RESERVOIRS ON CHIPPEWA RIVER 



By Hon, THAD C, POUND 



THE prevailing ignorance regarding 

 the work already undertaken by 

 the Government and information 

 submitted to Congress prompts me to 

 present to the public some significant 

 facts and conclusions respecting the 

 subject of reservoirs. 



Thirty years have elapsed since Con- 

 gress asked the War Department to in- 

 vestigate and report upon the practica- 

 bility and cost of reservoirs to improve 

 the navigation of the Mississippi River 

 and its navigable tributaries. The re- 

 ports of such investigation, by extended 

 surveys, examinations, and expert cal- 

 culations of the engineering bureau, 

 have been submitted to Congress from 

 time to time, and some valuable work 

 on the headwaters of the Mississippi 

 River has been done. But this all- 

 important subject has been in the main 

 strangely neglected. The wonderful 

 awakening of the entire Nation respect- 

 ing our great natural resources, and 

 the importance of their conservation 

 and utilization, invite the fullest avail- 

 able information regarding our natural 

 waterways, and the best means of their 

 improvement for the various uses which 

 they may subserve, among the most im- 

 portant of which are navigation and 

 water-power. 



It chances that the first step to be 

 taken, the creation of an extensive sys- 

 tem of reservoirs, will accomplish a pur- 

 pose of immeasurable utility, namely, 

 the prevention of disaster resulting 

 from destructive floods. This alone 

 would justify the expenditure required 



for fully carrying into efifect the sys- 

 tem. To make clear the feasibility, 

 economy, and efficiency of the reservoir 

 system in the prosecution of this great 

 work is the purpose of this article. In 

 order to present with brevity the sig- 

 nificant facts involved, I shall take as 

 an example the Chippewa River, in the 

 state of Wisconsin, and submit sum- 

 marily the conclusions relating to it to 

 be found in the reports of the War De- 

 partment. It is doubtful if there exist 

 on the continent or anywhere else con- 

 ditions so unique, extensive, and com- 

 plete in every detail as are found upon 

 the headwaters of the Chippewa River, 

 in Wisconsin, for the accomplishment 

 and maintenance of results proposed by 

 the reservoir system, to wit, the pre- 

 vention of disastrous floods, facilitation 

 of water-power, and the promotion of 

 navigation. The total drainage area of 

 this river and tributaries is 9,573 square 

 miles, its course extending from its 

 source to its junction with the Missis- 

 sippi River, being 267 miles, and its 

 volume being supplied by more than 100 

 lakes, large and small, and countless 

 springs. In the aimual report of Maj. 

 Chas. J. Allen for the year 1880 will 

 be found, under the head of '"Examina- 

 tion and Surveys at Headwaters of 

 Saint Croix, Chippewa, and Wisconsin 

 Rivers," the following relating to the 

 Chippewa River, abbreviated : 



The report states that twelve eligible 

 sites for dams were found, the first be- 

 ing upon the Manitowish River at the 

 outlet of Red Lake; proposed dam, fif- 



NoTE— This article, by the Hon. Thad C. Pound, of Chippewa Falls, Wis., is intended to 

 supplement an article bv the same author published in Conserv.\tion for December, 1908. 

 The former article gives' the origin and progress of the reservoir system, designed to restrain 

 Hoods and improve river navigation, the initial step for which was taken in the year 1877 by 

 Mr. Pound, then a member of Congress from Wisconsin. The facts are of vital interest. 



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