62 New York State 



point in another section of this report. Conditions on the Hudson 

 were typical in this respect. The recent date at which most of 

 these dams were completed and canal conditions produced is 

 evident as one examines the stream. Just below each dam or 

 about at the point where the river gets a new load of trade wastes 

 discharged into it conditions are very bad. The water is altered 

 in appearance, its turbidity greatly increased, and the bottom cov- 

 ered over with a slimy deposit on which are growing the organisms 

 that characterize highly polluted streams. One can trace step by 

 step the development of these conditions as the waste pours out from 

 the discharge pipe and mixes with the current, spreading gradually 

 more and more widely towards the opposite bank of the stream, 

 producing thus a fan-shaped area within which, as accords naturally 

 with the higher concentration there of the waste materials, the 

 modification of natural stream conditions is most marked. After 

 the discharges have been thoroughly mixed with the waters of 

 the stream, one notes a uniformity in the appearance of bottom and 

 open water for a greater or less distance down stream, depending 

 upon the amount of waste which has entered and the date at 

 which such discharges were first introduced into the river. Thus 

 at the oldest mills the modification was most striking and extended 

 farthest down stream. At the manufacturing plants of more 

 recent construction the extent to which one could trace the modifi- 

 cation down the river was distinctly less, and in some cases only 

 a beg nning had been made of the process of destroying the normal 

 life of the water. 



In most cases normal conditions appeared, although very grad- 

 ually indeed, as one approached the dam next lower down. Condi- 

 tions were best a slight distance above this dam, for the reason 

 that at the dam the mechanical interferences with conditions 

 incident to its construction had been greatest and changes in depth, 

 together with the removal of shore material or the deposit of 

 construction refuse, had made very radical changes in the original 

 condition of the stream. On passing up stream one noted that in 

 many cases just a short distance above the dam, where the condi- 

 tions of the original stream had not been interfered with at all, 

 except by raising the water level, the plant and animal organisms of 

 the water appeared to be fairly characteristic of unpolluted streams 

 and sometimes manifested a completely normal aspect. On the 

 whole, however, it must be said that the number of such organisms 

 was less than normal and the vigor of their growth was impaired, 



