28 COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE OE WHITE MOUNTAIN FORESTS. 



Table 14 shows the effect of storage water in Moosehead Lake at 

 three different points below, compared with the estimated flow of 

 the river at the same points without the storage water. 



Table 14. — Effect of storage of water in Moosehead Lake on flow at Waterville, North 



Anson, and The ForTcsfl 



[Flow in second-feet per square mile of drainage area.] 





Waterville 

 area 4,270 



(drainage 

 sq. miles). 



North Anson (drainage 

 area 2,790 sq. miles). 



The Forks (drainage 

 area 1,570 sq. miles). 



Month. 



Observed 

 flow. 



Estimated 



flow 



without 



storage. 



Observed 

 flow. 



Estimated 



flow 



without 



storage. 



Observed 

 flow. 



Estimated 



flow 



without 



storage. 



1905. 

 January 



0.72 



.62 



1.23 



3.16 



2.46 

 1.57 

 1.09 

 .75 

 .70 

 .41 

 .54 

 .48 



.75 



.53 



.54 



4.02 



5.22 



2.99 



0.14 



.34 



1.37 



3.99 



3.07 



1.35 



.71 



.32 



.47 



.21 



.40 



.35 



.75 



.62 



.54 



4.62 



6.50 



2.84 



0.95 



.74 



1.47 



3.74 



3.12 



2.52 



1.97 



1.04 



.71 



.43 



.48 



.91 



.60 



.44 



.44 



2.55 



4.75 



2.67 



0.07 



.32 



1.68 



5.01 



4.06 



2.19 



1.39 



.38 



.36 



.12 



.27 



.70 



.60 



.58 



.44 



3.44 



6.71 



2.45 













March 









1.06 



2.76 



3.44 



2.59 



1.32 



.80 



.55 



.54 



3.32 





4.43 





2.85 



July 



1.57 



August 



.16 





.18 





.01 



November 



.15 







1906. 

 January 













March 







April 







Mav 



4.75 

 3.65 



8.24 





3.25 







a H. K. Barrows, Hydrographer, IT. S. Geological Survey. 



The effect of the forest cover in holding back water is very much 

 the same as that of a great storage reservoir. The forests of any 

 large watershed stretch over thousands of square miles, and their 

 extraordinary power in conserving moisture so as to keep the vol- 

 ume of water in the rivers forever flowing to the sea is such that the 

 imagination can scarcely conceive it. The forest is a conserving 

 force, and prevents alternate floods and periods of low water. Navi- 

 gation, like water power, is particularly injured by low water. When 

 the necessary depth of water fails, river craft must tie to the banks. 



Mr. C. C. Goodrich, manager of the New York and Hartford 

 Transportation Company, who speaks from the point of view of the 

 man engaged in marine commerce, says: 



From my earliest business years I have lived upon the Connecticut River. I have 

 managed a navigation company, having 35 vessels, including a line of steamers from 

 Hartford to New York. In my first experience the vast forests on the mountains 

 in New Hampshire region were dense with evergreen. They were damp and cool 

 and full of springs, full of lichen, and full of moss. 



The snow lay unmelted in those forests until the last of May and oftentimes into 



June. We had a steady feed from the melting of this snow far into the summer. 



The years went by and the lumbering of the first growth commenced. The large 



timber was swept from this great section, and we thought that with the disappear- 



[Cir. 168] 



