Show STARTLING propositions PEO POSITIONS S we the new pork sun has re recently bently ia fis ciccon ceiri ing the water supply of california which has ha atti attracted acted a very general atten tiou tio nand and really contains some very 1 1 and even starling propositions ions we vf 9 are inclined to believe e that the sun is not altogether wro wrong arg eSth e zi er 1 I iiii inthis his in instance ta il de at ny rate rato if ir furnishes food for reflection and speculation and cannot fail to do some good this article ilfra in iii the tie sun br bathe the atila lost under the capt caption ton of the future of california but much that is applicable ap p 1 i iche le to california 0 a if fornia might 6 I 1 9 lit bo eaid lw with ot 11 S ll q quite V as much I 1 truth 1 of utah and other parts of the great W West rT several considerable sections of utah have suffered more or lees less severely from drouth this year we are a informed that the people of millard and sevier counties have been able to raise only barely larely enough nuj 9 h to keep the wolf of want from aho door this season b because of the scarcity of ra rain inand and the failure of all sources of eer t er supplying supply in that region the whole of abis territory is at the mercy I 1 ofa of a drouth and it must te therefore abnot ba not only interested inte interesting 9 but profi profitable tible to study the natural conditions which a scarcity ecar city oT the sun arti article 16 to tv chwe have referred helps us ut in this thi s direction it runs as follows I 1 i s ithe dia cus 0 A one upon certain cirtain ques t tion fi riparian rights which have lately occupied the pi ess and the 0 i pie of california and so stirred pl the h e inhabitants of the pacific elope slope have not yet touched the point of ot real interest in any serious treat treatment mint of the river problems of western Arii america erica whether athe tho wa water ter which flows through afi the e california rivers shall be mr appropriated r by the minin mining k in interest or shall ball to develon develop tho the agri cultural resources of the rater ia is of little moment momi fit to the californians or to the world at large in comparison with the infinitely more important question e 1 of what is to he be the future condition 0 these then themselves selves their very existence is seriously threatened the topographical conditions of california are peculiar the long narrow boadry hot bot dry valleys are every where overtopped by lofty mountain ranges t cut by bye hort short deep rapid rivers which carry off to the ocean the immense precipitation of snow which is accumulated about their sources there is ra rainfall i cfall either upon tho the mountains ar or in the they alleys valleys the operations of the miner and the agriculturist apiculturist are dependent ti therefore bere iere for hydraulic power and irrigation during the long dry california summer upon the water stored 1 I 1 in n the natural basins from which tb the e rivers jire are supplied these storage basins are the great forests of pine and other coniferous con ferous trees which coyer the sierra nevada and the other california mountains if these for ests are allowed to rei remain nitin in some like the condition to which nature slowly working through count less lea ages has developed them the snows snow of the mountains gradually melting will as gradually pass pas down through the streams which will thus continue to supply durl during theL summer months the min min cr er and ng the farmer the one with pow theother with pi plant ant producing fer tilita I 1 thild natural stora storage gd ba babini alfil are threatened with total destruction two classes of californians arc are hotly disputing the right to use water while a third is silently and slowly w ly destroying the capacity of the riv rivers ens to furnish any water at all during the summer months when the use of water Is really essential the destruction st of the california forests will convert the california rivers into jinto spring torrents and then leave them dry during the remainder and ema e inder of the year the topography of no other part of tho the world wort is so adapted to develops deve lopo dangerous floods and subsequent period al water famine aa as that of te california where the natural conditions are destroyed and the sheep sheen industry of th the state eState la Is active actively y engaged and has been actively engaged for many years in destroying lie the balance of fower power held by tb alie forests upon the water supply countless herdson herds herd of sheep cattle and goats goat are driven every summer up from the parched valleys into the moist mountain meadows and woods they leave devoured every blade of grass and stamped tamped out and gnawed away every buh bush and young tree along the abo whole je length t of duct ducthi 6 bove of the forest il ii th ahm ill seriously erlo I 1 y impaired utter I 1 Y bulno ruine ls 81 8 tbs abs 1 fear fea tureby the e bf the them woods has bai destroyed jhc thc grasses and the thel shrubs and now for the purpose of increasing or renewing the supply the shepherds are sit ting fire to tho the forests by shad ing the ground check lie the growth grow ali of bir herbage bage A hundred forest fires may now bummer day from any ot of the high california mountains slowly eating away what was anc chis deve of f all forest foresi growths the animals ar are grazing moreover or ebriA and are tire bur burning I 1 I 1 1 upon n the public domain of lb the II 11 united in ate d states atea and nd the govern ident 14 indifferent to this diet ruction of property or br triable to it the iaus jn in ibe be mean lime time go 0 on n in tain vain and efforts to divert into one or al at channel the water that flows from their mountain reservoirs without any heed to the reservoirs them themselves california without a permanent su summer m supply of water waterfill will Bill beu ninba b bitable the nt water supply by gummer rains ralus wai will perish with tho the fofe forests sW this fact ie is as immutable as tho the laws of nature fire through ile its influence in arca ling ving and perpetuating the great nee ties haa has already done alich in shaping the growth of A 0 ion o itis it is within the bounds of pes pas sivility lity that in the not distant future fire will influence in iii a etui more marked degree than in tho the past the occupation of this continent and that through its agency the whole of west ern america and tho the plains which embrace the great lakes will become uninhabitable from want of water 0 or r destruction of plant food and ind that population will be e driven back bark into the valley of tho the mississippi and the territory adjacent to the me atlantic seaboard the thought w will all appear startling and improbable to tho the casual observer of the past movements of american population it contains no new idea however however to the careful observers of the changes which man is everywhere operating upon the natural covering Z anacon and this continent this whole subject is pregnant with vast and reaching far deac eb ing problems pro blema which our modern civilization cannot afford to ign ignore 0 e and which cannot bo be da safely fely relegated re leg td to future generations for solution the rho destiny of our civilization dionis is locked up in them dijt is a notable fact that of late y years gars A t there here has bas been beed an iacre increasingly as large and very unusual rainfall in utah during that season of the year when it is most needed by the agriculturist this is attributed tri buted by some to the influence which a considerable and constant ly expanding vegetation cultivated to the erstwhile barren vallies has upon atmospheric i conditions upon this theory it is also maintained that the planting of shade trees I 1 orchards and even the covering of formerly sterile soil with grain grown by irrigation all have a direct tendency to more boror and ad more rain in the progress p of ti time me this is also a subject well mell worthy of consideration I 1 |