FOREST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 89 



of total capacity. It would be about twice this on the basis of the mean annual 

 run-off from the watersheds. 



A large portion of the original project has been abandoned because public 

 sentiment did not support its continuance. The author has always regretted 

 this backward step, as he believes in developing to the fullest extent the excep- 

 tional opportunities here offered for the storage of water. The available res- 

 ervoir sites which could be cheaply improved in Minnesota and Wisconsin are 

 sufficient to control, absolutely the floods of the Mississippi within the danger 

 line for a long distance below St. Paul and to improve the navigation of the 

 upper river very materially, while their value for industrial purposes is almost 

 beyond estimate. 



In spite of the great and obvious advantages of this system, it has not yet 

 received the popular approval that might be expected of it. In fact, about 

 three years ago there arose a widespread sentiment in the community around 

 the reservoirs that the system was, on the whole, injurious, that its disadvan- 

 tages far offset its advantages, and a strong movement was organized to have 

 it abolished altogether. For the purpose of investigating this matter a board 

 of engineers was appointed, of which the author was a member. The board 

 found that there was a general belief among the people below the dams that 

 they actually increased the floods, while the people above complained bitterly 

 of the back waters caused throughout that low country by filling the reservoirs 

 so full. The water powers immediately below the dams complained that they 

 were not getting even the normal flow of the stream, which was the case. 

 Navigation interests below St. Paul have always been lukewarm in regard to 

 the beneficial effects of the reservoirs, and the board was able to find only one- 

 steamboat captain who would make a positive statement that the boating inter- 

 ests derived any particular benefit from them. 



Some curious results developed in this investigation. It was found thaV 

 great as the reservoirs are, conditions may arise in times of excessive precipi- 

 tation that will compel them to discharge a greater quantity of water than 

 would flow from the lakes in their natural condition. That is, they might 

 actually operate to increase the floods if they should fill to their limit during 

 a period of excessive precipitation. This very contingency nearly happened in 

 the season of 1905. 



In like manner, during the period of lowest water, viz, in midwinter, the 

 reservoir gates are closed down to about 400 cubic feet per second, and the 

 great water powers, like those at the Falls of St. Anthony, are even worse off 

 than in a state of nature; but this drawback is not so great as might be 

 thought, because the powers are able to utilize most of the storage when it 

 comes during the period of navigation. 



Such are some of the complications and drawbacks which are encountered 

 in this reservoir system and which will surely be met in a system built up 

 under less favorable natural conditions. 



Nevertheless, the board found that the system was in itself a very great 

 benefit and that the lack of appreciation of its advantages was for the most 

 part due to ignorance of what they actually were. At the public hearing the- 

 opposition fell to pieces by the mere force of a better understanding, and it is 

 safe to say that the system will never be abandoned, but will be extended along 

 the lines of the original project. 



The United States Geological Survey has recently proposed quite an exten- 

 sive reservoir system for the Sacramento basin, similar in principle, though 

 smaller in extent, to that of the proposed Ohio system. The flood problem of 

 the Sacramento River is the most difficult in the United States in proportion to 

 its magnitude. In fact, it seems as if it will prove impossible to convey the- 

 extreme floods of that river to the sea without extensive overflow of the bottom 

 lands along its course. The proposition to control the floods to some extent by 

 means of reservoirs was elaborately set forth in the paper by Messrs. Clapp, 

 Murphy, and Martin, previously referred to. The subject had already been 

 considered by the commission of engineers appointed by the State of California 

 in 1904 to devise a plan of flood relief. The commission reported that, while- 

 any help from such a source must, of course, be welcome in solving the prob- 

 lem, it was very doubtful if such aid would be of sufficient importance to 



a The report of this board contains exhaustive data upon the system and its- 

 operation. It may be seen in the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 

 1906, p. 1443. (Appendix AA published separately in pamphlet form.) 



