Flood! (1930s)

You've seen these pictures before, haven't you? Almost every year you see them in the newsreels, or maybe you've seen the real thing, the high water, the mud, and the waste. And these pictures, too, year after year. Not war, but floods. Usually you hear about the towns and cities, the lives lost, the property damaged, and the cost, the fearful cost. But that's not all. Around every city there are farms with families, homes, crops, and livestock. When the water rolls, there are no favorites. The farmer pays too, along with everyone else. And look at the land. Mud, silt, sediment, sand, whatever it is, it's almost always bad. When the flood rolls by, we have all paid a price in land. Land covered and choked, land cut to shreds, land that may never again be productive. About 75% of all flood damages occur in the small watersheds, not way downstream, nor in the cities. And where did the water come from? And the mud? A lot of it came from here, on the hills and slopes of farms. Rain falling on bare, unprotected land will run downhill, carrying soil with it, riddling the land, and congealing into thick mud. Mud that does no one any good. We can spend millions of dollars building dams for flood control, power, irrigation, and municipal water supply. We can throw concrete across rivers to hold back water. But dams also hold silt. See what happens when you forget to tie down the land behind a dam. Half of all the reservoirs in the United States are now silting at a dangerous rate. Each year, the cost of reservoir silting comes to around $50 million. What can we do about it? About the mud and the floods? One thing we can do is slow down the water where it first begins to concentrate, back in the fields and pastures, at the top of the little watersheds. How? By doing those things in each field and pasture that will help the soil take in and hold more water. We can use measures that will slow down the water. Keep it clean and keep the silt out of reservoirs. Terraces help hold back water, keep it spread out, give it time to soak slowly into the ground. Farming on the contour, across the slope, helps in the same way. Each furrow is a little dam, slowing the downhill rush of water, and the runoff never has a chance to concentrate in a single channel where it can pick up speed and cutting power. Gullies can be healed over with vines, shrubs, and trees. Where water once poured, trees can bring safety. We can plant seedlings today for the deep-rooted, water-holding forests of tomorrow. Ponds on the farm hold back runoff and provide water for livestock and recreation. Mulching keeps the pores of the soil open, protects it against beating rains. And these new waterways are a big help. The carpet of thick grass keeps the water clean, slows it down, carries it safely to a spot where it can do no damage. Across some draws and small valleys, we can build detention dams, dams that can be opened up in normal times and closed when the water is running high. Out on the land, there are many things we can do. Here is where floods begin. Here is where we can still do something before the waters collect. The soil is a great reservoir, and we can use it if we will. Even holding back a little water for a little while on a thousand fields upstream can make a great difference in the size of the river downstream. When all the water tries to get into the main river all at once, we have trouble. But when we slow down the runoff, so that it moves gradually into the rivers, then we have at least cut the top off the floods. And sometimes that may be just enough, just enough to save many lives and millions of dollars worth of property. Whatever we do on the land for flood control is certain to be of help in conserving soil and water. And it works the other way around. Whatever we do for soil and water conservation is bound to aid in flood control. In soil conservation districts all over the country, farmers are moving ahead with their work on the land, using each acre according to its capabilities, treating each acre according to its needs. The groundwork of conservation is being laid in the fields, pastures, and woodlots, and in the forests. The farmer and his family are not the only ones to gain as the soil is tied down and water forced under control. The man in town, whatever his business, and the man's family, too, will all share in the benefits. The work on the land miles away is not only protecting their source of food and clothing, it is striking at the very cause of floods.