HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



577 



in the years just enumerated were specially severe, but floods not 

 so severe, yet doing considerable damage, have occurred in several 

 of the intervening years. 



2) Water would be supplied for the enlarged Erie canal. 

 According to Mr Bogart's report of 1890, there should have been 

 provided a. storage on Genesee river of 1,500,000,000 cubic feet 

 for the purpose of supplying Erie canal as it existed at that date. 



3) The agricultural production of the broad level area in- 

 cluded in the Genesee valley between Rochester, Mount Morris and 

 Dansville, estimated at from 60 to 80 square miles, might be 

 greatly increased by moderate irrigation if the flood contingency 

 was removed and the proper irrigation channels were constructed. 



4) Considerable sanitary benefit would result from the increased 

 flow during the low-water period through the proposed regu- 

 lation. The entire sewage at Rochester, a city of 175,000 

 inhabitants, now passes into Genesee river. The channel of this 

 stream, beween the foot of the lower falls at Rochester and 

 Lake Ontario, is so broad and deep that during the time of ex- 

 treme low water in the summer and fall the current is scarcely 

 perceptible. The sewage of the city therefore lodges in this sec- 

 tion, producing a serious nuisance. The regulation of the river, 

 by preventing floods, would also improve the sanitary condition 

 of the broad upper valley, where the annual overflow has been 

 shown to cause more or less sickness. 



5) The waterpower would be increased. Wheels are now set 

 on the Genesee river capable of producing, at the manufacturers' 

 rating, about 20,000 net horsepower, while the low-water flow of 

 the stream does not exceed about 5000 net horsepower. 



In summation of the preceding points it may be urged, in gen- 

 eral, that in constructing the proposed Genesee storage dam, in 

 addition to the private interests to be conserved, public service of 

 an extended character would be performed. 



Mount Morris site. Referring to Mr Bogart's report of 1890, 

 it is learned that the investigations of that year were general in 

 their character. The work was carried on more particularly with 

 reference to a location in the Genesee river gorge, between Mount 

 Morris and the foot of the Portage falls. No detailed surveys 

 were made further than necessary to make a general estimate of 

 the cost of a dam 58 feet in hight, which would store 1,500,000,000 



