A Western Problem 21 



2. In order to obtain a thorough knowledge of the flow 

 and general characteristics of the streams and rivers of this 

 region a complete system of stream measurements is required. 

 It is generally considered that it takes a series of measurements 

 for eight or ten years to give reliable data in regard to stream 

 conditions. A hydrographic survey in connection with the 

 irrigation administration has been carried on for some years 

 past, but it has not been done in a thorough and systematic 

 way, so that the results are scattered and unrelated and give 

 but an uncertain basis on which to decide whether water is 

 available or not. The requirements of irrigation, the necessities 

 of growing towns and villages, and the construction of railways 

 and industrial development will make ever increasing demands 

 on the water supply and accurate information in regard to it 

 will be essential. A reorganization and enlargement of the 

 staff to carry on such a hydrographic survey must be made, 

 it must be equipped with the most improved and accurate 

 instruments for gauging and measuring streams, and regular 

 gauging stations must be established on all the principal streams 

 and measurements taken regularly. Only by such methods 

 systematically carried on through a series of years can accurate 

 results be obtained. 



3. The observations of the forest service, the hydro- 

 graphic survey and the meteorological service should be related. 

 Data in regard to stages of water in the streams in the plains 

 should be supplemented by synchronous information as to 

 precipitation and weather conditions in the mountains, the 

 special sources of the flood discharge, and the effects of the 

 forest cover upon the runoff. This should be obtained par- 

 ticularly when unusual conditions of either drought or flood 

 occur. It could be determined then with some degree of 

 certaint}^ what the causes of such tmusual conditions are and 

 so much progress could be made towards the solution of the 

 question as to whether or to what extent they can be controlled. 



4. Control of stream flow by artificial structures is now 

 receiving a great deal of consideration in America and elsewhere. 

 The Assouan dam, a mile and a quarter in length, controlling 

 the waters of the Nile and making productive by irrigation 

 thousands of additional acres of the Egyptian desert, is a triumph 

 of engineering and a tribute to the beneficence of British rule 

 in Egypt. In Russia the navigation of the Volga is controlled 

 to a large extent by dams at the headwaters. Reservoirs have 

 been created at the headwaters of the Mississippi to assist in 

 the controlling of the floods and an active discussion is now 

 being carried on in regard to the possibility of further control 

 of the Mississippi flow at the headwaters of the Ohio River. 

 The United States Reclamation Service are constructing dams 



