HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



703 



towards the north after leaving the mountains, and emptying 

 into the Mohawk river near Amsterdam. The sources of Scho- 

 harie creek are over 2000 feet above sea level and not more 

 than ten miles from the Hudson river. 



The waters of Catskill and Esopus creeks can be delivered to 

 New York through conduit lines from the reservoirs, but the 

 waters of Schoharie creek can only be brought to the city by the 

 construction of a tunnel from the lowest reservoir on the Scho- 

 harie to the nearest point in the Esopus valley. 



Topographically, Catskill and Esopus creeks are similar in 

 general characteristics. The tributary streams have steep slopes, 

 offering no sites for storage reservoirs. The main streams, on 

 the contrary, are flatter and afford opportunities for construct- 

 ing dams. 



The conditions on Schoharie creek are different. At its head- 

 waters there are three tributaries, Batavia kill. West kill and 

 East kill, on all of which considerable storage may be secured. 

 As stated in the discussion on the flow of streams, all of these 

 are more or less flashy, rising quickly with heavy rains, with 

 high flood-flows, and subsiding rapidly after rainfalls, with very 

 low minimum flows. 



The lowest dam site on Esopus creek is a short distance above 

 the falls at the village of Olive. The creek here flows through a 

 narrow gorge, affording an opportunity for the construction of 

 a masonry dam, GO feet high and 600 feet long. The area of the 

 catchment above this dam is 245 square miles. The proposed 

 reservoirs on Esopus creek have an available storage capacity 

 of about 27,000,000,000 gallons (3,600,000,000 cubic feet), and 

 are estimated to yield in minimum years about 150,000,000 gallons 

 daily. This corresponds to an average yield of 625,000 gallons 

 of water per square mile per day. The writer, however, considers 

 the same as in the case of the Wallkill river, that this estimate 

 is too large, and on Esopus creek it certainly should not be 

 taken to exceed about 500,000 gallons per square mile per day. 



The proposed dams on Esopus creek are : At Olive; Cold Brook 

 station; Lake Hill; one mile above Mount Pleasant station; one- 

 half mile above Phoenicia; one and one-half miles above Phoe- 

 nicia; one mile above Shandaken ; and one-half mile below Big 

 Indian. These dams would all be of earth, with spillways cut in 

 the rock sides of the valley. 



