460 



FORESTRY AND IRRIGATION 



growth of industrial communities in such 

 favored localities as is illustrated by the 

 prosperity of the early manufacturing es- 

 tablishments of New England, grouped 

 about easily available water powers, and in 

 this country it held ascendency in the manu- 

 facturing industries until about 1870. 



The second phase was characterized by 

 the development of the steam engine which 

 rendered practicable the utilization of the 

 stored energy in fuel as a source of power. 

 During this period the development of coal 

 mines and rapid growth of our railway sys- 

 tems imparted a tremendous stimulus to 

 comrnercial enterprises. Proximity of water 

 powers was no longer controlling, and fac- 

 tories were established at points selected by 

 reason of the availability of raw material, 

 labor, transportation facilities, and markets, 

 as well as power supply. As in the first pe- 

 riod, however, the power necessarily was 

 used where developed and the size of the 

 plant was limited to the requirements of the 

 individual user. 



Electrical transmission of power is the new 

 art which now is resulting in another and 

 radical change in methods of utilizing our 

 power resources, permitting, as it does, de- 

 velopment whether by water power or by 

 steam at points mo.st convenient and eco- 

 nomical and transmission to the consumer 

 in form adapted to great variety and con- 

 veniece and use. This new development in 

 applied science calls for reappraisement of 

 the sources from which our powder is derived. 

 The size of the power plant is no longer 

 limited to the requirements of the individual 

 user, but the power for entire communities 

 can be supplied from a single station. The 

 enlargement of this field of work newly 

 opened by the electric transmission of power 

 from great distances is now in active and 

 practical development. As a result rapid 

 changes are taking place in the methods of 

 using power. New economics are possible of 

 accomplishment and the resulting effect upon 

 the conservation and utilization of our power 

 resources is of the greatest importance. 



Where power is developed from the com- 

 bustion of coal, wood, oil or gas, our natu- 

 ral resources as such are destroyed and they 

 cannot be replaced, excepting to a limited 

 extent in the case of wood and similar prod- 

 ucts. The supply of natural oil and gas is 

 limited and uncertain and the amount avail- 

 able is required for special industries. The 

 coal production of the United States for the 

 year 1906 was 414,157,278 tons; for 1907, 

 about four hundred fifty million tons. If the 

 production of anthracite coal is continued at 

 only its present annual rate the supply will 

 be exhausted in sixty to seventy years. Since 

 the beginning of our coal industry the pro- 

 duction has doubled approximately every ten 

 years. Assuming that this rate of increase 

 cannot be maintained, but will become con- 

 stant in about one hundred fifty years, it is 

 estimated that the supply of bituminous coal 



will be exhausted in approximately seven 

 hundred years. But that the coal production 

 should become constant even one hundred 

 fifty years hence, implies that our industries 

 must become stationary, unless other power 

 resources are found. We cannot look for- 

 ward to such a condition with equanimity. 

 Without coal our domestic and industrial life 

 are inconceivable, and our existence in great 

 cities and crowded communities is impossible 

 unless a substitute is devised. The future 

 welfare of the nation requires that all prac- 

 ticable means be employed for the conserva- 

 tion of the supply of coal. 



Where power is derived from water, 

 winds, and tides, only energy otherwise 

 wasted is used. The energy thus extracted 

 is added to our assets instead of being a 

 permanent loss as is the case with the com- 

 bustion of coal. It is now feasible and prac- 

 ticable to develop water powers, wherever 

 located, for electric power. In the aggregate 

 the available water powers of the nation 

 greatly exceed the present power require- 

 ments, but unless there is some curtailment 

 in the rate of our development, our water 

 power resources, while being of great magni- 

 tude, will not of themselves solve the prob- 

 lem of our future supply of power. The 

 amount of water power available in the 

 United States is not known. Some par- 

 tial estimates have been made, but these are 

 necessarily approximate, as exact figures can 

 be obtained only after careful survey and 

 study not only of the existing physical con- 

 ditions, water flow, and available reservoir 

 capacity, but of the practicable auxiliary 

 steam power that can be profitably installed. 

 The power of Niagara Falls has been esti- 

 mated, by Prof. W. C. Unwin, at seven mil- 

 lion horsepower. A partial estimate of the 

 water powers of the upper Mississippi River 

 and tributaries places the available water 

 power at about two million horsepower. The 

 southern Appalachian regions can furnish a 

 minimum of nearly three million horse- 

 power. Both of these estimates can be 

 greatly increased by including the use of reg- 

 ulation reservoirs and auxiliary steam plants. 

 The water powers of New England are more 

 fully developed than elsewhere in the coun- 

 try, though much remains yet to be done. In 

 the Rocky Mountains and the far West there 

 are immense water power possibilities ; in 

 the State of Washington alone there are three 

 million horsepower available. Even approxi- 

 mate data upon which to base an estimate of 

 the total amount of available water power in 

 the country is lacking, though a good start 

 in its collection has been made by the War 

 Department and the Geological Survey with 

 the limited means at their dispo.sal. It is 

 probable that the water power in the United 

 States exceeds thirty million horsepower, 

 and under certain assumptions as to storage 

 reservoirs this amount can be increased to 

 150,000,000 iiorsepower or possibly more. 

 Much depends upon whether regulation res- 



