We think that our waters are higher now than they have ever been before.
Q.Greater extremes, or is there a uniform flow?
-- A.

A larger uniform flow, and it is attributed to the destruction of the forests, though that is mere theory.

One of the arguments, at any rate, is that it is owing to the destruction of the forests in the Northwest, which causes more rain storms and gives a larger rainfall.
Q.I have heard the idea advanced that the destruction of the woods and timber about the headwaters would, in case of rain, lead to a more rapid deposit in the stream, it would not be held back by the swampy nature of the soil, and so you might have more sudden rises and falls in the river than formerly without the volume of water or the uniform flow being increased or lessened?
-- A.

I think--at least I have heard it so expressed by men experienced on the river--that the flow of the Mississippi River is greater now than it was formerly.
Q.That one year with another, more water runs down the channel?
-- A.

We can see a slight increase of the water of the Mississippi River.