HYDROLOGY. 173 



slight descent furnishes no water power, a fact which is compensated 

 for by the facilities it offers for navigation. But the lower Fox river 

 presents an almost continuous series of rapids from Lake Winnebago 

 to Green Bay. In this distance of about thirty-five miles it has a 

 fall of 170 feet, so distributed as to be completely and economically 

 utilized. The powers upon this river possess an immense advantage 

 in the grand natural reservoir furnished by lake Winnebago, which 

 embraces an area of about 350 square miles. Neither floods nor 

 drouth cause any considerable or inconvenient fluctations in its level, 

 and the steady reliable flow thus secured at all seasons is a vast ad- 

 vantage. The channel of the river consists of a gorge between clay 

 banks, with a floor of heavy bedded limestone, so that it may be 

 dammed with material taken from its own bed, and without overflow- 

 ing adjacent lowlands. The great reservoir makes it unnecessary to 

 have more than a limited local one, sufficient to guard against inter- 

 ference from other powers. 



The minimum flowage is estimated at 150,000 feet per second, this 

 amount being available at all seasons of the year. The height and 

 power of the several falls estimated on this basis are as follows: 



Names of places. , Height of fall. Horse power. 



Neenali and Menasha 10 3,000 



Appleton 38 11,500 



Cedars 10 3,000 



Little Chute 38 11,500 



Kaukauna 40 14,500 



Rapid Crosche 8 2,300 



Little Kaukauna 8 2,300 



DePere .' 8 2,300 



Total 150 50,400 



At Neenah, Menasha, Appleton and De Pere, a considerable per- 

 centage of the power is now utilized, though a large amount is still 

 unimproved, particularly at Appleton. But at the other points only 

 the merest fraction is now used, and a wealth of power remains unoc- 

 cupied. Attention has already been called to the facilities for trans- 

 portation available to manufacturers in this valley, and by consulting 

 subsequent portions of this report it will be seen that the agricultural 

 and other industrial capabilities of the adjacent and tributary regions 

 are very great. 



On the upper portions of the Wolf, Oconto, Peshtigo and Menom- 

 onee rivers are numerous falls and rapids furnishing immense power, 

 but these lie chiefly beyond the limits of the district under descrip- 

 tion. The falls of the Oconto, however, where, by including the rapids 



