182 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



the falling water. Far more spruce, larch and 

 hemlock timber is coming to maturity and wasting 

 each year in our western forests, contiguous to also 

 wasting water powers, than sufficient to produce, at 

 cheapest cost, all the wood pulp and paper required 

 by the newspapers of this country. 



Of the 40,000,000 water horsepower contained 

 within the Pacific Coast States being, 70 per cent 

 of all the water power of the United States, but 

 2,500,000 horsepower, or 6 per cent, has thus far 

 been developed. 



The states of Oregon and Washington contain 

 more available water power and more pulp wood 

 than any other two states in the Union. Out of 

 the 17,000,000 horsepower within the borders of 

 these states, but 2 per cent in all has thus far been 

 developed. The government forest reserves in these 

 two states contain over 44,000,000,000 feet of timber 

 suitable for the manufacture of wood pulp. 

 Water Power in Connection With Irrigation of Arid 

 Lands 



It is estimated that there are at least 10,000.000 

 acres of arid lands located in the far western states, 

 lying above the reach of gravity water, that can 

 only be reclaimed through water raised by pumps 

 operated by the cheap hydroelectric power now 

 latent and wasting in the various streams from 

 which the water would be pumped. Thus the land, 

 and at a lower level the water to irrigate it, and the 

 power to raise the water to the land are often all 

 assembled at one point. Given water, these lands 

 will produce every fruit, vegetable and grain that is 

 native to the temperate zone, and are capable of 

 supporting a population of 2,000,000 people. If 

 capital can be safeguarded, it is safe to say that hun- 

 dreds of thousands of water horsepower will be 

 utilized within the next ten years in connection with 

 the reclamation of arid lands, and that in addition 

 to what the government service will accomplish, 

 hundreds of millions of dollars of private capital 

 will be used for establishment of reclamation pro- 

 jects in connection with pumping plants. 



Chemicals, Explosives and Metals 



Vast quantities of hydroelectric energy are used 

 in the manufacture of such chemicals as calcium 

 carbide, caustic soda, bleaching powder, abrasives 

 and electrodes ; in electrolytic treatment of metals 

 and alloys such as copper, zinc, aluminum, silicon 

 and vanadium, and in production of acetone and 

 atmospheric nitric acid used in making powder and 

 explosives. 



Over 200,000 homes are lighted in this country 

 by acetylene gas, produced from calcium carbide, in 

 the manufacture of which, at Niagara Falls, great 

 quantities of hydroelectric energy are used. Because 

 of our restrictive water power laws, the American 

 Carbide Company could not increase its production 

 in this country, and was forced to build a plant 

 using 80,000 horsepower in Norway. The American 

 Cyanimide Company, unable to develop water power 

 in the United States, located a plant costing millions 

 of dollars on the Canadian side at Niagara Falls, and 

 several other manufacturers have located their 

 plants in Canada and other countries within the past 

 few years for the same reason. 



Electrification of Railroads 



Four hundred and fifty miles of the main line 

 of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad, 



between Harlowton, Mont., and Avery, Idaho, is 

 now being successfully operated by electricity, and 

 the remainder of the line to Seattle, a distance of 

 500 miles, or 950 miles in all, will be electrified as 

 soon as installation can be effected. 



The railroad will pay under the contract for 

 power delivered over 450 miles of its road the sum 

 of $550,000 a year. It is paying now for coal to 

 operate its steam trains over the same line ap- 

 proximately $1,750.000. One-third of its equipment 

 is used in hauling coal for their own use. 



The Butte, Anaconda & Pacific Railroad are 

 paying $96,000 per year for electric energy to operate 

 80 miles of road, as against a former cost for coal 

 of $270,000. 



.It is almost certain that in the near future a 

 majority of the railroads operating through the 

 mountainous country of the far west, where hydro- 

 electric power can be developed cheaply, will adopt 

 electricity as motive power. Forty-eight thousand 

 seven hundred miles of railroad are now being 

 operated in the states of Washington, Oregon, Cali- 

 fornia, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, 

 South Dakota. Utah, Arizona, Colorado and Nevada. 

 It is estimated that 10.000 horsepower is needed to 

 operate 100 miles of single track, and therefore it 

 will require 4,870.000 horsepower to electrify all ot 

 the railroads of these states, or one-ninth of the total 

 hydroelectric power possible to develop in the terri- 

 tory traversed by these railroads. A great portion 

 of the trackage is over mountain divisions, and the 

 use of electricity in place of coal will result in great 

 economy of operation, and will make travel far more 

 safe, comfortable and pleasant than at present, and 

 it will go far toward curing the freight transporta- 

 tion problem through relieving car shortage, as the 

 cars now used for carrying coal for railroad use 

 can be used to carry freight. 



Extension of Inland Waterways 



A careful estimate shows that were locks in- 

 stalled in the power dams, over 4,000 miles of the 

 upper reaches of these streams would be opened to 

 navigation. The cost of these river improvements 

 would be upwards of $800,000,000, and, if accom- 

 plished by private capital for purpose of power 

 production, would not cost the government a dollar 

 except for the bare locks and removal of minor 

 obstacles in those portions of the streams not con- 

 nected with power development. If these river im- 

 provements were in one stream, it would be equiva- 

 lent to creating a navigable waterway across the 

 continent from New York to San Francisco. But 

 in reality it means the extension of navigation for 

 an aggregate of 4,000 miles in 35 rivers, traversing 20 

 states in such widely different sections of the coun- 

 try as Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, 

 Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, 

 South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia. Tennessee, 

 Florida. Arkansas, Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Wis- 

 consin. Minnesota, Washington and Idaho. 



While it will take a long period of time to im- 

 prove all the inland waterways which could be made 

 navigable in connection with development of water 

 powers, yet every 100 miles helps, and the construc- 

 tion of river power dams will be begun in many dif- 

 ferent sections of the country as soon as congress 

 passes laws permitting safe investment of capital in 

 water power developments. 



