472 KANSAS CITY REVIEW OF SCIENCE. 
public shall keep in order three bridges, with from eight to twelve foot spans each, 
when a competent engineer would say that ' ' there ought not to be a ditch or gully- 
on any farm of the six, nor a bridge to be a public charge on the mile and a half 
of road that passes along the lower side of the lower farms. The true solution of 
the problem is the placing of large underground drains that should be the 
mains of a thorough drainage of the farms in question, and provide also the best 
economy of land and water, in giving a fish pond, that would yield a harvest of 
ice every winter to every two of the six. 
If it be a larger matter, and an undoubted stream is to be handled so that it 
may cost as httle as possible and yield the best return for the money expended 
on it, there the civil engineer could render great service. So many items are 
to be thought of in the consideration of any watershed requiring careful surveys 
and practical knowledge, that no utility is to be expected from our streams until 
a different regime comes into force. The friend of man, of which Tennyson 
and Longfellow sing so beautifully, "The Brook," has within our experience 
neither use nor beauty. 
It may be that a small river is the subject of local anxiety. Its bridges are 
costly, its annual torrent rarely fails to wash out one or two. Its bottom land is 
very fertile. Its volume of water varies from what a ten-inch pipe could carry 
to a bulk that overflows its banks, though the channel has a cross-section of 500 
square feet. It is the drain of a large water-shed, what can be done with it? 
Much, if its whole basin be taken in hand under competent skill ; but little if its 
bare channel is treated, ist. A great and useful water-power now goes to waste. 
2d. A slack-water navigation of from ten to thirty miles is lost. 3d. A supply of 
water to towns on its banks. 4th. The preventing of overflows, and the sure use 
of the bottom land, probably the best in the county. 5th. The delivery of its 
water to the larger river clear of silt. Most of these objects are of local utility. 
I have not yet named the fish and wild duck that may have their pastime 
therein and delight the heart of sportsmen. Of this we may be assured, there is 
enough profit to be derived from every stream, twenty miles long, to pay those 
living on its borders to have its possibilities examined and developed. And if not 
cared for, it inflicts an annual damage that equals fifty per cent of what it would 
cost to put it in order. 
If a county have thirty miles of river border, it will be a useful outlay of 
capital to put it in order ; in regard to its channel ; in regard to that portion 
of its basin or water-shed lying within the county, and for the utihty of a slack- 
water navigation and milling power that may be developed. 
Of canals I have but little to say. They still have their uses for purposes of 
irrigation on the high plains of the west, and may serve as a connecting links 
between different levels, giving length to useful navigation. They are to my 
purpose now as introducing a quotation from DeWitt Clinton, " Every judicious 
improvement of roads and bridges increases the value of land, enhances the price 
of commodities, and augments the public wealth." The road he did the 
most talking about was the New York & Erie Canal. His statesmanship was 
