RURAL PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT 41 



and in the potentialities which they possess for creating rural indus- 

 tries and new towns. In a report on the Water-Powers of Can- 

 ada* published by the Commission of Conservation in 1911, the 

 following is the first of the conclusions summarized in the introduc- 

 tory survey : 



"Water-power is dependent, primarily, upon precipitation. 

 Other interests, such as municipal and domestic water supply, navi- 

 gation, agriculture and irrigation are likewise dependent upon the 

 same source. The subject of water-powers, therefore, can not be 

 properly considered without making fair allowances for the demands 

 of the other interests that have just claims upon water as a natural 

 resource." 



The importance of making an adequate survey and an intelli- 

 gent classification of the water-powers and of the physical circum- 

 stances associated with them is referred to in the above report. The 

 authors point out that it is as unreasonable not to differentiate be- 

 tween water-powers as it would be not to differentiate between tim- 

 ber tracts, mineral lands, etc. This is the same claim that is made 

 by authorities in regard to all natural resources and that is made in 

 this report in regard to land resources. 



Underground waters are essential to sustain the forests and the 

 general fertility of the soil for agricultural purposes and no scheme 

 of survey or classification of land would be complete without a study 

 being made of the sources of supply of water and the uses to which 

 the water-power could safely be put. "The water is necessary to 

 the soil and the soil, with its plant growth, is necessary to the econo- 

 mical distribution of the water." 



In selecting sites for new towns more regard should be paid to 

 the possibilities of using water-power to generate electricity for in- 

 dustrial purposes. 



The great irrigation schemes carried out by the Canadian Pacific 

 Railway and other companies in the western provinces indicate the 

 enormous possibilities of the use of water in promoting successful 

 and more intensive land settlement. 



Past Tendencies of Industrial Growth in Small Towns and 



Rural Areas 



Reference has already been made to the desertion of rural vil- 

 lages as a result of agricultural depression in certain districts. The 



* Report on " Water-Powers of Canada," by Leo. G. Denis, B. Sc, E.E., 

 and Arthur V. White, C.E., Commission of Conservation, 1911. 



