May, 1913.] Control of Aquatic Resources. 135 



scale. There are many other localities which have such ])ower 

 in a smaller degree for the nmning of small local plants in various 

 industries. 



This feature is also closely associated with the greatest utility 

 of water in irrigation and na\ngation, as the retention of waters 

 during flood periods is the evident means of prolonging the per- 

 iods in which irrigation or na\4gation is possible. This problem 

 is essentially an engineering problem, and I would like to present 

 some quotations from the report of an engineer who has evidently 

 given this problem a great deal of study. His paper entitled 

 "The Mississippi River Problem" while covering the whole 

 Mississippi River drainage, is in large part a discussion of ques- 

 tions pertaining to Ohio, and it seems to me distinctly appropriate 

 in this connection. It certainly fits in most perfectly with any 

 efforts toward the retention of our own rainfall, its utilization 

 and the reduction of flood damage within the state. He says: 



"The solution by building a series of reservoirs in the head-waters of 

 the chief tributaries appears to be the cheapest and most certain remedy for 

 all these difficulties. By the construction of reservoirs the excess of water 

 which produces flood stages could be impounded and held up with these 

 important results: Excessive and destructive high-water stages could not 

 occur, while, on the other hand, by regulating the discharge from the reser- 

 voirs, a more even flow of water could be maintained at all times, eliminat- 

 ing to a large degree the losses from diminished water supply, reduced 

 power and fouling of streams incident to the low stages of late summer and 

 early autumn. As soon as the irresistible rush of flood waters is stopped 

 the sapping and caving of banks will be reduced to a minimum, with the 

 efficiency of revetments increased many fold; finally, cutting down the 

 flood volumes means a great dimuintion of the amount of sediment carried, 

 and a marked alleviation of the sand-bar evil. The reservoirs would, more- 

 over, eliminate floods from the whole system, not merely from the lower 

 course. The prevention of the annual flood damage in the Ohio would in 

 itself be worth the entire cost of the reservoirs, yet until the work of control 

 is carried to the headwaters no relief can be secured for that populous valley. 



"The solution by head-water reservoirs, of all proposed plans, has prob- 

 ably provoked the most discussion — on the one side, those who regard it as 

 impossible, or, at least, highly impracticable; on the other side, those who 

 consider that it is not only feasible but at once the only proper remedy. It 

 is admitted by every one that the topography of the country about the 

 head-waters of the Mississippi system is especially well adapted to the 

 construction of retention dams and reservoirs. The arguments advanced 

 against this plan, though admitting this condition of favorable topography, 

 maintain that sufficiently large reservoirs could not be constructed and 

 made safe or, in other words, they would, through danger of bursting, be a 

 constant menace to the whole valley below the retaining dam. Again it is 

 urged that if this plan were adopted, the building of reservoirs would have 

 to be done on an enormous scale, since destructive floods often result from 

 local conditions, such as a swollen tributary superimposed on an already 

 swollen river. This necessity for a widely extended system of reservoirs, it 

 is further claimed, would involve such tremendous expense as to make the 

 adoption of the plan impossible. Most of these supposed objections are 

 still based on a report made to Congress nearly fifty years ago, and, whether 

 good or bad arguments then, there is no question that they do not apply 

 now." 



*Tower, W. S. "Popular Science Monthly," July, 1908. Vol. LXIII, p. 13., 



