BYBEE-MALOTT : THE FLOOD OF 1918 



217 



greater than the minnnum discharge. According to Van Hise, the 

 maximum flow of the St. Lawrence River is only 50 per cent greater 

 than the minimum flow. Considering the size of thesis rivers^ that 

 is a remarkable record. The Kankakee River, which is fed by 

 numerous lakes and swamps, iias a rather constant flow, but this 

 equilibrium is being wrought out of adjustment by the draining of 

 a large portion of the swamp land during the last few years. The 

 effectiveness of reservoirs and lakes in making the flow or discharge 

 of a stream constant cannot be overestimated. 



Where the relief and geologic structure permit, artificial reser- 

 voirs may be constructed in such a way as to hold back a large 

 percentage of the excess rainfall. Much of the unglaciated part of 

 the State is of such a nature. The surplus may be used for irriga- 

 tion and the production of power in small plants. The power that 

 is developed may be used to lift a part of the water up to the level 

 of the fields that are to be irrigated. .The needs and benefits of. 

 irrigation in a humid region are being realized today. 



Mr. W. W. Roebuck, of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, at the National 

 Irrigation Congress at Chicago, December 5-9, 1911, said, T know 

 of an irrigated farm of eighty acres, and there is not more than 

 half of this farm, or there is less than half of this farm that has 

 been cultivated annually, and the products have been over $15,000 

 annually. It is a demonstrated fact that we can grow more than 

 double, take it one year for another, by irrigation.' 



There i» sufficient rainfall in Indiana. However, ic does not 

 always com^e at the time needed to produce maximum crops. Three 

 weeks without a rain wih often damage a crop fifty per cent, while 

 water applied at the proper time would insure a maximum yield, 

 if it were possible to hold back the surplus waters in times of ex- 

 cessive rainfall, in reservoirs, it could be made to serve a two-fold 

 purpose: it would furnish water for irrigation and at the same time 

 keep the flood stages lower. 



In Monroe County there are several places where dams may be 

 constructed where the water may be used either for municipal 

 water supply or for irrigation. Bloomingtcn may secure an ample 

 supply of water by putting a- dam across Gritfy Creek, just above 

 the North Pike bridge. The excess water of seven square miles 

 may in this way be made useful instead of a menace to life and 

 property, since it, a« a contributing factor, causes White River to 

 assume flood stages. Below this dam would be several hundred 

 acres of land that could be made to produce in an unfailing manner. 

 The lack of topographic maps makes it difficult to construct such 



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