90 



float ail old time llatlmat. Muc-h of this is due to the filling in of the 

 channel with the products of the denuded fields above. 



Records show that Sugar Creek has tiunished a motive power for at 

 least nineteen mills situated along its course in ^lontgomery County. At 

 the present time the number does not exceed four and these are oldiged 

 to use steam during most of the summer season. As is Avell known, a 

 constant water supply furnishes a most economical and reliable motive 

 power which would tend to lessen the cost of any manufactured products. 

 The owner of the Sperry Mill, at Crawfordsville, asserts that the cost of 

 running the mill one day by steam power, including coal, fireman and all 

 expenses, is $5; while the total cost of water power for one year, including 

 repairs to the dam and wheel, is $40. In other words, the amount required 

 to run the mill one day by steam would pay the cost of running the same 

 mill by water for nearly forty days. 



The amount of power exerted l)y the stream in its course would, if 

 utilized, be sufficient to turn every wheel in every factory within the 

 county. This would l)e of especial importance in furnishing an econom- 

 ical motive power for concerns under municipal ownership, thereby 

 gi'eatly reducing the expense of operating. But while the volume of water 

 carried by Sugar Creek in a year has probably remained constant since 

 the county was discovered, yet the flow is so irregular and uncertain that 

 it is no longer of great economical importance. 



Deforestation has also had a very disastrous efl'ect upon the fish 

 supply of our streams. In the early settlement of the country Sugar 

 Creek was full of edible fish. It is related l>y an old settler that during 

 one night in 1824, DOO fish, consisting of pike, salmon, bass and perch, 

 Avere caught in a large fish trap. The settler often carried them by skiff 

 loads from the fish trap and placed them in a pond to l)e retal^en later 

 and sold or used for food. Now this condition has entirely clianged and 

 but few food fishes remain in our streams. It is true that stream pollution 

 and illegal fishing are responsible for much of tliis. l)ut the decrease in 

 the volume of water, rendering it stagn.uit during the summer months, 

 is almost directly the result of deforestation of the headwaters. The un- 

 usually liigh water at the season of spawning seriously interferes with 

 the repi'oduction of the species. This sudden rise of the stream is pre- 

 vented by the forest. The litter receives the rain, and, owing to its loos- 

 ness and lack of capillarity, prevents rapid evaporation. The relatively 

 low temperature of the forest is also a factor in lessening the rate of 



