14 APPALACHIAK AND WHITE MOUNTAIN WATERSHEDS. 



Until a few years ago scarcely any of this power was utilized. 



Since 1900, witli an increase in population of about 2,400,000, or something more than 

 10 per cent, the South has increased the value of its farm products by $728,000,000, 

 or 57 per cent, and the value of its manufactures §761,000,000, or 52 per cent. It has 

 added 3,493,000 spindles to its cotton-mill outfit, an increase of 55 per cent, and its 

 mills used in 1906 about 2,375,000 bales of American cotton, or 48 per cent more than 

 in 1900. In the six years the South's annual pig-iron production has increased by 

 896,000 tons, or 34 per cent; its coal production by 34,202,000 tons, or 69 per cent; the 

 value of experts at its ports 1177,000,000, or 38 per cent. In that time its railroad 

 mileage has increased by 11,441 miles, or nearly 22 per cent, and the assessed value of 

 property by $2,490,000,000, or nearly 48 per cent. [Manufacturer's Record.] 



This showing is not made by the South alone. It represents the 

 results of capital from all parts of the country appUed to the devel- 

 opment of the resources of the South. It is therefore national, not 

 local, development. 



Coincidental with this industrial advance has come about a strong 

 demand for electricity generat«d by water power. Electric devel- 

 opment plants have sprung up on nearly all streams, and in great 

 numbers on those flowing through the Piedmont Plateau. While 

 relatively little of the nearly 5,000,000 horsepower is as yet utilized, 

 its utilization is increasing at a marvelous rate. 



Ready power to the value of $38,000,000 will give the country 

 tremendous advantage, not alone in manufacturing, but in transpor- 

 tation, in lighting, and in every kind of development. Water power 

 is especially valuable to those sections which have no deposits of coal, 

 and its advantages will steadily enhance in the future as the supply 

 of coal grows scarcer and the price correspondingly higher. 



On the great watersheds forming the White Mountain region the 

 four most important streams of New England have their rise. Upon 

 them are located the great cotton, woolen, and paper mills of Xew 

 England. They abound in fine water power, only a part of wliich is 

 now utilized. It has been estimated that the capital invested in the 

 manufacturing enterprises which utilize the power of these streams 

 amounts to $250,000,000. Important and flourishing cities have 

 grown up in consequence of .these industries. Bellows Falls, in Ver- 

 mont; Manchester and Berhn, in New Hampshire; Holyoke, Lowell, 

 and LawTence, in Massachusetts; and Biddeford, Brunswick, and 

 Lewiston, in Maine, are representatives of such cities, ranging in popu- 

 lation from 10,000 to 150,000. 



The Connecticut River, the largest of New England streams, rises 

 in the Connecticut Lakes of northern New Hampshire. It forms the 

 boundary between Vermont and New Hampshire for 180 miles and 

 flows across Massachusetts and Connecticut for 120 miles. Its drain- 

 age basin includes 10,924 square miles, of which nearly one-fourth Ues 

 in New Hampshire and one-tenth in the White Mountains. The 

 White Mountains portion of its watershed averages nearly 4,000 feet 

 in elevation, including portions of the great Presidential and Fran- 

 conia ranges. Their slopes are steep and rocky, without large lakes 

 or swamps, and with only the forest to retard the run-off. Water 

 power in the upper stream is developed chiefly at Fifteen Mile Falls 

 and Mclndoe Falls on the main river and at Littleton and Lisbon on 

 the Ammonoosuc. Below Mclndoe Falls are long reaches of smooth 

 water broken at Bellows Falls, Turners Falls, Holyoke, Windsor 

 Locks, and three other points by falls having an average aggregate 



