HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



575 



advocated by the Rochester Chamber of Commerce as a State 

 work, with the result that under a resolution of the Senate dated 

 March 21, 1889, the State Engineer and Surveyor was directed 

 to make a general investigation in regard to the possibility of 

 storing water on the upper Genesee. The report made, under the 

 authority of this resolution appears in the Annual Report of the 

 State Engineer and Surveyor for the year 1890. In 1892, under 

 authority of a concurrent resolution dated March 15 of that year. 

 Governor Flower appointed a commission consisting of Evan 

 Thomas, Judge Charles McLouth, and John Bogart to investigate 

 and report on the whole question of storage on the upper Genesee. 

 This commission examined the site of the proposed reservoir and 

 reported that it was entirely feasible to construct a large reser- 

 voir on the upper Genesee river, the site especially considered by 

 the commission being in the Genesee canyon or gorge, a short 

 distance above Mount Morris. 



As the result of the recommendations of this commission, the 

 sum of $10,000 was appropriated at the legislative session of 1893 

 for the purpose of studying in detail the several proposed sites 

 for dams in the canyon of Genesee river, above Mount Morris. At 

 that time the work was placed in charge of the writer. 1 



At the legislative session of 1891 a bill to construct a dam 

 in the canyon a short distance above Mount Morris passed the 

 Senate, but failed in the Assembly. At the session of 1895 a sim- 

 ilar bill passed the Senate and Assembly, but was vetoed by 

 Governor Morton, largely on the ground that the bill as passed 

 made no provision for the owners of the water power and other 

 interested parties bearing any portion of the expense. In his 

 veto Governor Morton expressed the belief that if the State should 

 determine to build a dam on Genesee river some provision should 

 be made by which the city of Rochester — and possibly other loca]i- 

 ties interested in the work — might contribute to the expense of 

 construction. Governor Morton also pointed out that if the pro- 

 posed canal enlargement be approved by the people public senti- 

 ment might justify the construction of a storage dam on Genesee 

 river for canal purposes. On the other hand, if the proposition 

 to deepen the canal should not be approved the question would 



ir The result of the studies in 1893 may be found in the Annual Reports of 

 the State Engineer and Surveyor for the fiscal years ending September 30, 

 1893 and 1894. 



