386 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



constructed is 15,000,000,000 cubic feet. The reservoir required to furnish this 

 storage will be nearly fifteen miles in length, an average of about a mile in width and 

 will have an average depth of sixty feet, the depth at the lower end being 118 feet. 

 On Hudson River extensive surveys have been made for the construction of a 

 reservoir system on the headwaters of that stream. The work has been 

 carried far enough to indicate that a storage of about 44,000,000,000 cubic feet can be 

 made at an estimated cost of $2,606,000. In regard to this estimated cost it may 

 be stated that a portion of the data was somewhat general and it is possible that the 

 final figures when obtained may indicate a cost somewhat above $3,000,000. In any 

 case, however, the cost of the storage of Hudson River is relatively low and would be 

 a good investment for the riparian owners, even though it were to cost considerably 

 more than $3,000,000. By way of illustrating this latter proposition it may be cited 

 that the estimated cost of Genesee River storage is $173 per million cubic feet stored, 

 while on Hudson the estimated cost at $3,000,000 expenditure for a storage of 

 44,000,000,000 is only $68.18 per million cubic feet stored. At the figure of $173 

 per million cubic feet stored, Genesee River project is considered to be good, com- 

 mercially, and a private corporation has been chartered and organized for the purpose 

 of constructing the work, the income of such corporation to be derived from the sale 

 of the stored water. If such a project is commercially practicable on Genesee River, 

 much more would it be so on Hudson. 



WHAT CONSTITUTES THE BEST NATURAL MILL STREAMS. 



The value of artificial water storage is strongly brought out when we consider that 

 the best mill streams are those with lake storage. For example, in New York, Oswego, 

 Black, Mohawk, Hudson, Oswegatchie, Raquette, Grass, Saranac, Au Sable, and other 

 inland streams with large lakes at their headwaters are easily the best mill streams of 

 the State, the reason being that the temporary storage of the lake surfaces has 

 realized in some degree the benefits which would accrue in a much larger degree if 

 those lakes were all converted into storage reservoirs up to the full limit of their 

 capacity. In this connection we may mention Niagara River, which has the largest 

 storage of all. The Great Lakes, with a surface area above Niagara River of 

 87,700 square miles, are in effect a vast storage reservoir which practically regulates 

 the flow of Niagara River to substantial uniformity. Recent measurements indicate 

 a mean flow of about 230,000 cubic feet per second, which may be expected to vary 

 from a minimum of perhaps 150,000 cubic feet per second to a maximum of 300,000 

 cubic feet per second, a much smaller range than that of any of the inland streams of 

 the State, the less range being due entirely to the great equalizing effect of Great Lake 



