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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In the Report to the Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways a 

 detailed statement is given of the water power and business at 

 each mill, but these statements are too much in detail to reproduce 

 here. In order to bring these statistics down to date the Water 

 Storage Commission in 1902 sent to each mill owner a printed 

 copy of the statements as to power, valuation of plant and of 

 product, number of men employed, etc. with the request that the 

 statement should be corrected if any of the conditions had been 

 changed. In this way it was learned that a few small shops had 

 been discontinued, a number of new powers had been built and 

 a number had increased their capacity and business. The follow- 

 ing is a summary of the results, as taken from the Report of the 

 Water Storage Commission. A number of mills lying on the 

 Moose and Deer rivers are also added, which were not included 

 in the Report to the Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways : 



Number of dams furnishing water power. . . 44 



Total horsepower of water wheels in use.. . . 71,133 



Total steam power used 6,037 



Value of establishments 112,302,100 



Value of annual product 15,101,440 



Number of hands employed 5,349 



The permanency of Black river runoff. In view of the vast 

 commercial interests in the water power of Black river, the ques- 

 tion as to the permanency of Black river runoff becomes of 

 considerable importance. It has been shown on a preceding page 

 that reasoning from precipitation data, purely, it is quite possible 

 there may occur a year when the runoff will be less than any thus 

 far observed. 



As regards maintaining the observed runoffs of Black river, the 

 conditions are, on the whole, reassuring. For a number of years 

 the writer has been gathering data as to the effects of forests in 

 conserving stream flow, with the result of satisfying himself that 

 it may be tentatively stated that forests do conserve and increase 

 the runoff of issuing streams somewhat. The reasons for this 

 conclusion are stated at length on another page and will not be 

 gone into here. 



