1884. 83 Trans. N. ¥: Ac. Sct. 
head-waters of the Missouri, if all the resources of that great area are 
to be brought out. It might, of course, be a question, whether this 
arid area could be more usefully employed if put into crops than as 
used at present for a grazing ground. Still the arid region lies at the 
headwaters of such rivers as the Arkansas, Red River, etc., where 
there is no great surplus of water in the streams themselves, where 
their flow is constant and rarely attended with floods of any magni- 
tude. Only in the valley of the Mississippi, the great oscillations in 
the flow of water take place. It is entirely different with the tribu- 
taries from the eastern slope. Thus the Ohio has been, and might 
still be, considered a grand channel of commerce, but it has now be- 
come almost worthless on account of the oscillations of the stream, 
and railroads, built along its banks, are entirely supplanting the 
cheaper form of transport by navigation. These rivers, the Ohio, 
Illinois, Wabash, Kanawha, Monongahela, Alleghany, Cumberland, 
Tennessee, etc., throw into the Mississippi basin an enormous amount 
of surplus water to produce devastating floods. The plan proposed 
by Major POWELL will not therefore afford adequate relief. No sys- 
tem of irrigation, merely from the western tributaries of the Missis- 
sippi, will affect the problem, while, in regard to the eastern, no feasi- 
ble method—such as constructing vast storage reservoirs near their 
head-waters—can be devised or carried out, with any sum which even 
the nation can command. The subject must, therefore, be attacked 
simply as a problem in hydraulic engineering. The beneficial con- 
sequences, from-a successful restraint of the flow of the river, would 
be almost incalculable, in preventing the present devastation, and in 
converting the stream into a stable channel of commerce, to serve as 
an outlet of the surplus products of the Mississippi Valley. The in- 
habitants of all parts of the country must be more or less concerned 
in the ultimate solution of this question. If Mr. ELSEFFER can propose 
appropriate methods, and can show that the present plans are falla- 
cious, he will be a benefactor not only to that portion of the United 
States, but to the whole country. 
Mr. ELLIOTT desired a clearer explanation of the statement of the 
author that, even if the flow of the river should be rendered straight 
and uniform by the present plan, the stream would soon resume its 
former condition. 
Mr. ELSEFFER promised to give a full explanation of this point in a 
succeeding paper. 
April 14, 1884. 
The President, Dr. J. S. NEwBerry, in the Chair. 
Forty persons were present. 
