450 :\riNNKS0TA state iiouticultural society. 



River in many places to float a saw log. The time is comint;- when 

 this dry cycle will come upon us, and there will not be water enough 

 to furnish a supply to the Mississippi. That is the case with all of 

 the rivers that flow into the Mississippi. The question then turns 

 upon the necessity of keeping a supply of water at the head- 

 waters of the Mississippi. 



We have had, I think, five large reservoirs, or dams, built by 

 the Government near some of those large lakes at the head- 

 waters, but these reservoirs have been built largely for the pur- 

 pose of storing a water supply during dry seasons and through 

 the summer and also for the purpose of regulating the floods 

 during the spring. They regulate the water supply and let the 

 water out at the proper season, and there is no question but that 

 the reservoirs are a great benefit to the country. The report of 

 the engineers upon the water supply in 1896 showed that in St. 

 Paul during that dry period the river went down below the water 

 mark, or what they call zero. With the river at low water mark, 

 or zero, at St. Paul, the supply of water there is about fifteen 

 hundred cubic feet to the second. They then added to that sup- 

 ply about forty-five hundred cubic feet from these reservoirs, 

 which Avould give about six thousand or more cubic feet of 

 water, which will give tw^o feet more of water in the river than 

 there would be if there were no reservoirs, and while that is not 

 much, yet it makes the river navigable at St. Paul Avith that 

 amount of water. 



I speak of this to show the importance of these reservoirs. 

 These reservoirs are important to a further extent than keeping 

 up the water supply. They flow over considerable land up there, 

 and that land has been acquired by the Government for fiowage 

 purposes, and they have to some extent kept up that supply. The 

 great question of the water supply is closely connected with the 

 forestry problem at the headwaters of the Mississippi. I desire 

 to call your attention to this fact, that there are a great number 

 of lakes near the headwaters of the Mississippi, or in this Mis- 

 sissippi Basin. There are a very large number of these lakes 

 that are not meandered. They are small bodies of water, and if 

 this country is settled up and the land is taken up, as most of 

 you are aware, these lakes will further dry up, and even now 

 many of the larger lakes have disappeared. We have quite 

 large lakes that will be useful for the purpose of keeping up this 

 supply. 



The main question is the forest area. That is the main ques- 

 tion in the keeping up of the w^ater supply. And the question for 

 us to determine is what is the area upon which we can depend 

 at the present time for keeping up the supply of that great river. 

 I think I may call your attention to some statistics on this sub- 

 iect. T made mine iust at the time we liad a dmnth. and at 



