10 



MICHIGAN ROADS AND FORESTS. 



DEVELOP THE 



WATER POWERS 



(From the Michigan Investor.) 



The Investor has received from S. Howard 

 Rippey, of Philadelphia, one of the leading 

 hydro-electric engineers of this country, a gen- 

 tleman who, for many years, has been devot- 

 ing his efforts to the prooer utilization of the 

 water power of this country, a communication, 

 which is printed herewith. The United S/tates 

 Geological Survey has, for many years, been 

 engaged in making investigations of the power 

 contained in American rivers, with a view to 

 furnishing the data for the development of 

 cheap hydro-electric power in this country. By 

 way of encouragement of that work, Mr. Rip- 

 pey 's letter is of very great interest, Michigan 

 being especially interested in the development 

 of water powers. Mr. Rippey writes: 



"The United States Geological Survey, in 

 connection with its other activities, has been 

 engaged for the past twelve years in making 

 investigations of the quantity, quality and 

 availability of surface and ground water 

 throughout the United States. The results of 

 these investigations have been published regu- 

 larly as Water Supply and Irrigation Papers 

 and have, been available for distribution and 

 for reference in libraries throughout the coun- 

 try. The 'importance of this work and the 

 value to the public of a knowledge of our wa- 

 ter resources has led some of the states, pri- 

 vate individuals and corporations to co-operate 

 with the survey in securing the desired infor- 

 mation, and the results of many independent 

 measurements and investigations have been 

 placed at the disposal of the Survey and made 

 available for general use by their publication 

 with the results of the investigations made by 

 the Survey in the Water Supply and Irrigation 

 papers. The valve of this information is by 

 no means limited to the communities in which 

 actual observations are made, as the intelli- 

 gent study of water yield in various parts of 

 the country under known conditions of pre- 

 cipitation, temperature, altitude, topography 

 and cultivation affords a basis for at least ap- 

 proximate determination of the water re- 

 sources of other localities where no direct in- 

 vestigations have been made, and if the hydro- 

 graphic investigations are continued through- 

 out the country under the uniform methods 

 and skilled direction of the Geological Survey, 

 it may ultimately become possible, with the 

 accumulated data covering seasonal and cyclic 

 variations in stream flow, to formulate general 

 laws which will permit a determination of the 

 water yield in localities where the water re- 

 sources have not been investigated, from the 

 meteorological records of the United States 

 Weather Bureau and a knowledge of the topo- 

 graphy, extent and nature of cultivation and 

 other factors which are readily ascertained. 



"It hardly seems necessary to draw atten- 

 tion to the absolute impossibility of developing 

 any part of the country without an adequate 

 supply of water of suitable quality. For do- 

 mestic purposes, for irrigation, for every class 

 of industrial enterprise, a determination of the 

 availability of an amole water supply is the 

 first consideration. We have never heard any 

 ouestion raised concerning the importance of 

 these hydrographic investigations, their value 

 to the peoole, nor the thoroughness with 

 which the Survey has done its work, within 

 the limitations of the funds available. 



"These investigations have been continued 

 during the past twelve years, and the appro- 

 priations therefor were gradually increased by 

 Congress to $200,000 per annum, which amount 

 was available for four years prior to June 30. 

 1006. The Commitlee on Appropriations of 

 the House (49th Congress 2nd Session) disa;>- 

 rtroved of this work and cla'mcd that it had no 

 federal purpose, and should not, therefore, be 

 MH)i> irtecl bv the Federal government. The 

 Chairman of the Committee stated that 'I do 



not take issue with the advocates of this ap- 

 propriation on the question of benefit to the 

 people. The issue which I raise with them is 

 the question of whose duty it is to perform 

 the work.' This Committee, in reporting the 

 Sundry Civil Bill, made no provision for this 

 work for the year ending June 30, 1907. An 

 attempt Was made on the floor of the House 

 to introduce an amendment, the result of 

 which would have been to provide a suitable 

 appropriation, but a point of order was raised 

 and sustained. 



"The Senate later approved an appropria- 

 tion of $150,000 which, in conference. between 

 the Committees of both branches, was reduced 

 to $100,000, and the Survey has, therefore, 

 been obliged to carry on the work during the 

 present year for half the amount previously 

 available. The amount of work performed has 

 been proportionately reduced. 



"In regard to the point of order sustained in 

 the House, it was alleged that the organic act 

 of the Geological Survey does not make anj 

 provision for these investigations, and that 

 therefore any appropriation for same is with- 

 out authority in law, notwithstanding the fact 

 that the work has been continued over a pe- 

 riod of twelve years under appropriations of 

 Congress. 



"The Secretary of the Interior has included 

 in his estimate for the year ending June 30, 

 1909, the sum of $200,000 for hydrographic in- 

 vestigations of the United States Geological 

 Survey. The attitude of the members of the 

 present Committee on Appropriations on this 

 subject is not known to us, but in view of the 

 precedent established on the point of order at 

 the last session, it is manifestly desirable tliat 

 a bill be passed giving the Survey specific 

 authority to continue these hydrographic in- 

 vestigations, before the appropriation bill 

 comes up for action. 



"Such a bill (House Bill No. 6122) was in- 

 troduced on Dec. 9 by Mr. Needham 'to pro- 

 vide for continuation of investigations of the 

 rivers and water resources of the United 

 States,' and will presumably be passed upon 

 by the Rivers and Harbors Committee earl} 

 in January, and soon after acted upon by the 

 House. If this bill is passed there will be no 

 possible legal objection to the appropriation 

 for hydrographic investigations in the Sundry 

 Civil Bill, and the item may then be consid- 

 ered by Congress solely upon its merits when 

 this Appropriation Bill is taken up later in the 

 session. 



"In considering the subject a year ago, we 

 wrote as follows: 



:< 'It is manifestly impossible for any indi- 

 vidual investigators or corporations to pursue 

 such an extended series of gaugm.gs and 

 studies of the laws governing the water re- 

 sources of the United States as is necessary 

 to establish the relations between rain fall. 

 evaporation, temperature ranges and other cli- 

 matic conditions affecting the water yield of 

 drainage basins in different parts of the coun- 

 try, and where such local investigations are 

 made by private enterprise the information se- 

 cured does not ordinarily become available to 

 the interested public, except, indeed, when the 

 data is communicated to the Geological Sur- 

 vey and combined with the results of their 

 own work in the publication of Water Supply 

 and Irrigation papers. 



" 'It is equally impracticable for the several 

 states to thoroughly cover these investigations, 

 as there would be such lack of uniformity in 

 methods as to prevent the general application 

 of the data thus independently collected, and 

 in the case of the larger streams which bound 

 or traverse several states the net results would 

 be so confusing as to be unsafe for practical 

 use. 



" 'The increasing development of all the nat- 

 ural resources of the country is, of course, de- 

 sirable, but in the case of water, which is in- 

 dispensable to the prosperity and even the ex- 

 istence of every community, the most com- 

 plete knowledge should be available in order 

 that it may be intelligently and effectively 



conserved and utilized for power, for irriga- 

 tion, and for municipal water supplies.' 



"In our judgment this is properly a federal 

 undertaking, equally with the maintenance of 

 the Weather Bureau, the control of navigable 

 rivers, the institution of forest reserves, the 

 surveying and mapping of the United States, 

 and other public works which cannot effective- 

 ly be undertaken by individuals or the several 

 states. Our knowledge of the great import- 

 ance of this work, therefore, prompts us to 

 write this letter recommending 3'our careful 

 consideration of the subject and suggesting 

 that if you agree with our conclusions, you. 

 use your influence to secure the uninterrupted 

 appropriation of sufficient funds to ensure the 

 effective continuation of this necessary work 

 and the publication of the results of the inves- 

 tigations for the use of the public. 



"We trust that Congress will appreciate the 

 real value and propriety of this federal under- 

 taking, and the seriousness of even a tempor- 

 ary interruption of the consecutive observa- 

 tions which are essential to the proper conduct 

 of the work, and that House Bill No. 6122 may 

 be favorably reported by the Rivers and Har- 

 bors Committee, become law, and that the re- 

 quested item of $200,000 in the Sundry Civil 

 Bill may be favorably reported and this appro- 

 priation thus again become available. 



"We trust that upon due consideration you 

 will feel prepared to advocate the desired ac- 

 tion in this matter." 



NEW MILL IN COMMISSION. 



. The Gogebic Lumber Company at Ewcn, 

 Upper Peninsula, has put its new mill into 

 commission. Albert Stickley, of Grand Rap- 

 ids, is president of the company, E. L.. Mad- 

 dox, vice president, and J. K. V. Agnew, sec- 

 retary-treasurer and general manager. 



During the last few years a number of the 

 local furniture men have become active forces 

 in the lumber world and Mr. Stickley, with 

 Elmer L. Maddox, the treasurer of the Stick- 

 ley Bros. Company, became convinced of the 

 business possibilities existing in this field and 

 secured valuable timber lands i nthe vicin- 

 ity of Marenisco, Gogebic county, several 

 years ago. 



This selection came through tke advice and 

 activity in locating of J. K. V. Agnew, widely 

 acquainted through his long association with 

 the Pere Marquette during the reign of Chas. 

 M. Heald. Since retiring from railroad work 

 Mr. Agnew has given much attention to tim- 

 ber locating and he is interested in this lumber 

 enterprise both financially and as an active 

 force. 



The timber holdings of the company extend 

 over 111,000 acres of land heavily forested with 

 valuable growths and the stumpage represents 

 a cut of several years' duration. The author- 

 ized capitalization of the company is placed at 

 $500,000, which is paid in. 



Some time ago it was determined to lumber 

 and manufacture the, timber. To this end oper- 

 ations were begun several months ago for the 

 erection and equipment of a mill which would 

 be modern in its appointments and through 

 which systematic work could be accomplished. 



FORESTRY AND AGRICULTURE. 



In a lecture on forestry at Muskegon, a 

 week ago. Prof. Filibert Roth, of the forestry 

 department of the University of Michigan, 

 said that one of the principal objections urged 

 against forestation in northern Michigan was 

 that.it was proposed to use for tree growing- 

 land suited for agriculture and horticulture. 

 This he emphatically denied. There were mil- 

 lions of acres left for reforestation after all 

 suitable for the farmer had been utilized. It 

 was never for _a moment expected that any 

 county would be made into a forestry reserve. 



Gust Freeden, Norway, Michigan, 



General Contractor, Macadam Roads, 

 Bridges, Culverts, Etc. 



