| Show IJiOXINt UP WATfR SUPPUfS GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL TO GO TOUGH UTA T H Newel Cf the Department of Hydrogrphy Talks About the Work He Is Doing Ding T H Newell vho Is In charge of the dIvisIon of hydtgraph of the United States geographical survey reached the city from the west last evening and Is stopping at the Knutaford Mr Newell Is also secretary of the Amlrl can Forestry association and of the 8nd I atonal GeographIcal society He has during the past three months I been Inspecting the feld work ef incas uring the principal riversof the west era states and the survey of reservoIr I site for water storage His tnt has taken hIm through Colorado New Mexico California and Nevada hay lag come from the ale state to Utah I shall remain In Utah the balance of thIs month If nt loner saidMr Newell last evening nj shall be I busily engaged in investigating the water supply of ibis fate and the necessity for its storage at to scer lain desIrable reseli sites The water supply question Is a serious one In aU of the western tt 3 md the Iuestion of fedeI storage of water in the arId ecions ot the west swill probably be bIte subject cf extensive dIscussIon in the next conre3 The construction of vast reservoIrs for water storage Is too expensive an undertakIng for prIvate capital unless there Is a land scheme attached to It and no adequate returns could be obtaIned ob-taIned from such an investment Individual In-dividual states are hardly In position to take the mater up and It Is the concenUS of opinIon that the govern mont should undertake the storage of water so as to benefit the lands when the flow In the rIvers and streams Is slow The government owns the great bulk of the lands to be benefited but asIde from that fact It should control and regulate for the ben nt of aU the water supply In the state of Utah the Bear Ogden Og-den Weber Provo and other Important Import-ant streams have been systematically studied While I has been ascertaIned that the water supply from these streams fuctu tes from year to year there has been no material dlmlnuaton of the flow The department has given I gven careful study for the past ten years to the water resdurces of the UnIted I States and tgqres have been obtaIned of the daily Howat the varIous streams In most of the western states and ter I rltorl3 and very valuable data and re suits have been gathered by the geographIcal geo-graphIcal survey The forest queston enters largely into In-to consideration of the water supply and It lSsurprlslnS how deeply Impressed Im-pressed wih this fact mst of the western people are They arc beginning begIn-nIng to learn and realize the urgent necessIty for the protection ot forests In California i Is especially noticeable That state has suffered the past two years wih serlcus droughts and in the southern potton of the state the po pie attrIbute It to the forest fires that her have denuded the mountains of tim Asked as to sheep being ap Injury to forests Mr Newell waS vcr decided In expressing the opinIon that they were very destructive Sheep gaze very close said he and eat the grass and small brush down to the rQots entlrqly devouring any new growth that may be starting up Then theIr small hoofs cut up the soil and pack It own so hard as they patter back and forth over I that It effectually puts an end to an vegetation vegeta-tion where they have been It has been estmted that the tpal destruction of forests fifty per cent may be attrIbuted to fires about three per cent to cattle and the bal = to sheep t |
