5S2 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



storage of 15,000,000,000 cubic feet can be made for somewhat 

 less than the cost of 7,300,000,000 cubic feet at Mount Morris; 

 or, as a general statement, we may say that a given expenditure 

 at Portage produces double the storage that it will produce at 

 Mount Morris. The Portage reservoir develops the full capacity 

 of the catchment area for such a dry year as 1895. It is con- 

 sidered that this full development is necessary in order to obtain 

 the most satisfactory results in river regulation. 



As reasons in detail for preferring the Portage site to that at 

 Mount Morris, the following may be mentioned: 



1) The Portage site affords more water for a given expendi- 

 ture. 



2) The Portage site is considered safer than the Mount Mor- 

 ris site. As shown in the Genesee Storage Eeports of 1893-94, 

 the shales at Mount Morris are open; and while it is, without 

 doubt, possible to make a safe dam there, it would be at much 

 greater cost than at Portage. 



3) The material for the dam is nearly all on the ground at 

 Portage, while at Mount Morris it needs to be brought from a 

 distance. 



4) The Portage site affords greater waterpower development. 

 With the Genesee storage dam located at Mount Morris the 

 total head on which the storage can be applied is 282 feet, while 

 with a dam at Portage the total head on which the stored water 

 may be applied is 782 feet. 



5) On account of the great depth of the foundation at Mount 

 Morris, it would be necessary to expend over $1,000,000 before the 

 dam could be brought to the level of the present water surface. 



The proposed regulation of Genesee river at Portage has been 

 computed on the basis of a minimum discharge of 300 cubic feet 

 per second, in the case of a reservoir storing 7,500,000,000 cubic 

 feet, and on a basis of a minimum of 457 cubic feet per second 

 in the case of a reservoir storing 15,000,000,000 cubic feet. As 

 to the reason for fixing upon these minimums, in river regula- 

 tion the outflow from the storage reservoir should be so arranged 

 as to make the benefit to all parts of the stream equal. Es- 

 pecially is this proposition true when, as in the present case, 

 there is waterpower distributed throughout the whole extent 



