CONSERVATION OF POWER RESOURCES 



4*^3 



railroads are among the largest consumers of 

 fuel, and electric operation, exclusive of 

 the use of water powers, would reduce the 

 coal consumption to less than one-half of that 

 required for similar operation with steam 

 locomotives. 



During the past few years, there has been 

 renewed interest in water powers on account 

 ■of the practicability of their use for the gen- 

 eration of power and the electrical transmis- 

 sion of this power to distant markets. The 

 great hydro-electric development at Niagara 

 was the first large enterprise of this char- 

 acter and has demonstrated its practicability. 

 The census of 1905 gives a partial list of 

 long distance hydro-electrx plants developing 

 power aggregating six hundred horsepower, 

 and this list can now be largely increased. 

 Our most desirable water powers are being 

 absorbed rapidly, and it becomes important, 

 therefore, for us to take stock of our water 

 resources and formulate plans for their con- 

 trol and proper utilization. 



In the improvements that have been made 

 on navigable rivers too little attention has 

 been given to the development of the inci- 

 dental water powers. On some waterways, 

 as in several instances on the Mississippi, im- 

 mense sums of money have been appropriated 

 and expended on especially difficult portions 

 of the river. If this monej- could have been 

 available in large amounts, instead of by 

 driblets over periods of many years, water 

 powers of great value could have been de- 

 veloped and the navigation effectively and 

 permanently improved. Unfortunately this 

 has not been our policy. Too often the ap- 

 propriations have been inadequate for carry- 

 ing out the work as it should be done, and 

 frequently the work has not followed any 

 well-digested plan. 



With the data at hand it is impossible to 

 make an accurate estimate of the amount of 

 power that can be developed incidentally to 

 river navigation. A partial estimate of the 

 power developed at existing Government locks 

 and dams places the amount at 1,600,000 

 horsepower. This is based on the mean low 

 water discharge for three months. The sub- 

 ject should receive careful consideration. Im- 

 provements in navigation should be made 

 only after thorough study of the possibilities 

 of power development. On the other hand, 

 many water powers are on streams that are 

 navigable, or are capable of canalization, and 

 these streams should be developed for power 

 purposes only after careful examination has 

 been made of the possibilities of the stream 

 forming a link in the system of inland water- 

 ways. 



There arc many streams that are not now 

 navigable, or are navigable for only a por- 

 tion of the season, that can be canalized and 

 converted into streams of great commercial 

 value. The use of our waterways for both 

 power development and navigation causes no 

 conflict ; these uses are in fact co-related and 

 their interests harmonious. Where it :s neces- 

 .sary to place a dam across a stream to de- 



velop power, the slack water so produced, 

 with the addition of locks, renders otherwise 

 impassable stretches of river available for 

 navigation. Every water power development 

 is vitally interested in obtaining a uniform 

 flow of water. This exactly meets the re- 

 quirements of navigation. The approximate 

 realization of regularity of flow can be at- 

 tained only by the construction of head-water 

 regulating reservoirs and the preservation of 

 our forests. Every water course that is im- 

 proved for the production of power and for 

 navigation produces, therefore, vigorous self- 

 interested allies in the cause of forest preser- 

 vation, head-water regulation and the main- 

 tenance of conditions which are favorable to 

 both interests. 



Considerations which affect the use of our 

 rivers and streams, as sources of power and 

 for navigation, apply also to canals. Here- 

 tofore, canals built for transportation pur- 

 poses have not been used, to any great extent, 

 for the development of power. In some cases 

 this has been on account of the limited sipply 

 of water, but more frequently it has been clue 

 to the great difficulty experienced by the ani- 

 mals in towing boats against the rapid cur- 

 rent produced in the canal by the flow of 

 water to the water wheels: In recent tests it 

 has been demonstrated that canal boats can 

 be towed by electric towing machines at a 

 much lower operating cost than is possible 

 with animals and that operated in this man- 

 ner the speed can be greatly increased. The 

 first cost of electric equipment is relatively 

 large, but the change to electric towing will 

 pay handsomely when the volume of traffic 

 is sufficiently large. The traffic required is 

 well within the ultimate capacity of the canal. 

 With electric towing the increase in the rate 

 of current flow introduced by the develop- 

 ment of water power on the canal is not a 

 serious impediment to navigation. 



There are large areas in the Western States 

 where the soil is of wonderful fertility, but 

 irrigation is essential to the successful growing 

 of crops. The cultivated lands usually lie in 

 valleys and water is carried to them through 

 long and oftentimes wasteful irrigation 

 ditches. In many cases the water could be 

 utilized for developing power on the head- 

 waters of the streams without injury to the 

 irrigation interests, as is illustrated bv the ex- 

 cellent work now being done by the Reclama- 

 tion Service. The development of water 

 power will introduce another party whose 

 self-interests dictates the use of every avail- 

 able method of preserving the volume of 

 water supply, its continuity, and regularity of 

 flow. 



In some cases irrigation channels can be 

 converted into canals suitable for at least lim- 

 ited navigation, and where practicable this 

 should be done. Some types of apparatus as 

 now developed for towing canal boats by 

 electricity require but little space along the 

 side of the ditch and can be installed, usually, 

 without additional grading wherever an irri- 

 gation ditch can be constructed. Electric tow- 



