fORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 305 
one ground, viz., that as a scheme for flood control and navigation 
improvement its benefits would not justify its cost. It is, therefore, 
incumbent upon whoever revives the scheme to come well fortified 
upon this particular feature. He must give some study to the treat- 
ment of “local modifying conditions.” It makes a difference whether 
he can go to a great natural lake like Winnibigoshish and store 40 
billion cu. ft. of water for a mere trifle, or whether he must evict 
whole villages, disturb railroads and highways, absorb valuable lands 
and possibly subject communities to serious risk. ‘These are the ques- 
tions upon which the success or failure of the scheme depends. Yet 
Mr. Leighton brushes them aside, as it were, with a wave of the hand, 
as “merely collateral” features, matters of “ordinary engineering” only. 
Here is the weak point of his project. Weighed in the balance of 
practical accomplishment, either for flood control or navigation, it will 
be found utterly wanting, and the development of the system, as has 
always been held, will have to be based primarily and mainly on its 
value for industrial use. For the same reasons that the development 
of a great reservoir system in the Far West is justified by its indus- 
trial value—its use for irrigation—so a reservoir system for the Ohio, 
or any other rivers, except in a few unusual cases, must depend 
primarily upon its industrial value—the development of power. 
In pursuing his criticism further, the writer would not be under- 
stood to be “knocking,” as current slang goes, the feature of the 
reservoir system just mentioned, because, in his judgment, there is no 
one thing in the present movement for the conservation of our natural 
resources that is more important than storing the flood waters of our 
streams for power development. It stands in the same category with 
the preservation and extension of our forests. It stands on even a 
surer basis, for Man, either wilfully or through neglect, can destroy 
the forests, but he can never diminish in the smallest degree the power 
‘of running water. It is a great solar engine, perennial and perpetual 
in its action. It requires no aid from Man in its production. All 
he has to do is to utilize it. Providentially, electricity has unfolded 
its power to transmit this energy over great distances, and has thus 
made practicable a development which would otherwise have been 
impracticable. In time water-power will replace coal and oil, and will 
become the one great source of power, unless discoveries are made 
which are not now foreseen. The writer thoroughly believes in devel- 
