DISCUSSION : FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 355 
of the stored water to be any more exact or satisfactory than- our Mr. Harts. 
weather predictions? Colonel Chittenden, in discussing the use of 
reservoirs for preventing floods in the Sacramento River, says:* 
“Tt must be remembered that a fatal obstacle to the perfect 
handling of any system of reservoirs, from the point of view of flood 
protection, is that Science has as yet furnished no means of predicting 
climatic conditions with any degree of certainty. It can never be 
foretold when or in what magnitude storms will come, and, therefore, 
the only safe plan to follow, if reservoirs are to be kept in use for 
purposes of preventing floods, is always to keep them as nearly empty 
as possible; but this, as previously stated, is contrary to the policy 
required if they are to be used for industrial purposes.” 
The question of cost is a vital and conclusive one. In the Ohio 
Valley the officials of the Geological Survey have estimated the cost 
of the work at $125 219 000 for the entire system.t This estimate was 
carefully examined by Major H. C. Newcomer, Corps of Engineers,} 
who found, after a detailed reconnoissance of many dam and reservoir 
sites in the Upper Ohio tributaries, that this question had by no means 
been carefully studied. Major Newcomer found that the estimate 
would vastly exceed the figures given, and, according to his calculations. 
amounted to $72 757 731 for the Monongahela River Basin, $44 531 056 
for the Allegheny River Basin, and $901 915905 for the Ohio River 
Basin. In other words, the estimates of the Geological Survey seem to 
be much too small. It seems absurd to think that the American people 
will regard favorably the expenditure of any such sum in testing what 
is nothing more than a doubtful experiment. Whatever else may be 
said about this system, no one can claim that it offers a satisfactory 
argument in the direction of economy... 
After the installation of a reservoir, the unwholesome conditions 
arising from decaying matter in the reservoir, exposed to the sun after 
the water has been drawn off, and the invasion of the riparian rights 
of individuals would still cause bitter litigation. The results of these 
actions, as to the time and money involved, could not be foreseen. 
Although the reservoir system at the head-waters of the Mississippi 
has been in existence for more than 24 years, all claims in litigation 
have not yet been settled. The reservoirs in question are located as 
favorably for minimum land damages as any could be in this country. 
The land when the system was first adopted was wild, unoccupied, 
strewn with lakes and ponds, and almost valueless. In spite of this we 
find a record in the reports of operations showing that condemnation 
proceedings were still necessary in 1899 to extinguish claims for 
damages, and private injuries are still being paid for in cash. 
*Transactions, Am. Soc. C. E., Vol. LXI, p. 347. 
tEngineering News, May 7th, 1908. 
tEngineering News, October 8th, 1908. 
