486 DISCUSSION: FORESTS, RESERVOIRS, AND STREAM FLOW 
Mr. Chitten- tainty in this connection, and that is that water is drawn from wells. 
den In some places great quantities are drawn. Wells are numerous every- 
where in the country, very many towns rely upon them for their supply, 
and the demand for these latter purposes ranges from 50 to 100 gal. per 
individual daily. The already vast, and rapidly increasing, consump- 
tion of water for domestic and industrial purposes comes to a large 
extent from wells and springs and little streams. The water consumed 
by locomotives alone in the United States amounts to 1700 cu. ft. per 
sec., 40% more than the extreme low-water flow of the Ohio at Wheel- 
ing. May not the draft of water for these manifold purposes have 
more to do with lowering the water-table around wells and the absorp- 
tion of the flow of springs and litile streams than the substitution 
of cultivated ground for the forest? 
In a well in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, a continuous draft of less 
than % cu. ft. per sec. caused the water level to fall nearly 6 ft. in ten 
years. During this time there was no change in forest cover. In 
some places this effect of wells has been traced several miles. Is it 
not altogether likely that if all wells could be closed for a period of, 
say five years, most of the lowering of water level attributed to forest 
removal would disappear ? 
The commonly cited example of defunct mill-powers is another 
case of defective evidence. Let any one trace the history of an aban- 
doned mill built in the early days on any of our small streams, and 
search out the actual cause of its abandonment, and the chances are 
that, in nine cases out of ten, he will find that it was for business, 
not physical, reasons. In some cases deforestation has ruined saw- 
mills, not by cutting off the water supply, but by cutting off the timber 
supply. But the great cause of the abandonment of little mill-powers 
has been the development of steam, by which all the work formerly 
done by the little mill has been done much more effectively and 
cheaply. Rightly understood, the old abandoned mill-powers are evi- 
dences, not of the diminishing flow of our streams, but of failure in 
the battle with steam. The improved weapons of water-power—the 
turbine, the impulse wheel, and electricity—and the growing cost 
of steam are now turning the tide of conflict the other way. 
The evidence of the oldest inhabitant, so often cited, is never re- 
liable. The writer has himself tried the plan of collecting opinions 
of individuals as to the drying up of springs, ete. There is always a 
strong affirmative majority, but there is also a minority large enough 
to upset confidence, particularly when it is found that such minority 
generally embraces the closest observers. An example may be seen 
in the recent widely-quoted report of the Pennsylvania Flood Com- 
mission, in which a summary was given of replies received to certain 
questions as to the effect of deforestation upon the flow of the Susque- 
hanna River. In one set of replies there was a large minority that 
