S SOUTH BUFFALO FLOODS AND PROPOSED REMEDY. 



The minimum discharge of the Buffalo River below the junc- 

 tion with Cazenovia Creek is about 60 cu. ft. a second.* The 

 maximum discharge in full flood is about 25,000 cu. ft per 

 second. 



I think the foregoing statements can be taken as fairly repre- 

 senting the existing conditions and as indicating the necessity 

 for some action to remedy the disastrous effects. The remedies 

 that have been suggested are several and I will endeavor to 

 explain the result of the studies of the subject. The subject 

 has been intelligently studied with a view to the desired reme- 

 dies by no one apparently except the city authorities with the 

 application of a technical knowledge of the hydraulic problems 

 involved. 



The means of preventing the overflow may be classed as 

 follows : 



First: The storage of flood flow outside of the city so that 

 the waters may be held back and discharged at no greater rate 

 than will be cared for by the natural channel of the river. 



Second : The diversion of the waters to some other outlet 

 outside of the city. 



Third: The raising of the entire territory affected above the 

 flood level. 



Fourth: Providing an adequate channel within the city. 



The first suggestion — that of storage outside of the city is 

 subject to the following conditions: — If storage is to regulate 

 the flow to a certain maximum amount, the controlling works 

 must provide for a free passage of all waters without storage 

 up to the carrying capacity of the stream and hold back all in 

 excess of that amount. This condition would demand an ex- 

 pensive and complicated construction. In the flood of March 

 1 st, 1902, to have prevented the overflow of the city streets a 

 storage capacity of at least 22,000 acre feet would have been 

 necessary — that is, it would have required a reservoir covering 

 1000 acres, with a depth of 22 ft., to have stored the amount 

 of water which overflowed the section of the city flooded. This 

 would be a lake ^2 mile wide, 3 miles long, and deep enough 

 to float any lake craft. Such a proposition would require the 

 acquisition of a large area of land and probably of very valu- 

 able agricultural lands, the reconstruction of road bridges, and 

 possibly railroad beds. Such reservoir should at all times of 

 low water be empty, that it may be in readiness for the floods 

 when they come, and it would be a nuisance. 



