Salt Lake Telegram | 1902-02-22 | Page 9 | Legends Cause Errors in Geography

LEGENDS CAUSE ERRORS IN GEOGRAPHY f 4 It is strange that many legends which a generation ago were accepted 4 I f as true but which have long since been disproved by geographers H Hf f should still be accepted by the general public and even Included in H Hf f many geographic text books Mr Henry Gannett in a recent article artiCle of off 1 f the Bulletin of the American Geographical Society enumerates tes a number num- num H f ber her of these errors an and shows wherein herein they they are are areat at fault H Hf f It Is a persistent idea that the presence or absence of forests has an ant H 1 Hf t f Influence upon the amount of rainfall The arid and desert des rt regions of H Hf f the world more more- particularly the shores of the Mediterranean an sea havet have H t Hf f been cited as the result of mans man's an s wanton destruction of forests In this H I 4 ca case e however the absence of forests is not the cause but t the e result of oft H Hf f the t e great desert The geographic nature of the Mediterranean region H I Hf f the configuration of the land and water and the prevailing winds are of oft Hf H t tsuch f such nature as as to permit only of a light rainfall These conditions have 1 f existed for many thousands and perhaps millions of yea years yeas s 's and from Hf H t f the nature of the mountains cliffs and canyons of the region It t is appart A t tent f ent eat that they have been evolved in a dry rather than In a moist climate 1 f A second widespread error Is that the floods of our rivers have recently recently re- re 1 been been much greater great t and more frequent than In former years year also H 4 due to destruction of the forests The cutting away of for forests is usually 4 f however followed by a thick growth of bushes and underbrush which Hf H 1 f holds the water as effectively Mr Gannett cites the case of f the Ohio H Hf f river as a proof that the floods are not more frequent In recent years H Hf f 4 This river has been gauged continuously and the show show very H Hf f little change whatever change has taken place in the forest areas of ot H Hf f its basin I 1 H 4 Another error is the citing of the existence existence of floods as al proof that Hf H 1 f the coast coast h has s been sinking These g gorges are partially fill filled d by the Hf H I Isea f sea and it has been argued that they must necessarily have been cut Hf H 1 f when they were above the sea lev level levO i. i On the coast of bf t Alaska we now H I have similar floods In the process 0 ot of form formation tion by glaciers glaciers- which at 1 H their lower ends are often hundreds o of feet beneath the surface of the H 1 Hf f water i 1 J A J I J A J I J y r J J y 3