571 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



To Portage in 18S2 was G882 net horsepower. An examination of 

 the amount in use on the same reach of river in 1896 showed that 

 the total based on manufacturers' rating of wheels, was 19,178 

 net horsepower, or based on the manufacturers' statements of the 

 quantity of water required to operate the wheels, and allowing 

 77) per cent efficiency of the water, the total power developed by 

 The wheels in place in 1896 is found to have been 17,218 net 

 horsepower, or about Three times that in 1882. In 1901 this has 

 increased to about 20.000 net horsepower, and at the same time 

 the steam power in use at Rochester has increased several thou- 

 sand horsepower. In comparison with these statements it should 

 be noted that for several months during the summer and fall of 

 1895 the total power did noT exceed 1000 to 5000 horsepower. The 

 same condition has exisTed during The dry period of a number 

 of years previous, but not so seriously as in the fall of 1895. In 

 1899 the river was lower than in 1895. 1 



Preliminary investigations. The increased demand for power, 

 as well as the serious summer droughts, led to the formulation 

 of a project for constructing a storage reservoir at some point 

 on the headwaters of Genesee river for assisting the summer How. 

 The first project included The development of the basin of Honeoye 

 lake to its full capacity, surveys having been made for that pur- 

 pose in 1867 and 1888. It appeared, however, that the yield of 

 this catchment area, which is only about 13.5 square miles, was 

 hardly adequate for the results desired, the estimate showing that 

 even when developed to its full capacity it could not be depended 

 on to furnish, in a dry year, more than 75 cubic feet per second, 

 while the exigencies of the case demanded at least several hun- 

 dred cubic feet per second. This project of building a large stor- 

 age reservoir on the upper Genesee river was then formulated by 

 the Rochester Chamber of Commerce. 



In the meantime a number of breaks on the long level of The 

 Erie canal, which extends from the foot of the locks at Lockport 

 to the eastern part of the city of Rochester, a distance of about 

 62.5 miles, had emphasized the importance of the State's providing 

 additional water for feeding the canal east of Rochester. For 

 this purpose the construction of a large storage reservoir was 



'The statements of low waterpower are however kept on the original 

 statement of 0727 gross horsepower. With 7.~> per cent efficiency, this is 

 r.i 46 net horsepower. 



