Maritime pine. To bring together the available information as to the possibilities of introducing maritime pine as a source of naval stores in this country. Cork oak. To furnish information as to the possibilities of the cork oak in this country as source of the commercial cork. 0 Special. Experimental work in bas¬ ket-willow culture. To secure improved varieties of basket willows; to develop better cultural methods in growing willows; to secure better methods and devices in handling Development of American species of basket willows. rods; to encourage growing of willows on land suited to the purpose. To secure varieties of basket willows better adapted to American conditions than the European species now grown. Hardiness and continued vigorous growth are the principal characteristics desired. « 60 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. A.—FORESTATION—Continued. Special — Continued. Project. Object. Cooperative basket willow growing experiment in New Jersey with the For¬ est Park Reserv a t i o n Commission of New Jer¬ sey. Sand dune control. To test the possibility of growing basket willows on the cheap sandy lands of New Jersey. To test various means of direct reforestation of the sand dunes on the Siuslaw National Forest. To determine the extent to which erosion of a gully may be checked by willow planting. • Erosion. B.—INFLUENCES. Effect of forests upon stream flow in Southern Appa¬ lachian. Relation of forest to stream flow. A comparative meteorologi¬ cal study of “parks” and timbered areas. The influence of a forest cover upon the accumula¬ tion and rate of melting snow and upon run-off. Effect of forest cover on stream flow. To determine the effect of forest cover upon stream flow and erosion in the Southern Appalachians. To keep abreast with the literature on the subject. To determine the effect of forest cover upon climate of the area occupied by it, as compared with the open “park.” To determine to what extent and in what manner virgin western yellow-pine forests affect the amount of snow reaching the ground, the rate of melting, and the amount of run-off. To determine the effect of forest cover on run-off and erosion. C.—MANAGEMENT. General. N orth eastern hardwoods (beech, yellow birch, and maple). Woodlot study for central New York, Second-growth hardwoods in the Hudson River Valley. Forestry for coal-mine own¬ ers. Management of hardwood forests in the Southern Appalachians. Forest management of the hardwood bottom lands of the southeastern United States. Silvicultural study with special reference to erowth and volume. To obtain a series of regional woodlot studies. Same as above. To furnish information regarding the handling of tim¬ ber lands for coal mines. To furnish information regarding the management of the different hardwood species in the Southern Ap- •< palachians. To suggest system of forest management for the south- i ern hardwood bottom species. 1918. PEOGRAM OF WORK. 61 Project. Effect of different methods of cutting in different types upon growth and natural reproduction, Dis¬ trict 1. Methods of cutting, Dis¬ trict 2: Lodgepole pine. Balsam type. Mixed lodgepole pine and Engelmann spruce types. Results of different systems of marking. District 3. Effect of seasons and meth- 'ods of cutting in woodland type. District 3. Diferent methods of mark¬ ing and cutting. Dis¬ trict 4: Idaho yellow pine.. Aspen in Utah. Effect of different methods of cutting upon natural re¬ production in Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, mixed type of yellow pine, Douglas fir, and white fir. Methods of cutting in the yellow pine and Douglas fir types. District 6. Cut-over areas: District 1. District 3. District 5. District 6. Felling snags and diseased trees. l.—MANAG EMENT—Continued. Methods of cutting. Object. To ascertain the best silvicultural system of cutting in western white pine, western larch, and western yel¬ low-pine types. To determine the effect of various methods of cutting in mature lodgepole pine stands in inducing repro¬ duction. To determine a method of cutting which will favor spruce reproduction over balsam in mixed stands of these two species. To determine the method of cutting most likely to favor Engelmann spruce reproduction where it occurs in mixture with lodgepole pine. To determine the comparative merits of one system of marking over the other. To determine the conditions under which the cutting in woodland type results in best regeneration of the stand. Coronado Forest. To determine the best method of cutting in the Idaho yellow-pine forest. To determine the best methods of cutting in aspen stands. To determine the best method of cutting upon natural reproduction and growth of remaining stand. To determine the best method of cutting in Douglas fir and yellow pine so as to secure natural reproduction and the best growth of the remaining trees. To determine the conditions'under which natural re¬ production takes place on areas cut-over under dif¬ ferent conditions as a basis for proper silvicultural handling of timber sales. To determine rate of growth and loss, rate of regenera¬ tion and effect of various factors upon regeneration. Same as above. To determine the progress of natural reproduction on cut-over areas. To determine the actual cost of felling snags and dis¬ eased trees, as means of improving condition of the Forest, and to ascertain its bearing upon the estab¬ lishment of stumpage rates. 62 KEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. C.—MANAGEMENT—Continued. Brush disposal. Project. Object. Effect of scattering brush after logging upon repro¬ duction, District 3. Brush disposal: District 4, Idaho yel¬ low pine. District 5. To determine the effects of scattering the brush after logging upon reproduction in western yellow-pine stands. To determine the effect of different methods of brush disposal upon natural reproduction. To determine the cost and method of brush disposal. To determine the effect of the removal of brush upon the development of seedlings. To determine the effect of brush disposal upon natural reproduction. District 6. Natural reproduction. The loss of seedlings in the forest during the early stages of development. Reproduction on burns. Pole and sapling competi¬ tion. To determine the rate of loss of seedlings during the i early stages of development and the factors respon- i sible for it. To determine the progress of reproduction on burned- i over areas. To determine the competition between the various ! species and to observe the replacement of brush on i an adjoining south slope. Thinnings. District 2: Yellow pine.... Lodgepole pine Douglas fir and Engel- mann spruce. District 4: Aspen in Utah. District 5: Douglas fir. Mixed yellow pine, white fir, and incense cedar. To determine the effect of different degrees of thinning in young yellow-pine stands. To compare the rate of grovTh and increment of the trees left after thinning with the increment on new stands obtained by clear cutting. To determine best degrees of thinning in sapling lodgepole-pine stands. To determine the effect of thinning from beneath and thinning from above. To determine the best density in lodgepole sapling stands about 40 years old. To determine effect of different degrees of thinnings in young stands. To determine the effect of thinning upon the remain¬ ing stand. To determine the effect of thinning upon the growth of the remaining stand. To determine the comparative merits of different degrees and frequency of thinning. 1913. PROGRAM OP WORK. 63 C.— MANAGEMENT—Continued. Valuation. Project. / Object. Valuation of young growth with reference particu¬ larly to fire damage. Valuation of land for agri¬ cultural and forest uses. To determine the value of young growth with particu¬ lar reference to fire damage. To determine the value of land for agricultural and forest uses. D.—MENSURATION. Volume, growth, and yield: District 1— Douglas fir, larch. .. Lodgepole pine. Western white pine, western yellow pine. District 2— Lodgepole pine. Western yellow pine. Engelmann spruce.. Growth of western yellow pine stands before and after cutting, District 3. Growth, volume, and yield studies. District 4. Yellow pine in Idaho_ Aspen in Utah. I Solid contents of cord wood. District 5. Growth and yield. District 6. Fundamental laws of tree growth and comparative rapidity of growth of forest trees. District 7. Mill scale studies, in coopera¬ tion with the Branch of Products: Douglas fir. Blue gum To secure data on growth, volume, and yield. To secure data on volume, growth, and yield for the less favorable sites on the Deerlodge Forest. To secuie growth, volume, and yield data. To construct volume tables which will be of value for more than simple local use. To obtain data for the construction of growth and yield tables. To construct volume tables which will be of value for more than local use. To obtain data for the construction of growth and yield tables. To construct volume tables which will be of value for more than local use. To determine the growth for stands before and after a selection cutting; also a comparison of the different methods of determining the growth percentage before and after cutting. To secure growth, volume, and yield data as a basis for management of Idaho yellow-pine forests. To secure growth, volume, and yield data of aspen as a basis for the management of aspen stands. To ascertain the actual solid contents of cord wood as a basis for estimating timber for pulp wood. To determine the effect of various conditions of soil density upon the growth of stands in different types. To establish the general relationship between the various geometrical characteristics of trees which would enable us to develop quick methods of deter¬ mining the volume and yield of standing trees and forests and to furnish a basis for comparing different species as to their growth and development. To determine the percentage of clear and common ^ lumber obtained from each ^ade of Douglas-fir logs in the Columbia River and Puget Sound regions. To obtain a mill tally of blue-gum logs. 64 KEVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VOL. I. E.—PROTECTION. Fire. Project. Object. Methods of fire protection... Progress of the States in forestry and fire protec¬ tion, and digest of State forest and fire laws: Forest fires in the United States and Canada. Recovery of chaparral from fire. Growing green fire¬ breaks. Effect of light burning.. Fire damage in mature timber. Influence of grazing in preventing damage by fire. To determine the best methods of fire protection. To ascertain the causes of forest fires, such as lightning and other climatic causes, extent of damage, together with historical data concerning the large conflagra¬ tions. To determine the after effects of fire, and the number of years necessary to reestablish a chaparral cover. To maintain firebreaks by growing mesembryanthemum and similar fire resistant species to the exclusion of chaparral. To determine the effect of frequent light burnings upon the forest. To determine the effect of fire upon the growth of mature timber. To determine the value of grazing (1) in preventing forest fires; (2) in decreasing difficulty of fighting fires. Grazing. Effect of grazing on the re¬ production of western yel¬ low pine, and plan of management for grazing on yellow-pine lands in District 3. Management of grazing in the yellow-pine type in District 4. Effect of grazing on tree re¬ production. Effect of grazing on growth and reproduction of aspen in Utah. Recuperation of different tree species from injuries by grazing. Effect of grazing on the re¬ duction of fire risk.^ Effect of sheep grazing on yellow-pine reproduction. To determine the amount and severity of damage, and to collect information to use as a basis for proper management of grazing in the yellow-pine U’pe of the ' Southwest. To secure authentic information upon which to ba^ definite management of sheep grazing on approxi¬ mately eight million acres of yellow-pine land in Dis- trict 4. To determine (1) the percentage of seedlings injured by sheep, cattle, and goats for each species of locality; (2) relation of intensity of injury to intensity of grazing, season of grazing and method of handling; (3) the ultimate damage to timber from each of the various kinds of injury; and (41 possibility of elimi¬ nating damage by more careful management of I grazing. To determine the effect of gmzing sheep upon the sprouting and ground cover of aspen. To determine definitely the time and character of the injury and the ultimate economical effect of the in¬ jury upon tree growth. To determine to what extent grazing reduces the fire danger in the forest. To ascertain the effect of sheep grazing, if any, in de¬ termining the germination of yellow-pine seed as a basis for the use of sheep grazing as means of arti¬ ficial and natural reforestation, and as a basis for a grazing policy on cut-over areas. 1913. PKOGEAM OF WOKK. 65 E.—PROTECTION—Continued. Diseases. Project. Object. Nursery diseases: District 2. To determine the methods of checking fungous diseases of stock in nurseries. District 3. To determine the best methods of preventing damping- off in seed beds. 1 Pathological investigations, District 5. To determine the age of infection of incense cedar by Polyporus amarus (dry rot); the age of infection of white fir by Echinodontium tinctorum; the rela- tion of Hpph.V to firp f^nrl licyTitnirifr wniTn/^c** 1 nature and extent of damage done by needle dis¬ eases in yellow pine, Jeffrey pine, white fir, and red fir. Root mould in transplant beds. Effect of mistletoe upon growth and seed produc¬ tion of western yellow pine. Decadence of white fir on the Crater Forest. To determine the cause of mould on roots of the trans¬ plants of yellow pine. To determine the effect upon the soundness of western yellow pine. To determine (a) underlying cause of the rot, (b) size of the trees affected, (c) rapidity of the decay, as a basis for a timber-sale policy with regard to white fir. Decadence of mature west¬ ern yellow pine. Work begun 1910._ To‘determine the decadence of western yellow-pine trees left as seed trees on timber- sale areas. Insects. Insect attacks on cupped western yellow pine. To determine the susceptibility of cupped trees to attacks by insects. Animals. Methods of combating seed- destroying animals. To determine the best methods of eliminating seed¬ eating animals from the sown areas. Snow. Damage to reproduction by snow. • To determine the effect of snow upon reproduction. 9 F.—REGIONAL STUDIES. Forest conditions in Porto Rico. The forests of Florida ^. The forests of Mississippi and Alabama.^ The forests of North Caro¬ lina.^ To describe the forest resources togetlier with discussion of forest problems. Same as above. Same as above. Same as above. 1 To be correlated with the wood-using industries of the products. 65603°-^13-5 -^-_- _ . 66 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. G.—SILVICAL STUDIES. ' Distribution. Project. Object. Forest regions of the United States with special refer¬ ence to laws of distribu¬ tion. To find a scientific basis for the classification into for¬ est regions; to determine their relation to the climate, physiography, and geology of the country and on the basis of such detailed description determine ■ general laws of distribution. Forest types. Meteorological observations.. To determine the general climatic characteristics of the region and the ecological site differences of yellow pine-Douglas fir type, larch type,and white-pine type. Meteorological study of con¬ ditions on north and south slopes of Douglas-fir types and in Engelmann-spruce types. Meteorological study of con¬ ditions in the yellow-pine, Douglas-fir, and Engel- mann-spruce types. Meteorological observations.. A comparison of the meteorological factors typifying these types. A comparison of the meteorological factors typifying the yellow-pine, Douglas-fir, and Engelmann-spruce types. To determine the general climatic characteristics of the region and the ecological site differences of the three most important forest types; (a) Jeffrey pine, (6) sugar pine, (c) mixed type of yellow pine, Doug¬ las fir, and white fir. Special. Phonological observations... To secure data on leafing, flowering, seed ripening and dissemination, and leaf falling of the principal forest trees, for technical use for charts to be prepared for schools. Establishment of arboretum in Rock Creek Park. To develop an arboretum of American species of trees not native to the District of Columbia and of exotic Relation of soil to tree growth. species and to establish a salicetum for the purpose of identification and hybridization. To determine the soil requirements of the different species and the methods of determining the soil re¬ quirements of forest trees. Forest experiments at Clo¬ quet Station, Minn., in cooperation with the Uni¬ versity of Minnesota. Permanent sample plots; white pine, mixed hard¬ wood, coppice, red spruce, red pine, white ash, Doug¬ las fir, Scotch pine, lob¬ lolly pine, chestnut, Euro¬ pean larch, Norway spruce balsam fir, birch, beech, and maple; scrub pine, Austrian pine, pitch pine, hemlock, European fir, lodgepole pine, Alpine fir, western yellow pine, west¬ ern white pine, sugar pine, and white fir. To be used as demonstration grounds for securing sil- vical data to be used in Service publications. ■ To obtain accurate quantitative figures on growth and yield, reproduction, and other silvicultural charac¬ teristics. 1913. PROGRAM OF WORK. 67 H.—SPECIAL. Project. Object. Forest taxation in Washing¬ ton. To determine a just basis for taxing Washington. timberlands in I.—TREE STUDIES. Ashes in the eastern United States. Bald cypress, with special reference to its reproduc¬ tion, growth, and man¬ agement. Balsam fir. ' California red fir {Abies mag- nijica ). ' Cottonwood in the lower Mississippi Valley. i Douglas fir. 1 Eastern hemlock I Eucalyptus study 1 Incense cedar j Jack pine. ; Loblolly pine in North Car¬ olina (in cooperation with North Carolina). Loblolly - pine mill - scale study (in cooperation with North Carolina Geographic and Economic Survey). i Lodgepole pine.. Longleaf pine with reference to turpentine industry. Red pine. Shortleaf pine. To ascertain the silvical characteristics, present stand and utilization, and management of second-growth stands of ash in the eastern United States, with special reference to white ash. To determine whether natural reproduction of cypress can normally be expected, the rate of growth of second-growth stands, and the best system of man¬ agement for both virgin and second-growth stands. To determine the growth, volume, and yield of balsam fir, its silvicultural characteristics, and the best method of management for the production of pulp wood. To bring together all the available information on the distribution, growth, management, and uses of this species. To collect yield data for second-growth cottonwood, to study the characteristics of spe'cies, and suggest methods of management. To supplement work done in 1909 by extending the study to poorer qualities of soils, as a basis for esti¬ mates of the potential yield of the National Forests in the Douglas-fir region and for determining the value of certain land for forest purposes. Monograph on hemlock, including its history, biology, and management. One of the original series of mon¬ ographs planned by Dr. B. E. Fernow, of which white pine and southern pines are samples. To determine the possibilities of the different species of eucalyptus for planting, their yield and manage¬ ment. To bring together all the available information on the distribution, growth, management, and uses of this species. To bring together available information on the distri¬ bution, qualities, and uses of the jack pine. To ascertain the yield of second-growth stands and to suggest methods of management. To collect data on second growth of loblolly pine for a graded mill-scale table and volume table; to com¬ plete Ashe’s report on loblolly pine in North Carolina and to secure data to complete Sterrett’s monograph on loblolly pine. To bring together available information on the distri¬ bution, qualities, and uses of lodgepole pine of Mon¬ tana and Idaho. To bring together all available information on the growth, volume, yield, and management of longleaf pine with special reference to the turpentine indus- try. ^ To bring together all available information on the growth, volume, yield, and management of red pine throughout its entire range. Revision and extension of report on shortleaf pine in Virginia. I 68 REVIEW OF FOREST SERVICE INVESTIGATIONS. VoL. I. I.—TREE STUDIES—Continued. Project. Sugar pine ‘. Western white pine Western yellow pine in Ore¬ gon. \\Tiite pine of Montana and Idaho, exclusive of Pinus monticola. \Miite pine under forest man¬ agement. Second-growth yellow pine.. Red spruce in the Northeast. Silvical leaflets.. Western larch. .... Western red cedar.. Willows, their economic uses and importance. Second-growth yellow' pop¬ lar. Western hemlock (Tsuga het- eropkylla). Object. To bring together all the available information on the distribution, grow'th, management, and uses of this species. To secure all available information on the distribution, grow'th, and management of w'estern w’hite pine as a basis for a monograph on this species.- i To bring together all the available information on the grow'tn, yield, and management of w'esterii yellow pine in Oregon. To bring together available information on the distri¬ bution, qualities, and uses of the white pines of Mon- • tana and Idaho. To sup)ply better organized data, with more specific application to management. To determine the yield and possibilities of management of the extensive stands of pure yellow pine coming in as a result of early cuttings on the Stanislaus and Tahoe Forests. To obtain full information regarding the silvical char¬ acteristics and utilization of red spruce, wdth special reference to the management of second-growth stands. Bringing together in a brief form the available silvical information regarding American forest trees. i To bring together available information on the distri- j bution, qualities, and uses of western larch. ; To bring together all the available information on | growth, yield, and management of western red cedar, j To secure data on the botanical and sihdcal character¬ istics, their management. To determine the sihdcal characteristics of second- growth yellow poplar, with special reference to sys¬ tems of management to be used in such stands. To secure additional data for revising and reprinting in¬ formation and tables on western hemlock as found in Bulletin 33 of the Forest Service. J.—UTILIZ.VTION. Lumbering in National For¬ est regions. Flume construction and fluming. Deterioration of timber caused by fires. National Forest timber sales. To secure reliable data on cost of logging and a basis for uniform methods of stumpage appraisals. To describe methods of flume construction, costs, and operation. To determine the rate with which timber deteriorates for merchantable use. To state the policy and indicate the opportunities for the purchase of timber from the National Forests. 9 1 The completion of this monograph should be made in cooperation with the Branch of Products. O ^ I ^ PROGRESS REPORT w ALTGELD HALL STACKS OF ARTESIAN AND UNDERFLOW INVESTIGATION BETWEEN THE " *VU.. ^ ^ '"A.-; ^ NINETY-SEVENTH DEGREE OF WEST LONGITUDE AND THE FoOT-HlLLS OF THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS, WITH 'f- - jt-' MAPS AND PROFILES. PART II* PREPARED UNDER DIRECTION OF THE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, BY EDWIN S. NETTI.ETON, C. E., CHUtF ENSINEKK OF INVESTIOATION. 'V WASHINGTON: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE. 1891 . UBRARYOF THE UN I V ERS ITY OF 1 L M N Ol.s l COLLEOEOI. Iengineeking From tiie Iil)rar-vj of JOHN AUGUSTUS OCKERSON CLAS5 Of j & 7 3 Presented May 1,l024 Dti 8 Is Widow C?LA,RA vSH^CKtIFORD OCKER5CfN 330 .973 F/?c hfo. 6 SENATE. ( Ex. Doc. 53. ( Part 2. 1 ^ i'RESS, K...^sion. LETTER FROM HE SECRETARY OF AGRICULTURE, TRANSMITTING, \ additional response to Senate resolution of December 13, 1890, report of the progress of irrigation in the months of November and December* CBRUARY20, 1891.—Referred to the Select Committee on Irrigation and Reclama¬ tion of Arid Lands and ordered to be printed. Department of Agriculture, Office of the Secretary, Washington^ D. (7., February 20, 1891. Sir : I have the honor to transmit herewith, as a part of the inquiry illed for by the Senate, the report of progress work for November and ecember, 1890, with maps, profiles, and appendix, showing surface evations and the water plane beneath, prepared by Edwin S. Nettle- •n, chief engineer of artesian and underflow investigation, and by W. I Follett, the assistant engineer. This report covers a large section ■ the central division of the Great Plains, embracing considerable irtions of Kansas, Nebraska, and Colorado. It is of great interest, I id the accompanying map and profiles will prove of service in illus- I ating the existence and value, for irrigation purposes, of waters ibibed or soaked in the earth from region^b rainfall, held in valley I ratum or sand by seepage from streams, of stored below the alluvium j om mountain drainage, i I am, sir, very respectfully, I Edwin Willits, I ' Acting Secretary. I The President of the Senate. Department of Agriculture, Irrigation, Artesian and Underflow Investigation, Denvery Colo., January 21,1891. Sir: I herewith transmit my progress report for the months of No¬ amber and December. The labor of working out the field notes in mnection with the survey of the underground waters in the drainage illeys of the Platte and Arkansas has required much more time than anticipated, and hence the delay in this report. I The nature of the investigation of the so-called “ underflow ” is such ‘I to require an extended and somewhat connected series of observa- 2 IRRIGATION. .■T ■ /■ tions in order to settle conclusively the theories regarding the poss ities of utilizing subterrauean waters for irrigation. I have selects the valleys of tlie two principal rivers in Nebraska and Kansas fortii; purpose, and the presentation of the facts is better accomplished, I b lieve, by the graphic method of plan and profile than could be done o text alone. The profiles which I submit as a part of this report are on a scale t(^ large for publication. 1 found it was not practicable to make workin profiles that would not have to be reduced for the printer. These pn files will furnish an excellent base on which the geologists can plat their work in accurate detail in the final closing up of the investigation As we have not made copies of the profiles, I would suggest that th originals be carefully preserved from any damage. Very respectfully, yours, Hon. J. M. Rusk. E. S. Nettleton, Chief Engineer, Secretary of Agriculture,, Washington, D. C, Department of Agriculture, ARTESIAN AND UNDERFLOW INVESTIGATION, Denver,, Colo.,, January 21, 1891. Sir : As I have already advised you, we are not attempting to d any field work in the Dakotas this winter, leaving the northern po: tion of the territory included within the limits of our investigatio until next spring. Major Coffin, our assistant in South Dakota, is q structed to do all he can in the mean time by means of correspondenc and by personal inquiry in collecting information regarding artesian-well developments made since our inquiry last spring, and \ collect all the facts he can regarding the locality of irrigable stream! reservoir sites, and the probable existence of subterranean water other than artesian which is believed to be practicable to utilize ii irrigation purposes. He reports that he is making good headway f the work assigned him. The artesian-well investigation in Nebrask and Kansas, made by this Department last spring, leaves so little I be done by the engineering branch that we have not pursued ^ inquiry any further in these States. Our investigations there ha^ been confined to the study of the extent and availability of the uncfe flow, and we have taken the valleys of the Platte in Nebraska, an Arkansas in Kansas, as the two best opportunities for making this ej amination, believing whatever conditions we find there would, witho^ much doubt, exist in a larger portion of these States. In addition to the examination of the underflow problem in these W valleys, we have made a similar investigation of the question along th line of the one-hundredth meridian fronj Norton to Dodge City, Kanssu The plan of investigation followed for the purpose ot determining th extent and availability of the underflow waters for irrigation pro poses, as required in the act approved September 30,1890, has been | connect by lines of levels the surface of the subterranean water, whert ever it could be found, with the so-called “sheet-water” in the valley of the large rivers. The surface of the water in the Platte in N( braska and the Arkansas in Kansas have been made bases of A levels, all of which have been reduced to sea-level elevations. METHODS OF INVESTIGATION. 3 The annexed plan and profiles show in detail the location and ele- ition of the surface of the underground water, as found in rivers, ells, springs, and pools, as well as the elevation of the surface of the (untry along the line surveyed, which is represented on Appendix 1. [lese lines were carried north and south, or about at right angles from e river, far enough in each direction to obtain the general character- tics and relative positions of the water-bearing stratum. Eight of ese lines were surveyed—^four on the Platte, three on the Arkansas, id one on the one hundredth meridian. Appendices iTos. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 8 show the exact localities of the lines surveyed, and the eleva- ms of the surface of the country above sea level, which are projected profile from the plan beneath. Appendix No. 9 shows only the pro- e of the line and the elevations thereon, as were established by ane- id barometers, corrected to true elevations whf^never it could be done, it, as a whole, these elevations should be considered only approxi- ately correct. In connection with making the survey to obtain the relative levels of e surface of the country and of the water bearing strata the follow- g inquiry was made relative to the wells along the line : Well examined by W. W. Follett on-line in-. No. of well, -. When examined,-. Location,-. Owner,-. Post-office? -. When pnt down,-. Kind of well,-. Size,-. Depth,-. Depth to water,-. Depth of water,-. Amount of water,-. Did water raise when struck? -. Is supply changing ? -. Strata passed through,-. ! Quality of water,-. How raised.-. Kind of mill,-. Stroke,-. Cost of well, -. Cost of pump, -. Cost of mill, -. C6st of repairs to mill,-—. Maximum amount pumped per day,-. Used for-. Elevation surface,-. Elevation water,-. Elevation bottom,-. Remarks,-. Copies of the answers to the above inquiry are found in Appendix 0.10. The line shading on the profiles shows the water line in the wells as ell as that on the surface at the time the survey was made. In some calities the water is several feet lower than usual, the cause assigned fing the small amount of rainfall this season. The scale adopted shows considerable distortion, making the appar- it slope of the country much steeper than it actually is. This was lought necessary, however, to give room to show the different strata issed through in the wells and yet to keep the length of the profile ithin reasonable limits. The following are some of the salient facts and features in connec- on with the wells and water-bearing stratum that were noticed during le investigation, which are only in part shown on the several profiles ■ the lines surveyed : BIG SPRING LINE. All the wells on this line are positive-artesian in their character, ex- jpting those on the south end; which are negative; that is, they rise i the bore, but do not flow above. The water-bearing stratum is gen¬ ially overlaid by clay or grit, the water rising in some instances 100 et above where it is struck, and in all of them it rises above the sheet- 4 IRRIGATION. water in the river valley. The water in well Xo. 4 rises 80 feet abow the South Platte and 160 feet above the North Platte. Well No. 2. has been tested for quantity; it was pumped 24 hours at the rate of 8< gallons per minute without exhausting the water. The somewhat celebrated State Corner” spring near the uortheasj corner of Colorado, flows about 5 gallons per minute; it is 180 fee | aboye the river, and 100 feet above the highest water found on the lini and does not seem to have any connection with any other water in thi vicinity, except, it may be, with the artesian vein." i NORTH PLATTE LINE. The sheet-water extends across the valley of the Two Rivers, and i very near the surface. About 23 miles north is the head of the Soutl Loup; the water here stands in pools, and about on the same leve with the w’ater-bearing stratum to the south of it, which stratum ii about 130 feet above the Platte, and has a marked regularity of positioii and slope. South of the river the wells are quite deep, going dowij practically to the sheet-water of the Platte rivers, and has a regular in | clinatiou towards the south, coming to the surface at Medicine Creek i a branch of the Republican River. i Medicine Creek is a plains stream originating in springs. From ihi head to Wellfleet, 8 miles, its fall is about 16 feet to the mile, and fron Wellfleet South for about 5 miles, it falls about 14 feet to the mile. A one mile from its source (in pools) the water just begins to run. A- Wellfleet on November 16, it was carrying 18 cubic feet per second, and I miles below on same date it was carrying 30 to 35 cubic feet per second The water comes from numerous springs along both banks of the stream it apparently making a break in the water-bearing stratum. From th< distance and fall of the stream it is possible that this is the same stra turn as supplies the wells at Venango. The water-bearing material if hard fine sand (loess), above Wellfleet, changing to gravel and to gri' below. The flow of the stream is said to be nearly constant, flowing more in the fall than any other time. Medicine Creek is a type of several tributaries of the Republicai River, coming from the north and west, including Red Willow Creek Stinking Creek, Frenchman or Whiteman’s Fork, and the two headf of the Republican. These streams all arise from springs in water bearing strata apparently continuous, and show quite a flow near theii heads. The tributaries from the south show a much smaller quantity a water than those from the north and west, although they are long and drain a large territory. A comparison of sea-level elevations show that it is possible for thh water-bearing stratum to be continuous, and to lie at an elevation equal to or below that of the sands of the Platte River. By reference to Ap¬ pendix No. 1 it will be seen that many springs cluster around the hea^ of these streams. The springs there shown were located by the Arte¬ sian Wells Investigation of the spring of 1890. LEXINGTON LINE. At Lexington the river valley proper extends about 10 miles north of this place; the water line gradually raises in that direction with the surface of the ground. From the north side of this valley to the South Loup, 22 miles further north, the same general characteristics of the water-bearing stratum exist as were found on the North Platte line,] LINES OF INVESTIGATION. 5 orth of these rivers. The Soutli Louj) has evidently been cut 70 or 80 .‘et into or through this water-bearing stratum. Springs are abund- ot along the south side of the Loup, about 80 feet above it, which are ndoubtedly the out-cropping of the uppermost water-bearing stratum. . well very close to ^o. 63 was put down to a depth of 350 feet, or 100 )et below the Platte Kiver, and found no water below 240 feet. South f the Platte to the Eepublican the regularity of the water-bearing }ratum is quite marked and coincides very nearly with that on the orth Platte line, except the slope to the soutli is much greater, it be- ig 10 feet per mile toward the Republican River or about twice as reat as the slope of the Platte River. GRAND ISLAND LINE. ! From the Platte north to the Loup, is in’the delta of these two rivers, le Loup being 100 feet lower than the Platte and the general surface fthe ground slopes towards the Loup, with the exception of a line of rifted sand hills on the south side of the Loup Yalley. All of the wells n this line are shallow, except near the sand hills,and afford large quan- ties of water for stock purposes, some furnishing as high as 3,200 gal- ms per day, which is pumped by windmills. South from the Platte ) the Little Blue there is a great irregularity in the position of the ater-bearing stratum, but the general slope is to the south, as found 1 the other lines. From Little Blue to the Republican there is no well etined water-bearing stratum. The water line here seems to conform lore to the surface than on the other lines. GREAT BEND LINE. From Hoisington north there is no well defined water-bearing stratum, he wells on this part of the line have a weak vein of water found in ay, overlying blue shale rock. Well 'So. 144 was driven through the lue shale 180 feet thick into a thin stratum of sand and gravel. The ater is quite salty and artesian in its character, rising 70 feet above I here it is struck." Well Xo. 138 is 16 feet in diameter, and furnishes ),000 gallons in 24 hours for engine use. South from Great Bend to the south end of the line is a flat, sandy iDuntry, underlaid by alternating layers of sand, gravel, and clay. In early all of the sand and gravel strata water is found. Well ifo. 129 as sunk 40 feet below the ui)per water stratum into gravelj the water lised to a level with the top-water. DODGE CITY LINE. From Dodge City north there is no well defined water-bearing stratum, he country is underlaid with blue shale with an irregular surface, and ater in limited quantities is found at the top of the shale in sand or indy clay. South from Dodge City the water-bearing stratum has a lore uniform i)ositiou, being very nearly on the same level with the .rkansas River. The south end of this line terminates in the artesian asin in Meade County. Here are between 85 and 100 wells, flowing ] an average of 15 gallons per minute. The de])ths vary from 57 to ^0 feet. Tbe elevation of the water-bearing stratum is very unequal I this basin, accounted for as shown in sketch below. The water is )ft, and the flow is not decreased by a multiplicity of wells. 6 IRRIGATION WELL WELL WELL V WELL ^ Plate I. — Specimen section of artesian strata LINES OF INVESTIGATION. 7 i GARDEN CITY LINE. ! ‘ The water-bearing stratum along the entire length of this line has a uiarkable uniformity of position and slope, and comes nearer being a ntinued sheet of underground water than has yet been discovered, le south end of the Xorth Platte line shows a similar condition of the ! ater line, but its continuity is not preserved. By referring to the ele- itions of the two lines, it will be observed that there is about 240 feet fference between the south end of the North Platte line and the north l id of the Garden City line, the former being the lowest, which shows at there must be a "break in the stratum somewhere in the country ; tervening. : The sheet-water, as shown on the Garden City line, conforms quite ill to the theories of the people in that vicinity regarding its extent. It instead of the water-bearing stratum receiving its supply from the rer, as heretofore supposed, we find the facts do not justify this theory, le wells on the north side of the river are comparatively quite shallow, id have an abundant supply of water which undoubtedly comes from I e west. It will be observed by an examination of the map of Kan- i ,s that the drainage water of the greater portion of the counties of iinney, Scott, Wichita, and Greeley, flows to the east towards this line id sinks in a flat country in Scott and Finney counties. Near Scott City there is a depression in the country into which a ream discharges itself, whose head is in Colorado. During wet sea¬ ms considerable water stands in this depression for a short time, but nks rapidly into the ground, and this water, without question, furn- hes the subterranean water shown on the north end of this profile. I does not come from the Arkansas River, as the slope is in the wrong i rection, it being about 2f feet per mile towards the river. It is more I'obable that the underflow of the river near Garden City is reeii- rced from the underground waters coming to it from the northwest. Nearly all the wells on this line are reported as inexhaustible, as far ; they have been tested by ordinary pumping by hand, or by wind mills, few instances were observed where 4 to 7 acres are irrigated in Gar¬ in City by water pumped from these shallow wells into reservoirs by ind power. One of these wells (well 177) furnishes 100,000 gallons ir day. THE HUNDREDTH MERIDIAN LINE. This line was surveyed for the purpose of making a continuous ex- nination of the water-bearing strata from the Platte to the Arkansas iver. The line does not quite connect with the Lexington line, and is short distance to the west of it. As will be seen by the profile, there no uniformity of position of the water-bearing stratum, the water ae following quite closely the contour of the surface of the country, he wells along this line generally furnish water sufficient for domestic ?e and for stock purposes; in some instances 400 or 500 head are sup- ied from a single well. In several localities water was not found at 1 in some wells, while in others in the same neighborhood a very lim¬ ed supply was found. This is generally the case where no sand or .^vel was penetrated, and where the grit rock was absent. The lack surface water in the large drainage channels like the Solomon, Sa- ue. Smoky Hill, and Pawnee, was very noticeable. Many of the trib- taries of these streams, with very much smaller drainage areas com- xred with those of the main streams, were carrying more water than ly single one of the above-named rivers. The water in these smaller 8 IREIGATION. tributaries is supplied by springs which are generally found on th north side of the creek valleys, and issuing at the lower base of th grit when it was underlaid by an impervious rock. In the immediate valleys of some of the creeks and so-called large rivers are deposits of sand and gravel which undoubtedly carry mor or less water; but the indications are that no great amount of water & irrigation can be obtained in these, especiallv when long intervals occu w^n these water-holding sands are not reinforced by a surface flow ihis profile and some of the others show that the Platte and Arkan: sas Kivers are higher than some of the drainage channels that lie b€ tween these rivers. Deep borings in the immediate valleys of both th ; Platte and Arkansas are reported to have been made without reachinj bed rock, passing through sand and gravel the whole distance. Thb would indicate that these rivers have been gradually raised by the flu I mg up of their deeply eroded canons with sand and gravel brough i down from above, until their surface is, at the present time, almost oil a level with their rock-bound sides. The plains streams lying betweei these rivers have not been filled up to the same extent: hence theii diiierence in elevation. ’ CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. From information gathered from the Weather Service records, frorr the people in the central and eastern parts of the Dakotas, and from those between the ninety-seventh meridian and one hundred and first in westerc JNebraska and Kansas, it appears that there is usually rainfall sufii cient in the whole year, if it were properly distributed throughout the cropping season, to make agriculture quite certain without the aid ol irrigation. During the last of June and through Julv there seems to have been a slight falling off of the amount of rainfall^ which, with the hot southerly winds which frequently occur during these months, have made it necessary to bridge over a short interval by substitutino- irri¬ gation wherever it is possible. It is the general opinion of the ]:^ople in th^ belt of country that the hot and dry winds have more to do with the shortage and loss of crops this last season than the lack of rain- tall. Further west the losses of crops seem to be more due to the scanty rainfall throughout the whole year. There are evidences which have come to our knowledge, both from statements of the oldest settlers and froip observations of the climatic conditions that must have existed before the settlement of the eountrv, which lead to the belief that there has been a recurrence of wet and ^y periods which have extended over the country under consideration. We have not been able to fix the.probable return of these periods, but they seem to follow each other with intervals of 11 to 14 years. That the past year is not the dryest that was ever known is proved by the fact that in some of the small lakes on the plains which have dried up during the last season old buffalo trails are found in the bottom of these ■ now dry lakes, leading to the very lowest point where water could be i obtained. The drying up of other lakes this year shows small dead trees and brush that were once growing in what has been a lake for many years. It is also observed that the prairie grasses found in the more humid sections of the Great Plains are gradually occupying the country to the west, which was formerly covered by gramma and buf- lalo grasses. Ihe latter named grasses seem to occupy and mark the country, which is at present doubtful to occupy for agricultural pur¬ poses without the substitution of irrigation.^ On our recent trip along IRfllGATION PROBLEMS. 9 tie hundredth meridian through the State of Kansas we found the ramma and buffalo grasses occupying nearly the whole country, with lere and there little patches of the central Kansas grasses growing. ?hese have come within the last few years. While the observations of the rain gauge do not show any increase if rainfall in these districts, yet it is the experience and judgment of he people who have lived in the country for some time that the ram loes not fall in such torrents as formerly; also that dews on the grass Q the morning can be seen more frequently than 10 or 15 years 'lew springs of water are showing in many places, and some of the old »nes are increasing in their volume j in fact, there are many signs which ndicate that the climate is undergoing a gradual change, and that the ;ountry is being better fitted for the occupation ot^manj but the great Irawback is the liability of a return of the cycles of dry seasons, when few weeks during the cropping season must be bridged over by irri¬ gation, or be followed by a failure of crops more or less disastrous. ; * Judging from the past history of the western movement of the limit vhere agriculture can be safely carried on, on the great western plains n Kansas and Nebraska, we can safely anticipate that with the occu¬ pation and tillage of the country along its front the line will slowly idvance, but slower as it moves westward to higher altitudes and ! x)ward a country that will always require irrigation. IRRIGATION PROBLEMS WITHIN NEBRASKA AND KANSAS. The Platte River traverses the entire length of Nebraska, and the Arkansas enters Kansas near the southwest corner of the State passes out of it into the Indian Territory at the ninety-seventh merid- .an, or the eastern limit of this investigation. These rivers have their j source in Colorado and W^yoming, where they receive nearly the whole of bheir water supply. The appropriation of the waters of the South Platte ind the Arkansas has been already made by ditches and canals in Dolorado, under the constitution and laws of that State, to an extent that no water is left for either Kansas or Nebraska, except possibly a little during the short period ot the annual and storm-waterfloods. In both Nebraska and Kansas irrigation canals have been constructed taking water out of these rivers which antedate many of the large oanals in Colorado, hence the possibility of a conflict of rights ot an interstate character j and until these rights are adjudicated the surplus waters of the Platte and Arkansas Rivers can hardly be depended on for irrigation purposes. The various methods of irrigation available for this country are about as follows: (1) The use of subterranean water obtained by open sub-flow ditches. (2) The use of subterranean waters raised a few feet by mechanical means. (3) The use of subterranean waters raised from the ordinary farm wells by wind- mills. , n . X (4) The use of the small perennial flow of the plains streams. (5) The storage and immediate use of storm waters. (6) The use of the flow of artesian wells. 1. Fortunately for the benefit and protection of the irrigation devel¬ opment in the valleys of these rivers in western Nebraska and Kansas, there is a deposit of sand and gravel of considerable width and of unknown depth that is charged with water j just how much is available and can be utilized for irrigation purposes remains to be found out. The only practical test of the quantity that can be taken out by a sin¬ gle sub canal has been made at Dodge City and Hartland. A similar 10 IRRIGATION. attempt is being made on the Platte River near Ogallala Nebi ?ont7m^pUtT^^ Arkansis Valleys ar The amount of water obtained by the two sub-canals at Dodge Cit^ and Hartland is 15 cubic feet per second for each mile in length of th" excavation that is made, 6 feet below the water line. It is found thai the width of the canal has but little eifect on the amount of water nei colatinginto itj the depth and length are the controlling factors, othe^ conditions being equal. ’ ■ These sub-canals are simply drainage channels extended up ani alongside ot the river beds until the bottom of the channel has reached about 6 feet below the original water line, then the channel is givei the same grade as tjie rizer and extended as far upstream as circumi admit, or until the desired amount of water is obtainedi V\ hen the sub-canal is an excavated channel made by scraping out the matenal in the ordinary way, 6 feet deep below the water line seems to be about the proper depth. I have made some calculations regarding the proportional increase of the inflow due to deeper cut channels, and find It IS nearly as the square of the depth. This rule is verified bv at instance on the South Platte, 25 miles southwest from Denver, where a company has put in a sub-conduit near the bed of the river which is 18 feet below the water line. In 700 feet of this sub-conduit there ig obtained 9,000,000 gallons each 24 hours, or at the rate of 153 cubic fee per second for a mile of such conduit. This shows about ten times th( quantity obtained from a sub-channel 6 feet deep, which, if the above ruh was ^phed, would be only nine times as great, or 135 cubic feet. 2. I here are many places where large amounts of water exist at 2 depth too great to be reached by sub-canals, but which can be brought to the surface if lilted a few feet by mechanical means. Carefulh made calculations show that it is practicable to raise water for genera] irrigation a few feet by steam pumps or animal power. It can be put on the land at a cost which will exceed but little if any the cost ol water obtained from the more expensive irrigation canals. One ^-reat drawback to the early adoption of this method is the first cost of the plant, but as the country grows older and richer a considerable amount of land will be imgated in this way. ^ ^nd horticultural purposes considerable irrigation can be done by water pumped by wind power from wells too deep or 'vntli too small a water suppl^^ to successfully pump by steam. Water ODtained in this way must be pumped into a reservoir and used in laro'e quantities. In this way pumping can go on continuously whenever the wind IS blowing and the work of irrigation can be done at the times when the crops are in need of it The area that can be covered bv a ^gle well IS small, but many wells can be put down and utilized;, vv ater thus obtained can be used only for gardening, as it is far too costly to be used for general farming. The amount of water from each well IS small, but the low first cost of such a plant and the extremely small cost of maintenance (see Appendix 10) brings it within the reach of nearly all the settlers. 4. On those small plains streams having a constant flow, careful stuay ot the drainage will show places where small irrigation ditches can be taken out which will use the available water supply in a very advantageous way. There are large numbers of such opportunities in the drainage of the Republican River aud in the eastern portion of,. e semi-aiid country in Kansas and Nebraska. The water of streams*^ having a continuous small flow can, by storing it in their channels, be 7 * A BEGINNING MADE. 11 tilized on their valleys lower down by common irrigation methods. Siis is probably the cheapest and most feasible method of iination sfw available for the people of this country, and the one they should rfit adout 6. In the western portion of Kansas and Nebraska it does not seem >ra*cticable to depend on the storage of storm waters, both on account i the lack of water to store and the scarcity of good storage places, n the eastern part of the semi-arid country there are many good op- lortunities for storing the waters of the intermittent and flood carry- hg streams, and the water can be utilized for flooding the adjoining ands. It is not practicable to hold this water for any great length oi line, as it would be quickly lost by evaporation and percolation, but it an be used advantageously at any time on these heavy prairie soils fith impervious clay subsoil. n i i • 6. A great deal of land is now irrigated by artesian wells already m ixistence, but the area could be largely extended by the use of reser¬ voirs to hold their constant flow. A BEGINNING MADE. Although there is so large a portion of Kansas and Nebraska west of he ninety-seventh meridian that is not susceptible of irrigation on ac- iount of the lack of water, yet there are thousands of opportunities lere and there scattered all over the country outside of the immediate leighborhood of the Platte, Kepublican, and Arkansas Kivers, for irri- '^ating limited areas. Some of these opportunities are alreadj being mproved, and farming and gardening under irrigation in these places las proved very successful and remunerative. We have seen instances s'here, bv a very little expenditure of labor, the little water heretofore ?unning to waste has been turned to a beneficial use, and areas ranging Tom 10 to 25 acres each have been made to yield a profit of from $2o to 875 per acre for the last two seasons. The success of those who are farming by irrigation is leading others who have the proper facilities :o do likewise. . ^ • The general failure of crops and the necessity of resorting to irriga¬ tion for raising even enough for the subsistence of the family, and the sfood round profits made during the last season, are awakening an in¬ terest in the irrigation question. Meetings and conventions are being ield in several of the western counties in these States to discuss this question. An attempt to organize for securing aid from the county^ State, and National Governments is also being made. On account ot the conflicts that have already arisen regarding water rights, irrigation legislation for these States will be one of the things attempted this winter. . ^ The beginning in this small way, and the agitation of the irrigation Question, reminds one of twenty or twentf"-five years ago in Colorado when it then was a question with* some people in that State whether farming by irrigation could be successfully carried on. ^ ^ ^ Just what the effect of the periodical recurrence of seasons of sufficient rainfall will have on the irrigation development in these States will iargelv depend upon the class of people occupying the country. In the western part of these States where water for irrigation can be had with a reasonable, outlay of labor and money, we may safely expeet work will be pushed with a degree of energy commensurate with the financial condition of the people. The difference in the final outcome of irriga¬ tion development in Kansas and Nebraska, and that in Colorado, \Mli 12 CONCLUSION. be that irrigation in Kansas and Nebraska will be confined to discd nected and smaller irrigation districts, and a more general utilization'! the underground waters, and doubtless a much smaller percentage ' land cultivated by aid of irrigation. In one case irrigation is an absolu necessity, in the other, the necessity diminishes as the line of humidiJ IS approached from the west. L CONCLUSIONS. From an analysis of the information collected with reference to tl extent and availability for irrigation of the underfiow waters in the te ritory examined and embraced in this report, and also with referem to other questions closely allied to the subject we arrive at the follow mg: There are a great diversity of means for irrigation of small areas, a ot which It will be necessary to use to irrigate even a small percentas ot the lands it is necessary to artificially moisten to tide over the n- curring dry seasons. History and observation teach that the necessity for irrigation j growing less, and that the line separating the humid from the semi-ari regions is moving westward. This movement is, however, growin slower and slower with each degree covered, and the point will some where be reached where it will stop. Here vcill be the battle groum between the courageous immigrant and the elements. ( Yet the country is not by any means without a hope and a fair ex pectation ot eventually becoming a region where agricultural and pas toral pursuits properly combined can be carried on at a profit. Yours, very respectfully. Hon. J. M. Rusk, Secretary of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. E. S. Kettleton, Chief Engineer. ^1 ■i h f INDEX. < _ matic conditions. kotas, work in. production to report. tter of the Acting Secretary to the Senate. tter of Chief Engineer to the Secretary. ! les of investigation :* Big Spring Line. Artesian wells on. ! “ State corner ” well. I North Platte Line. Medicine Creek. Two Rivers Valley undersheet. Sea-level comparison.- Lexington Line. Characteristics of South Loup on. Grand Island Line. Water-bearing stratum. Great Bend Line. Irregularity of strata. Dodge City Line. .. Meade County artesian basin. Garden City Line. Uniformity of water-sheet.— Difference of elevation from North Platte Line Source of uudersheet supply. Singular depression near Scott City. Wells inexhaustible. The hundredth meridian. Purpose of survey. Absence of grit rock and underlying gravel... High level of the Platte and Arkansas Rivers . jthods of irrigation available... listure, equalization of, observed. riodic recurrence of wet and dry season.. esent situation... oblems of irrigation in Nebraska and Kansas. .rveys, general lines of. VO Rivers Valley water-sheet. ... iderflow investigation. Page. & 2 2 1 1,2 3 4 4 4 4 4 4 5 5 5 5 5 , 5 5 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 7 8 9 9 8 U 9 3 4 a * For detailed information, location of wells, and relative elevations uf water-bear- y strata, see Appendices Nos. 2 to 10. 13 14 INDEX. APPENDICES. t Appendix 1 : Map showing location of Artesian Wells and Waters Appendix 2; Plat and Profile of a line across the South Platte River at Bier SprHio- Nehrask" .. ^ ^ from Che N^rth Platte River to a point near the head of F?en™hman R?vel ^ Appendi^s'^^*^^ relative elevation of the Water-hearing Strata. Plat and Profile of a line across the Platte River at North Platte, Nebraska fron Appendix 4: Plat and Profile of a line acpss the South Platte River at Lexin^rtou Nebraska tion of the Wate."b\^ariDrSto^^^ Republican Eiver,chewing relative eleva Appendix 5: Plat and Profile of a line across the Platte River at Grand Island, Nebraska fron Jhe ft^^ttraLTsTr^ Appendix 6: Platband Profile of a line across the Arkansas River at Great Bend, Kansas fro’ of the’^V^ater Sng Sttau. Appendix 7 : Plat and Prome of a line across the Arkansas Eiyer at Dodge City from Pawn Strata th/CterXear? Appendix 8: Plat and Profile of a line across the Arkansas River at Garden Citv Kansas frbi int^Strata^^^ Kansas, showing relative elevation of the Water-beai Ajipendix y: elevltinn^nf^w hundredth meridian, from Norton, Kansas, showing relativ Appendix^ 10^* ^ ater-beanng Strata as determined by aneroid barometer. Detailed information of Wells referred to on Plats and Profiles numbered 2 to g o Aj>/=><^nc//x 2 A/:>/oen c//-x /V? 3 r Oiiited Stales Depai tment of Agriculture --^ PLATsJj PROFILE -_ FLATTE nivE^^ *T I - NEBRASKA Shew.n* relBtWeeltvaiionef it M« Ap/=>en c//X A /9 4" j Appertc// X /i eo . -i 1 t .K • t \ % * / I ¥ I Ap/P>€nc//X 6 ! 1 O' . c5 <») v 0: C«5 'O 1 ^ i? In 1^ 1 f? "I Oo N § 9 1 1 1 cr a//X /\/^ 7 t-r 4 T T Z3QQ- 2ia£L 00 4^0 MifC9 I )ED IN 10 rise sk ? li o. Elevation. APFENDIX No. lO.-DETAlLBD /.NTO/iJTJT/O.Y OF HELLS FEFERHED TO OS PEOFILES SOS. 2 TO 8. |W«11* 6uiBiO(^ by W. FoIUcL) 10 Qo Me Spriiie lise in Xebraakn: Sw. i Sw. i sec. 80. T. 13 N„ R, 41 TV . NW.l sec.18, T.13N.,3t41 W . SW. i KW. i sec. 8, T. 13 N., R 41 W . J.'W.isec.l6,T.14 N.,R.41 W. SW. J SE. J sec. 18, T. 14 N.. B. 41 W .. NW.iJJB.4 sec.20, T. 14 N.,R.41 W. NW.4NE.4 sec. 22. T. 14 N.,R.41 W.. SW. J SB. i sec. 28. T. 14 N.. B. 41W . SW 4 SB- J sec. 26, T. 14N.,B.41 W . SE. 4 SE. i see. 12, T. 13 K.. R. 4l W . SE.48CC.6. T.ll N.,R41W . HW 4 N W. 4 sec. 20, T. 11 N., R 41 W. NE.4 NE. 4 sec. 30, T, 11X., R.41 W . NE lliE.4 iee.6,T.0N„R41 W .. SW,4>JW.4 sec.S.T.0N-.R41 W. SE,iNE.4 Sff.20,T.OK..R,81 W .. . SW 4 SC0.S2,T.9N.,R 41 W. NE.4ieo.l8,T.8N.,R42 W. 8E.4 see. 18, T.18 K., R. 42 W. !.4,NE.4ieCL26,T.8N..R42 W. '0.8J,T.BN,,R4l W . •WJ.1S.X.1B..R42 W. rofsec.7,T.0R,R 41 W.. I'MiticIlDem Kelirasks; , V.4, iec.l5,X.llll., B.80 W.| 24 I No' _ B 4sep.l3. T.8N.,R.30 W.! 26 1x0' Riec.l9,T.»N.,R29W . 1 20 | No- Isec.l8, T.»N.,R.30 W. 1S.T.9N.,R.30W. WbcD esniD. iDermK. Nebr.. t W. W. Watenusn, Esy. Nebr.' George Berts. Dsy. Nebr. Henry Moos, Dsy. Nebr... Jone, 18b8.do.. Henry Bert/, Dsy, Nebr. A. Baney, Big Spring, Nebr. Cbos. SsQiter. Big Spring, Nebr... Cbss. Stanindti Brule, Nebr. Robt.Bigbotn,Big Spring,Nebr.. Cbss. Hsrrlsoo, Veusngo. Nebr . .j E. Aruistrong, Yensngo, Nebr .. 1 P. Ton Biiskltk, VcDsngo, Nebr. . H.J. Scott. VeuADgo, Nebr... . NOT-.1M7... fsU. 1880... Spriug.1890.. Msr., 1890.. 8«pL. U88 .. Not , 1687.. Aog.. 1886.. Jaly, 1889.. Fsll. 1887... Nov.. 1888 .. Jone, 1890.. wstei. vstcr. ....do ., 4 In. dlsm. ....do. 61n. distn. . ,, I 1887. I D. R Birins, Yennngo, Nebr./ ! Nor,, I ' Not. 14 ! John Meyer, Yenongo, Nebr.. Not. U Nov. 14 Nov. 14 SW.4 see, 31, T. 10 N . R 28 W . . SE, 4 SE. 4 see. 24. T. 10 N.. R 30 W . . N£. 4 SE. 4 see. 24. T. 10 N . R 30 W . NB lSE.4 eeo.l3.T.10N.,R80 W . S^ NE J s NW*4N£;4 seo.M,T.U N.,R30 W. I 27 Nov. 16 26 ! Nov. 17 Mat tblBs Borob, Yenongo, Nebr. •.. A. J. McElvatn, Lnmor, Nobr. D. L. Adams, Lsmar, Nebr. i A. S. Allen, Lamar, Nebr......A. Burlington and Missouri River Rnllrosi, Venango, Nebr. ,1 Town of Wollfleot. Wellfleet. Nebr J. F. Welboni, Wellfleet. Nobr John R. BstIi. Welllleot. Nebr. Sommer, 1888 Foil, 1887 .... Summer, 1887 20 Not. 17 | 80 I Not. 18 ■f C, C. Hawkins, Wellfleet. Nebr. A. S. Flotober, Boebauou, Nebr. NE.4 see. 26. T.ll N..R80W.. 8W.4 eeo,24,T.l2N.,R30 W.. NW,4 se6.Sl.T.12 N..R30W.. SW, 4 SE. 4 sec. 22. T. 12 N.. R SO Not. 18 Jonatbsm Welch, Buebanau, Nebr.. Not. 18 0. A. Sebreoongost, Elliobetb, Nebr. NE.4NE.4 sec.8,T.12N.,R80 W.... 6W.4 NW.4 seo.4,T.12N..R80 W... NB.4NW.4 sec.34.T.13N-.RS0W.. Nov. 18 Not. 18 Not. 16 Not. 19 39 Nor. 10 40 Nov. 19 41 ' Not. 10 A. B. Orr, ElUabeib, Nebr. W. T. Bowen. Watts, Nebr.. George M. Bobbett, Watts. Nebr. , £. R. Seller*, Wall^ Nobr . NW.4aec.22,T.18N.,R30 W. 42 Nov. 10 irE.4sec.2,T.14N,.R80W. *3 Not. 20 NW.4see.30.T.l6N,R29W . . >• W.j SW. 4 sec. 4, T. 15 N,. R 28 W .| NW.4NE.4ae<.34,T.16N.,R.29 W . 46 Nov. 20 SE4aec22.T.16N,.R29 W . 47 Nov. 20 SW 4 NW.4 secII, T. ION..R29 W . «« Not. 20 SE.4aeo.lO,T.ieN.R2»Y Fronds Montague, North Platte, Nebr_ J.R.Cbopln,North Plotte. Nebr. John Einksde, North Platte, Nebr. L. Tboeleeke, North Platte, Nobr. Casper Slvlla, North Plsttis Nebr ^ Joseph Ross, Myrtle. Nebr. W.F. Glrtns, Myrtle, Nel>r.. VsTld Brook, Myrtle, Ncbi.. 49 Not. 20 B. R Gibbens, Myrtle, Nebr .. Nil4aee.l0.T.l6N..R29 W .. NW.4see.25,T.It N.,R29 W . 50 Not. 21 $1 Not. 21 W. H. NoU, Myrtle. Nebr . . Matt McOoe.Boip.Nsbr ... Dec.. 1888.,.. July. 1889.... Aog., 1888 ... June,1889 ... Mar. 1890.. Apr.. 1883.. ... do. ..do. ...do . ...do. 4 In.dlou.. : 6 lo.dlatn... I 2 In. dlAio.. I... do. Drilled .... ....do . Bored.|....do. 1 Drilled. I 2 in.dism.. Drilled . I 2 in. dlstn. Bored,wood ' lOlo. dlnm. cosing. Anonntof wstcr. Strata passed tbroogb. Quality. Hownlfed. Sind of nil}. Stroke. Cost. Pomp. 1 Water. iBoiluu). 3 by 3 feet.. I llO ... do .do. Drilled. Stmcllau .. Bored . . 8 in. diam. Dug . 3 by 3 feet. ...do . {....do.. ....do . j. ...do.. ....do..do. ...do. i _do. ... do. I 38 by 33 in. 3 by 3 feet .. ...do. [....do . -•3S ‘4 feet Bored. . Dog. Sommer, 1886. Dee., 1887. ....do ....... ....do . 2 in. diau.. 8 b.T 3 feel. ...do. May,1885... Jon., 1888.... Not., 1890.... About 1882.. Feb.. 1887.. May. 1880.. Fall of 1666 Mot., 1886. I Not.. 1889.. ....do.|....d0 . .do.I 34 by 84 feet .' Tubular ....I 2 in.diam ... . Dug.I 6 by 6 feel.. .1 Bored, wood lOln.diam.. .1-do.l....do. ■ I —do.. 12 In. diau .. ..I-.. .do.|....do. .....do.I 10 in. diam. - —do.i 12 In. diam. . ....do ....do ....... I , i . ... do.'....do.. ,. I Hydraulic .. 2 in. diam .. Smalt, can lower water 26 {. feet In pumping 109 gal- < Ions. Can not pump dry... Can not pomp dry nor . :llbb • - 13 ft«t grarel and stnd. then Into clay marl, probably abate, oil the I way ouwn. No veui of water, bot seepage from t£o clay mail. lower with bucket. Can not lower. I Yes; 30 feet.... Increasing. Can not lower with pump .. YeS; 40 feet... Can not pomp down.j Yea; 80 feet..} . I ...do... Yei.M feet.... Con not pomp dry.| No. Can not lower.. Yes; 6 orOfeet. Can not pump dry. j Yei; 72 feet... Can not pomp down. Yes; 40 feet... 1 40 Can not pomp down.. 0 ) Abont 4 barrels an hour. Can not lower with bockeC. lu watering stock can ball down 1 foot; then cut not 1 lower , Siuull: runs about 2 barrels per boot. Yes; 40 feet.. Yes; 30 feet.. No. Yes;2 feet. Not much. Ye8:*4 feet . No. . Can Out esbuiist. Yeo; i. Can not lower .. Yes; .3 fell Yes; 6fee^ In good steady wind mill con lower 4 feet, but no more. Can not lower with mill.... Can not pomp out. Cannotssy... In bard winu mill will ex- No., baost ID 3 hours. Can not pump dry. No. No. No. No. No. 'no"!;""i No. ' Some quicksand i clay above water bearing stratum. I 15 feet eanb. 8 feet gnvel, 2 or 3 leet grit; then gravel sod sand down to 170 feet; some cemented gravel; water la fine bard I grai*el, probab^ cemented. 60 feet clav, 14 f^t soft magnesia rock (grit). 20 fret gravel and sand. 8 feet soft magnesia rock igrit) Iw feet sand and gTavcl. with etreaki of clay, 26 or 80 feet qulcksajid, 2 or 3 fc«t white rock, then 2 or 3 feet fine gravel with water. 60 feet soil and rlsy. then sand and gravel with a little day. Water in gravel and sand; a little rock above water. , Hard materia] lust on topof water. There were several atuoll veins 1 of water above tbe rein finally tapped, but not enough to do any i ' goo1 Connotnnmpdrv.bntcoulil ' No..... draw dry with bucket. ' Can oot lower with mill ... Tea. 115 f*ct, I No. I No. tben C feet sand; then i»cat.i.u •n in liiird saud and probably gravel. 10 or 12 feet sAudy soil, 6 feet black hard soil, 60 feet loose sand ino curb). 20 feet soft sand (curb),92 feel white, dry magnesia (grit), very dry aud bard, 3 feet sand, 6 feet magnesia; water in mag. nesia. water came to tbe top of the 3 feet of sand. 20 feet sol), abont 40 feet blech soli aud clay, 4 feet light sand (curb), very fine. Tben bard, siindy dirt. At 110 feet begins 62 feet of magnesia (irrli), very dry oud bard, 6 feet gravel, coarser near bottom. Water In tfiis. 4 feel soil, .S) feet sand, 3 feet loose sand (curb). 100 feet harder sand with some clav, 6 feet red loose clay (curb), 10 or 12feet saud aud clay, 4 feci flue suud (curb); then clay and sand, with some magnesia to 192 feet; then IS feet red day, little snud, wuter in sand , coarser as you go down. 100 feet sandy loam; then straLi of thin clay. There ate scattering rocks through Ibeground. At IMleet strike dippingrock 5 feet thick, then floe sand on top aud water in fine gravel. At about 214 feet to 230 feet 10 inagnesia rock. tueu iuto fine sand, and down 54 feet; at the bottom in coarse gravel. Bard stratum of gray clay. 160 feet down, about 1 foottblck. First water above this; under tbia flue saud with a little gravel iu bot tom us coarse ae packers' salt ; water In this. Wind sill.. Horse. Windmill- Duplex.. Goodbue.. Eclipse... 2 feet soil, 46 feet sandy clay. 8 feet soft sand (corbl, SO feet sand and clar with small stooes, 10 or 12 feet soft sand (curb) ; 60 feet sand Slid clay with small stones, 16 feet soft sand (curb); 10 or 12 feet hard materia); If feet sandstone; could break It up with ban; ' 5or6feet magnesia rock; then red sandy matter (not curbed] ' nntll reach water in aand ami flne gravel. ' 65 feet earth and sand. 150 feet magnesia (grit), 10 feel mixed ma- Hord. terla), 10 feet sand and water. (This Information as to magnesia 1 not trustworthy.) I 4 feet earth, 00 feet sand and clay, bard ns one could spade, about ' Allttlehard. 30 feet magnesia (grit). There is 55 feet curbing water in flne snnd, coarser iu bottom, as large as peas in tbe bottom. 4 feet earth, 00 feet white and vellow clay with sand. 2 feet flne . sand icurbl. 30 feet bard dirt, 80 feet magoesio (grit), 25 feet bard . sand i tben fine sand aod water. Tbe well stops in gravel. In satid hills; probably nearly all sand .i. In sand billa. pi Water in sand, i Sand with sireaka of clay, water in sand. Tbe mkn who dug well |....do.. thought that gravel would be reached lu 20 feel farther. 12 or 14 leet m 3 or4 atrata. rest saud. 3 feet of clay Just above .....do .. water; then 15 feet sand. 2 feet clay . tbentond. 1 Topsoil and loam, with some clay for 100 feet; then quicksand to j....do.. bottom of tbe wc’L I Windmill.... Goodhue.. ....do. .. do. ....do. ....do. Bucket. . fialladay — I Goodbue.. .1 Dempster.... . Baten. Horse.;.. 0.70 •0.75 j S-and and clay ; owner thinks there is a layer of clay above wotei; l....do . streaks of clay about every 10 feet, bottom now in olay; water { in flue laud. Sand all tbe way to bottom, bottom in blue Clay ; water lo sand . ....do . DO quirksaud. ‘ 10 feet soil, A or 10 feet soft sand. 4 feet clay. 12 feet sand, 3 or 4 Hard .. feet clav, alteruating sand and clay for 80 feel; quicksand and 1 water at AO feet: JO or 12 feet sand and tben a little clay; alterna- 1 Ting snud and clay to 16-3 feet - then 4 feel aandstone (supposed), 6 1 ii-et of iiulcksand; 2 feet sandatone. 8 feet gravel; water. This wuter rites to height of first vein 01 80 feet. ' Windmill. Dempster... Horse. ^ . Windmill Centennial.. j....do.i Nlobole. no. 00 •0. C5 •0.00 i 75.00 j. 16.00 I 30. UO 90.00 bis well rvas struck by IlgbtolDg at 01 tbe llgbtutog burst the sand pumt. InformatluD uot trustworthy. 8,672 ' 3,400 ; 8.467 Stock. 3,603 3,473 . 3,668 8. 447 Stock. 3, 648 3,480 Engines. 8.688 3,464 3.446 3 464 . 3,384 This water height U probably loo high. Tbia Well lu iialcr of LakoCaOou. 5,60 ' O.OOO I Stock.. 600 ,..,do . 800 do. Stock sDi creamery. Stuck. ....do. —do. 2.853 2.945 50.00 20.00 , . BOO ... do .. i . 000 ....do 0.75 1,201 j....do 8,025 2.961 8,085 3, 020 3,002 2,847 2,957 2.097 3.047 3,042 ..do. Goodbue... ..do. Challenge . 45.00 •0.75 90.00 80.00 . 1,100 I .. do. 1.067 1.000 L...do.I 3,020 2.763 2,746. 2,741 2,701 2,700 I 2,782 This well caved In In tiiinuier of 1800, and Is now abandoned. 2,809 . 2.806 The water level la 3 feel lutrer now In well tbau ’ tbau when the well was first dug. 2,817 2,807 2,802 I 2.752 2.794 2.873 2.779 2.160 2.017 I 2.897 2.018 2,880 2.927 2,921 2.940 2.817 10 feel sand lobe In botloni. Just etortcil pumping when well wsa'exaalneU. Tbia well It probably below the mortar beds (grit). Could find CO one who could give any Informa Owner dug wall blnself. cosing cost 815; bo uses miirio ran corn mill. Uwner dog well biuseU, casing cost 116. B. Ex. 53, pt. 2 • Per foot, Including pump. •Inclndlng pump and mill. •iDcliiding pump. •None lB2yea». • None In 2| years. tATlON OF WELL flLTGELD HALL STACKS .■S'’ T ? ^ Location. Xo wo) When iDed. 1 1' Name and addreaa ofuwuer. ' : l! On Xertb riatle Hue in Xobntska—Continued, lu to wu of North Platte. Xebr. 53 1500. Nov. 21 if W.S. Penuiaon. Xoph Platte, Kehr. ‘ XE. J esc. 30. T. 10 X.. R 21W. 54 Nor 24 1 1 1 ! R. J. Btlliogsloy. Lexington, Xebi. ^ * SB i XE.J sec. lO.T.lOX., R,2l W. 55 Not. 24 John Crouch, Loslogtnn, Xebr. SK.JsM.lO, T.UX..R.21 W. 58 Xov. 24 Arcblo Moo Lcau. Loxlngteu, Xebr. X*A.. OJ SW. J sec 32. T. li K.. R 21 W. 00 Xov. 24 B. J. Durroe, Lexington, Xebr. SW. J X W. J SCO. 82, T. 18 X., R 21 W. 02 Xov. 2t Tlmmaa Brows, Lomax, Xebr. XE.JieclS.T,13X..R21 W. 53 Xov. 24 Alien E Courad,Olax (Oconto), Xebr...., XW, J X W, J sec.20. T. 13 N., R 21 W. X W. J X W. J sec, 6. T. 13 K , R 21 W. 65 00 KbV. 25 Francis Wlloox Ulax (Oconto). Xebr. ^5 Kfi.JseO 31,T.14 N.. R 21 W. 67 Kov. 25 W. .7, Illgby, Olax (Gcouto), Xebr. 08 Xov. 25 W. D Colo. OInx (Oi»nb», Xebr. y*** SE J XE Jacyj.Sl.T.BN., R.21 W. ! CO SW J see. as, T. 0 N ,R 21 W. 70 Xor, 20 on Middleton, Lexington. Xvbr . SE J esc. 6, T. 8 N , It. 21 W. 71 Xov. 20 R. W, Bel). Loxiugtun, Xebr. BW.jSW.Jaec 3.T.8N.,R.21 W.' SW, JblV.^aeo. 11. T, 8 S’., K, 21 W.j 72 Nov, 211 73 Xuv. 26 K, T. Wollnoo. Lexington. Xebr. XB J NE. J sec 22, T. 8 X.. It. 21 W .' 74 Kov. 20 A. T. AxeUal, Lexington, Xebr .. SE. J NE. J sec. 34, T. 8 N , R, 21 W. 75 I Nov. 20 A. J. Tulbecd, Hvriraod, Kubr .i XW. J NW, J sec. 2. T. 7 X.. B 21 W .1 76 Nov- 20 , NW. IXW. Jboo. U.T.7N.. R 21 W. 77 , Niiv. 20 Joliu Kelley, Dertraud, Xebr.. >'4^ William Weal, Ueriraud, Xebr . 78 , Nov. 20 ' XE, Jacc. 1. T. OX.. K.31 W .1 70 Xov. 27 —- . iieoi Ueriraud Xebr. ' A. A I'elertou, Dertraud, Xebr. V. 80 Xov. 27 SW, J XW. J sec. 18. T. 0 X,. R. 00 W.j 81 Xov. 37 A E. Dyer, Dertiand, Xc*br.•■"ho Aj-pknoix No. Id.—DETAILED INPOBilATlOS OF JTELLS DEFEBRED TO OS PHOFILES SOS. i TO 8—Contiuiied. [W«IU MMuitn-d Ujr W. W. FoUett.J "duiJ’"' K(Dy 3 foei . Ux«iiui;s. Xebr. J. L. Vest, llostluits. Xebr. Judge Gaj)ton. Altua, Xebr. H^ljoua Gas Well Cotupooy, Uaatiog*. Doe. 2 , O. U. liewctb Kualluge, Xebr . !nl n** ^ ' jy-.L-BalM. Hasiinca. Xebr. 104 Dec. . L L I'eabody. llauien. Xebr . U‘l> I Dec 2 GcorguGrintbatu.Douipban.Ncbr ... 110 Deo. 2 , J r. Cole. Doolphan, Xebr.. 111 I Ueiv 2 T. II. MeCuUcy.Donlpbun. Xebr. ils I 2 "’-.^’' Uluau. Grand Island, Xebr .. };. : I ^ J'ln'oO'Grand Island. Xebr. IH D«. 8 Lbarlee Roberta, Lance Lerou. Xebr . 118 j Dec a V Ilrtk, San LIbon.r, Xebr.. U6 I Dec- 8 I J W GlltnaD,Si I'aul, Xebr. 117 j Dec. e I Uarrisou Baker. St-Jubn, Kaos . 118 ( Doc. 8 I S Van Lieu. SI. JoLo. Bans 118 I Dec 8 . li.Cunia,.''l John, Kan». In. Oiaiu.. 0 111 dlaiii. ..do . 1886... 6 year* ago . do ’ “ «aldf.*^ _do . , IJ'iJt.j 3 by 3 foot ....do. ..i ...do .......I ....do .I ...do. ■ 11 trail ago .. .. do Spring. 1860 . ....dll. 6yoaraago ...^ ...do . Sprtsg, 1888 ..I ...do .. Poll. 1888 . .. do . Spring, 1883 . ’ 4 yvnre ago . Is ISiJ . , lu 1878. t Mar., 1885. ..do. . do. j Driven.. Bored,wood casing. • •I In 1880 .j.. • •I May. ISM.. ’ 4 year* ago ...do. .. Bured. wood caaiug. .. Tubular_ ...do .j 10In diam.. ...do. ...do. ...do.. 14 iu. diaiu. 10 in. diuiu.. —do. 11 tn. diaut.. 14 In. dlam.. ...do. ...do.. ...do . 18 to to 51a 10 la. dlaiu. 3 to. lUiiu.. June. 1888.do. 2 in. dlam... to years ago Bored.]....do.J ' I 1 . Syearso^o ...I Drlren. l| in. dlam..I 13 years a^.do.do. 12 Canuotpuoip down.. 11 Can Dot pump out.... 12 Can not lower. 10 Can not pump dry. Can not lower wlib pump . Con poiup out in annimor. but not In winter. Can not pump down.. Cun not lower with mill.... Tea, 11 feet.. Toa. 6 feet... Te». Xo. No. dcr 2 fert of lock, i a iblu layer ofuagu ibebMt. > of clay, r m. twi icet. the low d anil eravel. Tlicr u top or eacb rotn of piinin*. n_____ _ __ S inobn. IbeoaltciDatiugaand and gravel to S ■<■1 of hartlpao. with I foot magnesia in Crab fri.t alicruailng BAiid. grarel, and olar. grnoiiajiy t uaug line sand wlib clay und loam, cvldentlv Vutcr-boailng sont] too b«rd oud linn tot water. Then 1« 'feet bardpnn. in cei fi'cl liii|.d uiagncBiA. (beu Into sand und Uoo luuiior. gro loaiocr, at 00 feel lulo gravel; water bearing eiratiim. sli.ituiii Is piubnbly «-•.- " ' ’ I leot aoil; tiieu ’ > feet soil, then clay uutll vr.iier, water in gravel Can not pump dry .. Can not lower wUb mill... Mill will pomp out in 30 oilnates. bat rant in quickly. 26 Can lower with Lorae and, large bucket, bol cannot' draw dry. 13 Can not piimp out . 12.do. 12 I Con not pump down. 10 I Can not pump out . 19 l...do. 30 j Can not lower . 25 Can not pump out. 20 I Con not inimp down.. 12 j Can not lowerwiib pump.., 23 Cau not lowcrwilb pu(u|> . ... Ko. Tea, probably...! Xo _ Tee, 23 feet ....| Xo .... Cfiareer gravel, wUb water. At 15 lo 18 feet is a elrt •oil .1 21 fi'ct soli, wblto clay until water, water iu saud, II I amid tirsi at about 5u feet. . SO f' Tt sand and white clay. 7 feot maguosla (grill. 4 oi .vu, city. 4 feet while suod with first water. 2 feel In gravel; stop. . Hard material above water, water in gravel . Sandy clay down to water Just above water thin abol: water ID gravel rose very rspidlr. 9 .All Q., r.._. ..I... • - ...... .. 23 feet clay, still iu clai, but getting softer. Last 20 feet u water, but not.cuoagh to lie<>t onv acoiuut. . 8 fret soil, 5 feet aiibsull. 8 feet black gumbo, then light clar Imlosaod graduntlj obaiigiiig intosiiud. At 200 feet about 1 of clsy ^tb some magnesia, then sand aud grovel to 210 tbero 3 loet Laid clay, tapped water nt 243 feet, weul li Incre.rslng 15 feet. I quicksand i Can not sa.v.. Tes , 23 foet.. —i^". ...I Xo.. 4 fcut toll 120 feet ssudy clay, then 10 fed quicksand in %. Too well stopped on bard loateiial, prubabir clay Found a Jut bono of some large luatumal in bottom. Ibis Is lo tbo vein ■’ of water. 7 fi'ct soil, ihon gray sand and clay; at 75 feel 8 or 10 foot I lough uUy; under this .1 little water. 'heu sand. Water It grarel. water, then fine gravel 1 aud IU pipe; pipo drove wry bard. Probably iiulvksaud. . •• ; ''utei-In gravel ..i....do . . I 4 feel soil, 16 feet clay with some sand nt 20 feet struck quick- ,.. Tos; 25 feet .... Tos; 20 feet.... Xo. I 4 feet soil, is fel-t A 8 feet aoil. about 90 feet yellow clr nt 220 feel; then wet sand and a Water lusaud. 104 I 1 . Xe ■ir 12; Cau uot lower with pump... Yes. 3 fi'o 8 ...do. Xo........ 15 Can pump ontoroearly out. Xo. 2J Mill running oU dav will No. lower, but not pump dry. 10 Mdl pumps down to 1 foot, Tea; 8 feet. but then can not lower. 14 Millpumpsout tn balfhoui lo ' Can not lower .... Xo. 13 Can not pump down. No.. 10 Can not lower with pump ..! No. 28 Cau pump out In lieavy ; Xo. Can not pump down.... ... Can pomp nearly down.... Can not pump down. ...do.. ...do. Can not lower with pump Can not pump down. ...do. ...do. Can not pump out , Can pump out. Can not pnmp down.. No . No. Xo. . Tes; 0 feet... Xo. Xo. ' Ti-a. 45 feet . Xo.. Can out say... ... Xil ...j N<.. I No.. ; Xo.. I Xo. Xo. Xo.. Xo,. Xoj . Xo.. ^. Xo. Ko.. Xo. No. Xo .. bottnm coarse giarel. clay nud sand; at 225 feot struck 10 ieet of hiuall rucks, feet 2 feet wet sand, then 0 feel of qiiieUsouil niid 2 feet grovel. 3 feet anil, 00 feel clay, 75 feet b'ose ilrv saud. 50 feet '■ leef sand, 3 feet gumbo iwet black clay), then suudat) At 216 foet is 2 feot 84 85 G.iDeiu FhI Ffft. 1794 2.601 2.991 ky 14 to nt , ng 1 bis . ... do. 1 ! 1 i 1 i ! 1 4 • ; 9.405 S.42I 2.420 3.383 :,I6 .do. 1 3,666 3, *41 «, VIS 3.401 ep 1 Spllikse 7 •'370.00 ' 3.4U0 Stuck. 2.072 3, 474 3,414 ot 1 L it 1 100.00 96 1 •• . tl d .'^uft . r. Very hard. it Windmill.... ... do. Enterp] ....do . lie... 4-(L8 G •200. OO 12.00 ’’"35 00 100.00 100.00 ■”a^ . G 35.00 35.00 M.OO ! . 2,9(K' ^ 2,252 2.240 ...do. •Star... Iw ... j Hard. 6 1. OuO 2.31-i ...do. Buterpt 8 45.00 9J. 00 i.auo 2.339 2, 222 2.207 —do. ...do.. —do. 20.00 15.09 80.00 1.000 2,185 2,183 ...do.. —do. 1. 6 15.00 80.00 Cl 1,000 ...do . 2.2J4 2,161 3,151 ...do. 1 Bertrau 0 40.00 35.00 100.00 '•25.00 300 2.173 ...do . 2.078 3,064 ...do .. Bird ... 1, 703 1,703 1. ODI 1,1101 1.653 1.683 - Soft. Hand. 6 40. 00 40.00 90. 09 (’•> 1,300 ....do. ...do. W'lndmJl. Eclipse iso.... 6 75.00 Ot.OO 105.09 ‘♦30. eo 1,000 1,831 1.711 1,701 ...do . Enterpi 0 50.00 40.00 85.00 "12,00 1, 300 ...do. 1.S23 ...do. Eclipse 0 "5130.00 1,300 I, MS 1,7(17 1,797 ' Medium .... Perkins ...do. 34. u9 25. 00 70.00 <■•) 500 _do_ 1,903 1,839 1.811 j ...do. ...do.. 6 23.00 23.50 80.00 800 ....do. 1,975 l.OUO 1, 803 1 Hard. EaU.td.x —do. 2,200 ....do. 1, 882 1.669 [ ...do . Monitor 6 30.00 30.00 45.00 ".80 1,600 1.969 1.904 Very bard.. ...do. ...do .. 6 00.00 30.00 90.00 3.200 ...de. 1,912 1,792 Bard.. Hallada 65. 00 35.00 8O.0U c*) 2,200 1.865 1.765 1,743 Mediuir .... ...do. Uonitoi 6 1 MO 1,763 1.782 1,748 1,775 . Soft. se.... 6 27.00 25, 00 M. 00 I**) I. 000 1,877 Hard . ...do. Euteepi G _ ••6.00 2.600 ...do .... .... 1,888 1,770 1.773 Sclipse Turulnt 1.700 1.804 Medium.... ...do. .1 250 .. .. L916 1.81(1 ....do . Hand . 1 ■ 1,910 1.816 771 4 i 6 j 150 •Stock. 1.993 1.803 1.788 1.824 1.576 1.814 : 1.631 1 1 Hard.. ...do. 7 . 6 ».e5 128.00 1") 2,500 ...do. .. 1.940 ' ...do. ...do . UUnda LAM i Very liard..i. ..do. *1.00 ■ 70.00 2.400 .. du . 1.956 1 l.8el ' 1.830 Hard ..do. ..do .. 1 1 1 0 . 1 *•1.50 3.800 ...do . 1.890 ' 1, 8iJ 1.671 j ...do.|. ..do . Bclipse 1 1.870 ' 1.853 1.660 1.H2 Soft. ! G 2. 000 Stock.. l.«2 Windmill. ..do. Medium . ...i. ■batnpl se.... 0 "ISO. 00 {'•) ' 3, 400 .. du . 1,870 ! 1.796 4,790 1 Soft. ..do. Interpr ! 1 j i 1.893 1 1.8s2 1,872 ; ...,do.|. .i' I 1 200 j 180 500 1 Stock. .. .do. ...do . i.or ' 1.931 1.900; 1,909 1.(48 1.891 1 L90S ' 1.583 Haid.1 land.{. ! : «i ft 1 , 1 1 Hard. 1 ..do. j. i 1 1 about 6 inehoa In it. Last 12 feet put down by Macl.eau Dug 150 feob amt than 18 (e«t of )luob pips. Keuoob'.'e UAuoh wull. Woter lutiulokoaud ■)obar 0 > i ¥* . i t. / ir |Sit- - - — . . V m ^ • ''.A : .T • I. f>*f/.J'.i y r ► r >? <^/oiTA>-iA*; K- : V r -»• .•» \S > >riji^r9]aM* I n i \ f % I I y < / ' > * / 4 ^- '. .*' Z*^ '■.' .i ' V • • ^ ’ ' .. ' BULLETIN No. 4 V (nattonal conservation commission) PRESENTING THE REPORT OF THE NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION AND \ A CHRONOLOGICAL HISTORY OF THE CONSERVATION MOVEMENT ISSUED BY THE JOINT COMMITTEE ON CONSERVATION . 43 WYATT BUILDING WASHINGTON, D. C. V, I. SCHWAB, JTeio York W. Price, Forest Service, J. A. Holmes Ity of Chicago Gifford I Theodore Reed Smo Theodore Francis < JONATH^ WILLIAM' John H, 1 W J McHi F. H. Ne^ Gifford I Herbert rations .Joseph 1 G. F. SWA W. L. MaJ Chief 0] Rear Adi REED Smo Albert J. CHARLES Champ Ci J. B. Whi Henry S. William WTON ( Charles Irving erton Secreto [LIBRARY OF THt UN 1 VERS ITY OF ILLINOIS jCOLLEOtOl engineemngi From tlie lilsrar-ii of C L AS 5 Of J S 7 3 Prcscntr(?i Mail bu bl^Widow C'LA-R-^ ShKcKBFORD OCKtRSCW 330.^T3 PI 9c No. 7 Mission jvEETON W. PRICE^ i. W. WOODRUFF tjsEPH A. Holmes^ F at ’ atrman ork h s< lOMsin I c. White, West 'ogical Survey, Secretary. BULLETIN No. 4. (national conservation commission.) ANNOUNCEMENT. The Joint Committee on Conservation, now acting as the medium of cooperation through which the forty State Conservation Com¬ missions and the fifty organization conservation committees are working with one another and with the Federal Government, was established at the December Joint Conference between the Governors of States, the State and National Commissions and representatives of National associations. It is the central part of a structure that covers the whole Nation. A majority of its members are chairmen of State Conservation Commissions. The committee was appointed to prepare and present to the State and National Commissions, and through them to the Governors and the President, a plan for united action by all organizations concerned with the conservation of natural resources. This plan is well under way. The membership and organization of the Joint Committee is as fol¬ lows : George C. Pardee, California W. H. Milton, Florida Newton C. Blanchard, Louisiana B. N. Baker, Maryland O. J. Salisbury, Utah Knute Nelson, Minnesota W. K. Kavanaugh, Missouri Paris Gibson, Montana J. N. Teal, Oregon Gieeord Pinchot, Chairman Thomas R. Shipp, Secretary At its meeting in Washington” March 5, the Committee decided to establish headquarters in Washington and to take up at once and carry on vigorously the work of cooperation among the States and National associations which the National Conservation Commission had been doing prior to the adoption of the Tawney amendment to the Sundry Civil Bill. This amendment prohibits the National Conservation Com¬ mission from going on with this work under the Government, although the Commission itself continues in existence. Accordingly, the Joint Committee opened offices in the Wyatt Build- 14th and F Streets, which will be national headquarters for the work of cooperation among the State commissions and organization committees until such time as the National Conservation Commission by authority of Congress may go on with its work. NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION. The National Conservation Commission came into existence at the direct suggestion of the Governors of the States and Territories as¬ sembled in Washington, upon invitation of President Roosevelt, at the great meeting on natural resources in the White House in May, 1908. It is one part of a scheme of cooperation between the States and the Nation, the other part of which has been provided by the Governors in the appointment of State Conservation Commissions. The Commission was created by the President June 8, 1908. Under its direction the first inventory of the natural resources of the United States ever made has been accomplished. On this inventory, which was completed December i, 1908, the commission made a report to the President, who transmitted it to Congress January 22, 1909.* NATIONAL INVENTORY. The inventory of natural resources made by the National Conserva¬ tion Commission was presented at the meeting of the Commission held in Washington, December 1-7. This inventory, the compilation of which was made possible only through the vigorous cooperation of State Conservation Commissions, bureaus of the Federal Government, and conservation committees representing national industries, com¬ prises practically all information now available regarding the condition and extent of the natural resources of the United States. When the great accumulation of material comprising the inventory was assembled, the necessity of summarizing it was immediately apparent. Accordingly under the direction of the secretaries of the respective sections, the material relating to each section was briefly stated in compact summaries. These summaries were submitted to the National Conservation Commission during its six days session, and were supplemented by statements from the Government experts who had immediate charge of the compilation of data. After these statements and a thorough discussion of the summaries, the Com¬ mission united in the following report to the President: *The publication of the report for general distribution has not been authorized by Congress. A limited edition is to be printed as a Senate document REPORT OF THE COMMISSION. Letter of Transmittal. National Conservation Commission, Washington, January ii, ipoQ. Sir: Herewith, I have the honor to place in your hands the report of the National Conservation Commission, created by you June 8, 1908, to inquire into and advise you as to the condition of our natural resources, and to cooperate with other bodies created for similar purposes by the States. The executive committee designated in your letter creating the com¬ mission organized on June 19 and outlined a plan for making an inventory of the natural resources of the United States. On July i work was undertaken, accordingly, with the cooperation of the bureaus of the Federal departments, authorities of the different States, and representative bodies of the national industries. The results of this cooperative work are herewith submitted as appendices of the commis¬ sion’s report. The mass of material which constitutes the inventory has been summarized under the direction of the secretaries of the respective sections of the commission so as to assemble the most salient points of the inventory. At the first general meeting of the commission, on December i, 1908, the summaries of the four sections of the commis¬ sion were presented and were supplemented by personal statements of the experts in the several bureaus in the executive departments who had immediate charge of the inventory along their special lines of work. After the discussion of the summaries and statements the commission united in the report which is herewith submitted. In view of the peculiarly valuable contributions and services rendered by the experts of the several departments, the commission at its closing session unanimously adopted the following resolutions: Whereas the commission, in the discharge of the duties committed to it, has been greatly aided by the patient labors and the ability and zeal of its secretary and the secretary of each of its four sections, and of the experts in the Government service who lent their assistance in the collec¬ tion of statistical and other data necessary to the elucidation and proper understanding of the subjects dealt with, and to the preparation of its report: Therefore Resolved, That the commission hereby makes cordial acknowledg¬ ment of its obligation to the gentlemen referred to and tenders them its thanks. Resolved further, That the secretary of the commission be directed to transmit to each of those who prepared papers and who appeared before the commission a copy of these resolutions. 3 4 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION In addition, I desire to call your special attention to the spirit and devotion of the gentlemen without whose services the making of the national inventory would have been impossible. Through their great interest in the task intrusted by you to the commission and to them^a great part of their work in connection with the inventory was per¬ formed outside the official hours. Furthermore, the material which they have prepared presents valuable information in connection with the work of the several executive departments which otherwise would not have been collected at this time. The assembling of this vast amount of material is largely due to Mr. Henry Gannett, whom you designated for this work, and to whose expert knowledge and power of generalization the commission owes more than it can repay. In its cooperation “with other bodies created for similar purposes by the States,” the National Conservation Commission has had most valuable assistance. Within the first month after the creation of the commission, the Governors of five States had appointed conservation commissions, and an equal number of organizations of national scope had named conservation committees. At the time of the recent Joint Conservation Conference 33 States and Territories had formed conser¬ vation commissions. The number had now increased to 36, with indications that nearly all of the remaining States will soon take similar action. The number of national organizations which have ap¬ pointed conservation committees is 41. The report herewith submitted was unanimously approved by the Joint Conservation Conference. Further action was taken by the con¬ ference in authorizing a Joint Committee on Cooperation, to be com¬ posed of six members of State Conservation Commissions and three members of the National Conservation Commission, with its chairman and secretary. This committee is to devise ways and means for effective cooperation between all forces working for the conservation of natural resources. By this action the conservation movement enters the field of definite constructive work, for which its labors in ascertaining the country’s present status and future outlook were simply preparatory. Very respectfully, Gifford Pinchot, Chairman. The President, The White House. 5 PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 Report of the National Conservation Commission.* The duty of man to man, on which the integrity of nations must rest, is no higher than the duty of each generation to the next; and the obli¬ gation of the nation to each actual citizen is no more sacred than the obligation to the citizen to be, who, in turn, must bear the nation's duties and responsibilities. In this country, blessed with natural resources in unsurpassed profu¬ sion, the sense of responsibility to the future has been slow to awaken. Beginning without appreciation of the measure or the value of natural resources other than land with water for commercial uses, our fore¬ fathers pushed into the wilderness and, through a spirit of enterprise which is the glory of the nation, developed other great resources. For¬ ests were cleared away as obstacles to the use of the land; iron and coal were discovered and developed, though for years their presence added nothing to the price of the land; and through the use of native woods and metals and fuels, manufacturing grew beyond all precedent, and the country became a power among the nations of the world. Gradually the timber growing on the ground, and the iron and coal within the ground, came to have a market value and were bought and sold as sources of wealth. Meanwhile, vast holdings of these resources were acquired by those of greater foresight than their neighbors before it was generally realized that they possessed value in themselves; and in this way large interests, assuming monopolistic proportions, grew up, with greater enrichment to their holders than the world had seen before, and with the motive of immediate profit, with no concern for the future or thought of the permanent benefit of country and people, a wasteful and profligate use of the resources began and has'continued. The waters, at first recognized only as aids to commerce in supplying transportation routes, were largely neglected. In time this neglect began to be noticed, and along with it the destruction and approaching exhaustion of,the forests. This, in turn, directed attention to the rapid depletion of the coal and iron deposits and the misuse of jthe land. The public conscience became awakened. Seeing the increased value and noting the destructive consumption and waste of the natural resources, men began to realize that the permanent welfare of the country as well as the prosperity of their oflfspring were at stake. The newly-awakened sense of duty found expression in a call by the President upon the governors of the States to meet him in conference, and in the declaration of this conference at its sessions in the White House in May, 1908. The action of the conference led to the appoint- *To the report proper here given were appended the summaries of sections and all other papers constituting the national inventory. 6 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION ment of the National Conservation Commission, with authority to col¬ lect information and cooperate with similar commissions appointed by the States in the great work of conserving the natural resources of the country. Development of the Country. In the growth of the country and gradual development of the natural resources there have been three noteworthy stages. The first stage was that of individual enterprise for personal and family benefit. It led to the conquest of the wilderness. The next stage was that of collective enterprise, either for the benefit of communities or for the profit of individuals forming the communi¬ ties. It led to the development of cities and States, and too often to the growth of great monopolies. The third stage is the one we are now entering. Within it the enter¬ prise is collective and largely cooperative, and should be directed toward the larger benefit of communities. States, and the people generally. In the first stage the resources received little thought. In the second they were wastefully used. In the stage which we are entering wise and beneficial uses are essential, and the checking of waste is absolutely demanded. Although the natural resources are interrelated they are unlike, and each class requires distinct treatment. The land is a fixed quantity which can not be materially increased, though its productivity and availability for the uses of man may be greatly augmented; the forests are variable in quantity and may be destroyed by fire, waste, and im¬ provident use, or protected and improved in such way as fo meet human necessities. Together the lands and the forests are improvable re¬ sources. The minerals are limited in quantity and can not be increased or improved by anything which man may do. They are expendable resources. The fresh waters are limited in quantity, though the supply is per¬ manent. They form a naturally renewable resource which man may do nothing to increase, but may do much in the way of conservation and better utilization. The treatment applied to each class should be adapted to its own full¬ est development and best utilization and to those of the other classes of resources. Waste. The waste which most urgently requires checking varies widely in character and amount. The most reprehensible waste is that of de- PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 struction, as in forest fires, uncontrolled flow of gas and oil, soil wash, and abandonment of coal in the mines. This is attributable, for the most part, to ignorance, indifference, or false notions of economy, to rectify which is the business of the people collectively. Nearly as reprehensible is the waste arising from misuse, as in the consumption of fuel in furnaces and engines of low efficiency, the loss of water in floods, the employment of ill-adapted structural materials, the growing of ill-chosen crops, and the perpetuation of inferior stocks of plants and animals, all of which may be remedied. Reprehensible in less degree is the waste arising from nonuse. Since the utilization of any one resource is necessarily progressive and dependent on social and industrial conditions and the concurrent devel¬ opment of other resources, nonuse is sometimes unavoidable. It be¬ comes reprehensible when it affects the common welfare and entails future injury. Then, it should be rectified in the general interest. For the prevention of waste the most effective means will be found in the increase and diffusion of knowledge, from which is sure to result an aroused public sentiment demanding prevention. The people have the matter in their own hands. They may prevent or limit the destruc¬ tion of resources and restrain misuse through the enactment and enforcement of appropriate State and Federal laws. Life and Health. At every state in the growth of our country, strong men grew stronger through the exercise of nation building, and their intelligence and patriotism grew with their strength. The spirit and vigor of our people are the chief glory of the Republic. Yet even as we have neg¬ lected our natural resources, so have we been thoughtless of life and health. Too long have we overlooked that grandest of our resources, human life. Natural resources are of no avail without men and women to develop them, and only a strong and sound citizenship can make a nation permanently great. We can not too soon enter on the duty of conserving our chief source of strength by the prevention of disease and the prolongation of life. Waste reduced and resources saved are the first but not the last object of conservation. The material resources have an additional value when their preservation adds to the beauty and habitability of the land. Ours is a pleasant land in which to dwell. To increase its beauty and augment its fitness can not but multiply our pleasure in it and strengthen the bonds of our attachment. In the conservation of all the resources of the country the interest of the present and all future generations is concerned, and in this great 8 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION work—involving the welfare of the citizen, the family, the community, the state, and the nation—our dual system of government, state and federal, should be brought into harmonious cooperation and collabo¬ ration. MINERALS. The mineral production of the United States for 1907 exceeded $2,000,000,000, and contributed 65 per cent of the total freight traffic of the country. The waste in the extraction and treatment of mineral products during the same year was equivalent to more than $300,- 000,000. The production for 1907 included 395,000,000 tons of bituminous and 85,000,000 tons of anthracite coal, 166,000,000 barrels of petroleum, 45,000,000 tons of high-grade and 11,000,000 tons of low-grade iron ore, 2,500,000 tons of phosphate rock, and 869,000,000 pounds of cop¬ per. The values of other mineral products during the same year included clay products, $162,000,000; stone, $71,000,000; cement, $56,000,000; natural gas, $50,000,000; gold, $90,000,000; silver, $37,- 000,000; lead, $39,000,000, and zinc, $26,000,000. The available and easily accessible supplies of coal in the United States aggregate approximately 1,400,000,000,000 tons. At the present increasing rate of production this supply will be so depleted as to approach exhaustion before the middle of the next century. The known supply of high-grade iron ores in the United States ap¬ proximates 3,840,000,000 tons, which at the present increasing rate of consumption can not be expected to last beyond the middle of the pres¬ ent century. In addition to this, there are assumed to be 59,000,000,000 tons of lower grade iron ores which are not available for use under existing conditions. The supply of stone, clay, cement, lime, sand, and salt is ample, while the stock of the precious metals and of copper, lead, zinc, sulphur, asphalt, graphite, quicksilver, mica, and the rare metals can not well be estimated, but is clearly exhaustible within one to three centuries unless unexpected deposits be found. The known supply of petroleum is estimated at 15,000,000.000 to 20,000,000,000 barrels, distributed through six separate fields having an aggregate area of 8,900 square miles. The production is rapidly increasing, while the wastes and the loss through misuse are enormous. The supply can not be expected to last beyond the middle of the present century. The known natural-gas fields aggregate an area of 9,000 square miles, distributed through 22 States. Of the total yield from these fields during 1907, 400,000,000,000 cubic feet, valued at $62,000,000, were PROGRESS BUELETIN NO. 4 9 utilized, while an equal quantity was allowed to escape into the air. The daily waste of natural gas—the most perfect known fuel—is over 1,000,000,000 cubic feet, or enough to supply every city in the United States of over 100,000 population. Phosphate rock, used for fertilizer, represents the slow accumulation of organic matter during past ages. In most countries it is scrupu¬ lously preserved; in this country it is extensively exported, and largely for this reason its production is increasing rapidly. The original supply can not long withstand the increasing demand. Consumption of Minerals Increasing. The consumption of nearly all our mineral products is increasing far more rapidly than our population. In many cases the waste is increas¬ ing more rapidly than the number of our people. In 1776 but a few dozen pounds of iron were in use by the average family; now our annual consumption is over 1,200 pounds per capita. In 1812 no coal was used; now the consumption is over 5 tons and the waste nearly 3 tons per capita. While the production of coal is increasing enormously, the waste and loss in mining are diminishing. At the beginning of our mineral development the coal abandoned in the mine was two or three times the amount taken out and used. Now the mine waste averages little more than half the amount saved. The chief waste is in imperfect combus¬ tion in furnaces and fire boxes. Steam engines utilize on.the average about 8 per cent of the thermal energy of the coal. Internal-com¬ bustion engines utilize less than 20 per cent and in electric lighting far less than i per cent of the thermal energy is rendered available. With increasing industries new mineral resources become available from time to time. Some lignites and other low-grade coals are readily gasified and, through the development of internal-combustion engines, check the consumption of high-grade coals. Peat is becoming impor¬ tant ; it is estimated that 14,000,000,000 tons are available in the United States. Its value is enhanced because of distribution through States generally remote from the fields of coal, oil, and natural gas. The uses of all our mineral resources are interdependent. This is especially true of coal and iron, of which neither can be produced or used without aid from the other, and in the production or reduction of all other minerals both coal and iron are employed. The same standard minerals are necessary to the development of power, of which the use is increasing more rapidly than that of any other commodity. The building operations of the country now aggregate about $1,000,000,000 per year. The direct and indirect losses from fire in the United States during 1907 approximated $450,000,000, or one-half 10 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION the cost of construction. Of this loss four-fifths, or an average of $1,000,000 per day, could be prevented, as shown by comparison with the standards of construction and fire losses in the larger European countries. So far as the ores are taken from the mines and reduced to metals, these resources are capitalized; but after thus being changed to a more valuable form they should be so used as to reduce to a minimum the loss by rust, electrolytic action, and other waste. There is urgent need for greater safety to the miner. The loss of life through mine accidents is appalling, and preventive measures can not be taken too soon. The National Government should exercise such control of the min¬ eral fuels and phosphate rocks now in its possession as to check waste and prolong our supply. While the distribution and quantity of most of our important mineral substances are known in a general way, there is imperative need for further surveys and investigations and for researches concerning the less-known minerals. LANDS. The total land area of continental United States is 1,900,000,000 acres. Of this but little more than two-fifths is in farms, and less than one-half of the farm area is improved and made a source of crop production. We have nearly 6,000,000 farms; they average 146 acres each. The value of the farms is nearly one-fourth the wealth of the United States. There are more than 300,000,000 acres of public graz¬ ing land. The number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits is more than 10,000,000. We grow one-fifth of the world’s wheat crop, three-fifths of its cotton crop, and four-fifths of its corn crop. We plant nearly 50,000,000 acres of wheat annually, with an average yield of about 14 bushels per acre; 100,000,000 acres of corn, yielding an average of 25 bushels per acre; and 30,000,000 acres of cotton, yielding about 12,000,000 bales. We had on January i, 1908, 71,000,000 cattle, worth $1,250,000,000; 54,000,000 sheep, worth $211,000,000; and 56,000,000 swine, worth $339,000,000. The census of 1900 showed $137,000,000 worth of poultry in this country, which produced in 1899 293,000,000 dozen eggs. There has been a slight increase in the average yield of our great staple farm products, but neither the increase in acreage nor the yield per acre has kept pace with our increase in population. Within a cen¬ tury we shall probably have to feed three times as many people as now; and the main bulk of our food supply must be grown on our own soil. The area of cultivated land may possibly be doubled. In addition to PROGRESS BULLETIN NO. 4 II the land awaiting the plow, 75,000,000 acres of swamp land can be reclaimed, 40,000,000 acres of desert land irrigated, and millions of acres of brush and wooded land cleared. Our population will increase continuously, but there is a definite limit to the increase of our culti¬ vated acreage. Hence we must greatly increase the yield per acre. The average yield of wheat in the United States is less than 14 bushels per acre, in Germany 28 bushels, and in England 32 bushels. We get 30 bushels of oats per acre, England nearly 45, and Germany more than 47. Our soils are fertile, but our mode of farming neither conserves the soil nor secures full crop returns. Soil fertility need not be dimin¬ ished, but may be increased. The large yields now obtained from farms in Europe which have been cultivated for a thousand years prove this conclusively. Proper management will double our average yield per acre. The United States can grow the farm products needed by a population more than three times as great as our country now contains. Unnecessary Farm Losses. The greatest unnecessary loss of our soil is preventable erosion. Second only to this is the waste, nonuse, and misuse of fertilizer de¬ rived from* animals and men. The losses to farm products due to injurious mammals is estimated at $130,000,000 annually; the loss through plant diseases reaches sev¬ eral hundred million dollars; and the loss through insects is reckoned at $659,000,000. The damage by birds is balanced by their beneficent work in destroying noxious insects. Losses due to the elements are large, but no estimate has been made of them. Losses to live stock from these causes are diminishing because of protection and feeding during winter. The annual losses from disease among domestic ani¬ mals are: Horses, 1.8 per cent; cattle, 2 per cent; sheep, 2.2 per cent; and swine, 5.1 per cent. Most of these farm losses are preventable. There is a tendency toward consolidation of farm lands. The esti¬ mated area of abandoned farms is 16,000 square miles, or about 3 per cent of the improved land. The causes of abandonment differ in differ¬ ent parts of the country. Where most prevalent, it is caused princi¬ pally by erosion and exhaustion of the soil. The product of the fisheries of the United States has an annual value of $57,000,000. Fish culture is carried on by the nation and the States on an enormous scale. Most of the more important food species are propagated, and several species are maintained in that way. Fish from forest waters furnish $21,000,000 worth of food yearly, a supply de¬ pendent on the preservation of the forests. Our wild game and fur-bearing animals have been largely extermi- 12 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION nated. To prevent their complete extinction the States and the United States have taken in hand their protection, and their numbers are now increasing. Forest game yields over $10,000,000 worth of food each year. With game birds the story is much the same—wanton destruction until the number has been greatly reduced, followed in recent years by wise protection, which in some cases allows the remnant to survive and even to increase. Each citizen of the United States owns an equal undivided interest in about 375,000,000 acres of public lands, exclusive of Alaska and the insular possessions. Besides this there are about 235,000,000 acres of national forests, national parks, and other lands devoted to public use. Need of a Definite Land Policy. Good business sense demands that a definite land policy be formu¬ lated. The National Conservation Commission believes that the fol¬ lowing will serve as a basis therefor: 1. Every part of the public lands should be devoted to the use which will best subserve the interests of the whole people. 2. The classification of all public lands is necessary for their admin¬ istration in the interests of the people. 3. The timber, the minerals, and the surface of the public lands should be disposed of separately. 4. Public lands more valuable for conserving water supply, timber, and natural beauties or wonders than for agriculture should be held for the use of the people from all except mineral entry. 5. Title to the surface of the remaining nonmineral public lands should be granted only to actual home makers. 6. Pending the transfer of title to the remaining public lands they should be administered by the Government and their use should be allowed in a way to prevent or control waste and monopoly. The present public land laws as a whole do not subserve the best interests of the nation. They should be modified so far as may be required to bring them into conformity with the foregoing outline of policy. FORESTS. Next to our need of food and water comes our need of timber. Our industries which subsist wholly or mainly upon wood pay the wages of more than 1,500,000 men and women. Forests not only grow timber, but they hold the soil and they con¬ serve the streams. They abate the wind and give protection from ex- PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 13 cessive heat and cold. Woodlands make for the fiber, health, and happiness of the citizen and the nation. Our forests now cover 550,000,000 acres, or about one-fourth of the United States. The original forests covered not less than 850,000,000 acres. Forests publicly owned cover one-fourth of the total forest area and contain one-fifth of all our standing timber. Forests privately owned cover three-fourths of the area and contain four-fifths of the standing timber. The timber privately owned is not only four times that pub¬ licly owned, but is generally more valuable. Forestry is now practiced on 70 per cent of the forests publicly owned and on less than i per cent of the forests privately owned, or on only 18 per cent of the total area of forests. The yearly growth of wood in our forests does not average more than 12 cubic feet per acre. This gives a total yearly growth of less than 7,000,000,000 cubic feet. What We Have, Use, and Waste. We have 200,000,000 acres of mature forests, in which yearly growth is.balanced by decay; 250,000,000 acres partly cut over or burned over^ but restocking naturally with enough young growth to produce a mer¬ chantable crop, and 100,000,000 acres cut over and burned over, upon which young growth is lacking or too scanty to make merchantable timber. We take from our forests yearly, including waste in logging and in manufacture 23,000,000,000 cubic feet of wood. We use each year 100,000,000 cords of firewood; 40,000,000,000 feet of lumber; more than 1,000,000,000 posts, poles, and fence rails; 118,000,000 hewn ties; 1,500,000,000 staves; over 133,000,000 sets of heading; nearly 500,- 000,000 barrel hoops; 3,000,000 cords of native pulp wood; 165,000,000 cubic feet of round mine timbers, and 1,250,000 cords of wood for distillation. Since 1870 forest fires have destroyed a yearly average of 50 lives and $50,000,000 worth of timber. Not less than 50,000,000 acres of forest is burned over yearly. The young growth destroyed by fire is worth far more than the merchantable timber burned. One-fourth of the standing timber is lost in logging. The boxing of long-leaf pine for turpentine has destroyed one-fifth of the forests worked. The loss in the mill is from one-third to two-thirds of the timber sawed. The loss of mill product in seasoning and fitting for use is from one-seventh to one-fourth. 14 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION Of each i,ooo feet which stood in the forest, an average of only 320 feet of lumber is used. We take from our forests each year, not counting the loss by fire, three and a half times their yearly growth. We take 40 cubic feet per acre for each 12 cubic feet grown; we take 260 cubic feet per capita, while Germany uses 37 and France 25 cubic feet. We tax our forests under the general property tax, a method aban¬ doned long ago by every other great nation. Present tax laws prevent reforestation of cut-over land and the perpetuation of existing forests by use. Great damage is done to standing timber by injurious forest insects. Much of this damage can be prevented at small expense. To protect our farms from wind and to reforest land best suited for forest growth will require tree planting on an area larger than Penn¬ sylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia combined. Lands so far success¬ fully planted make a total area smaller than Rhode Island; and year by year, through careless cutting and fires, we lower the capacity of existing forests to produce their like again, or else totally destroy them. In spite of substitutes we shall always need much wood. So far our use of it has steadily increased. The condition of the world’s supply of timber makes us already dependent upon what we produce. We send out of our country one and a half times as much timber as we bring in. Except for finishing woods, relatively small in amount, we must grow our own supply or go without. Until we pay for our lumber what it costs to grow it, as well as what it costs to log and saw, the price will continue to rise. Preservation by Use. The preservation by use, under the methods of practical forestry, of all public forest lands, either in State or Federal ownership, is essential to the permanent public welfare. In many forest States the acquire- ' ment of additional forest lands as State forests is necessary to the best interests of the States themselves. The conservation of our mountain forests, as in the Appalachian system, is a national necessity. These forests are required to aid in the regulation of streams used for navigation and other purposes. The conservation of these forests is impracticable through private enterprise alone, by any State alone, or by the Federal Government alone. Effective and immediate cooperation between these three agencies is essential. Federal ownership of limited protective areas upon impor¬ tant watersheds, effective State fire patrol, and the cooperation of private forest owners are all required. PROGRESS BULLETIN NO. 4 15 The true remedy for unwise tax laws lies not in laxity in their appli¬ cation nor in special exemption, but in a change in the method of tax¬ ation. An annual tax upon the land itself, exclusive of the value of the timber, and a tax upon the timber when cut, is well adapted to actual conditions of forest investment, and is practicable and certain. It is far better that forest land should pay a moderate tax permanently than that it should pay an excessive revenue temporarily and then cease to pay at all. Forests in private ownership can not be conserved unless they are protected from fire. We need good fire laws, well enforced. Fire control is impossible without an adequate force of men whose sole duty is fire patrol during the dangerous season. Need of Education. % The conservative use of the forest and of timber by American citizens will not be general until they learn how to practice forestry. Through a vigorous national campaign in education, forestry has taken root in the great body of American citizenship. The basis already exists upon which to build a structure of forest conservation which will endure. This needs the definite commitment of State governments and the Federal Government to their inherent duty of teaching the people how to care for their forests. The final responsibility both for investigative work in forestry and for making its results known rests upon the States and upon the nation. By reasonable thrift, we can produce a constant timber supply beyond our present need, and with it conserve the usefulness of our streams for irrigation, water supply, navigation, and power. Under right management, our forests will yield over four times as much as now. We can reduce waste in the woods and in the mill at least one-third, with present as well as future profit. We can per¬ petuate the naval stores industry. Preservative treatment will reduce by one-fifth the quantity of timber used in the water or in the ground. We can practically stop forest fires at a cost yearly of one-fifth the value of the merchantable timber burned. We shall suflFer for timber to meet our needs until our forests have had time to grow again. But if we act vigorously, and at once, we shall escape permanent timber scarcity. WATERS. The sole source of our fresh water is rainfall, including snow. From this source all running, standing, and ground waters are derived. The habitability of the country depends on these waters. Our mean annual rainfall is about 30 inches: the quantity about 215,000.000,000,000 cubic feet per year, equivalent to ten Mississippi rivers. l6 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION Of the total rainfall, over half is evaporated; about a third flows into the sea; the remaining sixth is either consumed or absorbed. These portions are sometimes called, respectively, the fly-off, the run¬ off, and the cut-off. They are partly interchangeable. About a third of the run-off, or a tenth of the entire rainfall, passes through the Mississippi. The run-off is increasing with deforestation and cul¬ tivation. Of the 70,000,000,000,000 cubic feet annually flowing into the sea, less than i per cent is restrained and utilized for municipal and com¬ munity supply; less than 2 per cent (or some 10 per cent of that in the arid and semiarid regions) is used for irrigation; perhaps 5 per cent is used for navigation, and less than 5 per cent for power. For municipal and community water supply there are protected catchment areas aggregating over 600,000 acres, and over $250,000,000 are invested in waterworks, with nearly as much more in the appur¬ tenant catchment areas and other lands. The population so sup¬ plied approaches 10,000,000, and the annual consumption is about 37,500,000,000 cubic feet. The better managed systems protect the catchment areas by forests and grass; the water is controlled and the storm product used, but there is large,waste after the water enters the mains. For irrigation it is estimated that there are $200,000,000 invested in dams, ditches, reservoirs, and other works for the partial control of the waters; and that 1,500,000,000,000 cubic feet are annually diverted to irrigable lands, aggregating some 20,000 square tniles. Except in some cases through forestry, few catchment areas are controlled, and few reservoirs are large enough to hold the storm waters. The waste in the public and private projects exceeds 60 per cent, while no more than 25 per cent of the water actually available for irrigation of the arid lands is restrained and diverted. Navigation and Power. There are in continental United States 282 streams navigated for an aggregate of 26,115 miles, and as much more navigable if improved. There are also 45 canals, aggregating 2,189 miles, besides numerous abandoned canals. Except through forestry in recent years, together with a few reservoirs and canal locks and movable dams, there has been little effort to control headwaters or catchment areas in the inter¬ ests of navigation, and none of our rivers are navigated to more than a small fraction even of their effective low-water capacity. The water power now in use is 5,250,000 horsepower; the amount running over Government dams and not used is about 1,400,000 horse¬ power ; the amount reasonably available equals or exceeds the entire mechanical power now in use, or enough to operate ever\" mill, drive PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 17 every spindle, propel every train and boat, and light every city, town, and village in the country. While the utilization of water power ranks among our most recent and most rapid industrial developments, little effort has been made to control catchment areas or storm waters in any large way for power, though most plants effect local control through reservoirs and other works. Nearly all the freshet and flood water runs to waste, and the low waters which limit the efficiency of power plants are increasing in frequency and duration with the increasing flood run-off. The practical utility of streams for both navigation and power is measured by the effective low-water stage. The volume carried when the streams rise above this state is largely wasted and often does serious damage. The direct yearly damage by floods since 1900 has increased steadily from $45,000,000 to over $238,000,000. The indi¬ rect loss through depreciation of property is great, while a large loss arises in impeded traffic through navigation and terminal transfers. The freshets are attended by destructive soil erosion. The soil mat¬ ter annually carried into lower rivers and harbors or into the sea is computed at 780,000,000 tons. Soil wash reduces by 10 or 20 per cent the productivity of upland farms and increases channel cutting and bar building in the rivers. The annual loss to the farms alone is fully $500,000,000, and large losses follow the fouling of the waters and the diminished navigability of the streams. Through imperfect control of the running waters lowlands are tem¬ porarily or permanently flooded. It is estimated that there are in mainland United States about 75,000,000 acres of overflow and swamp lands requiring drainage; that by systematic operation these can be drained at moderate expense, and that they would then be worth two or three times the present value and cost of drainage, and would fur¬ nish homes for 10,000,000 people. It is estimated that the quantity of fresh water stored in lakes and ponds (including the American portion of the Great Lakes) is about 600,000,000,000,000 cubic feet, equivalent to three years’ rainfall or eight years run-off. Some 6,000,000 of our people draw their water supply from lakes. Basis of Industries. A large part of that half of the annual rainfall not evaporated lodges temporarily in the soil and earth. It is estimated that the ground water to the depth of 100 feet averages i6f per cent of the earth- volume, or over 1,400,000,000,000,000 cubic feet, equivalent to seven years rainfall or twenty years’ run-off. This subsurface reservoir is the essential basis of agriculture and other industries and is the chief natural resource of the country. It sustains forests and all other crops 2—cc 1 8 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION and supplies the perennial springs and streams and wells used by four- fifths of our population and nearly all our domestic animals. Its quan¬ tity is diminished by the increased run-off due to deforestation and in¬ judicious farming. Although the volume of the available ground water is subject to control by suitable treatment of the surface, little effort has been made to retain or increase it, and it is probable that fully lo per cent of this rich resource has been wasted since settlement began. The water of the strata below lOO feet supplies artesian and deep wells, large springs, and thermal and mineral waters. It can be controlled only through the subsurface reservoir. Of the 35,000,000,000,000 cubic feet of cut-off, the chief share is utilized by natural processes or by agriculture and related industries. On an average the plant tissue of annual growths is three-fourths and of perennial growths three-eighths water; of human and stock food over 8o per cent is water, and in animal tissue the ratio is about the same; and since water is the medium for organic circulation, the plants and animals of the country yearly require an amount many times ex¬ ceeding their aggregate volume. Even in the more humid sections of the country the productivity of the soil and the possible human popula¬ tion would be materially increased by a greater rainfall, leaving a larger margin for organic and other chemical uses. Except through agriculture and forestry little general effort is made to control the an¬ nual cut-off, although some farmers in arid regions claim to double or triple the crop from given soil by supplying water just when needed and withholding it when not required. Water is like other resources in that its quantity is limited. It dif¬ fers from such mineral resources as coal and iron, which once used are gone forever, in that the supply is perpetual, and it differs from such resources as soils and forests, which are capable of renewal or im¬ provement, in that it can not be augmented in quantity, though like all other resources it can be better utilized. Need of Comprehensive Plans. It is now recognized by statesmen and experts that navigation is interdependent with other uses of the streams; that each stream is essentially a unit from its source to the sea; and that the benefits of a comprehensive system of waterway improvement will extend to all the people in the several sections and States of the country. It is also recognized, through the unanimous declaration of the gov- ' ernors of the States and Territories adopted in conference with the leading jurists and statesmen and experts of the country, that in the use of the natural resources the independent States are interdependent, and bound together by ties of mutual benefits, responsibilities, and duties. PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 19 It has recently been declared by a majority of our leading statesmen that it is an imperative duty to enter upon a systematic improvement, on a large and comprehensive plan, just to all portions of the country, of the waterways and harbors and great lakes, whose natural adapta¬ bility to the increasing traffic of the land is one of the greatest gifts of a benign Providence, while the minority indorsed the movement for con¬ trol of the waterways still more specifically and in equally emphatic terms. Within recent months it has been recognized and demanded by the people, through many thousand delegates from all States assembled in convention in different sections of the country, that the waterways should and must be improved promptly and effectively as a means of maintaining national prosperity. The first requisite for waterway improvement is the control of the waters in such manner as to reduce floods and regulate the regimen of the navigable rivers. The second requisite is development of terminals and connections in such manner as to regulate commerce. In considering the uses and benefits to be derived from the waters, the paramount use should be water supply; next should follow naviga¬ tion in humid regions and irrigation in arid regions. The development of power on the navigable and source streams should be coordinated with the primary and secondary uses of the waters. Other things equal, the development of power should be encouraged, not only to reduce the drain on other resources, but because properly designed reservoirs and power plants retard the run-off and so aid in the control of the streams for navigation and other uses. Broad plans should be adopted providing for a system of waterway improvement extending to all uses of the waters and benefits to be derived from their control, including the clarification of the water and abatement of floods for the benefit of navigation; the extension of irri¬ gation; the development and application of power; the prevention of soil wash; the purification of streams for water supply; and the drain¬ age and utilization of the waters of swamp and overflow lands. To promote and perfect these plans scientific investigations, surveys, and measurements should be continued and extended, especially the more accurate determination of rainfall and evaporation, the investiga¬ tion and measurement of ground water, the gauging of streams and determination of sediment, and topographic surveys of catchment areas and sites available for control of the waters for navigation and related purposes. NATIONAL EFFICIENCY. Since the greatest of our national assets is the health and vigor of the American people, our efficiency must depend on national vitality 20 NATIONAL CONSERVATION COMMISSION even more than on the resources of the minerals, lands, forests, and waters. The average length of human life in different countries varies from less than twenty-five to more than fifty years. This span of life is increasing wherever sanitary science and preventive medicine are ap¬ plied. It may be greatly extended. Our annual mortality from tuberculosis is about 150,000. Stopping three-fourths of the loss of life from this cause, and from typhoid and other prevalent and preventable diseases, would increase our average length of life over fifteen years. There are constantly about 3,000,000 persons seriously ill in the United States, of whom 500,000 are consumptives. More than half this illness is preventable. If we count the value of each life lost at only $1,700 and reckon the average earning lost by illness as $700 per year for grown men, we find that the economic gain from mitigation of preventable disease in the United States would exceed $1,500,000,000 a year. In addition, we would decrease suffering and increase happiness and contentment among the people. This gain, or the lengthening and strengthening of life which it measures, can be secured through medical investigation and practice, school and factory hygiene, restriction of labor by women and children, the education of the people in both public and private hygiene, and through improving the efficiency of our health service, municipal, state, and national. The National Government has now several agencies exercising health functions which only need to be concentrated to become coordinated parts of a greater health service worthy of the nation. The inventory of our natural resources made by your commission, with the vigorous aid of all federal agencies concerned, of many States, and of a great number of associated and individual cooperators, fur¬ nishes a safe basis for general conclusions as to what we have, what we use and waste, and what may be the possible saving. But for none of the great resources of the farm, the mine, the forest, and the stream do we yet possess knowledge definite or wide enough to insure methods of use which will best conserve them. More Complete Inventory Needed. In order to conserve a natural resource, w^e must know what that resource is by taking stock of what we have. We greatly need a more complete inventory of our natural resources; and this can not be made except through the active cooperation of the States with the nation. The permanent welfare of the nation demands that its natural re¬ sources be conserved by proper use. To this end the States and the PROGRESS bulletin NO. 4 21 nation can do much by legislation and example. By far the greater part of these resources is in private hands. Private ownership of nat¬ ural resources is a public trust; they should be administered in the interests of the people as a whole. The States and nation should lead rather than follow in the conservative and efficient use of property under their immediate control. But their first duty is to gather and distribute a knowledge of our natural resources and of the means neces¬ sary to insure their use and conservation, to impress the body of the people with the great importance of the duty, and to promote the co¬ operation of all. No agency, state, federal, corporate, or private, can do the work alone. Finally, the conservation of our resources is an immediate and vital concern. Our welfare depends on conservation. The pressing need is for a general plan under which citizens. States, and nation may unite in an effort to achieve this great end. The lack of cooperation between the States themselves, between the States and the nation, and between the agencies of the National Government, is a potent cause of the neg¬ lect of conservation among the people. An organization through which all agencies, state, national, municipal, associate, and individual, may unite in a common effort to conserve the foundations of our pros¬ perity is indispensable to the welfare and progress of the nation. To that end the immediate creation of a national agency is essential. Many States and associations of citizens have taken action by the appoint¬ ment of permanent conservation commissions. It remains for the na¬ tion to do .likewise, in order that the States and the nation, associations and individuals, may join in the accomplishment of this great purpose. Accompanying this report, and transmitted as a part thereof, are detailed statements by the secretaries of the several sections, and many papers and illustrations prepared by experts at the request of your commission.* Attest: Thomas R. Shipp, Secretary to the Commission. December y, igo 8 . Gifford Pinchot, Chairman. W J McGee, Secretary^ Section of Waters. Overton W. Price, Secretary^ Section of Forests. George W. Woodruff, Secretary, Section of Lands. J. A. Holmes, Secretary, Section of Minerals. ♦These papers, not included in this bulletin, constitute the inventory of the natural resources of the United States made by the National Conservation Commission. ■ "'‘I;. ^r -U- - . 7?/. <•':' .'.