10 BULLETIN 1017, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



ation over 3,000 horsepower and, according to Chandler's estimate, 2 

 by utilizing the storage possibilities in the headwaters of the streams 

 a total of between 100,000 and 200,000 horsepower can be developed 

 throughout the year. 



In the way of recreation the streams and lakes provide swimming, 

 fishing, boating, and skating. The wooded banks of the waterways 

 are well suited for camping. In the cities and towns tracts adjoin- 

 ing the streams have been reserved for public use, and fine parks and 

 playgrounds are numerous throughout the settled districts. 



To utilize their various possibilities, it is often necessary to regu- 

 late by artificial means the regimen of streams. This has been done 

 in the streams of the Red River watershed in the interest of water- 

 power and drainage, especially in connection with drainage. The 

 regulation and control of run-off is of more importance in its rela- 

 tion to the development of drainage and flood control in the valley 

 than in connection with any other services which the streams per- 

 form. Consequently no changes should be made in the regimen of 

 the waterways, in the interests of the minor services, that would be 

 adverse to the drainage interests. 



WATER TRANSPORTATION. 



Water transportation on the Red River was carried on as far 

 south as the junction of the Otter Tail and Bois de Sioux Rivers at 

 Breckenridge. The early traders used the stream as a lane of travel 

 and for the transportation of articles of trade and supplies. When 

 the valley became somewhat settled supplies were hauled by. ox team 

 from St. Paul to the river and thence by boat to their destinations. 

 As the country developed, this traffic increased greatly as the river 

 furnished the best means of transport then available up and down 

 the valley. With the coming of railroads and improved facilities 

 for moving freight to and from points on the river a further impetus 

 was given to water transportation; but, with the building of rail- 

 roads along the river, stream navigation began to decline, and it has 

 gradually fallen off until at present, with railroad lines following 

 the river on both sides for its entire length within the United States, 

 water transportation has practically ceased. The low- water years of 

 1911 and 1912 stopped commercial navigation of the river, and 

 since then it has not been revived (see House Doc. No. 1666, 63d 

 Cong.). 



At and north of Fargo all permanent highway and railroad bridges 

 have been constructed with movable spans over the deepest portion 

 of the channel to accommodate the passage of boats, but since there 

 are no boats on the river the bridges are never opened. Plate T and 



2 "The Rod River of the North," by Elwyu F. Chandler, Quarterly Journal, University 

 of North Dakota, April, 1911. 



