CONSERVATION THROUGH ENGINEERING. 13 



and make feasible the financing of many projects on both navigable 

 and unnavigable streams will soon have become law. We shall 

 then have an opportunity that never before has been given us to 

 develop the hydroelectric possibilities of the country. And this 

 raises the question as to their extent. 



The theoretical maximum quantity of hydroelectric power that 

 can be produced in the United States has recently been estimated by 

 Dr. Steinmetz, who calculates that if every stream could be fully 

 utilized throughout its length at all seasons, the power obtained 

 would be 230,000,000 kilowatts (320,000,000 horsepower). It is 

 clear that only a fraction of this absolute maximum can ever be made 

 available. The Geological Survey estimates that the water power in 

 this country that is available for ultimate development amounts to 

 54,000,000 continuous horsepower. 



The census of 1912 showed that the country's developed water 

 power was 4,870,000 horsepower, about 9 per cent of the maximum 

 power available for economic development and less than 2 per cent 

 of the total that may be supplied by the streams as estimated by 

 Dr. Steinmetz. According to the census, stationary prime movers 

 representing a capacity of more than 30,000,000 horsepower, fur- 

 nished by water, steam, and gas, were in operation in the United 

 States in 1912. (This amount does not, of course, include power 

 generated by locomotives, marine engines, automobiles, and similar 

 mobile apparatus.) The average power furnished by these station- 

 ary prime movers was probably not more than 20 per cent of their 

 installed capacity, so that the power produced in 1912 was equivalent 

 to probably not more than 6,000,000 continuous horsepower. 



As the estimated available water power given above represents 

 continuous power the country evidently possesses much more water 

 power than it now requires, so that there would be an ample surplus 

 for many years if the power were so distributed geographically 

 that it could be economically supplied to the industries that need it. 

 But as a matter of fact the water-power resources of the country 

 are by no means evenly distributed. Over TO per cent of the avail- 

 able water power is west of the Mississippi, whereas .over TO per 

 cent of the total horsepower now installed in prime movers is east 

 of the river. Therefore unless the East is to lose its industrial 

 supremacy it must press and press hard for the development of all 

 water-power possibilities ! 



THE AGE OF PETROLEUM. 



For a full century now we have been passing through different 

 phases of industrial and commercial life which have been character- 

 ized by some form of power. First the age of steam, and then the 

 age of electricity. We have passed out of neither and yet we have 

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