THE TEXAS ACADEMY OF SCIENCE. 
THE WATER POWER OF TEXAS.* 
THOMAS U. TAYLOR, C. E., M. 0. E., 
University of Texas, Austin, Texas. 
INTRODUCTION. 
This paper is an abstract of a report to the Hydrographic Division of 
the IT. S. Geological Surrey, and it is here published with the consent of 
the Survey. It has been read in sections before the Texas Academy of 
Science during 1900 and 1901. 
1 am indebted to Chas. N. Campbell for much valuable assistance in 
collecting data. 
T. IT. Taylor. 
Austin, Texas, March 1, 1902. ' 
WATER POWER. 
Water develops energy by virtue of its weight and the amount of its 
vertical fall. The amount of work done by a force of P pounds acting 
through a distance of h feet is Ph foot-pounds.' If we assume that 
weight of one cubic foot of water is 62.5 pounds, and that the flow of a 
stream is Q cubic feet per second, and that it falls -an effective vertical 
distance of h feet, the work it does, is 62.5 Qh foot-pounds. In defining 
power much coarser units than the foot-pound are used. That in most 
common use is the Horse Power , which is equal fq 550 foot-pounds per 
second. The Mill Power is variously defined. It is expressed by a cer- 
tain discharge Q in cubic feet per second under a head h feet, Merriman 
gives at Lowell Q=30, h— 25, 85.2 theoretical H. P. ; at Minneapolis, 
Qz=30, h=22, 75 theoretical H. P. ; .at Holyoke, Q— 38, h=20. 
*Read before the Texas Academy of Science on Nov. 23, 1900, and Nov. 22, 1901. 
[Note. — Advantage has been taken of the delay in submitting this paper to the 
printers to include the results of Prof. Denton’s experiments on the value of Beau- 
mont oil as a fuel and an abstract of Mr. Wilbur F. Foster’s report on the cost of 
rebuilding the Austin dam. — T. U. Taylor, April 1, 1902.] 
