The Recent Floods 



285 



' ' Stories of the Gorilla Country. ' ' This 

 was followed by many other similar 

 books. 



Mr Du Chaillu had many friends 

 among the members of the National 

 Geographic Society. His last public 

 address in the United States was before 



the National Geographic Society, April 

 12, iyoi, on the occasion of a farewell 

 reception tendered him by the Society 

 on the eve of his departure for Russia. 

 His first lecture on his return was to 

 have been before the National Geo- 

 graphic Society. 



THE WEATHER BUREAU AND THE RECENT 



FLOODS 



By H. C. Frankenfield, 

 Forecast Official, Weather Bureau 



THE unprecedented floods that 

 have occurred in the Mississippi 

 and lower Missouri Rivers dur- 

 ing March, April, and June of the cur- 

 rent year have served to bring into 

 considerable prominence a feature of 

 the Weather Bureau work not at all 

 familiar to the general public, with the 

 exception of those who dwell within 

 the districts directly affected. Refer- 

 ence is had to the River and Flood 

 Service which, by the uniform accuracy 

 and general high character of its work 

 during the recent floods, has afforded a 

 striking realization of the true function 

 of the Weather Bureau, namely, that of 

 providing as effectively as possible by 

 means of its warnings for the personal 

 safety as well as the material comfort 

 and welfare of the people in times of 

 impending disaster by wind and water. 

 Ordinarily the work of the River and 

 Flood Service is limited to the forecasting 

 day by day of the coming stagesof water 

 in the navigable rivers of the country for 

 the benefit of the commerce thereon, 

 with an occasional local warning of an 

 approaching flood due to excessive pre- 

 cipitation over a more or less circum- 

 scribed area. These forecasts and warn- 

 ings are expected by the commercial 

 and agricultural interests of the com- 



munities affected, and are accepted by 

 each individual as a portion of the legit- 

 imate assets of his calling. The country 

 at large is very slightly and indirectly 

 affected by the work, and as a natural 

 consequence hears but little of it. It 

 is only when the rains become general 

 and frequent and excessive over the 

 great watersheds, and when the rapidly 

 swelling tides in the rivers give notice 

 of the coming ruin and disaster that the 

 interest of the whole country is awak- 

 ened. About two-fifths of our entire 

 population dwell within the watersheds 

 of the three great interior rivers, and a 

 much larger proportion of its great pro- 

 ducing area is comprised within their 

 limits. The interests of all are centered 

 in these districts, and upon their welfare 

 depends that of all. It is at these times 

 that the River and Flood Service of the 

 Weather Bureau stands forth in its true 

 light, and by the timeliness and accu- 

 racy of its warnings affords ample op- 

 portunity for the protection of human 

 life and such property as can be saved. 

 The flood of March and April, 1903, 

 in the lower Mississippi River was the 

 greatest in its history, the stages of 

 water alone considered, although its 

 actual volume was very probably less 

 than in 1897, the increased heights hav- 



