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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



before the outflow would reach approximately that amount, in 

 which time a depth of ten feet would be reached on the crest. 

 The total inflow in 19 hours would be 2,904,735,000 cubic feet, of 

 which 1,865,942,000 cubic feet would now out and 1,038,793,000 

 cubic feet, or nearly 36 per cent of the whole would be stored tem- 

 porarily on the surface of the reservoir. 1 



Floods in Oswego river. The highest water reported in Oswego 

 river is a depth of 4 feet on the crest of the dam at Fulton, the 

 flow being 19.500 cubic feet per second, the ordinary spring flood 

 amounting to 17.700 cubic feet per second. This figure is verified 

 by the statement of the late Charles Rhodes, Esq. of the Oswego 

 Canal Company, who studied Oswego river extensively and who, 

 according to the Report on Water Power of the United States in 

 the Tenth Census, considered that the ordinary flood discharge at 

 Oswego was from 16.000 to 17.000 cubic feet per second, and that 

 an excessive flood might be as large as 11.000 to 42,000 cubic feet 

 per second, these latter figures probably being the discharge of the 

 Oswego river in the great flood of March. 186(5. Thus far exact 

 figures have not been obtained of any flood exceeding about 21,000 

 cubic feet per second. This flow when computed in cubic feet per 

 second per square mile does not much exceed 4 cubic feet, which is 

 very small. 



The catchment area of Oswego river at Oswego is 5002 square 

 miles, and a very interesting question arises as to why a stream 

 with so large an area as this, issuing from a region with a mean 

 annual rainfall of from about 30 to 40 inches and with heavy snow- 

 fall, frequently melting suddenly at the end of winter, should 

 not show greater flood-flows than a maximum of about 4 to 8 cubic 

 feet per second per square mile. The answer to this may be 

 found in considering the large temporary storage on the surfaces 

 of the lakes, marshes and flat valleys of Oswego basin, as shown 

 by the tabulation on page 111. 



Hoods in Seneca river. According to statements made by 

 people at Baldwinsville, mill owners and others, ordinary high 

 water in Seneca river is about 3 feet on the crest of the dam 

 there and occurs nearly every spring. This gives a discharge 



Abstract i ii.in Second Report on Genesee Riyer Storage Project, dated 

 April 1. 1n;>4. Tor further account of Genesee river floods, see Ileport of 

 Flood Committee appointed by .Mayor of Rochester in 1'.m>4. 



