Conservation Reader Part 2

There were no roads or bridges, and only indistinct trails led from one village to another.

In the far Southwest there were people quite different from those of whom we have been speaking. They were called the Pueblo Indians. In Mexico there were similar people called the Aztecs. All these Indians still live in permanent stone villages, as they did a thousand years ago. They learned more about Nature than the wandering Indians, but we do not believe they would ever become civilized if left to themselves.

The only animal that the Indians had tamed was the wolf. They made little use of the wolf-dog except in the far North, where it drew their sleds over the snow.

Some of the Indians of our country once knew of the use of copper, but it had been forgotten when white men first came.

All about the Indians was the same world that surrounds us. In truth, it was a richer world in some ways, for since then many of its treasures have been lost through greed and waste.

The rich soil of the valleys was almost undisturbed. The forests were uncut save for an occasional tree used in making a canoe or a rude cabin. The forests suffered only at the hands of the insects, storms, and fires. The flowers that covered the ground in spring went ungathered. The vast gra.s.sy prairies were disturbed only by the feeding of such animals as the buffalo, elk, deer, and antelope.

A single great forest spread over all the mountains and valleys of the eastern part of our country. Now you can travel for many miles in the more thickly settled portions of this region and see not a single tree of the original forest.

To the west of the forest came the prairies and plains. Still farther west came lofty mountains and desert valleys. On these Western mountains were other forests with trees of wonderful size.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _American Forestry a.s.sociation_ The elk once roamed the valleys.]

This great natural park, with its long seacoasts, rivers, lakes, marshes, dense woods, and open plains, was a paradise for wild creatures of every description, and the Indian was contented to leave it so.

Grizzly and black bears roamed the thickets. Elk wandered through the mountains and valleys. Deer were abundant everywhere. The antelope raced over the plains, mountain goats and sheep lived among the rocks, and moose filled the Northern woods. Great herds of buffalo darkened the surface of the plains. When the first railroad was built across the plains, less than fifty years ago, the trains were sometimes stopped by herds of buffalo crossing the track.

Most of the songbirds that filled the country then are still with us, for they were of little commercial value to the hunter. No other land has richer bird music than ours. Many of the birds that are valuable for food are, however, nearly extinct. Now we have laws for their protection, but these laws went into effect too late to save some species. The pa.s.senger pigeon is one of our greatest losses.

The cutting down of the vast forests that once covered the Eastern states, and the cultivation of fields, has helped to drive many of the wild creatures away. We are just beginning to learn how poor our country would be if we lost them all. Refuges are being established in many places, where those birds and animals most in danger of extinction may live safe from the hunter.

The coast waters, lakes, and streams of our country were once alive with fish. The Indians made use of them, but their rude traps did not catch enough to affect the number seriously. We have fished with every kind of trap that the brightest fisherman could think of. Many important food fishes are now very much reduced in numbers. The fur seal and sea otter are so nearly gone that only the most watchful protection will save them from extinction.

The land, as the Indian knew it, was beautiful, and was filled with everything that one could wish. But the Indian did not know how to use it. He lived a poor life, suffering from cold and hunger.

We came into the possession of a land unspoiled by its primitive inhabitants. It was just as Nature made it. In a few short years we have almost exterminated the Indian. We have swept away a large part of the forests. We have almost destroyed many of the species of animals and birds. We have robbed the soil and injured the flow of the rivers. Some of this loss we could not help, for when many millions of people occupy a land there must be many changes. But for the losses that we have needlessly and carelessly caused we shall sometime be sorry.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Pillsbury's Pictures, Inc._ "Such beautiful things in the heart of the woods! Flowers and ferns and the soft green moss."]

Do you not think we are wise in seeking how to take better care of this land of ours?

IN THE HEART OF THE WOODS

Such beautiful things in the heart of the woods!

Flowers and ferns and the soft green moss; Such love of the birds in the solitudes, Where the swift winds glance and the treetops toss; s.p.a.ces of silence swept with song, Which n.o.body hears but the G.o.d above; s.p.a.ces where myriad creatures throng, Sunning themselves in his guarding love.

Such safety and peace in the heart of the woods!

Far from the city's dust and din, Where pa.s.sion nor hate nor man intrudes, Nor fashion nor folly has entered in.

Deeper than hunter's trail hath gone Glimmers the tarn where the wild deer drink; And fearless and free comes the gentle fawn, To peep at herself o'er the gra.s.sy brink.

Such pledges of love in the heart of the woods!

For the Maker of all things keeps the feast, And over the tiny flowers broods With care that for ages has never ceased.

If he cares for this, will he not for thee-- Thee, wherever thou art today?

Child of an infinite Father, see; And safe in such gentlest keeping stay.

MARGARET E. SANGSTER, in _American Forestry_, XIV

CHAPTER FOUR

NATURE'S UNEQUAL DISTRIBUTION OF HER GIFTS

Pure, fresh air is free to all of us, for, like an ocean, it surrounds the whole earth. We need pure water just as much as we do pure air, but it is not always easy to get. A large part of the earth is buried beneath water so salt that we cannot use it. Other parts of the earth are so dry that if we venture into them we may die of thirst. The solid land on which we make our homes is not all of the same value. Thousands of square miles are so rocky or so cold or so dry that they support no living thing. Other thousands of miles of the earth have been so favored by Nature that they are fairly alive with every sort of creature.

We say that a country is rich in natural resources when it has an abundance of those things that men need or can make use of for their pleasure and comfort. A country is poor when it has few of these things.

The first men were poor, although they lived in a rich part of the earth. They did not know how to make use of what lay around them. If civilized men are poor now, it is because they have wasted Nature's gifts or because they live in a country upon which she has bestowed little.

When we say that the far North where the Eskimos live is a dreary, desolate region, we mean that it lacks most of those things necessary to make men comfortable and happy. When we read of the life of the wandering Arabs in the desert of Arabia, we think of a country to which Nature has not given its share.

When we speak of Spain as poor, we have in mind a country once favored by Nature, but no longer prosperous because its resources have been wasted. Our own land is now rich and prosperous because of the abundance of its natural resources. We should guard these well lest we meet a fate similar to that of the people of Spain.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _H. W. Fairbanks_ Where Nature has supplied little rain; desert sand dunes.]

If we journey over our own land, we shall discover that Nature has been very partial to certain parts, giving them more than they need. Other parts have been left with little. We shall also discover what wonderful things men are doing to make up for the failures of Nature, and to make habitable many of those places which she left uninhabitable.

The forests of the eastern half of the country have been thinned out.

West of the Mississippi River there are thousands of square miles of prairies where there are almost no trees. In such places the first settlers had difficulty in getting firewood, and had to build their houses of earth or stone.

Upon the northwest coast there is fog and rain and little sunshine.

There the forests grow so dense that it is difficult to travel through them. In the deserts of the Southwest the sun shines out of a cloudless sky almost every day in the year. The ground becomes very dry and the living things found there have strange and curious habits.

In the Central and Eastern states there is much coal; and because of this, millions of people have gathered there to engage in manufacturing.

In California coal is scarce and has to be brought from other parts of the earth.

The vast prairies of the Mississippi Valley are covered with fields of waving grain, much of which is shipped to distant regions. In New England much of the soil is rocky and not enough grain is raised there to supply the needs of the population.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _U. S. Office of Farm Management (J. S. Cotton)_ A farming scene in the fertile valley of the Missouri River.]

The work that people do in different places is determined by the way in which Nature has distributed her resources. The farmers are mostly found in the valleys where the soil is best. Cattle are pastured on those lands not suited to farming. The miners go to the mountains, where they can more easily find the minerals they are after. The lumberman finds his work where the climate favors the growth of forest trees. The manufacturer seeks the waterfalls, where there is power to turn his mills.

Now let us try to discover in how far we can change Nature's plan and make habitable those places which she left uninhabitable. There are some things which we cannot do. We cannot make the air warmer or colder. We cannot cause rain to fall even though the fields are parched with drought. We cannot stop the rain falling, and we cannot stop the winds blowing.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _H. W. Fairbanks_ The p.r.i.c.kly pear in its desert home.]

While we cannot stop the water falling from the clouds, we can drain the lowlands and marshes and so make them fit for the farmer. We can raise great dikes or embankments along the rivers and so shut out the flood waters. The people of Holland have saved thousands of acres from the sea by building dikes and pumping out the water from the inclosed fields.

While we cannot make it rain where not enough rain falls, we can do that which is just as good or better: we can carry water by ditches and pipes to the land that needs it. Much of the soil of the great deserts in the southwestern part of our country is rich in plant food. All that it lacks is water.

The Indian roamed over the rich lands of the great delta of the Colorado River. He often went hungry and thirsty. He did not think of taking the water out of the river in a ditch and allowing it to flow over and wet the rich soil. The white man came and turned the river out of its channel and spread the water over hundreds of square miles of the richest land on the earth. Now, where once you would have died of thirst and hunger, there are green fields and growing crops as far as you can see.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Owens River aqueduct, through which water is carried to Los Angeles from a source more than two hundred miles distant.]