FOREST LANDS FOB THE PROTECTION OF WATERSHEDS. 93 



to the Government. A few recent purchases of additional lauds found necessary, 

 and the experience now being met in acquiring the flowage rights for a reser- 

 voir at Gull Lake, show that if these lands were to be bought to-day they would 

 cost from $10 to $25 per acre. The right of way alone would now cost twice as 

 much as the dams. 



Compare any one of these structures Leech Lake, for example with a 

 representative masonry dam like the Cheesman dam on the South Fork of the 

 South Platte River above Denver, Colo. The author is familiar with both 

 sites and once submitted a plan and estimate for a structure on the Cheesman 

 site almost exactly like the one built. Lake Cheesman is a more favorable site 

 than most of those on the Ohio system, for, although its capacity is not as 

 great as some, the dam site is exceptionally advantageous, one of the most per- 

 fect in nature a very narrow gorge in solid granite, with a natural spillway 

 already provided. In several of the Ohio sites entire towns will have to be 

 removed, important railroads will have to be relocated, a few mineral proper- 

 ties will be destroyed, and, in nearly all, road systems will be seriously dis- 

 arranged. None of these conditions were encountered to anything like the same 

 extent in the Cheesman site. Undoubtedly its unit cost, which is estimated at 

 about $250 per 1,000,000 cubic feet, was as low as can be possibly realized on the 

 Ohio system as a whole. Compare this with less than $5 for Leech Lake or $8 

 for the whole Mississippi system. 



A recent example of projected storage is that presented by the late George 

 Rafter, M. Am. Soc. C. E., for the Genesee River near Portage, N. Y. Owing 

 to the moderate height of dam (apparently less than 150 feet) and the large 

 capacity of reservoir (15,000,000,000 cubic feet), this is believed to compare 

 favorably as to unit cost with the Ohio system. The estimate was $216 per 

 1,000,000 cubic feet. If it were to be built under the present conditions of the 

 market, it would doubtless cost $250. It is understood that later investigations 

 have shown that Mr. Rafter's estimate is only one-half large enough. 



In 1895 the author made an extensive examination of storage possibilities 

 in Ohio, near the divide between Lake Erie and the Ohio River, for the purpose 

 of providing a water supply for certain projected canals. He prepared estimates 

 for two sites on the head waters of the Cnyahoga, for one site at the head of 

 the Scioto, and for one at the head of the Great Miami. The estimates were 

 based upon actual surveys and are given in detail in the report upon the sub- 

 ject. The type of construction was not expensive. The total capacity was 

 11,000,000,000 cubic feet and the unit cost $300. To-day it would be at least 

 $350. 



Most of the proposed sites for the Ohio reservoirs are not advantageous sites 

 The topography of the country is unfavorable. The sites are not compact 

 basins, like those occupied by lakes or ponds or mountain meadows, but are, 

 for the most part, trunk valleys with numerous tributaries, nearly all of them 

 quite narrow. They may be roughly compared to the form of the hand with the 

 fingers outspread, the dam occupying the position of the wrist. The ends of the 

 fingers are frequently many miles from each other and from the dam. Numer- 

 ous villages occupy the valleys. The road systems of the local communities 

 traverse them. The disadvantage that will result to public travel by forcing 

 it out of these natural routes over the hills and around the ends of the fingers 

 will be very great. The lands lying between the fingers, in some instances, will 

 be so far cut off from convenient access that their value will be much impaired, 

 and damages will have to be paid on that account. In several instances the 

 necessary changes in railroad alignment in the hilly country will be extremely 

 costly, if not impracticable. A great many cemeteries will have to be removed, 

 which means not only the cost of removal, but extensive purchase of lands out- 

 side. Such drawbacks are, of course, encountered in all similar work, but they 

 are excessive in these sites. They are mentioned solely from their relation to 

 the question of cost. No one can examine the maps of these sites and not be 

 convinced that the cost of right of way and damages alone will considerably 

 exceed Mr. Leighton's estimate of the entire cost of the system. 



An element affecting cost is that of safety. Owing to the situation of many 

 of these proposed reservoirs the results of failure of the dams would be so 

 appalling that no chances can be taken. The structures can be made safe, of 

 course (except against earthquakes), but it will cost money. Nothing short of 

 the highest type of construction masonry for all the larger dams can be con- 

 sidered. Mr. Leighton has cited certain dams upon the integrity of which great 



House Document 278, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session, pp. 78, 83, 86. 



