386 A NATIONAL PLAN FOR AMERICAN FORESTRY 



tage and loss of power generation. In the recent drought, according 

 to Grosbach, production of power on the Wabash River in Indiana had 

 an output of 59 percent normal in 1930 and 72 percent in 1931. 

 According to the same authority, at Lock 7 on the Kentucky River 

 the output during 1930 was 58 percent of the 1929 output and for 

 1931 80 percent of 1929. At the hydroelectric plant of 3,000 horse- 

 power capacity on the Miami River at Hamilton, Ohio, the output 

 for 1930 was cut down, along with other installations in Ohio, to 

 about 65 percent normal. 50 



Erosion and the burden of debris, as conditions of stream flow, 

 are fundamental in the life of storage reservoirs and their capacity 

 to store water. Although the fact is usually soft pedaled, the erosion, 

 which is taking place is greatly reducing the life and efficiency of 

 storage reservoirs for power-plant uses. Glenn, in the 1911 report 

 already cited, wrote as follows regarding such conditions in the 

 Southern Appalachians: 



From the slopes along these streams a steadily increasing amount of waste is 

 working its way down their channels, filling the dams and destroying their 

 storage capacity; and this loss of storage means a decrease of efficiency that is 

 calculated by the most experienced mill engineers to amount to 30 to 40 percent 

 in plants that have been built especially for storage and a somewhat less marked 

 decrease in other plants, the exact amount depending on the topography of the 

 basin and the regimen of the particular stream on which the plant is located. 

 So universal is this silting of storage basins that a prominent mill engineer of 

 wide experience in his reports on the construction of power plants nc longer 

 calculates on power or on anything except the flow of the stream, and he has 

 increased his usual construction estimates by an allowance for increased storm 

 waters that must be taken care of without endangering the dam or plant. Ex- 

 perience has shown that storage basins constructed in this region in recent years 

 are rapidly filled with sand and silt, through which the stream maintains a channel 

 only large enough to carry the ordinary flow. 



There can be no denying the fact that conditions of watershed 

 are pertinent to the power producer and consumer alike, because 

 of the costs and life of developments which are involved. In view 

 of the large capital investments, and in view of the permanence of 

 the market for power among the industries and communities of this 

 region, watershed protection is essential in order to effect the longest 

 possible life of the storage capacities of reservoirs, and the greatest 

 efficiency of installations. 



NAVIGATION 



The fifth major watershed problem of the Ohio River is that of 

 navigation. The Ohio has greatly changed since settlement in its 

 basin really began on an extensive scale. Its French name, "La 

 Belle Riyi&re," the beautiful river, depicts its early condition. The 

 Jesuit missionaries that visited the region told of its placid waters" 

 that flowed as clear as crystal. Audubon writes of watching the fish 

 in the water as he floated down the river on a raft. The records of 

 those who early journeyed to New Orleans on the white pine rafts 

 from the headwaters of the Allegheny tell of the exceptional clearness 

 and purity of the Ohio. Today the'Ohio has a different appearance. 

 It is murky and carries a heavy burden of silt. It is defiled with the 

 mining and industrial wastes and sewage of dozens of cities and 

 towns from its head to the Mississippi. 



so Lee, Lasley, 1931 The Ohio Stream Flow Survey. Ohio State Univ. Eng. Exp. Sta. News Suppl. 

 to vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 54-57, 1931. 



