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ARTES
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SCIENTIA
LIBRARY VERITAS OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
E-PLURIBUS-UNUM
TUE BOR
SI-QUAERIS-PENINSULAM AMOENAM
CIRCUMSPICE
1
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62D CONGRESS
2d Session
SENATE
کر ہے
FINAL REPORT
OF THE
DOCUMENT
No. 469
NATIONAL WATERWAYS
COMMISSION
$
WASHINGTON
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE
1912
•
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES,
March 25, 1912.
Ordered, That there be printed 1,000 copies of the Final Report of
the United States National Waterways Commission, with Appendices
thereto.
Attest:
2
CHAS. G. BENNETT,
Secretary.
By H. M. ROSE,
Assistant Secretary.
NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
S
OF THE SENATE.
THEODORE E. BURTON, Ohio, Chairman.
JACOB H. GALLINGER, New Hampshire, Vice
Chairman.
SAMUEL H. PILES, Washington.
WM. ALDEN SMITH, Michigan.
F. M. SIMMONS, North Carolina.
JAMES P. CLARKE, Arkansas.
WILLIAM LORIMER, Illinois.
OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES.
D. S. ALEXANDER, New York.
FREDERICK C. STEVENS, Minnesota.
IRVING P. WANGER, Pennsylvania.
STEPHEN M. SPARKMAN, Florida.
JOHN A. MOON, Tennessee.
WOODBURY PULSIFER, Secret
JOSEPH H. McGANN,
Secretaries.
249256
3
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page.
Final report:
Present status of river commerce.
Proposed artificial waterways.
-
Desirable legislation for the protection of water transportation and for
establishing greater cooperation between railways and waterways.
The control of water terminals.
9
•
The influence of forestation upon navigation and flood prevention.
Development and control of water power....
Appendices:
I. Preliminary report of the National Waterways Commission..
II. The utility of storage reservoirs for flood prevention, power, and
navigation, M. O. Leighton.
III. Effect of the Federal reservoirs upon the flow of Mississippi River
for navigation and water-power development during the low-water
period of 1910, Robert Follansbee..
The practicability of storage reservoirs for flood prevention and for aiding
navigation...
52 205
17
20
22
28
37
65
133
175
IV. The practicability of storage reservoirs to prevent floods and to
benefit navigation on the Ohio and other rivers of the United States,
W. H. Bixby.
185
V. Forests and water in the light of scientific investigation, Raphael
Zon.
205
VI. The law of waters, G. W. Mooney.
303
VII. Constitutional provisions of various States relating to watercourses
and the use of water, G. W. Mooney.
311
323
·
VIII. Federal statutes relating to water power, G. W. Mooney -
IX. A comparison of American and European waterways with special
reference to factors influencing the development of water trans-
portation, E. O. Merchant.
471
Not,.-A more detailed table of contents will be found preceding appendices Nos. I,
Ve VII, VIII, and IX.
10
5
FINAL REPORT OF THE UNITED STATES NATIONAL
WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The United States National Waterways Commission, having con-
cluded its investigation of questions relating to water transportation
and the improvement of waterways, herewith presents to the Con-
gress its final report, as required by the river and harbor act of
March 3, 1909, creating the commission. The conclusions and
recommendations here presented supplement those submitted in the
preliminary report of the commission, filed with Congress in January,
1910, and attached hereto as Appendix I, and also relate to the
various subjects which were later referred to the commission by the
river and harbor act of February 27, 1911. In the preparation of
this report valuable assistance has been rendered by Mr. E. O. Mer-
chant, expert for the commission, and Mr. G. W. Mooney, as well as
by the corps of engineers and several officials of the Forest Service
and Geological Survey.
This report presents the unanimous conclusions and recommenda-
tions of all the members of the commission on the following subjects:
1. The advisability of the Federal Government constructing the
proposed canal connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River near Pitts-
burgh, the expense of which is to be borne by the local interests
affected; the feasibility of constructing an artificial waterway from
Lake Erie to Lake Michigan by the Maumee River or other suitable
route; and the feasibility of constructing a canal from the Anacostia
River at some point near the District of Columbia boundary line to
Chesapeake Bay.
2. Further legislation for protecting waterways against railway
competition and for establishing more amicable relations between
the two agencies of transportation.
3. Desirable legislation for the control of public terminals.
4. The practicability of impounding reservoirs for flood preven-
tion and aiding navigation.
5. The influence of forestation upon the navigability of streams and
the most salutary policy for the prevention of erosion.
6. Desirable legislation for the development and control of water
power both in navigable streams and on the public domain.
Several articles containing information relating to the subjects
investigated have been prepared for the commission and are printed
as appendices to this report, but the views expressed therein are to
be regarded as having neither the approval nor disapproval of the
commission.
In addition to the preliminary and final reports submitted to
Congress, the commission has also had printed for limited distribution
some 22 documents relating to various phases of this subject, several
of which are the reports of American consuls on the railways and
8 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
waterways of foreign countries. They furnish data of great value,
especially to students of transportation problems, and present a con-
siderable amount of information and important statistics never before
published in this country.
PRESENT STATUS OF RIVER COMMERCE.
The commission in its preliminary report referred to the decline
in water transportation on many of our rivers, especially on the
Mississippi and most of its tributaries. In order to determine
whether any noticeable change in conditions has occurred since the
filing of that report with Congress, the commission has recently
obtained from the Chief of Engineers reports from 44 district officers,
showing the present status of river commerce on the streams under
their supervision, In a majority of cases the reports indicate that
the traffic has remained practically stationary since 1909. In some
cases it has increased and in others it has declined, but there seems
to be no evidence that there is a general trend in either direction.
On the whole, traffic has shown the greatest increase on those rivers
emptying into the Atlantic Ocean which are large enough to accom-
modate coastwise or foreign vessels. But these streams are estuaries
or arms of the sea and hardly comparable with inland rivers. Some
of the short tidal creeks along the coast of New Jersey and Delaware
have also shown considerable improvement, due to the increase in
farm products, which find a ready market in the large cities near by.
On the Tennessee below Riverton and on the Cumberland below
Nashville there has been a noticeable increase in traffic, while in
other sections of these rivers traffic has declined. The fluctuations
in traffic on the Tennessee are due largely to the increase or decrease
in the cutting of timber. On the Cumberland about 42 per cent of
the increase is composed of grain, live stock, tobacco, and general
merchandise, and about 58 per cent of timber products and other
low grades of freight. In the South there has been a steady growth
of traffic from New Orleans out through the Passes. Since the open-
ing of the Plaquemine Lock there has also been a large increase in
traffic, particularly in sugar cane and sugar products, between Mis-
sissippi River points and the Bayou Teche country. In the far West
there are a number of streams on which traffic has shown a very
material increase, owing to the settlement of new country. This
increase has been most noticeable on the Columbia River above
Wenatchee in Washington and on the Coos in Oregon. On Petaluma
Creek in California there has been a 30 per cent increase in traffic
during the last year. This increase has been in general merchandise
and farm products.
The most noticeable decline of river traffic during the last few years
is found on the section of the Mississippi River from St. Paul to the
mouth of the Missouri. In 1907 the total traffic was 3,919,440 tons,
in 1910 it was only 1,836,035 tons, and in 1911, 2,081,506 tons. The
decrease is most pronounced in lumber and saw logs. There has also
been a steady decline in miscellaneous freight. On a number of
small streams in the South the traffic which is composed almost
entirely of lumber has also declined owing to the depletion of forests.
On several rivers there are indications of a greater interest in water
transportation which may lead to some increase in traffic. During
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
9
the past year a new passenger and freight line has been operating
on the Hudson River between New York and Albany. All the Hud-
son River lines are reported as doing a large business. On the Illi-
nois River a new boat line from La Salle to New Orleans is being
promoted. The city council of Peoria has just passed an ordinance
providing for a vote by the citizens on a bond issue of $50,000, to
improve the river front for a boat landing. During the year 1910
the Kansas City-Missouri River Navigation Co., with a cash capital
of $1,200,000, raised by popular subscription, was organized, and has
three boats ready for service as soon as navigation season opens in
1912. The company has completed at East St. Louis a warehouse
equipped with modern electric freight-handling machinery, and has
constructed at Kansas City a freight wharf costing $24,000. A
storage warehouse is also under construction, which will be equipped
with electric loading and unloading apparatus. During the year
1910 the Mississippi Valley Transportation Co. was organized at St.
Louis. In June, 1911, this company reestablished the barge service
between St. Louis and New Orleans, which was discontinued in 1903.
The total receipts and shipments of this company at St. Louis for
the remainder of the season were 11,130 tons. A new company, the
St. Louis Gulf Steel Barge Line, is now being formed at St. Louis to
acquire the plant of the Mississippi Valley Transportation Co., and
intends to enlarge the equipment and to maintain regular barge serv-
ice between St. Louis and New Orleans.
The reports indicate that an increasing interest in water trans-
portation is also being shown along the Ohio River, and the estab-
lishment of a new line of steel boats and barges is being considered.
During the year 1911 the American Bridge Co., whose works are
located at Ambridge, about 15 miles below Pittsburgh, constructed
a large number of steel barges, scows, and other steel water craft,
most of which have been used by steel producing concerns in the
Pittsburgh district for the transportation of steel products to lower
Mississippi River points. The demand for steel barges which this
company manufactures is increasing. The Crucible Steel Co. of
America is now practically ready to commence transporting its coal
by water from the sixth pool in the Monongahela River to its mills and
factories at Pittsburgh and at Midland, 36 miles below. This coal
was formerly obtained entirely by rail. This company expects to
transport by river about 1,000,000 tons of coal annually, and also to
transport its pig iron and steel products by water to lower river ports.
I.
PROPOSED ARTIFICIAL WATERWAYS.
THE LAKE ERIE AND OHIO RIVER CANAL.
By section 4 of the river and harbor act of February 27, 1911, the
National Waterways Commission was authorized to investigate and
report upon the advisability and feasibility of a canal connecting the
Ohio River at a point near Pittsburgh with Lake Erie.
In April, 1911, several members of the commission visited Pitts-
burgh, held hearings and inspected the route of the proposed canal.
At the request of the commission a report was prepared by Lieut.
10 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Col. H. C. Newcomer, of the Corps of Engineers, containing much
valuable information relative to this project. This is published in
National Waterways Commission Document No. 21.
Careful surveys were made of this canal in 1895-96 and again in
1905, as a result of which the most feasible route, the approximate
cost and other details have been ascertained. After the survey of
1905 a private canal company was formed, which secured charters
from the States of Ohio and Pennsylvania and also from the Federal
Government, intending to construct the canal as a private enterprise.
The route selected for the canal, as a result of these surveys, leaves
the Ohio River just above Dam No. 6 and proceeds by the Beaver
and Mahoning Rivers to Niles, Ohio, a distance of 50.5 miles. This
half of the route would be through canalized rivers. According to the
plans of the engineers, the rise of 177 feet on this stretch can be over-
come by 12 locks, each having a length of 360 feet, a width of 56 feet,
and a depth over the lock sills of 12 feet. From Niles it is planned to
construct the canal proper up the Mosquito Valley to the summit
level, a distance of 8.5 miles with a rise of 55 feet to be overcome by
3 locks. The length of the summit level to Jefferson, Ohio, is 31
miles. For a part of this distance the plan is to construct an artifi-
cial lake which will serve at the same time as a reservoir for impound-
ing part of the water supply needed for lockages. From the summit
level at Jefferson, Ohio, the canal descends for the remaining distance
of 13 miles through Indian Creek Valley to Lake Erie. The fall of
327 feet can be accomplished by means of 15 locks. The total length
of the proposed canal is 103 miles, the total elevation overcome 559
feet, and the number of locks 30. The minimum depth decided upon
is 13 feet, with 12 feet over lock sills. The project presents no serious
engineering difficulties and there is assurance that an adequate water
supply can be obtained at a reasonable cost.
The question to which the commission has given special considera-
tion is whether the benefits from the construction of this waterway
will be commensurate with the cost. The surveys made in 1905
fixed the total cost at $53,000,000. It is generally conceded now that
this figure is somewhat too low, that $60,000,000 would be a more
correct estimate. The factors which determine how much traffic
can be reasonably expected to make use of this canal, if it is built,
are on the whole favorable. It must be conceded that there is not
in the whole United States a region offering greater traffic possibilities,
especially in coarse, bulky freights such as would naturally go by
In the territory between the Great Lakes and the Ohio
River which this canal will traverse there is moved annually more
than 50,000,000 tons of iron ore, coal, and coke, the iron ore being
transported from the Lake Erie ports to the Mahoning Valley and
Pittsburgh districts, and the coal and coke being carried in the oppo-
site direction.
The main question to be considered in reaching a conclusion as to
the feasibility of the proposed canal is what part of this traffic it can
reasonably be expected to obtain in competition with the railways
now operating in the same territory. The calculations made in 1905
give 3,000,000 tons as the probable traffic for the first year of opera-
tion, 22,500,000 for the fifth year, and 38,000,000 for the tenth year.
There are a number of considerations which would indicate that these
estimates are probably too high. In order to successfully compete
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
11
with the railways the canal must offer much cheaper transportation,
except when there is an excess of traffic. This is due to the fact, as
set forth in the preliminary report of the commission, that water
transportation has certain natural disadvantages which lessen its
convenience and reliability, and cause shippers to patronize the rail-
way in preference, unless the water route offers sufficient inducement
in cheaper transportation. The cost of transportation on the pro-
posed canal is estimated at 1.58 mills per ton-mile, which, with the
tolls proposed to be charged, would make the total cost about 3 mills
per ton-mile. This would undoubtedly give the canal the required
advantage over the competing railways if the present rates, which are
generally considered to be high, amounting to about 8.5 mills per ton
mile for iron ore and 6.8 mills per ton-mile for coal, were maintained
after the canal was opened. It may confidently be expected, however,
that the railroads will make substantial reductions from the present
high rates whenever they are not operating to their full capacity, in
an effort to keep traffic from being diverted to the waterway, and every
reduction in their rates will lessen the advantages of the canal.
Some idea of the point below which the railroads could not profitably
reduce their rates is shown by the fact that the cost of shipping ore
on the Bessemer & Lake Erie Railroad, which is owned by the
United States Steel Corporation and operated as a bulk freight road
from Pittsburgh to Conneaut on the Lake, is stated to be about 2.8
mills per ton-mile, and the cost of hauling coal in full train loads on
the Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad, which the canal would parallel
for most of its length, according to estimates made by Frank Lyon,
attorney for the Interstate Commerce Commission, is less than 2 mills
per ton-mile.
Several cases involving the fairness of these coal rates from the
Pittsburgh district to the Lake Erie ports have recently been con-
sidered by the Interstate Commerce Commission and reductions
amounting to 10 cents a ton ordered. The complaint investigated
was that these rates were unreasonably high in comparison with the
West Virginia coal rates, some of which average less than 3 mills
per ton-mile.
The railways competing with the proposed canal will doubtless be
restrained from making excessive reductions in their rates by the
provision of the Mann-Elkins Act of 1910, which prohibits railroads
lowering their rates in competition with a waterway from raising
them again until after hearing by the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission. This provision was inserted in accordance with the recom-
mendation of the National Waterways Commission in its preliminary
report, the purpose of which was to prevent the elimination of water
competition by unfair means.
It is the opinion of the commission that the amount of coal which
it is expected the proposed canal would carry has been overestimated.
The coal deposits in the Monongahela Basin near to the river are
becoming depleted so that it will be more expensive in the future
to bring to the river the coal that is to be shipped in barges. This
would make it more economical, as well as convenient, to patronize
a railroad whose tracks reach directly to the mine. Furthermore,
some of the coal lands most favorably situated for shipment of their
output by water are owned or controlled by persons or corporations
affiliated with railroad interests. Some allowance should also be
12
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
made in the estimates of both the prospective iron ore and coal
traffic of the canal for the fact that many of the large iron and steel
industries using these raw materials are more or less affiliated with
the railroad interests which are the largest purchasers of their manu-
factured products.
To what extent these factors and the natural disadvantages peculiar
to waterways will reduce the amount of traffic which the canal might
otherwise obtain can not be accurately determined. Even with an
annual average traffic of 10,000,000 tons it would about pay expenses
and be of great commercial benefit to the localities which it would
serve. Furthermore, the traffic between Pittsburgh and the Lake
Erie ports is increasing rapidly and no doubt will soon require
additional transportation facilities. It is a question how far the
railroads now handling this traffic can increase their capacity because
of the difficulty of enlarging their terminals, even at enormous cost.
The communities interested in this canal propose to bond them-
selves in order to raise the money for the cost of construction, and
have already obtained the legislation necessary for such bond issues.
They ask that the work be carried out under the direction of the
Secretary of War and the Corps of Engineers, and that the Federal
Government construct the harbor in Lake Erie and make the improve-
ments necessary in the rivers of the Pittsburgh district.
In view of the great benefits which would result from the construc-
tion of this waterway, the Commission believes that the Federal
Government is justified in cooperating with the localities which are
to furnish the funds to the extent of building the approaches to the
canal and of lending them the Army engineers to perform the
engineering work necessary for its construction. The commission
accordingly recommends that when $10,000,000 is available in cash,
and bonds to the amount of $50,000,000, or as much more as is neces-
sary in the opinion of the Secretary of War to insure its completion,
have been authorized and the legality of such bonds has been certi-
fied by competent legal authority, he shall direct the Chief of Engi-
neers to detail without charge for services such officers from the
Corps of Engineers as he shall deem necessary to perform the engi-
neering work necessary for the construction of the proposed canal.
The commission further recommends that when the work of con-
structing the canal has actually begun Congress, if satisfied that it
will be completed, shall appropriate the funds necessary for an
adequate harbor in Indian Creek at the Lake Erie end and for the
necessary improvement of the Ohio River in the Pittsburgh district,
the same to be completed by the time the canal shall be ready for
operation, but the Government should not be required to purchase
any land in making these improvements.
The plan of cooperation here proposed is intended to leave the
canal essentially a local enterprise, and the above recommendations
for the cooperation of the Federal Government in constructing this
waterway are not to be construed as committing or obligating the
Government, now or at any future time, to assume any financial
responsibility whatever in any way related to its construction, main-
tenance, or operation.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 13
LAKE ERIE-LAKE MICHIGAN CANAL.
The second canal project which the commission, under the act of
February 27, 1911, was authorized to investigate and report to Con-
gress upon, is the proposed canal from Lake Erie, by way of the
Maumee River and Fort Wayne, or other direct and feasible route,
to the southerly end of Lake Michigan.
In November, 1911, several members of the commission went over
the route of this canal from Toledo as far as Fort Wayne, at which
place hearings were held. The commission has also requested and
received from the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, a report
on this project prepared by Col. George A. Zinn, which contains
much valuable information. This is printed in National Waterways
Commission Document No. 21.
One purpose of this canal is to obviate the long detour around the
Michigan Peninsula, thus affording a more direct water route from
Chicago to New York. The present route would be shortened about
400 miles, the distance from Chicago to Buffalo via the Straits of
Mackinac being 892 miles and via the proposed canal 490 miles.
Various routes have been proposed for a canal between Lake Erie
and Lake Michigan. The most feasible one, from information now
available, would proceed from Toledo up the Maumee River as far
as Fort Wayne, and from this point to Lake Michigan by an artificial
waterway. The Maumee River has been examined by Col. Millis,
Corps of Engineers, and reported to be capable of improvement at a
reasonable cost. A number of routes from Fort Wayne to Lake
Michigan have been suggested, the respective merits of which the
commission is not authorized nor competent to pass upon.
selection of the best one is largely an engineering problem which can
only be determined after a more detailed survey than has yet been
made.
The
Two different types of canals have been urged before the commis-
sion, the first a ship canal with a depth of 24 feet, the second a barge
canal with a depth not exceeding 16 feet. The main arguments pre-
sented for the former type were that a ship canal would be necessary
in order to compete with the Georgian Bay Ship Canal, the con-
struction of which is contemplated by Canada, and, second, that it
would allow the ordinary lake steamer to pass through without
breaking bulk, thus reducing the cost of transportation.
In support of the barge canal it was urged that a considerable
proportion of the traffic of the canal in all probability would consist
of through freight between Chicago and New York, and that it would
not be necessary to have the dimensions of the proposed waterway
materially greater than those of the Erie Canal. Furthermore, a
type of barge of about 2,000 tons capacity has been especially designed
to pass through the proposed canal as well as the Erie Canal and at
the same time safely navigate the Lakes. It was stated to the com-
mission that vessels of much the same type are now being used on
the Great Lakes and the Welland Canal for the Montreal trade.
such barges prove successful, there would be no necessity of trans-
shipment en route.
If
After careful consideration of the merits of the two projects the
commission is of the opinion that the 24-foot canal should not be
considered. The cost of construction, together with the difficulty of
14 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
L
securing an adequate water supply, makes such a project impracticable.
Moreover, if it were constructed, the commission is of the opinion
that large lake steamers would choose the longer lake route by way
of the Straits of Mackinac in preference to the slow and tedious
passage through the proposed canal. The general conclusions of
the commission regarding the advisability of constructing canals for
deep-draft vessels are stated in its preliminary report. (See pp.
12-15.)
In view of the fact that the proposed barge canal is intended as a
connecting link in a water route between Chicago and New York,
in which the enlarged Erie Canal will also form a section, the com-
mission believes that there would be no material advantage in
making its dimensions larger than those of the Erie Canal, while the
extra depth would considerably increase the cost of construction.
For this reason the commission is of the opinion that 14 feet rather
than 16 feet is the more practical depth for this waterway.
The commission has considered especially the feasibility of the
proposed canal from the standpoint of prospective traffic. According
to the evidence presented, the main sources of business for the canal
would be (1) the through traffic between Chicago and New York,
Boston, and other North Atlantic seaports, in competition with the
trunk-line railway systems; (2) such traffic as it would divert from
the present lake route; (3) the local traffic of that section of Ohio
and Indiana through which the canal would pass.
Under the present conditions an enormous
enormous freight traffic is
annually transported by rail through northern Indiana. In 1910,
116,097,749 tons of freight were moved within the State of Indiana,
one-half of which crossed the western line of the State within 20
miles of Lake Michigan, and traversed the territory through which
the canal would pass. By providing a more direct water route
between Chicago and New York, the proposed canal would supple-
ment these rail lines in handling this heavy through traffic and thereby
afford relief in periods of congestion. It is expected by those inter-
ested in this project that the Chicago-New York traffic would form
the main business of the canal.
Grain is one of the commodities at present carried in large quan-
tities by rail, which is peculiarly adapted to water transportation.
In 1911, according to the report of the Chicago Board of Trade, the
railways running east from Chicago carried flour, 2,580,945 barrels;
wheat, 7,112,700 bushels; corn, 38,645,075 bushels; oats, 64,129,300
bushels; barley, 5,697,400 bushels, representing approximately
2,684,278 tons. In order to divert any of this traffic from the rail-
ways, the water route, of which the proposed canal would form a
link, must offer better facilities and cheaper transportation than
the present lake route, with which it would also compete.
The canal is expected to divert some portion of the traffic now
being carried on the Great Lakes. Because of its location, it would
not secure any of the large iron-ore traffic transported between the
Lake Superior and the Lake Erie ports, but it might obtain some
of the westbound coal destined for Chicago and points along the
canal route. It is thought that it would also divert some of the
grain traffic from Chicago to New York that is now handled by lake
vessels, since the season of navigation of the canal would be con-
siderably longer than that of the Straits of Mackinac and St. Marys
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
15
River, and canal barges of the type referred to could reach New York
without transshipment and at times when grain elevators along the
route were congested.
The third source of traffic for the canal would be the local business
furnished by the agricultural and industrial regions through which
it would pass. The Maumee Valley, both in Ohio and Indiana, is
one of the richest farming regions in the United States. The lack
of adequate transportation facilities and the delay in transit, even
in dull seasons when the railroads are not operating at their full
capacity, are alleged to be a serious hindrance to the marketing
of these farm products. A grain dealer at Fort Wayne stated to
the commission that he had kept a record of 45 carloads of oats
shipped to Buffalo in 1911. The average number of days consumed
in transit by these cars was 15, several taking more than a month.
It also appears from evidence presented to the commission that there
is a frequent shortage of elevator facilities for storing grain at Toledo
and other centers, the inconvenience of which could be avoided by
the through water route. The railroad rates on grain from Indiana
to eastern points are stated to be higher than the corresponding
rates from Chicago to the same points. This is due to the fact that
95 per cent of the grain traffic is shipped east from Chicago under
what are known as proportional rates. Grain brought to Chicago
under the stoppage-in-transit privilege may be stored in elevators
or milled and then be reshipped to destination under a through bill
of lading. In such cases the rate from Chicago eastward is considered
a part of the total charge from point of origin to point of destina-
tion and is much lower than the published rates. The above facts
indicate that considerable agricultural produce, especially grain,
might be expected to make use of the proposed canal if constructed.
There are also a number of rapidly growing manufacturing centers
along the probable route of the canal, which require cheap raw
materials and transportation rates which will enable them to reach
the markets with their finished products. Fort Wayne, on the
Maumee River, is the third manufacturing city of Indiana, and
second in point of growth. The value of her products in 1909 was
$23,687,000, an increase of 69 per cent over 1904. If the proposed
canal passed through Elkhart, South Bend, and the other important
manufacturing towns of northwestern Indiana, one of the various
routes suggested, they might also be expected to contribute consider-
able local traffic.
In view of the importance of this project in furnishing additional
means of transportation in a locality where it is much needed for
the benefit of through traffic, as well as for marketing farm products
and for taking care of the needs of the rapidly growing manufactur-
ing centers through which it would pass, the commission recom-
mends that a survey be made by the Corps of Engineers, United
States Army, to determine what is the most feasible route, the
probable cost of construction, and its traffic possibilities. In select-
ing the best route not only engineering difficulties should be con-
sidered but also the best location of the canal with reference to its
use both for local purposes and for through traffic. For carrying
out this survey, the commission recommends that a sum not to
exceed $15,000 be appropriated by Congress.
16 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Projects such as this, which constitute connecting links in impor-
tant routes, will possibly at some time, as the country develops,
become worthy of adoption by the Government. Whether the
time has yet arrived when the construction of the proposed canal
would result in benefits commensurate with the cost can only be
determined after further investigation, in which the survey recom-
mended would logically be the first step. A question that should
also receive careful consideration is whether the communities es-
pecially benefited by this project should not participate in the cost.
ANACOSTIA AND CHESAPEAKE CANAL.
By the act of February 27, 1911, the National Waterways Com-
mission was also authorized to investigate and report to Congress
upon the proposed canal to connect the Anacostia River at some
point near the District of Columbia boundary line with the Chesa-
peake Bay or some tributary thereof.
The original project, investigated in 1828, was to construct a
shallow-draft canal as a continuation of the Cheaspeake and Ohio
Canal, which was then contemplated. The purpose was to obtain a
water route from Baltimore to the Ohio and the West. Later
projects have had in view a ship canal to shorten the distance from
Washington to the Chesapeake Bay and Baltimore. The main
argument in support of such a canal at the present time appears to
be the substantial saving in distance which it would afford. The
distance from Washington to Chesapeake Bay by the Potomac River
is 110 miles, while by the most feasible canal route the distance would
be 34 miles. The distance from Washington to Baltimore by the
Potomac River and Chesapeake Bay is 210 miles, while by the pro-
posed canal route the distance would be 79 miles. If a sea level
ship canal were constructed, cuts of from 180 to 200 feet would be
necessary, depending upon the route selected. Such a canal would
be very costly, and only warranted if great traffic possibilities existed.
A lock canal of large dimensions is out of the question because of the
lack of an adequate water supply. The combined minimum dis-
charge of the Anacostia and Patuxent Rivers, the only available
sources of water supply, is reported by the engineer of this district
to be entirely inadequate. Further, there would be little time
saved in navigating such a canal in preference to the present round-
about route, since the speed at which a large boat could proceed
would not average more than 4 miles an hour, while on the open
river and bay it could average 10 or 12 miles.
Investigation has failed to disclose the sources of any considerable
traffic for the proposed canal. It would not form a link in any exist-
ing water route and could only obtain such traffic as passes between
Baltimore and Washington. None of the coal reaching Georgetown
by way of the Cheaspeake and Ohio Canal is destined for Baltimore.
Some coal comes from Baltimore to Washington by rail, but this is
also carried to Baltimore from the coal mines by rail. None of it
could be expected to use the proposed canal, especially since the
distance by rail between the two cities is 40 miles, as compared with
79 miles by the proposed water route. There also appears to be
little or no prospective local traffic along the route of the canal in
Maryland.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
17
The present boat lines operating between Washington and Balti-
more would not use the canal, inasmuch as they depend for their
business to a large extent upon the passenger and freight traffic to
intermediate points along the present route.
What changes may come in the channels of trade in the future can
not be accurately foreseen. It is conceivable that the development
of more extensive lines of water transportation might make this
project a connecting link of considerable importance; but in view
of present conditions the commission can not recommend its adoption
by the Government at this time.
II.
DESIRABLE LEGISLATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF WATER TRANS-
PORTATION AND FOR ESTABLISHING GREATER COOPERATION
BETWEEN RAILWAYS AND WATERWAYS.
The commission in its preliminary report called attention to the
fact that the decline of water transportation in the United States was
due largely to the competition of railways, and pointed out that rail-
ways had certain natural advantages which caused them to be pre-
ferred by shippers as a means of transportation. Some of these
advantages are the greater accessibility to all points, the readier
exchange of traffic from one road to another on through rates and
through bills of lading, which has been possible since the adoption
of a standard gauge for all the railroads of the United States, the
superior terminal facilities, and in most instances the greater speed
and reliability of service.
It was also pointed out in the preliminary report of the commission
that the railways had secured a further advantage by rate cutting
and other discriminatory practices which were not prohibited by law.
Since the filing of this report with Congress this latter advantage has
been to some extent removed by the amendments to the interstate
commerce act made by the Mann-Elkins law of 1910. Section 4 of
the act of 1887 has been strengthened so that railways can not charge
less for a longer than for a shorter haul, except with the consent of
the Interstate Commerce Commission, althought the extent of the
commission's power in this respect is still somewhat uncertain, owing
to the reversal of its decision in the Intermountain Rate cases by the
Commerce Court. A provision has also been added, following the sug-
gestion of the National Waterways Commission, which prohibits
railways that have lowered their rates in competition with waterways
from raising them again, unless after hearing by the Interstate
Commerce Commission it is shown that the proposed increase rests
upon changed conditions other than the elimination of water trans-
portation. This new legislation will, it is hoped, give greater confi-
dence to capital in investing in the business of water transportation.
But, as pointed out in the preliminary report, the rehabilitation of
water-borne traffic will not be complete unless there is greater coop-
eration between railways and waterways so that they will exchange
traffic, just as the railways now do with one another on joint rates
and through bills of lading. Unless this exchange of traffic can be
accomplished the business of the waterways must necessarily be
confined to their banks. After careful consideration the commission
36135-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-2
18 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
believes that the best means of establishing greater cooperation
between the two agencies of transportation is to increase the power
of the Interstate Commerce Commission over water carriers.
Power of commission over water carriers.-When the act to regulate
interstate commerce was passed in 1887, boat lines were intentionally
exempted from the scope of the law, because it was thought that if
they were free from any governmental restraint they would be better
able to compete with railways and would be more effective as regu-
lators of railway rates.
The only power the Interstate Commerce Commission has over
water lines is derived in the first instance from section 1 of the
amended act of 1887:
* *
The provisions of this act shall apply *
to any common carrier or carriers
engaged in the transportation of passengers or property wholly by railroad (or partly
by railroad and partly by water when both are used under a common control, manage-
ment, or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment), etc.
This clause has been interpreted to mean that where a boat line,
whether owned and operated as a part of a railway system or oper-
ated independently, voluntarily enters into prorating arrangements
with a railroad the joint tariffs are subject to the control of the Inter-
state Commerce Commission. If a boat line, no matter how owned
or controlled, does not make any joint rates with a railroad, it would
not come within the jurisdiction of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission. This is clearly set forth by section 15, which, as amended
in 1910, contains the supplementary provision:
Nor shall the commission have the right to establish any route, classification, rate,
fare, or charge when the transportation is wholly by water.
The extent of the power of the Interstate Commerce Commission
over water carriers which prorate with the railroads depends upon
whether by prorating they become common carriers within the mean-
ing of the law and subject to all its provisions, or whether they are
only subject to the law in respect to that portion of their business.
which is carried on joint rates with a railway. This question has not
yet been adjudicated. The Supreme Court in the Goodrich Transit
and White Star Line cases has just decided that the commission has
power to require reports and prescribe methods of bookkeeping.
The Interstate Commerce Commission has no general power to
compel prorating arrangements between boat lines and railroads.
The fifteenth section of the interstate commerce act, as amended in
1910, invests the commission with the power to establish through
routes and joint maximum rates between carriers subject to its con-
trol whenever the carriers refuse or neglect to establish such facilities
voluntarily. This clause further states that this provision shall
apply when one of the connecting carriers is a water line. Hence it
appears that the Interstate Commerce Commission can, if it chooses,
establish through routes and compel joint rates between boat lines
and railroads if the boat line has placed itself under its jurisdiction,
but not otherwise. Furthermore, the commission has no power to
compel railroads to make physical connection with boat lines, even
where such connection is possible and desirable for the formation of
a through route.
Need of further legislation.-There is great need of increasing the
power of the Interstate Commerce Commission over joint rates and
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
19
through routes between rail and water lines, so that it may form such
routes and compel such joint rates wherever, in its opinion, it is for
the public interest. The commission should also be given power to
compel physical connection between railways and waterways wher-
ever possible and necessary for the formation of through routes.
Unless this power is granted, the cost and inconvenience of transferring
freight by truck from one terminal to the other will offer a serious
obstacle to the development of exchange traffic. It is also desirable
that the commission should have power to compel railways to charge
less than the local rates to all lake, river, and sea ports on through
traffic to be exchanged with boat lines engaged in domestic trade,
unless prorating arrangements already exist. Such reduced rates are
now voluntarily granted in some cases, especially along the Great Lakes.
Where reductions are not granted, the high local rate charged by a
railroad on transfer traffic so largely offsets the lower water rate that
there is no advantage in shipping by the combination rail and water
route.
The commission believes that the protection afforded the water-
ways by section 4 of the act to regulate interstate commerce as
amended in 1910 is not sufficient for the preservation and the growth
of water transportation. The lack of adequate regulations makes it
possible for the railways to effectually control or to crush out water
competition through their ownership and control of boat lines. It is a
well-known fact that the trunk-line railways, through their control over
terminals at Buffalo and their ownership of steamship companies on
the Great Lakes, have been able to dominate the lake and rail package-
freight business between New York and Chicago and also to a con-
siderable extent the grain traffic. On the business thus controlled the
water rates have risen, while on the coal, iron, and grain traffic not
controlled by the railways the water rates have steadily declined.
In like manner the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad
practically dominates water transportation on Long Island Sound by
reason of its ownership of the New England Navigation Co. Inde-
pendent companies have been unable to compete successfully, owing
to the advantage which their railway-owned competitor enjoys. The
steamship companies plying between the North Atlantic and South-
ern ports in the coastwise trade are likewise working in harmony with
the connecting and competing railways by which they are owned or
controlled, so that little, if any, active competition exists. Also on
some rivers the railways have acquired control of packet lines.
While this rapidly increasing control of railways over water lines
tends to bring about that harmony and cooperation between them
which is necessary for the development of transfer traffic, it also has
possibilities of harmful results which require regulation. Where the
railways grant prorating arrangements to boat lines which they own
or control, while denying the same privilege to competing independent
lines, the latter are practically precluded from securing any transfer
traffic, while on the local or port-to-port business they must meet
the competition of the railway-owned boat lines, which are at liberty
on this business to cut rates to any extent they choose. Under such
conditions it is very difficult for independent lines to succeed, and the
cases are numerous where they have been forced to retire from the
field.
20 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
This situation calls for additional legislation not only to prevent
the elimination of water competition by this means but also to pro-
tect the public against the raising of water rates which railway con-
trol over boat lines makes possible. Legislation to this end is as
necessary for the preservation of water transportation as is the pro-
hibition of rate cutting and other discriminatory practices, but it
should not be of a character to discourage legitimate investment in
the business of water transportation, even by railway companies. If
the activities of boat lines are properly regulated in the interest of
the public, the question of ownership or control will become of minor
importance.
Recommendations. The commission believes that the simplest and
most effective means of securing these desired regulations is to give
the Interstate Commerce Commission greater control over water
lines, and accordingly recommends that every water carrier engaged
in interstate commerce which is owned or controlled by a railroad, or
in which a railroad is in any way interested, and also every inde-
pendent water carrier which operates over a specified route with
regular schedules, be placed under the control of the Interstate Com-
merce Commission and be made subject to the same rules and regu-
lations now imposed upon railway corporations in so far as they are
applicable. The commission should, however, be given broad dis-
cretionary power in enforcing the requirements of the law, particu-
larly those relating to the filing and changing of rates, so that no
unnecessary burdens will be imposed upon water transportation.
The commission also recommends that the Interstate Commerce
Commission be empowered to establish physical connection between
the terminals of railways and boat lines where possible and desirable,
and also to compel the charging of lower than the regular rates to
river, lake, or sea ports when the traffic is to be exchanged with
water carriers.
If water lines were made common carriers within the meaning of
the law, the Interstate Commerce Commission would have power,
under the present statutes, to establish through routes between rail
and water lines and to require joint rates and through bills of lading.
It would also have power to regulate the charges of water carriers
and to require annual reports and other information by which to
judge of the reasonableness of their charges.
III.
THE CONTROL OF WATER TERMINALS.
Undoubtedly the most essential requirement for the preservation
and advancement of water transportation is the establishment of
adequate terminals properly controlled. Under present conditions
the advantage of cheaper transportation which the waterways
afford is largely nullified by the lack of such terminals.
According to the report of the Commissioner of Corporations on
water terminals, private interests control nearly all the available
water front in this country, not only at the various seaports but also
along the Great Lakes and the principal rivers. Only two ports in
the United States, New Orleans and San Francisco, have established
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
21
a public control of terminals at all comparable with the municipal
supervision existing at most European ports.
The above-mentioned report on water terminals also shows that a
large proportion of the most available water frontage is owned or
controlled by railway corporations. Through this ownership or
control they practically dominate the terminal situation at most of
our ports, and they have generally exercised their control in a manner
adverse to water traffic. In many cases they hold large tracts of
undeveloped frontage which they refuse to sell or lease, and which
are needed for the construction of public docks. This railway control
of terminals is one of the most serious obstacles to the development
of water transportation, for the control of the terminal means prac-
tically the control of the route. An independent boat line has small
chance of success where it is denied the use of docks and terminal
facilities or is required to pay unreasonable charges for their use.
The high terminal charges at many of our ports make it impossible
for small boat lines to enter at all.
The commission believes that the proper solution of this terminal
question is most vital to the future of water transportation. It is,
however, more a local or State than a Federal problem. As pointed
out in the preliminary report of the commission, there should be a
proper division between the functions of the Federal Government
and local communities in the improvement of waterways. The
Federal Government should improve channels, while the municipali-
ties should cooperate to the extent of providing adequate docks and
terminals. It is absolutely essential for the growth of water trans-
portation that every port, whether located on the seacoast or on
some inland waterway, should have adequate public terminals, at
which all boat lines can find accommodations at reasonable rates.
Inasmuch as the indifference of communities to their responsibilities
in this matter largely nullifies the benefits of expenditures by the
Federal Government for channel improvements, the commission
emphasizes the recommendation made in its preliminary report that
further improvements in rivers and harbors be not made unless suffi-
cient assurance is given that proper wharves, terminals, and other
necessary adjuncts to navigation shall be furnished by municipal or
private enterprise, and that the charges for their use shall be reason-
able. It can not be too strongly urged that in many cases it is not
the condition of channels so much as it is the lack of terminals that
is retarding the development of water transportation.
Where water frontage necessary for the establishment of public
terminals is held undeveloped by railway or other private interests,
a special act of the legislature should be passed, empowering State or
municipal officials to condemn such property for public use. This
plan has already been followed in a few cases and should be more
widely adopted. The proposal has sometimes been made that the
Federal Government should condemn private property and establish
public terminals along the rivers and in the harbors which it is
improving in order that the benefits of such expenditures may not
be nullified. The commission, however, would not recommend the
adoption of such a policy unless it shall be found after a fair trial
that the States and localities can not adequately solve the problem.
22
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
IV.
THE PRACTICABILITY OF STORAGE RESERVOIRS FOR FLOOD PRE-
VENTION AND FOR AIDING NAVIGATION.
By section 4 of the act of February 27, 1911, the National Water-
ways Commission was authorized to investigate and report to Con-
gress upon the feasibility and advisability of impounding flood waters
of rivers by storage reservoirs. Especial attention was directed to
this subject by the introduction of bills in Congress relating to the
flood situation at Pittsburgh.
Reservoirs have been employed at different times for storing a
water supply for irrigation, for the improvement of navigation, for
the development of water power, and to some extent for flood pre-
vention. They generally combine several of these uses, but may be
constructed primarily for a single purpose. In this report the com-
mission confines itself to a discussion of the last three uses named
with special emphasis upon navigation,
use.
In recent years the construction of reservoirs for different purposes
has been quite common in Europe. The largest system of artificial
reservoirs is found in Russia at the headwaters of the Volga and
Msta Rivers. It has been successfully used for aiding navigation
and preventing floods. A larger number of reservoirs have been or
are being constructed in Germany than in any other European coun-
try. The principal ones are situated on the tributaries of the Oder,
Weser, and Rhine, and those completed are being operated with good
results for aiding navigation, flood control, and power development.
Thus far in the United States no reservoir system, intended to be
operated for several purposes, has been adopted, although a con-
siderable number of reservoirs have been constructed for a particular
In only one instance has the Federal Government constructed
a system of reservoirs for aiding navigation. This system is located
at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The original project
contemplated a system of 41 reservoirs, but thus far only 5 have
been completed and put in operation, although a sixth one is now
under construction. The reports of engineers in charge and of others
who have studied the effects of these five reservoirs indicate that
they have been successfully employed in aiding navigation, although
they are of limited capacity and only control the run-off from about
11 per cent of the drainage area above St. Paul. They have increased
the stage of the Mississippi River at St. Paul during dry seasons
by an average maximum of 18 inches. During the unprecedented
dry weather of 1910, when the rainfall in many sections of Minne-
sota was less than half the normal, these reservoirs supplied more
than 2 feet of water at St. Paul, which in the month of August was
70.3 per cent of the total flow of the river.¹ During the summer of
1911 they were equally effective. The direct annual value of this
reservoir system to present and prospective power enterprises has been
estimated at $500,000, the cost of the system to June 30, 1910, being only
$1,545,943. These reservoirs, as shown by the reports, exercise little,
if any, effect upon floods, inasmuch as their capacity is very limited
and they are operated primarily for aiding navigation. In fact,
2
1 See Appendix III, p. 175.
2 Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1910, Part I, p. 632.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
23
charges have been made that they were responsible for floods, but
upon examination such charges are found to be without proof.
In operating reservoirs for the purpose of navigation, the plan is
to fill them during the wet season and to retain the water thus stored
until needed to reenforce the flow of the river during the summer
months. In the case of the Mississippi River reservoirs, the water
is not released until the stage of the river at St. Paul is reduced nearly
to 3 feet, due allowance being made for the fact that approximately
a month is required for the water released from the reservoirs to
reach St. Paul.
In a few cases reservoirs have been constructed primarily for power
development by private capital. Some of these are intended to
store water during the night so that a constant flow can be main-
tained during the day, while others have been constructed to regu-
late the seasonal flow of streams. Perhaps the best example of the
former is found on the Blackstone River, in Massachusetts and Rhode
Island. By the use of dams this stream above the power plants has
been turned into a series of pools, which fill during the night and are
drawn down during the day. The best example of the use of reser-
voirs to regulate the seasonal flow of streams for power purposes is
found at the head of the Androscoggin River, in Maine. The Range-
ley Lakes have been dammed and an enormous artificial reservoir as
large as any of the lakes is also being constructed by private capital,
the purpose of which is to maintain a constant flow over the power
turbines throughout the year. Coeur d'Alene Lake, at the head of
Spokane River, in Idaho, is also being utilized in the same manner.
Where reservoirs are built and operated primarily for power pur-
poses they are usually of too small capacity to be of much use for
navigation or flood prevention, although they may afford incidental
benefits of this kind.
In recent years the utilization of storage reservoirs to prevent floods
has been strongly advocated in this country and their benefits for
certain streams carefully studied, but as yet none has been con-
constructed primarily for this purpose. In some cases, however
reservoirs intended for other purposes have incidentally been operated
so as to aid in preventing floods. This has been especially true of
the reservoir built for irrigation purposes at the headwaters of Salt
River in Arizona.
A reservoir system intended for flood prevention should be more
extensive than where intended primarily to benefit navigation or the
development of water power. This is due to the fact that floods
are caused by the combination of many factors and these combina-
tions are never twice alike. A stream may exercise an important
influence on the flood peak at one time and have little or no appreci-
able influence at another. For example, in the Ohio River flood of
March 22, 1905, the upper Allegheny and its tributaries, the Clarion
and French Creek were the principal contributors, while in the flood
of March, 1907, they had little effect on the flood peak. The influence
of a stream in a particular instance is not known until the flood is
over. It depends upon the amount of precipitation in its water-
shed and upon various other factors which affect the time when its
flood waters are emptied into the main stream. This makes it neces-
sary to control a considerable proportion of the run-off on almost
every important stream in a river basin in order to be sure of adequate
protection.
24 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
It is perfectly possible to operate a reservoir system if its capacity
is sufficient so as to benefit navigation, develop power, and prevent
floods. But in such a case its utility for any one of these purposes
is necessarily diminished. To obtain the maximum effectiveness
for flood prevention, the reservoirs should be lowered as soon as
possible after a heavy rain sufficiently to afford storage capacity to
catch the water from the next storm. This means less power devel-
opment and less benefit to navigation. It is quite possible that reser-
voirs operated solely for flood prevention would be found practically
empty during the summer months when the water which had been re-
leased earlier was needed for increasing the flow of streams. If reser-
voirs are operated primarily for navigation they are filled during the
rainy season, and the water is held until needed during the summer
months. If, after they are filled, a heavy rain should come, they
would not be in a position to catch and hold any of it, and, therefore,
could exercise no influence upon the flood level.
A plan for avoiding this difficulty has been suggested by Mr. M. O.
Leighton, of the Geological Survey. A reservoir system intended for
flood prevention and also for aiding navigation should have a twofold
capacity: It should have permanent storage in order to keep the
summer flow as uniform as possible, and, in addition, it should have
an excess capacity equivalent to the maximum flood run-off in order
to take care of the largest floods. Such a plan has been advocated
by the water supply commission of New York State in the case of a
proposed reservoir on the Genesee River. The proposed dam would
be 152 feet in height. The first 32 feet of water would be held perma-
nently or for very infrequent use. The next 45 feet of water would be
held in storage until needed to compensate low-water conditions in
dry seasons. The next 55 feet would be used for new power develop-
ment and to increase the capacity of the power plants already estab-
lished along the river. Of the remaining 20 feet of reservoir capacity
15 feet would be used for flood catchment, and 5 feet would be held in
reserve for extreme floods. The water caught in flood periods would
be released as soon as the condition of the river below permitted, to
the point of permanent storage, leaving the reservoir ready for the
next flood, while the water stored for navigation purposes would be
held until the summer months.
A reservoir system, in order to be utilized simultaneously for flood
prevention, aiding navigation, and power development, must be con-
trolled or operated by some public authority.
There is practically a unanimity of opinion that reservoirs can
accomplish the purpose for which they are intended, providing that
they have sufficient capacity. The main criticism has always been
that the cost of constructing such a system would be prohibitive.
This criticism, however, becomes less applicable as the country
develops and greater benefits can be obtained from the proper
improvement and control of streams.
Thus far the improvement of rivers in this country, except in the
arid regions, has been almost solely for the purpose of navigation.
The other purposes have been almost entirely disregarded. The
position of the Corps of Engineers who have supervision over river
improvements has been that an increased depth of a stream for navi-
gation could be secured much more cheaply by the use of dams,
1 See Appendix II, p. 136.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 25
diverting walls, and other devices than by constructing reservoirs at
headwaters, and in this view the engineers have in general been right,
particularly when it is recalled that the existing or prospective com-
merce on few of our streams has justified extensive expenditures for
this purpose, and only on a comparatively few streams do suitable
reservoir sites exist. When, however, the improvement of a stream
is considered from the standpoint of all its beneficial uses, as well as
the prevention of damage by floods, the policy of constructing reser-
voirs may become, in particular cases, more feasible. The combined
benefits from flood prevention, from additional power development,
and from a more uniform flow of the stream may warrant the adoption
of a system of reservoirs which, if intended for any one of these pur-
poses alone, would not be practicable.
The commission has given special consideration to the feasibility of
constructing reservoirs on the tributaries of the Ohio River. From
the information obtained it appears that such a plan has greater pros-
pects of success here than in any other part of the United States.
The damages caused by frequent floods in the Ohio Valley are enor-
mous. In the second place, investigations show that a large number
of unusually good reservoir sites exist on the principal tributaries.
Thirdly, the Ohio and Monongahela Rivers have a larger traffic than
any other rivers in the United States and the Government is now
spending more than $60,000,000 to secure a 9-foot navigation from
Pittsburgh to Cairo. It is quite possible that when the commerce of
the Ohio becomes greater there may not be water enough during dry
seasons to properly operate the locks which are being constructed.
Such has already been the case on the Monongahela, where it has
sometimes been found necessary to empty the upper pools in order to
obtain sufficient water to make the lockages in the lower pools.
Fourthly, the great industrial region around Pittsburgh would doubt-
less offer a profitable market for water power that might be generated
in connection with the establishment of a reservoir system. Finally,
because of extensive investigations, more is known about the reservoir
possibilities of this river basin than of any other.
The plan of impounding reservoirs on the tributaries of the Ohio
to prevent floods and improve navigation was pointed out by Mr.
M. O. Leighton, in his report to the Inland Waterways Commission
in 1908. Since that time the subject has been thoroughly investi-
gated by the Pittsburgh Flood Commission, which will soon publish
an exhaustive report. This commission, composed of prominent engi-
neers, examined in detail 43 reservoir sites on the Allegheny, Monon-
gahela, and their tributaries, with special reference to the prevention
of damage from floods at Pittsburgh. They recommend the adop-
tion of a system composed of 17 reservoirs, costing $21,672,000.
The detailed estimates of their plan are shown by the following
table:
Mononga-
Allegheny.
Combined.
hela.
Drainage area controlled:
Square miles.
-
Per cent of total drainage area.
Total capacity, million cubic feet...
Total cost of dams and appurtenances.
Total cost of land submerged 1
Total cost, including damages.
8,023
69.2
42, 178.5
$8,077, 863
$848, 579
$16,851, 800
2,159
29.5
17,302.9
$3, 101, 131
$238,470
$4,820, 300
1 28,289 acres at an average price of $38 per acre.
10, 182
53.8
59, 481. 4
$11, 178, 994
$1,087, 049
$21, 672, 100
26 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
With the construction of a wall along the low-lying portions of the
river bank at Pittsburgh, the flood commission believes that this
system would be sufficient to protect the city against all but the
most severe floods. A larger system of 28 reservoirs, costing about
$28,000,000, and a still larger one of 43 reservoirs, costing $34,000,000,
have been outlined and suggested as alternatives.
The extent to which this system of reservoirs will benefit the navi-
gation of the Monongahela, Allegheny, and Ohio Rivers depends
upon the amount of water that can safely be retained in the reser-
voirs until needed for low-water assistance. The flood commission
estimates that the equivalent of 50 per cent of the storage capacity
of each reservoir could be retained for this purpose without impairing
its efficiency for flood prevention. Col. Newcomer, of the Corps of
Engineers, United States Army, after an examination of the report
of the Pittsburgh Flood Commission, is of the opinion that the capacity
of the system of 17 reservoirs which they recommend is not sufficient
to prevent floods and at the same time afford much benefit to navi-
gation. The difficulty of reaching a final conclusion on this point
is due to the lack of complete and accurate statistics of rainfall and
river discharge. The findings of the flood commission are, for this
reason, based upon assumptions the accuracy of which it is difficult
to determine. Mr. Leighton, however, suggests a plan of operating
the reservoirs, by which the system of 17 could be effectively utilized
both for flood prevention and for aiding navigation. His plan is
that the reservoirs should be operated primarily for flood prevention
from about November 1 to April 1, and entirely for aiding naviga-
tion from about April 1 to November 1. A study of past floods shows
that 80 per cent occur between November 1 and April 1, and only
20 per cent in months from April to November. Furthermore, those
occurring during the latter period are not as severe or as damaging.
Therefore, Pittsburgh could well afford to remain subject to the occa-
sional summer floods in view of the practically complete relief from
the violent ones of winter and spring. After the 17 reservoirs have
been constructed and operated for a sufficient length of time to
demonstrate their effectiveness, additional reservoirs could be built
if found necessary.
The communities interested in this project propose to raise the larger
portion of the money required to carry it out by bond issues, and ask
that the Federal Government, because of the benefit which will result
to navigation, should cooperate with them by bearing a share of the
expense, and by authorizing the Corps of Engineers to construct and
operate this system of reservoirs. They assert that prompt action
is necessary, or the most desirable reservoir sites which they have
selected will be appropriated by private parties for the development
of water power.
After careful consideration of the problem of utilizing storage reser-
voirs for flood prevention, the commission has arrived at the following
conclusions:
1. As the country develops the necessity for controlling floods be-
comes of greater importance, both in respect to improved property in
thickly populated districts and to valuable unimproved lands which
are needed for agricultural or manufacturing purposes. Losses from
floods are not confined alone to the destruction or damage of property,
but also result from the inability to utilize large areas threatened
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 27
by floods.
In the case of many streams the adoption of some means
of flood prevention has already become most urgent, because of the
constantly increasing losses due to floods.
2. The use of storage reservoirs as a means of controlling floods,
although expensive, becomes more practicable where the value of
property liable to damage is great and where the reservoirs can be
used simultaneously for other beneficial purposes, such as power de-
velopment and aiding navigation. The question of feasibility of
storage reservoirs depends upon the relation between the cost of con-
struction and the benefits to be derived in each particular case, and
the benefits increase rapidly as the country develops. The time has
already come, especially in the more thickly settled river valleys,
when a stream must be considered with a view both to minimizing its
harmful influences and to securing the maximum benefit from all
its uses.
3. The lack of adequate information makes it impossible for the
commission to specify on what streams the construction of reservoirs
would result in benefits commensurate with the cost. In most cases
little is known concerning stream flow and the physical conditions
causing floods, or whether there exist reservoir sites suitable to afford
the necessary relief. The extent of damages caused by floods on differ-
ent streams has not, as a rule, been accurately determined, nor have
investigations been made to ascertain the relation of the cost to the
benefits that would be derived from the construction of reservoir
systems. The commission is of the opinion that each case must be
considered on its merits, after a thorough investigation of all the facts,
and strongly urges the necessity of careful studies such as the one
recently made by the Pittsburgh Flood Commission.
4. The Federal Government has_no_constitutional authority to
engage in works intended primarily for flood prevention or power de-
velopment. Its activities are limited to the control and promotion
of navigation and works incident thereto. The commission is of the
opinion that flood prevention is primarily a local problem, and the
work of controlling floods should in the first instance be undertaken
by the minor political subdivisions, but that the Federal Government
may very properly participate with the localities in carrying out such
works on navigable streams, where a substantial and necessary im-
provement to navigation will result. Unless some such policy as this
is adopted and adhered to, there is grave danger that the Federal
Government may go outside its proper jurisdiction and become in-
volved in enormous expenditures which are for local benefit. It has
sometimes been urged that the Federal Government should undertake
works for flood prevention on nonnavigable streams which happen to
cross a State boundary line. It is clear that in such a case, if naviga-
tion is not concerned, the Federal Government should have nothing
to do with flood prevention. A method is provided in the Constitu-
tion by which the States may cooperate for this purpose.
5. The extent to which the Federal Government should participate
in the expense of constructing a reservoir system at the headwaters
of a navigable stream should be determined in each particular case
by an investigation of Government experts possessing the necessary
training and facilities for undertaking a study of this nature. If such
investigation shows that the promotion of navigation will require the
reenforcement of the flow of a stream during the dry season through
28 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
the aid of storage reservoirs and shows the number and cost of reser-
voirs necessary for this purpose, the Federal Government will have a
satisfactory basis for sharing in the expense of constructing a larger
system intended also for preventing floods. In this connection it
should also be noted that the prevention of floods will indirectly benefit
navigation, but this alone is not sufficient reason for the participation
of the Federal Government in reservoir projects.
6. The commission believes, for reasons given on pages 25 and 26, that
the Federal Government is justified in investigating the proposition
to construct a system of reservoirs on the Allegheny, Monongahela,
and their tributaries, such as that recommended by the Pittsburgh
Flood Commission after its extended study of means for securing pro-
tection against further damage from floods, with a view to determin-
ing whether the Federal Government should cooperate with the local-
ities in its construction. The commission accordingly recommends,
following the plan suggested in the preceding paragraph, that a pre-
liminary investigation be made to determine whether such reservoirs
are needed to supply sufficient water during dry seasons to operate
the present and proposed systems of locks and dams in the Alle-
gheny, Monongahela, and Ohio Rivers, and to what extent the Fed-
eral Government, on the basis of their benefit to navigation, is justi-
fied in participating in the expense of their construction. In order to
ascertain these facts the commission recommends that a joint board
of engineers, one to be appointed from the Corps of Engineers, United
States Army, and one from the Geological Survey, be created by Con-
gress to investigate this question and to report to Congress not later
than the beginning of the next session, and that the sum of $5,000 be
appropriated to defray the expenses of this board.
V.
THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTATION UPON NAVIGATION AND FLOOD
PREVENTION.
The commission has given special consideration to the influence of
forests upon the navigability of streams. The benefits attributed
to forests are greater regularity of stream flow, the prevention or
amelioration of floods, and the prevention of erosion, and the conse-
quent silting up of navigable channels.
In recent years this subject has been widely discussed and many
conflicting opinions expressed. Members of the Corps of Engineers,
United States Army, and metereologists, as a rule, are inclined to
minimize the influence of forests, while geologists, foresters, and
others are inclined to emphasize it, and civilian engineers are about
equally divided. There is a prevalent impression that deforestation
is alike responsible for droughts on the one hand and floods on the
other. The prevailing difference of opinion on certain phases of this
question is due primarily to the lack of accurate information, which
makes it extremely difficult to reach any final conclusions. Hence one
purpose of this report is to clarify, if possible, the discussion, and to
encourage further investigation. Certain conclusions and recom-
mendations are also presented as to the most salutary policy to be
pursued in the future. An exhaustive report on Forests and Water
in the Light of Scientific Investigation has been prepared for the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
29
commission by Mr. Raphael Zon, chief of silvics, Forest Service,
which brings together the results of investigations in this country
and abroad, and contributes a large amount of valuable information
not hitherto available. This is attached as Appendix V.
Effect of forests upon stream flow.-Forests are said to cause a
greater uniformity of stream flow by reducing the amount of water
that reaches the streams in wet weather and increasing it during dry
periods. It is generally admitted that forests exert an influence of
this kind, but to ascertain its extent is a very difficult task. At-
tempts to arrive at some conclusion inductively by a comparison of
river gauge records with the changes in the forested area of the river
basin, making due allowance for the amount of precipitation, have
not as yet produced any definite results. Two investigations of late
which are worthy of mention have failed to discover any appreciable
connection between stream flow and forestation. Prof. D. W. Mead,
of the University of Wisconsin, has recently made a careful study of
the rivers of that State and finds no changes in their flow which are
not due to precipitation.¹ Deforestation in these river basins reached
its maximum during the period 1882-1892, and since the latter date
has declined considerably, but the river discharge records show no
corresponding change. The second investigation was made by Lieut.
Col. Edward Burr, of the Corps of Engineers, for the Merrimac River,
in the States of Massachusetts and New Hampshire. In this case
conditions were particularly favorable for an investigation because
of the existence of accurate daily gauge readings since 1849, and also
records of precipitation since 1858. The Merrimac River basin was
extensively deforested from the time of the early settlements until
the period 1860-1880. Since this period approximately 750,000 acres
of abandoned farm lands have reverted to timber, resulting in an
increase of more than 25 per cent in the forested area. Col. Burr,
after a careful study of the records, finds no variations in stream
flow which correspond at all to the period of deforestation, and later
of reforestation. It would manifestly be incorrect, however, to main-
tain that these two investigations settle the question, particularly
since in both cases there are natural reservoirs at the headwaters of
the streams studied, which exert a potent influence upon the uni-
formity of their flow.
2
Two other inductive studies of scientific value were made in 1907
by Mr. Leighton, of the Geological Survey, and Messrs. Hall and
Maxwell, of the United States Forest Service, the purpose of which
was to show that a number of the streams in the eastern part of
the United States, such as the Ohio, Tennessee, and Connecticut,
were becoming more irregular in their flow.3 This increasing irregu-
larity was attributed in both studies mainly to the deforestation of
the river basins of these streams, but no data showing the amount of
deforestation were presented in support of this conclusion, and it
must therefore be accepted simply as the opinion of the writers.
It is probable that a number of other influences which naturally
accompany an increase of population, such as encroachments along
the shores, the building of roads, and the increased cultivation of
farm lands in these river basins, have also been important factors.
1 The flow of streams and the factors that modify it, with special reference to Wisconsin conditions.
(Bulletin of the University of Wisconsin, No. 425.)
2 House Document No. 9, 62d Cong., 1st sess.
3 Report of National Conservation Commission, vol. 2, pp. 85-125.
30 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In general, studies of an inductive nature are impossible because
of the lack of accurate records of river discharge, precipitation, and
the area of a watershed under forest cover at different periods.
Furthermore, on a river basin of considerable size there are so many
conflicting influences affecting stream flow that the influence of
forests must be marked in order to be detected. Experiments are
now being carried out on two streams in Switzerland, under the direc-
tion of the Hydrographic Institute of that country, and also by our
Forest Service, in conjunction with the Weather Bureau, on two streams
at Wagon Wheel Gap, Colo., to discover by a study of river records
the effect of forests upon stream flow. In these cases streams of very
small drainage area have been selected in order to avoid the difficul-
ties which would be encountered on large river basins. The two
streams under investigation in Switzerland have a watershed of 140
and 175 acres, respectively. They are similar in topography, geo-
graphical formation, soil, and latitude, but one is 90 per cent wooded
and the other only 30 per cent. The plan of the experiments con-
ducted by the Forest Service in Colorado is to collect precipitation
and stream-flow records for a number of years for both streams as a
basis of comparison, and then to deforest one of the tracts and note
the results. This will require a considerable number of years before
final results can be obtained.
Some experiments are also being conducted on the tributaries of
the Pemigewasset in New Hampshire by the Geological Survey to
discover what changes in the flow of these streams has resulted from
deforestation and forest fires. In order to save time the plan is to
compare the rate and volume of flow in the streams draining defor-
ested and burned-over areas with those having forested watersheds.
Eight different streams with basins presenting almost every con-
ceivable condition from a virgin forest to complete denudation are
being compared and the effect upon run-off and stream flow of each
storm noted rather than the average effect over a long period of
time. In this respect this investigation is a novel one, and its results
will be awaited with much interest. Care has been exercised to
obtain complete precipitation and snow records, and in the final
results allowance is made for these, as well as for the difference in
the slope and other factors that enter into the question.
A popular method of showing the influence of forests upon stream
flow, which although inductive can not be considered scientific, is to
compare the flow of two streams, one with a wooded and another
with a deforested watershed, or to cite cases where springs have
dried up after forests have been cut off, without any reference to the
amount of precipitation in each case. A large number of examples
of this kind were collected by the National Conservation Commis-
sion. Such illustrations, however, should not be regarded as con-
clusive evidence of the harmful effect of deforestation. They are of
little scientific value unless records of precipitation are also given to
make certain that the drying up was not due primarily to this cause.
Such illustrations would also be more valuable if they were accom-
panied by definite information as to the extent and manner of defor-
estation, whether the land was entirely cleared or left covered with
underbrush, or whether it had been burned over or broken up
agricultural purposes. There are examples of equal value where the
flow of streams has improved as the result of deforestation and where
for
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
31
streams whose sources are in densely forested regions are much more
violent than those which come from sparsely wooded or barren
slopes.¹
The proof of the influence of forestation upon stream flow has more
often been sought by analyzing separately its influence upon each
one of the different factors affecting stream flow. This so-called
physical method lends itself more readily to experimentation and
has thus far given more substantial results than any other, although
many of the conclusions are open to criticism. For many years
experiments of this sort have been carried on, especially in Europe,
the results of which indicate that theoretically at least forests do
exert considerable influence upon the different factors, particularly
precipitation and run-off, which combine to affect stream flow. The
main difficulty with this method, however, is that, while the effect of
forests upon a single factor may be clearly established, when all the
conflicting influences which enter into the situation are combined, as
in nature, the resultant effect is never certain.
The results of these investigations, which are well presented by Mr.
Zon in his report, will now be considered, and their value toward the
final solution of this question discussed.²
Effect of forests on precipitation.-Forests are said to affect stream
flow beneficially by increasing precipitation, and thus causing more
water to be available for a stream. Numerous experiments have
been made to determine whether more rain falls over a forested area
than would fall over the same tract of land if deforested. As a rule
these experiments show that rain gauges placed over forests catch
more water than those placed on the edge of forests or in the open
fields. Regular observations taken at Nancy, in France, for a period
of 33 years showed that if the amount of rainfall at the center of the
forest be designated as 100, the amount of rainfall at the edge of the
forest would be represented by 93.9 and the rainfall outside the forest
by 76.7. It also appears that the difference in rainfall over a forested
as compared with a deforested area varies directly with the altitude,
being negligible in the lowland and as great as 25 per cent in moun-
tainous regions. Some experiments carried on in northern Germany
showed that in the plains the difference was hardly perceptible, while
at an elevation of 3,000 feet or more the difference amounted to sev-
eral inches.
Several explanations have been given for the greater precipitation
shown by rain gauges placed over forests. Prof. Cleveland Abbe, of
the Weather Bureau, and some other authorities attribute the differ-
ence entirely to the imperfections of rain gauges, and explain that the
greater catch of those placed over forests is due to the fact that the
leaves and branches of the trees break the force of the wind so that
less water is deflected from the gauge than is the case in the open.
That the imperfections in the rain gauges are at least responsible for a
considerable portion of the greater catch over forests is generally con-
ceded, but is it not known conclusively as yet whether they account
for the entire difference. Some experiments with improved rain
gauges placed on scaffolds above the tree tops tend to indicate that
they are not.
1 See especially H. M. Chittenden, Forest and Reservoirs in Their Relation to Stream Flow, pp. 933 and
934; also Report on Climatological Service, U. S. Weather Bureau, for September, 1911, pp. 5 and 6.
2 See Appendix V, p. 207.
,
32 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Another explanation frequently given for the apparent increase of
precipitation over forests is that the chilling effect of the forest causes
the moisture of rain clouds to condense more rapidly. It is undoubt-
edly true, as shown by numerous experiments, that the temperature
in summer within a forest is considerably cooler than the temperature
without. But whether this cooling effect extends far enough above
the forest to cause condensation of passing rain clouds is not definitely
known. In winter months no such effect could be exerted, because
the temperature of the forest is then warmer than the temperature
without. Furthermore, the real causes of precipitation are not as yet
well understood. The heavier rainfall on mountain slopes is believed
to be due to the raising of storm clouds in passing over them. If
forests do cause greater precipitation by their cooling effect, it
obviously will be most marked in high regions where storm clouds
pass nearer to the tops of the trees.
Another explanation is that the tree tops of forests offer resistance
to the moisture-charged winds and intercept a certain amount of rain
or snow that otherwise would be blown along some distance before
reaching the ground. This effect, as shown by experiments, is espe-
cially noticeable in the case of snowstorms, the amount precipitated
over a forest being much greater than over open ground. If this is
the correct explanation for the influence of forests upon precipitation,
it would also be in harmony with the fact that rain gauges show a
greater difference in catch in high regions than in the lowlands, because
in such regions the winds have a greater velocity and if unimpeded
would deflect more water from the rain gauges.
A third explanation is that forests attract storm clouds in their
direction; but this has nothing in its support except the mere coinci-
dence that in general rainfall is heaviest in mountain regions where
the percentage of lands still under forest cover is greatest.
From information presented by Mr. Zon in his report it appears
that forests transmit enormous quantities of moisture to passing
winds, particularly when they are located in moist lowlands, and the
moisture thus transmitted aids the precipitation somewhere else.
For example, he states that the precipitation in the Central or Prairie
States would be much smaller than it is now if it were not for the fact
that the winds from the south and southeast absorbed moisture from
the vast forest areas bordering the shores of the Gulf of Mexico and
the Atlantic coast and also the Appalachian Mountains.¹ This influ-
ence of forests upon investigation is likely to prove much more impor-
tant than any direct influence which they may have upon precipitation.
An impartial consideration of the results of investigations relating
to the influence of forests upon precipitation does not warrant the
assertion that such influence is marked, nor can it be said that forests
exercise no influence whatever. The present status of this question
was very fairly stated in 1902 by Prof. B. E. Fernow in Bulletin 7 of
Forest Service, page 125:
Altogether, the question of appreciable forest influence upon precipitation must be
considered as still unsolved, with some indication, however, of its existence under
certain climatic and topographical conditions in the Temperate Zone, especially
toward the end of winter and the beginning of spring.
1 See Appendix V, p. 225.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
33
Whatever influence forests may have upon precipitation, it cer-
tainly is not sufficient to appreciably affect stream flow and the navi-
gability of streams and thus is not essential to this discussion.
Effect of forests upon run-off.-The influence of forests upon the
run-off of rainfall, because of its equalizing effect upon stream flow, is
considered much more important for navigation than the influence
upon precipitation. The rainfall over a forest, as Mr. Zon explains,
is carried off in five different ways:¹ (1) Part of it is intercepted by
the leaves and branches of the trees, and evaporated into the air; (2)
another part is evaporated from the soil within the forest; (3) a third
part is absorbed and used by plants and trees for transpiration and
tissue building; (4) a fourth part runs off from the surface of the
slope; (5) the surplus or that which remains after these other purposes
have been served filters through the ground and feeds springs and
streams. The amount of water evaporated from tree tops and ab-
sorbed by forests in transpiration are losses directly due to forests and
vary greatly under different conditions. The amount of rain evapo-
rated from the tree tops depends, among other things, upon the char-
acter of the trees, their age and density, the amount of precipitation,
velocity of wind, and temperature, and sometimes, as already indi-
cated, assumes large proportions. Likewise, the amount of water
absorbed by forests for their own use depends upon the character of
trees, temperature, and numerous other factors. Forests conserve
water to the extent that the lower temperature and more humid air
within retards evaporation from the surface, and the forest humus
absorbs the water which would otherwise run off on the surface.
The water thus retained goes to reinforce the supply of ground water
and eventually benefits the flow of springs and streams. On level
ground, of course, there is practically no run-off, and the forests have
comparatively little effect. In such cases, especially in the lowlands,
it is quite probable that the loss of water due to forests exceeds the
amount conserved.
The manner in which forests retard the run-off on slopes is as follows:
The force of the rain is broken by the tree tops so that it reaches the
ground gently, and the water caught by the leaves and branches
continues to drip for a considerable time after the rain has ceased.
The forest litter readily absorbs the water instead of allowing it to
evaporate or to run off on the surface. The water thus absorbed
colates into the substrata, following the roots of trees, and finally by
seepage reaches springs and streams.
per-
It is generally admitted that forests exercise such reservoir char-
acteristics and under favorable conditions to a sufficient extent to im-
prove the regularity of stream flow. There is, however, a decided
limit to the quantity of water which a forest cover can absorb. The
capacity for absorption varies greatly under different conditions,
depending upon the depth and character of the forest litter, as well
as of the soil underneath, whether pervious or impervious, also upon
the condition of the ground, whether frozen or not, upon the steepness
of the slope, and numerous other factors. Where the forest litter is
destroyed by forest fires, or is removed to prevent them, the absorptive
capacity is thereby reduced.
1 See Appendix V, p. 228.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-3
34
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Various experiments have been made to ascertain the amount of
water which different kinds of forest litter could absorb and hold.
The results show that in general an amount equal to a precipitation of
0.16 of an inch can ordinarily be retained, while under favorable con-
ditions the absorption of an amount equal to 0.24 of an inch or even
more is possible. The soil beneath the humus may also be capable of
some absorption. As soon as the saturation point is reached, addi-
tional rainfall must necessarily run off on the surface just as if the
ground were deforested. This explains why forests are powerless to
prevent floods, although, to the extent that they do absorb the pre-
cipitation, they may mitigate them.
Effect of forests upon floods.-Floods are caused primarily by a heavy
and prolonged precipitation, amounting oftentimes to several inches
within 24 hours. During the heavy rains which caused the dis-
astrous floods in the Passaic Valley in October, 1903, 14 inches fell at
Paterson, N. J., in less than 36 hours, and during the height of the
storm more than an inch an hour fell, according to records taken at
New York and Newark. The worst floods usually occur in the spring
when these heavy rains fall upon a considerable accumulation of
snow, which melts rapidly and augments the amount of water already
precipitated. At this time the ground is more apt to be frozen or
saturated and its capacity for absorption to that extent impaired.
Forests retard the melting of snow in the spring and by allowing the
water from this source to be absorbed, exercise a beneficial influence
upon stream flow, but should heavy spring rains fall upon the snow
thus preserved and cause it to melt within a few hours the effect of
the forest is in such a case to aggravate rather than ameliorate flood
conditions. It thus appears that under one set of conditions forests
may exercise a beneficial influence upon stream flow and floods, while
under another their influence will be harmful.
Effect of forests on low-water flow.-Under normal conditions the
rainfall which the forests have prevented from running off and aided
in reaching the ground water will help to keep up the stream flow
during dry seasons. But it may happen that in particular cases
forests will tend to reduce still further the low-water flow of streams.
In summer forests usually consume or give off to the atmosphere more
water than they receive from precipitation. At such times they
must draw upon the store of ground water for their needs. That
they are capable of using up large quantities of water in this way is
shown by the fact that in France and other European countries
forests have been successfully utilized for the drying up of swamps.
In dry seasons the absorptive capacity of the forest humus is greatly
increased, so that it may absorb practically all the precipitation of
Local storms which might otherwise escape into the streams and aid
their flow. On the other hand, if heavy fall rains should come after
a period of prolonged drought, a forest cover would be in a most
favorable condition to mitigate a possible freshet. Thus, as in the
case of floods, the good effects or bad effects of forests depend upon.
the conditions existing at any given time.
The above consideration of the results obtained by use of the
physical method indicates that it is useful in showing what influence
forests have upon precipitation and run-off when taken alone, but,
as already stated, it does not show whether in actual conditions this
influence is beneficial or harmful. That depends in each case upon
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
35-
the accompanying circumstances. Because of the limitations of this
method, it can never be of great value in the final determination of the
influence of forests under natural conditions.
Effect of forests upon erosion. The most important benefit of
forests is the prevention of erosion. For this purpose a forest cover
is considered to be more serviceable than other covers, such as grass
or underbrush, because of its ability to absorb more water and thereby
to reduce surface run-off, and more economical because of the value
of the lumber produced. In other respects it is doubtful if the forest
cover has any material advantage over others. This being the case,
it appears that the effectiveness of a forest cover to control run-off
and prevent erosion depends upon the conditions affecting its absorp-
tive capacity, the most important of which is the depth of the débris.
Where the forest litter has been removed by man or destroyed by
forest fires, erosion takes place more readily than if the soil were
covered with grass or underbrush. Investigations made by the
Geological Survey of a mountainous tract of land in Georgia showed
that the hillsides which have been burned over, even though wooded,
were badly washed. Aside from the character of the cover, the
extent of erosion in any particular case depends upon such factors as
climate, steepness of the slope, character of the soil, and the geological
formation of the region. In the Southern Appalachian Mountains
deforestation is almost always followed by some erosion, while in the
White Mountains such result is rarely noted. The soil is firm and the
new growth of underbrush comes in rapidly.
The erosion which forests would prevent affects the navigability
of streams only to the extent that the eroded matter is washed down
and deposited in the navigable channels. The damage resulting to
the land eroded from the loss of top soil is the most serious conse-
quence. There are numerous instances in Europe where the naviga-
bility of streams has been seriously affected by erosion. The best
example, perhaps, is the Loire in France. Its channel, especially in
the upper sections, has been gradually filled in with several feet of
detritus, washed down from the eroded mountain sides. In France
and some other European countries erosion has proceeded far enough
to increase the frequency and damages due to floods. Where the
channel is filled in with deposits of silt and the water flowing down
carries with it large quantities of eroded matter, sometimes greater
in volume than the water itself, every storm of any extent causes a
freshet. In some cases large areas of agricultural land have been
ruined by the deposits of waste matter left by streams which have
overflowed their banks, while in other cases the overflowed lands have
been fertilized.
The worst cases of erosion in this country occur in the southern
Appalachian Mountains, but, while the damage done to property in
some cases is considerable, the injurious effects upon navigation thus
far have not been marked. It must be remembered, too, that neither
here nor abroad is deforestation by itself the principal cause of
erosion. Unquestionably the worst causes are forest fires and unscien-
tific and careless methods of farming. Investigations in the southern
Appalachian Mountains indicate that these are the principal causes.
of erosion in that region. Where a forest is cut off, there is usually
a sufficient amount of underbrush and débris left to prevent serious
erosion. In such places a new growth of briars and bushes soon
springs up, which by the third year affords ample protection. It is
36 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
only on the steep mountain slopes, where the soil covering the rocks
is thin, that deforestation by itself has serious results. The new
growth comes in slowly, and before it can attain sufficient propor-
tions to afford protection, the rocks may be completely denuded of
all their soil cover. Ordinarily deforestation must be accompanied
by clearing and breaking up of the soil for agricultural purposes
before erosion becomes serious. The building of roads and trails on
mountain sides is always a fruitful source of erosion.
The reports of Army engineers indicate that in some of our rivers
dredging operations to remove silt have been necessary for the promo-
tion of navigation, but what proportion of this silt is directly due to
deforestation and not to other causes of erosion is impossible to deter-
mine. In tidal portions of streams the silting up is due primarily to
the washing in of sand from the ocean. In the case of the Mississippi
and Missouri Rivers, where the necessity of constant dredging has
always been very great as well as expensive, the larger part of the
silt forming these bars is not due to deforestation but to the erosion
or caving of banks. Some are of the opinion that much of this silt
comes from the barren bad lands of the upper Missouri. If such were
the case the planting of forests here, as has been proposed, might per-
form a more useful service to navigation than anywhere else in the
country.
Conclusions and recommendations.—Whatever influence forests may
exert upon precipitation, run-off, and erosion, it is evidently greatest
in the mountainous regions where the rainfall is heaviest, slopes
steepest, and run-off most rapid. Here also the land is less useful for
other purposes. The extent of the influence of forests upon these
three factors varies greatly, according to circumstances involved in
each case.
Under one set of conditions, forests may benefit stream
flow and mitigate floods, while under other conditions they may
have the opposite effect. In no case can they be relied upon to pre-
vent either floods or low-water conditions. There is substantial
agreement on this point. Nor is their influence extensive enough to
warrant their use as the only means of securing the uniformity of
stream flow which is desirable for navigation or the development of
water power. For this purpose storage reservoirs would be much
more effective.
The prevention of erosion undoubtedly outweighs all other benefits
of forestation and constitutes one of the most necessary phases of con-
servation. The commission favors the prevention of deforestation of
mountain slopes wherever the land is unsuitable for agricultural pur-
poses and urges the reforestation of those tracts which have already
been denuded, not only when located at the headwaters of navigable
streams, but wherever this would be the most valuable use of the land.
The increasing pressure of population upon subsistence will make it
necessary to use for agricultural purposes all land suitable for cultiva-
tion. The influence of forests upon stream flow and erosion is not suf-
ficient to warrant their retention except where the land is unsuited for
other purposes. Furthermore, it is possible, if correct methods of agri-
culture are employed, to retain for cultivation areas located on steep
hillsides. This has been successfully accomplished in other countries
by_terracing and by other means.
It must be remembered, however, that reforestation alone can
accomplish little toward preventing erosion. The prevention of forest
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
37
!
fires, the regulation of hillside farming, and the prohibition of com-
plete denudation of mountain tracts, where the soil cover is thin and
the land is unsuited for agricultural purposes, are also necessary. No
policy of preventing erosion will be successful unless these three reme-
dies are adopted. The Federal Government can render valuable serv-
ice in cooperating with States and private individuals for the preven-
tion of forest fires; but it has no power to regulate the methods of
farming or the cutting of timber on private lands. For this reason
State supervision is necessary if any important results are to be accom-
plished, because the States, through their police powers, can impose
the necessary regulations. In European countries forests which must
be preserved are designated by the Government as "Protective for-
ests" and cutting in them prohibited except by the consent of some
authority. Such regulations could undoubtedly be imposed by the
States. By revising their tax laws on forest land, which now in effect
in many States put a premium upon the rapid cutting of timber, the
States could also encourage private capital to undertake scientific for-
estry as a profitable industry. The Federal Government, having no
power to regulate the activities of private landowners within the
States, can only prevent the wrongful use of lands by buying them,
and even here its power is limited by the Constitution to the purchase
of those lands at the headwaters of navigable streams which are neces-
sary for the protection of their navigability. Such lands, in fact, con-
stitute but a comparatively small proportion of all the lands that ought
to be conserved. Furthermore, the cost of carrying out such a policy
on any extended scale would be so great as to practically preclude the
possibility of its success. The commission therefore believes that,
with the exception of lands owned or acquired by the Government, the
respective States are the proper agencies to undertake the preserva-
tion of forests and the reforestation of mountainous tracts within their
borders, cooperating, if necessary, for the prevention of forest fires and
the introduction of scientific methods, with the Forest Service of the
Federal Government.
VI.
DEVELOPMENT AND CONTROL OF WATER POWER.
The commission has given special attention to questions relating
to the development and control of water power. This question is of
interest to the Federal Government, both in connection with its con-
trol of streams for purposes of navigation and in relation to its
policies respecting the public domain. In order to secure the most
reliable and comprehensive information possible on this subject,
hearings were held in November, 1911, at which the Secretary of the
Interior and other Government officials, as well as several of the most
expert hydroelectric engineers, and leading promoters and financiers
of water-power development, presented their views. The report of
these hearings has been published as Senate Document No. 274,
Sixty-second Congress, second session.
IMPORTANCE OF THE SUBJECT.
Present laws inadequate. The adoption of a comprehensive policy
of water-power control is most urgent for two reasons: (1) Because
38
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
we are entering upon a period of unprecedented water-power develop-
ment, which in time will constitute one of the greatest industries of
the continent; and (2) because existing laws relating to this subject
are in a most crude and unsatisfactory condition, not being adequate
either for proper Government control of these enterprises or adapted
to encourage water-power development. Because of the lack of legisla-
tion properly safeguarding the public interest, the Federal Government
has withdrawn from entry many valuable power sites in the public
domain, and has been forced, when granting permits for constructions
in the forest reserves or upon public lands, to impose conditions so
severe that few large developments have been undertaken. Likewise
in the case of navigable streams outside the public domain, the lack
of a fixed policy has left uncertain the extent and nature of the control
which the Government intends to exercise, with the result that few
developments have taken place.
As a result of the existing chaotic condition of the laws, and the
multiplicity of jurisdictions involved, water-power development has
been subject to an exceedingly vexatious and unnecessary handicap.
Under the present state of the laws, if a company should wish to make
a development within any of the National forest reserves, it must first
appropriate the water in accordance with the laws and regulations
of the State in which the forest reserve is located. It must then sub-
mit its plans to the Department of Agriculture for approval. If the
plans are approved, upon the payment of a certain fee, a permit will
be granted. As power sites are very apt to be located in places
remote from the point at which the power may be utilized, it is
generally necessary to build transmission lines of considerable length.
Should these transmission lines leave the forest reserve and traverse
other portions of the public domain, another permit, imposing similar
conditions, must be secured from the Interior Department. The
situation is still further complicated in the event that the lines must
cross an unperfected homesteader's entry. Under the present pro-
visions of law, neither the Government nor the homesteader can
legally grant permission to cross the claim. Furthermore, if the
stream on which the development is to be made happens to affect
navigation, plans must also be submitted to the War Department
for approval, and, finally, the right to construct the dam must be
secured by an act of Congress. The permits which the Secretary of
Agriculture and the Secretary of the Interior are allowed by law to
grant are revocable at will, unassignable, unmortgagable, and subject
to interference by the location of mining claims and the transfer of
lands from one jurisdiction to another. It hardly need be said that
this condition is so intolerable as to practically prevent any extensive
water-power development within the public domain.
Conditions respecting the location of power dams in navigable
streams are not much better. While there can be no question as to
the right of the Federal Government to control all navigable streams
for purposes of navigation, yet there is still some dispute as to the
relative jurisdiction of Federal and State governments. The nature
of the condition which the Federal Government may constitutionally
impose in its grant for the construction of a dam is still subject to
some uncertainty. So far it has been the policy of the Federal
Government to limit the duration of its grant to a period not exceed-
ing 50 years. The acts, however, contain no provision for renewal or,
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
39
in case a renewal of the grant is denied, for compensation for the
property. The general dam act and apparently all the special acts
making grants for the construction of a dam in a navigable stream,
so far made by the Government have also contained a clause pro-
viding that the act may be altered, amended, or repealed at the will
of Congress. It is evident that under these conditions grants are not
only insecure, but that no company operating under such circum-
stances could render the most efficient and economical public service.
Conservation of fuel supply.—Undoubtedly the most important
problem in the conservation of natural resources is that of our fuel
supply. Our deposits of both anthracite and bituminous coal, which
can never be replaced, are being gradually exhausted. More than
300,000,000 tons are being consumed annually in the production of
power by the agency of steam boilers, while the vast potential energy
of falling water is running to waste. The only possible means of
conserving our fuel supply are (1) a less wasteful system of mining;
(2) a greater efficiency in its consumption; and (3) what will be most
effective, a curtailment of its use by the substitution of some other
source of power. On the other hand the only way to conserve our
water power is by developing and using it. Its present use will not
lessen in the least the supply available in years to come. The least
efficient use of coal is that of producing steam for motive power.
The substitution of water power would, therefore, by utilizing a source
of motive power now going to waste, and stopping the most wasteful
use of coal, serve a double purpose of conservation.
The present annual production of coal is over 500,000,000 tons.¹
It is estimated by engineers, for instance by H. St. Clair Putnam, in
his address before the First Conference of Governors in 1908, that the
supply of anthracite coal will be exhausted within the next 60 or 70
years. The present increase in the consumption of bituminous coal
is approximately 10 per cent per annum. Assuming that there will
be the same average increase for the next 150 years, when the maxi-
mum will be reached, it is estimated that the supply of bituminous
coal will become exhausted in about 700 years. While this is a long
period in itself, it is not a long period in the life of nations, and plainly
suggests the immediate necessity of taking such steps as may be
practicable for the conservation of our fuel supply.
The primary water power resource of the United States is placed by
different experts at from 30,000,000 to 35,000,000 horsepowers.2
The total power possible by the storing of flood water and control of
stream flow is estimated by Mr. Leighton of the United States Geo-
logical Survey, to be 200,000,000 horsepowers.3 Of this vast potential
energy, only about 5,500,000 horsepowers have thus far been devel-
oped. By other prime movers, chiefly steam, over 26,000,000 horse-
powers are being created.5 Under the most efficient conditions of
4
Special Report of Census Bureau to National Waterways Commission, 1912, the exact figures being
514,000,000.
2 The Hearings on the Development and Control of Water Power before the National Waterways Com-
mission, Senate Document No. 274, 62d Cong., 2d sess., p. 11 (Mr. Dunn); p. 14 (Mr. Dunn); p. 32 (Mr.
Stillwell); p. 211 (Mr. Newcomb); p. 272 (Mr. Leighton). Proceedings of the Conference of Governors in
1908, p. 294 (H. St. Clair Putnam).
3 The Hearings on the Development and Control of Water Power before the National Waterways Com-
mission, Senate Document No. 274, p. 275 (Mr. Leighton).
4 The Hearings on the Development and Control of Water Power before the National Waterways Com-
mission, Senate Document No. 274, p. 11 (Mr. Dunn); p. 14 (Mr. Dunn); p. 211 (Mr. Newcomb); p. 273 (Mr.
Leighton, who gives the exact figures for 1908 as 5,356,680).
5 The Hearings on the Development and Control of Water Power before the National Waterways Com-
mission, Senate Document No. 274, p. 11 (Mr. Dunn); p. 33 (Mr. Stillwell). Proceedings of the Conference
of Governors in 1908, p. 297 (H. St. Clair Putnam).
40 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
steam electric generation yet devised, it requires about seven tons of
coal to generate one horsepower year, while under average conditions
from 12 to 15 tons are so consumed.¹ 1 About 340,000,000 tons of coal
are now annually consumed in the production of motive power,2 and
of the latent energy of the coal so consumed, only from 5 per cent to
12 per cent is actually transformed into dynamic energy.3
Railroads are the largest users of coal for motive power, and the
steam locomotive is among the agencies of lowest efficiency in its con-
sumption. It is estimated that the amount of power necessary to
operate these railroads, if electrically applied, could be generated
in a modern steam electric plant by the consumption of not more
than half the amount of coal now used. It may be noted in this
connection that about one-third of the total energy produced by all
prime movers is now electrically applied, and the proportion is stead-
ily and rapidly increasing.
If plants for the production of power by falling water could be
constructed at the same cost per unit of power as steam plants,
the saving effected by the use of water would be exactly the cost of the
coal consumed. Figuring the average cost of coal at $3 per ton, which
is a price sure to be reached in the comparatively near future, and
the average consumption of coal as 15 tons per horsepower year, the
saving would amount to $45 per horsepower, but as a matter of fact,
the cost of water-power construction per unit of power is very much
the greater, and the actual saving thus effected is considerable less
than this amount. At the conference of governors held in Washing-
ton in 1908, Gov. Hughes stated that after exhaustive study of the
subject the New York State Water Supply Commission estimated the
saving to be not less than $12 per horsepower, while the Wisconsin
commission, appointed to investigate the subject in that State,
placed the saving at $20, while other estimates place it as high as
$26.4 If we assume the actual net saving in producing one horse-
power year by the use of falling water to be $20 over what it would
cost to produce the same unit of power by the use of coal, and capi-
talize this amount on a basis to earn 10 per cent per annum, it would
appear that in developing a water power, an investment of $200 per
horsepower in excess of the cost of a steam plant capable of produc-
ing the same output would be justified. Thus in developing the
30,000,000 primary horsepowers available in the United States, an
expenditure of $6,000,000,000 in excess of the cost of producing the
same amount of power by steam would be warranted—an amount
about six times as great as the capital stock of the United States
Steel Corporation.
Of course these new developments will not take place until there is
a market for the output and until conditions in each locality make it
possible to produce the power in competition with other forms of
prime movers. Even at the present price of coal, however, the
The Hearings on the Development and Control of Water Power before the National Waterways Com-
mission, Senate Document No. 274, p. 26 (Mr. Taylor); p. 32 (Mr. Stillwell). Note.-This estimate of Mr.
Stillwell's is undoubtedly the most recent and most reliable yet obtained. He informed the commission
that his estimate was the result of averaging several thousand answers to inquiries. Reduced to horse-
power years, the poorest results would show a consumption of about 21 tons of coal per horsepower year,
10 hours a day, or 50 tons for 24-hour service. The best results correspondingly show a consumption of
6 tons and 14 tons, respectively.
2 The figure above given is an estimate furnished by an expert of the Census Bureau.
3 Proceedings of the Conference of Governors in 1908, pp. 299 and 300 (H. St. Clair Putnam).
Wisconsin Survey Bulletin XX, p. 2; Report of Hustings and Krumrey (Wis.) "Water Powers, For-
estry, and Drainage," Jan. 24, 1910, pp. 12-14; Proceedings of the Conference of Governors, 1908, p. 324.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 41
above figures show what an enormous expenditure will eventually be
justified in developing water power and thereby conserving the
supply of coal.
Water-power development. The first power resources to be utilized
in this country, as probably in all countries, were those of wind and
falling water. Small developments of water power were numerous
throughout the Eastern States, being most frequently utilized for
turning the burs of a custom gristmill. Under the conditions then
existing the power was available only in the immediate vicinity of
the dam site. In a few instances power could be so readily developed
or the location was for other reasons so favorable that manufacturing
centers of considerable importance grew up around some of these
power sites.
A more extended development of water power during the early
period was checked by the invention of the steam engine. The
advantage of compressed steam as an agency of motive power in
those days of abundant, widely distributed, and cheap fuel was
quickly recognized. The power so created was more reliable, could
be better controlled, was available in almost every locality and
under almost any sort of conditions. The ready transportation
facilities furnished by the railroads, which now began to develop
with great rapidity, rendered our deposits of coal available for
power purposes over a much more extended area than had hitherto
been possible.
One of the most serious obstacles in the way of extensive develop-
ment of water powers has been the fact that power sites are so fre-
quently located at points remote from profitable markets and places
where the power could be profitably utilized. But in recent years
the invention of devices making possible high-tension electrical
transmission has very largely overcome this disadvantage. Places
adapted to become industrial centers because of the existence of raw
material, facilities for transportation, abundance of skilled labor, or
any other natural advantages may now be supplied with electrical
power generated anywhere within a radius of about 200 miles.
The difficulty of securing needed capital has been another obstacle
to water-power development. Testimony given before the National
Waterways Commission tended to show that water-power develop-
ment on a large scale has been attended with considerable financial
risk. Many of the enterprises have been conspicuous failures, due
to the cost of construction being greatly in excess of estimates, to
unreliable data and miscalculations of stream flow, to the unsalability
of the product because of its unreliability, to troubles growing out of
the conflict of jurisdiction between States or between the United
States and one of the States or a foreign Government, as well as to
the ordinary troubles of manipulation and mismanagement.
The chief menace to the success of water-power development,
however, is its unreliability. Unless supplemented by other power,
the actual value of the plant must be measured by its lowest capacity,
which is determined by the minimum flow of the stream. There
are but few streams in the United States possessing power sites
which have a sufficiently uniform flow to be reliable. Variations
between maximum and minimum stream flow are frequently very
great, in some instances as high as 500 to 1, as in the case of the
Potomac at Point of Rocks, Md. Not infrequently the ratio is as
42 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
high as 60 to 1, which is about the variation of the Mississippi River
at St. Paul, Minn.¹
To overcome the disadvantages arising from variation of stream
flow it is always desirable and often necessary to combine into one
system plants located in different watersheds, so that fullest advan-
tage may be taken of precipitation over a large area, which is very
seldom evenly distributed. While auxiliary steam plants may be
utilized to overcome this difficulty, their use adds very materially to
the total cost of production.
The economies of a large water-power system, combining or utilizing
a number of plants, are, first, those which usually go with the elimina-
ation of multiple managements and centralization in a single manage-
ment, and, secondly, economies peculiar to the business. The most
important of the latter are the equalization of the electric flow and
the consequent raising of the average efficiency of the system above
that of the plants taken separately, the possibility of more continuous
operation by combining plants which have chiefly a day load with those
which have chiefly a night load, the increased facilities and reliability
of transmission by having more than one route of transmission, a
fewer number of "spares"-that is, duplications of machinery held in
reserve to meet emergencies and probably also engineering economies
in the way of adjusting the load to suit the maximum efficiency of
the machinery used.
""
The possibility of monopoly in the field of water-power enterprises
and the actual tendency in that direction have been very generally
recognized. Commissioner of Corporations Herbert Knox Smith, in
a report on the "Concentration of Ownership of Water Powers,'
gives a long list of companies which he regards as affiliated with either
the General Electric or the Westinghouse corporations, and also men-
tions several other very large operating companies, such as the
Southern Power Co., as evidence of the tendency toward combina-
tion and monopoly. Mr. Smith concludes that of the over 5,000,000
developed horsepowers in use in the United States, 1,879,000 horse-
powers are controlled by 13 selected companies. The Wisconsin
Commission above referred to reported that they found no evidence of
a water-power trust in that State, but warned the people that both
because of the nature of the business and the ambitions of captains
of industry there was imminent danger of such monopolization.
The important fact to be gathered from the entire discussion of this
1 The following table, furnished by Mr. Leighton, of the Geological Survey, will give the maxima and
minima of typical rivers of the United States, at specific points:
Stream and locality.
Kennebec, Waterville, Me...
Potomac, Point of Rocks, Md..
Alabama, Selma, Ala...
Tennessee River, Chattanooga, Tenn
•
Mississippi, St. Paul, Minn
Brazos, Waco, Tex..
Yellowstone, Glendive, Mo..
Grand River, Palisades, Colo.
Salt River, Phoenix, Ariz……….
Sacramento, Red Bluff, Cal.
Willamette, Albany, Oreg..
Clark Fork, Newport, Wash.
Maxima.
Minima.
Drainage
area.
Second-feet. Second-feet. Sg. miles.
157,000
730
4,270
400,000
790
9,650
146,000
3,300
15,400
357,000
4,800
21,400
80, 800
1,200
35,700
132,000
3
30,800
107,000
3,750
66,100
43,000
944
8,550
300,000
0
254,000
4,650
9,300
188,000
1,870
4,860
155,000
5,700
24,000
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
43
phase of the subject would seem to be not so much that financiers
and promoters might find it to their advantage to promote a monopoly
as that economic considerations and the natural character of the busi-
ness make monopoly almost inevitable, and perhaps desirable when
subject to strict public regulation. A form of possible monopoly,
however, that needs to be immediately guarded against is the acquir-
ing and holding of dam sites for speculative purposes where no imme-
diate development is contemplated.
As already stated, the feature of water-power enterprises which has
made large-scale operations possible is the use of high-tension electri-
cal transmission. It may also be added that this is the element
which has tended to promote its monopolistic character. While the
methods and instrumentalities for long-distance transmission have
probably not yet been brought to their highest state of perfection,
they have reached a stage where electrical power can be transmitted
at least 200 miles with a comparatively small percentage of loss. In
fact, it is entirely possible to construct a line on which there would be
an almost inappreciable loss. In practice, however, the cost of a line
of so nearly perfect efficiency makes its construction impracticable.
It is, however, entirely practicable to construct lines from 100 to 200
miles in length which will deliver at the point of distribution from
80 to 90 per cent of the initial energy. This high standard of effi-
ciency is nevertheless subject to certain modifications, due to atmos-
pheric conditions, crossing of high elevations, accident to and dete-
rioration of insulation, and other causes. It is sufficient for our pur-
pose to state that it is now entirely feasible to construct a single power
plant which will create and distribute electrical energy over an area
of more than 125,000 square miles. Possibly of still more impor-
tance and significance is the fact that by means of these high-ten-
sion circuits power sites on different watersheds may easily be con-
nected up and tied together in one vast system which may be practi-
cally operated as a single plant. The advantages of this practice
are very evident-namely, the ability to more nearly utilize the maxi-
mum precipitation over a large area, the increased reliability of serv-
ice, besides numerous operating economies. It should also be noted
that it is the development of these transmission lines which has gen-
erally given the business the character of interstate commerce and
may very well be expected to eventually lead to its complete control
by Congress.
In view of the conditions already outlined and of the fact that
water power development lies almost wholly in the future, there is
perhaps no more important question before Congress than to shape
a broad constructive policy which will amply safeguard the public
interest and at the same time promote the development of our water
power under plans consistent with the maximum beneficial use of the
water.
THE CONSTITUTIONAL POWERS
POWERS OF CONGRESS TO CONTROL WATER
COURSES.
Ownership of water.-Perhaps there is no subject of legal interest
concerning which there has been a more extended or more fruitless dis-
cussion than the ownership of water. Under the common law it is
the property of no one, although the rules for its beneficial use are
44 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
carefully enunciated in a long line of decisions. Blackstone says in
his Commentaries:
But after all there are some few things which, notwithstanding the general intro-
duction and continuance of property, must still unavoidably remain in common
such are the elements of light, air, and water.
* *
*
In a majority of the States of the Union the common law of waters
prevails. Some of the Western States have proclaimed either by pro-
visions of their constitutions or by statute that the water of every
natural stream or lake is the property of the public; others declare
it to be the property of the State, which is undoubtedly to be inter-
preted as meaning the property of the State in trust for its beneficial
use by the people.1
The bed of the stream. There is also extreme diversity of opin-
ion and wide variation of laws and rules in the different States
respecting the ownership of the bed of the stream. In some States
the fee runs to high-water mark, in others to low-water mark,
and in still others to the thread of the stream. Under the first two
conditions the ownership of the bed of the stream undoubtedly rests
in the State. However, as long as the Federal Government has a
right of easement over the bed of the stream for the purpose of navi-
gation and all purposes related thereto, it is largely a matter of inci-
dental interest in whom the title vests, and it is difficult to see how it
materially affects the right of the Government to exercise control of
the stream. Whatever rights the several States enjoy because of
their ownership of the bed of the stream or the waters thereof, and
whatever right to the beneficial use of the natural and continued flow
of the stream may vest in riparian owners, must admittedly be exer-
cised subject to the paramount right of the Federal Government to
exercise its sovereign jurisdiction over the streams for the protection
or promotion of navigation.
Federal authority paramount.—The nature and extent of the rights
enjoyed by the States and riparian owners will evidently depend on
the nature and extent of control exercised by the sovereign authority.
The narrowest possible view would be for the Federal Government to
limit its activity to matters that immediately and directly affect
questions of navigation in those parts of a stream which are actually
navigable. That the Government may, however, constitutionally
extend its jurisdiction to questions more remotely connected with the
rights of navigation, or even wholly unrelated, can hardly be denied.2
The commerce clause. It may not be out of place to refer briefly to
the constitutional authority on which the power of Congress over
streams rests and to the decisions of the courts which in various par-
ticulars have established, defined, and amplified the scope of Federal
jurisdiction. Fundamentally, of course, the authority of Congress is
derived from the commerce clause of the Constitution, which dele-
gates to Congress the power "to regulate commerce with foreign
nations and among the several States and with the Indian tribes.'
(Article 1, sec. 8, clause 3.)
""
Powers delegated to Congress given a liberal interpretation. Whether
the powers enumerated in the Constitution as belonging to Congress
were to be given the strict and narrowest possible interpretation, to
be construed as excluding every function not specifically "nominated
1 See Appendix VII.
2 See pp. 48-49.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
45
in the bond," as is the case with the ordinary "written instrument,"
or whether they were to be taken as broadly defining a field of activity
in which the Federal Government was to be supreme, came up for
determination almost immediately after the adoption of the Consti-
tution. The decisions in these early cases, which have ever since
been followed with unfailing fidelity, unquestionably clothed Con-
gress with plenary powers to employ every means, not expressly
prohibited by the Constitution, for carrying into effect the duties of
government laid upon it. Mr. Justice Marshall, in approaching the
tremendous responsibility of making these first determinations as to
the powers of Congress, used these pregnant words: "It is a Consti-
tution we are expounding."
In the case of McCulloch v. The State of Maryland (4 Wheat., 421),
Mr. Marshall, in stating the opinion of the court, placed the powers
of Congress on the broad foundation consistent with his conception
of the meaning and purpose of the Constitution when he said:
But we think the sound construction of the Constitution must allow to the National
Legislature that discretion, with respect to the means by which the powers it conveys
are to be carried into execution, which will enable that body to perform the high duty
assigned to it in the manner most beneficial to the people. Let the end be legitimate,
let it be within the scope of the Constitution, and all means which are appropriate,
which are plainly adapted to that end, which are not prohibited, but consistent with
the letter and spirit of the Constitution, are constitutional.
Congress supreme within its constitutional sphere.-Another question
of equal importance, which called for early determination, was that
of the supremacy of the Federal authority. The right of Congress to
enact any legislation appropriate and convenient for the full exercise
of its powers having been established, it was still to be settled whether
its jurisdiction was exclusive of any other authority. It was con-
tended that in certain particulars at least it could exercise only con-
current jurisdiction with the several States. While the doctrine of
"concurrent jurisdiction" may not be repugnant to good govern-
ment and may even be very convenient thereto-the only important
question being which governmental agency acts first-yet when a
conflict of authority arises only one agency of government can be
supreme.
Just such a conflict arose in the case above cited. The legislature
of the State of Maryland had passed a law laying a tax on a local
branch of the recently established Federal bank. The purpose of
this enactment was to nullify, so far as the State of Maryland was
concerned, the act of Congress creating the bank. When the case
came before the Supreme Court of the United States, the Maryland
statute was declared unconstitutional. In giving the opinion of the
court, Mr. Marshall laid down the fundamental principle that—
* * *
The Government of the Union, though limited in its powers, is supreme within its
sphere of action,
and laws when made in pursuance of the Constitution
form the supreme law of the land, “anything in the Constitution or laws of any State,
to the contrary notwithstanding" (pp. 405 and 406).
Since this decision there has been no effective challenge of the
proposition that the Federal Government exercises all the powers
delegated to it with the full attributes of sovereignty.
The commerce clause includes control of navigable streams.-The
power of Congress over navigation, under the commerce clause of the
Constitution, was recognized from the beginning. At the time the
46 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
"}
Constitution was adopted it was perfectly evident that the most
important agency of commerce then in existence was that of shipping,
especially our merchant marine. It is quite probable this was the
particular thing in the minds of the framers of the Constitution when
they incorporated the commerce clause into that document. This
question did, however, come up for court determination. It was one
of the particular questions before the court in the case of Gibbons v.
Ogden (9 Wheat., 1), and it was there held that the term "navigation
was just as effectually contained in the meaning of the phrase "to
regulate commerce" as though the word were actually used. In fact
the court suggested that it was more fully and more comprehensively
included than would have been the case if the word had been spe-
cifically used. This interpretation is undoubtedly correct because
the term "navigation" as an element of a larger conception is subject
to no narrow limits of definition. Mr. Justice Marshall, in delivering
the opinion of the court in the case above cited, remarked:
The power of Congress, then, comprehends navigation, within the limits of every
State in the Union, so far as that navigation may be, in any manner, connected with
commerce with foreign nations, or among the several States, or with the Indian tribes
(p. 197).
With respect to the scope of the power given to Congress in relation
to the control of commerce, he says:
This power, like all others invested in Congress, is complete in itself, may be exer-
cised to its utmost extent, and acknowledges no limitation other than are prescribed
in the Constitution (p. 196).
This decision unquestionably affirmed the exclusive and supreme
control of Congress over navigation.
The English definition of "navigable waters" enlarged. The further
question still remained, namely, what waters within and contiguous
to the United States were navigable, and hence subject to regulation
by Congress. The English definition of "navigable waters" undoubt-
edly prevailed in this country at that time. Under the English
definition only the lower reaches of a stream in which the tide ebbed
and flowed were regarded as navigable. But physical conditions in
this country were so wholly different from those which prevail in
England that this rule was found to be inapplicable, and was fortu-
nately set aside before the navigation of our inland waters became
a matter of great public importance. In the place of the English
definition the rule was established that a stream is navigable in law
which is navigable in fact. This rule was perhaps first clearly stated
in the case of the Genesee Chief et al. v. Fitzhugh et al. (12 How., 443).
Mr. Justice Taney, in stating the opinion of the court, said:
It is evident that a definition that would at this day (1851) limit public rivers in
in this country to tide water rivers is utterly inadmissible. We have thousands of
miles of public navigable water, including lakes and rivers, in which there is no tide.
This decision definitely established the supremacy of Congress over
the reaches of every stream which is navigable in fact, whether subject
to the ebb and flow of the tide or not.
The authority of Congress reaches to the sources of every stream.—The
right of Congress to assert its authority over nonnavigable reaches of
a stream or its nonnavigable tributaries was a question still subject
to much difference of opinion. Recognizing the lack of a definite
understanding as to its right to prevent every construction in either
the navigable or nonnavigable reaches of streams, Congress passed an
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
47
act in September, 1890, containing the following provision (26 Stat.,
454):
That the creation of any obstruction not affirmatively authorized by law to the
navigable capacity of any waters, in respect to which the United States has jurisdic-
tion, is hereby prohibited.
To enforce this prohibition, suitable penalties were provided.
Subsequent to this enactment the Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation
Co. constructed a dam in the Rio Grande at a point considerably
above the limit of its navigability. It was intended to divert the
waters impounded by the dam for purposes of irrigation. The United
States, through its district attorney, began proceedings to enjoin the
construction of the dam and diversion of the water. This case put
squarely before the court the question of the nature and extent of
the control which Congress may exert over nonnavigable streams.
Mr. Justice Brewer, in delivering the opinion of the court, used the
following language:
It is urged that the true construction of this act limits its applicability to obstructions
in the navigable portion of a navigable stream, and that as it appears that although
the Rio Grande may be navigable in the Territory of New Mexico, this statute has
no applicability. The language is general, and must be given full scope. It is not
a prohibition of any obstruction to the navigation, but any obstruction to the navi-
gable capacity, and anything, wherever done or however done, within the limits of
the jurisdiction of the United States which tends to destroy the navigable capacity
of one of the navigable waters of the United States, is within the terms of the pro-
hibition. Evidently Congress, perceiving that the time had come when the growing
interests of commerce required that the navigable waters of the United States should be
subjected to the direct control of the National Government, and that nothing should
be done by any State tending to destroy that navigability without the explicit assent
of the National Government, enacted the statute in question. And it would be to
improperly ignore the scope of this language to limit it to the acts done within the
very limits of navigation of a navigable stream.
There can be no doubt, since the rendering of this decision, that
the authority of Congress reaches to the remotest sources in the
mountains of every navigable stream. It could hardly be said that
any stream, no matter how small, which contributed its waters to
a navigable water course did not, at least to some extent, affect its
navigable capacity. Make it as small as you will, and yet it will be
difficult for the courts to say that Congress had no right to exercise
its jurisdiction. Furthermore, if the power of Congress to regulate
these streams is established, it must not be forgotten that its power
is just as potent and that it is just as sovereign in its capacity as when
exercising control over the navigable reaches of such water courses.
Any obstruction which Congress could order removed from a navi-
gable reach of a stream it could have equal authority to remove
from a nonnavigable reach; and any construction in or over such
stream which would be illegal in the one instance would be illegal in
the other, provided Congress should declare that such construction
interfered with the navigable capacity of the water course taken as a
whole.
Constructions in or over streams, either navigable or nonnavigable, are
within the control of Congress.-The control of water courses for pur-
poses of navigation inevitably includes the right to permit or forbid
construction in or over such waters. The court, in the case of the
Newport & Cincinnati Bridge Co. v. United States, said:
The paramount power of regulating bridges that affect the navigation of navigable
waters of the United States is in Congress. It comes from the power to regulate com-
merce with foreign nations and among States.
48 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
•
Nor is this power limited to constructions or actions directly
affecting the navigation of a navigable stream. Congress may con-
trol constructions or actions on nonnavigable portions of a stream
or on lands adjacent thereto. The question at issue in the case of
United States v. the Rio Grande Dam & Irrigation Co., supra, as well
as in that of the United States v. North Bloomfield Gravel Mining
Co. (81 Fed., 243), can lead to no other conclusion. That in actual
practice it is generally recognized and conceded that the permit from
Congress is necessary to construct a dam even in a nonnavigable
reach of a river is strongly evidenced in the following acts of Congress.
The names themselves sufficiently indicate that the dams were built
in nonnavigable localities.
Thus dams have been authorized at "Porter Shoals" (act Feb. 5, 1907, 34 Stat.,
712); at "the Des Moines Rapids" (act Feb. 8, 1901, 31 Stat., 764; act Feb. 9, 1906,
33 Stat., 712); at "Coon Rapids" (act Apr. 12, 1900, 31 Stat., 75); at "Rock Island
Rapids" (act Apr. 5, 1904, 33 Stat., 158); at "Sauk Rapids" (act Feb. 26, 1904, 33
Stat., 52); at "Methaline Falls" (act June 1, 1906, 34 Stat., 205); at "St. Croix Falls"
(act Feb. 6, 1903, 32 Stat., 802); at "Gregg Shoals" (act Feb. 5, 1907, 34 Stat., 876);
at "Hatton's Ford" (act Mar. 2, 1907, 34 Stat., 1240); at "McDaniel Shoals" (act
Mar. 2, 1909, 34 Stat., 1238); and at "Muscle Shoals" (act Mar. 6, 1906, 34 Stat., 52).¹
To be sure, any of the dams here mentioned might have been a
possible aid to navigation by providing slack-water navigation above
the dam, or Congress might have concluded that they would not be
a hindrance to navigation, or at least that other benefits to accrue to
the public because of their construction would outweigh such slight
obstruction as they caused. In any case the exact reason or motive
which may have led Congress to grant the permit is not a matter of
great importance. If it once be admitted that Congress may grant
or withhold its permit for constructions in nonnavigable reaches of a
stream on considerations affecting the navigability of the stream as a
whole, then Congress may exercise that power under any state of
facts which it considers suitable and proper. While it is well under-
stood that with respect to a certain class of permits Congress has and
will exercise this right, yet its own acts and the decisions of the
courts imply a power much more extensive than it has ever yet
exercised.
At any rate, if Congress were to pass an act requiring its permit
before a dam could be constructed in any part of a water course, either
navigable or nonnavigable, on the theory that such action was neces-
sary to the control of navigation it would be difficult to show that it
had exceeded its authority.
Congress may withhold its permit or grant with conditions.-It is
certainly safe to assume that the permit of Congress is very generally
necessary. In every case where the construction of a dam or the
diversion of water would be illegal or unwarranted without the con-
sent of Congress, it would seem to be the legal as well as the logical
consequence that if Congress may forbid such construction or diver-
sion it may also impose as a condition of its grant any terms whatso-
ever not in themselves involving a violation of the Constitution.
Neither does it seem essential that the conditions imposed shall relate
to purposes of navigation. Congress has made it à condition of its
permit to construct a bridge: (1) "That the grantee shall not charge
more than a certain price for the carriage of munitions of war, United
1 See "Control by Congress of water power developed in navigable waters of the United States," by
Edward B. Burling.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
49
States mails, or troops;" (2) "That it shall admit a joint occupancy
by other railroads upon certain terms." 1
These and similar conditions have been upheld by the court. (See
Stockton v. Baltimore Co., 32 Fed., 9; The Clinton Bridge, 10 Wall.,
454; Canada Southern Ry. Co. v. International Bridge Co., 8 Fed.,
190; Gilman v. Philadelphia, 3 Wall., 725; County of Mobile v.
Kimball, 102 U. S., 691.)
Many special acts as well as the general dam act of June 21, 1906,
and the amended act of June 23, 1910, provide for the construction of
fishways in accordance with the requirements of the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor, as a condition of the grant to construct the
dam. Certainly the preservation of fish is not a condition incident
to control over navigation. Yet the validity of this stipulation has
apparently never been challenged.1
The fact that the condition imposed may, as a matter of fact, be
intended to give Congress control over a subject which it otherwise
could not control, is not fatal to its validity. The famous act of
Congress laying a tax of 10 per cent on the issue of State banks was
notoriously intended for another purpose rather than that of raising
revenue. Yet the courts held that it was a constitutional exercise of
the right of Congress to lay and collect taxes. If Congress has not
transgressed its powers it does not seem pertinent to inquire whether
it was inspired to any particular act by an unconstitutional desire
and intention. Exactly this suggestion was made by the Court in
the case of Doyle v. Insurance Co. (94 U. S., 535).
The facts in this case were as follows: The State of Wisconsin had
revoked the license of a certain insurance company because it had
removed a case to the Federal courts, contrary to the terms on which
it was licensed to do business in the State. The Supreme Court had
upheld the right of the insurance company to so remove its case, not-
withstanding this restriction in its license, on the ground that the
State of Wisconsin had no constitutional right to annul the jurisdic-
tion of the Federal courts. Nevertheless, in the case above cited,
the same court held that—
If the State has the power to cancel the license, it has the power to judge of the
cases in which the cancellation shall be made. It has the power to determine for what
causes and in what manner the revocation shall be made (p. 542).
The argument that the revocation in question is made for an unconstitutional reason
can not be sustained. The suggestion confounds an act with an emotion or a mental
proceeding, which is not the subject of inquiry in determining the validity of a statute.
An unconstitutional reason or intention is an impracticable suggestion, which can
not be applied to the affairs of life. If the act done by the State is legal, is not in
violation of the Constitution or laws of the United States, it is quite out of the power
of any court to inquire what was the intention of those who enacted the law (p. 541).
It would seem, therefore, to be a settled principle of law that where
the power to grant or withhold a permit exists, then substantially any
conditions not in themselves unlawful may be imposed as a condition
of the grant. If such be the case, when the permit of Congress is
necessary for the construction of a dam for power purposes, there can
be no doubt of its power to impose charges or the right to regulate
the rates to be charged by the operating company, as a condition of
such grant.
There would seem to be a possible limitation, however, on the
effectiveness of the control of rates and quality of service by Congress,
1 See "Control by Congress of water power developed in navigable waters of the United States," by
Edward B. Burling.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2———4
50 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
as the result of such a stipulation in its grant. While there is no
doubt that such a stipulation would be binding and effective, so far
as the grantee is concerned, there is some question, due to the fact
that the relation is merely a contractual one, whether it would be
effective as against a third party with sovereign attributes, as a State
or municipality; whether, in fact, the grantee would not be subject
to complete regulation by State or municipal authorities, and whether
he could not, as an extreme possibility, be driven out of business in a
hostile community by the imposition of oppressive local regulations.
Congress in the exercise of any constitutional power may perform any
function incidental thereto.-Congress may, nevertheless, possess full
power to control the business of its grantee, so far as the public
interest may require, entirely free from any interference by the State
or municipality, upon quite a different consideration. In the exer-
cise of any legitimate power it has been repeatedly held that Congress
may exercise any necessarily incidental function. For example, it
has been held in the case of California v. the Central Pacific Railroad
Co. (127 U. S., 1), that-
Congress has authority in the exercise of its powers to regulate commerce among the
several States, to construct, or authorize individuals or corporations to construct, rail-
roads across the States and Territories of the United States.
In the case of United States v. Burley (172 Fed. Reporter, 615)
the court held that the United States Government could enter into
an incidental arrangement with private individuals while carrying
on a project for irrigating and reclaiming a large tract of arid public
domain. The application of this doctrine to the question of water
power created incidentally to the construction of a dam for the
improvement of navigation is admirably stated in the Kaukanna
Water Power Co. v. The Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Co., in 142
United States, 254. The court says, page 273:
But if in the erection of a public dam for a recognized public purpose there is neces-
sarily produced a surplus of water which may properly be used for manufacturing
purposes there is no sound reason why the State may not retain to itself the power of
controlling or disposing of such water as an incident of its right to make such improve-
ment. Indeed, it might become very necessary to retain the disposition of it in its
own hands in order to preserve at all times a sufficient supply for the purposes of naviga-
tion. If the riparian owners were allowed to tap the pond at different places and draw
off the water for their own use, serious consequences might arise, not only in connec-
tion with the public domain for the purposes of navigation, but between the riparian
owners themselves, as to the proper proportion each was entitled to draw-contro-
versies which could only be avoided by the State reserving to itself the immediate
supervision of the entire supply. As there is no need of the surplus running to waste,
there was nothing objectionable in permitting the State to let out the use of it to pri-
vate parties and thus reimburse itself for the expenses of the improvement.
The value of this water power created by the dam was much greater than that of
the river in its unimproved state in the hands of the riparian proprietors who had not
the means to make it available. These proprietors lost nothing that was useful to
them except the technical right to have the water flow as it had been accustomed
and the possibility of their being able some time to improve it. If the State could
condemn this use of the water with the other property of the riparian owner, it might
raise a revenue from it sufficient to compete the work which might otherwise fail.
There was every reason why a water power thus created should belong to the public
rather than to the riparian owners. Indeed, it seems to have been the practice, not
only in New York, but in Ohio, in Wisconsin, and perhaps in other States, in author-
izing the erection of dams for the purpose of navigation or other public improvement,
to reserve the surplus of water thereby created to be leased to private parties under
authority of the State; and where the surplus thus created was a mere incident to
secure an adequate amount of water for the public improvement, such legislation, it
is believed, has been uniformly sustained.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 51
On page 281 the court further says:
The dam was built for a public purpose, and the act provided that if in its construc-
tion any water power was incidentally created it should belong to the State and might
be sold or leased, in order that the proceeds of such sale or lease might assist in defray-
ing the expenses of the improvement. A ruling which would allow a single riparian
owner upon the pond created by this dam to take to himself one-half of the surplus
water, without having contributed anything toward the creation of such surplus or
the public improvement, would savor strongly of an appropriation of public property
for private use. If any such power were incidentally created by the erection of a dam,
it was obviously intended that it should belong to the public and be used for their
benefit, and not for the emolument of a private riparian proprietor. The cutting of
the embankment, under the circumstances of this case and the appropriation of
the surplus water which the water-power company had had no hand in creating was a
trespass which the court had a right to enjoin.
The question of the rights of the Green Bay & Mississippi Canal
Co., arising out of the legislation set forth supra in Green Bay &
Mississippi Canal Co. v. Kaukanna Water Power Co. (70 Wis., p.
635), was again presented to the Supreme Court of the United States.
in the case of Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Co. v. The Patton Paper
Co., reported in 172 United States, page 58. The court says, at the
bottom of page 68:
Whether the water power incidentally created by the erection and maintenance
of the dam and canal for the purposes of navigation in Fox River is subject to control
and appropriation by the United States only in operating those public works or by
the State of Wisconsin, within whose limits the Fox River lies, is the decisive question
of this case.
Upon the undisputed facts contained in the record we think it clear that the canal
company is possessed of whatever rights to the use of this incidental water power that
could be validly granted by the United States.
The court also quotes at some length from its decision in 142
United States, 254, and, in speaking of the rights of the Green Bay
Co., says, page 80:
So far, therefore, as the water powers and appurtenant lots are regarded as property,
it is plain that the title of the canal company thereto can not be controverted; and we
think it is equally plain that the mode and extent of the use and enjoyment of such
property by the canal company fall within the sole control of the United States. At
what points in the dam and canal the water for power may be withdrawn, and the quan-
tity which can be treated as surplus with due regard to navigation, must be determined
by the authority which owns and controls that navigation. In such matters there
can be no divided empire.
Finally, on page 82, the court says:
Our conclusion, then, is that as by the judgment of the supreme court of Wisconsin
there was drawn into the question the validity of an authority exercised under the
United States, to wit, the granting of said water powers, thereby depriving the plain-
tiff in error of property without due process of law, the judgment of that court must
be, and is hereby, reversed.
A petition was filed later for a rehearing of this case, which was
refused, the court saying, 173 United States, page 190:
While the courts of the State may legitimately take cognizance of controversies
between the riparian owners concerning the use and apportionment of the waters flow-
ing in the nonnavigable parts of the stream, they can not interfere, by mandatory
injunction or otherwise, with the control of the surplus water power incidentally cre-
ated by the dam and canal now owned and operated by the United States.
It would seem that practically every dam constructed for the bene-
fit of navigation, by virtue of which surplus water power was created,
would present substantially the same conditions as those adjudicated
in the cases above cited. It has been strenuously urged what the
Government could do itself directly it could do with equal legality
52 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
by a private agency, which would then become an agency of govern-
ment, and thus be clothed with a certain degree of sovereignty.
Federal control desirable. The above survey of the powers which
Congress has over the waterways of the country and questions inci-
dental thereto admittedly indicates the extreme limit to which Con-
gress may go under present decisions of the courts. But it is not to
be supposed that Congress would be tempted to invade a field of
activity which it could only enter by indirect methods unless it were
perfectly evident and generally agreed that it was in the public
interest to do so. It is well, however, that there should be no mis-
understanding as to the extent of the authority of Congress if it
should become necessary or expedient to exercise its full powers.
With the increasing unity of our national life and the growing neces-
sity of securing for human needs the maximum beneficial use of the
waters of every stream it will become increasingly necessary to treat
every stream with all its tributaries as a unit. In the nature of the
case so comprehensive a policy could be successfully administered
only by the Federal Government, and consequently the eventual
desirability of Federal control is easy to predict.
CONTROL OF THE HYDROELECTRIC BUSINESS.
A commodity of interstate commerce. While the most direct and
effective control of the hydroelectric business would undoubtedly
be accomplished by making it an incident of the general Federal
control of streams, yet in view of the important hydroelectric devel-
opment likely to take place in the near future, Congress may be
called upon to exercise its power of regulation in a manner quite apart
from its control over streams. The utilization of hydroelectric
power very generally requires its transmission across State bounda-
ries. The lines built for this purpose would then become the agency
of interstate commerce, and would undoubtedly be held to be subject
to Federal regulation. The Supreme Court of the United States has
several times held that companies engaged in the electrical transmission
of messages whose lines extend from one State to another are engaged
in interstate commerce. The electrical transmission of power under
exactly similar circumstances it is not to be doubted would also be
held to be a proper subject of Federal control.¹
Control of water power on the public domain.-The commission has
also given considerable attention to the question of the development
and control of water power on the public domain. Practically all
Federal lands now lie in the Western States. In nearly all these
States the common law of riparian proprietorship has been superseded
by constitutional or statutory provisions to the effect that the water
of all natural water courses is the property of the State. Each of
these jurisdictions provides a procedure by which water may be appro-
priated for beneficial use. As practically none of the streams within
the public domain is navigable, and Congress up to this time has
not to any considerable extent extended its authority to control the
navigable capacity of streams into their nonnavigable tributaries,
the jurisdiction of the States over the water has so far been admitted
1 Western Union Tel. Co. v. Texas, 105 Tex., 460; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Pendleton, 122 U. S., 347;
Western Union Tel. Co. v. James, 162 U. S., 650; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Commercial Milling Co., 218
U. S., 406, 416; Western Union Tel. Co. v. Crovo, 220 U. S., 364.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 53
by the Federal Government. But in order to prevent these great
natural water powers from being exploited for private gain, the
Federal Government has undertaken to control the situation by
means of its proprietorship of the public lands. It has endeavored
to accomplish this in two ways: (1) By withdrawing from entry a
large number of the most valuable sites with the intention of with-
holding them temporarily until some adequate means of control can
be provided; and (2) by conferring on the Interior Department and
the Forest Service of the Department of Agriculture power to make
rules for the use of public lands, which must be accepted as a condi-
tion of the permit for such use.
The only form of permit which these departments were authorized
by law to grant was one revocable at will, and no provision was made
for uniformity of action between the departments having jurisdiction,
nor was any attempt made to harmonize the homestead entry laws
or the mining-claim laws with this new administrative policy. Great
confusion and the practical suspension of the water-power develop-
ment has naturally resulted from this indirect attempt to do by the
agency of proprietorship what could have been done with the utmost
potency by the right of sovereignty. While the commission feels
that eventually a comprehensive policy, based on the sovereign right
of the Government to exercise complete control over every stream
and having uniform application in all of the States of the Union, will
be the only satisfactory solution of this important question, it recog-
nizes that such a policy must be wrought out gradually. The
recommendations hereinafter made it believes are consistent with
such a plan and at the same time meet the most immediate needs
for constructive legislation.
SPECIAL RECOMMENDATIONS.
The commission has considered and would suggest certain amend-
ments to existing laws which they believe will materially better
present conditions, both in respect to the development and control
of water power on navigable streams and within the public domain.
The general dam act. Several of these recommendations relate to
the general dam act of June 23, 1910. Section 4 reads as follows:
That all rights acquired under this act shall cease and be determined if the person,
company, or corporation acquiring such rights shall at any time fail, after receiving
reasonable notice thereof, to comply with any of the provisions and requirements of
the act, or with any of the stipulations and conditions that may be prescribed as afore-
said by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War, including the payment into
the Treasury of the United States of the charges provided for by section one of this
act: Provided, That Congress may revoke any rights conferred in pursuance of this act
whenever it is necessary for public use, and in the event of any such revocation by
Congress the United States shall pay the owners of any dam and appurtenant works
built under authority of this act, as full compensation, the reasonable value thereof,
exclusive of the value of the authority or franchise granted, such reasonable value to
be determined by mutual agreement between the Secretary of War and the said owners,
and in case they can not agree, then by proceedings instituted in the United States
circuit court for the condemnation of such properties: And provided also, That the
authority granted under or in pursuance of the provisions of this act shall terminate
at the end of a period not to exceed fifty years from the date of the original approval of
the project under this act, unless sooner revoked as herein provided or Congress shall
otherwise direct: Provided, however, That this limitation shall not apply to any cor-
poration or individual heretofore authorized by the United States or by any State to
construct a dam in or across a navigable waterway, upon which dam expenditures of
money have heretofore been made in reliance upon such grant or grants.
54 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Form of grant defective. It will be noted that this section provides
for a limited term franchise or grant, the term being limited to 50
years, and makes no provision for the disposition of the property at
the expiration of the grant. Experience shows that this provision is
not well suited to encourage development of water power or to protect
the public interest. Nothing is more discouraging to the investment
of capital than uncertainty. A grantee of the Government under this
condition of grant might hope, if he had endeavored to render the
best service possible under the circumstances, that Congress at the
end of the grant would be inclined to treat him fairly or even gener-
ously and that he would not be deprived of his property without
compensation; but considering that it is a hope which involves the
uncertainty of future policies, it is one not easy to capitalize. The
only safe supposition is that the plant will be forfeited to the Govern-
ment at the end of the period, and on this basis the enterprise must be
financed. This means that provision must be made for amortizing the
plant by the end of the 50 years. The business must earn during this
time enough to pay all operating expenses, the annual interest on the
investment, charges resulting from depreciation and obsolescence,
and in addition enough to repay the entire cost of the original plant,
together with all improvements and additions; otherwise the enterprise
is foredoomed to financial disaster. No company would accept a
grant on such terms unless they were allowed to make such charges
for their service or output as would enable them to meet all these
financial obligations. Where prevented by the regulations of some
State commission or by competition with other forms of power from
collecting such charges, no development will take place. Hence the
necessity of amortizing the plant, in addition to all other costs of
rendering the service, will inevitably result in an increased charge to
the consumer, which amounts to a tax, of doubtful equity, on the
local community for the benefit of the General Government. This
unnecessary burden could be avoided if Congress would enact
legislation providing for a more equitable form of franchise.
Types of franchises considered. The commission has given much
consideration to the kind or form of franchise best adapted to protect
the public interest and at the same time encourage water power
development. The public interest requires first of all that the water
powers be developed, for in no other way can these great natural
resources be conserved, but the public equally requires that the
franchises granted for this purpose shall contain ample safeguards
for an adequate public control.
In discussing this problem of a suitable form of franchise three
things should be constantly kept in mind: (1) That water-power
development in the modern sense means hydroelectric development,
which can be successfully carried on only on a large scale; (2) that
in the nature of the case hydroelectric companies are liable to become
public service or quasi public service enterprises; and (3) that they
possess an inherent tendency to become monopolistic. The conclu-
sion to be drawn from this state of facts is that their development
should be carefully controlled in the public interest, and that their
operation, service, and charges must be regulated by an adequate
public authority.
The merits of the three ordinary forms of franchise, namely, the
grant in perpetuity, the indeterminate grant, and the limited term
grant, have been considered. Of these the grant in perpetuity may
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
55
be dismissed as not consistent with the public interest. If this form
of grant is without compensation or restriction of any sort, it repre-
sents a mere squandering of natural resources, while an attempt to
fix its value in advance is exceedingly difficult. Generally such
grants result in placing a mortgage and handicap on the prosperity
of future generations. A company operating with such a franchise
and not subject to adequate restrictions is constantly tempted to
abuse its powers by such methods as overcapitalization, high rates,
inadequate equipment, and poor service. Probably no one would
seriously advocate this type of franchise now unless he expected to
be the beneficiary of the grant, although occasionally a community,
in its anxiety to secure some form of public service, is willing to make
almost any concession. Of course some of the defects of a perpetual
grant can be cured by restrictions incorporated in the franchise, but
practical experience with this type of grant has been so generally
unsatisfactory that it can not be recommended.
The indeterminate grant is a type of franchise which provides for
tenure only so long as the company is rendering satisfactory service.
The essential feature of this form of grant is that it may be terminated
at any time at will, or under fixed procedure, by the proper authori-
ties. The property may be taken over by the public or transferred
to a third party on the payment of a fair valuation. This form of
franchise contemplates that the operation of the utility will be con-
stantly watched and supervised by some established public authority.
The franchise may contain restrictions or requirements, such as the
payment of compensation, the rendering of an auxiliary service, or
the periodic adjustment of rates, while minor conflicts of interest
between the public and the utility company may be in constant
process of adjustment through the agency of a public service com-
mission or similar body. This form of franchise is especially suited
to municipal utilities, where considerable elasticity is needed, because
of constantly changing requirements of service, and also because in
a compact community the character and needs of a service may be
generally understood and its supervision readily accomplished. It
might not prove equally applicable to the control of water-power
development by the Federal Government, because no suitable admin-
istrative body exists, and because water powers, being scattered
throughout the United States, would naturally be developed under
widely varying conditions, with which it would be very difficult for
any central commission to adequately acquaint itself. It may also be
remarked that most of the features which have made the indetermi-
nate franchise successful can be incorporated and applied equally
well under the form of "term grants."
The limited term grant is a type of franchise which, in its simplest
form, provides for a limited period of tenure and the reversion of the
property to the governing unit at the end of the grant. Like all forms
of franchise, it may be modified by an infinite variety of terms and
conditions. Perhaps the most common modification is a special pro-
vision requiring payment for the property or making other stipula-
tions as to its disposal upon the expiration of the grant. The chief
objections to this form of franchise are (1) that it is impossible to
determine whether it would prove to be in the public interest to take
over a utility or renew negotiations for an extension of the grant at
any arbitrarily selected time, and (2) that when the enormous amount
and varied character of equipment usually required in operations of
56 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
this sort, and also the numerous and varying contracts involved, are
considered it is evident that to wind up the affairs of such an enter-
prise on an arbitrarily selected date is a task of extreme difficulty.
The special advantage of this form of grant is that the time finally
comes when the public automatically repossesses itself of its rights
and finds itself occupying a position of advantage in conducting future
negotiations as its interests at the time may require.
While the period of tenure is a feature of undoubted importance,
it is not in the sine qua non of a perfect franchise which it is sometimes
assumed to be, the nature of the tenure might be such as to make the
time element merely incidental. For example, a grant in perpetuity
which contained a provision that some public authority might take
possession of the property and operate it in the public interest or
lease it to a third party for that purpose, guaranteeing to the original
grantees merely title to their property and a reasonable return on
their investment, would be a perpetual grant of an empty name only.
It might be impossible to annul the charter, except by extraordinary
procedure, but the only powers it granted could be readily recovered.
So an indeterminate grant, which did not provide for a direct and effec-
tive way of ousting an unsatisfactory grantee at will, might prove to
be "indeterminate" only in the sense that it could not be terminated.
The suitability of a franchise to protect the public interest in any given
case must depend on the nature of its terms taken in their entirety.
The undue reliance which has been placed upon provisions merely
limiting the period of tenure as a means of curbing and controlling
public-service corporations is based on certain misconceptions of the
problem. All such provisions proceed on the theory that the service
may be discontinued or the plant for producing it destroyed or
removed. Where no such procedure is in fact contemplated, the
reservation of this authority as a threat to be used in compelling good
behavior on the part of the grantee only results in enhancing the risk
of the investment and consequently the cost of securing capitai for
the enterprise, all of which must be eventually charged up to the con-
sumer in the cost of service.
Much more intelligent franchises will be framed when two funda-
mental assumptions are thoroughly understood and conceded by both
the grantor and the grantee: (1) That the service to be provided is
to continue indefinitely, and (2) that the plant for supplying the service
will always exist. Even if the latter assumption should prove incor-
rect, it is immaterial, for if a certain form of public service should no
longer be required, the public interest would thereby disappear. In
making the second assumption, of course it is not presumed that the
original plant will always remain, but that a plant, renewed, enlarged,
improved, and kept at the highest state of efficiency that new inven-
tions and facilities may make possible, will be a permanent fixture.
The public interest is to secure the best possible service at the lowest
cost, which predicates the existence of an efficient and economical
plant. If these assumptions are correct, the terms of a franchise
ought to encourage and not discourage the creation of such a plant.
This will be best accomplished by provisions that will assure the actual
investor of the permanency and security of his investment, and guar-
antee to the public that every dollar spent in constructing and improv-
ing the property shall be expended honestly and as efficiently as
human judgment will permit. In short, the permanency of the service
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 57
and of the plant to supply it are considerations quite apart from the
agency which is to administer it. Unquestionably the terms of a
franchise should afford to the governing unit the utmost facility in
removing or replacing the agency operating a public utility whenever
the public interest requires.
With respect to the proportion of the expense of building and main-
taining any public-service plant that should be borne by those enjoy-
ing the service during any particular period, Mr. Milo R. Maltbie, of
the New York Public Service Commission, for the first district, has
the following to say:
If it is urged that the property of a public-service corporation should revert to the
city at some time free of cost, one must ask, upon what grounds? Why should the pres-
ent generation be burdened to accumulate a fund from which it gets no benefit in order
that some future generation, some future class of users, may have the use of property
free of charge? Why is it not just that each generation should bear its own burdens
and pay the full cost of the services it uses and of the benefits it enjoys? Should not
this theory be applied in short periods so far as possible, so that year by year the user
would pay the actual cost, as nearly as it may be apportioned, of the service rendered
to him?
Of course in computing “actual cost” there should be sufficient allowance to cover
depreciation due to wear, obsolescence and inadequacy, insurance, and every other
charge that might arise. If future generations are not to enjoy benefits for which they
do not pay, they ought not to be burdened with debts or charges from which they get
no benefit. If one is to err in either direction, it should be toward overcharging
rather than undercharging the present. The future will have burdens to bear which
can not be foreseen.
Compensation for property at end of grant should be provided. The
form of franchise provided in the general dam act of June 23, 1910, is
a sort of combination of an indeterminate and limited term grant.
It presents the rather anomalous situation that if the Government
should take over the property at the end of 45 or 49 years it would be
required to pay its actual value plus a substantial bonus, but at the
end of 50 years the property apparently reverts to the Government,
free of any cost. Probably it was not contemplated by Congress that
the Government would ever actually acquire the property by either
of these provisions. The provisions for ousting a grantee at any time
on payment for the property is apparently intended to protect the
Government against an emergency which would require the removal
of a dam or other works, because of an unforeseen exigency of naviga-
tion. Since it is not specifically provided that at the expiration of the
grant there shall be no compensation if the property is taken over by
the Government, it can be assumed that Congress intended to post-
pone the establishment of a definite policy in that regard.
The commission would recommend that this act be amended so as
to provide for the valuation of and compensation for property in
the manner hereinafter suggested.
Valuation. The most important objection to the form of grant
provided by the general dam act, namely, that it contains no provi-
sion for payment for the property in case a grant is not renewed,
has already been pointed out. In fixing the value of property in case
it should become necessary for the Government to take it over or
require its transfer to a new grantee, two factors are involved:
(1) What property shall be included in the appraisal, and (2) by what
method shall the valuation be determined.
As to the first question, it seems clear to the commission, after con-
sidering fully the nature of the hydroelectric business and the char-
58
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
acter of equipment required, that the dam, power house, machinery,
and all other works and equipment appurtenant thereto, useful and
convenient for the generation of hydroelectric or hydromechanical
power, together with transmission lines extending from the power
plant to initial points of distribution, should be included in the prop-
erty taken over, but such valuation should not include any part of
any distributing system, any auxiliary plant (unless it be appurte-
nant to and a part of structures built for developing the water power),
or any other property, physical or otherwise, not already designated.
To formulate an equitable rule for determining the value of public
service or quasi-public service enterprises is, generally speaking, a
very difficult and complex problem. Much depends upon circum-
stances. In the case of Smyth v. Ames, 169 U. S. 466, one of the
questions before the court was the proper method of determining
what are reasonable rates of service. Mr. Justice Harlan, in deliver-
ing the opinion of the court, said:
The basis of all calculations as to the reasonableness of rates to be charged must be
the fair value of the property used. In order to ascertain that value the original cost
of construction, the amount expended in permanent improvements, the amount and
market value of bonds and stocks, the present as compared with the original cost of
construction, the probable earning capacity of the property under particular rates
prescribed by a statute, and the sum required to meet operating expenses, are all
matters to be considered.
The commission is of the opinion, in case of grants relating to
development of water powers, that the concern of the Federal Gov-
ernment or its obligation to the grantee does not extend beyond the
guarantee of a reasonable valuation and compensation for the
physical property already described, such reasonable valuation to
be determined by mutual agreement between the executive officers
of the Government and the grantees, and in case they can not agree,
then by proceedings instituted in the United States circuit court for
the condemnation of such property. The rule for determining the
physical value should be the cost of replacing the structures and equip-
ment with other structures and equipment which would produce and
transmit the same amount of marketable power with equal efficiency,
and to the amount so determined there should be added a premium
of 10 per cent. The addition of a premium above the actual replace-
ment value is undoubtedly justified, because in the development of
any industry, even when carried on with the utmost skill and effi-
ciency, there is necessarily a certain amount of experimentation and
loss in replacing inadequate equipment, which is a perfectly legiti-
mate element of the cost and value of a plant, but which is not
represented in a replacement valuation.
Negotiations for renewal. It is the common history of all franchises
involving any form of public service that as the term of the grant
approaches its expiration it becomes difficult to secure capital for
any needed improvements or additions. Retrenchments are prac-
ticed, the service deteriorates, and much inconvenience is occasioned
to the public, and ill feeling engendered. Most of these evils could
be remedied by providing that negotiations for renewal may begin
at a reasonable period before the expiration of a grant. The com-
mission would recommend that not more than 15 years prior to the
expiration of any grant for water power development or permit for
the use of public lands either the Government or the grantee may
open negotiations for its renewal and that during the pendency of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
59
such negotiations, or at any time prior to the expiration of a grant,
the Government may require the grantee to make any improvements
or enlargement of its plant which the public interest may demand;
and that not more than 10 years prior to the expiration of any fran-
chise the Government may issue its grant to a new grantee, to take
effect on the expiration of the orginal franchise, and shall, at an
appropriate time, arrange for the valuation, sale, and transfer of the
property.
The public domain.—The commission would also recommend certain
changes in laws relating to public lands which it is believed will encour-
age the development of water power within the public domain and at
the same time fully safeguard the public interest.
A person or company which desires to make a water-power develop-
ment within the public domain in any locality not withdrawn from
entry must first appropriate the water in conformity with the laws of
the State in which such power site is located. He or they must then
apply to either the Secretary of Agriculture or the Secretary of the
Interior, as the case may be, for permission to use such portion of the
public domain as may be required for the construction of the dam and
power plant, and the transmission lines necessary to convey the power
to market. Under existing law the respective heads of these depart-
ments can only issue a permit revocable at will, and subject to such
charges and conditions as they may see fit to impose. These lands
are still subject to entry either under the homestead laws or the laws
relating to mining claims, and where such entry has been perfected it
automatically revokes the permit. The permit is also automatically
revoked in the event that jurisdiction over public lands covered by
the permit is transferred from one department to the other; as, for
example, the establishment of a forest reserve in the public domain
would transfer jurisdiction from the Department of the Interior to the
Department of Agriculture. Further, there is no provision for the
establishment of uniform rules for the use of the public domain by
these departments. The uncertainty of the tenure and conditions of
the grant necessarily involved in this situation has practically defeated
any considerable water-power development within the public domain.
The commission would earnestly recommend that some relief from
this condition be provided. It would suggest, first, that the mining
laws be so amended that mining entries can be made in localities
suited to water-power development, only under conditions that will
not interfere with the convenient and suitable use of such lands for
water-power development, and that use for water-power purposes,
when a permit has been granted, shall be paramount to any other use.
It would also recommend that homestead and other forms of land
entries should be subject to the right of the proper authorities to
issue a permit for the construction of transmission lines, conduits,
ditches, or other necessary works over such claim, provided a reason-
able compensation be made to the entryman in case the entry is per-
fected; or that the permittees of the Federal Government for the
construction of transmission lines be given the power of eminent
domain, or that both these remedies be granted.
It would also recommend that authority be granted to the proper
executive officers to issue permits for a period not to exceed 50 years,
subject to such reasonable conditions and charges as the public inter-
est may require, that uniform rules for the use of the public domain
60
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
be formulated and promulgated by the departments, and that a trans-
fer of jurisdiction over any public lands from one department to
another shall not revoke the permit.
An executive board.—The commission has also considered the desir-
ability of creating some executive authority, perhaps preferably an
ex-officio board to consist of the Secretary of War, Secretary of the
Interior, and the Secretary of Agriculture, which shall be authorized,
under such conditions as Congress may impose, to grant permits for
the construction of dams and appurtenant structures for power and
other purposes in navigable streams and upon the public domain.
Such a plan would give to Congress full opportunity to determine the
general policy of such grants and make such changes from time to
time as conditions might suggest, but would relieve it from the neces-
sity of passing a special act for each grant, which to all intents is an
executive function. A board so constituted would have the utmost
facility for securing the most reliable engineering and other expert
information necessary for an intelligent determination of the facts.
Such a board would also most readily coordinate the activities of the
departments having to do with the public domain, and would facil-
itate the promulgation of uniform rules for the use of public land.
Besides granting permits for dams in navigable streams and estab-
lishing uniform rules for the use of the public domain, such a board
could most readily perform certain other administrative functions
which Congress could not very conveniently or properly undertake,
but for which every franchise should provide. One such provision
has already been suggested, that of valuing and taking over or trans-
ferring to a third party the property of a grantee on the expiration
of a grant, in case such a course were found necessary in order to pro-
tect the public interest. Such a board should also, in the first
instance, be authorized to institute an examination to determine, in
each case, whether a proposed development would be consistent with
the utilization of the entire power possibilities of the stream as well
as with the maximum beneficial use of its waters for all other purposes.
Another important administrative necessity is that of approving or
forbidding the assignment of franchises. The securing of franchises
for water-power development for purely speculative purposes, where
there is no bona fide intention of making the development on the part
of the original grantee, is one of the most evident dangers to be
guarded against. The combining of competitive plants by assign-
ment of grants for the purpose of eliminating competition and raising
rates of service is another possible abuse of the privilege granted.
The evils which might result in either of the above-described cases
can be prevented by making franchises transferable only with the
approval and consent of some public authority. Under other cir
cumstances the assignment of a franchise might be in the public
interest and highly desirable. The commission would, therefore,
recommend that it be made a condition of every grant that it is
not assignable except with the consent of the proper Government
authority.
It is in the very nature of water-power development that in many
instances it will involve contracts for long periods of service. In
many instances there would be no justification for the development
unless there were assurance that the service would continue indefi-
nitely. For example, when water can not be secured by gravitation
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 61
for purposes of irrigation, and water power is developed primarily for
pumping water for that purpose, uncertain or short-term contracts
would not be acceptable or feasible. During the early years of a
50-year grant satisfactory contracts could probably be made, but as
the life of the grant became shorter, it would be increasingly difficult
to negotiate acceptable contracts, as a contract for service extending
beyond the limit of the grant would render the grantee liable to dam-
age for nonfulfillment in case his franchise was not renewed.
The public interest would seem to require that in cases where long-
term contracts are essential to the welfare of the community, they
should be permitted under suitable control. The commission would
recommend that water-power grants should provide that during the
last 25 years of the term the grantee may contract for the sale of
power or the rendering of service for a period extending beyond the
term of his franchise, provided such contract has the approval and
sanction of some public authority; and in case the original grant is
not renewed no other grant should be made unless the grantee shall
assume the performance of such contracts.
Public use should be preferred to private use. The commission has
also given consideration to the question as to what extent a public,
especially municipal use, should be preferred to a private use in
making grants for water power development. As the supply of coal
becomes exhausted, a source of power for the operation of certain
public utilities is sure to become a matter of enormous public impor-
tance, although it is recognized that, generally speaking, this is a
problem of only remote concern. As already stated, conservative
estimates indicate that our supply of anthracite coal may become
exhausted within the present century, and that our supply of bitu-
minous coal, with reasonable allowance for increased consumption,
will last some 700 years. In special instances, however, the require-
ment of power for public service purposes, for which coal is not
readily available, is a very immediate and tangible concern. The
commission would recommend that where conditions of this sort
arise, public officials charged with the responsibility of issuing grants
should give due consideration to the preference to which these uses
are entitled.
Charges and regulation.—That a grant for water power develop-
ment constitutes a special privilege, for which the Government is
entitled to proper compensation, is a principle which should be
clearly established. The actual value of such privilege will, of course,
vary greatly under different conditions. Every grant of the Govern-
ment should, however, be dependent on the payment of such reason-
able charges as may be determined by the circumstances and equities
involved in each case. The commission does not suggest or advise
that this right or power of Congress should be invoked as a means
of raising revenue for general purposes, but only to reimburse the
Government for the cost of surveys, inspection and similar expenses,
and for the purpose of controlling the use of streams in the interest of
the public.
As already stated, it is the opinion of the commission that the
hydroelectric business, both because of its intimate relation to the
use of streams for purposes of navigation and because it will inevi-
tably, in many instances, become interstate in the scope of its opera-
tions, must eventually become a subject of complete Federal control.
62 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
While we believe that the business has not yet reached a stage of
development such as to make that policy immediately desirable, it is
rapidly approaching that stage. The commission would recommend
that for the present all questions arising between the operating com-
pany and the consumers of its product or service be left to the con-
trol of the several States within which such companies may be doing
business, except in cases where the authority and power of neither
municipalities or the State are adequate to protect the public interest;
but with the fullest understanding that within the comparatively
near future this feature of its regulation must also inevitably pass
to the Federal Government.
Respectfully submitted.
THEODORE E. BURTON, Chairman.
JACOB H. GALLINGER, Vice Chairman.
SAMUEL H. PILES.
WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH.
F. M. SIMMONS.
WM. LORIMER.
JAMES P. CLARKE.
D. S. ALEXANDER.
FREDERICK C. STEVENS.
IRVING P. WANGER.
S. M. SPARKMAN.
JOHN A. MOON.
APPENDICES.
63
APPENDIX I.
PRELIMINARY REPORT UNITED STATES NATIONAL WATERWAYS
COMMISSION.
The National Waterways Commission, composed of 12 members
bers of the Senate and House of Representatives, was created by act
of Congress of March 3, 1909. The duty imposed upon it by statute
was to investigate questions pertaining to water transportation and
the improvement of waterways and to make recommendations to
Congress.
The commission has had under consideration the topics assigned
to it, and has held numerous meetings, both in the United States
and Europe. Seven of the twelve members took a somewhat ex-
tended tour for the examination of European waterways in the
months from August to October last. In addition, a majority of
the members of the commission examined the Mississippi River from
St. Paul to New Orleans in November, 1909, and some of them also,
during the same month, inspected the Missouri River from Kansas
City to its mouth, and the Illinois River from its lower portion
up to the head of navigation. It may be added that the commission
includes in its membership Senators or Representatives who at
different times during the last 10 years have examined nearly all of
the waterways of the United States. Consequently its members are
enabled to bring to the consideration of the problem a very con-
siderable familiarity with the waterways both of the United States
and of Europe as well. The commission has been aided in the
course of its investigations by officials detailed from the War and
Navy Departments, and has obtained the assistance of other experts
in waterway transportation. In the framing of this report especial
aid has been rendered by Rear Admiral C. S. Sperry, of the Navy
Department; Col. W. H. Bixby, and Maj. F. A. Mahan, retired, of the
Corps of Engineers, United States Army; and also by Prof. Frank H.
Dixon, of Darmouth College, and Mr. E. O. Merchant, of Columbia
University. Numerous inquiries have been sent to commercial
bodies and waterway improvement associations, most of which
have met with a cordial response. The officials of European countries,
in which waterway systems have been developed, and our consuls
abroad, have rendered generous aid in the furnishing of material and
in affording suggestions.
Under the statute creating the commission, it was provided that a
preliminary report should be filed not later than January 1, 1910,
containing conclusions reached by the commission upon the several
subjects investigated. Unavoidable conditions have caused a few
days' delay.
The commission now presents its preliminary report. In reaching
conclusions upon the specific items set forth in the statute creating
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-5
65
66
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
pro-
the commission, it has been deemed necessary to report also upon
related topics, such, for illustration, as water power and bank
tection, which are assuming prominence in connection with the river
and harbor legislation.
It has been impossible to give such elaborate and careful investiga-
tion as the members desire to all of the questions pertaining to water-
way improvement. In a later report it is intended that further
recommendations will be made, and such additional material as may
be collected will be filed with Congress. The conclusions presented
express the unanimous opinion of all the members of the commission,
except in one instance, as set forth on page 11.
Several articles prepared by Messrs. Sperry, Bixby, and Merchant
mentioned above as assistants to the commission, and by others are
attached as appendices. Some of these are statistical merely. These
appendices are regarded as of very substantial value, although the
commission expresses neither approval nor disapproval of the views
therein set forth.
In reaching its conclusions the commission has separately con-
sidered the following distinct topics:
First. The reasons for decline in inland waterway transportation,
together with suggested remedies therefor, and the relation between
waterway and railway transportation.
Second. Canals, including especially the advisability and practical
value of canals for deep-draft vessels.
Third. The necessary steps to be taken before the adoption of proj-
ects for the improvement of rivers and harbors, and the method of
making appropriations therefor.
Fourth. The proper division between appropriations by the Federal
Government on the one hand and the States, minor political divisions,
and individuals on the other.
Fifth. The relation of waterway improvements to bank protection,
flood and drought prevention, irrigation, and drainage.
Sixth. The most desirable policy relating to harbors, including the
ownership and control of wharves and docks.
Seventh. The relation of waterway improvements to water power.
Eighth. Methods for the improvement of rivers, including the con-
struction of locks and dams.
Ninth. Comparison of European waterways with those of the
United States, including an investigation of European and American
transportation rates both by land and by water.
I.
THE REASONS FOR DECLINE IN INLAND WATERWAY TRANSPORTATION,
TOGETHER WITH SUGGESTED REMEDIES THEREFOR, AND THE RELA-
TION BETWEEN WATERWAY AND RAILWAY TRANSPORTATION.
The commission has had under consideration the manifest decrease
in water-borne traffic on a majority of the rivers and inland water-
ways of the country.¹ On many there has been an absolute decrease,
1 The most reliable statistics relating to water-borne traffic are to be found in the Census Report on
Transportation by Water, 1906, published in 1908; Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Trans-
portation by Water in the United States, 1909; and the annual reports of the Chief of Engineers to and
fncluding 1909. The commission has also examined numerous reports of chambers of commerce and trade
bodies. See also Preliminary Report, Inland Waterways Commission (1908), pp. 35 to 176.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 67
while on others the falling off has been merely relative. In these
latter cases, although the aggregate traffic by rail and water has been
greatly multiplied, the proportional share carried by water has very
noticeably diminished. Perhaps the most striking illustration of this
is the traffic of the Erie Canal. In 1880 this canal carried between
Buffalo and New York 4,608,651 tons, or 18 per cent of the total
traffic, while in 1906 (the latest year for which statistics are avail-
able) the canal carried only 2,385,491 tons, or 3 per cent of the total
traffic, as against 78,703,315 tons transported by the New York
Central and Erie Railways. Not only has the actual traffic on the
canal decreased nearly 50 per cent since 1880, but the relative amount
carried by the canal, as compared with the two railroads, has fallen
off from 18 per cent to 3 per cent. Likewise, on as important a
river as the Hudson, the local commerce, exclusive of what comes
through the Erie Canal, has shown some decline, while as shown by
the reports of the Army engineers, the commerce for the section of
river between Coxsackie and the State dam at Troy, including the
Erie Canal traffic, has declined from 4,045,895 tons in 1898 to
2,945,921 tons in 1908. On a number of southern rivers also, such
as the Altamaha, Tombigbee, and Pearl, there has been a marked
decline in river traffic.
Quite as striking is the decrease in traffic on the Mississippi River
and most of its tributaries. The following figures emphasize this fact:
Freight shipments, Mississippi River system, for 1889 and 1906.
[Compiled from Census Report, Transportation by Water, 1906, p. 181.]
1906.
Change
since 1889.
1889-
total tons.
Self-propellers.
Barges and tows.
Total tons.
Gain. Loss.
Tons.
Per cent.
Tons.
Per cent.
P.ct. P. ct.
Upper Mississippi..
153,932
25.8
441,953
74.2
1
595,88513,947,364
85
Other tributaries
Illinois River.
Missouri River.
above St. Louis.....
32, 764
31.0
73,062
69.0
84, 790
8.2
952, 269
91.8
105,826
1,037,059
180, 264
41
2,132,820
49
1,876
9.7
17,455
90.3
19,331
Total upper riv-
er system..
273,362
15.5
1,484, 739
84.5
1,758, 101
Ohio River system....
1,246, 437
8.2
13,980,368
91.8
Lower Mississippi sys-
tem..
835, 587
32.8
1,710,600
67.2
15,226, 805
2,546, 187
6,260,448
15,796, 968
6,232,087
72
23
59
Total Mississippi
system....
2,355, 386
12.1 | 17,175,707
87.9 19,531,093 28,289,503
31
1 These figures do not include ferry traffic at St. Louis.
Other tables furnished by the Department of Commerce and Labor,
classifying these shipments by commodities, show that the main items
of decrease have been logs and lumber, ice, grain, coal, iron ore, and
general merchandise on the upper Mississippi River system, and
grain, lumber, cotton, and general merchandise on the lower Missis-
sippi River system. The decline in the rafting of logs and lumber
is responsible for a considerable share of the decrease shown.
On the other hand, the traffic on the Great Lakes has increased
enormously. The total commerce passing through the Sault Ste.
Marie Canals, where very accurate statistics are collected, amounted
68 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
to 3,256,628 tons for the season of 1885, 21,234,664 tons for 1898,
while for 1908 it had increased to 41,390,557 tons, and for 1909 to
57,895,149 tons. Increased channel depth and lock facilities have
been provided from time to time to meet the increasing traffic. It
should be stated, however, that the Great Lakes are in a class by
themselves. Likewise on some rivers, such as the Monongahela,
the Kanawha, and a number of minor streams, the traffic has shown
a considerable increase. On the Ohio River the aggregate tonnage
has been well maintained; also on portions of the Tennessee it has
shown some increase. A notable feature of the traffic upon some
rivers has been the development of transportation for short dis-
tances, including ferry traffic.
The most frequent argument for river transportation has been that
for coarser freights over long distances water transportation afforded
very great advantages. There can be little question of the general
accuracy of this statement. A boat or barge floating in the water is
readily moved and at low speeds requires far less power than the
movement of a railway car or other receptacle for freight used on
land. The general statement has been made and widely accepted
that with an equal expenditure of power about five times as much
freight can be handled by water as by rail. The expense of equip-
ping a transportation line, at least so far as the boats are concerned,
is but trivial in comparison with that of constructing a railway.
River transportation again has a decided advantage in that the waters
are free, and anyone having the requisite capital and ability can en-
gage in the business. This tends to create competition and to
prevent monopoly. Indeed, it may be asserted, as a general propo-
sition, that in any highly advanced country it is extremely desirable
that an abundance of transportation facilities be furnished and
that means be afforded for the carriage of freight not only by rail,
but by water as well. It is a matter of common occurrence that in
years of great crops or unusual prosperity the railways of the country
have been unable to provide for the prompt and efficient performance
of their duties as common carriers. The existence of this condition
affords an independent argument for the development of transpor-
tation routes by water, even in localities where shippers mainly
depend upon railways.
It has been the aim of the commission to find the explanation of
the marked tendencies which have become manifest in the dimin-
ished use of most of the inland waterways of the country, and, if
possible, to point out certain remedies.
It is the opinion of the commission that the most important factor
in the decrease of water-borne traffic alongside of and contempora-
neously with the great increase in railway traffic is due to the relations
existing between these two great agencies for transportation.
The many advantages which a railway has in competition with a
water route may be grouped into two general classes.
1. Those inherent or fundamental advantages which are based upon
permanent conditions.
The first and most important of these is the wider area of distribu-
tion available to railways. A railroad line can be constructed in any
direction to any part of the country except the portions which are
admittedly inaccessible, while the line of a river is fixed by nature
in a single direction. Railroads are more readily adaptable to the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 69
newly arising and ever-shifting demands of producing areas and of
markets. In providing for the receipt and delivery of freight at fac-
tories or warehouses, branch lines or switches can be constructed.
Railroads can reach all cities and towns alike, whether located upon
the water or not, while obviously boats or barges can not be used
except for the receipt and delivery of freight or passengers from or to
localities upon waterways. The rapid growth of inland cities not
located upon waterways, many of which have attained very consider-
able size, emphasizes the possibility of development where the de-
pendence for transportation facilities must be upon railroads alone.
Notable illustrations of such prominent centers are Birmingham,
Ala.; Atlanta, Ga.; Columbus, Ohio; Indianapolis, Ind.; Denver,
Colo.; and a great number of cities and towns which are not provided
with facilities for water-borne traffic.
A second advantage of the railways, which can be counted as
belonging to this class, lies in the increasing importance of terminals
and the necessity for facilities for the prompt and economical loading
and unloading of freight. The cost of hauling freight, as compared
with the handling or delivery at terminal points, has experienced a
great change in the last 40 years. The cost of hauling has very
materially decreased, while the cost of handling and the expenses
connected with terminal facilities, though diminished in many ways,
have not decreased accordingly.
A third advantage in this class is intimately associated with the
preceding, and arises from the readier transfer of traffic from one rail-
way to another, as compared with transfer from water to land or land
to water. This includes not only physical transfer of traffic, but the
through haul of cars without break of bulk and a thorough organi-
zation for through billing over various roads, with facilities for easy
settlement of joint accounts of the cooperating railways. In this con-
nection may be mentioned a physical disadvantage of rivers, due to
the very considerable oscillation in their levels. This fact makes it
more difficult to provide convenient and adequate loading machinery
and renders the receipt and shipment of freight proportionately more
expensive. The variation in the Ohio River at Cincinnati is over 60
feet; that of the Mississippi at Grafton, Ill., below the mouth of the
Illinois River, is 29.6 feet; at St. Louis, 43.92 feet; below Cairo and
the mouth of the Ohio River, 45.6 feet; between Memphis and Helena,
Ark., 54.75 feet; at Vicksburg, Miss., 58.98 feet; and at New Orleans,
La., 21.02 feet.
Another consideration is that railways, as a rule, make a higher
speed per hour and the distance to be traversed between terminals is
usually shorter by rail. Furthermore, the railway is more reliable in
its schedules. It should, however, be stated that on certain water
routes in this country, especially in seasons of traffic congestion,
freight is quite as promptly delivered, and in many instances more
promptly, than on railways.
2. Those advantages pertaining to railways which may be deemed
artificial or temporary. These are due to conditions not necessarily
permanent in their nature.
The first and most important of these is the right of the railway
to charge lower rates between points where their line is in competi-
tion with water routes.
70 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Section 4 of the act to regulate interstate commerce contains the
following provision:
That it shall be unlawful for any common carrier subject to the provisions of this
act to charge or receive any greater compensation in the aggregate for the transporta-
tion of passengers or of like kind of property, under substantially similar circum-
stances and conditions, for a shorter than for a longer distance over the same line, in
the same direction, the shorter being included within the longer distance.
The words "under substantially similar circumstances and condi-
tions" found in this section have been interpreted to mean that the
existence of actual water competition constitutes a circumstance
sufficiently dissimilar to relieve the carrier from the operation of the
law. Under this interpretation the cutting of rates, where water
competition exists, has been carried to an almost unlimited extent.
It is now a question whether the right to lower competitive rates has
not been exercised to an extent much in excess of what was intended
when the act was passed, and, it may be added, to a degree quite
inconsistent with the most salutary policy for the commercial and
industrial interests of the country.
A second of these artificial or temporary advantages of the railroads
comes from the power to acquire steamboat lines or enter into agree-
ments with them for the purpose of stifling water-borne traffic, either
by operating the steamboat lines or by discontinuing their use upon
competitive routes. In both methods, namely, in the acquisition and
operation of steamboat lines in such a manner as not to compete
with railways, and in removing them entirely from the field of com-
petition, the railway companies of the country have been very active.
A third advantage arises from the refusal to pro rate on through
routes where naturally freight would be carried part of the way by
rail and part by water. In many cases the route, which apparently
is the natural one, would be by water for three-fourths or more of the
distance, yet the charge for the remaining railway haul is so consider-
able as to render carriage for the longer haul by water unprofitable.
A fourth advantage of the railways, in this class, is the far greater
attention given to provision for warehouses, terminals, and the equip-
ment for handling freight. On many of the waterways very little if
any progress has been made during the last 50 years in furnishing
modern facilities for the storage or handling of traffic. In each of a
considerable number of cities located upon rivers and canals in Ger-
many the members of the commission during their recent inspection
trip saw a larger investment for terminals and for the storage of
freight and handling of boats than exists on the whole of the Missis-
sippi River above New Orleans.
It is to be noted that in localities where water-borne traffic has in-
creased, as on the Great Lakes, careful and elaborate provision has
been made for the handling of freight in the most economical manner.
It is not, in the opinion of the commission, difficult to explain the
remarkable increase in this locality. Upon the Great Lakes there is a
demand for the shipment of freight unsurpassed anywhere. The great
iron-ore mines of the upper lakes and the very large quantities of grain
awaiting shipment toward the more populous regions of the Atlantic
seaboard and for export to Europe, as well as the quantities of lum-
ber, which, though greatly diminished, are nevertheless consider-
able, afford cargoes for the downward trip, while the great demand
for coal in the territory tributary to the upper lakes and the great
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 71
supplies near to Lake Erie afford a return cargo which, though rela-
tively much less in volume, is still very large. The equipment for the
loading and unloading of freight at terminal points is more advanced
than anywhere else in the world. The boats are constructed with a
view to utilizing space, so that a given tonnage will carry the greatest
possible load, and those carrying the larger part of the traffic are
specially constructed with a view to rapid loading and unloading of
their cargoes. On the Great Lakes there are, moreover, channels of
20 feet on through routes, with an equal depth in the large harbors.
Notwithstanding the immense traffic on these Lakes, it is, however, a
noticeable fact that the quantity of general merchandise or package
freight has not kept pace with the far more rapidly increasing traffic
in the staple articles-iron ore, coal, grain, and lumber. It is esti-
mated that not more than 5 per cent of the total traffic on the Lakes
is made up of materials other than those mentioned. The traffic in
these staples passing through the Sault Ste. Marie Canal in 1907
included 97 per cent of the total.
On the Monongahela River, which, next to the Great Lakes,
affords the most striking illustration of the growth of inland water-
borne traffic, coal mines are located at or very near to the river, and
these supply a part of the almost unlimited quantity demanded for
fuel in the mills and furnaces in or near to Pittsburgh. This coal is
readily loaded from the mines into boats or barges and from them
directly discharged to the mills or furnaces where required. About
one-third of the coal moves beyond Pittsburgh to points on the Ohio
and Mississippi Rivers.
On a number of minor streams, such as the tributaries of the Dela-
ware, traffic has been well maintained by established boat lines
which have been in existence for a very long time. One great advan-
tage possessed by these streams is the possibility of delivering freight
to towns not provided with railway transportation. Also, in some
instances, there is a very considerable saving in distance.
In still another class, traffic, though not so well maintained, con-
tinues to be large, as on the Penobscot and Kennebec Rivers, to points
upon which freight and passengers are carried by boats running from
Portland or Boston; also on the Connecticut River, where the city
of Hartford has a daily line to New York City. Such water routes
involve a combination of river and coastwise traffic and are fre-
quently able to provide for the delivery of freight more promptly
than by rail.
It has repeatedly been urged that rivers should be improved
because of the tendency of such improvements to lower railroad rates.
This tendency can not be denied. It is very manifest in every portion
of the country where rivers have been improved; and so considerable
has been the effect that it has frequently been argued that even if
a river channel should not be used at all it would be profitable
to expend money upon it solely for the effect upon rail rates. The
commission, while fully recognizing this fact, can not indorse this as
a desirable policy to adopt. It rests, in the first instance, upon the
transparent fallacy that the railways constitute an intrenched and
uncontrollable monopoly which can not be reached by legislation or
other orderly and legal methods; that the only way in which to com-
pel them to lower rates is by the expenditure of large sums of money
in the improvement of channels, which are to remain wholly or par-
72 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
tially unused. National or State legislation is certainly sufficient, and
should be resorted to for securing proper reductions in railroad freight
rates. Again, the subject of transportation should be considered as
a great economic problem. The cost of facilities for carrying freight,
whether borne by the Federal Government or by private capital, is a
burden upon the resources of the country. While the tendency of
waterway improvements to lower freight rates is an important ele-
ment to be considered, the fundamental criteron should be whether
a railway or waterway, when constructed or improved, will be a
profitable investment of capital.
As regards remedies to overcome the second general class of advan-
tages of railways over waterways, those designated as artificial or
temporary, the commission has considered a great variety of proposi-
tions. It has been brought to our attention that in a number of
instances railways have temporarily reduced rates and continued them
upon a lower basis until competing water lines have been driven out
of business. The commission would recommend that in such cases,
when a rate is once reduced by a railway, it should not be permitted
to raise the same unless, after hearing by the Interstate Commerce
Commission, or other competent body, it should be found that such
proposed increase rests upon changed conditions other than the elimi-
nation or decrease of water competition.
The most essential requirement for the rehabilitation of water
traffic is, in the opinion of the commission, the establishment of
harmonious relations between railway and water lines. It is quite
as important that there should be cooperation between them as
that greater depth of channels should be secured. A study of the
water routes which are found to be profitable in the United States
discloses the fact that in practically every case the boats upon them
are operated in connection and in harmony with railway lines, and,
on the other hand, many railways utilize boat lines either actually
owned by, or operated in harmony with, them to their very great
benefit. It thus appears that to an extent this cooperation already
exists, and the transportation facilities of the country will, as we
believe, be still further promoted by compelling joint rates and pro-
rating agreements; also by requiring through bills of lading and
physical connection between rail and water agencies. It is a waste
of capital to construct separate systems of warehouses and terminals
for railroads and waterways when they can be used jointly by both
methods of transportation. Legislation, in order to be effective,
must require terminal and wharfage charges to be reasonable whether
these facilities are owned by railways or waterways.
There are many advocates of legislation which would give the
Interstate Commerce Commission the power to prescribe minimum
rates for railroads. Such legislation would rest upon the theory that
the lowering of rates as a general proposition oftentimes operates
merely for the benefit of a favored few who are able to take advantage
of them, and that, applied to railroads, the exercise of such a power
would prevent that ruinous competition between rail and water routes
which drives the boats off the rivers and canals of the country. In
France there is a fixed rule that there shall be a difference in rates of
20 per cent in favor of the waterways, and in case railways in compe-
tition with waterways desire to fix lower charges for the carrying of
freight, application must be made to a commission, which invariably
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 73
refuses permission if water transportation would in any way be
prejudiced or placed at a disadvantage.
The commission can not see its way clear to recommend a general
power to fix minimum rates. In the development of the country a
lowering of the cost of transportation is an important factor in pro-
moting industries and commerce. The general tendency has been
toward lowering rates, and any regulation which would directly or
indirectly interfere with this tendency would probably be injurious
rather than otherwise. A majority of the commission, however,
would recommend giving the power to the Interstate Commerce
Commission to prescribe minimum railroad rates whenever, in its
opinion, the object of a railroad in reducing rates is to destroy
waterway competition.
In dwelling upon the disadvantages of waterways we do not
omit to mention the handicap which has existed on numerous rivers
because of the delay of the Government in prosecuting projected
improvements. This delay operates as a disadvantage, because
those who contemplate the building of boats and the establishment
of steamboat or barge lines are unable to proceed with confidence.
On the other hand it should be said that the danger of ruinous railway
competition is a far more serious obstacle to the development of
waterway traffic. Under this competition many channels which
afford ample depth and the opportunity for the economical shipment
of freight have remained largely in disuse. The criticisms upon the
policy of Congress because the development of water routes has not
been prosecuted with greater rapidity fail to take into account the
substantial facts which have in the past discouraged the development
of river transportation.
Mention must also be made of the fact that in numerous instances,
although appropriations for the improvement of channels have been
sufficiently large to create a high degree of efficiency for purposes of
navigation, the use of the improved channels has not been at all
commensurate with the expense incurred, one reason being a notice-
able lack of progressiveness in providing suitable boats or other means
of conveying freight, and another, the failure to provide terminals
having modern equipment and facilities.
No improvement by the Federal Government will suffice without
the cooperation of communities and business interests upon which
reliance must be had for the proper utilization of improved waterways.
It is advised that by legislation, and in every way possible, coop-
eration be also secured between rail and water routes. Especially
where such cooperation can be secured, or suitable railroad service
does not exist, the commission would recommend the improvement
of waterways, which, on expert examination, are found to be profit-
able investments of capital and will be of economic value as a means
for transportation. Such improvement, it is believed, will greatly
promote general commerce and the development of the industries of
the country.
In the course of their investigations the members of the com-
mission have observed the lack of comprehensive statistical infor-
mation upon inland waterway traffic. In some localities, as at
the locks at Sault Ste. Marie, detailed statements are carefully
prepared under the direction of the Army Corps of Engineers, giving
the quantity and quality of the freight and the number of passen-
1
74 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
gers carried through the locks. Other reports made by the Corps
of Engineers afford valuable information, though, in some instances,
incomplete.
Available statistics are furnished by several different bureaus
of the Government, but are strikingly lacking in uniformity and
in sufficient classification as well. The terms "general merchan-
dise," "miscellaneous merchandise," "unclassified freight," "package
and packet freight" are used in the same general sense, though
quite ambiguously as to what categories of freight are included.
It is recommended as desirable that a uniform system be estab-
lished applicable to all waterways, under which statistics may be
collected showing the volume and different kinds of traffic carried
on the rivers and inland channels of the country. This will not
only be valuable in affording suggestions as to the extent to which
waterway traffic is increasing or diminishing, and thus assist in
determining the legislative policy to be pursued, but will also afford
information of very considerable service to the commercial interests
of the country. It is to be noted that we are far behind several
countries of Europe in the accuracy of statistics relating to inland
navigation. It is desirable that the statistics should show not merely
the number of tons carried and the money value of the same, but
the distances over which commodities are transported, so that not
only the number of tons carried may be ascertained, but the ton
mileage as well. In many respects statistics of the latter are more
valuable than of the former. In some instances ferry traffic which
is carried a half mile or less is placed upon the same footing with
traffic carried a thousand miles or more.
It is a question of detail for Congress to consider what agency shall
be intrusted with the collection of these statistics. It is thought
that the necessary information can be obtained by the expenditure
of a comparatively trivial sum of money, and the duty may be
imposed upon existing bureaus and officials, such as the Army Engi-
neer Corps, the collector of customs, where the navigable channels
are near to customhouses, and those engaged in the Steamboat-
Inspector Service. Rules requiring masters or owners of boats to
report the quantity of freight and the distance it is carried should be
enforced.
The commission would also call attention to the desirability of
more extensive information regarding the high-water, low-water,
and average-water discharge of the various rivers of the country.
Information of this kind has been collected for some time on the
Mississippi River from its source to its mouth. Fairly accurate
statistics are already available for the high and low water depths of
this and other streams, but in addition to this it is recommended that
statistics be collected and made available for the high and low water
discharge. This will require a more extended examination of cross
sections and velocities at typical places. Accurate information upon
these points is necessary in order to frame and execute properly
devised plans for river improvement. The cooperation of commercial
bodies in furnishing statistics should be encouraged.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 75
II.
CANALS, INCLUDING THE ADVISABILITY AND PRACTICAL VALUE OF
CANALS FOR DEEP-DRAFT VESSELS.
Many advocates of the building of canals manifestly fail to take
into account the very great advantage of natural waterways over
artificial channels for purposes of navigation. Natural waterways
have banks which have been formed through an unlimited time and
are adapted to the flow of water between them. Save in arable
soils, the banks have a certain degree of stability and operate as a
.bulwark against the wash or swell created by the passage of boats.
Natural waterways pass through valleys and usually close to large
and populous communities which have been located and developed
in former days largely because of river transportation facilities.
They are available for the passage of boats, and possess extra width
at many places, by reason of which the development of docks and
basins is much facilitated without extra cost for right of way. For
a large portion of each year, during the high-water season, they
allow the passage of boats of unusual draft.
Artificial channels may be constructed along a straighter line, but
usually with great difficulties in the acquisition of property for their
construction, as well as in the overcoming of differences in elevation;
and topographical conditions may cause the route not only to pass
at a distance from the existing large and populous communities but
also to traverse regions where development may naturally be slow.
Again, canals must be provided with protected banks to resist the
great force of water which is put in motion by the passage of boats or
barges through their channels. They are naturally limited in width
because of the expense; the cost of a width sufficient for the handling
of ocean boats is practically prohibitive, except for comparatively
short distances. They may have an advantage in their greater free-
dom from silt or other obstructions to navigation, but this is ordi-
narily more than counterbalanced by the difficulty of obtaining an
adequate water supply for the main channel or for the locks used in
connection with it.
The commission has had under consideration the question of the
construction of artificial canals adapted to the passage of seagoing
ships. An examination of this subject has led to the conclusion that
this class of waterways is only profitable under certain well-defined
conditions, of which the following are the best illustrations:
First. Canals connecting navigable waters located near to each
other, between which large traffic would naturally exist, except for
rapids, a barrier readily overcome, or the existence of a compara-
tively narrow strip of land. The Sault Ste. Marie Canal, connecting
Lakes Superior and Huron, is perhaps the best example. This canal,
1.6 miles in length and constructed at a cost of about $9,300,000,
renders the almost unlimited resources tributary to Lake Superior
available to the other lakes and provides for a return commerce con-
siderably less in volume. Other illustrations are the Welland Canal,
26 miles in length, with 26 locks, connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario,
and the Lachine Canal, constructed for the purpose of obviating
rapids in the St. Lawrence River.
76 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Second. Comparatively short canals, which save a very great sail-
ing distance, such as the Suez Canal, 87 miles in length, which fur-
nishes a substitute for the voyage around Cape of Good Hope and
saves in the sailing distance from Northern and Western Europe to
Calcutta 3,700 miles, and to Hongkong, by the Straits of Sunda,
3,300 miles. Also the proposed Panama Canal, 49 miles in length,
which obviates a voyage around Cape Horn and saves in the sailing
distance from New York to San Francisco more than 8,000 miles.
Another illustration is the Kaiser-Wilhelm Canal, 53 miles in length,
which, though constructed primarily for military purposes, is largely
used for commerce and saves in distance for vessels bound from the
English Channel to the Baltic about 200 miles.
Third. Canals from the sea to large cities situated not far from the
coast, where communities have grown to large size and become great
producers or consumers of freight without connection with the ocean.
In these cases, with increased commercial and manufacturing impor-
tance, it has become a practical necessity to establish communication
with the sea. The best illustration of this class is the Manchester
Canal, 35½ miles in length, with a least depth of 28 feet. The canals
in Belgium, from the North Sea to Bruges, to Ghent, and to Brussels,
are also good examples of this class.
The reasons for the disadvantages of canals as compared with
natural waterways are obvious. In a narrow channel a boat moves
with much less speed and with far greater difficulty and danger than
in a natural waterway where there is sufficient sea room. Since the
speed of the slowest boat determines the speed of all, it is not prob-
able that any time could be gained by using a canal unless the dis-
tance saved were very considerable. Also, there is the constant
danger that in the handling of a large vessel, which is not adapted for
navigation in a narrow channel, it will strike against the bank or
works of construction and not only incur delay but also serious dam-
age. This possibility increases the cost of insurance. It is conceiv-
able, however, that with improved methods of handling vessels this
disadvantage might be somewhat lessened. It should be added in
this connection that persons familiar with navigation have stated, in
answer to inquiries on this subject, that even if canals of deep draft
should be constructed on certain proposed routes in this country and
were entirely free from tolls or similar charges, large vessels would
make no use of them, preferring to go where there is greater sea room.
Ocean-going boats are so expensive in first cost and daily operation
that the profits of a whole trip may be consumed by a few days' extra
delay. Moreover, the expense per ton of carrying capacity is much
greater for an ocean-going boat than for one used in interior waters.
The model, also, and the method of handling is different. This differ-
ence in cost tends to neutralize any advantage gained in the use of
artificial channels by ocean-going boats.
The higher average value per ton of carrying capacity for seagoing
vessels over those of inland waters is shown by the following table,
compiled from the United States Census Report on Transportation,
page 21, which gives the figures for 1906:
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 77
Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico...
Pacific coast (including Alaska)
Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River.
Mississippi River and tributaries.
All other inland waters...
Entire United States..
Average value of vessel per ton of carrying
capacity.
Steam.
Sail.
Unrigged. All vessels.
$133
$33
$18
$56
117
38
30
78
61
27
32
55
90
2
5
103
32
10
18
95
33
9
39
It thus appears that the average value of vessels per ton of cargo-
carrying capacity on the Atlantic coast and Gulf of Mexico is $56,
on the Pacific coast $78, while on the Mississippi River and its tribu-
taries it is only $5.
III.
THE NECESSARY STEPS TO BE TAKEN BEFORE THE ADOPTION OF
PROJECTS FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS AND HARBORS AND
THE METHOD OF MAKING APPROPRIATIONS THEREFOR.
The commission regards the present law, providing for preliminary
steps before the adoption of projects for improvement, as well adapted
to secure the best results. Under existing statutes it is required that
when the improvement of a river or harbor is advocated, before any
plan is adopted there should be legislation by Congress in the form of
a concurrent resolution or other measure which shall direct that an
investigation of the improvement be made. This investigation con-
templates two successive steps-first, a preliminary examination;
second, a detailed survey-both of which are made by the Engineer
Corps of the United States Army, and are reviewed by an organiza-
tion known as a "Board of Review," created by the river and harbor
act of 1902, with the object of securing uniformity in recom-
mendations before projects are adopted, and with the thought of
bringing to bear upon the proposed improvements under investiga-
tion a more elaborate and careful consideration. If on the first or
preliminary examination the report is unfavorable, no further action
is taken without the further order of Congress. The law on this sub-
ject is contained in the river and harbor act of March 3, 1909. It
is as follows:
In all cases a preliminary examination of the river, harbor, or other proposed im-
provement mentioned shall first be made, and a report as to the advisability of its im-
provement shall be submitted, unless a survey or estimate is herein expressly directed.
If upon such preliminary examination the proposed improvement is not deemed
advisable, no further action shall be taken thereon without the further direction of
Congress; but in case the report shall be favorable to such proposed improvement, or
that a survey and estimate should be made to determine the advisability of improve-
ment, the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to cause surveys to
be made, and the cost and advisability to be reported to Congress. Such examinations
and surveys shall be reviewed by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, as
provided in section three of the river and harbor act of March second, nineteen hun-
dred and seven: Provided, That every report submitted to Congress in pursuance of
this section, in addition to full information regarding the present and prospective
commercial importance of the project covered by the report and the benefit to com-
merce likely to result from any proposed plan of improvement, shall contain also such
data as it may be practicable to secure regarding (first) the establishment of terminal
and transfer facilities, (second) the development and utilization of water power for in-
78 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
dustrial and commercial purposes, and (third) such other subjects as may be properly
connected with such project: Provided further, That in the investigation and study of
these questions consideration shall be given only to their bearing upon the improve-
ment of navigation and to the possibility and desirability of their being coordinated
in a logical and proper manner with improvements for navigation to lessen the cost of
such improvements and to compensate the Government for expenditures made in the
interest of navigation: And provided further, That the investigation and study of these
questions as provided herein may, upon review by the Board of Engineers for Rivers
and Harbors when called for as now provided by law, be extended to any work of im-
provement now under way and to any locality the examination and survey of which
has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, authorized by Congress.
Under the foregoing plan if the final report is favorable, it is con-
sidered that a basis exists for the making of an appropriation for the
proposed improvements. The recommendations of the engineer
officers are not necessarily final, though since the passage of the law
the rule has been adhered to as a fixed policy that no project should
be undertaken by the Government or appropriated for which does not
have the recommendations of the board of review and the Chief of
Engineers. At the time of the creation of the board, in 1902, projects
of an aggregate cost of $400,000,000 or more, recommended as worthy
of improvement, either had not been commenced or were in a partly
finished condition, and necessarily the work of Congress was one of
selection, under which the most pressing projects alone were sure of
attention.
The commission would advise that without a careful and unbiased
examination of proposed improvements of the nature now required
by statute no project should be adopted by Congress. Numerous
propositions have been made for the creation of a board of public
works, or other body, which shall decide upon the feasibility and
desirability of propositions for expenditures on rivers and harbors.
The commission is unwilling to recommend a change of this kind,
and points to the fact that the past recommendations of the Engineer
Corps have been carefully prepared and with a degree of expert
knowledge and comprehension of the commercial needs of the coun-
try which could not well be supplied by any other body or organiza-
tion. The advantages which attach to the Engineer Corps are
obvious. The members are in the permanent service of the Govern-
ment, and are free from those influences which would inevitably
be brought to bear upon men in civil life. Those engineers now
engaged in the work are carefully trained in the planning and execu-
tion of these improvements, and have special qualifications for
judging the feasibility and the cost of proposed river and harbor
projects. They also have a good general knowledge of the probable
commercial results which would accrue, though on this point their
opinions have not been regarded as conclusive. In this connection
the commission would call attention to the necessity for an increase
in the membership of the Engineer Corps.
The commission would recommend that hereafter the general policy
be adopted of providing for the early completion of any and all proj-
ects which are undertaken, and that only such number of projects
should be commenced as will be appropriated for and completed
within a reasonable time. In this way definite results can be relied
upon, plans can be made for the utilization of the streams improved,
and, in addition, a very large saving in expense may be secured. If
this is done, projects will be more carefully considered before they are
adopted. Careful provision should also be made for the maintenance
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 79
of existing works, otherwise the improvements already made will dete-
riorate. In the general policy of improving streams in waterway sys-
tems, it is advised that the main stream be improved first and raised
to an adequate stage of efficiency at an earlier date than the tribu-
tary streams; that in the improvement of any particular river, pref-
erence should be given to the lower portion, and that the improvement
should proceed from the mouth up, unless the regimen of the river
makes a different rule desirable, or an independent stretch of the river
exists remote from the mouth upon which salutary results can be
more readily obtained.
There are manifest benefits in securing standardization or equal
depths in all channels, so that boats of the same size may be utilized
everywhere. This would prevent the very considerable expense of
loading and unloading whenever there is a transfer between channels of
different draft or capacity. If a uniform depth can be secured, espe-
cially in locks and improvements of artificial construction, it should be
accomplished. The fact, however, must not be overlooked that the
very great difference in the size of the streams which make up any
river system renders complete standardization difficult and exceed-
ingly expensive, if not impossible.
The continuing-contract system was first tried in the year 1890.
Under this plan the whole or any part of an estimated expenditure
is, whenever desirable, authorized at one time, and the amounts
needed as the work progresses are provided from year to year by
appropriations carried in the sundry civil act. This system, to some
extent and with beneficial results, has been used in each subsequent
river and harbor act except in 1894, and its continued use is recom-
mended. In the case of small streams or harbors, however, it is not
essential. Nor is the authorization of a contract for completion
desirable, as a rule, in the case of very large projects, where the amount
necessary for completion is indefinite or a very long time is required.
In many instances the work extends over a long period, because the
necessary plant or equipment must be collected gradually, and the
work, if hastened too rapidly, becomes unnecessarily expensive.
In these cases, as well as in others, a large discretion as to time of
completion is necessarily left to the executive department, which can
carefully consider all phases of the situation and secure such prosecu-
tion of the work as will be most beneficial to all concerned.
IV.
THE PROPER DIVISION BETWEEN APPROPRIATIONS BY THE FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT, ON THE ONE HAND, AND BY THE STATES, MINOR
POLITICAL DIVISIONS, AND INDIVIDUALS, ON THE OTHER HAND.
Numerous propositions have been made for a change of policy by
Congress, so that the expense of river and harbor improvements shall
be divided between the Federal Government and States, cities or
communities, and individuals. Widely different policies have been
adopted by various countries in the making of river and harbor
improvements. It is difficult to draw any exact line in the classifica-
tion of these policies, but, roughly speaking, it may be said that there
are three methods employed:
1. That under which these improvements are left to individual or
local enterprise, with the right to impose tolls upon the boats which
80 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
utilize them. This policy is best illustrated in Great Britain, where
the improvement of inland waterways, such as canals and rivers, is,
with few exceptions, prosecuted by private corporations or naviga-
tion companies. Harbors in this country are improved either by
municipalities, as at Bristol and at Southampton, in the first
instance, or by railway companies which desire seacoast terminals,
or by dock and harbor boards affiliated with the city government,
as at Liverpool. In all these cases the construction of docks, the
dredging of channels, and the building of breakwaters are taken care
of by the same company or agency. In practically all cases tolls
are charged.
2. That under which the General Government prosecutes im-
provements and levies tolls. This is well illustrated by certain harbor
improvements in France, where, in addition to the dredging of the
channels, the Government provides docks and harbor facilities.
3. That in vogue in the United States, under which the General
Government improves rivers either by open-channel work or by the
construction of locks and dams, and charges no toll therefor, rendering
navigation entirely free. Under this method in the United States
there is likewise an improvement of harbors by the dredging of chan-
nels or anchorage spaces. Provision is also made for protection against
the sea by breakwaters or otherwise. These improvements are not
made the basis of a charge, though port dues are imposed, as in
most, if not all, countries without regard to improvements made.
This method, so far as it relates to canals and canalized rivers, was
also adopted in France in the year 1879, and is still in vogue in that
country, except as regards a considerable number of new works pro-
vided for in 1903 or later, under which there is participation in the
expense, the General Government, as a rule, bearing 50 per cent of
the cost and localities immediately interested the balance. In this
case the localities which contribute money for the improvement are
authorized to collect tolls for their reimbursement.
In our own country, until the time of the Civil War, no consider-
able amount was expended for the improvement of rivers and
harbors. For the most part our rivers were neglected, and in many
cases, as in Ohio, Illinois, and New York, canals were constructed
at the expense of the State, though oftentimes with the aid of a grant
of land from the Federal Government. Many canals were con-
structed by private companies. This class of improvements was
regarded by one school of public men as outside the scope of the Fed-
eral Government, and for decades was vigorously opposed in many
parts of the country. The constitution of the Confederate States
of America, framed at Montgomery in February, 1861, in the enu-
meration of the powers of the general government, contained the fol-
lowing provision, which may be said to express one interpretation of
the Federal Constitution on this point, as well as one view of the
best policy to be adopted:
To regulate commerce with foreign nations, and among the several States, and with
the Indian tribes; but neither this nor any other clause contained in the constitution
shall ever be construed to delegate the power to congress to appropriate money for
any internal improvement intended to facilitate commerce except for the purpose
of furnishing lights, beacons, and buoys and other aids to navigation upon the coasts,
and the improvement of harbors and the removing of obstructions in river naviga-
tion, in all which cases such duties shall be laid on the navigation facilitated thereby,
as may be necessary to pay the costs and expenses thereof.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
81
In recent years there has been a noticeable lack of uniformity in the
method of providing funds for these improvements. The State of New
York in the year 1903, by popular vote, adopted a constitutional
amendment providing $101,000,000 for a barge canal. In the year
1908 the people of Illinois, by the same method, voted an amendment
to the constitution which allows the issue of bonds by the State to an
amount of $20,000,000 for part of the expense of a deep waterway
from the Lakes to the Gulf. In the original authority for the Chicago
drainage canal provision was made that it might be a link in or part
of a navigable waterway from the Lakes to the Mississippi River.´ At
a very recent date provision has been made for a private canal in the
State of Massachusetts, with a view to shortening the sailing distance
and avoiding the dangerous passage in the open sea around Cape
Cod. This enterprise contemplates the expenditure of private capi-
tal for the construction of the canal, also the charging of tolls. In
numerous instances in other States, as in Oregon, Washington, Ohio,
Pennsylvania, and California, provision has been made for water-
way improvements, either independently or in cooperation with the
General Government. Some municipalities have also voted large
sums for harbor improvements. At the last session the Legislature
of Texas passed a law (see General Laws of Texas, 31st Legislature,
pp. 32 to 45) authorizing the formation of navigation districts, which
districts may issue bonds, levy taxes, and condemn property in the
prosecution of river and harbor works. At the last general election,
in 1909, the people of Rhode Island authorized the expenditure of
$500,000 for the improvement of Providence Harbor.
The commission finds that, in the development of waterways on a
large scale, the decided tendency in other countries is toward a degree
of participation by communities and localities especially benefited
and is of the opinion that in order to obtain the best results this
policy must ultimately be adopted in our own country. In the mean-
time, it is desirable to encourage participation by communities when-
ever their proposed improvements are worthy of recognition by the
Federal Government. The objections to this plan of participation
are that the necessity of including different localities and States in a
single improvement would require a concert of action by numerous
and perhaps varying interests, often impossible to obtain. This
applies especially in the case of rivers passing through or by several
States. Another objection is that less-deserving projects, presented
with offers to furnish a portion of the cost, might obtain recognition
to the exclusion of more useful projects for which less pecuniary sup-
port could be furnished. On the other hand, it can not be denied
that in most instances river and harbor improvements confer an
especial benefit upon portions of the country most nearly affected;
that there is a constant danger of insistent pressure upon the Federal
Government for the expenditure of money upon projects which have
not been maturely considered, and which, if part of the burden were
chargeable to the localities in which they are advocated, might not
be presented to Congress. Again, in the accomplishment of any
large and comprehensive plan for the full development of inland
navigation throughout the country, and of the associated uses of
water, the cooperation of all communities and interests is especially
desirable. There is the further fact that terminal facilities are an
integral part of any well-devised plan for waterway improvement.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2—6
82
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
These, at least, should be provided by the communities immediately
benefited. It has been brought to the attention of the commission
that in some instances heavy burdens have been laid upon traffic by
exorbitant charges for the privilege of mooring at wharves owned by
muncipalities or private individuals. There is a palpable unfairness
in these cases, because the Federal Government is expected, without
burden on the communities interested, to expend its money for river
and harbor improvements, while the communities themselves show
no disposition to cooperate, and, in a measure nullify the benefits
secured by the large Federal expenditures.
In passing from this subject the commission would recommend:
1. That in the improvement of rivers and harbors similarly situ-
ated, where equitable division is possible, uniform rules be observed
for a proper division of cost between the Federal Government and
minor political divisions. There is at present a lack of uniformity.
One illustration of this is in the improvement of interior channels and
harbors. In some cases the expense is borne exclusively by the Fed-
eral Government and in other cases by the municipalities interested.
2. That participation in improvements by local communities be
encouraged, always with due care to avoiding the adoption of projects.
which are unworthy of recognition by the Federal Government.
3. That improvements not essential to navigation should not be
undertaken by the Federal Government.
4. That improvements in rivers and harbors be not made unless
sufficient assurance is given that proper wharves, terminals, and other
necessary adjuncts to navigation shall be furnished by municipal or
private enterprise and that the charges for their use shall be
reasonable.
V.
THE RELATION OF WATERWAY IMPROVEMENTS TO BANK PROTECTION,
FLOOD AND DROUGHT PREVENTION, IRRIGATION, AND DRAINAGE.
In providing for the future development of the country, considera-
tion must be given to the fact that water, as well as land, is an asset
which makes up an integral part of our natural wealth. Waters
must ultimately be utilized not merely for navigation, but also for
irrigation and for power, when available for these purposes; also, all
practicable means must be used for their clarification and for the
prevention of floods and droughts.
It is desirable that whenever navigation is improved the most care-
ful attention be given to these other associated objects, and while it
is not the opinion of the commission that waterway improvements
for the development of navigation should be deferred until a com-
prehensive and final plan for the utilization of waters can be devised,
on the other hand subjects pertaining to the control and most bene-
ficial utilization of water should at all times be considered, and
improvements looking to the promotion of navigation should, as far
as possible, harmonize with the general uses and beneficial control of
waters. The subject of water power receives separate attention
under heading VII of this report. Irrigation projects are now pro-
vided for by separate legislation under an act of Congress passed in
1902. All reasonable means for the prevention of floods should be util-
ized. Water when uncontrolled becomes a most destructive agency.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 83
One of the most injurious of its effects is in the erosion of banks, which
varies greatly with the periodical changes in river level and which is
usually greatest during high floods or during their subsidence. It
should always be borne in mind that the waterway improvements
made by the Federal Government under the exercise of its authority
should be restricted to navigation. Whenever bank protection or
flood prevention or the clarification of water is the sole object of im-
provements, the question presents little difficulty in its solution. Such
projects are not a proper charge upon the Federal Treasury. A more
difficult problem, however, is presented where the improvements just
mentioned have as their object both navigation and the protection of
private property. In such cases, in the opinion of the commission, the
expense should be apportioned between the Federal Government and
communities directly interested. In many instances proposed im-
provements have as their main object the protection or benefit of
private property. In such cases there is a distinct benefit conferred
upon individuals or localities which is only of a remote or very indirect
benefit to the country as a whole. Lands subject to periodical over-
flow or lands of uncertain value because of the danger of erosion, when
improved, are multiplied many times in value, and there is a constant
danger that such improvements will be advocated under the guise
of river and harbor legislation framed to benefit navigation, when
the real object is the benefit which will accrue to individuals or
localities.
Beginning in 1902, river and harbor acts have provided that the
protection of banks should not be appropriated for out of the National
Treasury unless the improvement is required in the interest of navi-
gation. The levees upon the lower Mississippi are an apparent excep-
tion to this rule, but when the construction of these levees was first
undertaken by the Federal Government they were regarded as neces-
sary for navigation and as an essential feature in securing a proper
regimen for the Mississippi River. The question whether they are
an aid to navigation is one which has been much discussed, some stat-
ing that they promote navigation and others that they do not, the
prevailing opinion being that they have a direct effect upon the main-
tenance of the channel and an indirect effect upon navigation. In
any event, more than half of the cost of these levees constructed
since the time when the Federal Government commenced to have part
in their construction has been borne by the States or communities
bordering upon the river. Drainage projects can be advantageously
prosecuted in conjunction with navigation improvements. The pre-
vention of overflow during floods is helpful to navigation, though
not essential to its existence. The line should, however, be carefully
drawn between improvements which, in whole or in part, are for the
protection or development of private property and those which are
made in the sole interest of navigation.
Measures must ultimately be taken to permit and facilitate the
greatest possible protection of property abutting on navigable and
nonnavigable streams. It is desirable for the proper conservation
and utilization of the resources of the country that these valuable
lands should be protected. The commission would, however, repeat
in this connection the recommendation made in No. IV, that improve-
ments by the Federal Government be restricted to those essential to
navigation, and would also recommend that, whenever a project is
84 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
under consideration or is in operation under which a very consider-
able amount of land will be reclaimed or protected from overflow,
a survey be made and report be submitted as to the cost of the recla-
mation features of such project and as to the probable quantity and
value of the land which would be reclaimed or benefited thereby.
VI.
POLICY RELATING TO HARBORS, INCLUDING THE OWNERSHIP AND
CONTROL OF WHARVES AND DOCKS.
The question of the improvement of harbors, as a general proposi-
tion, presents little difficulty. The liberal policy heretofore pur-
sued by the Government in this regard has greatly benefited the
public and has resulted in a great increase in wealth to the country at
large. The harbors so far improved have furnished outlets for our
exports and made the products of immense areas in the interior readily
available for shipment abroad or for use at home. They have been
useful both to the foreign and coastwise trade, and made possible
the entrance of boats of the deepest draft, thus greatly diminishing
the rates of freight on ocean shipments. In addition, the construc-
tion of breakwaters and other means for the protection of the avail-
able space within numerous ports of the United States has served
a most beneficent purpose in the more adequate protection of human
life. These ports have as feeders not only the river systems and
canals of the country, but also its great network of railways. It
must be conceded that in comparing the benefits conferred by harbor
improvements with those of river improvements, the former have
been more uniformly helpful, though in some instances the appropria-
tions for river and lake channels have brought an equal or even
greater return than usually results from expenditures upon harbors.
The commission recommends the continuance of the progressive
policy which has been adopted relating to harbors, but would advise
a division of harbors into classes by depth or by the importance
of their ocean or coastwise traffic. The greatest channel depth,
which now is 30 to 40 feet, is not required save in great entrepôts of
commerce, in the development of which it is probable that even
greater depths than those now required may in time become necessary.
Uniform and reliable channels, which can be depended upon for a
certain depth and width from year to year and at all times, are the
first essential.
The commission recommends care in avoiding an undue multipli-
cation of ports; that is, it is undesirable to have three or four minor
harbors insufficiently developed in a locality where one well-improved
port will serve the purpose. Under the stress of local demands har-
bors have in some instances been improved where the money could
have been more economically expended in the better development of
those already in existence.
In recommending the improvement of harbors on a liberal scale the
commission calls attention to the necessity for rendering them useful
to the largest possible number, and thereby preventing a monopoly
of benefits by a few corporations or individuals. Instances are not
lacking in which the land suitable for terminals adjacent to improved
harbors is owned by one corporation or by a comparatively small num-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 85
ber of individuals. If improvements should be considered desirable
where the number of water-front owners is small it is advised that a
condition be carefully imposed to the effect that wharfage facilities
shall be made available to the public generally, and that the charges
for the same shall be submitted to the Secretary of War or other offi-
cial for his approval.
It is also recommended that a proper dividing line be drawn be-
tween the work to be done under appropriations by the Federal Gov-
ernment and that by cities and individual owners. Provision for a
safe entrance into a bay or harbor sufficient to afford safety to shipping
and suitable anchorage grounds in proximity to cities thereon is the
full duty of the Federal Government. Minor channels leading to
wharves in harbors as well as upon rivers should be provided by
communities or individuals.
The construction of wharves and docks by the Government has
been advocated; but the commission is unwilling to recommend such
a policy. In the first place, the total expense of harbor improve-
ments would be greatly increased, and under such a policy money
which might be expended for general purposes would be used for work
that should more properly be left to municipalities or private parties.
In deciding whether a harbor improvement is to be adopted or not,
it is wise to omit those cases where there is not assurance that local
or private enterprise will furnish all needed terminal facilities.
VII.
RELATION OF WATERWAY IMPROVEMENTS TO WATER POWER.
The commission has had under consideration the use of water
power in connection with the development of navigation, as well as
plans for the utilization of power and the right of the Federal Gov-
ernment to control or use the same.
The subject of water power is not within the scope of the inquiries
of the commission, except as it is associated with navigation. The
members, however, have given much attention to this general subject
and strongly recommend the greatest care in the conservation of
water power for the use of the people. Its value has not been fully
understood, and power derived from navigable and nonnavigable
streams will undoubtedly be developed to a much greater extent in
the future and for a larger variety of uses. The commission especially
recommends such legislation by Congress and by the States as would
prevent monopoly in the possession of water power, and secure, to
the greatest possible degree, its utilization for the general benefit.
The rights of the Federal Government in water power may be
viewed from three different standpoints:
First. Cases in which power is developed on streams located in
public lands, where undoubtedly the Government, so far as the rights
pertaining to abutting ownership are involved, has full control, and
should exercise the greatest care in granting away whatever rights it
may have.
Second. When power is developed in nonnavigable streams, where
there is a private or State ownership, in which case no Federal author-
ity to regulate or control exists, except to prevent interference with the
navigation of other streams.
86 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Third. When water power is developed in navigable streams. In
this case several plans have been proposed for the collection of tolls
upon the water power developed by dams whenever their construc-
tion is permitted by Congress. The right of the Federal Government
to collect such tolls must rest on one of three theories:
1. That the Federal Government has some proprietary right in
the waters of navigable streams, so that the collection of tolls can be
based upon actual ownership of, or right in, the waters.
2. That, as the right to grant or withhold consent for the construc-
tion of a dam in navigable waters rests in Congress, it is allowable to
make a charge for the consent or privilege and authorize the collec-
tion of tolls.
3. That the Federal Government in its jurisdiction of interstate
commerce has control of navigable streams and has a certain degree
of responsibility for their improvement. Under this theory it is
maintained that tolls upon the water power developed can be col-
lected and paid into a fund for the improvement of navigable streams,
including not only the one on which the toll is charged, but all others
capable of improvement for navigation.
The commission is of the opinion that the Federal Government
has no proprietary right or interest in navigable waters which
would authorize the collection of tolls. The right, if it exists at all,
rests upon either the second or third theory stated. As regards the
second theory, it should be said that the imposition of tolls, unless
based upon a more substantial foundation than the mere authority to
grant or withhold consent--an authority arising solely from the control
of the Federal Government for the purposes of navigation-does not
commend itself to the commission, and it is to be doubted whether,
even in case a bill should be passed or other action taken by Con-
gress for granting this permission, with a provision for charging
tolls, such tolls could be collected. Regarding the third theory
stated, it should be noted that under the exercise of the taxing
power Congress can levy taxes for general revenue purposes upon all
classes of water power, whether in navigable or nonnavigable streams,
and if charges are to be imposed it would seem that this is the normal
method. It should further be borne in mind that a requirement for
the imposition of tolls where the right to construct dams is hereafter
granted would cause a discrimination between water power to be
utilized under future permits and those already enjoyed, which are
subject to no such charge. It must, of course, be remembered that
whenever the privilege of constructing dams is granted in a navi-
gable stream there is an undoubted right to impose charges sufficient
to pay the expenses of examination and supervision and to secure the
Government against cost by reason of obstacles to navigation created
by the erection of dams; but this rests upon an entirely different prin-
ciple from the proposal to charge tolls.
The control of the Federal Government over navigable streams has
to do with navigation only, and in the exercise of this jurisdiction the
plan commends itself to the commission of inserting in each grant or
franchise under which the consent to construct a dam is given a condi-
tion that the grantee who constructs the dam must also, whenever
necessary to subserve the interests of navigation, construct a lock suited
to the locality and to the probable development of traffic, and also
furnish power for the proper operation of the lock or locks. These
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 87
requirements, rather than the imposition of tolls, appeal to the com-
mission because they are free from legal objections and are in entire
accordance with the objects for which the Federal Government has
jurisdiction over navigable streams.
Whenever the Government constructs dams for purposes of navi-
gation or irrigation, and, as an incident thereto, water power is de-
veloped, such power should be utilized and an adequate charge made
therefor.
The commission would call attention also to another important step
in the control of water power, namely, that before the right to con-
struct dams in any navigable stream is granted there should be a care-
ful survey of the whole stream, or at least of that portion the regimen
of which will be affected by the proposed construction. In the devel-
opment of water power there is danger that dams will be located or
constructed in such a manner as not to accord with the most helpful
development of navigation.
The commission accordingly recommends that whenever permission
to construct a dam in a navigable stream is requested consent shall
not be granted until a survey has first been made and the proper loca-
tion of dams has been determined.
It may also be stated that it is the opinion of the commission that
if constitutional authority therefor exists a provision should be
inserted in these grants giving to the Secretary of War or other official
the right to regulate charges for power furnished to consumers.
A provision reserving to Congress the right to alter, amend, or repeal
should be inserted in every act granting water-power rights.
:
VIII.
METHODS IN THE IMPROVEMENT OF RIVERS, INCLUDING THE CON-
STRUCTION OF LOCKS AND DAMS.
The general course of river improvement for purposes of naviga-
tion in both Europe and America is, briefly, as follows:
1. A river survey.
2. The removal of trees, snags, and other accidental obstructions.
3. The straightening, deepening, buoying, and lighting of the nat-
ural channels.
4. The revetment of banks to stop their erosion and the construc-
tion of levees to prevent outflow over the banks.
5. The regularization of the open river, or the standardizing of its
bends, its cross sections, and its water slopes, obtained by longitudinal
dikes which direct the water flow and form new banks, by spur dikes
which determine the channel and regulate the water flow, and by occa-
sional submerged cross dikes which protect the bed of the river from
excessive erosion, and maintain general river slopes.
6. The canalization of the river, obtained by the use of dams con-
verting the river into a series of deep-water pools, and by the use of
locks or other means of raising or lowering boats from each pool to the
adjacent one.
The last two steps are often alternative propositions.
Such a plan of improvement is being followed on nearly all the navi-
gable rivers of England, France, Belgium, and Germany, about half
of which have already been carried through the entire programme.
88 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In all the above stages of improvement the United States has little
to learn from Europe in methods.
The Mississippi River from St. Paul to the mouth of the Missouri
is a good example of a river which, from its moderate slope, good low-
water discharge, and moderate high-water discharge, is capable of an
excellent natural open-river navigation for light-draft boats; which
can easily be regularized for medium-draft boats; or which can be
canalized for boats of any draft. From the mouth of the Missouri
River to the Gulf, the Mississippi, with its large low-water and large
high-water discharge and mobile bottom, can be regularized, though
engineering difficulties render the cost per mile greater than any other
river work in the Mississippi Valley system. But it can not easily be
canalized. The Ohio River, on the other hand, on account of its small
low-water discharge can not easily be regularized for even light-draft
boats, although it can be canalized for medium drafts.
Regularization of a river to give a good open-river navigation is only
practicable on rivers with a gentle slope of river bed and a large low-
water flow compared with a freshet flow, such as the Mississippi River
below St. Paul, the Missouri River below the Yellowstone, the lower
portion of many of their tributaries, the Hudson, the lower portion
of the Atlantic and Gulf rivers in America, and in Europe the Rhone,
Garonne, Durance, Loire, Lower Meuse, Rhine, Weser, Elbe, Lower
Oder, Vistula, Nemel, Danube, Dneiper, Volga, and the tidal portions
of other rivers; but even in these cases, on the lower and most favored
parts of the Rhine above the Dutch frontier, and the middle parts of
the Danube, the low-water flow has neither justified nor secured a
low-water channel depth of over 3 meters (9.8 feet), nor of over 2
meters (6.6 feet) on the other European rivers, and on some of these
rivers only as much as 1 meter (3.3 feet). A greater depth will prob-
ably require canalization. However, these depths, combined with
the free, open river circulation, a perfected boat service, and fine ter-
minal facilities, have on the German rivers led to an enormous tonnage
of water traffic. North American rivers, as a general rule, surpass
European rivers in length, in depth, and in water flow. The Rhine
and the Danube are the only rivers in Europe, outside of Russia, with
a greater low-water flow than the upper Mississippi River above the
mouth of the Missouri.
Whenever the river slope is too steep and the corresponding current
too great to be easily ascended by ordinary tows, and an open-river
navigation is still preferable to canalization, the boat service is some-
times maintained by the aid of special chains or cables, laid under
water along the bottom of the river, by which the boats pull them-
selves upstream. The use in Europe, however, of cables or chains
is diminishing rather than increasing. In the United States there
are but few places where this system would be useful.
Where the river slope is steep or the low-water discharge is small
or where a draft greater than practicable by open-river methods is
desired, the river improvement is usually best obtained by canaliza-
tion.
The movable type of dam is the one most common in river canaliza-
tion work, its great advantage being that it lies flat on the river bot-
tom during high waters and opens the entire river to free navigation
as long as the high water continues.
The earliest and most persistent type of lock and that still most
generally used everywhere is the ordinary masonry lock, composed
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 89
of two masonry side walls, closed at each end by movable doors or
gates, the resulting inclosure or chamber being furnished with valves
and passages by which it can be filled with water from the upper pool
and can discharge its water into the lower pool.
When the boat traffic is very great and the highest pool of a river
receives but little water from its tributaries, the lack of proper water
supply may limit the river traffic and require either a change of lock
construction to some other type using less water or else a pumping
plant. A desire to economize water, combined with a desire to hasten
the passage of boats through locks, is the main reason for the sub-
stitution during recent years of inclined railways or "canal inclines"
and vertical lifts for the masonry lock. But the tendency of to-day
in Europe seems to be toward retaining the masonry lock type,
unless the conditions of dam location and of boat traffic are excep-
tional. In this connection, attention is invited to the fact that a
high masonry lock is being built alongside of the Henrichenburg
pneumatic lift on the Dortmund-Ems Čanal, in Germany, and the
hydraulic apparatus of the Anderton lift on the Weaver River canals
near Liverpool, England, has recently been replaced by mechanical
counterpoises and electro-dynamic machinery. There seems to be
no good reason, therefore, for changing the existing practice in the
United States, which is slow to give up the use of masonry locks.
Where a considerable height is to be overcome by masonry locks,
there is usually a choice between the use of several locks of small lift
and a lesser number with larger lifts. The present tendency is toward
larger lifts.
In the matter of construction details, the European locks seen
by the commission, while interesting as parts of the river improve-
ment system, contained but few features not already in use in the
United States.
There are many reasons why open river navigation is preferable to
a lock and dam or canalized navigation; among others, the capacity
for practically unlimited traffic, easier travel during freshets, and
very much greater speed of boat travel, especially downstream.
One great recommendation of open river navigation is its relative
economy. Canalization is almost always very expensive, both in
first cost and in subsequent operation, so that its adoption must
assume a reasonable certainty of great water traffic over the improved
route.
While the growth of traffic may eventually demand with propriety
either the thorough regularization or canalization of all navigable
waterways, there are always in every country, and especially in the
United States, many streams whose water slopes, water flow, char-
acter of banks and bed, etc., will render thorough improvement by
either method above described too expensive to be justifiable from
an economic standpoint.
IX.
COMPARISON OF EUROPEAN WATERWAYS WITH THOSE OF THE UNITED
STATES, INCLUDING AN INVESTIGATION OF EUROPEAN AND AMERI-
CAN TRANSPORTATION RATES BOTH BY LAND AND BY WATER.
A majority of the commission made an inspection of European
waterways in the months of August, September, and October, 1909,
visiting expecially England, France, Germany, Holland, Belgium,
90 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Austria, and Hungary. Typical harbors, as well as most of the
important rivers and canals of these countries, were examined, and
numerous conferences were held with the engineers and other officials
having them in charge. In practically all these countries waterways
have attained a high standard of development. This is due both to
the fostering care of the states or political subdivisions and to private
enterprise. In Germany, especially, and in fact in all countries except
England, the increase of inland water-borne traffic has been marked,
as shown by the following table, compiled from Volumes VI and VIÍ
of the Reports of the British Royal Commission on Canals and
Waterways, recently published:
Tonnage of European waterways.
[In 1,000 metric tons.¹]
Country.
1875
1880
1888
1905
Percentage
of increase.
Average
annual
increase.
England and Wales 2.
France.
Germany 3
Belgium.
33, 124
32, 340
- 2.4
18,000
34,030
89.0
20,800
-0.14
3.6
103, 400
397.0
13. 2
24,836
53, 345
114.0
4.5
1 The total tonnage for these countries is calculated by adding together total receipts and shipments, but
since this method is uniformly employed the percentages of increase are reliable.
2 Excluding sea-borne traffic on the Manchester Ship Canal.
3 The tonnage of some minor streams is only estimated.
The great increase in water-borne traffic in Germany shown in the
table above is mainly upon her important rivers. In 1875 the
seven main rivers carried 60 per cent of the total traffic and in 1905,
80 per cent. On the Rhine alone between Kehl and the Dutch
frontier 43 per cent of the total traffic was carried, and on the Elbe
between Hamburg and the Austrian frontier 24 per cent was carried.
The total length of free and canalized rivers and of canals in several
European countries is shown by the following table, compiled from
Volume VI of the Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and
Waterways:
Classification of waterways.
England and Wales...
France...
Germany
Belgium.
...
[Length in miles.]
Principal lines.
All
water-
Free
rivers.
Canal-
ized
rivers.
Canals.
ways.
812.0
1 796.0
1,948. 0
74.5
1,312.0
970.1
425.2
307.0
1,927.0
1,776. 7
894.8
4,053
7,485
6, 200
334. 2
1,015
1 The Loire for 166 miles between Briare and Nantes is paralleled by a canal and is only used by small
boats.
According to Part I of the Report of the Commissioner of Corpora-
tions on Transportation by Water in the United States (see pp. 28,
29), there are 295 navigable streams in this country having a navi-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 91
gable length of approximately 26,410 miles. Forty streams, with
a length of 2,600 miles, have a 10-foot navigation, and 70 more,
with an additional length of 3,200 miles, have a depth of from 6 to
10 feet, during the greater part of the year. The Mississippi River
and its principal tributaries alone have about 2,500 miles of 6-foot
low-water navigation. There are at present in the United States 45
canals still in operation, with a length of 2,189.04 miles. Of these,
17 government canals aggregate 194.49 miles in length, 12 state canals
aggregate 1,358.98 miles, and 16 private canals aggregate 635.58
miles. Hence the total length of all navigable rivers and canals in
operation is about 28,600 miles.
Upon the Rhine, the most important inland waterway of Europe,
the traffic has assumed enormous proportions, showing an increase
greater than on any waterway of this country, except possibly the
Great Lakes. In 1875 the average tonnage per mile upon this
river for the 351 miles above the frontier of Holland was 1,560; by
1905 it had mounted to 11,400, an increase of 631 per cent. On
the canalized portion of the river Main, one of the smaller tribu-
taries of the Rhine, the traffic has increased from 296,000 total ton-
nage in 1887 to 2,552,000 in 1905. This enormous increase has taken
place in spite of the fact that the Rhine at no place above the Dutch
frontier is more than 10 feet deep at ordinary low water, and the
depth of the Main is even less. The low-water depth of the Rhine
is only 9.8 feet for 110 miles from the Dutch frontier up to Cologne;
thence 8.2 feet for 82 miles to St. Goar; thence 6.6 feet for 79 miles
to Mannheim; and thence 4 feet for 84 miles to Strassburg. The
Main has a low-water depth of 7.5 feet from the Rhine for a distance
of 26.5 miles to Offenbach; and only 2.6 feet for the next 217 miles
to Bischberg.
The canals of all the European countries visited by the commission,
except those of England, have shown in the aggregate a steady in-
crease in traffic, although there are instances of abandonment or
marked diminution. This increase has taken place on canals which,
with few exceptions, are of shallow draft, the average depth being
about 6 feet. In France the average annual increase has been about
3 per
This is in marked contrast to the record of canals of this
country, which, except for a comparatively few ship canals connecting
the Great Lakes, show a decrease of 73 per cent from 1880 to 1906.
This decrease is partially explained by the fact that, since 1880, about
888 miles of canals have been abandoned.
The general policy of almost all European countries has been
toward the development and improvement of their waterways,
though of late years in a few instances projects already adopted have
been abandoned or prosecuted without assurance of early completion.
It is difficult to make reliable comparisons between the amounts.
expended for waterways in those European countries in which the
General Government appropriates money for this purpose, and the
amounts spent in the United States, partly because in Europe the
expense of improvement is often shared by the state and the prov-
inces, districts, and individuals affected, and partly because far
greater amounts have been expended for wharves, ice harbors, local
basins, and other facilities for harbors and river-borne commerce than
is customary with us. Inland harbors especially are developed on a
much more extensive scale in Germany, France, and Belgium than
92 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
in the United States. The city of Frankfort, for example, is now car-
rying out new harbor works, the cost of which, including land purchase
will be approximately $17,640,000. The whole amount will be
defrayed by the city without state aid.
From 1814 to 1900 the Government of France spent on inland
waterways approximately $301,000,000 for improvement and con-
struction (including levees, revetments, etc.), and over $148,000,000
for maintenance and heavier repairs. Belgium spent for the con-
struction of state waterways from 1831 to 1905 about $77,000,000,
and for current improvements and maintenance about $24,000,000.
Between 1813 and 1906 Prussia spent for waterway construction and
improvements about $129,000,000, and for maintenance in 1905 about
$4,000,000. The congressional appropriations in the United States
for the survey, improvement, and maintenance of harbors and water-
ways from 1802 to March 2, 1907, amounted to almost $553,000,000,
of which sum about $69,000,000 were spent up to 1906 upon canals
and canalized rivers. In an official document published in 1903 the
relative amounts appropriated for rivers, harbors, and canals to and
including December 31, 1902, is stated, namely, $221,869,759 for
rivers, $147,448,903.32 for harbors, and $33,237,857.24 for canals.
But it must be remembered that the United States is about eight-
een times as large in area as either France or Germany, and the
length of its navigable rivers and canals is nearly four times as great
as in France and more than four times as great as that of Germany.
In all these cases what the central governments have appropriated
for waterway improvements is only a part of the total amount
expended. In the United States, for instance, about $214,000,000
have been spent upon canals by States and corporations.¹
The increase of traffic on the waterways of Europe in contrast
with the decline on many streams of the United States is due, in part
at least, to the very great difference between conditions in Europe
and those in the United States, of which the following are, it is be-
lieved, the most important.
1. Difference in density of population. The United States is much
less densely populated than Europe. In 1909 the population was
estimated at 46 inhabitants per square mile for the entire United
States, while for entire Europe it was approximately 107. In Ger-
many the population is 290 per square mile, and in Belgium it is 620.
The greater density of population in Europe tends to increase the
quantity of freight in a given area, though this statement must be
made with some limitations, due to the lower average of consump-
tion and the less degree of industrial activity in some parts of Europe.
At the same time it is a notable fact that the railway mileage per
square mile in the United States, at least in the settled portions, is
equal to or greater than that in Europe, while the entire mileage
per thousand of population is five times as great, thereby showing
that the United States is much more adequately furnished with
means for railway transportation.
2. The earlier development and greater relative advantages of water-
way systems in Europe.-In Europe the waterways were developed
and in very general use before the introduction of railways. Factories
as well as warehouses were located with reference to such waterways,
¹ Census Report, Transportation by Water in 1906, p. 44.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 93
and great reliance was placed upon waterway transportation as a means
of industrial growth. The European waterways were constructed in
many cases at a time when the question at issue was only between
transportation by wagons and by boats, and consequently the Euro-
pean railway systems constructed at a later date were not developed to
the same degree of efficiency as those in America. It is also more
difficult to provide railways in Europe because of the very high cost
of rights of way; and in this connection the opportunity for better-
ments in the way of eliminating grades and curves is much less in
Europe than in America. The carrying capacity of the European
freight car is but a fraction of that in the United States.
3. Trade movement.-Another difference as compared with the
United States is the greater fixedness in Europe in the location of
manufacturing cities, as well as in the lines of distribution of raw
material due to the earlier development of coal mines and other
sources of material. The shifting of the centers of production which
arises from the development of new coal mines and new centers of
manufacturing, as well as from the great growth of population, is
much less common in Europe than in the United States. This
makes it possible to utilize an established waterway with a greater
assurance of profit and with greater dependence upon it as a means
of transportation.
4. Habits and customs.-One social condition, entitled to very con-
siderable weight, is the existence in Europe of a class of boatmen who,
for generation after generation, apply themselves to the handling of
boats in river or canal traffic. These boatmen live with great econ-
omy upon the canal boat and seem to be contented with comparatively
small gains and with conditions which would not be regarded favor-
ably in the United States. In most cases towage is accomplished by
horses, which are often stabled in the boats, but in numerous in-
stances canal boats are towed by men. Steam and electric traction
is restricted mainly to larger boats and trains of tows.
5. Engineering difficulties. Engineering difficulties, as a rule, on
those rivers which are most utilized, are less serious on the rivers of
Europe than in the United States. The most notable example of
this is the River Rhine. Its sources are in the Alps, where the melt-
ing of snow and ice during the hot weather of summer furnishes a
constant supply for the water flow of the river at the very season
when rivers are likely to be lowest in the United States. Further-
more, it should be said that conditions as regards alluvial banks, and
shifting bars due to deposits of silt, are on the whole more favor-
able to river improvement in Europe than in the United States, and
especially so upon rivers whose improvement would be most useful.
6. The different relations between railways and waterways.-Military
considerations have been much more regarded in Europe, not only
in the construction but in the management of transportation lines,
than in the United States. Railways are laid down to connect the
center with the frontier, or, at any rate, are located with a view to
the mobilization of troops and to the carrying of supplies to places
where they may be needed, and with a less uniform regard for serving
great manufacturing centers or populous cities. Waterways are
located mainly with a view to the development of trade at all times
and to relieving the railroads in time of war.
94 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Sedulous care is taken by most European countries for the protec-
tion of inland water-borne traffic against railway competition. In
France this is accomplished by enforcing a differential of 20 per cent
in favor of the waterways as against railways, with the evident inten-
tion of maintaining both methods of transportation. In a majority
of the other countries in which water transportation has reached its
highest development the railways wholly or partially belong to the
State. This is true in Germany, Austria, Hungary, Holland, and
Belgium. The well-established policy in these countries is to secure
cooperation between railways and waterways by official control of
railway rates, with a view to maintaining profitable traffic on the
latter. The following tables, compiled from Volume VI of the Report
of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, show the com-
parative mileage and the comparative tonnage of the railways and
waterways of Belgium, France, and Germany:
Year.
BELGIUM.
Length (in miles). Tonnage (in 1,000 tons).
Waterways. Railways. Waterways. Railways.
1888..
1890...
1895..
1900..
1903
1905..
1880.
1885..
1890..
1895.
1900..
1903..
1905.
1875..
1885.
1895.
1900...
1905..
998.4
2,364.7
24,836
40,352
1,018. 2
2,378.4
25,242
42,990
1,009.7
2, 407.8
30,242
46,664
1,015.6
2,881.2
38, 178
55, 108
1,015.6
2,874.4
49,020
59,297
1,015.6
2,873.8
53,345
65,319
FRANCE.
6,782
14,315
18,000
80,774
7,676
18,500
19,573
75, 192
7,670
20,634
24, 167
92,506
7,614
22,469
27,174
100,834
7,533
23, 436
32, 446
126,830
7,589
24, 149
33, 340
129,305
7,483
24, 459
34,030
139,000
GERMANY.
1 6, 200
16,430
20,800
167,000
6, 200
22,940
27,600
200,000
6,200
27,780
46,700
331,000
6, 200
30, 750
73,000
487,000
6, 200
33, 730
103, 400
588, 700
1 Although new waterways, with a length of several hundred miles, have been constructed since 1875,
other waterways, aggregating about the same length, have entirely lost their importance and are thereforé
excluded, so that the total length is accepted as unchanged. If all abandoned or insignificant lines are
included, the total length of German waterways may be estimated at from 7,709 to 8,500 miles.
In 1906 the length of the railways of the United States was 222,571
miles, about 7.7 times the estimated length of all its navigable canals
and rivers as given on page 28. The total tonnage of the railways in
1904 amounted to 1,631,374,219 tons. This was 12.3 times the esti-
mated traffic of all the navigable rivers and canals in the United
States, amounting to 132,000,000 tons.¹
The success of water transportation in Europe is often attributed
to the fact that railroad rates are higher abroad than in the United
States. In a later report the commission will endeavor to set forth
1 W J McGee, Our Inland Waterways, in Popular Science Monthly, April, 1908.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 95
a careful comparison between the freight and passenger rates of
European countries and those of the United States. Frequent errors
have been made in the past in comparing the average rates per ton
per mile, owing to the different methods of handling traffic and of
determining rates, resulting in erroneous and confusing conclusions.
In Belgium, for instance, the cost of collection and delivery is included
in the railroad rate, while in England such freight as is carried by
express companies in this country is carried by the railroads directly.
The average length of haul in this country is far greater than in
Europe, owing, in some measure, to the smaller political divisions
abroad. This tends to reduce the average cost per mile in this
country. A proper comparison must be between specific commodi-
ties carried for specific distances, and under similar regulations as to
the method of handling, and must take into account the comparative
cost and effectiveness of labor, and also the cost of materials used, in
the two cases.
Moreover, the railroads of Europe realize a much larger share of
revenue from passenger traffic. Consequently, on the majority of
their lines a greater degree of attention is paid to the handling of fast
passenger trains, and this necessarily diminishes the efficiency of
freight service. It has been stated in a document transmitted to the
commission that the average time during which a freight train is
operated in Prussia is only three hours per day, the cars being on side-
tracks and in yards the remaining twenty-one hours. It should be
conceded in this connection, however, that in some cases the effi-
ciency of freight service and the number of hours of actual running
time per day is no greater in the United States than in Europe.
While recognizing the necessity of more thorough investigations of
the results of all these different factors, the commission would call
attention to the fact that the average European freight rates on rail-
way lines paralleling water routes, especially for short distances, are
higher than those on lines similarly situated in the United States, and
also that the European rates for water-borne carriage, in some
instances even where the traffic is very large, are as high or higher
than on railways in the United States in localities where traffic is
likewise large.
THEODORE E. BURTON, Chairman.
J. H. GALLINGER, Vice Chairman.
S. H. PILES.
WILLIAM ALDEN SMITH.
F. M. SIMMONS.
JAMES P. CLARKE.
WM. LORIMER.
D. S. ALEXANDER.
FREDERICK C. STEVENS.
IRVING P. WANGER.
STEPHEN M. SPARKMAN.
JOHN A. MOON.
TABLE OF CONTENTS TO APPENDIX I.
1. Memorandum of Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors on the decline
of inland waterway traffic, transmitted by the Chief of Engineers..
2. The development of seaports and internal waterways, by Rear Admiral
C. S. Sperry, U. S. Navy.
3. The commerce of the Hudson River, by Mr. E. O. Merchant.
Page.
99
101
109
4. The movement of package freight on the Great Lakes, by Mr. E. O. Merchant.
5. Methods of financing the construction and improvement of waterways in
Europe, by Mr. E. O. Merchant..
110
114
6. Relation of waterway improvements to water supply, etc., and to bank and
other riparian property protection, by Col. W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engi-
neers, U. S. Army..
7. Brief statement of existing methods in the improvement of rivers, by Col.
W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army...
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-7
97
123
125
MEMORANDUM OF THE BOARD OF ENGINEERS FOR RIVERS
AND HARBORS IN CONNECTION WITH E. D. 7288 AND CIR-
CULAR LETTER OF JULY 27, 1909, BASED THEREON, RELAT-
ING TO CAUSES OF DECLINE OF WATER TRANSPORTATION.
[Transmitted by the Chief of Engineers.]
In considering the causes which have led to the decline of water
transportation, where it has occurred, a decline is deemed to exist
not only in those cases in which records of tonnage show an actual
decrease, but also in those in which the records show an increase not
in proportion to the increase in the general commerce or business of
the community.
An example of the latter class is furnished by the coal shipments
by water to Cincinnati, which have not increased in proportion to
the consumption of coal in that city.
The prevalent cause leading to the decline of water transportation
is without doubt the railroad. The railroad corporation of large re-
sources and facilities for its business successfully competes with navi-
gation companies or individual boats with limited resources and
facilities; and, competing, naturally does not enter into such relations
with its competitor as to increase the business of the latter, declining
to prorate, or to recognize through bills of lading. Moreover, rail-
roads have established rival boat or barge lines through which compe-
tition has been discouraged. (Delaware and Raritan Canal, con-
trolled by Pennsylvania Railroad; Allegheny Valley Railroad; Long
Island Sound by both Pennsylvania and New York, New Haven and
Hartford Railroads; and generally on Atlantic and Pacific coasts and
Great Lakes.)
The lower boat transportation rate does not measure the cost of
water transportation. To it must be added charges for wharfage,
teaming, and insurance; boat transportation on smaller streams is
characterized by exposure of merchandise to the elements while on
the bank awaiting or discharged from, the boat; shipments transferred
to or from rail routes must be handled in detail; time schedules, affect-
ing passenger traffic deranged often by low water and at times
by high, are frequently uncertain; freight, on the contrary, is often
delivered more quickly by water; capacity of boats may be insuffi-
cient to provide transportation as needed; recompense for damages
to freight in transit difficult to determine in amount or to collect.
Enumerating the above serves to accentuate the advantages of
rail transportation even at a higher first cost. In place of wharfage
charges, and exposure of merchandise to the elements, is the railroad
freight house, or it may be the car on a siding, minimizing or even
abolishing teaming. Carloads are transferred from one line to another
without handling of freight; less than car loads, without teaming.
Increase in freight is met by increase in cars; time schedules are
independent of water stages as a very general rule.
99
100 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
But water transportation must contend with not only the greater
facilities of rail, but also with rail rates so low as to make movement
of freight by water unprofitable. Water competition renders im-
perative what is well know as the long and short haul clause; and
rail rates to meet such competition paralyze water transportation.
The boat line bankrupted, the rail rate may be raised, for the water
competition is no longer actual but constructive only. The rail rate
itself is not necessarily unreasonable; it is held to be destructive and
in restraint of trade when so low as to cause a loss to the railroad com-
pany. There may be cases, though none is known, where a rate has
been held to cause a loss; though but one case is known where a rate
to an inland point involving much shorter haul than to a water point
has been declared unreasonably high by comparison with the rate to
the water point, even though the latter rate cause no loss to the rail-
road company.
Railroads have also caused a decline in water transportation by
centering such transportation about special points with greater facili-
ties, natural and artificial, for greater vessels. Examples of this are
to be found on the New England coast; and farther south, Norfolk
has displaced Richmond and West Point. And here it may be fit-
ting to note that water transportation has its fullest development on
the Great Lakes and in the waters of and along the coasts of the
United States when forming links in a chain of joint rail and water
traffic.
But the essence of this fullest development is a capacious water
way; and this develops another cause for the decline-the intermit-
tent character of the work of improving waterways. Contrast the
improvement of the Ohio River with the construction of the Panama
Canal. Both works are covered by comprehensive plans for definite
results; but for the canal, appropriations are limited only to the
extent of their possible due use.
But having in mind the Mississippi River, it does not appear that
when navigable depths are available, they would be utilized to the
extent of the greatest possibilities afforded. Streams are not used
to their fullest or best advantage. The demand is often for greater
depths, instead of adapting draft of boats to prevailing depths.
Once lower competitive rail rates have been secured, traffic is diverted
to the railroad, but in such cases the object desired by the commu-
nity-the reduction of cost of transportation-has been secured.
Čauses of local decline more or less widespread, yet well defined,
are exhaustion of lumber (several localities); falling off of mackerel
(Maine); abandonment of special manufactures, as salt and flour
(Muskingum River); substitution of artificial for natural ice (a few
localities); decline in use of "brown stone" (Connecticut River);
demand for cotton by local factories (Savannah River).
In one case decline is in part due to a large industrial corporation
declining, except in isolated cases, to ship its products by water
(Ohio River).
In substituting the above memorandum, it is desired to invite
attention to the fact that so far as data examined show, there has
been no case where decline has been due to failure of the works of the
department to produce improvement in navigable capacities when
requisite funds have been supplied.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF SEAPORTS AND INTERNAL WATER-
WAYS.
THE NAVIGATION OF THE YANGTSE AND THE AMAZON.
[By Admiral C. S. Sperry, U. S. Navy.]
In discussing the proper development of commercial harbors and
their facilities and the symmetrical development of the tributary
internal waterway systems, it is advisable to consider, first, the
development of the ocean carrier which is in progress and the condi-
tions by which it is governed, recollecting that the same conditions
do not govern the development of vessels navigating sheltered and
narrow inland waters or rivers with strong currents and sharp bends.
River boats and light-draft barges of great beam, singly or in tows,
can navigate such waters more safely and economically than a ves-
sel built on the lines of an ocean carrier.
The necessary characteristics of the most economical ocean car-
rier can not be better stated than by quoting from a paper on "Mari-
time commerce, past, present, future," by Elmer Lawrence Corthell,
M. A. Dr. Sc., civil engineer, read before the American Association
for the Advancement of Science, August, 1898:
Draft of water for the steamships of the present and future is the desideratum
to which urgent attention should be called by all those who desire the continued
development of commerce and the still further cheapening of transportation and a
greater reduction in prices.
I can not state this important condition that confronts us any better than in the
words of one of the leading naval architects of the world, Dr. Francis Elgar, the con-
sulting naval architect of the Great Fairfield works on the Clyde, and the designer
of the Campania and Lucania. In a paper entitled "Fast ocean steamships," read
before the Institution of Naval Architects in 1893, not long after these ships were built,
he used these words (the italics are our own):
"Deep draft of water. This is a most important element of speed at sea, and it is
now strictly limited by the depth of water in the ports and docks used by the fast
passenger steamers on both sides of the Atlantic. Twenty-seven feet is the extreme
limit of depth to which a ship can load on either side. The Campania can not load
an inch deeper than the Umbria, although she is 100 feet longer. If the underwater
dimensions of Campania had been increased proportionately to those of Umbria her
draft of water would have been 32 feet. This class of steamer is increasing in length
and breadth, but the draft of water has to be kept the same. The result is that it is
only a question of time, and not of a very long time with our present materials of
construction and type of propulsive machinery, to find an absolute limit of speed
imposed by the restriction of draft of water.
"It is not only that the present limited draft of water will finally impose an abso-
lute limit of speed, other conditions remaining the same, but it has already a very
prejudicial effect in keeping down speed at the point actually reached. If the draft
were not restricted, the form of section could not be improved by giving to it more rise
of bilge and an easier curvature.
* * *
"As the displacement is increased by increase of draft, the power required to drive
a ton of displacement at a given speed becomes reduced. Hence increase of draft
does not mean a proportionate increase of engine power, even when such increase is
obtained merely by extra immersion without any improvement of form such as would
otherwise be possible.
"The advantages of increased draft would be felt still more in a seaway than in
smooth water, as the lower part of the hull would be less affected by the wave sur-
face and better and more constant immersion could be given to the propellers. * * *
101
102 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
"The Atlantic trade is increasing at such a rapid rate that larger and swifter ships
are certain to be soon called for. The depth of water has lately been somewhat
increased at Liverpool; but much deeper harbors and docks will be required if further
great increases of speed at sea are to be obtained without excessive difficulty and
cost.
*
* *
"The opinion of practical navigators and of commercial men handling large vessels
is that the inability to provide the depth of channels and harbors necessary to increase
the draft of large freight carriers is very detrimental to good navigation and economical
transportation.
"As vessels increase in size they have to be built as flat as possible to allow them to
enter the harbors, which injures their sea-going qualities and renders them more dan-
gerous and unwieldly, as well as more liable to injury from their shape *
*
* "
It appears from these statements that, as the displacement of an
ocean carrier is augmented by increasing the draft and other dimen-
sions symmetrically, the power required to drive a ton of displace-
ment at a given speed is reduced, which lessens the necessary expen-
diture for coal and operating force per ton of cargo carried. A
modern ocean carrier of 5,000 tons displacement requires 1,000
indicated horsepower to drive her at a speed of 10 knots, and a carrier
of the same type symmetrically enlarged to 10,000 tons displacement
requires only 1,587 horsepower to drive her at the same speed; that is,
the cargo-carrying capacity is doubled at the same speed with an
increase of little more than 50 per cent for fuel. The increased
expense for labor is less than 1 per cent and the superiority of the large
carrier in adverse weather is very marked. A small light-draft
steamer in rough water is thrown about by every wave; her way is
deadened by pitching into a heavy sea and her engines are always in
danger of breaking down, owing to the racing of the propellor as her
stern rises out of the water. Consider also that both the small ship
and her cargo are liable to serious damage by heavy rolling and the
shipping of water on her low decks, and the reason why the tonnage
of the ocean carrier increases so steadily and keeps so close to the
available depth of water at the harbor entrance is sufficiently
apparent.
Lloyds Register of British Shipping shows that in 1893-94 there
were only 87 steamers of and above 5,000 tons, while in 1908–9 there
were 599, and during the same period the steamers of 3,000 tons and
above 2,000 tons decreased in number from 1,277 in 1893-94 to 1,013
in 1908-9. The eagerness with which the size of steamers follows
the available depth of water is shown by the fact that the White
Star Line is now building the Olympic and Titanic, with a draft of
37½ feet on a displacement of 60,000 tons, to take advantage of the
new 40-foot channel into the port of New York.
The report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, 1907,
states that the lowering of freight rates at Boston during the last 15 or
20 years has been about 50 per cent, and that the deepening of the
harbor of Savannah has lowered the rates at that port from 30 to
50 per cent. A memorandum supplied by the Savannah Chamber
of Commerce in November, 1909, states that the increase in the size
of ships at that port, owing to the increase of the depth of the channel
to 22 feet at low water, has been 40 per cent in the last 10 years, and
that during the same period marine insurance has fallen 25 per cent
and freight rates 37 per cent.
The very great economy of the large ocean carrier sufficiently
explains the activity with which such great ports as New York, Liver-
pool, London, Shanghai, and a host of lesser ports are being improved
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 103
the world over, while the great ship canals, Suez and Kiel, are being
steadily deepened; but it is evident that long lines of canals, or even
such rivers as the Amazon and the Yangtse, owing to the great labor
involved, can not be improved commensurately, and therefore the
most economical long-distance ocean carriers can never use them.
Nor, conversely, can even the largest of the vessels using our inland
waters, deepen and improve the waterways as we may, ever navigate
the high seas economically or safely as compared to an ocean carrier
of to-day of even moderate proportions.
Certain artificial waterways will always be used even though the
size of vessels navigating them may be, to a certain extent, limited,
and to this class belong the Suez and Panama Canals.
The Suez Canal, 87 miles in length, shortens the route for the vast
commerce from northern and western Europe to Calcutta by 3,700
miles and to Hongkong by 3,300 miles, as compared to the routes by
the Cape of Good Hope and the Straits of Sunda; and although ves-
sels now using the canal are limited to a draft of 28 feet the canal is
being deepened to take vessels drawing 31 feet, and even the greater
economy of the larger freighter will not justify the expense of the
longer voyage around the Cape. The same conditions make it cer-
tain that the Panama Canal, 49 miles long, with a designed depth of
41 feet, will be used by ocean carriers. The west coast of South
America is in the same longitude as the Atlantic seaboard of the
United States, and, with trifling deflections about Cuba, the course
from New York to Callao is nearly a straight line. From New York
to Callao via the Panama Canal the distance is 3,400 miles. From the
entrance to the English Channel to Callao by the same route it is 6,500
miles. From the channel to Callao via the Straits of Magellan it is
10,100 miles. From New York to San Francisco via Panama the dis-
tance is 8,050 miles less than via the Straits of Magellan. The trade
route for large carriers from Europe to Valparaiso may continue
through the Straits of Magellan, because of the great ports of call on
the east coast of South America, but the trade of the northern ports
on the west coast will inevitably pass through the canal, and that
short and cheap route for vessels of the largest class must develop a
great trade between the east coast of the United States and the west
coast of South America. The fertilizer nitrates and other products
of the coast should come north in exchange for the lumber, manufac-
tured cotton, and other goods and coal of the Atlantic States.
The considerations which force the use of the Suez and Panama
Canals are manifest.
The Kaiser-Wilhelm, or Kiel Canal, connects the North Sea with
the Baltic, and is 53 miles in length. The saving in distance for
vessels bound from the English Channel to the Baltic is about 200
miles and the navigation of the narrow waters about Denmark is
avoided. The canal can now take vessels of the largest class, but
is being still further deepened in view of the increasing size of war
vessels. The principal motives of the German Government in build-
ing the canal were undoubtedly military and strategic, the commercial
aspect being incidental. The least depth of water encountered by
vessels passing into the Baltic through the Great Belt, or route to
the north and east of Denmark, is 36 feet.
The total number of steamers, barges, and sailing vessels carrying
cargo, or in ballast, using the Kiel Canal, and their tonnage, are
104 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
given in the Great Canals of the World, Department of Commerce
and Labor, 1895 to 1904, and in Statistiches Jahrbuch für das
Deutsche Reich, edition of 1909, for remaining years, as follows:
Year.
Number of
vessels.
Tonnage.
1898.
July 1, 1895, to June 30, 1896 (the first year after opening)..
16,834
1900..
23, 108
1,505,983
2,469, 795
26, 279
3, 488, 767
30, 161
4, 285, 301
32, 038
4,990, 287
34, 187
6,045, 963
34, 121
6, 012, 178
1902...
1904.
1906.
1908..
The Corinth Canal, connecting the Gulf of Corinth with the Gulf
of Aegina, is less than 4 miles long and shortens the voyage from
the Adriatic by 170 miles, and from the Mediterranean by 100 miles,
but the Mediterranean Pilot, B. A., fourth edition, page 51, states:
None of the foreign steamship companies navigating the Mediterranean now use the
canal. It is mostly used by small Greek passenger steamers.
It can be navigated by vessels not drawing more than 23 feet 6
inches, but, owing to the troublesome winds and currents and the
narrowness of the channel, the use of one or two tugs is necessary,
even for steam vessels, to keep them from grounding. These draw-
backs account for the little use made of the canal, and it is well to
consider the general conditions under which large vessels navigate
canals. If the draft of the vessel approaches very near to the limit
fixed by the depth of the channel, the suction is so great, owing to
the little water between the ship and the bottom of the canal, that
the vessel will obey the helm very sluggishly and sometimes not at
all, even if there is neither wind nor current, and an instant off the
course in a narrow channel will put the vessel aground. The pro-
pellers are very likely to be damaged under such circumstances,
which is a serious matter for the ship, and if the vessel continues
aground for any length of time the traffic on the canal is tied up and
the loss to all parties is very heavy. Such accidents add to the
expense of operating the canal and must be considered in adjusting
the tolls, and as they also add to the ship's expenses they must be
considered in rates of freight and insurance.
In regard to such canals as the St. Marys, connecting Lake Superior
with the chain of lakes to the east and south, it is obvious that, as
there is no alternative, vessels must use them, and owing to the
economy of large vessels many of them are of such size that for a
portion of their route over connecting waters of the Great Lakes there
is at times no more than 6 inches of water to spare-so narrow a mar-
gin is only possible in tideless waters with little seasonal variation in
height, and the possibility of poor steering is contemplated and met
by additional care because of the conomy of the larger vessel or
barge.
The Welland Canal through Canadian territory takes vessels draw-
ing not more than 14 feet, and with a length of 263 miles has 26 locks.
It is the only available water route between Lakes Erie and Ontario;
but the great body of the traffic on Lake Erie being destined for the
middle and eastern United States naturally proceeds by rail or through
the Erie Canal, thus lessening the traffic through the Welland Canal.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 105
A canal from Chicago to Toledo, via Fort Wayne, would be about
250 miles in length, and the passage via the Straits of Mackinaw
between the same points is about 700 miles, but it seems certain that
large lake carriers would not use a canal between those points. The
speed of a large carrier could not possibly exceed 5 knots, less than
half the speed in open water, unless the depth were more than 3
feet greater than the draft of the vessel, and the power required to
drive a large vessel in a canal is so greatly increased by the suction
that there soon comes a point where the speed is practically constant,
however great the power expended. Also, the danger of grounding
in the case of a large carrier steering badly in shallow water and
causing delays and blockade is very considerable. Any use of the
canal except for local traffic by barges would probably be exceptional.
The traffic in certain canals of no great length, which permit ocean
carriers of more or less limited draft to reach important commercial
centers, shows some increase, as in the case of the Manchester Canal,
35 miles in length, with a least depth of 28 feet, and the Bruges
Canal, 7 miles in length, with a least depth of 26 feet. (Port of
Manchester Official Sailing Ship List Guide, July, 1909, p. 90, and
North Sea Pilot, B. A., 1909.)
The sea-borne traffic of the Manchester Canal in 1898 was 2,218,005
tons, and in 1905 it was 3,993,110 tons. (Royal Commission on
Canals and Inland Navigations, Vol. IV, 1908, p. 80.)
At Bruges the number of vessels entering in 1900 was 101, tonnage
30,785 tons; in 1905 it was 151, tonnage 49,022 tons; and in 1908 it
was 576, tonnage 321,067. (Tableau General du Commerce Etranger,
Belgium, 1908, p. 692.)
The limit of the use of most canals by ocean carriers is speedily
reached, but the particular conditions are local and various. In the
North Sea and the English Channel the sea portion of the route
rarely exceeds 12 hours, and the economy of the carrier of limited
size making the continuous voyage lies in the fact that one handling
is saved by proceeding direct to such a port as Bruges, but if the canal
is long the delays of navigation, ordinary or due to casualties, are such
that transshipment with proper terminals will be speedier and more
economical.
The Seine has been so improved that Rouen is practically the sea-
port of Paris. The distance from the outer limit of the estuary of the
Seine to Rouen is 71 miles, and vessels drawing 19 feet can ascend to
that place at high-water neap tides, and vessels drawing 25 feet can
ascend at high-water springs. The size of vessels frequenting the port
is increasing. In 1905, 1,482 vessels, with a tonnage of 1,051,562
tons, entered the port. (Channel Pilot B. A., 1906.)
NAVIGATION OF THE YANGTSE.
The navigation of the Yangtse is at all times difficult, and pilots who
travel the river constantly are a necessity, as the changes are so fre-
quent that charts can not be depended on. In summer when the river
is high the banks are generally flooded and the strong current makes
navigation dangerous. When the river has subsided the channels
are completely changed, and shoals and bars have formed and new
passages have been cut through where none existed.
106 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The highest water occurs between June and October, and the
height of the summer above the winter levels may be considered to
be for Chinkiang, 190 miles from the sea, 15 to 18 feet; Kiukiang, 450
miles from the sea, 30 feet, and for Hankau, 600 miles from the sea,
40 to 50 feet. At the highest water, in July and August, the higher
portions of the river have the appearance of an immense lake, and at
many places between Nanking and Hankau the waters exceed 20
miles in width. Sometimes no land can be seen from the deck on
either hand as far as the distant hills.
The great treaty port of Shanghai lies on the Wusung River, which
enters into the Yangtse about 20 miles from the sea, and is about
12 miles above the mouth of the Wusung. The entrance to the
Yangtse is obstructed by bars and flats and heavy vessels can only
enter at high water. Neaps ordinarily rise 10 feet and springs 14
to 15½, so that in ordinary weather vessels drawing from 26 to 30 feet
may enter according to the state of the tide, but the tides are greatly
affected by the winds, and with a strong wind from the westward,
they are much lower. The extensive bar at the mouth of the Wusung
is another obstacle; but usually vessels drawing 21 feet can reach
Shanghai in the autumn, and drawing 24 or 25 feet in the spring.
This necessitates lightering cargo at the Wusung bar, in many cases,
as very large steamers frequent the port.
Shanghai is one of the chief commercial cities of the world. The
population is about 350,000, of which 7,000 are foreigners in the set-
tlements. In 1905, the total foreign imports at Shanghai were
valued at £38,863,144, and the exports to foreign countries at
£16,238,508. In the same year 5,156 vessels, with an aggregate ton-
nage of 7,195,000 tons, entered the port. In addition there is a
large inland steam navigation trade. About 6,000 tons of coal and
4,000 tons of liquid fuel are usually in stock. For 50 miles around
the city there is water communication with the interior in every
direction by the numerous canals and creeks which intersect the
Province. There are numerous wharves where any vessels that are
able to cross Wusung inner bar can lie alongside.
Nanking, 230 miles from the sea, can be reached at all times by
vessels drawing 27 feet if they have been able to cross the bar at the
entrance to the Yangtse.
Hankau, 615 miles from the sea, is the highest point of any direct
foreign trade, of which there is no great amount, what there is being
principally oil steamers of the Standard Oil Co. The bulk of the
trade is by river steamers carrying cargo transshipped at Shanghai.
There are eight lines of such steamers, affording daily communi-
cation. From June to October vessels drawing 27 feet can reach
Hankau, but for the remainder of the year access is occasionally
difficult for vessels drawing as little as 9 feet. At Hankau the
river is a mile wide and during the summer it is inconvenient for ves-
sels to lie far out, as the strong current makes communication diffi-
cult. Vessels are liable to the danger of being fouled by timber
rafts, which sometimes during freshets break adrift from the banks
higher up, where they are moored.
Ichang, about 980 miles from the sea, is the head of river-boat
navigation for unbroken voyages, as above that point the Yangtse
passes through narrow gorges and is obstructed by rapids. There is
no direct foreign trade. Many river steamers not drawing more
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 107
than 6 feet ply to Ichang, and there are about 12,000 junks for
handling cargo transshipped for upriver trade.
At none of the towns above Shanghai on the Yangtse are there any
wharves, nor are there any facilities for handling cargo except a
plentiful supply of cheap coolie labor.
The latest type of river steamers on the Yangtse is a triple-screw
steel steamer 250 feet long with 40 feet beam, and drawing, with an
average load, 5 feet. She is one of four steamers trading regularly
from Hankow to Ichang and is supplied with a steam launch to pre-
cede the steamer and take soundings. Another steamer, the Kiang
Hsiu, belonging to the China Merchants Co., is 325 feet long, 44
feet beam, draws about 7 feet, has twin screws, and was built in
1905. The first river steamers on the Yangtse were American side-
wheel boats sent out for the purpose, but of late years the new screw
boats of steel have been built at Shanghai. (Information principally
from the China Sea Directory, B. A., 1904, Vol. III, and Supple-
ment, 1907.)
Great plans for railway development in China, which have been
debated for many years, seem about to be realized, in a measure,
and they will doubtless stimulate the development of the hill country
beyond the reach of the great canal system of the Yellow River,
but Shanghai will continue to reap the benefit of the great canal
and river system of which it is the center. It will be benefited
very greatly if the Woosung bars are dredged to take vessels draw-
ing 27 feet at all seasons-27 feet being nearly the maximum draft
which can usually cross the bars at the entrance to the Yangtse,
which are so wide that their improvement is not likely to be under-
taken. The wharves of Shanghai at which vessels can lie already
extend for several miles on both banks and can readily be greatly
extended, so that as the channel is deepened shipping will be favored
by the terminal facilities and still fewer ocean carriers will care to
meet the strong currents and difficult navigation of the Yangtse.
NAVIGATION OF THE AMAZON.
The city of Para lies in the estuary of the Amazon and it had a
population in 1899 of 120,000 people. In 1901 the exports, prin-
cipally rubber, isinglass, cocoa, hides, nuts, tobacco, and deerskins,
were valued at $14,000,000.
The following account of the port facilities of Para is taken from
the weekly Hydrographic Bulletin, No. 1048, issued by the United
States Hydrographic Office, Navy Department, September 29, 1909:
Para, Brazil. The entrance to the port is marked by the lightship and gas buoys;
there are 21 feet on the bar at low water. The harbor is a good one, with a least depth
of 20 feet, but the holding ground is poor. Pilots are necessary and are reliable; the
charges are high. The chart used was the British Admiralty chart, a late issue; it is
reliable. A limited amount of repairs to vessels' engines and dynamos can be made.
Moderate-sized castings can also be made. There is one floating dry dock; no wreck-
ing appliances. There are no wharves. Cargo is handled with ship's gear, and the
lighters are good up to 200 tons. Labor is negro, plentiful and cheap. Fresh and
canned provisions can be obtained; the price is high. River water is used for drink-
ing and boiler purposes. There is a hospital. There is telegraphic and rail commu-
nication to Bahia. There is a fair quantity of coal on hand; it is handled by lighters
alongside. The money used is Brazilian; the rate of exchange fluctuates. No time
or signal service. (From information furnished the Branch Hydrographic Office, New
York, Aug. 23, 1909, through the courtesy of Mr. W. Leddin, chief officer of British
steamer Hyanthes.)
108 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
It will be noted that the draft of vessels entering the port must be
limited to about 20 feet, which restricts the ocean carriers at Para
to a tonnage of about 2,000 tons, as appears from the following
memorandum on the trade on the Amazon, prepared from the latest
information available by Capt. A. G. Winterhalter, United States
Navy, hydrographer:
Steamers drawing 14 feet can navigate the Amazon for 2,700 miles above its mouth,
or to Borja, 400 miles beyond Iquitos, Peru. The principal difficulty is due to the
shifting bars, the strong currents, 3 to 5 knots, and the immense quantity of driftwood
which comes down when the river is rising. Pilots are necessary and are regularly
employed by companies operating river steamers.
Manaos, about 900 miles from the mouth of the river, is the most important town
above Para, and has both ocean and river trade. There is about 40 feet difference
between high water and low water at this point.
From Manaos to Iquitos, Peru, about 1,300 miles, there are no towns of importance.
The difference between high and low water is about 18 feet at Iquitos.
The following regular lines of steamers are engaged in the commerce of the Amazon:
Amazon Steam Navigation Co.-Twenty-nine steamers, of 9,184 aggregate tonnage,
ply between Para and points on the Amazon and tributaries.
Booth's Line.-Thirteen steamers, from 1,100 to 2,000 tons each. Itineraries of
these vessels include the following ports: Manaos, Liverpool, Havre, Lisbon, Madeira,
New York, Maranhao, Ceara, and Barbados. Smaller vessels of this line go to Iquitos.
Sailings every 10 days from Manaos for Europe; every 20 days for New York.
Red Cross Line.-Nine steamers; aggregate tonnage, 9,467. This line has same
itinerary as Booth Line, dates of sailings alternating with those of latter line.
Lloyd Brazilian Line.—Seven vessels, of 1,999 tons each, plying between Manaos
and Rio Janeiro, and touching at intermediate points.
Ligure Brasiliana (Italian).—Two steamers, plying between Manaos and Genoa,
touching at Para and Mediterranean ports.
A. Berneaud & Co.-Twelve steamers, of 150 to 300 tons each, navigating the Amazon,
Madeira, Negro, Purus, and other tributaries.
In addition to the above there are many river steamers owned by the rubber firms
of Para, Manaos, and Iquitos. These firms have from one to eight steamers each,
according to the extent of their business, engaged in taking up supplies to the rubber
gatherers and bringing down cargoes of rubber. There are, perhaps, as many as 150
vessels of this description on the Amazon and its tributaries. There are no telegraph
lines in the valley, nor communication of any kind other than by water. Efforts are
being made to lay a cable from Para to Manaos. Communication between the upper
Amazon and the Pacific is slow and difficult. From Iquitos to Lima requires about
30 days, 20 of which are by mule.
Manaos had a population of 40,000 in 1900 and is the terminus for
the lower river steamers of the Amazon Navigation Co. In places
above Para the river, although very deep, is only 38 yards wide
from bank to bank, which, with a current, makes navigation by
large vessels difficult and dangerous.
Iquitos, Peru, is distant, as the crow flies, about 540 statute miles
from the nearest point of the west coast of South America, and about
400 miles from the crest of the Andean watershed, which, between 4°
south and 8° south, has a general height of about 6,500 feet. The
Peruvian Government is projecting railways from the coast into the
Andean region, and in view of the comparatively short voyage from
the west coast via the Panama Canal to the Atlantic States, it is
probable that the whole trade of Peru as it develops will take ship
from the Pacific coast rather than go via the Amazon and Para.
The distance from Callao to New York via Panama is 3,400 miles.
From the head of navigation on the Amazon to Para there are 2,700
miles of difficult river navigation, and from there to New York by
sea the distance is 2,943 miles.
There seems to be no question that both on the Yangtse and on the
Amazon the tendency is to handle traffic in river steamers of such
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 109
light draft that they can work at all stages of the river, fast, easily
handled, and capable of making river landings safely.
It may be said generally that the decrease in ocean freight rates is
very great, as the size of the carrier increases; that at the great sea-
ports, where cargoes are ample, the largest carriers which can enter
will be employed, and that the system of internal waterways should
be improved as rapidly as possible to supplement the railroads, but
that transshipment at the seaport being a commercial necessity,
however the goods may reach the port, development will be in vain
unless ample terminal facilities are provided, so situated as to permit
of indefinite expansion.
THE COMMERCE OF THE HUDSON RIVER.
[By Mr. E. O. Merchant.]
1
The commerce of the Hudson River consists principally of lumber,
grain, ice, building materials, including brick, also fuel, including coal.
There is also an extensive passenger and excursion traffic. There
has been a falling off in traffic since 1899, due partially to the decrease
in ice shipments, the competition of railroads, and the decline of canal
traffic. The total receipts and shipments for 1906 were estimated
at 8,654,880 tons, of which 1,335,615 tons, or 15.5 per cent, were mis-
cellaneous merchandise.2
Commerce on the Hudson River at Albany.³
1898..
1899..
1900..
1901.
1902.
1903..
1904..
1905..
1906..
General
merchandise.
Total.
Percentage
of mer-
chandise.
Tons.
697,554
Tons.
4,045, 895
17.2
730, 809
5,070, 800
14. 4
1,037, 389
4,810, 927
21.7
776,908
3, 123, 409
24.9
297,323
3,673,097
8.1
546, 527
3,486, 419
15.7
632, 205
3,513, 545
18.0
256,846
3,310, 628
7.8
314, 952
3,325, 360
9.5
3 Transportation by Water, Pt. II, pp. 69, 70.
In 1906 the total traffic at Albany was divided into the following
percentages:
Ice......
Lumber and timber.
General merchandise.
Vegetable food..
Stone, cement, sand, etc.
Fuel (wood and coal).
Miscellaneous...
23. 6
16. 3
9.5
10. 6
12.6
12.3
15. 1
The most complete statistics of the local commerce of the Hudson
are those collected by the United States Army engineers for the
stretch of the river between Coxsackie and the State dam at Troy.
These show that the amount of freight traffic here has declined
¹ Transportation by Water, Pt. II, p. 69.
2 United States Census Report on Transportation by Water, p. 208
110 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
nearly one-third within the last decade, while the passenger traffic
has increased slightly. The variability of the figures for general
merchandise, especially from 1900-1902, is due partially to the lack
of uniformity. Beginning with 1902, manufactures and sundries
were listed separately. Before this they were probably included in
general merchandise. It was stated by the engineers that during the
years 1898-1900, the total commerce on this section of the river
amounted annually to more than 10,000,000 tons.
Local river commerce between Coxsackie and State dam at Troy.¹
1898...
1900..
1901..
1902.
1903...
1904..
1905.
1906..
1907...
1908..
Total.
General
merchan-
dise.
Percentage
of mer-
chandise.
Passengers.
Tons.
4,045, 895
Tons.
809, 746
20.0
771, 196
4,810, 927
1,037,389
21.6
1,567,600
3,123, 409
776,908
25.0
1,293, 236
3,673, 097
297,323
8.1
1,078, 648
3, 486, 393
546, 527
15.7
1,044, 254
3.513, 545
632, 205
18.0
1,117, 785
3,310, 628
256, 846
7.8
1,222, 473
3, 325, 360
314, 952
9.5
1,300, 297
2,881, 168
435, 640
15.0
1,266, 008
2,945, 921
477,983
16.2
1,288, 721
1 Compiled from annual reports of Chief of Engineers.
THE MOVEMENT OF PACKAGE FREIGHT ON THE GREAT LAKES.
[By Mr. E. O. Merchant.]
No exact statistics are available for the movement of package
freight through the Great Lakes, although some general idea can be
arrived at by an examination of the figures for general merchandise,
miscellaneous freight, miscellaneous merchandise, and unclassified
freight. Package freight correspounds roughly to what is meant by
general merchandise, and is included, as a rule, in the statistics
given for the miscellaneous and unclassified freight, so that it is
safe to say that in no case would the percentage of package freight
be greater than the percentage of these several classes, and more
often it would be considerably less.
The great artery of lake commerce is the route from Lake Superior
through the St. Mary Canals, Lake Huron, St. Clair River, St. Clair
Flats Canal, which is a channel at the upper end of Lake St. Clair,
St. Clair Lake, and the Detroit River to Lake Erie. Over this route
passes the enormous shipments of iron ore eastward, and coal west-
ward. In comparison with the shipments of these two commodities,
the relative amount of package freight is very small, though in num-
ber of tons it is fairly large, as the following table will show. Careful
statistics are collected by the United States Army Engineers at the
Sault Ste. Marie Canals and these give the best index of the amount
of traffic passing over this main route. The American Canal, built
by the State of Michigan, was opened in 1855. It has twice been
enlarged by the United States Government, so that since 1896 it has
permitted the passage of vessels of 20 feet draft. The Canadian
Canal, constructed by the Canadian Government, was opened in 1895.
The following table shows the amount of general merchandise and
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 111
the total traffic passing through these canals since 1885 for seasons
ending December 31:
Canals at Sault Ste. Marie.¹
1885..
1890...
1895..
1900..
1901.
1902.
1903..
1904.
1905.
1906..
1907..
1908..
1909...
General merchandise.
Total ship-
ments, east-
bound and
Westbound.
Total.
westbound.
Year.
Eastbound.
Percentage
of general
merchan-
dise.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
184,963
371, 294
463,308
86,333
455,064
Tons.
3,256, 628
9,041, 213
15,062,580
5.7
4. 1
3.1
541,397
25, 643, 073
79,723
2. 1
478,318
558, 141
28, 403, 065
122, 248
2.0
617,852
740, 100
35, 961, 146
92,486
2.1
567,353
659,839
95,374
34, 674, 437
1.9
636, 635
732, 009
31,546, 106
100, 357
2.3
736, 226
836, 583
150,586
44, 270, 680
1.9
984, 265
1, 134, 851
106,075
51,751, 080
2.2
916, 579
58, 217, 214
110, 238
1.8
732,663
842, 901
41,390,557
163, 159
2.0
977, 185
57,895, 149
2.0
1,022,654
1, 140, 344
¹ Compiled from the annual reports of the Chief of Engineers and the Monthly Summary of Commerce
and Finance.
The following are the percentages of the principal commodities
passing through the Sault Ste. Marie Canals in 1907:2
Iron ore..
Coal..
Commodity.
Flour, wheat, and other grains, of which 5.1 was wheat..
Lumber
Salt, pig iron, copper, etc.
General merchandise..
Total.
Per cent.
General direction.
68.0
Eastbound.
19.6
Westbound.
8.0
Eastbound.
1.9
Do.
.7
1.8
East and west bound.8
100.0
• Of the traffic in general merchandise in 1907, 89.5 per cent was westbound and 10.5 per cent was
eastbound.
The total eastbound shipments through these canals average four
times the westbound, owing to the enormous iron-ore traffic.
No statistics of traffic passing through the St. Clair Flats Canal and
Detroit River are collected, but the number of vessels and their regis-
tered tonnage are recorded, from which, by a comparison with the
statistics of St. Marys Canals, estimates of the total traffic and value
thereof are computed. The amount of traffic passing through the
Detroit River averages from 25 to 28 per cent greater than that
through the Sault Ste. Marie Canals. The traffic through the St. Clair
Flats Canal averages somewhat less than through Detroit River,
which is to be expected, since Lake St. Clair and the head of Detroit
River absorb much more Lake Erie coal coming through Detroit
River than they do Lake Superior ore coming through St. Clair River
and the Flats Čanal.
2 Transportation by Water, Part II, pp. 208–211.
112 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The following table shows the domestic traffic passing through the
Detroit River for the last three years. The totals are somewhat
smaller than those for both domestic and foreign.
Domestic traffic through Detroit River.¹
Miscellaneous.2
ments
Total ship- Total traf-
south-
South-
bound.
North-
bound.
fic north-
bound.
Total all
shipments.
Percentage
of miscel-
laneous.
Total.
bound.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1906 *
1907...
1908..
966, 738
1,303,042
2,269,780
44, 129, 343
1,053, 090
1,299,766
2,352,856
46, 966, 193
Tons.
16,448,812
20,326, 311
Tons.
60,578, 155
3.7
67, 292, 504
3.5
1,402, 900
1,011,683
2,414,583
29, 260, 914
17,685, 970
46,946, 884
5.1
1 Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, December, 1908, the tonnage being estimated as that
passing a point near the center of Detroit's water front.
2 The figures for general merchandise and package freight would be somewhat smaller.
• Only totals are obtainable before this date.
Lake Erie stands first among the Lakes, both in volume and value
of its total traffic. At its ports are received practically all the grain
and flour shipped to American ports and nearly 80 per cent of the
iron-ore movement, and from Lake Erie ports are sent the great
bulk of coal shipments. While primarily a lake of receiving ports,
the coal shipments and miscellaneous package freight bring the vol-
ume of shipments on Lake Erie above those on Lake Michigan. At
a majority of the Lake Erie ports it appears that the receipts of gen-
eral merchandise exceed the shipments, and it also appears that there
is an extensive interchange of general merchandise between ports;
Cleveland, especially since 1902, seems to be the most notable excep-
tion, as the following table will show. At Sandusky, Ohio, and
Buffalo the shipments of general merchandise also somewhat exceed
the receipts.
Lake commerce at Cleveland.
Merchandise and other articles.
Year.
Received
by lake.
Shipped
by lake.
Total re-
ceipts.
Total ship-
ments.
Total.
Total re-
ceipts and of mer-
shipments.
Percentage
chandise.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1895..
65,464
94, 374
159,838
1896..
3,593,044
1,608, 313
5,201, 357
53,315
99, 121
3.0
152, 436
1897.
3,475, 281
2,047, 285
76,680
5,522,566
3.0
134,809
211, 489
1898..
3,623,001
2,378, 347
78,439
6,001,348
161, 488
8.5
239,927
1899.
4,038, 684
2,461, 834
60,216
6,500,518
3.7
142, 743
202, 959
4,769, 720
1900..
2, 621, 201
113,671
7,390, 921
2.9
142,749
256, 420
1901.
4,820, 597
2,548, 826
7,369, 423
66,219
3.5
168,563
234, 782
1902.
5,410,277
2,089, 817
7,500, 094
74,024
3.1
722, 405
796, 429
1903..
5,799, 420
3,059, 603
88, 161
8,859, 023
9.0
638, 451
726,612
5,240, 828
1904....
3,518,985
84, 353
8,859, 813
8.2
596,694
681,047
1905..
4,477, 172
3,841, 738
90,742
8,318, 310
8.2
615,974
706,716
6,749, 262
1906.
89, 181
3,494,866
615, 769
10,244, 128
6.9
704, 950
5,575, 473
3,807, 111
9,382, 584
7.5
The following tables, compiled from the annual reports of the
Chief of Engineers, show the domestic commerce at Duluth. The
percentage of general merchandise to total receipts and shipments
is very small, as shown by the first table. The reason for this is the
predominance of coal in the receipts and of iron ore in the shipments,
as shown by the second table.
♦ Transportation by Water, Part II, pp. 233 and 234.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 113
Domestic commerce at Duluth.
1900...
1901.
1902.
1903.
1904.
•
1905..
1906..
1907..
1908.
General merchandise.
Received. Shipped.
Total.
Receipts and Percentage
shipments- of general
all com-
modities.
merchan-
dise.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
112,230
52,996
165, 226
7,089, 441
2.3
115, 644
41, 187
156, 831
6,851, 729
2.3
1 142, 267
45, 496
187,763
9, 175, 593
2.0
1 122,447
34, 625
157,072
9,002, 530
1.7
1 96, 954
29, 248
126,202
8,024, 319
1.6
1 129.484
35,749
165,233
13, 139, 541
1.3
1 154, 030
42,235
196,265
16,518, 200
1.2
2 242, 481
2 49, 139
2 291,620
2 34,786, 705
.9
2 194, 785
2 34, 743
2 229, 528
2 23,797, 162
1.0
2 Duluth and Superior combined.
¹ Includes about 2,500 tons of fish.
Domestic receipts and shipments at Duluth.
Receipts..
Coal receipts..
Shipments.
Iron ore.
Receipts..
Coal receipts.
Shipments.
Iron ore.
1900
1901
1902
1903
1904
Tons.
1,234, 119
Tons.
1,248, 526
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1,291, 357
1,599, 402
1,617, 581
958, 286
955, 427
905, 915
1,281, 930
5,854, 322
1,350, 544
5, 603, 203
7,884, 236
7,403, 128
4,270, 429
6, 406, 738
3,836, 553
6, 198, 043
5,939, 575
5, 147, 028
1905
1906
1907
1908
Ton.
1,755, 501
1,397, 788
11, 384, 040
Tons.
2,094, 099
1,601,166
Tons.
7,840, 023
Tons.
6,594, 915
14, 424, 101
9,766, 815
12, 498, 033
7,037, 179
26, 976, 682
23,590, 969
5,805, 703
17, 202, 247
14,064, 633
The low percentage of general merchandise to total traffic along
the main route from Lake Superior to Lake Erie is, in all probability,
somewhat misleading as to the actual amount of this kind of traffic
carried on the Great Lakes. There is an extensive local business on
Lake Erie, as already indicated, and also on Lake Michigan, which can
not be estimated. If we leave the main channel, the percentage of
general merchandise rises at once, as the following tables show:
Portage Lake Ship Canal.¹
General merchandise.
1900...
1901
1902.
1903.
1904..
1905.
1906...
1907.
1908.
Bound up.
Bound
down.
Total up
and down
shipments.
Total.
Percentage
of the
whole.
Tons.
Tons.
180, 474
42, 465
Tons.
222,939
124, 389
Tons.
1,867,772
11.9
19, 480
143,869
2, 114, 385
166,486
6.9
18,721
185,207
2,532, 323
166,737
7.3
15,723
182,460
2,420, 848
116,606
7.5
9,651
126,257
2,295, 922
163, 107
5.5
20, 559
183, 666
2,462, 910
7.4
204, 407
20,717
225, 124
2,602, 044
8.6
164, 967
19,492
184, 459
2,496, 336
7.4
166, 904
23,432
190, 336
2,300, 124
8.2
1 Compiled from the annual reports of Chief of Engineers and the Monthly Summary of Commerce and
Finance.
-8
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-
114 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Traffic through Sturgeon Bay and Lake Michigan Canal.
1907.
1908.
General merchandise.
Total, all
commodi-
ties.
Percentage
of mer-
chandise.
East.
West.
Total.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
18, 169
19,242
40,208
58,377
775, 496
7.5
36, 474
55,716
692, 613
8.0
METHODS OF FINANCING THE CONSTRUCTION AND IMPROVEMENT
OF WATERWAYS IN EUROPE.
[By Mr. E. O. Merchant.]
BELGIUM.
Many of the Belgian waterways were constructed at an early
period, so that the details of their construction are not always defi-
nitely known. At the beginning of the nineteenth century they were
under French influence, and their present administration, proce-
dure of obtaining funds, etc., is somewhat similar to the French
system.
The total length of the Belgian waterways is 1,345 miles, of which
330 miles are of little importance. The total length of the main
lines is 1,015 miles, of which 900 miles belong to the State and 115
to the Provinces, communes, or concessions.¹ During the period
1820-1830 there were 1,005 miles of waterways, of which 10 per cent
belonged to the State, 64 per cent to the Provinces, 7 per cent to the
communes, and 19 per cent to concessions. Shortly after this the
State began to acquire the lines and buy up the various concessions,
so that in the period 1860-1870 the State owned 83 per cent of the
waterways, which then measured 1,220 miles. The Provinces owned
7 per cent, the communes 4, and concessions 5 per cent.²
At the present day, with the exception of a few lines constructed
under concessions, the navigable waterways in Belgium may be
considered as State owned. The important concessions remaining
are:2
(1) The canalized Dendre, with Ath-Blaton Canal, owned by a
private company.
(2) Rupel-Brussels Canal, owned by an association of the various
communes along the line, in which the commune of Brussels has the
largest financial interest.
(3) The Dyle-Louvain, owned by the commune of Louvain.
The inland harbors of commerce, ports, and wharves are owned
and administered by the municipalities, Provinces, and communes,
and in the mining and industrial districts by the interested parties.
The harbors of refuge and some harbors of commerce, especially con-
structed, are owned by the State. The capital necessary for the con-
struction and maintenance of the State waterways is provided out
of the ordinary budget revenue. The expenditure was formerly
largely met by tolls, which from 1840 to 1860 not only covered the cost
of improvement and maintenance but also afforded a surplus for
1 Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 42.
2 Ibid, p. 47.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 115
1
interest on the cost of construction. The tolls have been consider-
ably reduced since that time, but still cover a part of the cost of cur-
rent improvements and maintenance, which in 1905 amounted to
about $440,000, not including cost of personnel. When the interest
on the capital invested at 3 per cent is added to the deficit from
maintenance the total annual charge to the State is about $2,740,000.
FRANCE.
2
Up to 1879 the capital necessary for the construction and improve-
ment of French waterways was provided by the State in various
ways:
(1) From special loans raised for this purpose.
(2) From the ordinary revenues of the State.
(3) By giving the canals in concession to companies or private
individuals who provided the capital.
The means for covering the expenses of interest and maintenance,
etc., were obtained from tolls, which were of a very complicated
nature until standardized in 1867.3
By the law of 1879 a program for nationalizing the waterways was
inaugurated, improvements in the existing waterways were under-
taken, and about 405 miles of new canals constructed. Between
1879-1900 there was an annual expenditure of $5,741,880 for con-
struction and improvements, and an annual expenditure of $2,189,700
for maintenance, not including the expenses of administration, which
are debited to the State expenditure for this purpose.5
The capital required for the execution of this program was pro-
vided by the issue of 3 per cent Government bonds. All tolls were
abolished in 1880, so that the expense of maintenance and of interest
on the loans had to be borne by the State.
A new program regarding waterways was instituted in 1903 on the
proposition of M. Baudin, the minister of public works. The works
of improvement in the existing system are to be carried out entirely
at the expense of the State, the cost being met by the ordinary
resources of the annual revenue.
For the new works a law was passed laying down the following
principles: "
6
(1) All parties concerned may be called upon to supply pecuniary
help for simple improvement works on existing waterways.
(2) All parties concerned must contribute to a total amount at
least equal to half the total expenditure for the construction of new
waterways.
(3) All parties concerned who have contributed by subsidies to the
new waterways may recoup themselves in whole or in part by obtain-
ing the concession of certain tolls and of the monopoly of traction.
(4) The expenditure on the part of the treasury will be paid from
the ordinary revenue of the budget. In no case will recourse be had
to a loan or to a system of advances, the inexpediency of which expe-
rience has shown.
The maximum tolls which can be levied to cover interest and
amortization are fixed. As soon as the debt is paid these tolls cease.
¹ Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 49.
2 Ibid., p. 53.
3 Ibid., p. 24.
4 Ibid., p. 5.
5 Ibid., p. 22.
6 Ibid., p. 37.
116 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In the case of two canals, Canal de Celte an Rhone and Canal de
Marseille an Rhone, the chambers of commerce have undertaken to
reimburse themselves for their share of the capital by tolls levied
exclusively on the goods loaded and discharged at the ports of Celte
and Marseille.
In the case of the Canal du Nord, the chambers of commerce have
been authorized to levy tolls, and also to exploit a traction monopoly
to cover the interest and amortization of the $4,800,000, which they
have guaranteed to contribute.¹
1
At the request of the minister of public works in 1908 the general
council of the Ponts et Chaussees undertook an investigation of the
further improvement and extension of the system of waterways in
France. The four points especially considered were:
2
(1) New works or improvements.
(a) Those included in the program of 1879, but not carried out.
(b) Those proposed, but not included in the program of the law of
1903.
(2) New works to be provided for.
(3) Lines of international traffic, or so-called lines of penetration
toward central Europe.
(4) Ways and means of carrying on these works.
Subcommittees were formed and hearings arranged and the numer-
ous documents submitted were examined. In its report the com-
mittee stated that the French waterways system in 1907 contained
7,376 miles, of which 3,035 miles were canals. This system is admin-
istered almost entirely by the State, only 158 miles now remaining in
private hands. The estimates submitted by the committee were as
follows:
(A) Improvements on existing lines:
1. Those not needed, approximately...
Of which the localities interested might contribute.
And the State..
2. Those less needed, about..
Of which the localities interested might contribute.
And the State....
3. Those designated for future action.
•
$17,800,000
3,600,000
14, 200, 000
13, 400, 000
1, 170, 000
12, 230, 000
1,700,000
In making these improvements, since they were on existing lines,
the localities are not, as in the construction of new works, required
to contribute one-half of the expense. Consequently the State has to
bear the burden, receiving only such assistance as is voluntarily con-
tributed.
(B) For the construction of new lines:
1. Works of the first category; the Northeast Canal from Denain to Longu-
zon is estimated to cost about..
2. Works designated for future action are estimated to cost.
$30, 000, 000
50, 000, 000
If only the most needed works on the existing lines and the North-
east Canal are constructed, the cost to the State, which must furnish
one-half of the cost of the latter, according to the principle laid down
in 1903, will be about $29,000,000.
The problem is how to raise the money. Senator Audiffred pro-
posed that canal concessions be granted to syndicates of chambers of
commerce or of private persons who should raise funds by loans and
1 Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 38.
2 The Report of the Committee on Navigable Highways (translated by Maj. Mahan).
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 117
should have the right to levy tolls in order to meet the sinking-fund
charges and interest. If the revenue from the tolls was insufficient,
the State should make up the deficit. This is the plan adopted in
the building of railroads. The minister of finance objected to this
proposal very emphatically, his argument being that methods which
were satisfactory for financing railroads could not be applied to
canals. The receipts from tolls would in all probability only be suffi-
cient to pay the cost of maintenance and administration. The
State, therefore, would have to bear the greater part of the annuity,
and in the long run would be expending as much for annuities as it
would have done for the construction of the canals in the first place.
Furthermore, there would be a greater temptation to construct
works which were not only not necessary, but which could not pos-
sibly yield a return on the investment.
Regarding the proposal for a system of the concessions without a
guarantee of interest by the State, the minister of finance pointed
out that it could only be put into practice in very rich districts,
where there would be reasonable assurance of profit. Most of the
necessary construction would never be undertaken.
Another objection against granting concessions of any kind
raised by the commission was that it would seem rather irrational
for the State to enter upon a policy of granting concessions just at
a time when it had bought up nearly all of the existing ones.
The minister of finance also thought that in special cases, where
the burden of providing one-half of the capital was too great for the
interested parties, a mixed system might be proposed, where a less
subvention should be demanded and the State be authorized to
collect, on its own account, all or a part of the tolls during a certain
number of years. The committee, however, did not view this scheme
with favor, for the reason that it would reopen the levying of State
tolls, abolished in 1880, and upset the present condition of compe-
tition in transportation by rail and water.
The recommendation of the committee is that the State continue
to carry out directly the execution of the works with the assistance
of those interested, this assistance amounting to about one-half
for new works and for works already existing to be fixed by the
special circumstances of the case. The parties interested are to
reimburse themselves by means of tolls. It is also recommended
that works of first importance should be completed within 15 years,
and for this purpose the annual appropriation in the budget for this
purpose be increased to $3,600,000. The commission is further of
the opinion that traction monopolies should at once be formed
which may be turned over for a period to the interested parties
contributing toward the construction of new works, as a means of
reimbursement in addition to the tolls.
GERMANY.
The year 1885 may be taken as the commencement of the improve-
ment of the German waterway system. The uniform plan for the
regulation of rivers in Prussia was formulated and sanctioned by the
Landtag in 1879.1 The canalization of the Main was begun in 1883
and completed in 1886; the original works on the Spree-Oder Canal
1 Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 57.
118 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
were carried out from 1887 to 1891. With few exceptions, the canaliza-
tion of the rivers and the canals has been carried out by the several
States, and they are State owned. The Teltow Canal, constructed
and administered by the district of Teltow, is the most important
exception.¹ The capital for constructing and improving the water-
ways is provided by the State in one of the following ways:
(1) From the current revenue in the State budget, section for
"Extraordinary expenditure.'
(2) By means of special loans.
(3) In certain cases, in combination with the contributions from
Provinces, districts, communities, and other interested parties.
The manner in which the expenditure is divided between the
State and the latter varies according to the conditions of each special
case, taking into consideration the advantages accruing to the
parties interested in the construction of the works. In certain
cases the interested parties also bear the expense of the land purchase.
The construction of inland harbors is usually left to the munici-
palities, corporations, and other interested parties, who, as a rule,
also own the sheds, warehouses, and plant. In exceptional cases
the State participates in the cost of construction of municipal inland
harbors of special importance, either by pecuniary grant or by
taking a financial interest in harbors constructed by private com-
panies. The State owns a certain number of inland harbors of
commerce, such as Duisburg-Ruhort on the Rhine and Kosel on
the Oder. In the former case the city of Duisburg owned its own
harbor and appliances, while the State constructed the new Ruhort
Harbor. They were separately administered till 1905, when they
were combined with the agreement that as soon as the debt for the
Duisburg Harbor was paid off the ownership and administration of
the whole should fall to the State. The State usually provides
refuge and safety harbors for the shipping during periods of flood
and ice, and for passing the winter, but in the case of the city of
Frankfort, the State granted the funds for the canalization of the
Main on condition that the city should construct the harbor of
safety and refuge.
1
Ac-
The costs of maintenance and administration, in so far as they are
not covered by receipts from tolls, are borne by the responsible
authorities State, community, corporation, or private persons.
cording to the imperial constitution, the State can levy tolls for
special works carried out in the interest of the shipping. These tolls
must not exceed the amount necessary to provide for the costs of
maintenance, working, and administration of the waterways, and to
the gradual reduction of the costs of construction. They can not be
levied for the purpose of revenue.
The revenue from the free rivers is very small compared to the
cost of maintenance and consists chiefly of contributions, rents, etc.
The tolls on the canalized rivers and canals yield a small surplus
after covering the cost of maintenance. The total revenue from all
the Prussian waterways in 1905 left a deficit of $2,270,000 after pay-
ing the cost of maintenance. Add to this the interest on the capital
at 3 per cent, and the total annual charge to the State for waterways
was $6,810,000.
¹ Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 69.
2 Ibid., p. 86.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 119
It has been the policy of Prussia in proposals for new works within
the last decade to make the construction conditional on the localities
interested in guaranteeing maintenance charges and about a third of
the interest and sinking fund.
About 1898 an act was passed providing for the following new
works: 1
(1) A canal from the Rhine near Laar to the Dortmund-Ems Canal
in the vicinity of Heine, to cost $11,324,500. The construction of
this canal was to be undertaken only on condition that before July 1,
1900, the provinces interested or other public districts, communities,
etc., should bind themselves to guarantee to the Government for each
fiscal year, to the amount of $127,300, any possible deficit in the
cost of care and operation of this canal not covered by the naviga-
tion tolls and other such receipts collected on it; further, to pay
interest at 3 per cent on one-third of the capital invested ($3,774,832)
and one-half per cent toward the sinking fund if the revenue did not
suffice for these purposes.
(2) Various complementary works on the Dortmund-Ems Canal
between Dortmund and Bevergern, to cost $1,016,725. No conditions
specified.
(3) A canal from the Dortmund-Ems Canal near Bevergern to the
Elbe, in the vicinity of Heinricksburg, including several branches
and the canalization of the Weser from Minden to Hameln, to cost
$52,854,925.
In this case also the localities interested must guarantee the State
against any deficit from the cost of care and maintenance to the
amount of $405,825, also 3 per cent annually on $19,512,495, a little
more than one-third of the cost, and one-half per cent toward the
sinking fund in so far as these items are not covered by the receipts
from tolls and other sources.
The total cost of these improvements was estimated at $65,196,175.
Any surplus in one of the foregoing estimates for construction was to
be applied to the others. Evidently this law was never carried out,
for the program of the new law of 1905 contains, with some modi-
fications and additions, similar provisions involving an estimated
expenditure of $81,400,000.2 One additional feature of impor-
tance is that the State of Bremen, besides undertaking to carry
out some works on the Weser at its own expense, is to contribute
one-third of the cost of the impounding reservoirs in the Weser
Basin and of the regulation works below Hameln.
The following conditions are laid down for the new works: 3
(1) The provinces and corporations are to guarantee the cost of
administration, working, and maintenance.
(2) They are to guarantee 3 per cent interest on about one-third
of the capital required, with certain alleviations during the first 10
years.
(3) They are to guarantee one-half per cent to the sinking fund from
the sixteenth year onward, the State undertaking to provide the
interest and sinking fund on the remaining two-thirds of the capital.
Tolls will be levied on all the cargo tonnage of the new canals.
With the revenue obtained from this source, it is expected that the
1 "Canal connecting the Rhine and the Elbe Rivers in Germany." National Waterways Commission,
Doc. No. 8, p. 1, 2.
2 Report of the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways, Vol. VI, p. 87.
8 Ibid., pp. 89-90.
120 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
expense of adminstration, working, and maintenance can be de-
frayed and 3 per cent interest earned on the capital invested.
It is also proposed that tolls be levied on the natural waterways to
cover the cost of their improvement and maintenance, in so far as it
has been done by the expenditure of the State. These tolls are
subject to an agreement which will have to be made with the other
German States and neighboring countries.¹ It is further decided in
the law of 1905 to establish a uniform State monopoly for towage on
two canals and their branches.¹
HOLLAND.
There are in Holland about 265 canals with a total length of 2,100
miles. Only about one-twentieth of the waterways belong to the
State. The rest are under the control of provincial or municipal au-
thorities, administrative corporations called "Water Schappen,
and private companies. All State canals are free of tolls. They
were abolished in 1900. Most of the other canals are likewise toll
free.2
The amount expended in the improvement and maintenance of
rivers (1862-1901) was approximately $57,000,000.3
On State canals (1878-1900) was approximately $26,000,000.*
AUSTRIA-HUNGARY.
Austria. From 1848 to 1898 there was expended in Austria for
river regulation approximately $100,000,000. Of this amount nearly
$30,000,000 was expended in connection with the regulation of the
Austrian Danube.5 The Government was assisted in raising this
enormous sum, except in a few cases, by the cooperation of the prov-
inces, districts, and cities interested in the improvements. Apparently
there was no general plan of sharing the burden, as the following ex-
amples will show:
River and portion regulated.
Danube.
1. Regulation at Vienna, Nussdorf-
Fischamend, 16 miles long.
2. From the Isper to Theben, 115
miles long.
3. Puchenau-Mauthausen.
Date.
Total cost.
1870-1882…….
1882 to end
of 1901.
1853-1897....
642,000
How financed.
$12,400,000
9,800,000
Province, one-third; Vienna, one-third;
State, one-third.
Yearly contributions: State, $285,000;
Province, $81,000; Danube regula-
tion fund, $122,000; total, $488,000.
Government grant, $542,000; district
interested the remainder.
Provincial funds and districts inter-
ested.
Government grant.
Elbe (Bohemia).
4. Little Elbe, from Koniggratz to
Melnik, 10 miles long.
1864-1897...
372,000
5. Upper Elbe, from Melnik to Sax- 1848-1897...
3,200,000
on frontier, 68 miles long.
Vistula (Galicia and Silesia).
6. Schwarzwasser-Bialka.
7. From mouth of Kopidlobach to
the bridge of Drahomischl.
1885...
12,358
1886-1894....
113,000
8. Illownitza Lobnitz
·
-
Neinzen- 1886-1894...
66,000
dorferbach.
1 Report of the Royal Commission, Vol. VI, p. 91.
2 Ibid., p. 111.
Government, 50 per cent; Province, 50
per cent.
Government, 45 per cent; Province, 40
per cent; riparians. 15 per cent.
Government, 30 per cent; Province, 40
per cent; municipalities, 10 per cent;
real-estate owners, 20 per cent.
3 Reports from His Majesty's Representatives on Navigable Inland Waterways in Austria-Hungary,
Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, p. 71.
4 Ibid., p. 72.
5 Ibid., p. 8.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 121
River and portion regulated.
Date.
Total cost.
How financed.
San (Galicia).
9. Section from Lisko to Jaroslau,
142 miles; section from Jaro-
slau to the mouth, 74 miles.
Dneister (Galicia).
1871-1898...
10. Section from Rozwadow to 1893-1898...
Zurawno, 51 miles long.
Etsch (Tyrol).
11. Kastelbell-Galsaun, 1½ miles 1896-1897....
long.
12. Meran-Sacco, 66 miles long…….... 1879-1896..
1883-1888....
13. Sacco-Borghetto..
Mur (Styria).
14. From Graz to the Hungarian 1875-1891....
frontier, 77 miles long.
Drave (Carinthia).
15. From the Tyrolese frontier at 1884-1893....
Nikolsdorf to Volkersmarkt,
110 miles long.
$1,000,000 Government, one-third; Province, one
third; district interested, one-third;
special Government grant.
261,000 Government, 60 per cent; Province and
district, 40 per cent.
49,000 Government, 50 per cent; Province, 20
per cent; district interested, 30 per
cent.
4,400,000 Government, $2,600,000; Province,
$833,000; Southern Railway, $375,000;
district interested, $609,000.
208,000 Government, 60 per cent; Province and
districts, 40 per cent.
1,100,000 Government, 40 per cent; Province, 40
per cent; districts interested, 20 per
cent.
1,000,000 Government, nine-fifteenths; Province,
four-fifteenths; district, two-fif-
teenths.
By the law of 1901 the sum of $50,000,000 was voted for the com-
mencement of the construction of a network of navigable canals in
Austria; $15,000,000 of this amount are to be devoted to the neces-
sary river regulations connected therewith.¹ Previous to this Austria
had no canals to speak of.
Hungary. Between 1876 and 1900, approximately $105,500,000
was spent in Hungary for the canalization and regulation of the
rivers, as follows: 2
Government expenditure.
Including for administration and maintenance of works, $4,000,000.
Government expenditure for the regulation of the Iron Gates and other
cataracts of the lower Danube...
Expenditure for dams by the societies composed of interested persons
living on the banks of the Danube, Theiss, and their tributaries..
$36, 522, 716
9, 000, 000
60, 000, 000
In Hungary, as in Austria, except at the Iron Gates, no navigation
tolls are levied, and the capital expended in developing and improving
the waterways is sunk for the common good, and no direct interest
on the capital invested is looked for. The receipts from the charges
at the Iron Gates are intended to provide the Hungarian Government
with interest and amortization on the capital expended in the regula-
tion, and, in addition, to defray the cost of their administration and
maintenance.³
GREAT BRITAIN.
There is no record of any governmental assistance to waterways in
England, but in Scotland two canals and in Ireland four waterways
were assisted by grants from the exchequer. The remarkable devel-
1 Reports from His Majesty's Representatives on Navigable Inland Waterways in Austria-Hungary,
Belgium, France, Germany, and the Netherlands, p. 15.
2 Ibid., pp. 19-21.
3 Ibid., p. 8.
4 Saner on the Waterways in Great Britain, p. 5.
122 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
opment of the English waterways in the eighteenth century was due
entirely to private enterprise. This ceased with the coming of rail-
roads and the gradual realization that they were a more remunerative
investment.¹ No national plan for developing and unifying the
waterways system of the United Kingdom has ever been undertaken,
though much agitation for it has arisen in recent years.
SUMMARY.
There are in Europe, apparently, three general methods of financing
the construction and improvement of waterways. At one extreme
the expenditures for this purpose are borne almost entirely by the
State. This is still the policy of Belgium, and was the policy of
France between 1879-1903, and, to a less extent, of Germany until
1905. This method is accompanied in all these countries by a
national plan of developing and unifying the waterway system. But
when the State expenditures begin to assume such large proportions,
as it does in France and Germany, it is found more feasible to call
upon provinces and localities directly benefited by the improvement
to share in the expense.
At the other extreme is the policy found in Great Britain of leaving
the construction and improvement of waterways almost entirely
to private enterprises, without even proper supervision or control.
The result is altogether unfavorable. The existing canals and rivers,
with few exceptions, are in a seriously neglected condition. More
than one-third of the waterways in the United Kingdom are under
the control of the railways, and consequently are not managed with
a view to their development as a means of transportation. The
present system has no unity. Throughout England and Wales
there are scarcely two canals with a common gauge, and there are
sometimes two or three gauges of locks on the same canal."
Between these two extremes lies the policy of Austria-Hungary
and of France and Germany in recent years of cooperation between
the Government and the provinces and localities interested.
While the improvement of the waterways is still carried on in
these countries according to a definite national program, the
burden of providing the enormous amount of capital for carrying
out the programme is shared by provinces, districts, or municipali-
ties directly benefited according to various methods. In France,
under the new law, the State can only provide one-half of the neces-
sary capital. In Germany the State bears the larger part of the
expense for new works, but the provinces and corporations are to
guarantee the cost of maintenance and administration, 3 per cent
interest on about one-third of the capital expended, and one-half
per cent toward the sinking fund from the sixteenth year. In Austria,
as the examples cited show, the State contributes anywhere from
one-third to the whole of the capital required. In the aggregate
the State probably contributes more than two-thirds of the total
amount expended.
1 Forbes and Ashford, "Our Waterways," p. 224.
2 Ibid.,
p. 238.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 123
BRIEF STATEMENT OF THE RELATION OF WATERWAY IMPROVE-
MENTS TO WATER SUPPLY, IRRIGATION, AND DRAINAGE SYS-
TEMS, TO FLOOD AND DROUGHT PREVENTION, AND TO BANK
AND OTHER RIPARIAN PROPERTY PROTECTION.
[By Col. W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.]
While the most important function of a river as a whole is un-
doubtedly its use as a free, or nearly free, route of transportation
between cities, States, and countries, the river is also exceedingly
useful as a means of water supply for household, municipal, factory,
and farm consumption; as a means of dynamic power; as a means
of drainage and sewerage; and it is also a source of danger as regards
its power of destruction of riparian properties by erosion; and a
source of mixed benefit and danger as regards the effects from its
overflow.
As a general rule, the availability of the river for irrigation and
power is greatest in the upper quarter of its length where navigation
is impracticable. The river is usually most dangerous to property
in the upper quarter and lower half, and its usefulness for drainage,
sewerage, or refuse removal is greatest in its lower three-quarters.
For direct consumption of its water by people and factories quantity
and uniformity of flow and purity of water are important features;
for irrigation purposes the purity usually becomes nonessential; for
power alone the quantity of water, its uniform flow, and height of fall
are important; while for drainage and sewerage the volume of water
and swiftness of current are specially important. Droughts injure
the usefulness of the river for alimentation, irrigation, drainage, and
navigation purposes, and have but few, if any, redeeming qualities.
Floods, though often causing great damage by bank erosion and by
property destruction, are yet often of very great benefit by reason of
their fertilizing deposits, which so enrich the river bottom lands that
even one good crop in three years will often be profitable to the land-
owner.
The special conditions most favorable to each of the above functions
of a river are so divergent that it is usually impossible to make any
river improvement without detriment to one or more of such func-
tions. A reasonable compromise in such matters is all that can be
expected; and prominence must be given to the functions most
valuable to the locality under consideration.
In Austria-Hungary, for example, the farming industries on the
tributaries of the Danube are more important than the navigation
interests, and special prominence is there given to drainage all the
year, to irrigation in the dry season, and to flood protection in_the
wet season. On the lower Danube, between Belgrade and the Iron
Gates, the navigation interests are preeminent, and the other interests
are sacrificed. In Germany and Belgium the navigation interests
seem to predominate; in Holland and England, all interests seem of
fairly equal importance; while in France the navigation interests pre-
dominate on some rivers and property interests on others. In none
of these countries is there any extensive and general utilization of
water power on the navigable portions of rivers; the volume of water
flow being too small and the river fall also too small to allow of the
extensive use of the water for power purposes in the navigable parts
of the river without injury to the interests of navigation.
124 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
While storage reservoirs for irrigation purposes, for city and fac-
tory use, for navigable canals, or for power on the upper nonnavi-
gable portions of rivers are used to a moderate extent throughout
Europe, artificial reservoirs at river headwaters to prevent low-
water stages in the lower navigable river are not in general or exten-
sive use. Large lakes like Lake Constance and Lake Geneva are
natural reservoirs and undoubtedly act to regulate the flow of their
corresponding rivers; but even in such cases it is probable that the
regularity of river flow is more due to the slow gradual melting of
the Swiss glaciers above these lakes than to the lakes themselves.
In canalized rivers each dam forms a pool which serves as a reservoir
in just the place where it can produce its best and fullest effect, and
the cost of additional reservoirs at headwaters would rarely be
justifiable.
Storage reservoirs at headwaters of rivers for holding back water
which might otherwise produce floods are also apparently as yet
of no very extensive general use. The weakest point of an ordinary
storage reservoir system for flood prevention is that the most dan-
gerous and injurious floods in a river basin are often produced by
heavy rainfall in the middle areas of such basin, while the reser-
voirs near the headwaters of the river are too high up the river to be
of use when most wanted. The disastrous 1909 summer flood in
Missouri, Kansas, and Nebraska was a good example of this. Con-
sequently in France and Austria-Hungary the protection of property
from river overflow is secured usually by levees on each side of the
river bank of such height and distance apart that the space between
them is sufficient to hold as much water as can fall during several
days of heavy rainfall in the basin above, the result of such levees
being practically to form a long, narrow, temporary, and intermit-
tent reservoir, requiring several days to fill or to empty, along the
full length of the river in the place where most needed, the cost of
such intermittent reservoir between levees being no more than the
cost of the total of upstream reservoirs that would be necessary to
produce an equally useful effect, and the bed of this intermittent
reservoir between levees, i. e., the occasionally overflowed lands,
being useful for valuable farming or grazing purposes in the interval
between floods.
While such a reservoir between levees is useless for irrigation or
alimentation purposes, yet for reducing to a minimum the property
damage from floods, it appears to have proved the most satisfactory
solution up to the present time; judging from what has been seen
so far by the commission, as well as from the statements of various
foreign and American engineers as printed in recent reports of the
International Association of Navigation Congresses at European Con-
ventions, and in the Proceedings of the American Society of Civil
Engineers.
The diversion of water from rivers by pumping or by canal intakes
rarely injures navigation at high-water stages, but may often do so
at low-water stages by seriously lowering the water levels.
Concerning drainage and sewerage, the tendency in Europe appears
to be toward allowing all reasonably clean drainage water from roofs,
roads, and lands to enter freely into rivers, but toward excluding
all raw sewage from rivers, so far as practicable, and encouraging the
development of methods of purifying sewage prior to its deposit in
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 125
the river, or of utilizing it as a low-grade fertilizer. While the free
run-off from city and farm drains and from city and country roads.
and cleared ground is an important element in the formation of
floods in the river below, the injurious effects of the corresponding
flood are probably counterbalanced by their advantages in matters
of drainage; but the disadvantages and even dangers from the
deposit of unpurified sewage in rivers subject to use thereafter for
drinking purposes are sufficient to have already caused prohibitive
legislation in many parts of the United States, and the more modern
European methods and the prohibitive legislation should either be
made compulsory or at least encouraged everywhere.
Throughout Europe, upon navigable waterways, the river banks
below ordinary high-water level were usually found well protected
against erosion by the river currents, such work being done by the
General Government as a part of the river improvement. In such
cases the work appeared, however, to be restricted to what was
necessary to secure a proper and well-regulated river channel and
bank, and to provide suitable locations for wharves, docks, and
terminal facilities. In many cases, especially in France and Germany,
the Federal Government, by condemnation or otherwise, acquired
the riparian properties before commencing or completing the river
improvements, by which process the reclaimed lands became sources
of profit to the Government and helped to pay for the improve-
ment work. This practice, so far as legal and practicable, seems
worthy of being followed in the United States; and legislation in
that direction should be enacted or encouraged for all locations.
where the local property owners do not contribute to the river
improvement.
BRIEF STATEMENT OF EXISTING METHODS IN THE IMPROVE-
MENT OF RIVERS (INCLUDING THE CONSTRUCTION OF LOCKS
AND DAMS), WITH OCCASIONAL REFERENCE TO EUROPEAN
PRACTICE IN 1909.
[By Col. W. H. Bixby, Corps of Engineers, U. S. Army.]
The improvement of rivers for purposes of navigation is carried on
in much the same way in all civilized countries; and the differences in
methods are mainly differences of detail rather than of general princi-
ple, the extent to which such improvement is carried being more
dependent upon the extent of general development of a country in
population and in transportation facilities than upon the extent of
technical knowledge as to river improvement, the latter being usually
considerably in advance of the public demand. The recent trip of the
National Waterways Commission through Europe showed that
almost all the most approved methods of river improvement in
Europe had been tried somewhere in the United States, and that
some of these methods had even been carried to greater perfection in
the United States than abroad; the marked difference between
America and Europe being that the European works showed a higher
degree of finish and completeness, due to a greater expenditure per
mile of improved waterway, such difference being easily explained
by the comparative small number of miles of rivers and other water-
ways in Europe in proportion to the adjacent population and to the
126 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
public wealth. This difference can easily be overcome at any time
in the United States when more liberal expenditures are judged
desirable.
The general course of river improvement for purposes of navigation
throughout Europe as well as the United States is briefly as follows:
First. To roughly survey the river.
Second. To clear away overhanging trees from the river banks,
and to clear fallen trees, snags, loose rock, and other accidental
obstructions from the river bed.
Third. To give a reasonably uniform width, depth, and straightness
to the natural channel of the river bed, and to mark, buoy, and light
the general line of the channel where necessary, and to issue regula-
tions for the use of the waterway with a view to making it available
to as large boats as can use it without further improvement.
Fourth. To protect its banks at points of greatest wear or weakness,
so as to prevent the river from spoiling its existing channels and
wandering outside of desirable limits (involving both revetments and
levees).
Fifth. To further improve the best channel and to give it perma-
nence by standardizing or regularizing its bends, its cross sections,
and its water slopes in open-river portions, involving careful surveys,
dredging, and use of training or longitudinal dikes, contracting or
spur dikes, and occasional submerged or cross dikes.
Sixth. To provide it with dams, and with locks or other boat-
hoisting devices at each dam, in portions where open-river navigation
becomes impracticable and "canalization" becomes finally necessary.
The last two steps are often alternative propositions.
Such route of improvement is being followed on nearly all the navi-
gable rivers of England, France, Belgium, and Germany, about half
of which have already been carried through the entire program.
In the first three of the stages of such improvement work the
United States has little to learn from Europe. American survey
parties are not surpassed anywhere in matter of field and office work,
although such work might show to better advantage if the river engi-
neers were authorized and encouraged to expend more money in
placing the results more generally and to better advantage before the
general public.
American snag boats, rock drills, excavators, dredges, etc., and
their outfits and crews are in almost all respects the equal of any
in the world, and in some ways are models to be followed abroad.
The dredges which seem to be most commonly used on European
inland rivers are of the endless chain bucket or "ladder" type, of
which only a few are used in America; but it is not yet evident that
they will give any decidedly better results under American laborers
than the scoop, drag, dipper, clam-shell, orange-peel, suction, and
other dredges in common use on our waters. In harbor and tidal
river dredging European practice may be ahead of the United States
in the size of some of its ladder and suction dredges, but not in their
type.
On many of the European inland rivers with currents (for example,
the upper Rhine) no encouragement is given boats for night travel,
and such travel is made at the boat's own risk. The placing of chan-
nel marks appears to be mainly left to the engineers in charge of the
river improvement works, a practice which might be advantageously
followed in the United States.
FINÁL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 127
The protection of banks on European rivers consists in general of,
first, giving to the bank a slope dependent upon the nature of the
soil and the velocity of the river current, and then covering it with
a revetment of soil or gravel, small broken stone, large broken stone,
paving stone, cement blocks, or sometimes continuous cement sur-
facing, the heavy material being sometimes underlaid by brush mat-
tresses or other wooden supports. The best-appearing and most-used
protection seemed to be that of stone riprap and stone paving,
each of which type has its advocates. American practice is to use
the same materials in somewhat different ways. If any change in
American practice seems indicated by foreign practice, it would be
merely to make the American revetments stronger and better appear-
ing, which would add considerably to cost of first construction
without perhaps diminishing the cost of subsequent maintenance
correspondingly.
Where levees were seen in Europe (as especially on the Danube, in
Austria and Hungary, and on the Theiss, Hungary) the general treat-
ment of the situation appeared to be much similar to that on the
lower Mississippi River, and did not indicate any special need of
change in American methods. The main river levees were set back
a considerable distance from the low-water river banks, by which a
wide strip of land was abandoned to freshet overflow, the use of the
levee being mainly to save from overflow the land in its rear, and
only incidentally to turn quickly back into the river the subsiding
waters. Under such circumstances the cost of the levee construction
is very justly paid mainly by the owners of the protected lands,
a practice which is growing in the Mississippi Valley, and should be
encouraged throughout the United States wherever levees are to be
built along inland rivers.
Almost all rivers which head in the mountains and which empty
directly into the ocean may be considered as composed of four sec-
tions, each quite different as regards navigability. The mountain
section is usually torrential in nature, and has so steep a slope and
so narrow and winding a bed that it is entirely unfitted for boat
navigation, though perhaps useful for floating logs. The next sec-
tion is liable to have a steep slope and a small low-water discharge,
so that it can be navigated as an open river only at high-water stages
and can not be navigated all the year through, except after canaliza-
tion. The third section is usually one of moderate slope and good
low-water discharge and is usually well adapted to open-river naviga-
tion by small draft boats all the year, but must be canalized if to be
used all the year by deep-draft boats. The fourth or lower section
is tidal in nature and can usually be improved by dredging and
regularization, so as to afford a daily open-river navigation to any
boats which can cross its ocean bar. The natural open-river naviga-
tion is usually the simplest, cheapest, and most desirable, so far as it
can be used. The regularized open-river channel is next in cost where
practicable, and the canalization is usually the most expensive,
although possible almost everywhere.
The Mississippi River from St. Paul to the mouth of the Missouri
is a good example of a river which, from its moderate slope, good
low-water discharge, and moderate high-water discharge, is capable
of an excellent natural open-river navigation for light-draft boats;
128 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
which can be easily regularized for medium-draft boats; or which
can be canalized for boats of any draft. From the mouth of the
Missouri River to the Gulf, the Mississippi, from its large high-
water discharge and mobile bottom, can be regularized but not
easily canalized. The Ohio River, on the other hand, on account
of its small low-water discharge, can not easily be regularized for
even light-draft boats, although it can be canalized for medium.
drafts. The Great Kanawha, on account of its small low-water
discharge and its steep slope, is suited only to canalization.
There are many reasons why the open-river navigation is preferable
to a lock-and-dam or "canalized" navigation, namely: Economy in
cost of construction, capacity for a practically unlimited and freely
moving traffic, extensive frontage for landings or wharves on both
sides of the river, less interference by ice in winter months, easier
travel during freshets, earlier resumption of travel. after unusually
high freshets, deeper available draft during moderately high waters,
and practicable reclamation of lands which would be flowed by
dams, very much greater speed of boat travel, especially downstream,
etc. But, in order to get the fullest advantage from open-river
navigation, the river must be thoroughly regularized by side-con-
traction works, side and bottom revetments, and occasional training
walls, and such works must be carefully adapted to the volume and
velocity of high-water and low-water river flow, to the nature of the
river banks, to the nature and general slope of the river bed, and to
the dimensions of the boats using the river. Successful regularization
of a river to give a good open-river navigation at all stages of water
is only practicable on rivers with a gentle slope of river bed, combined
with a large low-water flow compared with a freshet flow, such as in
Europe the Rhone, Garonne, Durance, Loire, Lower Mense, Rhine,
Weser, Elbe, Lower Oder, Vistula, Nemel, Danube, Dnieper, Volga,
and the tidal portions of other rivers.
But even in these cases the low-water flow has not justified nor
secured a channel depth of over 3 meters (9.8 feet) on the lower and
most favored parts of the Rhine and the middle part of the Danube,
nor of over 2 meters (6.6 feet) on the other rivers, and on some of
these rivers only as much as 1 meter (3.3 feet), and a greater depth
will probably require canalization. However, these depths, com-
bined with the open-river free circulation, a perfected boat service,
and fine terminal facilities, have, on the German rivers, led to an enor-
mous tonnage of water traffic. North American rivers, as a general
rule, average higher than European rivers in length, in depth, and in
water flow. The Rhine and Danube are the only rivers of France,
Belgium, or Germany which are superior in such ways to the upper
Mississippi River above the mouth of the Missouri.
The Rhine, Elbe, and Danube, visited by the commission, and the
Rhone, as described in printed reports, show good results obtained
by regularization works where side contraction is secured by spur
dikes and connecting training walls, well rivetted with stone and
rising outside of the low-water channel to just above low-water
level, the under-water portions being so arranged as to carefully
define the desired cross section of the river bed and to protect the
same from undesirable wear by the river currents. The method,
as seen in Europe, is in harmony with the work also seen later on the
Mississippi River, so far as carried out, and as in progress of execu-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 129
tion. American practice in such matters seems to need no special
change at present.
(A full description of river regularization, as applied to the Mis-
sissippi River between St. Louis and Cairo, based upon the best
European experience and practice, is given in pp. 57-89 of the
recent 1909 Board Report on Survey of Mississippi River, H. Doc.
No. 50, 61st Cong., 1st sess.)
Whenever the river slope is steep or the low-water discharge is
small an open river navigation, even under the best regularization,
usually becomes exceedingly difficult and slow even for light-draft
boats, and sometimes becomes impracticable for any boat. When
the river slope is too steep and the corresponding current too great
to be easily ascended by ordinary tows and an open-river navigation
is still preferable to canalization, the boat service is sometimes main-
tained by the aid of special chains or cables, laid under water along
the bottom of the river, by which the towboat pulls itself along
upstream. Such chains have been extensively used on the Rhone,
Seine, Yonne, Meuse, Rhine, Main, Neckar, Saale, Elbe, Danube, and
some Russian rivers, but their use is lessening each year, and the
chains have already been removed from portions of several of the
above rivers. Higher powered stern-wheelers or side-wheelers or
screw propellers seem to be gradually replacing the chain except in
very swift currents or in very shoal waters. In the swift current of
the Iron Gates of the Danube a wire cable of several miles length is
still in use, being wound up on or unwound from a large drum on the
towboat. On the other hand, on the Rhine just below Bingen, boats
are to be helped up past the swift currents by the aid of a low-lift
masonry lock and a short lateral canal in the river itself instead of
by the aid of cable traction. All this indicates that the use of a cable
or chain in such cases is diminishing rather than increasing.
Where the river slope is steep, or the low-water discharge is small,
or a draft is desired greater than practicable by open-river methods,
the desired river improvement is usually best obtained by the method
of canalization. This method is always possible where the river
banks and bed are of solid material, and becomes impracticable only
in places where it is impossible to protect the dam from undermining,
or where the river carries large quantities of sand, silt, or other mov-
ing material during freshets and other high waters, in which cases a
raised movable or a fixed dam would be liable to silting up and to
failure, and a lowered movable dam would be liable to be buried
beyond practicable reach.
The canalization of rivers requires the use of dams to convert the
river into a series of deep-water pools, and the use of locks or other
means of raising or lowering boats from each pool to the adjacent one.
Dams for river canalization may be either fixed or movable. Fixed
dams, however, appear to be at present little used for such purposes.
When used, they appear to follow the usual type of construction for
reservoir dams, except that they are made specially strong against
damage by submergence and overflow and by swift currents during
high waters and freshets.
The movable type of dam is the one most common in river-improve-
ment work, its great advantage being that it lies flat on the river
bottom during high waters and opens the entire river to free navi-
gation as long as the high water continues.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2——9
130 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The movable dams most used in Europe are the Poiree needle dam,
the Chamoine wicket dam, the Boule gate dam, the Camere curtain
dam, and the Desfontaine drum dam, or their modern modifications.
In these dams the needles, wickets, gates, and curtains are supported
in position either by trestles or props which rise from under-water
foundations or by frames lowered from overhead bridges. With the
exception of possibly the Camere curtain, which is being abandoned
abroad, all the above types of dams have been built and are still in
use in the United States, the needles on the lower Big Sandy River,
Kentucky, the wickets on the upper Ohio and Kanawha Rivers, the
gates on the Ohio at Louisville, Ky., the drums on the Osage, in Mis-
souri, and the overhead bridges at the safety gates of Saulte St. Marie
Canal, Michigan. The only points in which the foreign dams appear
superior to the American are in the size and methods of maneuver of
some of the Boule gate dams at places (such as the Danube canal at
Vienna) where electric power is at hand and large electrodynamic
cranes can be utilized for such work. Such changes will possibly be
advantageous to the United States under similar circumstances. On
the other hand, some of the American needles are higher and the
American wickets as high as in Europe. For certain purposes of
movable dam service none of the European dams seen appeared as
advantageous for American use as the modern "bear-trap" double-
leaf horizontal-axis dams which have for several years been in suc-
cessful use on the Upper Ohio River and elsewhere in the United
States, but which have been but little tested or used abroad.
The most important and vital feature of a canalized river is its
lock or equivalent apparatus by which the boat is raised or lowered
from one pool to another. The rapidity with which boats and their
tows can pass through the locks is usually a measure of the capacity
of the river for transportation purposes. As unused locks are usually
a great unnecessary expense, most dams are provided at first with
only a single small lock suitable to the original boat traffic, after which
other locks, longer and perhaps broader and deeper, are added as the
traffic develops, until finally the dam is provided with from two to four
locks of total capacity from three to six times the first lock.
The earliest and most persistent type of lock and the one still most
generally used is the ordinary masonry lock, composed of two masonry
side walls, closed at each end by movable doors or gates, the resulting
inclosure or chamber being furnished with valves and passages by
which it can be filled with water from the upper pool and can dis-
charge its water into the lower pool. A boat in the upper pool, finding
the lock full and its upper gates open, can freely enter the lock
chamber, after which the upper gates are closed and the lock chamber
emptied of its water, the boat gradually sinking as the water falls,
after which the lower gates are opened and the boat passes out of the
lock into the pool below. A reverse process moves a boat from the
lower into the upper pool. Each time the lock is emptied the upper
pool loses a certain quantity of water, the total amount depending
mainly upon the size of the lock chamber, the lift, and the load of the
boat as measured by the volume of boat below water level. When
the boat traffic is very great and the highest pool of a river receives
but little water from its tributaries, the lack of proper water sup-
ply may limit the river traffic and require a change of lock con-
struction to some other type using less water. A desire to economize
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 131
water, combined with a desire to hasten the passage of boats through
locks, is the main reason for the substitution during recent years of
inclined railways or "canal inclines" and vertical lifts for the original
masonry lock. But the tendency of to-day in Europe seems to
indicate a return to the masonry lock type unless the conditions of
dam location and boat traffic are exceptional.
Canal inclines follow, in their construction, the general type of
rail inclines for carrying passengers, wagons, and trolley cars, such
as are of long and well-tested service in Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, and
other American cities where side hills must be climbed. Canal lifts,
in similar way, follow the general type of hydraulic lifts and electric
mechanical counterpoise lifts in American hotels. In a few cases the
boat is lifted from the water and hoisted dry, in cradles resting upon
railroad trucks, but in most of the cases the boat is left floating in a
water-filled tank, the tank itself being lifted. Small canal inclines
for lifting 70-ton boats from 44 to 100 feet at one operation were used
on the Morris (N. J.) Canal as far back as 1825-1831, and for lifting
115-ton boats up a 39-foot incline (total load moved being 390 tons),
were used on the Georgetown (D. C.) Canal as far back as 1876.
Canal inclines appear for the moment to be gaining in the race
against locks and vertical lifts. In 1900 a pair of inclined planes to
lift 70-ton boats through a single height of 75 feet was put in success-
ful operation at Foxton, on the Grand Junction Canal, England.
This incline differs from its predecessors, especially in placing the
water tank transversely to the line of its haul. The two tanks are
connected by cables so as to balance each other, one going up as the
other goes down, and the power of the operating steam engine is
necessary as before to overcome only inertia and friction. During
the past few years, and as the result of many competitive projects of
1904, it is reported that somewhat similar inclines are being con-
structed or are under contract upon the canal from the Danube to
the Moldau and Elbe, at Prerau, în Moravia, in such way as to raise
600-ton boats up more than 100 feet along a 1 on 5 slope.
Small canal lifts for very small barges were used in England on
the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and on the Grand Western
Canal as far back as 1809 and 1834. But the use of large lifts practi-
cally dates from the construction, in 1876, of an hydraulic lift for
100-ton barges, raised 50 feet, in about three minutes for each opera-
tion, at Anderton, on the Trent and Mersey Canal, near Liverpool,
England. This lift has since been followed by other much similar
lifts at Fontinette, France, in 1883; La Louviere, Belgium, in 1885;
Henrichenburg, near Dortmund, Germany, in 1899; and at Peter-
borough, near Toronto, Canada, about 1902, some of these lifting
600-ton boats up heights of over 52 feet in less than 12 minutes, the
total mass in motion being over 3,000 tons. The Henrichenburg
water tank rests upon and is lifted by floating inverted cylinders
filled with compressed air, while the tanks of the other lifts rest upon
metal plungers descending into cylinders filled with compressed
water. While these lifts certainly save water and time, they are
very expensive in first cost and in opreation, and their use can only
be justified by exceptional local conditions.
It is evident that these lifts are not yet entirely free from objection
in matter of first cost, operation, and maintenance. Attention is
invited to the fact that a high masonry lock is being built alongside
132 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of the Henrichenburg pneumatic lift and that the hydraulic apparatus
of the Anderton lift has recently been replaced by mechanical counter-
poises and electro-dynamic machinery. There is as yet no good
reason, therefore, for changing the existing United States past prac-
tice, which is slow to give up the use of masonry locks.
The commission was fortunate in seeing the lifts at Henrichenburg
and La Louviere and the incline at Foxton, but any reference to other
European lifts and inclines is based upon printed reports.
Both lifts and inclines are exceedingly expensive in first cost, and
are always beyond economical reach except where the canal ap-
proaches can be built with very short embankments or viaducts.
In many cases it will be found cheaper to pump water even up great
heights and from long distances rather than to use lifts and inclines
to save water.
Where a considerable height at a single locality is to be ovrecome
by masonry locks, there is usually a choice between the use of several
locks of small lift or a lesser number with larger lifts. The present
tendency in Europe is toward larger lifts. In many cases, two of the
old locks of the Seine have been replaced by a single new lock. On
the St. Denis Canal at Paris as much as 9.92 meters (32.5 feet) lift at
a single masonry lock has been secured without any special incon-
venience other than the loss of water. The tendency in the United
States is, as in Europe, toward the use of large lifts.
In matter of lock construction details, the European locks visited
by the commission, while interesting as parts of the river-improve-
ment system, contained but few features not already in use some-
where in the United States.
Various methods were found in use to keep up the supply of water
in the upper levels of canals and at high masonry locks; sometimes
by side economizing basins, as at Henrichenburg (for the new building
single masonry lock) and on the Bruxelles-Charleroi Canal, and at
Foxton (for the rebuilding flight of masonry locks), and sometimes
by direct pumpage, as at Manchester (replacing side economizing
basins); the tendency being apparently toward the latter method
(pumping), on the ground that it saves in lockage an amount of time
which is more valuable than the cost of pumping.
The lock gates of ordinary masonry locks appear to be of various
types, each having its special advantages according to local circum-
stances, the newest types in greatest favor for busy, wide canals being
the ordinary two-leaf miter gate, moved by a thrust bar near its top,
by the aid of dynamo electric machinery where practicable. At high
masonry locks, however, such as on the St. Denis Canal, Paris, and
on the Moldau River, the best practice seems to be to close the
lower end of the lock with an arched masonry gateway and a single
large "Stoney" gate, lifted by dynamo electric machinery, in much
the same way as is now proposed at Panama. Europe, however, has
apparently no "Stoney" gates larger than those to be seen on the
power canal at St. Marys Falls, Mich., and has no ordinary miter
by gates of greater height than those seen at Plaquemine, La. (55-foot
width, 51-foot height, 37-foot lift), and at the Sanitary District Canal,
Lockport, Ill. (22-foot width, 56.8-foot height, 34-foot lift).
As to lock valves for filling and emptying the locks, here again
various types are still in use, the tendency being to the balanced
cylindrical valve, operated by hand or by electricity (of type much
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 133
like that in use on the Big Sandy River, Ky.), although the balanced
flat valve, with usually a vertical axis, is still the most used, and the
siphon, instead of a valve, has been successfully tried on the Seine
above Paris and on the new Teltow Canal near Berlin.
As regards canal aqueducts, the tendency seems to be toward the
greater use of iron-reenforced concrete, such constructions being
much similar to the aqueducts seen later by the commission on the
Hennepin Canal near Rock Island, Ill.
In matter of guard gates for closing off sections of upper canal
levels, as seen by the commission on the new Dortmund-Ems Canal,
Germany, no constructions appear to have been any more successful
than the automatic gates of the Hennepin Canal and the large turn-
ing-bridge safety gate of the St. Marys Falls Canal, Mich.
The general practice in France and Belgium appears to be toward
keeping all movable parts of lock apparatus above water so far as
possible, and to using types of construction easily operated by hand
power, or at least easily handled by one or two lockmen and ordinary
labor. Where electric machinery is available it is often very eco-
nomical because of easy operation by ordinary lockmen and labor,
its repair in such case being attended to by a special working force
whose services are needed only occasionally at any one lock, and who
can therefore effectively serve a long length of canal.
APPENDIX II.
THE UTILITY OF STORAGE RESERVOIRS FOR FLOOD PREVENTION,
POWER, AND NAVIGATION.
By M. O. LEIGHTON, Chief Hydrographer, United States Geological Survey.
This report is submitted in compliance with a request of Hon. T. E.
Burton, chairman, made March 10, 1911. It relates to the utility
of flood-impounding reservoirs, either constructed or proposed, in
the United States.
In November, 1907, I presented to the Inland Waterways Commis-
sion a report entitled "The Relation of Water Conservation to Flood
Prevention and Navigation in Ohio River." This contribution has
been included in the printed report of that commission, pages 451
to 490 (S. Doc. No. 325, 60th Cong., 1st sess.). The present report
is in a sense supplementary to that of 1907, covering further studies,
both in the Ohio basin and elsewhere in the United States.
The report of 1907 elicited much unfavorable comment. Had it
no other virtue than that of provoking the discussion that ensued it
would have amply served its purpose. During the four years that
have intervened since the report was submitted the partisans on both
sides have had an opportunity to give more mature consideration to
reservoirs, and judgment concerning them is now less likely to be
warped by feelings of loyalty to preconceived notions. As might
have been expected, a common ground has been located toward which
the various parties have converged. Reservoir advocates, including
the present writer, have been led to modify certain radical views con-
cerning relatively unimportant details, though the accuracy of the
important contentions made in the report of 1907 has repeatedly
been verified. On the other hand, those who earlier opposed the
creation of reservoirs have shown a very marked tendency to adopt
or at least to look more favorably on certain features of the scheme.
In order that the present report may be considered in the light of
full information concerning past objections, it will be well to review
briefly the principal objections that were made after the publication
of the report of 1907.
The reservoir scheme was generally denounced because of its
alleged inefficiency. Some of its opponents argued that storage
would not materially change flood conditions; others held that suitable
sites were lacking in places where reservoirs would be effective, though,
strangely enough, those who so held showed that they were quite
unfamiliar with the topography of the Ohio River Basin. Still others
cited numerous unimportant local objections, such as the flooding of
land and the interruption of travel along country roads. To many
135
136 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
persons the submergence of large areas of comparatively worthless
farm lands in the upland drainage basins of the Ohio tributaries
seemed to be an insuperable objection. Notwithstanding the fact
that these lands have never been very profitable as farms, certain
good men drew tearful pictures of submerged homes and of banished,
inconsolable families, forgetting, apparently, the compensating happi-
ness in the rich valleys below. It ought to be apparent that the value
of a few thousand acres of poor land in the highland region of any
river system is not comparable with the value of a well-regulated
river, whether the river be regarded as a source of power or an avenue
of transportation. As a rule, the annual damage caused by floods
far exceeds the value of the land whose submergence would partially
or wholly prevent further floods.
Objections were also based on the supposed inefficiency of reser-
voirs in the double duty as preventers of floods and as aids to naviga-
tion. Many persons were inclined to contend that reservoirs would
always be full when they were needed to store flood waters, or empty
when water was needed to compensate low-water flow. The uses
of the reservoirs were said to be antagonistic. To prevent floods the
reservoirs must be emptied as soon as possible after a flood has abated,
so as to be ready to receive the next flood; to serve the purposes of
power and navigation the reservoirs must be full at the end of the wet
season, so that the maximum use of their capacity can be made during
the following dry season. Inasmuch as it is impossible to foretell the
time of cessation of spring rains, no one would be able to decide when
to empty the reservoir or when to close it to catch water for the dry
season. To all these objections the simple answer is that such reser-
voir systems must be planned with a twofold capacity: First,
planned to care for summer flow, providing permanent storage to be
held as nearly uniform as possible; second, to provide excess capacity
equivalent to maximum flood run-off; that is, sufficient to hold the
largest floods. The water in this portion of the reservoir would be
drawn down to the point of permanent storage as soon after a flood as
possible, and the basin would be ready to catch another flood. At
the same time the reservoir would store water for the low-water
periods. Although this point has been repeatedly explained, these
objections seem to stick in the minds of many critics.
Another objection was based on the danger of the breaking of a
dam in such a system. The failure of dams with consequent loss of
life has for many years been a favorite topic in song and story. It
appears to give to an author just the environment and the train of
circumstances necessary to produce a vivid effect and to secure an
appreciative audience, but dam failures in fact are relatively few;
each is traceable to some preventable error, and they will occur less
frequently as engineering knowledge increases. The dam casualties
of the past are not as numerous as those incident to ordinary foot
traffic in the streets of a great city, especially since the day of the
automobile. No one would advocate abolishing the automobile
becauses its abuses result in damage to pedestrians. No one would
propose giving up railroad trains because they are agents of death.
The hazards are accepted because of manifold benefits conferred. So
it is with the reservoir systems.
Another great objection to the reservoir scheme was the prospec-
tively great cost. Little could be said in reply to this objection
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 137
because no surveys or estimates had been made, and little more is
known at the present time. It is probable that within a few months
as the result of the investigations of the flood commission of Pitts-
burgh cost figures will be available for reservoir systems located on
the Monongahela and Allegheny. Very few estimates are available
for other places. It is known, however, that such investigations of
flood reservoir benefits and costs as have thus far been completed-
and some of these investigations will be discussed later on-show the
benefits to far outweigh the costs, especially when flood benefits are
united with benefits to water power, to navigation, and, in certain
parts of the country, to irrigation.
Finally, the critics of the first report seem to forget that the report
was largely, if not entirely, a plea for further investigation. Certain
facts were given and deductions believed to be reasonable were made.
It was contended that inasmuch as a showing of possibility if not of
probability was made, it would be wise to fully investigate all of the
premises. The present report goes a little further, discussing certain
areas outside of the Ohio Basin in which reservoirs have been con-
structed or the effect of proposed reservoirs has been studied, and
making certain statements concerning reservoir costs and efficien-
cies; but it is believed that this report will have fulfilled its best pur-
pose if it emphasizes even more strongly than did that of 1907 the
duty of the Government and of the Waterways Commission to look
well into this reservoir matter and take no steps toward a permanent
waterways policy until sufficient information is at hand concerning
the practicability, efficiency, and cost of reservoirs.
PASSAIC RIVER, N. J.
One of the most comprehensive and thorough studies of floods and
flood prevention yet made in the United States was brought about as
the result of a series of damaging floods on Passaic River in New
Jersey. So serious were these floods that the State legislature, in
special session, authorized the appointment of the Northern New
Jersey Flood Commission to study the situation and to originate and
present plans for corrective treatment. This commission reported in
1904 and was succeeded, under resulting new legislation, by the
Passaic River Flood District Commission, having the same member-
ship as the former one and enlarged powers and duties. The reports
of the two commissions set forth all the facts necessary to support the
strong recommendation that impounding reservoirs were the proper
and effective means of flood prevention. As the writer was a member
of both commissions and chairman of the engineering committee of
each, he is familiar with all the work and the conclusions.
The drainage area of Passaic River, about 1,000 square miles in
extent, occupies a large part of northern New Jersey and extends
over into Rockland and Orange Counties, N. Y. Its basin is divided
physiographically into the "highland area," the "central basin," and
the "lower valley." The floods of the Passaic have all been caused
primarily by the run-off from the highland area and the central basin,
principally the former. These two portions of the basin are only 773
square miles in extent. It will subsequently be shown how great
were the floods in comparison with the small size of the area.
138 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The Passaic proper is formed by the junction of four upland
streams, the Pompton, Rockaway, Whippany, and upper Passaic,
draining, respectively, 380, 138, 71, and 100 square miles. All of
these streams converge into the central basin, locally known as the
"Great Piece Meadow"-a flat, wet piece of land over which the
floods accumulate and discharge over a fall and through a gorge at
Little Falls and enter into the lower valley over the Great Falls at
Paterson, N. J., some 4 miles farther down. At times of flood the
waters accumulate on the central basin, discharge into the lower
valley, overflow the channel, and inundate valuable properties in the
large cities of Paterson, Passaic, Newark, and in many small cities
and towns located on the banks between the three larger munici-
palities. From 1877 until 1903 there occurred in this basin 29
destructive floods.
In March, 1902, a flood of maximum discharge over 26,000 cubic
feet per second caused damages to improved property and manufac-
tured goods and raw materials of over $3,000,000. In October, 1903,
a flood of maximum discharge of 37,500 cubic feet per second caused
damages amounting to about $7,000,000. When it is considered that
these enormous damages resulted from the flood discharges from only
about 770 square miles of drainage area the seriousness of the situa-
tion will be appreciated.
The Northern New Jersey Flood Commission investigated every
method for the prevention or mitigation of these floods, including
channel rectification and enlargement, diversion of flood waters through
conduits into other drainages, and finally, impounding reservoirs in
the upland region. From the result of the studies it was clear that
the last-named plan was the only practicable one for the Passaic
drainage area. Detail surveys of seven reservoir sites were made,
having an aggregate capacity of 33,800,000,000 cubic feet. As the
total discharge of the October flood of 1903 was about 15,000,000,000
cubic feet, it is apparent that the storage capacity of the basin, if
properly developed, is sufficient to more than conserve all the flood
waters.
Detail studies of the floods of 1902 and 1903 showed that the
control of the flow of Pompton River by the utilization of a reser-
voir site near its mouth would prevent all future floods from damaging
the lower valley. The dam site is located at a gap between Hook
and Packanack Mountains, designated as Mountain View. This site
has consequently been designated the Mountain View reservoir site.
It has a capacity of about 7,500,000,000 cubic feet when developed for
flood control alone; of 15,000,000,000 cubic feet if the dam be raised 18
feet higher to conserve water supply for the cities of northern New
Jersey. Considered for flood prevention alone, the capacity of the
reservoir is about one-half the total discharge of the greatest flood
ever known in the valley. Studies of the behavior of floods on the
various highland tributaries showed that the Pompton and its
tributaries are in all respects the most flashy in character and con-
tribute the largest amount of water in the smallest space of time.
Moreover, the flood waters from this stream discharge on the Great
Piece Meadow at a rate and in a direction which rapidly piles the
water up there and adds far greater intensity to the floods than the
equivalent of the drainage area in proportion to that of the remainder
of the Passaic Basin. It was conclusively shown by the studies
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 139
of the commission that with the Mountain View reservoir con-
structed the flood in the lower valley in October, 1903, would not
have reached a greater discharge than 14,000 second-feet, or less
than one-third the discharge that actually took place. Further
studies of the commission show that the channel along the lower
valley is capable of carrying off a discharge of 14,000 second-feet
without doing any material damage to the property along the river.
The total cost of this reservoir, including all structures, damages,
railroad relocations, etc., was estimated at $3,849,000, or a little
more than one-half of the cost of the damage caused by the one
flood of 1903.
The Mountain View Reservior was never built. The State admin-
istration was changed shortly after the presentation of detailed
plans, and this fact, together with certain unworthy antagonisms
arising between the cities of Paterson and Newark, made it impossi-
ble to secure an agreement concerning the matter. During the
years since 1903 the Passaic has been free from disastrous floods,
and this is the main reason why nothing has been accomplished. It
will probably be necessary for the communities in the lower valley
to sustain another enormous flood loss before the matter will again
be seriously considered.
NEW YORK STATE.
Flood-prevention studies have been made by various State and
local commissions in New York. All the work has finally been
brought together, reviewed, and extended by the New York State
Water Supply Commission. Brief reference will here be made to
two of these studies-one on the Genesee and the other on the
Hudson.
GENESEE RIVER.
The lower basin of the Genesee, especially that part lying between
Mount Morris and Rochester, N. Y., suffers frequently from severe
floods. They inflict great damage on improved property in the
city of Rochester, menace the barge canal at that point, and cause
great road, crop, and improvement losses in the rural districts.
Various commissions, both local and State, have studied the subject
with care and the final plan of the New York State Water Supply
Commission constitutes the results of what is probably the most
mature local study that has ever been made.
The plan adopted is designed to give flood protection and increase
the water power by compensating the low-water flow from storage.
The benefits of such a development are described by the New York
State Water Supply Commission substantially as follows:
About 25,000 acres of rich farming land in the valley of the Genesee
lying between the village of Mount Morris and the city of Rochester
would be protected against devastating floods which now occur
almost annually, destroying crops, undermining bridges, and washing
out highways, and thereby causing very heavy pecuniary losses to
the counties, towns, and individuals. The property and roadbed of
five railroads would be rendered more safe and their traffic uninter-
rupted by the high water.
140 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The water-power interests at Rochester would be guaranteed a
minimum regular flow during the dry period of the year of from
three to five times that which they now enjoy. It would mean a
saving of large sums of money annually for coal and other operating
expenses of auxiliary steam plants.
The capacity of the water-power plants at Mount Morris could be
multiplied fivefold if modern hydraulic installation were made and
advantage taken of the increased flow in the river.
Hydraulic power to the extent of 30,000 continuous seven-day horse-
power could be developed at the dam site for transmission electrically
to Rochester or other markets as the demand for power should de-
velop.
The new State canal and the harbor at Rochester would be pro-
tected against dangerous fluctuations in the water level, and the con-
sequent interruption to the traffic and a saving in cost would be
effected by a reduction in the required width and depth of the harbor
for the passage of flood waters.
The river bed in and below the city of Rochester, into which the
city pours its sewage and refuse, would be rendered more sanitary
than at present, and instead of being a sluggish pool and a nuisance
for six months of the year it would become a flowing stream with
sufficient current to dilute and carry the offensive matter beyond
where it could do harm.
The plans involve the construction of a masonry dam at Portage,
N. Y., 152 feet high from foundation to coping. The reservoir formed
would have an area of water surface when filled of 13 square miles.
The bottom of the reservoir at the lowest outlets in the dam would be
1,095 feet above sea level. Above this the water stored in the reser-
voir for the next 45 feet, or up to elevation 1,140 feet above sea level,
would be held in practically permanent storage and used to compen-
sate low-water conditions in extraordinarily dry seasons, which come
infrequently. The next 55 feet of storage, or up to elevation 1,195
feet above sea level, would be used both for new power development
and to increase the capacity of the powers already established along
the river. The amount of water stored between these two levels
would be 11,250,000,000 cubic feet. The next 15 feet of reservoir
capacity, up to elevation 1,210 feet above sea level, would be used
for flood catchment. The capacity between these elevations is
6,750,000,000 cubic feet, sufficient to temporarily store all except the
most extreme and unusual floods. For the latter an additional 5 feet
of storage is provided above the 1,210-foot elevation. The floods
would begin to spill from the reservoir through automatic flood-
regulation ports after it surmounted an elevation of 1,195 feet and
would pass over the spillway at elevation 1,210 feet. In the operation
of this reservoir the permanent storage for water-power development
would be limited to the 11,250,000,000 cubic feet at elevation of 1,195
feet. Whenever the space above this elevation was filled by floods,
the level would be drawn down again to the elevation 1,195 as fast
as the condition of the river channel below would permit, and the
reservoir made ready to receive another flood.
The present flow of Genesee River at the Portage Dam site ranges
from 80 cubic feet per second at low-water stage to 42,000 cubic feet
per second in time of great floods.
The commission has made surveys and estimates and has prepared
charts which show that the crest of all except the very greatest floods
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 141
on the Genesee can be cared for by the estimated storage capacity.
While the floodwaters are storing back of the dam, above the 1,195-
foot elevation, the spillway ports would be discharging at the maxi-
mum 12,000 cubic feet per second; and it has been estimated that
a discharge at Rochester of 33,000 cubic feet per second could be
permitted without damage. The discharge of 12,000 cubic feet per
second from the reservoir would therefore not allow any overflowing
of the valley between Mount Morris and Rochester.
In addition to the benefits from flood regulation the foregoing
plans would in the ordinary year increase the available water power
at Rochester from 9,800 horsepower to 25,370 horsepower and also
provide for a 32,000-horsepower plant below the site of the dam at
Portage. The river regulation would increase the minimum flow
at Rochester from about 200 cubic feet per second in the driest year
to 1,180 cubic feet per second. The increase of power at Rochester
for the driest year would be 5.9 times the present minimum. Under
such a plan the Genesee Basin would become one of the most important
centers of water power in the State of New York.
The water-storage commission has made and presented in its
annual report for the year 1910 a most interesting study of the
effects such a dam as that above described would have on a
great flood similar to that which occurred in May, 1909. This flood
was the highest in point of volume and flood effect that has occurred
during recent years, and it submerged in all about 25,000 acres of
land. The peak of the flood was equivalent to a flow of 25,000
cubic feet per second. A study of the situation indicated that a
discharge of about 12,000 cubic feet per second at Mount Morris
could have been confined to the lower channel without causing any
damage to the lower country. When the flow is greater than 12,000
cubic feet per second at Mount Morris, there is usually at the same
time a large volume of water discharged into the Genesee by the
Canaseraga, its principal tributary, which joins the river below
Mount Morris. The combined flow is therefore too great to be car-
ried by the channel when that from above Mount Morris is greater
than 12,000 cubic feet per second. The result of the flood of May,
1909, and that which would have taken place had the proposed
Portage reservoir been constructed is diagrammatically shown on
sheet 1, which is taken from the report of the New York State Water
Supply Commission for 1910. The enormous benefits are obvious
from an examination of this diagram.
The water-supply commission presents in its last annual report the
following estimate of cost of and revenue from the Portage reservoir
and power scheme:
Estimated cost of Portage reservoir with dam at the most practicable site
and an intake, pressure tunnel, and power house for power develop-
ment, but without machinery..
Annual fixed charges on the above, including interest and sinking fund...
Estimated gross annual revenue:
$300,000
From power development at the reservoir.
From power improvement at Mount Morris and Rochester.. 115, 000
From river improvement in the Genesee Valley and in the
city of Rochester....
Net revenue..
$6, 800, 000
300,000
35,000
450, 000
150.000
142 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
CUBIC FEET PER SEC.
CUBIC FEET PER SEC.
}
CUBIC FEET PER SEC.
26000
-CREST · 25000 CU. FT. PER SEC.
PORTAGE
·CREST•26000 CU.FT. PER SEC
MT. MORRIS
10000
FLOOD AS IT OCCURED
FLOOD AS IT OCCURED
30000
20000
10000
---------------
-----------
74276
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
STORED IN RESERVOIR
10
MAY
PORTAGE
FLOOD AS EFFECTED
BY STORAGE
4276
MILLION CU FT. FLOOD WATER
RELEASED FROM RESERVOIR,
PORTAGE
FLOOD REGULATED
UNFORM FLOW-3000 CU.FT. PER SEG.
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
STORED IN RESERVOR
MAY
20
MT. MORRIS
FLOOD AS EFFECTED
BY STORAGE
4276
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
\RELEASED FROM RESERVOIR/
MT. MORRIS
FLOOD REGULATED
-CRÈST· 6000 CU.FT. PER SEC.
/4276
FILLON CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
STORED IN RESERVOIR
--CREST • 18200 CU.FT.PER SEC.
JONES BRIDGE
FLOOD AS IT OCCURED
MAY
JONES' BRIDGE
FLOOD AS EFFECTED
BY STORAGE
4276
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
RELEASED FROM RESERVOIR
4276
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
STORED IN RESERVOIR
CREST 21300 CU.FT. PER SEC
ROCHESTER
FLOOD AS IT OCCURED
ROCHESTER
FLOOD AS EFFECTED
BY STORAGE
42.76
MILLION CU.FT. FLOOD WATER
RELEASED FROM RESERVOIR
JONES BRIDGE
FLOOD REGULATED
·--CREST · 9800 CU.FT. PER SEC.
ROCHESTER
·CREST·13600 CU.FT. PER SEC
FLOOD REGULATED
PORTAGE
6000,000,000 CU.FT. FLOOD STORAGE CAPACITY
DIAGRAM SHOWING TO
13340000000 CU.FT
STORAGE CAPACITY
FOR POWER
REGULATION
THE SAME SCALE AS
FLOOD DIAGRAMS, THE
CAPACITY OF PORTAGE
RESERVOIR.
--FLOOD FLOW LINE » ELEV 1214
**FLOW LINE » ELEV. 1197
FOR POWER
STORAGE
EXPLANATION
THE 3000 CUBIC FEET PER SECOND
HERE ASSUMED AS OUTFLOW FROM
RESERVOIR IS TAKEN FOR THE
PURPOSE OF ILLUSTRATION ONLY.
THE PROPER AMOUNT MUST BE
DETERMINED EXPERIMENTALLY.
STATE WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION
OF
NEW YORK
GENESEE RIver ImproveMENT
DIAGRAM SHOWING PROBABLE REGULATING EFFECT
OF A
PROPOSED STORAGE RESERVOIR
ON A
FLOOD SUCH AS THAT OF MAY, 1909.
December, 1909.
Walty W& Culloh
CONSULTING ENGR
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 143
HUDSON RIVER.
RIVE
The State Water Supply Commission of New York has conducted
surveys in the basin of Hudson River above the mouth of Mohawk
River for the purpose of determining the feasibility of developing
reservoirs and the effect of such reservoirs on the flow of the
stream and on the water powers already established, as well as on
the water-power privileges yet undeveloped. The physical condi-
tions on this drainage basin are extremely favorable. At Mechan-
icsville, N. Y., the total discharge has been known to range from
700 second-feet to 70,000 second-feet, and the average flow is
about 8,120 second-feet. Investigations so far made show that
61,000,000,000 cubic feet of storage is the maximum practicable
amount that may be developed in the basin. Twenty-nine billion
cubic feet can be stored in the proposed Conklingville reservoir on the
Sacandaga and 16,000,000,000 cubic feet more can be stored over the
Schroon Lake system. The effect on the Hudson is illustrated by
accompanying sheet No. 2.
One of the interesting and important features of the effect of this
reservoir system is that on navigation in the Hudson. This effect has
been studied by the State engineer's office and by the water-storage
commission. So important is this feature that the following state-
ment is abstracted from the report of said commission for 1909.
There is sufficient depth of water in the Hudson between New York
City and New Baltimore for seagoing vessels. Above New Baltimore
a number of low, flat islands divide the river into two or more shallow
channels, in which there is a tendency to the formation of troublesome
bars. From New Baltimore to Troy, a distance of 20 miles, much
dredging has been necessary to maintain an open channel. This
dredging was carried on first under State appropriations, supplemented
by local contributions. Between 1831 and 1892 the work was done
under joint appropriations from the State and National Government.
In 1892 a navigable channel, substantially 11 feet deep from New
Baltimore to Albany and 9 feet deep at mean low water from Albany
to Troy, had been secured. The Federal Government has been engaged
in improving the channel since 1898, and the projects provide for a
channel 400 feet wide and 12 feet deep from Coxsackie to the foot of
Broadway, Troy, and thence to the State dam, for a channel 300 feet
wide and 12 feet deep. The estimated cost for this work authorized
by Congress in 1898 was $4,344,000, and the total sum expended be-
tween 1897 and 1908 for the improvement and maintenance of this
portion of the river has been substantially $5,250,000. In 1895 Mr.
George W. Rafter, an engineer of wide experience and of good repute,
reported to the State engineer of New York that the erection of im-
pounding reservoirs in the upper Hudson of capacity sufficient to
provide for a flow of not less than 4,500 cubic feet per second in the
Hudson at Mechanicsville will insure an increased depth of water at
Albany of 11 feet. This report was made after a careful analytical
study of the daily tide records kept by the United States Engineer
Department and taking into consideration governing conditions,
such as the direction of the wind, the phases of the moon, and the
daily volume of flow in the river.
The State water-supply commission has not made any independent
investigation of the subject, but a review of Mr. Rafter's work, based
144 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
5000-
CUBIC FEET PER SECOND
10000-
CUBIC FEET PER SECOND
0
20000
on his observation, has confirmed his deductions. The commission
believes that a broader study of longer term data is necessary, but
states that, inasmuch as Mr. Rafter based his judgment on a con-
20000-
STATE WATER SUPPLY COMMISSION
DIAGRAMS ILLUSTRATING TYPICAL
REGULATING EFFECT OF PROPOSED STORAGE RESERVOIRS
ON THE
FLOW OF THE HUDSON RIVER
IN THE VICINITY OF
SPIERS FALLS
DECEMBER 1909.
Waltume Culloh
CONSULTING ENGR,
CUBIC FEET PER SECOND
Reservoirs Empty
0
10000
SPRING
FLOOD
FIG I
NATURAL FLOW
SUMMER DROUTH
MAR. APR. MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB. [MAR. APR. |May.
1908
1909
-Reservoirs FULL
INFLUENCE
FIG. 2
OF STORAGE
RESERVOIRS
RESERVOIRS EMPTY
MAR APR MAY JUN JUL AUG SEP OCT NOV DEC JAN FEB MAR APR. MAY.
-1909
-1908–
FIG. 3
RESULTING REGULATED FLOW
0
MAR APR. MAY.|JUN.|JUL. AUG SEP Oct. Nov. Dec. JAN. FEB. MAR APR. MAY
1908
EXPLANATION
1909-
FIG. I SHOWS NATURAL FLUCTUATIONS OF FLOW COMPUTED FROM MECHANICVILLE RECORDS.
FIG.2 SHOWS INFLUENCE OF STORAGE RESERVOIRS:
INDICATES HOW WATER WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN STORED DURING THE FLOOD SEASON
WOULD BE ADDED TO THE LOW WATER FLOW OF THE RIVER IN THE DRY SEASON.
UM INDICATES NATURAL FLUCTUATIONS OF FLOW, EXCLUSIVE OF FLOOD WATERS
INDICATES FLOOD WATERS WHICH COULD BE STORED IN PROPOSED RESERVOIRS.
ALLY INDICATES FLOOD WATERS UNAVOIDABLY WASTED.
FIG3 SHOWS COMPARATIVE UNIFORMITY OF RESULTING REGULATED FLOW.
-
}
trolled flow of 4,500 cubic feet per second at Mechanicsville and inas-
much as the establishment of the Sacandaga Reservoir will afford a
controlled flow of 6,500 second-feet, or 2,000 second-feet more than
RESERVOIRS FULL
SPRING
FLOOD
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 145
that assumed by Mr. Rafter, it appears reasonable to assume that the
increased depth at Albany would certainly not be less than the 1½
feet estimated by Mr. Rafter. With respect to this point the com-
mission mentioned that a plan is on foot to secure a 22-foot channel
from Hudson to Troy, the cost of which has been estimated at nearly
$20,000,000, of which about $7,000,000 would be applied to the river
below Albany. On this basis it is evident that the reservoir improve-
ment will proportionately reduce the amount necessary to spend for
excavation, in order to achieve the 22-foot channel. The 1-foot
depth acquired by reservoir construction would be 15 per cent of the
extra depth required for the channel improvement and would prob-
ably result in a saving of not less than 15 per cent of the cost of the
channel improvement, or about $3,000,000. A liberal estimated
cost of the Sacandaga Reservoir is given by the water-supply com-
mission as $4,650,000. Thus it appears that 65 per cent of this cost
would be represented by improvements in the navigable portion of
the river below Troy, and when it is noted that the reservoir con-
struction would add to the water resources of the immediate region
85,500 horsepower, the benefits of the reservoir project require no
further demonstration.
SACRAMENTO BASIN.
Sacramento River is one of the most troublesome flood streams in
the United States. Its basin occupies the northern part of California,
lying between the Sierra Nevada on the east and the Coast Range
on the west. It extends to Mount Shasta, in the extreme northern
part of the State, and southward to San Pablo Bay. The tribu-
taries running from the mountain ranges on each side discharge large
amounts of water into the main stream during times of excessive
precipitation. These waters can not be carried in the normal chan-
nel of the river. A large part of the bottom of the valley is made up
of great low tracts, called the Colusa, the Yolo, the Yuba, the Sutter,
the American, and Sacramento Basins, and become at times of flood
a part of the river itself. It has been estimated that 1,250 square
miles of the Sacramento Valley are overflowed periodically and
1,700 square miles are overflowed during large floods. The basins
comprise some of the best agricultural land of the State and consti-
tute the great body designated as "swamp and overflow land" given
to the State of California by the Federal Government under the
swamp-land act of 1850.
The reclamation of this land for agriculture constitutes one of the
most beneficial works of development in the State of California.
From the time the land was given to the State, in 1850, down to the
present, numerous plans have been executed for the shutting off of
the flood waters of the Sacramento. Levees have been constructed,
drainage works excavated, and much of the land is now productive.
The grave feature of this reclamation work is that as the great basins
have been progressively shut out of the flood plain of the Sacramento,
the water which would otherwise flow over them has been more and
more closely confined to the established channel of the river, and the
flood crests have therefore been raised higher, or the water has inun-
dated other and higher land to a greater extent than would have
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2—————10
146 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
occurred under the original conditions. This condition has become
so acute that the river is confined to its channel only with difficulty
and breaks through the levees at every great flood.
Sacramento River is navigable from its mouth a distance of 262
miles, up to Red Bluff, Cal. The necessity for preserving and pro-
moting navigation places certain features of control of this river
within the province of the Federal Government. It is needless to
review the work of the past and the participation of the United
States therein. Suffice it to say that the problem has come down to
the present time without satisfactory solution, and it now constitutes
one of the most difficult river matters before the State or the Federal
Government. The commissioner of public works of California
estimated that about $17,000,000 have been spent by private par-
ties, reclamation districts, and the State itself in the reclamation of
swamp and overflow lands and the control of the stream. In addi-
tion to this, the Federal Government has spent about $1,200,000 on
the Sacramento, San Joaquin, and Feather Rivers for maintenance
of navigation.
To indicate in some degree the nature of the measures recommended
for the solution of this problem, the plan proposed in 1904 will be
briefly described.
Immediately after the flood of February and March, 1904, a call
was issued for a State river convention for the purpose of harmon-
izing all the interests concerned in the reclamation of the Sacramento
Valley and to secure concerted action in devising plans for relief from
future flood damage. A commission of four engineers was employed
to make a study of the overflow problem and to prepare plans and
estimates of the cost of the works necessary to restrain the Sacra-
mento and permanently reclaim the swamp and overflow lands.
The plans presented by this commission are given in the annual
report of the commissioner of public works of California for 1905.
Briefly, they provide for channel rectification and enlargement by
natural and mechanical agencies so as to confine and pass safely the
whole flood volume of the tributaries through the main river channel.
Until such time as rectification and enlargement are complete tem-
porary by-pass channels were to be provided with escapement weirs
leading to them to relieve the levees of pressure. The principle of
concentration in a large channel was opposed to the principle of
division into three channels, as recommended in the plans submitted
in 1894. The plans provide in detail, first, to confine the flood waters
to the channel of the various side streams by means of levees, so as to
prevent destructive inundation of the fertile valleys; second, to cor-
rect the alignment of the river by cut-offs whenever necessary and to
increase its channel capacity by mechanical means (dredging) when-
ever current action fails to accomplish this purpose; third, to collect
the hill drainage which now loses itself in the basins and intercepting
canals and convey it into the river at selected points; fourth, to pro-
vide escape ways over the levees for surplus flood water during the
period of channel development and to provide for the disposal of this
water in connection with the hill drainage; fifth, to provide for the
relief of the basins from accumulations of rain and seepage water by
means of pumps wherever gravity drainage is not practicable. The
estimated cost of the proposed works was $23,776,000.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 147
Assuming that 1,000,000 acres would be reclaimed by the works
proposed in the previous paragraph, the cost would be about $23.78
per acre; but two of the items in the cost, namely, channel develop-
ment and land damages must be largely increased, as will herein-
after be shown, to provide against floods of the magnitude of those
of 1907 and 1909. The maximum rate of flow assumed by the board
of engineers in computing the necessary area of waterway was only
about 40 per cent of that which took place in March, 1907.
The enormous extent of the foregoing plans will be appreciated. It
involves the permanent setting apart of a large area of valuable agri-
cultural lands between the levees for overflow channels. The width
of a channel sufficient to carry the flow is so great that the question
at once arises whether there is any other possible solution or partial
solution of the problem. Very high floods in the Sacramento last
only a few days. If the rate of flow on these days could be reduced
by, say, 20 per cent, the necessary channel width might be propor-
tionately reduced. The storage of a comparatively small proportion
of the total flood volume will permit a material reduction in channel
width throughout the whole length of the valley. The question of
reservoir control therefore becomes important. At the outset it
should be recognized that any acceptable scheme for improving flood
conditions in this basin must include within its purview the interests
of navigation, irrigation, and water-power development. The use of
a reservoir for flood storage and industrial purposes conflicts to some
extent, as has been said on a previous page.
Complete studies have not been made, and no final statements of
the practicability of combining the several uses of reservoirs in the
valley can be given. The practicability of reducing floods will, how-
ever, be considered, and if it proves promising there will be suggested
the desirability of making a more detailed investigation.
Many available reservoir sites in the Sacramento Basin have been
surveyed by the United States Reclamation Service in connection
with its Sacramento Valley irrigation project or by private companies
in search of impounding reservoirs for irrigation or power purposes.
These surveys indicate that the drainage areas tributary to the reser-
voirs comprise 48 per cent of the total area of the Sacramento Basin,
and that the sites are so situated as to have a capacity sufficient to
hold back the flow equivalent to 21 per cent of the discharge from
the basin during the greatest storm.
148 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The following table presents a summary of the preliminary estimate
of capacity and cost of reservoirs surveyed in the Sacramento Basin:
Summary of preliminary estimate of cost and capacity of reservoirs surveyed in Sacramento
Basin.
Estimated cost of in-
stallation, 1900-1905.
Improvement description.
area.
Capacity of
Drainage reservoir
basin as
surveyed.
Probable
amount
available
annually
from basin. Total cost.
Cost per
acre-foot
avail-
able.
PUTA CREEK.
Guenoc Reservoir:
Loose rock-fill dam, with wasteway.
Concrete gravity dam, with wasteway.
Monticello Reservoir: Concrete rubble dam
with spillways
Sq. miles. Acre feet.
Acre-feet.
91
188,000
279,000
$358, 190
$4.47
91
188,000
279,000
557,025
6.96
603
133,000
601,000
1,219, 075
12.31
CACHE CREEK.
Clear Lake:
Outlet channel, 8,000 second-feet capacity..
Outlet channel, 12,000 second-feet capacity.
Little Indian Valley Reservoir: Concrete rub-
ble overflow dam.
486
100,000
407,000
539,750
5.40
486
100,000
407,000
681, 354
6.81
123
76,500
(2)
517,950
10.36
STONY CREEK.
•
Stony Ford..
Briscoe Reservoir: Concrete gravity dam, with
wasteway
58
14,400
251,024
17.45
110
East Park Reservoir: Concrete gravity dam
with wasteway.
40,000
(2)
102
36,800
75,000
237,543
4.48
Mill site: Loose rock-fill dam with wasteway...
323
34, 700
579,000
670, 010
15.32
PITT RIVER.
West Valley Reservoir: Loose rock-fill dam
Jess Valley Reservoir: Loose rock-fill dam
with wasteway...
91
244,600
55,000
196,500
5.61
with wasteway.
142
94,600
25,000
175,000
7.00
Warm Spring Valley Reservoir: Loose rock-fill
dam with wasteway.
1,500
559,000
423,000
670, 300
2.00
Round Valley Reservoir: Loose rock-fill dam
with wasteway………….
265
Big Valley Reservoir: Concrete overflow dam.
2,950
185,000
3,196,000 735,000
107,000
389,000
9.16
2,640, 150
2.64
SACRAMENTO RIVER.
Iron Canyon Reservoir: Rubble concrete with
wasteway..
6,350
226,900 11,860,000
1,855,000
8.20
FEATHER RIVER BASIN.
North Fork.
Concow Reservoir..
10,000
(1)
Big Meadows Reservoir....
506
780,000
975,000
Butte Valley Reservoir....
107,000
Indian Valley Reservoir: Concrete rubble over-
flow dam.
(2)
733
668,000
605,000
1,760,000
4.40
American Valley Reservoir
172
86, 100
(2)
Spanish Ranch Reservoir..
8,500
(1)
Buck Valley Reservoir...
37,843
(1)
Middle Fork.
Grizzly Valley Reservoir: Concrete rubble or
rubble masonry overflow dam..
Mohawk Valley Reservoir.
YUBA RIVER.
Oregon House Valley Reservoir....
AMERICAN RIVER.
6892
44
682
61,800
12, 600
90,823
90,800
Greenwood Reservoir..
65, 952
65, 900
1 Supply probably smaller than surveyed capacity.
2 Supply probably larger than surveyed capacity.
174,843
5. 14
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 149
A somewhat detailed study has been made by E. C. Murphy, hy-
draulic engineer, U. S. Geological Survey, of the effect such reser-
voirs would have had on the flood of March 18-21, 1907. During
those four days the Sacramento basin experienced the most destruc-
tive flood financially that has ever occurred in California. The lower
Sacramento, the Feather, and the American especially reached the
highest stages ever recorded. The rate of flow into the main valley
from the upland tributary streams largely exceeded the rate used by
the commission of 1904 as a basis for computing the proper width of
channel to safely carry the flood waters. A channel sufficient to
carry the flood of 1907 would be 1,500 to 2,500 feet wide. The effec-
tive capacity of the reservoir in comparison with the aggregate flood
volume of the river from March 18-21, 1907, is shown in the following
table:
Reservoir storage data, Mar. 18 to 21, 1907.
Aggregate flood volume in 1,000 acre-feet.
Reservoir
Reservoirs.
Drainage
capacity
area.
(1,000
Mar. 18. Mar. 19. Mar. 20. Mar. 21.
Total. acre-feet).
Sacramento River Basin, Iron
Sq. miles.
Canyon...
6,350
184.4
272.7
338.4
220.2
1,015. 7
226.9
Pitt River Basin, Big Valley...
Feather River Basin:
Big Meadow.
2,950
49.6
54.5
49.6
41.2
194.9
3, 196.0
506
14.9
19.5
17.3
13.3
65.0
500.0
Indian Valley.
740
18.8
22.6
20.0
15.6
77.0
688.0
Grizzly Valley.
44
2.8
3.4
3.0
2.3
11.5
61.8
Mohawk Valley ¹
682
71.8
89.9
57.0
43.9
262.6
12.6
•
American Valley ¹
172
18.1
22.7
14.4
11.1
66.3
86.1
Bucks Valley and Spanish
Ranch ¹....
29
3.2
4.0
2.6
2.0
11.8
46.3
Below reservoirs and above
gauging stations ¹..
1,474
155.4
193.0
123.3
94.9
566.6
Stony Creek Basin:
East Park….
102
6.4
4.5
3.1
1.9
15.9
45.0
Stony Ford 1.
Briscoe 1
Mill site ¹
Cache Creek Basin:
110
10.2
7.8
5.2
2.6
21.4
40.0
58
5.3
4.1
2.7
1.3
11.1
14.4
330
30.6
23.2
15.7
7.7
77.2
43.7
Clear Lake...
486
3.5
4.1
4.4
4.6
16.6
100.0
Little Indian ¹
123
4.0
5.8
3.5
1.9
15.2
76.5
Below reservoir and above
gauging stations 1
621
19.6
28.1
17.2
9.2
74.1
-
Puta Creek Basin:
Guenoc.
91
22.0
27.7
9.7
5.3
64.7
188.0
Monticello ¹.
660
16.6
20.9
7.3
4.0
48.8
130.0
...
Below reservoirs and above
gauging stations ¹.
54
1.4
1.7
.6
.3
4.0
1 The run-off per square mile is assumed to be constant over the basin above the gauging station.
This estimate considers only the best reservoir sites and omits some
of those listed in the previous table. For example, in the Pitt River
Basin only the Big Valley Reservoir is considered, because it lies at
a lower elevation than all the others and its capacity is sufficient to
hold all the run-off from the Pitt River Basin.
It will be noted that some of these reservoirs would have been only
partly filled by the flow of March 18 to 21; others would have stored
but a small proportion of the run-off that passed them. The table
shows that the four reservoirs in Stony Creek Basin would have stored
the run-off from 457 square miles, or from 76 per cent of the area
above the gauging station, and would have reduced the maximum
daily flow from 26,500 to 7,000 cubic feet per second. The two
reservoirs in Cache Creek Basin would have stored the flow from 609
square miles of basin, or 50 per cent of the area above the gauging
station, and would have reduced the daily maximum flow from
150 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
19,200 to 14,300 cubic feet per second. The two reservoirs in Puta
Creek Basin would have stored the flow from 751 square miles, or
92 per cent of the area above the gauging station, and would have
reduced the maximum daily flow from 25,400 to 800 cubic feet per
second. The seven reservoirs in Feather River Basin would have
stored the flow from about 1,515 square miles, or 42 per cent of th
area above the gauging station at Oroville, leaving 2,125 square miles
uncontrolled. Of the uncontrolled area, 651 square miles are above
the Mohawk Valley Reservoir and 1,474 square miles are below the
reservoirs and above the gauging station. The storage proposed on
this river would have reduced the daily flow at Oroville as follows:
From 144,000 to 114,000 cubic feet per second on March 18.
From 179,000 to 143,000 cubic feet per second on March 19.
From 120,000 to 90,000 cubic feet per second on March 20.
From 92,500 to 69,500 cubic feet per second on March 21.
Big Valley Reservoir, on Pitt River, would have stored the entire
flow at that place and would have reduced the daily flow of the
Sacramento at Red Bluff about 25,000 cubic feet per second. The
storage at Iron Canyon, on the upper Sacramento, together with that
of the Big Valley Reservoir, would have reduced the greatest daily
flow of the Sacramento River at Red Bluff from 196,000 to 143,000
cubic feet per second.
The combined effect on the flow of the Sacramento of operating all
these reservoirs would have been to reduce the maximum daily flow
at Red Bluff about 53,000 cubic feet per second. Just below the
mouth of Stony Creek the maximum daily flow would have been
reduced 63,000 cubic feet per second, and just below the mouth of
Feather River the reduction would have been 92,000 cubic feet per
second. It should be remembered in this connection that this 92,000
cubic feet per second, though only a comparatively small proportion
of the flood flow, would have represented crest flow; that is, that
tion of the flow at the height of the flood which does the greatest
amount of damage.
por-
During the flood of March, 1907, the flow from about 83 per cent of
the mountains and foothill portion of the Sacramento Basin was meas-
ured at eight of the Geological Survey gauging stations. The mean
daily stage and discharge at each of these stations for the 11 days
March 16 to 26 are given in the following table:
Date.
Discharge of streams in Sacramento Basin during flood of March, 1907.
Sacramento River Pitt River at
at Red Bluff.
Bieber.
McCloud River Feather River at Yuba River near
near Gregory.
Oroville.
Smartsville.
Gauge Dis-
Gauge Dis- Gauge Dis-
Gauge Dis- Gauge Dis-
height. charge. height. charge. height. charge. height. charge. height. charge.
1907.
Mar. 16
Feet.
23
25
26
9702222****
6.6
18
19
21
17 10.0
21.4 118,000
Sec.-ft.
23, 200
39,000
Feet.
6.5
12.8
Sec.-ft.
2,770
17,400
Feet.
2.8
2,460 17.5
Sec.-ft. Feet. Sec.-ft. Feet.
Sec.-ft.
4.0
4,210❘ ¹ 14.7
15.5 25,000
9.4
19,400
1 32.4
144,000
27.9
26.05 165,000
8,540 14.3
34,800 24.0 56,000
85,000
6,600
16.4 27,500
12.0
30,000
138.0
179,000
29.2
$ 28.7
196,000
22.85 132,000
100,000
15.5 25,000
14.0
10.65
24, 300
28.65
120,000
24.0
60,000
20,800 7.5
13,000
24.3
92,500
18.5
18.4
92,800
11.5
27,000
13,800
5.9
8, 440
19.95
21.65 120,000
65, 200
15.9
14,000
9.7
8,810
5.5
7,440
18.75
24
16.8 80, 800
58,000
16.4
16,500
8.5
6, 110
4.9
6,060
15.65
14.3 63,600
40, 100
15.0
11,000
7.4
4,160
4.55
5,300
14.55
34,000
14.5
13.3 57,100
9,900
7.3
4,000
3.95
4, 120
13.85
30, 200
14.1
8,900
1 Estimated from readings of Weather Bureau gauge at Oroville.
2 Maximum stage, 29.4 feet.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 151
Discharge of streams in Sacramento Basin during flood of March, 1907—Continued.
Date.
AmericanRiver
Bear River
near Sheridan. near Fairoaks.
Gauge Dis- Gauge Dis-
height. charge. height. charge.
Indian River
near Crescent
Mills.
Stony Creek
near Fruito.
Cache Creek
near Yolo.
Puta Creek
near Winters.
Gauge Dis- Gauge Dis- Gauge Dis-
Gauge Dis-
height. charge. height. charge. height. charge. height. charge.
Feet. Sec.-ft. Feet. Sec.-ft. Feet. | Sec.-ft. | Feet. Sec.-ft.
1907. Feet. Sec.-ft. Feet.
Mar. 16 4.9
17 13.95
18 12.75
Sec.-ft.
760 6.1
7,030
14,400 | 13.4
34, 600
11,400 20.6
70,000
4.45
7.1
17.0
905
2,570
9.45 6,080 6.8
3,010 15.3
9,500
14.25❘ 26,500 19.45
19 17.8
25,800 27.6
13,700
21.6
9,840
20, 200
105,000 119.7
11,400
13.15 20,000 2 25.9
20
13.6
13,500 23.8
19, 200
23.65
86,000 17.9
25, 400
10, 100
11.8
13,500 18.2
12,700
16.15
21
9.6
5,620 | 21.0
8,900
72,500 14.7
7,890
9.8
22222
22 8.8
4,550 18.4
6,820 12.65
7,940
12.35
4,850
59,000
10.95
5,260 7.75
3,210 12.0
23
13.2
12,500 13.5
7,390 11.9
4,600
34, 700
9.0
3,900 11.55
12,400
24
9.7
20.85 14,900 ³ 26.6
30,000
5,750 13.25
33,500
7.8
25
9.4
5,350 12.3
29, 100
7.7
26 8.1 3,740 11.5
25,500
3,060 8.7
2,990
8.15
7.5 2,850 7.75
4,690
19.3
13,600
15.6
9,450
3,800
3,210
16. 15❘ 10,900
14.75
9,000
12.55
7,860
11.4
5,200
¹ Maximum, 20.2 feet.
2 Maximum, 26.4 feet.
3 Maximum, 28.15 feet.
It is impossible to trace accurately the progress of the maximum
flood flow down through the Sacramento Valley; that is, the portion
lying between Red Bluff and the mouth. The channel capacity is
exceedingly variable from point to point. In some places levees
confine the water in a definite channel, and in others the floods spread
over the country as soon as they have risen above the low natural
bank. So it is that at no point is there a stage which would corre-
spond to any particular regimen of flow and by which the flood could
be unmistakably traced. Add to this the fact that levees frequently
break during great floods, letting water that would otherwise be within
definite channels spread out over wide areas, thereby complicating
still further the relation between volume and river stage, and the
futility of such an attempt is apparent.
It appears evident that no levee plan alone is going to be effectual
in solving the great problem of the control of the Sacramento. The
inadequacy of the plan of 1904 has been noted. A readjustment to
cover this new flood dimension would involve the permanent condem-
nation of an enormous amount of valuable land.
The logical way to provide for this matter is to actually decrease
the amount of water. The reservoir capacity in the drainage area is
apparently not sufficient to prevent floods, but it is sufficient to
markedly reduce their severity. The cost of such reservoirs, it
appears, will be amply returned by benefits to water power, irriga-
tion, and navigation, not to mention the benefits arising from partial
relief from flood menace.
RESERVOIRS IN UPPER MISSISSIPPI BASIN.
The construction of reservoirs in aid of navigation, and incidentally
for flood mitigation and the development of water power, is not new
in the United States. Five reservoirs have already been built in
Minnesota and have been operated successfully. They compose,
however, only a part of the original project, and, in view of the satis-
factory results obtained, which have been repeatedly affirmed by
boards of United States engineers and engineer officers of the corps,
the failure of the Government to complete the original plans and to
152 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
extend them to cover many well-known sites has caused no little
comment.
A favorable report on the operation of these reservoirs by a board
of engineer officers of the Army appears in the report of the Chief of
Engineers for 1906. An able discussion of the whole subject by
Charles W. Durham, principal assistant engineer, United States
engineer office, at Rock Island, Ill., was published in the Engineering
News of January 20, 1910. Mr. Durham has been identified with
improvement work on the upper Mississippi for 39 years. His record
as an engineer and as a careful, observant man is unquestioned, and
his statements are entitled to the highest consideration.
Briefly stated, Mr. Durham's final conclusion is that the construc-
tion of the proposed reservoir system would secure, in connection with
the 6-foot channel project, a navigable depth of at least 12 feet at the
extreme low-water period from St. Paul to the mouth of the Missouri.
He states that the probable high costs would perhaps prevent the
entire system from ever being constructed, but admits that the
water-power_interests would probably contribute liberally to its
execution. Experience has shown that the prospective cost of reser-
voir systems projected on unoccupied or practically unoccupied land
has rarely been considered prohibitive, even if measured by the bene-
fits to water power alone where the market for power is ample. In the
valleys of the tributaries listed in Mr. Durham's article, as well as in
the valley of the Mississippi itself, power is already in great demand,
and its future use will undoubtedly be manifoldly greater. Knowing
the cost of the reservoirs already established and considering the bene-
fits to water power, flood prevention, and navigation, one can conserv-
atively estimate that the necessary expenditure, though enormous,
would be an excellent investment.
A report on the effect of the Mississippi reservoirs on the river at
St. Paul during the unexampled drought of 1910, by Robert Follansbee,
district engineer, United States Geological Survey, in charge of opera-
tions in Minnesota, also contains valuable information.¹
CHATTAHOOCHEE BASIN.
Chattahoochee River has been selected for special inquiry because
it is a typical southern stream subject to great fluctuations in flow.
The river rises in. the Blue Ridge Mountains in Lumpkin, White, and
Habersham Counties, Ga., near the northeast corner of the State,
and flows southwesterly until it reaches the Alabama line at West
Point, Ga., thence it flows southward, forming the western boundary
of Georgia, until it reaches Apalachicola River at the southern
boundary of the State. Its upper tributaries are Chestatee and
Soque Rivers, which join the Chattahoochee in Hall and Habersham
Counties, respectively. The basin of the Chattahoochee River,
which is slightly larger than that of the Flint, is peculiarly narrow,
especially for the portion in the mountain and plateau regions. It
lies between two ridges higher than the country on either side, like
two great levees rescuing its water from the many encroaching tribu-
taries of the Tallulah, Broad, Oconee, Ocmulgee, and Flint Rivers
on the south, and the Ocoee, Etowah, and Tallapoosa Rivers on the
1 Printed as Appendix III.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 153
north. The fall line is well defined at Columbus, Ga., where the river
may be said to break through the southern rim of its plateau basin.
The greatest amount of fall after leaving the small headwater streams
occurs at and immediately above Columbus. The mountain portion
of the basin, above Gainesville, Ga., is largely in forests, and contains
much land too steep for cultivation. The Piedmont Plateau and
Coastal Plain areas are mostly cleared.
The Chattahoochee affords extensive water powers and is navigable.
from Columbus, Ga., to the mouth of Flint River, a distance of 223
miles. Below the mouth of Flint River the Apalachicola extends 137
miles to the Gulf of Mexico. The present navigation project contem-
plates a low-water depth of 4 feet (which, however, is not maintained)
from Columbus to the mouth of the Flint, and thence to the Gulf, a
low-water depth of 6 feet. In 1908, 121,717 tons of merchandise, val-
ued at $12,000,000, were transported on Chattahoochee and Flint
Rivers.
Probably the greatest need of the Chattahoochee is increased depth
during low-water seasons and unobstructed channel. As the river at
Columbus, Ga., is only 190 feet above sea level, and the distance from
this point to the Gulf is 360 miles, the slope must be very low. The
slope of the Apalachicola is only 3 inches to the mile. Consequently
both rivers flow with relatively low velocity, and the addition of a
comparatively small amount of water from reservoirs will appreciably
increase their depth. The river, therefore, holds promise for reservoir
construction as an aid to navigation.
The basin of the Chattahoochee contains a large number of good
reservoir sites; but if original storage capacity and permanent value
of reservoirs are to be maintained, sites should be selected whose con-
tributing basins are well protected by vegetation. Stripped of their
forest cover, many parts of the basin of the upper Chattahoochee have
been greatly eroded, and the capacity of some of the existing reser-
voirs on the main stream has been much reduced by material washed
from the bare hillsides into the tributary streams and then deposited
behind the dams. When carried farther downstream, such waste
tends to seriously obstruct navigation.¹
To determine the probable effect of the proposed reservoirs on
the regimen of the Chattahoochee a study has been made of the
records of flow at West Point, Ga., where a gauging station has been
maintained since 1896. This station is located at the head of a
series of falls and rapids ending at Columbus, Ga., 35 miles below.
The total fall in this distance is about 360 feet. The effect of reser-
voirs on this stretch of the river is therefore of much interest in con-
nection with powers. The drainage area above West Point is
3,300 square miles and the minimum discharge thus far recorded
is 800 second-feet. Flood discharges of 50,000 second-feet are
common. The discharge at West Point covering the period of record
is shown by a mass-curve diagram. (See sheet 3.) A mass curve
is merely a graphic representation of the discharge of a river by
summation. The curve is begun by plotting the total flow for the
first day, week, month, or any other suitable unit period. In the
curve here discussed the month is the unit period. To the flow
of the first month that of the second is added, and to the sum of
1 Glenn, L. C., Denudation and Erosion in the Southern Appalachian Region and the Monongahela
Basin: Prof. Paper U. S. Geol. Survey No. 72, 1911, pp. 96-100.
154 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Moss Curvė
for
M
10
Chattahoochee River
West Point,Ga
these two the flow of the third, and so on throughout the entire
record. The Chattahoochee curve (sheet 3) shows that the total
flow for the period August 6, 1896, to January, 1910, is a little more
than 59,000,000 acre-feet, i. e., sufficient to cover 59,000,000 acres
jaaj-ələ uo!!!!W
-20.000
3000 tudt
6096 sec-it
120000005
5000sec -
4000 sdc-1}
30do sec -{}
| 906) "uan
Footwor
Vertical lines represent the position of the last day of the month in each case.
foot wor
106t vor
past'vor
|6581'aty
|968/"wor
468/vor
to a depth of 1 foot. The mass curve shows not only the total vol-
ume of water at any designated time, but it also shows the relative
rate at which the water was delivered from month to month, indi-
cating clearly the periods of large and small flow.
|took wor
018 fuor
6081007
B061 vor
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 155
a
Accompanying this curve is a vector diagram, showing the slope
of the lines corresponding to a discharge of 3,000, 4,000, 5,000, and
6,000 second-feet, respectively. The vector diagram may be simply
explained by saying that if the mass curve of any river were
straight line taking the direction of, say, the 3,000-second-foot
vector, then that river would have a uniform flow of 3,000 second-
feet all the year round. The fact that the mass curve of the Chat-
tahoochee is crooked shows that its flow is not uniform, being at times
less and at other times more than 3,000 second-feet.
""
""
Now, the purpose of reservoirs is to increase uniformity of flow.
The reservoirs catch the surplus water of floods and thereby diminish
the excess of flood over the uniform rate, and they release water to
augment the natural low-water flow. Few streams can be so con-
trolled that their flow will be absolutely uniform and still fewer would
yield results justifying the necessary expenditure. To determine
the degree of uniformity that may economically be realized the mass
curve and its accompanying vectors serve better than any other
method yet devised. The straight lines extending from the "humps'
on the Chattahoochee curve and crossing that curve again at various
distances above and to the right run parallel to the 3,000-second-foot
vector. They tell the story as follows: Starting at the first "hump,'
which corresponds to the month of November, 1897, the vector again
joins the curve in May, 1898. During the intervening period the
natural flow of the Chattahoochee was not sufficient to maintain a
uniform flow of 3,000 second-feet. What should be the capacity of
the reservoirs in the drainage area in order to maintain this flow dur-
ing the period, assuming that they were full at the start? This
capacity is conveniently shown by the maximum departure of the
mass curve from the 3,000-second-foot vector, or, in other words, by
the length of the longest vertical line or ordinate between the vector
and the curve. This ordinate corresponds to the month of March,
1898. By comparing its length with the scale on the left of the sheet
it is found that it corresponds to about 300,000 acre-feet. This, then,
is the storage that would have been necessary to compensate for the
shortage of water during the dry period, November, 1897, to May,
1898, and maintain the Chattahoochee at West Point at a flow not
less than 3,000 second-feet. During this period the water in the reser-
voirs would have been drawn lower and lower, though not at a uniform
rate, until March, 1898, after which the reservoirs would have gradu-
ally filled. Of course the rate of inflow and outflow would have
varied considerably at the several reservoirs.
Several subsequent periods of water shortage are also shown on
sheet 3. The next two-from October, 1899, to January, 1900,
and from May, 1902, to December, 1902-were comparatively insig-
nificant, as shown by the small departures of vector and curve. The
reservoir capacity provided for the first period of shortage—that is,
from November, 1897, to May, 1898-would have been more than
sufficient to cover the two later periods. The fourth period of short-
age begins in the month of September, 1903, and ends in April,
1904, and a fifth begins in August, 1904, and ends in February, 1905.
The maximum departure in both of these periods is less than that in
the first period, although if fourth and fifth are considered together,
the aggregate period of shortage is longer. It therefore appears that
the maximum storage capacity required on the basin of Chattahoo-
156 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
chee River above West Point to insure a minimum flow of not less
than 3,000 second-feet is about 300,000 acre-feet.
The record should also be examined to determine whether diversity
of conditions of flow during the period of record, August 6, 1896, to
January 1, 1910, was sufficiently great to justify the adoption of
300,000 acre-feet as a reasonable limit of storage under any probable
conditions. It is obvious that if the record indicates no period of
extreme low water a reservoir system whose capacity is based on the
records might, in a later and longer dry period, prove insufficient
to sustain the river at 3,000 second-feet at West Point. Fortunately,
however, the record covers two excessively dry periods. Between
the interval of August, 1903, and January, 1905, the river at West
Point was probably as low as it will ever be. Experience has shown
that predictions of this kind are not absolutely safe, but the flow
during the period above mentioned was so extremely low that its
assumption as the absolute minimum is safer than the assumption of
the prospective safety of any business enterprise that now holds
public confidence.
It has been indicated that an effective storage capacity of 300,000
acre-feet will maintain the Chattahoochee at a flow of not less than
3,000 second-feet at West Point. The extent of improvement
possible under a system of controlled flow is suggested by the fol-
lowing condensed statement of low-water periods during the term
of record:
Minimum flow and length of low-water periods in Chattahoochee River at West Point,
1897-1909.
1897...
1898.
1899.
1900..
1901.
1902
Year.
Lowest
flow.
Number
of days
below
Number
Year.
3,000
second-
Lowest
flow.
of days
below
feet.
3,000
second
feet.
Second-
feet.
845
175
1904..
900
149
1905.
930
115
1906..
2,100
29
1907.
2,380
30
1908..
1,000
125 1909..
1,840
121
Second-
feet.
800
242
1,090
183
2,530
10
1,490
107
1,490
109
1, 130
70
1903..
No final surveys have been made to determine whether the
storage capacity of Chattahoochee Basin is sufficient to provide the
necessary 300,000 acre-feet required, but data derived from general
topographic surveys indicate that the capacity of the available sites
is far greater than that required. The reservoir sites identified are
listed in the following table. Probably detail surveys would show
that some of the estimated capacities are probably too large and
that others are too small, but the plus and minus errors would
probably compensate in some degree, so that the net result of
statements in the table is sufficiently accurate to give assurance of
the practicability of the reservoir scheme on the Chattahoochee.
Detail surveys would undoubtedly discover other reservoir sites in
the basin not listed in the table and might also indicate that some of
the listed sites are not as good as others now unknown.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 157
Location.
Drainage
area.
Mean
annual
run-off.
Assumed
maxi-
mum-
Area of
reservoir.
Height
of dam.
Capacity
run-off.
or reser-
voir.
Soque River at Soque..
Soque River above Clarksville...
Sq. miles. A cre-feet. | A cre-feet.
Acres.
Feet.
21
28,900 41,000
A cre-feet.
512
80
18,000
39
53,600
Nacoochee Valley
White Creek 1 mile above mouth.
Mossy Creek 1 mile above county line.
Tesnatee Creek 4 miles above mouth.
Chestatee River at Willow
Chestatee River east of Dahlonega.
76,200
2,050
90
81,200
108
149,000
211,000
3,840
100
169,000
9.5
13, 100
18,600
3,840
8.5
144,000
28
38,500
54,700
526
70
•
54
74,300
106,000
1,090
80
16,200
38,400
41
56, 400
80, 100
512
40
9,010
53
72,900
104,000
Little River 1 mile above mouth.
2,380
100
105,000
31
42,600
60,600
526
50
Wahoo Creek 2 miles above mouth.
Yellow Creek...
11,600
29
39,900
56,700
1,860
50
40,900
17
23, 400
33,200
1,220
Big Creek...
40
21,500
95
131,000
186,000
Chattahoochee River north of Gainesville.. 153
2,300
75
75,900
210,000
299,000
11, 100
140
559,000
In considering the aggregate capacity of the sites listed in the above
table the mean annual run-off is used in order to eliminate the effect
of using certain years of maximum run-off which would undoubtedly
indicate a larger degree of compensation at low-water periods than
can actually be secured. The amount used is 1.9 cubic feet per sec-
ond per square mile, which is approximately the mean for the entire
period of record at West Point. In computing the capacity of the
reservoirs the mean annual run-off has been used for sites having
capacity greater than the run-off; for sites whose capacity is less than
the run-off that capacity is used. The result is as follows:
Capacity of reservoir sites in Chattahoochee River Basin.
Soque River at Soque.
Soque River above Clarksville.
Nacoochee Valley.
White Creek...
Mossy Creek..
Tesnatee Creek.
Chestatee River at Willow.
Chestatee River east of Dahlonega.
Little River.
Wahoo Creek..
Yellow Creek.
Big Creek.
Chattahoochee River north of Gainesville..
Total.
River.
Capacity.
Acre-feet.
18,000
53,600
149,000
13, 100
16, 200
38, 400
9,010
72, 900
11,600
39,900
21,500
75,900
210,000
729, 110
The foregoing table shows that the aggregate capacity is about
two and one-third times that necessary to maintain the Chattahoochee
at not less than 3,000 second-feet at West Point. A further calcula-
tion, not here recorded, shows that the aggregate capacity is not suffi-
cient to maintain the Chattahoochee at 4,000 second-feet. The actual
capacity lies somewhere between 3,000 and 4,000 second-feet, prob-
ably about 3,500 second-feet. The amount could readily be deter-
mined, but inasmuch as the reservoir capacities given are approxi-
mate, the computations need be carried not further at this time. It
is merely assumed that it is possible to secure more than 3,000 second-
feet.
The effect of a discharge of 3,000 second-feet at West Point on the
navigable channel of the Chattahoochee below Columbus can not be
158 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
determined closely with the data at hand. It depends largely on the
amount of water contributed by that portion of the Chattahoochee
drainage below West Point. If this amount be large because of
heavy local rainfall not received by the drainage area above West
Point then the stage of the river below Columbus will be relatively
higher than would be indicated by the stage at West Point. The
converse of this is also true. A comparison has been made of the
stages at West Point, Ga., and at Eufaula, Ala., where a river gauge
has been maintained for many years by the United States Weather
Bureau. In making this comparison the stage of one day at West
Point has been compared with that of the following day at Eufaula,
it being assumed that the distance between the two points is equiva-
lent to one day's rate of flow-an assumption that is probably suffi-
ciently accurate to serve the purpose here considered. When the
discharge at West Point is 3,000 second-feet the gauge at that place
reads 2.8 feet.
A review of the records at the Eufaula gauge shows that when the
stage is 2.8 at West Point the stage at Eufaula varies generally from
2 to 4 feet, the average being approximately 2.8. On six occasions
only since 1896 has the Eufaula gauge recorded a stage below 2 feet
when the gauge at West Point read 2.8 feet; on nine occasions it has
been above 4 feet with a 2.8 gauge at West Point, the highest being
6.4 feet. The relation of river stage at Eufaula to the navigability
of the Chattahoochee could not be ascertained in time to be stated in
this report. The point can be fully considered if the Waterways
Commission finds it desirable to pursue this matter further. Inspec-
tion of the Eufaula gauge records shows that the stage is frequently
below 0 and for considerable periods is 1 foot or less. The average
addition to low-water stage at Eufaula by maintenance of stage at
West Point so that it will not fall below 2.8 appears to be about 2
feet. What change would be effected along the entire course of the
river remains to be determined, but it is apparent that the proposed
improvement would be of great value to navigation.
WATER POWER.
The establishment of the reservoir system here proposed, or its
equivalent, would have very beneficial effects on the water-power
resources of the Chattahoochee Basin. The minimum low-water flow
at West Point is 800 second-feet. The greatest power privilege on
the stream is at the rapids between West Point and Columbus,
referred to on a previous page. The effect of increased low-water
flow on this power is here discussed in order to indicate the degree of
improvement to the power projects. In this discussion the minimum
flow, which measures the primary or the dependable power, is used
as a basis. The horsepower theoretically available over 360 feet,
with a flow of 800 second-feet, is about 24,900. That which would
be available under the reservoir improvement would be about 93,300,
or an addition of 68,400 horsepower along this reach. Similar
increase would, of course, be effected at certain power sites above
West Point. If it be assumed that along the West Point-Columbus
reach the ultimate value of power will be $20 per horsepower-year,
the annual value of the added power would be $1,368,000. This
amount, capitalized at 15 per cent, equals $9,120,000, which repre-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 159
sents the value of the improvement of water powers in this single
reach of river. A very considerable part of the power privilege has
already been developed. Naturally the capacity of wheels installed
is largely in excess of the minimum flow. It is probable that an
increase as above specified would not involve the established power
companies in a large expenditure for new equipment. The gain
in power would therefore be a net gain in value. The situation
for the remainder of the privilege, not yet developed, would be the
same. It is not believed that the prospective power beneficiaries
under the reservoir scheme would fail to enter an agreement to sus-
tain their proper proportion of the reservoir costs if construction
were made contingent on such participation. The case, therefore,
presents a good example of possibilities of cooperation between the
Federal Government and private parties.
FLOODS.
The foregoing discussion relates to the maintenance of a stage at
West Point always equivalent to 3,000 second-feet or more. In other
words, it provides for the relief of extreme low-water conditions. The
prevention of floods is quite another consideration, and sufficient data
are not at hand to show even approximately what the net result of
the establishment of a 700,000 acre-foot capacity would be. It would
not be possible by the use of these reservoirs to prevent floods. In
the first place, the capacity is not sufficient to accomplish this pur-
pose, and, in the second place, the reservoirs are located high up on
the drainage area and there is sufficient catchment basin below to
give rise to floods, which, of course, the reservoirs would affect in no
degree. It has been shown that about 300,000 acre-feet are needed
for the maintenance of the 3,000 second-foot stage at West Point.
The remaining 400,000 acre-feet could be used for partial flood pre-
vention. There is no doubt that it would have some very beneficial
effects, although it would not give complete control except under
fortunate conditions, such as when the floods are all derived from the
upper headwaters. It is self-evident that a more mature investiga-
tion of the whole matter is advisable, even were the water-power and
navigation considerations not an important part of the scheme.
OHIO RIVER BASIN.
The general subject of reservoir projects in the Ohio Basin was
discussed by the writer in his report to the Inland Waterways Com-
mission. Since that report was submitted two investigations have
been made, the first comprising a detail survey of the reservoir sites
in the Allegheny and Monongahela Basins and a study of the probable
effect of reservoirs on floods at Pittsburgh, the second comprising
general studies of run-off and reservoir sites, without detail survey,
in the basins of New and Greenbrier Rivers, tributaries of the
Kanawha.
The Monongahela surveys and studies have been carried on by the
Pittsburgh Flood Commission for more than two years. The work
is not quite completed, and as the commission intends to submit a
copy of its report to the National Waterways Commission, only brief
reference to the work will here be made. In response to a request
160 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
for a general statement of the probable results of the investigation,
the flood commission wrote a letter from which the following quo-
tation is made:
In accordance with your request for a general statement as to the effectiveness of
reservoirs, we have pleasure in saying that the results ascertained are very satisfac-
tory; in fact, beyond the early expectations, and fully sustain your pioneer concep-
tion¹ of the possibilities of flood water storage.
The work has been conducted in a most thorough manner, not only throughout
the drainage basin, but in the city and vicinity. The surveys covered parts of many
of the tributaries of both the Allegheny and Monongahela Basins, and show that a
very considerable number of efficient reservoir sites exist. Later study, while not in
complete or final form, demonstrates that flood control by reservoirs at Pittsburgh is
feasible, practically to below danger line, and that portions here and there of low-
lying river banks consisting of lands of lesser value would have to be raised or pro-
tected by comparatively low walls or embankments.
In connection with studies on the Monongahela, certain work of
the Pittsburgh Hydroelectric Power Co. is of interest, because it
indicates how effectively a small amount of storage would improve
the low-water flow of the Monongahela at Pittsburgh; and how much
more might be accomplished by a complete system of reservoirs.
The investigations were made in the basin of Big Sandy Creek, a
tributary of Cheat River, draining an area comprising only 220 square
miles. The project involves the development of water power at a
point near the mouth of the river by means of a high-line canal leading
from a storage reservoir about 1 mile above. The minimum flow
at the diversion point is about 10 second-feet. The plans propose
three main storage reservoirs, having an aggregate capacity of
102,400 acre-feet, and three other reservoirs to catch and hold the
excess run-off during very wet years. The three main reservoirs
would absolutely control the flow of Big Sandy Creek, and the uni-
form distribution of the water throughout the year would increase
the low-water flow from 10 to 300 second-feet. The needs of the
power plants would probably be best met by providing a uniform
discharge or a discharge varying only within narrow limits corre-
sponding with the daily fluctuations in power demand, but such a
discharge would not afford the maximum benefit to the Mononga-
hela. To aid navigation it would be better to hold back the water
during high-stage seasons and release it in larger quantities during
low-stage periods on the Monongahela. The uniform discharge of
the Big Sandy Creek water, most favorable to power plants, would
nevertheless distinctly benefit the conditions of flow at Pittsburgh.
The records of the United States Engineer Office show that the
minimum flow of the Monongahela at Pittsburgh was 166 second-feet
in 1895. The usual low-water flow is about 200 second-feet. Deduct-
ing from the latter the low-season contribution of Big Sandy Creek
there remains about 190 second-feet derived from the remainder of
the drainage area. Adding to this the regulated flow of Big Sandy
Creek 300 second-feet, gives a total of 490 second-feet, or nearly two
and one-half times the low-water flow at Pittsburgh.
It should be remembered that the drainage area of Big Sandy Creek
is only 220 square miles in extent; that of the Monongahela above
Pittsburgh is 7,360 square miles. If reservoir conservation on so
minute a fraction of the Monongahela Basin will produce such marked
results, the utilization of even a small part of the reservoir facilities
1 This refers to the writer's report to the Inland Waterways Commission.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 161
available in the entire basin can not fail to yield proportionately
larger benefits.
The Big Sandy Creek project serves merely as an interesting sug-
gestion. The Waterways Commission will be provided with further
facts concerning the Monongahela area by the Pittsburgh Flood
Commission.
KANAWHA BASIN.
In his former report to the Inland Waterways Commission and
again in a report to the Forest Service,¹ the writer suggested that
the money expended for the erection and maintenance of the system
of movable dams on Kanawha River could have been more purpose-
fully used for storage reservoirs on the highland tributaries, and
attempted to show approximately that by the development of storage
sites at 17 designated points on all the important tributaries a navi-
gable stage along the now canalized portion of the river could probably
be maintained. He also suggested that the increase in power values
in the upper Kanawha, the benefits to navigation that would accrue
in certain portions of Ohio River proper, and the large measure of
flood relief afforded would be amply sufficient to warrant a very large
expenditure for the reservoir system. His further observations and
studies support the opinions then advanced. The present studies do
not cover the entire Kanawha Basin, being confined to the Kanawha
at Kanawha Falls and Lock 4 and to the New and Greenbrier drain-
age areas, yet they give assurance of efficiency in regulation which
surpasses that predicted in the previous report. In the opinion of
the writer the statements originally made were too conservative. It
appears reasonable to believe, as will be shown further on, that if
certain channel improvements be performed at a few critical points,
a navigable stage could be maintained by release of stored water from
the New and Greenbrier Basins alone.
In endeavoring to determine the deficiencies in flow of the Kanawha
that render it necessary to operate the system of movable dams it has
been found that the most direct relation between the minimum stage of
open navigation along any given stretch of river and a well-rated cross
section of the river is expressed by the relation of the gauge record at
Kanawha Falls to the operation of Lock 4. This lock, which is the
highest on the Kanawha River equipped with a movable dam, is
located 21 miles below Kanawha Falls. Between the lock and the
falls the area tributary to the Kanawha is about 400 square miles.
The records of gauge height at Charleston, W. Va., and their relation to
Lock 6 might be used; but as an index to volume of flow the Charles-
ton records are not considered as trustworthy as those at Kanawha
Falls, especially as the former are complicated by dam operation.
Therefore present considerations will be confined to the Lock 4 pool.
A study has been made of the records of operation of the Kanawha
River movable dams furnished by the engineer officer in charge
through the courtesy of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army.
The dams are in general operated coincidently, although, as might be
expected, the records indicate that a dam or two may be raised or
lowered at times when other dams are not operated. The tributaries
of the Kanawha are large, and it is easy to understand that a low rate
1 Printed as Forest Service Circular No. 143.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2——11
162 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of run-off from the drainage area above Charleston, for example,
might necessitate the raising of movable Dams Nos. 4 and 5, which are
above that city, while at the same time a sufficient flow might be
brought in by Elk River, which enters the Kanawha at Charleston, to
maintain a suitable open-river stage below that point for a brief period.
Many such combinations of circumstances may locally affect dam
operation; but as a whole it may be said that outside of these local
modifications the coincidence of operation is practically fixed. A
study of the operation of Lock 4 shows that the stage at which the dam
is raised is not entirely uniform. Sometimes it has been raised with
the gauge at Kanawha Falls reading as high as 3.8; at other times it
has not been found necessary to raise the dam until the Kanawha Falls
gauge has dropped to 2.2. During the years 1896 to 1910 the average
stage at Kanawha Falls at which the dam at Lock 4 has been raised is
3.07 feet. For practical purposes in subsequent calculations an even
stage of 3 feet is assumed. This gauge height corresponds to a flow
of 8,200 second-feet at Kanawha Falls.
By noting the stages below 3 feet during the periods at which the
dam at Lock 4 has been raised, the deficiency in flow below the
critical point of open navigation in Lock 4 pool can be approximately
determined-that is, assuming that the dam at Lock 4 would never
have to be raised if the stage at Kanawha Falls never dropped below
3 feet, the equivalent in flow that would have been necessary to keep
the stage at Kanawha Falls up to 8,200 second-feet represents ap-
proximately the amount of water that would have to be supplied to
the river from storage in order to eliminate the necessity of operation
of Lock 4. Of course, such a computation is approximate, even as
is the stage at which the dams are operated. It is also probable that
the dams lower down on the stream might have to be operated on a
different schedule. A greater discharge than 8,200 second-feet might
be necessary to eliminate operation of some of the lower locks; but
it should be remembered that there are other tributaries entering the
Kanawha below the falls and storage reservoirs on them would com-
pensate all such deficiencies, as will be indicated in the following
paragraphs. All this is a matter for subsequent study, as sufficient
data are not at hand to make an absolute determination.
Before taking up this computation, the available storage capacity
above Kanawha Falls should be considered. The drainage area above
this point embraces 8,330 square miles and contains many feasible
reservoir sites on the main stream as well as on the numerous trib-
utaries. As already stated, the present report will consider only
reservoir sites on New River above Radford, Va., and on the Green-
brier above Alderson, W. Va. If it can be shown that the utilization
of the available storage sites on these two areas will obviate, or even
nearly obviate, the necessity of operating Lock 4, there can be no
question concerning the beneficial effect on all the river below of
establishing conservation reservoirs at suitable places on other trib-
utaries not here considered. For both streams it will be assumed
that the limiting reservoir capacity is that which would maintain the
greatest possible uniformity of flow at the gauging station during the
period of record covered by the mass curve. It is not implied that
the release of the stored waters in such a way as to secure the highest
degree of uniformity of flow will be the most beneficial way. Öbvi-
ously, the use for which the water is intended will determine the best
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 163
schedule. Storage on the Greenbrier would be made most beneficial
by releasing the water in a manner to compensate for low-water
seasons in the Kanawha below. The same is true with respect to
the New at Radford, though both below and above this point water-
power considerations would complicate the problem. The most pro-
ductive distribution would necessarily be a matter for mature study,
but for the purposes of this report it will be assumed that navigation
is the higher use and that the release of the stored water will be
regulated to serve navigation. Even under such a schedule, however,
the residual benefit to power would, on the whole, be very large.
GREENBRIER RIVER.
The yield of Greenbrier Basin above Alderson will first be con-
sidered in order to determine the storage capacity necessary to con-
trol the flow at that point. The drainage area above Alderson is
1,340 square miles.
Sheet 4 shows a mass curve of flow of Greenbrier River at Alderson,
for the period August, 1896, to December, 1909. From July, 1906, to
May, 1907, inclusive, the gauging station was not maintained, and
the curve has therefore been made by omitting the year beginning
July 1. It is impossible to determine precisely the resultant de-
parture of the curve from its proper course, but data for this
year derived from observations at other points indicate no un-
usual departure from normal conditions. The important year of
record is 1904, the dryness of which was practically unprecedented.
So long as this year is included in the record the determination of the
necessary capacity of the reservoirs is not materially affected.
In general make-up sheet 5 resembles sheet 4. The vector plotted
corresponds to a flow of 1,900 second-feet. The maximum departure
of the curve, shown at D, occurs in January, 1905, immediately fol-
lowing the very dry season of 1904. It is equivalent to 1,200,000
acre-feet; that is, a reservoir of that capacity would maintain the flow
of the Greenbrier at Alderson at not less than 1,900 second-feet during
the driest period recorded. Facts concerning certain available reser-
voir sites in the Greenbrier Basin are given in the following table.
The basin contains many other sites which detailed investigation
might prove more suitable than some here described, but those listed
will absolutely control the discharge from 1,220 of the 1,340 square
miles of the Greenbrier Basin above Alderson. All have capacities
far in excess of the mean annual run-off in the basin above, and all
but two have capacities in excess of the assumed maximum, and of
one of the two-the West Fork reservoir-the excess could be amply
stored in the Cloverlick reservoir. The only reservoir that would
actually lose any water in a year of maximum run-off is that on the
main stream opposite Lewisburg. Altogether Greenbrier Basin
affords most unusual opportunities for storage. The total effective
capacity for the year of mean run-off is 1,330,600 acre-feet, or more
than 130,000 acre-feet in excess of the amount required to maintain
the flow at Alderson at 1,900 second-feet.
164 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Location.
Drainage
area.
Mean Assumed
annual maximum
run-off. run-off.
Area of
Height
reservoir. of dam.
Capacity
of reser-
voir.
Second Creek, No. 1, at Eads Ridge....
Sq. miles. Acre-feet. Acre-feet.
Acres.
Feet.
58
Howards Creek Dam, 1.8 miles above
mouth..
63,000
Acre-feet.
105,000
3,904
200
258,000
Anthonys Creek, about 1.5 miles below
Little...
85
92,300
154,000
5,250
160
370,000
139
151,000
Knapps Creek, 5 miles below junction
252, 000
5,784
200
463,000
with Laurel Creek..
74
80, 400
Thorny Creek, 2 miles above mouth
134,000
9, 220
150
608,000
11
Thomas Creek, 1.2 miles above mouth..
11,900
19,900
3,904
100
172,000
54
58,600
97,700
Deer Creek, 2 miles above mouth..
4, 480
120
210,000
73
East Fork of Greenbrier River, 1 mile
above mouth.
79,300
132,000
6, 080
180
482,000
68
West Fork of Greenbrier River.
Greenbrier River at Cloverlick.
Greenbrier River at Lewisburg.
73,800
123,000
1,792
160
126,000
62 67,300
112,000
1,344
160
-
1 63
71,000
1 533
69,000
584,000
115,000
4,700
177
366,000
1,013,000 11,600
164
666, 000
1 Net area.
It will be observed, on examination of the foregoing table, that all
of the proposed reservoirs except two are capable of being developed
to a capacity far in excess of the assumed maximum run-off. Consid-
erable latitude may, therefore, be allowed in fixing the height of dams
and adjusting the capacities to conform with the most economical
storage. It will also be noted that two run-off bases are considered:
First, the mean annual run-off, 1.5 cubic feet per second per square
mile,
which is estimated on records obtained at the Alderson station;
on this basis it is necessary to determine the minimum storage that
may be effected in connection with any water-supply developments.
Second, the maximum annual run-off per square mile; the records
show 2.11 cubic feet per second, but as a safeguard in subsequent dis-
cussion of flood regulation the maximum is assumed as 2.5 cubic feet
per second per square mile, or 0.39 second-foot per square mile greater
than has ever been observed. If the storage sites satisfy this maxi-
mum, the results can be accepted with an unusual degree of confidence.
The principal facts in relation to the various storage reservoirs listed
in the table are presented in the following paragraphs:
Second Creek sites.-The basin of Second Creek, 58 square miles in
extent, affords two reservoir sites. The upper one, with dam site at
the gorge running through Middle Mountain, is probably the best from
the point of view of the engineer; the lower one, with dam site at
Eads Ridge, would best control the greater proportion of storage area.
The table shows that a 200-foot dam at the lower site would afford a
capacity of 258,000 acre-feet, which is more than four times the mean
annual run-off and about two and a half times the assumed maximum.
Therefore, a lower dam could safely be constructed. Moreover, the
land that this reservoir would cover is not especially valuable; no rail-
roads cross it, nor does it contain important settlements; therefore,
flowage damages would not be excessive. It is apparent that the run-
off from the 58 square miles drained by Second Creek can be abso-
lutely controlled, even during a year of higher flow than has ever yet
been recorded at Alderson.
Howard Creek Reservoir.-Howard Creek enters the Greenbrier
opposite Louisville. The dam site is located in a gorge about 2 miles
above the mouth. Back of this gorge is a broad basin, evidently well
suited for a reservoir site. The table shows a capacity, with a dam
160 feet high, of 370,000 acre-feet, or more than four times the run-off
A
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 165
for the average year and nearly three times the maximum run-off.
Therefore a dam considerably lower than 160 feet would suffice to con-
trol the entire flow of this tributary, and at full development it would
hold all the supply over a series of years. This reservoir would be
quite expensive on account of land damages. The Chesapeake &
Ohio Railroad tracks traverse the greater part of the reservoir bottom,
and would have to be diverted along an alternate route, which, how-
ever, does not appear to offer many difficulties. A small settlement
known as White Sulphur Springs occupies the bottom of the site.
Probably the proper adjustment of height of dam to the necessary
capacity would reduce the flowage damages. The run-off of the 83
square miles of country drained by Howard Creek drainage is subject
to control.
Anthonys Creek site.-The dam site for the proposed reservoir on
Anthonys Creek is at the south end of Hopkins Mountain, where the
river enters the gorge. The drainage area is 139 square miles, and
three times the mean annual run-off, or nearly twice the assumed
maximum, could be controlled by a dam 200 feet high. Therefore
the proposed dam is higher than necessary, and suitable adjustment
may be made upon further study. It is evident that the Anthonys
Creek area is subject to absolute control. The basin contains no
railroads nor important settlements and the damages would be prin-
cipally those due to the inundation of agricu tural lands.
Knapp Creek. The run-off from 74 square miles of the upland por-
tion of the Knapp Creek drainage area can be absolutely controlled.
A dam 150 feet high would afford a storage capacity of over 600,000
acre-feet, or more than seven times the mean annual run-off in the
drainage area and nearly five times the maximum run-off. A suit-
able study and survey would show the most economical method of
developing this area.
Thorny Creek.-A drainage area comprising 11 square miles is
under control of a dam site in the gorge between Marlin Mountain
and Thorny Creek Mountain. As the storage capacity with dam
100 feet high is nearly 15 times the mean annual run-off, it is probable
that a very low dam would conserve the maximum run-off. It is
doubtful whether the drainage area is large enough to make the plan
feasible; the site has been included in the table merely to show that
11 square miles more of the drainage basin of the Greenbrier are
subject to absolute control.
The
Thomas Creek.-A dam 100 feet high across the river in the gorge
between Thomas Mountain and Peters Mountain will afford a storage
capacity of 210,000 acre-feet, which is nearly four times the mean
annual run-off and more than twice the assumed maximum.
drainage area is 54 square miles in extent. A lower dam than that
specified in the above table would therefore economically suit all
purposes.
Deer Creek. The drainage area of Deer Creek above the dam site
between Little Mountain and Peters Mountain comprises 73 square
miles and the capacity of the reservoir is more than six times the
mean annual run-off and nearly four times the assumed maximum.
This drainage area is therefore subject to absolute control.
East Fork of Greenbrier River.-One mile above the mouth of the
East Fork a dam 160 feet high would afford a storage capacity of
126,000 acre-feet. The mean annual run-off from the 68 square
166 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
miles of tributary drainage area is 73,800 acre-feet; the maximum is
123,000 acre-feet, or 3,000 feet less than the capacity. This portion
of the Greenbrier is therefore subject to absolute control.
West Fork of Greenbrier River.—A 160-foot dam on the West Fork,
about 1 miles above its junction with the East Fork, would store
71,000 acre-feet, which is nearly 4,000 acre-feet more than the mean
annual run-off, or 41,000 acre-feet less than the assumed maximum.
Sixty-two square miles of this drainage area are therefore subject to
absolute control for mean annual run-off, and, as will be shown below,
the excess of very wet years may be held in Cloverlick Reservoir.
Sites on Greenbrier River proper. On the Greenbrier proper are
several reservoir sites, two of which have been selected for discussion
at this time. The first involves a dam near Cloverlick at a point just
below the mouth of Laurel Run. Above this point the drainage area
is 320 square miles. It will be seen from the table that the capacity
of the reservoir is 366,000 acre-feet, or 18,000 acre-feet more than the
mean annual run-off; but the capacity is, moreover, 213,000 acre-
feet less than the assumed maximum run-off. Lying above this site
are the sites on the east and west forks and on Thomas and Deer
Creeks. With the areas of these four sites eliminated, the net area
above Greenbrier site here discussed is only 63 square miles. There-
fore the whole matter should receive special study. Whether or not
it would be better to build the single large reservoir on Greenbrier
River than the four smaller ones on the drainage area above can be
determined only after survey and careful estimate. In any event,
the entire annual flow from the upper 320 square miles of Greenbrier
drainage can be absolutely controlled throughout the maximum year
that is ever likely to occur in that area.
Lewisburg reservoir. The second dam site on the main stream is
about 2 miles above the mouth of Howards Creek and immediately
east of Lewisburg, W. Va. At that point a dam 164 feet high would
afford a reservoir of capacity 666,000 acre-feet. The net drainage
area above this point; that is, the total area less the tributary areas
above, already provided for, is 533 square miles. Absolute control
is possible except for the very wet years.
NEW RIVER ABOVE RADFORD.
Records of New River flow are available at Radford, Va., since
August, 1898, with the exception of the year July 1, 1906, to June
30, 1907. The mass curve (sheet 5) of the flow of New River at Rad-
ford is continued from the end of one year to the beginning of the
next, as though the year had not intervened. The curve shows that
a flow of 6,000 cubic feet per second would be maintained for the
greater part of the time with a comparatively small amount of stor-
age. The critical period is 1904, and to maintain a flow of 4,000
cubic feet per second throughout that long period of drought would
require, as shown by the maximum departure of the curve from the
4,000 second-feet vector in January, 1905, a storage capacity of
1,400,000 acre-feet. A storage capacity of 1,800,000 acre-feet is
readily available in the New River Basin above Radford. Much
more is probably available, but this amount will for the present be
considered the practicable limit. The location and other important
facts concerning certain reservoir sites in the area are given in the fol-
1,000
2,000
July 4, 1907
3000
Second-feet.
4,000
5,000
August ș
6000
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2. (To face page 167.)
7,000
8000
9,000
19000
September 2
Deficiency in millions of acre -
feet.
مه
77
.5
July 4, 1901
October 2
1.0
20
Mass curve of deficiency
below three foot stage of
Kanawha Falls.
24|
& Jenóny
23
September 2
22
October 2
3 foot stage=8,200 second-feet:
12
22
Flow at Kanawha Falls. Deficiency-1,920,000 acre-ft.
Flow at Kanawha Falls based on assumption of uniform run-off above Kanawha
Falls, with 2474 square miles taken out. Ratio=14-0.70. Deficiency 2,280,000 acre-ft.
122
November 1
12
December 1
12
Novsmber
December 1
12
Dom lowered.
January 10,1905
January 10,1905-
Sheet 6
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 167
lowing table. The mean annual run-off is based on an observed mean
of 2 second-feet per square mile; the assumed maximum, 3.5 second-feet
per square mile, is slightly in excess of the highest run-off recorded.
The aggregate effective capacity is based on the values in column 7,
except for Chestnut Creek Reservoir, which is the only one whose
capacity exceeds the mean annual run-off. The table indicates that
although the basin is well supplied with reservoir sites, it does not
compare with the basin of the Greenbrier in relative capacity nor in
the unit size of the sites.
Location.
Drainage
area.
Mean
annual
run-off.
Assumed
maxi-
mum
run-off.
Area of
reservoir.
Height
of dam.
Capacity
of reser-
voir.
Little River 1 mile above mouth.
Pea Creek 2 miles above mouth.
North Fork of Pea Creek.
Sq. miles. Acre-feet. A cre-feet.
Acres.
Feet.
Acre-feet.
290
420,000 735,000
4,610
150
304,000
81
117,000
206,000
1,860
60
49,100
17
24,600
Big Reed Island Creek 2 miles above mouth
Little Reed Island Creek above Rock Creek
43, 100
1,020
50
22,400
380
550,000
953,000
60
Chestnut Creek 2 miles above Mill Creek……..
New River at Farmer Mountain.
86,900 153,000
2,800
100
104,000
1,470
100
51,400
45
65,200 114,000
2,940
100
129,000
508
Reed Creek 2 miles above mouth.
Reed Creek above Wytheville.
Reed Creek.
Cripple Creek..
736,000 1,290,000
6,200
200
546,000
-
107
155,000 271,000
4,500
100
198,000
124
180,000 314,000
1,790
60
47,300
19
27,500
48, 100
512
70
15,800
180
261,000
456,000
Knob Fork 2 miles above mouth.
2,000
100
88,000
19
·
27,500
48, 100
832
70
Elk Creek headwaters.
25,600
16
23, 200
40,500
832
100
Peach Bottom Creek 3 miles above mouth.
36,600
26
37,600
65,900
768
Fox Creek headwaters……….
60
20,300
14.2
20,600
36,000
526
70
Wilson Creek 5 miles above mouth.
14,700
31
New River at State boundary..
44,900
78,600
960
80
30,700
358
518,000
907,000
North Fork of New River above Brush-
1,730
90
51,400
forks.
17
South Fork of New River 1 mile above
Elk Cross Roads..
24,600
43, 100
320
80
9,220
87
126,000
221,000
2,620
100
South Fork of New River above Nathan
Creek.
94,300
169
245,000
428,000 5,120
60
99, 400
Detailed description of the sites in the above table will be unneces-
sary. It will be sufficient to note that the proposed reservoir system
provides for the complete control of the run-off from 1,254 square
miles of the entire 2,720 square miles above Radford, and assures
total storage of 1,331,000 acre-feet in the Greenbrier Basin and of
1,817,000 acre-feet in the New; in all, 3,148,000 acre-feet.
The records show that the longest period during which the dam at
Lock No. 4 was continuously raised was from July 4, 1904, to January
9, 1905, corresponding in time to the now historic dry period in that
country and also to the period of greatest unit and aggregate de-
ficiency of water flow. If the drainage basin of the Kanawha above
Lock No. 4 affords sites for reservoirs large enough to have maintained
the water at Kanawha Falls above the 3-foot stage during this period,
the adequacy of such a reservoir system during shorter periods can
not be questioned. The danger of the occurrence of a much pro-
longed period of deficient flow is small. In other words, this long
period in 1904 probably affords as severe a test of the efficiency of the
reservoirs as any to which they would ever be subjected.
Sheet 6 shows in diagrammatic form the deficiency in flow at
Kanawha Falls from July 4, 1904, to January 9, 1905. Uniform
flow at the 3-foot stage is represented by the horizontal line, repre-
senting a flow of 8,200 second-feet. The unbroken line shows the
actual flow at Kanawha Falls during this period and represents a
total deficiency of 1,920,000 acre-feet. But it must be remembered
168 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
that there is under absolute control in the New and Greenbrier Basins
2,474 square miles which must be deducted from the contributing
area, because the run-off from this 2,474 square miles, being shut out
of normal contribution, must be used to supply deficiencies. In
other words, had the reservoirs been constructed and kept closed
during this long period of operation, the flow at Kanawha Falls
would have been less than it actually was. The broken line shows
what the flow would have been under such circumstances. It is 70
per cent of the flow at the falls, the amount representing the propor-
tion of uncontrolled area in the basin. At the top of the diagram is
a mass curve of deficiency during the period; it represents the amount
lying between the horizontal line of 8,200 second-feet and the broken
line, and shows a deficiency of 2,280,000 acre-feet. The effective
reservoir capacity available on the New and Greenbrier is, as before
stated, 3,148,000 acre-feet, which is 868,000 acre-feet more than
would have been needed to retain the water at Kanawha Falls up to
the 3-foot stage. In fact, this excess provides a reasonable margin
to cover the losses that would certainly be sustained in the practical
regulation of the river. It would be impossible to handle the waters
with perfect economy. If, therefore, the conservation of water on
the Greenbrier and New alone would accomplish the purpose here
sought, viz, the elimination of Lock No. 4, there remains little doubt
that similar conservation on the Gauley, Elk, Cabin Point, Arm-
strong, and Long Creeks and other tributaries would accomplish the
entire purpose throughout the canalized portion of the Kanawha.
For the purpose of testing the reasonableness of the foregoing
assumption that the average stage at which the dam at Lock No. 4 is
raised (3 feet at Kanawha Falls) is a fair indication of the minimum
amount of water required to maintain the Lock No. 4 pool at navi-
gable stage under open conditions, the following analysis has been.
made by Mr. R. H. Bolster, hydraulic engineer, United States Geo-
logical Survey.
A discharge of 8,200 second-feet at Kanawha Falls is equivalent
to a gauge height of 9.1 feet at lower Lock No. 3 (that is at the upper
end of pool No. 4) for conditions of free flow. How does this stage
compare with that actually maintained by the raised dam at Lock No.
4 during the low-water period of 1904 which has been used in foregoing
paragraphs as a measure of reservoir efficiency? During this period
the gauge height at lower Lock No. 3 averaged 7.85 feet, correspond-
ing to a discharge under open-flow conditions of 5,800 second-feet,
or 2,400 second-feet less than that provided in the foregoing storage
calculations. Furthermore, during the month of October, 1904, the
gauge at lower Lock No. 3 recorded only 7.25 feet, equivalent to an
open-river discharge of only 4,800 second-feet. In other words,
during this month the raised dam at Lock No. 4 sustained at the
upper end of pool No. 4 a depth which under conditions of free flow
corresponded to a discharge of only about 60 per cent of that above
allowed for reservoir operation. Instead of having in the upper
end of pool No. 4 a stage corresponding to 8,200 second-feet, this dam
maintained a stage corresponding to only 4,800 second-feet. Yet
the stage maintained was a navigable stage. Can there be any
doubt concerning the sufficiency of 8,200 second-feet at Kanawha
Falls? Indeed, does it not appear that such an allowance is over
liberal?
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 169
It may be argued that, though the effect at Lock No. 4 might be accom-
plished if the reservoirs were full at the beginning of the long period
of operation, there is little or no assurance that the reservoirs would
have been filled to capacity. Some study has been given to this point.
In the first place, if these reservoirs were operated as an aid to navi-
gation, they would not, in ordinary seasons of shortage, be greatly
drawn down. Therefore the refilling will not require a very long
period, especially in the rainy seasons. In order to test the matter
for the year 1904, however, a combined mass curve of New and Green-
brier flow has been made and is shown on sheet 7. About the highest
point on that curve is at a, corresponding with the month of September,
1903. An inspection of the curve leaves no doubt that the reservoirs
would have been full at that time. A vector has been drawn from this
point across to the apex of the next "hump," at point b, which cor-
responds to June, 1904. This vector represents a uniform discharge
of 4,300 second-feet, and indicates that, had there been discharged
from the reservoirs a uniform amount of 4,300 second-feet of water
from September, 1903, to June, 1904, the reservoirs would have been
full on the latter date. The maximun draft on the reservoirs, as
shown by the length of the maximum ordinate during this period,
would have been only a little more than 500,000 acre-feet. Now,
during the year 1903 the dam at Lock 4 was operated for a continu-
ous period of 159 days-that is, from July 5, to December 10. The
deficiency represented was 1,430,000 acre-feet. A continuous flow of
4,300 second-feet from the reservoirs from the end of September, 1903,
to the end of June, 1904, would be equivalent to a total discharge of
2,347,800 acre-feet, or more than 900,000 acre-feet in excess of that
required to cover the deficiency period of 1903. Therefore, if with so
great an excess of discharge the reservoirs would still be found full at
the end of June, 1904, there can be no doubt of their being full had
they been operated to discharge only the quantity required to elimi-
nate the operation of Lock No. 4. The deficiencies lying between the two
long periods of dam operation (1903 and 1904) are insignificant in
amount and do not materially affect the foregoing estimates. They
could all be amply supplied by a small part of the 900,000 acre-feet
excess indicateď.
If the reservoirs had been full on July 1, 1904, they would have
supplied the discharge of 2,280,000 acre-feet required to cover the
long period of deficiency from July 4, 1904, to January 8, 1905, and
would have contained at the end of the period about 800,000 acre-
feet of the water originally stored plus that which they would have
caught up from the natural flow of the contributing streams during
that time. An estimate of the quantity that would have been in
storage on January 8, 1905, will be of interest.
The period of deficiency, July 4, 1904, to January 8, 1905, covers
188 days. A discharge of 2,280,000 acre-feet during that period cor-
responds to an average discharge of 6,063 second-feet. Projecting
the vector corresponding to this discharge on the mass curve of sheet
8, from the point corresponding to July 4, 1904, designated as c, to
that corresponding to January 8, designated as d, the depletion of the
reservoirs at that time, as shown by the vertical distance of the point d
from the mass curve, would have been 1,500,000 acre-feet; that is, there
would have remained in the reservoirs the difference between this
amount and their total capacity of 3,150,000 acre-feet, or 1,650,000
170 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
acre-feet. In other words, even after this long period of operation
in 1904 and 1905, the reservoirs would have been more than half full.
If the reservoirs were closed at that time and allowed to fill, they
would have overflowed about May 1. The records of dam operation
for 1905 show, however, that it was necessary to raise the dam at
Lock No. 4 for a total period of 19 days previous to May 1 and subse-
quent to January 8. Compensation for this period would have required
that the storage be drawn on to some extent. The actual deficiency
during these 19 days was small. Therefore, it would probably have
been nearly the 10th of May before the reservoirs would have over-
flowed, but in any event they would have been well supplied to cover
the long period of deficient flow from July 27 to December 12, which
followed.
The premises on which the foregoing computations, statements,
and conclusions are based are approximate, yet they are sufficiently
close to the truth to render the conclusions quite as safe as though the
base data were more nearly perfect.
The construction of reservoirs on the upland tributaries of the
Kanawha would effectually render the system of locks and dams un-
necessary, but the reservoirs would cost far more than the dams, and
if navigation on the Kanawha were the only issue the reservoir scheme
would be impracticable. There are, however, three other important
considerations-navigation in the Ohio, water power on the Kanawha,
and the prevention of floods.
Navigation in the Ohio.-Until the system of locks and dams on the
Ohio is completed, navigation of the Ohio channel during low-water
seasons will be difficult. The operation of a reservoir system in the
Kanawha alone would probably not render entirely unnecessary any
of the locks and dams proposed for the Ohio above Louisville, but it
would undoubtedly shorten the period of canalization; that is, the
release of water from reservoirs would render it unnecessary to raise the
dams as soon as they would be raised under present conditions, and the
dams would, of course, be lowered again at an earlier period than
otherwise. Any agency that will insure an open channel for the long-
est possible time will proportionately benefit navigation. It requires
very little water from the Kanawha to provide temporary navigable
stage in the Ohio under present conditions. On several occasions
when coal barges have been moored at the mouth of the Kanawha,
unable to go downstream because of low water, the system of movable
dams in the Kanawha has been lowered and the water suddenly re-
leased into the Ohio. On the flood wave thus provided the fleet of
coal barges has been transported to Cincinnati. It is apparent that
little water is stored behind these movable dams and if the discharge
thereof into the Ohio has been of such great benefit to navigation,
it is evident that an extension of this scheme to cover all upland
tributaries of the Ohio, so that the condition would be permanent,
would be of much greater benefit.
Water power on the Kanawha.-The recorded minimum flow at
Kanawha Falls is now about 1,000 second-feet. The ordinary low-
water flow that would probably be used to define the limit of primary
power installation is about twice that amount. It has been shown
on preceding pages that the flow would never drop below 8,200
second-feet if the proposed system of reservoirs were constructed in
the Greenbrier and New Basins. Now, it is the low-water flow that
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 171
defines the primary power available on any stream. Under modern
power utilization the really valuable power is that which can be
depended on 24 hours each day throughout the year. Therefore,
any improvement that will increase the low-water flow may be con-
sidered a critical improvement of the highest value. The approxi-
mate effect in the increase of available power on the Kanawha above
Lock No. 2, resulting from the construction of the reservoir system here
proposed, is shown in the following table. It should be remembered
that only the reservoirs on the New and Greenbrier are here con-
sidered, and that similar reservoirs on the Gauley and other tribu-
taries would still further provide for increased flow.
1
Mini-
Ninety- mum
Corre-
Mean Mini- five horse-
Section of river.
Length.
drain-
age
New
Gain
Per
spond-
mum per
dis- cent
area. charge. total
power,
from
cent
dis-
ing
cent
80 per charge.
stor-
of in-
horse
age.
crease.
fall.
effi-
power.
ciency.
Great Kanawha River, from
foot of Loup Creek Shoals
to below junction with
Gauley River...
New River from above junc-
tion with Gauley River to
1,000-foot contour..
New River from 1,000-foot
contour to 1,200-foot con-
tour.
New River from 1,200-foot
contour to below junction
with Greenbrier River.....
New River from above junc-
tion with Greenbrier River
to below junction with
Island Creek...
New River from above junc-
tion with Island Creek to
below junction Wolf Creek.
New River from above junc-
tion Wolf Creek to below
junction Sinking Creek..
New River from above junc-
tion Sinking Creek to head
of Siffords Falls..
Miles. Sq. mi. Sec.-ft.
9 8,310 2,240
Feet.
Sec.-ft.
H. P.
48
9,780
8,200 35,800 | 26,000
266
19
6,780 1,830
333 55,400
7,790 236,000 181,000
326
24
6,560 1,770
190 30,600
7,730 134,000 103,000
336
20
6,300 1,700
173 26,800
7,660 120,000 | 93,200
348
20
4,220 1,400
73
9,300
3,850 25,600 16,300
175
17
3,750 1,280
69
8,030
3,730 23,400 | 15,400
192
19 3,240 1,140
89
9,230
3,590 29,100 19,900
215
8 2,920
1,050
52
4,960
154, 100
3,500 16,600 11,600
234
620,500 466, 400
1 New discharge = discharge from storage + inflow (between reservoirs and Kanawha Falls), such that
a minimum of 8,200 second-feet will prevail at Kanawha Falls.
Floods. The probable effect of the Greenbrier and the New River
reservoir systems in increasing the flow of the Kanawha at Kanawha
Falls has been indicated in previous pages. It is clear that as the
water released to maintain that increased flow is stored flood water,
there must be an equivalent effect in reducing the height of floods.
It will be profitable to estimate approximately what reduction could
be effected by the Greenbrier and New Reservoirs, and for this pur-
pose the events that attended a few of the floods during the period of
observation will be reviewed. It will be remembered that the
reservoir sites on the Greenbrier were shown to have a capacity largely
in excess of the year of maximum run-off. The capacity of those in
New River Basin was adjusted to correspond with the mean run-off
from a certain area. At each site, however, there could be provided
ample excess storage capacity for flood run-off, even though the reser-
voirs were filled up to the level required for the needs of navigation
172 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
and power. To suit such a condition it would merely be necessary
to hold in reserve the excess capacity for the storage of occasional
floods, and subsequently draw down the reservoirs to the established
level and have them ready to catch another flood. Probably such a
course would not be necessary; further study would have to be made
to determine this point. It is assured that ample storage facilities
are available to hold all floods, and the matter of adapting them to
meet the precise conditions can be adjusted in the future. The
capacity of the storage sites on the Greenbrier above Alderson is
sufficient to control the run-off from 91 per cent of that drainage basin;
that on the New, above Radford, will control the run-off from 46
per cent of the drainage area. In discussing the several floods the
discharge at Kanawha Falls and the amounts contributed respectively
by the New and the Greenbrier are estimated; then, by reducing the
latter according to the percentage of reservoir control, the flow that
would have occurred at Kanawha Falls may be determined by sub-
traction. The facts for each flood are presented in the following
table:
FLOOD OF MAR. 3-10, 1899.1
Flow at
Kanawha Falls.
Flow at
Radford.
Flow at
Alderson.
Second-feet.
Probable flow
at Kanawha
Falls with
reservoirs in
operation.
Second-feet.
20,700
12, 100
134,000
119,000
Second-feet.
33,500
Second-feet.
8,340
9,800
47, 200
26, 400
36, 200
201, 000
49, 200
48, 200
157,000
31, 200
26, 300
82,000
21,500
46,700
10,800
17,000
62, 300
6, 440
36, 300
12,000
33,000
4, 560
32,500
10, 400
26, 600
3,960
24, 100
FLOOD OF MAR. 19-25, 1900.2
15,400
5,260
51,600
1,710
11,420
16,300
15,900
85,200
29,600
18,800
16,400
63,500
61,600
13,300
41,000
8,000
50, 100
9,540
5,400
29,000
8,740
31,700
2,770
26, 200
7,550
22,500
6,310
17,000
FLOOD OF APR. 18-28, 1901.3
26,700
6,770
5, 160
24,000
18,900
6,000
51,000
4, 440
17,200
5,260
193,000
12,800
36,900
92,200
19,300
93,000
133,000
53,500
11,000
58,300
58,400
22,400
110,000
7,480
19,200
41,200
6,570
61,300
95, 200
13,300
54,000
5,280
12,000
50,400
4,560
43,000
11,200
44,300
3,960
34,200
1 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 30.5 feet on the gauge to 22.2 feet, or nearly one-
third.
2 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 15.9 feet to 12.6 feet.
The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 29.6 feet to 22 feet.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 173
FLOOD OF MAY 21-JUNE 1, 1901.¹
Probable flow
at Kanawha
Flow at
Kanawha Falls.
Flow at
Radford.
Flow at
Alderson.
Falls with
reservoirs in
operation.
Second-feet.
Second-feet.
13,000
Second-feet.
Second-feet.
7,160
1,050
41,000
7,350
8,750
17,000
224,000
22, 100
117,000
17,000
89,000
155,000
58, 100
8,600
47,400
54,500
26, 400
4,800
39, 300
30,900
16,000
72,700
3,360
23,000
28,900
103,000
13,700
28,800
49,700
85,000
18, 200
73, 200
29,800
10,700
60, 600
61, 600
24,000
7,740
43,800
42,500
18,300
5,280
34,000
15, 100
30, 600
3,840
23,600
FLOOD OF FEB. 25-MAR. 6, 1902.2
96,000
26,400
14,900
71,000
28,800
17,000
75,000
70, 300
42,300
13,300
10, 800
187,000
57,100
28,800
99,000
59, 100
134,000
57, 100
30,000
57,700
45, 400
26, 400
12,500
38, 400
34, 200
17,800
8,300
31,500
22,700
12,500
5,400
26, 700
12,500
20, 800
3,960
17,350
FLOOD OF JAN. 22-27, 1906.3
11,300
3,900
2,160
122,000
7,640
20, 600
1,860
138,000
111,000
30,800
22, 400
66,000
15,600
103,500
20, 200
40,000
40, 400
13,300
8, 110
28,800
10, 400
5,330
26,500
19, 200
FLOOD OF JAN. 11-15, 1908.4
12,800
9, 140
1,570
28,000
9, 140
1,480
110,000
7,170
22, 400
38, 400
23, 200
70,000
71, 200
27,800
22,800
39,500
36,500
10, 400
11,000
24, 700
FLOOD OF FEB. 12-19, 1908.5
12,000
6,380
32,000
1,570
23,500
7,640
64,000
4,000
24, 400
17,600
78, 600
13,900
27,500
40,100
140,000
41,100
32,800
28, 600
84,500
46,700
25,800
82, 400
44,000
10, 700
13,800
62,900
27,300
6,680
9,540
31, 700
4,500
18,800
1 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 33.3 feet to 24.9 feet.
2 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 28.9 feet to 22.2 feet.
3 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 22.8 feet to 18.3 feet.
4 The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 19.3 feet to 14 feet.
The crest of this flood would have been reduced from 23 feet to 15.5 feet.
174 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
CONCLUSION.
The foregoing statements are intended merely to add to the weight
of evidence that storage reservoirs are of so great benefit in all lines
of river utilization that it is unwise to contemplate or to plan river
development without including in the appraisal of conditions all stor-
age possibilities. Nor should the matter be considered from any sin-
gle point of view. If by the operation of a system of reservoirs for
navigation purposes it is found that the schedule of operation is not
the best that might be adopted for power purposes, then will it be
necessary to determine on the most productive schedule for the one
or the other, or both, according to relative values. But the fact that
the reservoir system does not apply with highest efficiency to all pur-
poses does not necessarily condemn the system. The appraisal of
values must be based on net values. If their aggregate exceeds the
cost of the reservoirs, then will the system be feasible.
No cost estimates have been given in the discussion of the Chatta-
hoochee and Kanawha Reservoirs. That is a matter for future inves-
tigation. For the present we have the assurance that the large
number of reservoirs already built have in nearly all cases conferred
benefits far greater than their cost; further, that the majority of res-
ervoirs that have been studied in detail, though not actually built,
have been found feasible. There is therefore furnished a higher degree
of assurance of success than that which attends the inauguration of
business enterprises into which the wise financier readily invests his
money and that of his clients. Few, if any, present-day lines of
business have as fair a financial history as that of water storage.
APPENDIX III.
EFFECT OF THE FEDERAL RESERVOIRS UPON THE FLOW OF
MISSISSIPPI RIVER FOR NAVIGATION AND WATER-POWER
DEVELOPMENT DURING THE LOW-WATER PERIOD OF 1910.
By ROBERT FOLLANSBEE, district engineer United States Geological Survey.
INTRODUCTION.
The year 1910 in Minnesota was excessively dry, the rainfall in
many sections of the State being less than one-half the normal (27
inches is the mean for the State). The drought therefore afforded an
excellent opportunity to study the effect of the Federal reservoir
system, at a time when the system was most needed, on the flow of
Mississippi River, both in the interest of navigation and water-power
development.
During the summer and fall of 1910 the Mississippi reached a stage
so low as to call forth the opinion that the reservoir system was more
or less a failure. A study of the conditions, however, shows that
although the river was not kept at normal stage for navigation, it
would have been very much lower had the upper Mississippi been
unregulated.
RESERVOIR SYSTEM.
For the benefit of those who are familiar with the capacities of the
five units comprising the reservoir system built and maintained by
the Federal Government, the following table has been compiled from
the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, for
1906:
Capacity of Mississippi reservoirs.
Reservoir,
Area water surface.
Draft.
Capacity.
Low
water.
High
water.
Sq. miles. Sq. miles.
Feet.
Cubic feet.
Winnibigoshish (including Cass Lake).
117
161.0
14.0
43, 992, 000, 000
Leech Lake.
173
234.0
5.7
33,094, 300, 000
Pokegama..
24
· 25.0
7.5
5, 260, 000, 000
Sandy Lake..
8
16.5
9.4
3, 157, 900, 000
Pine River..
18
24.0
16.2
Total..
7,732,900,000
93, 237, 100,000
175
176 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
As these reservoirs are maintained primarily in the interest of navi-
gation, they are operated in the following manner: When the Weather
Bureau gauge at St. Paul records a river stage below 3 feet during
the navigation season, the reservoirs are operated in a manner
intended to hold the water at that stage. That this effort was not
wholly successful during 1910 is shown by the following record of
gauge heights at St. Paul, compiled from the Weather Bureau
records:
TABLE NO. 1.-Daily gauge height, in feet, of Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minn., for
1910.
Day.
June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct.
Day.
June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct.
1...
3.2 1.6 0.6 0.9
1.0 17.
2...
3.0 1.8 .6
.9
1.0
18...
2.3
3..
3.0 1.5
.8
1.0
1.0
19..
2.1
4.
3.2 1.3
.8
1.1
1.0
20..
2.0 .7
5..
3.0
1.4
.6
1.0
1.3
21.
2.0
6..
3.0 1.2
.6
.9
1.3
22.
1.9
.6
988766
2.0 .9 .8 1.0
.8 .8
∞∞
1.3
1.0
.9
.8 .8 1.0
.8
.9 1.0
.8
.6 1.0 1.0
.8
.9 1.0
.8
7...
3.0
.9
.7
.9
1.7
23...
1.8
.6 1.0
.9
.8
8...
3.0
.8
.7
1.0
1.8
24..
1.6
1.1
.9
.9
.7
9.
3.0
.8
.8
1.0
1.8
25.
1.8
.7
.9
.9
.7
·
10.
3.0
1.2
.7
1.0
1.7
26.
1.8
.6
11...
3.0
.9
.6
1.0
1.6
27
1.8
.5
12...
2.8
.9
.6
.9
1.6
28..
1.8
.5
13...
2.3
1.0
.7
1.0
1.5
29.
1.7
.5
14...
2.7
.9
.7
.9
1.5
30..
1.4
.8
15...
2.5
.9
.7
.9
1.5 31.
.8
CO LO LO LO ∞0 00
.9
.9
.8
.9
.9
.6
.9
.9
· 6
.8
.8
.8
∞ ∞ ∞
.9
.5
1.0
.5
.3
∞∞∞ ∞ ∞ ∞ 1T∞♡ C LO LO CO
16...
2.3 1.0
.8
1.0
1.5
The foregoing table shows that the operation of the reservoir sys-
tem did not keep the river at the 3-foot stage. However, it is not the
purpose of this article to show what the system failed to accomplish,
but rather what it did accomplish.
DISCHARGE OF UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER.
Records of flow.-Daily records of the flow from the various reser-
voir units are compiled by the United States Engineer office at St.
Paul, and daily records of flow at Anoka and St. Paul on the Missis-
sippi and on each of the principal tributaries between the reservoirs
and St. Paul are kept by the United States Geological Survey.
In order to determine the effect of the reservoirs on the flow of the
Mississippi and to determine the agreement between the various
records, the flow will be analyzed by showing its various sources.
The unit taken in this analysis is the monthly mean flow in second-
feet. The following method has been used to make the flow at the
different gauging stations comparable: At the reservoirs the unit
period is the calendar month. The three reservoir stations selected
for comparison are the Mississippi above Sandy River, which repre-
sents the flow from Winnibigoshish, Leech, and Pokegama Reser-
voirs, and the records of Sandy and Pine Rivers, which represent the
discharge from the two remaining units. As Sandy River enters
within a mile of the Mississippi station, the same period (the calendar
month) is used for comparison. This time unit is also adopted for
the Pine River records, though to be strictly accurate, the correspond-
ing period should be one day later, or from the second of the month
to the first of the next month, inclusive.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 177
As it takes the water from the reservoirs about eight days to reach
Anoka, and 10 days to reach St. Paul, the monthly mean at Anoka
embraces the period from the 8th of one month to the 7th of the fol-
lowing month, inclusive, and at St. Paul from the 10th to the 9th
inclusive. The monthly periods on the tributaries have been selected
in a similar manner, to give as nearly as possible comparable quantities.
The following tables, showing discharge of the Mississippi River
above Sandy River and of Sand and Pine Rivers, were compiled from
the United States engineer office records and represent the flow from
the reservoirs. The records for the Mississippi at Anoka and St. Paul
and for Crow Wing, Sauk, Crow, Rum, and Minnesota Rivers were
compiled from the records of the United States Geological Survey.
Most of the Geological Survey stations are near the mouths of the
tributaries; others are some distance upstream, but a considerable
portion of the drainage area of the stream lies below the station and the
monthly mean for the station has been increased by an amount
representing uniform run-off per square mile. The monthly mean for
the Rum River station was increased by one-third. For no other
station was the increase more than 15 per cent.
The other tributaries whose discharge is shown are very much
smaller. Their run-off has been estimated from the run-off per square
mile of the neighboring streams whose flow was recorded.
TABLE No. 2.—Sources of discharge of Mississippi River above Anoka, and comparison
of records.
River.
Drain-
age
area.
Mean monthly run-off in second-feet.
Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov
Mississippi above Sandy River...
Sandy River..
Willow...
Rice..
Pine..
Crow Wing.
·
Platte..
Little Rock.
Sauk..
Clearwater.
Elk.
4,510
2,610
2,440
2,120 | 2,180
2,700
2,640
1,920 1,150
424
346
178
8
0
0
0
2
455
319
168
86
46
327
229
121
62
33
452
654
647
573 153
3,580
2,080 | 1,200
607
397
316
353
148
64
42
25
93
39
7
6
6
821
228
79
72
40
183
77
24
18
10
670
295
168
87
50
2,590 412
235
112
69
REJA NÕNNK,
36
55
82
42
59
72
205
571
654
460
25
25
6
6
69
46
12
13
H=8BREITAI
40
40
56
72
Crow.
Total above Anoka..
Mississippi station at Anoka..
Difference due to minor streams
and discrepancies in records..
14,558 7,437 5,331 3,793 3,009 3,349 3,588 3,124 1,973
17,100 7,490 5,620 3,930 3,290 3,450 3,660 3,450 | 2,400
67 289
147 281
101
72 326
427
Table 2 shows substantial agreement between the sum of the dis-
charge of the principal streams above Anoka and the corresponding
discharge indicated by the record of the Geological Survey station at
Anoka. It should be noted that although the Mississippi and its
tributaries above Anoka drain 17,100 square miles, only 14,558 square
miles are represented by tributaries considered in the above com-
parison. The run-off from the remainder of the area was very small,
owing to the smallness of the minor streams and the extreme drought.
Thus the difference that represents the flow of these minor streams
and the discrepancies in records are not unduly small for the large
drainage area unaccounted for. It is probable that the Anoka rec-
36135° S. Doc. 469, 62-2-12
178 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
ords for November are somewhat large owing to the backwater from
ice during the latter half of the month. Also during that month the
discharge of the reservoirs fell from 2,400 second-feet to about 700
feet, and although the change is usually noticed in about 8 days it is
possible that the effect of this large reduction may have lagged more
than usual, making the corresponding period at Anoka somewhat
uncertain. During the remainder of the year under consideration
the flow was so uniform that a lag of two or three days would not
make any appreciable difference in the results.
TABLE No. 3.-Source of discharge of Mississippi River between Anoka and St. Paul,
and comparison of records.
Drain-
River.
age
area.
Mississippi at Anoka.
Rum
Minnesota..
17, 100
Mean monthly run-off in second-feet.
Apr. May. June. July. | Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov.
7,490
1,550 691
16,600 3,020 2,140
5,620
389
3,930
3,290
3,290
3,450
3,660
3,450
2,400
213
124
115
112
111
107
1,190
565
348
300
288
300
35,250 11, 2018, 149
35,700 12, 100 8,250
5, 333 3,979 3,913
| |
5,290 3,810 3,950
450 899 101 -43 -169 37 168 181
7.4 1.2 0.8 4.4 0.9 4.0 4.5
4,072 3,849 2,807
4,240
4,030 | 2,850
43
1.5
Total above St. Paul..
Mississippi station at St. Paul..
Discrepancy..
Percentage of discrepancy.
Table 3 shows the sources of the additional discharge between
Anoka and St. Paul. It will be noted that of the 35,700 square miles
of drainage area above St. Paul, the run-off from all but 450 square
miles is included in the flow of the Mississippi at Anoka and Rum and
Minnesota Rivers. The discrepancies between the sum of these
records and that of the St. Paul station are due partly to the run-off
of the 450 square miles unrepresented, and if this were considered the
discrepancies would be reduced to errors in the records, except for the
months of June and July, when the difference would be somewhat
increased. However, this minor run-off has been neglected in de-
termining the percentage of error between the sum of the records
above St. Paul and the record at the latter place. It is seen that the
percentage of discrepancy of error is well within 5 per cent for each
month except April, when it reached 7.4 per cent, and therefore the
records may be considered reliable in discussing later the increase due
to the operation of the reservoirs.
:
The effect of the reservoirs will be shown (1) on the increased stage
of the Mississippi at St. Paul for navigation, and (2) on the increased
flow of the upper river available for water-power development.
EFFECT ON NAVIGATION AT ST. PAUL.
Having shown the various sources of the discharge which passed St.
Paul, and the substantial agreement of the records on which the data
are based, the following table is presented to show the percentage of
this flow which came from the reservoirs:
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 179
Table No. 4.—Percentage of discharge at St. Paul contributed by the reservoir system.
Mean monthly run-off in second-feet.
River.
Apr.
May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov.
Mississippi above Sandy..
2,610
2,440
2,120
2, 180
2, 180
Sandy River.
346
178
8
0
2,700
0
2,640
1,920
1,150
0
2
21
Pine River.……………
654
647
573
153
77
72
205
70
Total flow from reservoirs
3,610 3,265
2,701
2,333 2,777 2,712
2,127 | 1,241
Mississippi at St. Paul..
12, 100
8,250
5,290
| |
3,810 3,950 4,240
4,030 2,850
Percentage of flow from reservoirs.
Percentage of drainage areas.
21.6 39.6
51.1
61.2
70.3 64.0
52.8 43.5
15.1
15. 1
15. 1
15.1
15. 1
15.1 15.1 15.1
The foregoing table indicates that although the drainage area
covered by the three reservoir stations was only 15.1 per cent of the
total drainage area above St. Paul, the percentage of flow at the latter
place originating in the reservoirs ranged from 21.6 in April to 61.2,
70.3, 64, and 52.8 during the low-water season.
Natural flow from reservoired area.-To show the increasing flow
due to the operation of the reservoirs it is necessary to determine as
nearly as possible the natural flow had the reservoirs not been built.
For this purpose there are available the run-off from other streams
in the same section of the State and the rainfall records during 1910.
The first point considered will be the relation of run-off to rainfall
during 1910 of the various streams in the northern half of the State,
where general conditions are comparable.
In the following table the column "Run-off, depth in inches" rep-
resents the entire flow for the year stored on the drainage area above
the gauging stations, with the result that the area would be covered to
the depth indicated. The column of "Precipitation on basin" is the
mean of all the rainfall records above the point of measurement.
TABLE NO. 5.-Relation of run-off to rainfall during 1910.
Gauging station.
Crow Wing and Pillager…….
Rum at Oňamia……
Kettle near Sandstone.
Snake at Mora.
Wild Rice at Twin Valley
Red Lake at Thief River Falls……….
Red Lake at Crookston.
Clearwater at Red Lake Falls..
Little Fork at Little Fork..
Precipita-
tion on
basin.
Depth in
inches.
Run-off in
per cent of
precipita-
tion.
Inches.
15.48
3.55
22.9
14.63
2.97
20.3
15.00
3.78
25.2
14.00
2.82
20.2
12.83
2.60
20.2
13.30
3.05
22.9
12.40
3.02
24.3
12.80
2.57
20.0
18.80
3.81
20.3
21.8
Mean..
Each of the streams considered lies in the timbered portion of the
State (the same as the headwaters of the Mississippi) and drains more
or less swamp land. The percentage of the run-off for the streams
is remarkably uniform, ranging from 20 to 25.2 inches with a mean
percentage of 21.8. The run-off for the Mississippi above Sandy
River, which was the principal source of the reservoir supply, was
180 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
35.6. This amount, which so greatly exceeds the run-off percentage
of the other rivers, shows the effect of using water stored from pre-
vious years.
From the foregoing, it is reasonable to assume that the run-off from
the area controlled by the present reservoir system would have been
from 20 to 25 per cent of the rainfall had the reservoirs not been built.
Twenty-two per cent has been selected as the most probable value,
and as the mean rainfall on the basin for 1910 was 16.25 inches, this
represents the total run-off for 1910 as covering its drainage basin to
a depth of 3.58 inches.
On account of the large lakes through which the Mississippi flows
in its upper course and which would be there, though in somewhat
diminished size, if the reservoirs had not been built, the natural
monthly variation would have been different from those other streams
which are not naturally controlled by large lakes. Fortunately,
there are available 1910 records of flow of Red Lake and Ottertail
Rivers in the northern part of the State, which are both naturally
controlled by large lakes to such an extent as to be comparable to
the upper Mississippi.
Table 6 shows the mean monthly flow of these two streams for the
period from April to November, expressed in percentage for the total
flow for the year.
Table No. 6.—Percentage of monthly discharge to total discharge during 1910.
Rivers.
Red Lake River at Thief River Falls.
Ottertail River near Fergus Falls..
Mean.
Drain-
age Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov.
area.
Sq. mi.
3,450 24.0 15.0 8.5 4.6 3.3 3.0 2.6 2.0
1,310 18.0 18.0 12.0 6.7 2.9 1.4 1.9 2.9
21.0 16.5 10.2 5.6 3.1 2.2 2.2
2.4
The comparative uniformity of the variation in flow from month
to month is what would be expected from streams similarly situated
and naturally controlled to the extent that these streams are. It is
also safe to assume that the natural flow of the upper Mississippi
would have varied from month to month in such a way as to follow
closely the flow of the Red Lake and Ottertail Rivers. Accordingly,
the mean values from the preceding table have been taken in com-
puting the natural monthly discharge for the area controlled by the
reservoirs.
The drainage areas of the three sources of reservoir supply are as
follows: Mississippi above Sandy River, 4,510 square miles; Sandy
River, 424 square miles; Pine River, 452 square miles; or a total of
5,386 square miles.
In computing the natural monthly mean flow, which is shown in
Table 7, the mean monthly percentages of total run-off, as obtained
in Table 6, have been used. These have been applied to the 3.58
inches of run-off for the entire year, obtaining the value depth in
inches over the drainage area, which represents the entire flow for
each month as being stored on the basin. These values have then
been changed into mean run-off in second-feet per square mile of
drainage area and, lastly, into run-off in second-feet from the entire
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 181
drainage area of 5,386 square miles. These last values represent the
computed natural mean monthly flow from the areas controlled by
the reservoir system and indicate the flow that would probably have
taken place during 1910 had the reservoir system been lacking.
TABLE No. 7.—Natural mean monthly discharge from areas controlled by reservoirs.
Reservoir supplies.
Percentage of monthly to total discharge.
Monthly flow depth in inches.
Mean monthly flow in second-feet per square
mile..
Mean monthly flow from the entire drainage
area of 5,386 square miles...
Apr. May. June. | July. | Aug. Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
21.0 16.5 10.2 5.6 3.1
0.752 0.591 0.365 0.200 0.110
2.2
0.079
0.674 0.513
0.327
0.174
0.096
2.2
0.079
0.071 0.069
2.4
0.086
0.077
3,630 2,763 1,761
937
517
382
372
415
We are now in a position to determine the increased flow due to
the reservoirs. Table 6 shows the actual monthly flow from the
reservoirs, which, combined with the natural flow, shows the effect
of the system.
TABLE No. 8.-Effect of reservoirs on monthly discharge.
Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov.
Actual flow.
Natural flow....
Effect of reservoirs.
3,610 3,265 | 2,701
3,630 2,763 1,761
-20 502 940
2,333
2,777 | 2,712 | 2,127
937
1,396
517
2,260 2,130
582
372
1,241
415
1,755
826
Thus it is shown that the mean monthly discharge in second-feet
was increased by the reservoirs from 502 in May to 2,260 in August
and 2,330 in September. After that the effect was less marked as the
flow from the reservoirs was gradually reduced.
Having determined the effect on the mean flow caused by the opera-
tion of the reservoir system, it is a simple matter to show what this
effect was on the stage of the river at St. Paul which affected navi-
gation.
If the flow of the upper river were affected by given amounts each
month, the flow at St. Paul for the corresponding periods (which as
explained previously were taken 10 days later) was affected by the
same amounts. It then only remains to determine the mean monthly
stage of the river at St. Paul to correspond to the natural monthly
flow and compare this with the actual mean monthly stage, to show
the effect of the reservoirs upon navigation at that point.
The following table has been compiled from Tables 3 and 8, and
shows the increased stage at St. Paul:
Table No. 9.—Increased stage at St. Paul due to reservoir system.
Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov
Actual flow..
Effect of storage.
12, 100
Natural flow..
8,250
+20 -502
12, 120
7,748
4,350 2,414 1,690 1,910 2,275
5,290 3,810 3,950 4,240 4,030 2,850
-940-1,396 -2,260 -2,330 -1,755
-826
2,024
182 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The United States Geological Survey, under the direction of the
writer, has rated the Mississippi at St. Paul with reference to the
datum of the Weather Bureau gauge, which is 0.50 foot lower than that
of the United States engineer office at the same point. The portion
of the rating table concerned in the discussion is given herewith:
TABLE No. 10.—Rating table for Mississippi River at St. Paul, Minn., for 1910.
Gauge
height.
Discharge.
Gauge
height.
Discharge.
Gauge
height.
Discharge.
Feet.
Sec.-ft.
Feet.
Sec.-ft.
Feet.
-1.1
1,650
Sec.-ft.
1.0
4, 110
3.0
-1.0
1,750
7,300
1.1
4, 240
3.1
.9
1,860
7,500
1.2
4,370
3.2
.8
1,970
7,700
1.3
4,510
3.3
.7
2,080
7,910
1.4
4, 650
3.4
.6
8, 120
2, 190
1.5
4,790
3.5
.5
2,300
8,340
1.6
4,940
3.6
4
2, 410
8,560
1.7
5,090
3.7
.3
2,520
8,790
1.8
5, 240
3.8
.2
2, 640
9,030
1.9
5,400
3.9
1
2,760
9,270
2.0
5,560
4.0
.0
9,520
2,880
2.1
5,720
4.1
.1
3,000
9,780
2.2
5,880
4.2
.2
3, 120
10,050
2.3
6, 050
4.3
.3
3,240
10,320
2.4
6, 220
4.4
· 4
3,360
10,600
2.5
6,390
4.5
.5
3.480
10, 880
2.6
6,560
4.6
.6
3,600
11, 170
2.7
6,740
4.7
.7
.8
.9
788
11, 460
3,720
2.8
6, 920
4.8
11,750
3,850
2.9
7,110
4.9
3,980
12,050
5.0
12,350
From this rating table the corresponding stages for the actual and
natural mean monthly flow have been compiled as follows:
TABLE No. 11.—Difference in stage at St. Paul due to reservoirs.
Actual stage..
Natural stage..
Apr. May. June. July.
Aug. Sept.
Oct.
Nov.
4.90
5.00
3. 45
3.25
1.80
1.20
-
0.75
- .35
0.90
-1.10
1.10
0.90
.80 -.45
0.00
.70
-0.10
0.20 0.60
1.10
2.00 1.90 1.35
.70
From the foregoing discussion it is evident that although the opera-
tion of the reservoirs did not keep the river at the 3-foot stage at St.
Paul, it is prevented from falling to a stage from 0.6 foot to 2 feet
lower during the navigation period, from June to October.
EFFECT ON WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT.
The fact that the upper Mississippi has a considerable fall, which is
utilized by dams at five points below the reservoirs, made the increased
flow from the reservoirs of considerable importance to water-power
development during 1910. In order to show the average increased
horsepower at each dam, it is only necessary to consider the increased
average monthly discharge (as computed previously) falling through
the distance at each dam represented by the available head. The
following table represents the additional available horsepower,
realizing 80 per cent efficiency:
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 183
TABLE NO. 11.—Additional horsepower (80 per cent efficiency) available at existing dams
on the Mississippi River.
Aver-
Dam.
age
head.
Apr.
May. June. July.
Aug. Sept. Oct.
Nov.
Feet.
Brainerd...
Little Falls
Sartell...
14.5
26
663
1,241 1,843
2,983 3,076
21.5
2,317
39
1,090
979
1,833
2,722
4,407
4,544
3,422
15.0
1,611
27
683 1,278
St. Cloud.
1,899
3,074
3, 169
14.5
26
2,387
663
1, 123
Minneapolis:
1,241
1,843
2,983
3,076
2,317
1,090
Upper dam.
42.0
76
1,918
Lower dam
3,591 5,333
8,633
8,901
18.0
6, 704
3,155
33
823 1,542 2,289 3,706
3,821
2,878
1,355
Total.
125.5 -227
5,729 10,726 15,929 25,786 26,587 20,025
9,424
Between the mouth of Pine River, the lowest source of reservoir
water, and St. Paul, which is practically the head of navigation
on the lower river, there is a total fall of 490 feet, of which approxi-
mately 130 feet have been developed, leaving 360 feet undeveloped.
The effect of the reservoirs upon the potential energy of this unde-
veloped portion is given as follows:
Additional horsepower.
Apr. May. June. July. Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov.
650 1,640 30,700 45, 600 73,900 76,200 57,400 27,000
As the reservoirs are maintained primarily in the interest of
navigation, their full effect is obtained only during the summer
months. Therefore, only that portion of the year has been consid-
ered in this article.
APPENDIX IV.
THE PRACTICABILITY OF STORAGE RESERVOIRS TO PREVENT
FLOODS AND TO BENEFIT NAVIGATION ON THE OHIO AND
OTHER RIVERS OF THE UNITED STATES.
By Col. W. H. BIXBY, now brigadier general, Chief of Engineers, U. S. Army.
[Being a review prepared in January, 1908, of a discussion by M. O. Leighton, Chief Hydrographer,
United States Geological Survey, presented November, 1907, and printed as part of the Inland Water-
ways Commission Report, 1908, pages 451-490, on "The Relation of Water Conservation to Flood
Prevention and to Navigation in the Ohio River." Review originally printed as National Water-
ways Commission Document No. 14. Footnotes added in 1912.]
1. The article of Mr. Leighton is an exceedingly valuable addi-
tion to existing literature on the subject of the possible use of storage
reservoirs for preventing floods and benefiting low-water navigation.
It gives a great deal of valuable new information not available in
former days, and even available at the present date of his report only
because of the liberality of Congress in recent years in providing
funds for extension of geographic surveys by the United States
Geological Survey throughout the United States, and especially in
the Eastern States, and for extension of the Weather Bureau
service. Mr. Leighton states on the first page of his report that
his paper will have served its purpose if it demonstrates that the use
of storage reservoirs in the upper tributaries of the great rivers, for
the purpose of preventing floods and of maintaining navigable
depths in the lower parts of such rivers, has so many features of
promise that it would be a grave mistake for anyone to recommend
the permanent adoption of a governmental policy which did not
recognize the possibilities of such reservoirs and which did not pro-
vide for a further and a more minute investigation of the same.
Mr. Leighton's position may be stated briefly as follows:
First, that the proper and logical way to control a river is to con-
trol its water supply by the use of storage reservoirs, which will store
the water during rainfall, thereby preventing floods in the lower river,
and which will allow the gradual wastage of the stored water during
dry seasons, thereby increasing the navigable depth of the river at its
ordinary low-water stages; second, that it is improper and illogical
to attempt the control of floods by first allowing the flood waters to
enter the lower river and afterwards endeavoring to confine such
waters within high and expensive levees, and that it is illogical and
disproportionately expensive to attempt to secure extra depth of
water during the dry season by dredging or contraction, or by the
use of locks and dams, unless storage reservoirs are impracticable or
prove to be inefficient; third, that the control of nearly all the rivers
of the United States can readily be effected by the construction and
185
186 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
use of storage reservoirs; and, fourth, that while the first cost of the
storage-reservoir system will be large, such cost can be distributed
over a series of years in such way as to ultimately appear nominal or
small compared with the enormous benefit to be derived from the
consequent flood prevention and improvement of low-water naviga-
tion, and much more so when considering also the benefit from the
use of the stored water for water power and for irrigation. Mr. Leigh-
ton illustrates his discussion by an application of the storage-reservoir
system to the Ohio River basin, claiming or at least implying that it
will on that river give better results than the slack-water system
now in progress and should be substituted therefor.¹
2. Mr. Leighton's proposition stated as above (in slightly different
language from his own) is, as he admits, a very old one, its discussion
having been carried on for more than a hundred years in Europe
and Asia, and for about sixty years in the United States. The
American engineers who have most prominently taken part in such
discussions are Mr. Andrew Ellet, about 1850; Mr. W. Milnor Roberts
in 1857; Maj. G. K. Warren, U. S. Engineers, about 1870; Maj. W. E.
Merrill, about 1873; Maj. F. U. Farquhar, about 1875; Capt. Charles
T. Allen, about 1880-81, and Capt. H. M. Chittenden, in 1898;
the discussions of Mr. Ellet, Mr. Roberts, and Major Merrill applying
to the Ohio River; those of Majors Warren and Farquhar and Captain
Allen applying to the upper Mississippi; and those of Captain Chit-
tenden applying to the upper Missouri.
3. All engineers, both foreign and American, with great unanimity,
have apparently agreed that theoretically the storage-reservoir
method is the only proper and logical method up to its limits; but
the engineering fraternity has been greatly divided, and still is
to-day, on the question of the practicability of the reservoir method
when considered from a combined legal and financial point of view.
As stated by Mr. Leighton, the report of Mr. W. Milnor Roberts in
1857 was against its practical adoption in the United States at that
date; and, while some of his reasons are no longer as valid as when
first enunciated, his final conclusion, so far as concerns the United
States, has been generally upheld by civilian engineers, army en-
gineers, and by the United States Congress. In Mr. Roberts's
original report of April 21, 1870 (p. 6, H. Doc. No. 72, 41st Cong.,
3d sess.), he stated practically that a constant reliable navigation.
was the great desideratum; that he believed such navigation could
be effected by the liberal expenditure of money; and that the necessity
for some radical improvement and the expediency of the same
seemed to be generally conceded, provided it could be effected in a
satisfactory manner on such a plan as would commend general con-
fidence.
According to Mr. Leighton, Mr. Roberts made a further very sensi-
ble observation (which Mr. Leighton admits will apply with equal
1 As is now evident and as is confirmed by Mr. Leighton's later statement, his article was an academic
discussion intentionally disregarding the conditions, customs, and laws of the day when his article was
written. If we could omit all consideration of cost, of present prices of land, labor, materials, and power
rentals, of existing needs, customs, and legislation-in short, if we could carry out work to-day along lines
not allowable to-day, but perhaps allowable at future dates, his propositions might be considered more
favorably; but the United States engineers have felt in recent years that in the work specially assigned
to them, they should confine themselves to such conservative and sure methods as lie within the reach of
existing legislation and as have in view mainly the probable benefits to the present and the next generation,
leaving all supplementary work to future generations, who may perhaps have other views and other de-
mands upon their funds. As originally presented, his article appeared to urge an immediate radical
change of practice and policy.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 187
force to-day), namely, that the question is not merely one of dollars,
but it is of the first consequence that the adopted plan shall satisfy
the sober good sense of the country, and shall in the end be productive
of the greatest benefit. Such limitations show the whole matter to
rest practically on the single basis where it has rested for the past
one hundred years, namely, practicability and not possibility. As
above stated, every engineer has agreed as to the possibility and
desirability, up to its limits, of the storage-reservoir system from a
theoretical point of view; but up to the present time, because of limi-
tations imposed by existing laws as to land ownership and riparian
rights, because of the long time necessary to obtain practical results,
because of the large cost of the work, because of the fact that the
benefits to be secured would affect many parties and objects other
than those directly related to navigation (to which at that time the
federal appropriations solely applied), because of the doubt that the
benefit to navigation alone would be in proportion to its cost to navi-
gation, because it might not prove sufficient, because of the difficulty
of persuading the general public and Congress to appropriate
immediately the money necessary for the full completion of the
storage-reservoir project, as well as because of many other minor
reasons-because of all these our engineers have been influenced to
favor and follow the other better-known method of river improve-
ment, viz, the dredging, contracting, and canalizing of the river
knowing that this would show immediate local beneficial results and
final permanent good results, and that such method had been tested
and found useful by many years of actual experience.
}
4. The main point raised by Mr. Roberts (pp. 26, 29, 124, of his Apr.
21, 1870, report) was, that while he believed the reservoir plan to be
theoretically practicable, he considered it at that date unattainable
within the practicable limits of cost (being governed, of course, by his
immediate surroundings as to funds and by the local conditions of
his immediate time), reporting that any reservoir system, in order to
secure 5 or 6 feet low-water depth in the Ohio River, would probably
require at least 273 reservoirs (elsewhere stated as from 30 to 300),
with dams of from 60 to 100 feet in height (very high for that day) at
a first cost of at least $60,000,000 (elsewhere stated as from 30 to 90
millions), with at least half a million dollars more every year there-
after for maintenance, irrespective of accidents and other extraordi-
nary contingencies. Mr. Leighton now suggests the use of over 100
very large reservoirs, occupying from 1 to 3 per cent of all the land
area drained by each tributary (1 to 3 acres of every 100), with
dams varying from 30 feet to 250 feet in height, all at a first cost of
$125,000,000 and perhaps very much more.
5. There is apparently no question amongst engineers as to the
advisability of storage reservoirs on all very large rivers, if (a) all or
the greater part of the water can be conserved; (b) if the water flow
in the river and the adjoining land on its banks can be obtained free
of cost to the United States, or if the question of cost be of no account;
(c) if time for construction be of no account; (d) if accidents to the
dams during construction and operation be impossible; (e) if the
water can be freely used for domestic, factory, and municipal supply,
for power development, and land irrigation; and (f) if supreme con-
trol by the Federal Government is practicable; but it would be
hardly possible to expect all these conditions to be fulfilled for many
188 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
years to come. The question is, therefore, not what is advisable
irrespective of the above conditions, but only how the United States
can get the best general results for each dollar of cost under condi-
tions of existing laws and existing local surroundings.
6. Heretofore, all river improvement in the United States under
federal appropriations has, by existing law, been tied down to ques-
tions of navigation alone, irrespective of bank protection, of flood
prevention and protection, of water power, and of irrigation. The
objection to the storage-reservoir method has not been due to lack of
suggestions by the United States Engineer Corps so much as the fact
that Congress, representing the general public, has been reluctant to
enter upon an enterprise of such magnitude in cost and such great
extension of federal powers as would result from extending river and
harbor improvement so as to include the other improvements above
mentioned.
7. Mr. Leighton's descriptions of the various Ohio River Valley
basins and his subsequent computations as to resulting water levels
during low water and during floods are an excellent and valuable
compilation and calculation, and they bear every sign of being
useful so far as he has attempted to carry them. They show plainly
a much more favorable condition for storage reservoirs in the Ohio
basin than has heretofore been exhibited by anyone else. Above
all other things they show what an enormous amount of potential
water power is still awaiting development in the Ohio River Valley.
If the local state legislature could be made to fully comprehend the
situation, it seems hardly possible to believe that they would not
take the matter in hand and enact such legislation as would permit
and encourage a thorough development of this power by either
individuals, corporations, municipalities, or the State itself.
It seems almost a crime to allow this wealth to remain undeveloped.
But under existing law it is difficult for the Federal Government to
interfere and assume control until a very much greater public benefit
can be proven than is already in sight. The Great Kanawha River
basin offers exceptional advantages for such treatment. If the
Federal Government could forcibly take charge of all water power in
this basin without compensation therefor and extend its reservoirs
over about one-fiftieth of the whole basin, and hold them until coal
and oil become scarce, the power development would then undoubt-
edly more than pay for the navigation improvements, no matter how
made; but the present methods are absolutely regular and certain in
their results and less revolutionary. It is possible that the storage-
reservoir system would also have proved successful; but it is also
possible that without federal assumption of power development the
storage-reservoir system would have proved in the end equally or
more expensive and not as certain. In almost all engineering work
it is always considered best judgment to allow a large coefficient of
safety (to cover cost of accidents, unintentional ignorance, and care-
lessness in construction and operation), and such coefficient seems
hardly allowed for by Mr. Leighton.
8. There is no doubt that by increasing the size, capacity, and num-
ber of the storage reservoirs it would be possible to secure suffi-
cient storage to hold back floods. Mr. Leighton plans for enough to
give good results; but he does what no one heretofore has considered
within the limits of federal appropriations and public consent, viz,
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 189
to occupy an average of 1.8 per cent of the entire area of all the basins
named by him, and in one case occupying over 3 per cent. If this large
occupancy should prove popular, or even allowable and practicable,
his plans will then merit much further approval than heretofore given
by engineers.¹
2
9. Mr. Leighton makes no special reference to the valuable infor-
mation and discussions which have appeared from time to time in
the Annual Reports of the Chief of Engineers since the days of the
reports of Mr. Ellet and Mr. Roberts (except his references to Major
Chittenden and the 1905 board). While the reports of Mr. Ellet and Mr.
Roberts were the first to start opposition in the United States to the
reservoir system applied to river improvement, the United States Engi-
neer Corps has steadily given credit to the good features of the reser-
voir system; has given a practical first trial at the headwaters of the
Mississippi River; has considered its use on the tributaries to the Mis-
sissippi between St. Paul and Cairo; and has been ready to extend the
use of such system so far as seemed practicable. The real position
to-day of the civil engineers of the country would seem to be very
decidedly in accord with the report of January, 1881, by an engineer
board consisting of Col. Q. A. Gillmore, Maj. C. B. Comstock, Maj.
C. R. Suter, Mr. B. M. Harrod, and others (printed originally as
H. Doc. No. 95, 46th Cong., 2d sess., and reprinted on pp. 2747-2754,
Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1881), this board having been con-
vened to consider especially the recommendations of Capt. C. T.
Allen as given in his reports and projects of 1880.
The report of the 1881 board, while practically indorsing the modi-
fied system of reservoirs now in use on the upper Mississippi, states a
decided opinion that, omitting the question of cost, the reservoir
system is the only system which would insure permanency and at the
same time develop to the utmost the capabilities of a stream for
navigable purposes; but that in order to efficiently supersede the
other methods of river improvement the reservoir system must be of
sufficient magnitude to control a large proportion of the river dis-
charge, the direct benefits of the reservoir system being somewhat
doubtful with the lesser magnitude of the development; and this
report, while outlining the benefits and disadvantages of the reservoir
system, brings out in special prominence the facts that the benefit
to be secured to navigation from any reservoir system is to be meas-
ured principally by the rapidity and effectiveness with which it
improves channel depths during the transition stage between floods
and subsequent low water (by cutting out new channels through
newly formed high bars) and by the added draft (distance from
water surface to river bottom on the bar) which it gives at dead low
water, rather than by the mere addition to the height of the low-water
surface; and that the good effect during the transition stage, and
the extent of such good effect, is yet to be proved by actual trial.
10. A subsequent report by a board, headed by Col. T. L. Casey
(late Chief of Engineers), under date of May 24, 1887 (see pp. 1681–
1693, Annual Report, 1887), convened especially to consider the
results produced by the Pokegama Reservoir-the only one finished
1 It must be borne in mind, however, that each flood-producing tributary must be provided with its
own reservoir, and that reservoirs in order to be effective must be located at points below the areas con-
tributing the flood water, such locations not being always practicable.
2 According to Mr. Leighton's later statements, this was due to the shortness of the time allowed him
by the persons ordering his report.
190 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
at that date-confirms the views of the 1881 board report; and while
showing that this Pokegama Reservoir was able to raise the low-
water levels in the Mississippi River 5.2 feet at 2 miles below the
reservoir, 3 feet at 167 miles (Aitken), 1.5 feet at 383 miles (St.
Paul), and nothing at 413 miles (Lake Pepin), this board states its
conclusions that reservoir systems in general are economically
advantageous only in regions of country where land has low value
and where the population is small (private industries being interfered
with the more as population increases); that such systems are advan-
tageous not to replace other known methods, but merely as adjuncts
thereto; and that the existing methods should still be given prece-
dence in 1887 on the Mississippi (as yielding quicker and better
returns) until such existing methods should be fully developed.
11. Á still more recent board, headed by Maj. H. M. Chittenden,
under date of November 27, 1905 (pp. 1443-1474, Annual Report,
Chief of Engineers, 1906), considering the actual operations and
results of the five reservoirs then in operation, which controlled 21.5
per cent of all watersheds above Minneapolis, reported that while
finding that the reservoir system on the upper Mississippi River was
there giving good results, was being operated by sound methods,
and was then indorsed by the community as a whole, the existing
five reservoirs had not added much more than 1.5 feet to the low-
water stage at St. Paul through the three months of low-water
season (considerable less to the low-water draft), failed to show any
appreciable effect at Lake Pepin, and were still vigorously opposed
by the owners of land above the reservoir dams who wished the land
drained for agricultural and manufacturing purposes.
12. Even though the original reasons given by Mr. Roberts are no
longer of the same force as when used by him, his general argument
remains practically unchanged to-day, the details having been
modified by the changes which have occurred in the commercial,
navigational, engineering, and social conditions of the country.
Because of his reasons of 1870, Mr. Roberts gave up the storage sys-
tem as impracticable at that date, and his views were indorsed by the
United States Engineer Department. Although engineers of to-day
are ready to enter upon much greater constructions than in 1870,
and although Congress is now ready to make much more liberal
appropriations than in 1870, there still seems very great doubt as
to the advisability even to-day of substituting for existing methods
the single method¹ of storage reservoir construction, in view of the
cost, the time occupied in construction, the difficulty of coordinating
the interests involved, the extension of federal control necessarily
required, and such other results as necessarily follow from the same.
Some of the good and bad features of the reservoir method are given
below in fuller detail.
13. Benefits of reservoir system.-Theoretically, and to the United
States as a whole, the reservoir system carries great benefits: (a) In
prevention of floods and protection against the same; (b) in improve-
ment of low-water navigation; (c) in development of water power for
manufacturing purposes; (d) in supplying a useful liquid for drinking,
washing, sanitary, and chemical purposes, and for irrigation of land;
and (e) in developing fisheries. Some of these benefits go to the public
1 Mr. Leighton has, since the publication of his original paper, stated that he did not intend therein
to advocate the reservoir method as the only one.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 191
and some to private parties; and some of them apply above the reser-
voir dams and others below. The division of benefits between the pub-
lic and private parties makes difficult the proper division of the cost of
the work between the parties interested; and the division of benefits
above and below the dam makes difficult the proper division of the
use of the water.
14. Flood protection and prevention is largely a local matter. In
many cases damage from river overflow is due mainly to the improper
occupation of overflowable land by private parties, who do so because
such land is naturally cheap at time of purchase, because they are
willing to gamble on the chances of overflow, and because they have
great hopes that they will eventually be protected in some way at
public expense either by the local community or by the Federal
Government; and the proper treatment of such cases would seem to
be the enactment of local laws to stop such future occupation until
the local protection works are duly erected, rather than encourage-
ment of such risks. In many other cases the overflow is largely due
to the improper use of the river bed by private parties for the deposit
of refuse and for the reclamation of land in private interests, thereby
stopping the proper flow of the water courses, this being done without
any respect for the consequent damage to other interests, and the
proper treatment of such cases should be the enactment of proper
local laws to stop further abuse. In both these cases actual inter-
vention by the Federal Government is undesirable and only neces-
sary in case that the local States are negligent of their own duties and
of the public interests.
Except for the Mississippi River below Cairo, the cases of overflow
in the United States which are strictly federal are usually the excep-
tion rather than the general rule, and, consequently, the construction
and supervision (including their cost) of protection works should be
treated as more local than federal. All exceptional cases, however,
which can not be corrected by local laws seem very properly to come
under federal control and then to be necessarily payable for at public
expense.
15. The benefit to low-water navigation occurs mainly below the
dams, the reservoirs, as a rule, being necessarily in the upper part of
the river where the latter is likely to be unnavigable; and such bene-
fit concerns the public in general more than private parties, and such
benefit makes itself usually evident in the shape of reduced rates
and increased capacity of general transportation and in the special
control of railroad rates. The benefit to low-water navigation is not
as great to the lower part of the river as it is to the upper part, and
may be restricted to only a small portion of the river next the reservoir.
Whether the benefit can actually be carried effectively over the entire
length of the river in the manner indicated by Mr. Leighton for the
Ohio is still unproved.
According to the latest reports on the upper Mississippi reservoirs
(pp. 1465-1466, Annual Report, 1907) it has been found that such
benefit, amounting at St. Paul to from 9 to 18 inches increased height
of water stage (and less if measured in available draft of boats) for
ninety days of the summer low-water season, affects only about 60
miles of the river from St. Paul down to the center of the Lake Pepin
reach, and its effect below this reach is practically inappreciable.¹
1 In the portions of the river where the added height of water has been secured, the public demand
is still mainly for power development and but little for navigation.
192 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
16. The benefit from water-power development, under existing law
and custom, goes almost entirely to private owners below the dams,
and their interests are sometimes quite different from the interests
of the general public, and are liable to lead to constant trouble. If
the water power can be taken possession of by the Federal Govern-
ment without payment, or even at reasonable payment for damage
to riparian properties, the rent from the same may sometimes be
safely figured to amount in a few years to more than the entire cost
of the reservoir. If the Federal Government has to pay the riparian
owner for the injury to his existing water power, the highest prices
will undoubtedly be asked; on the other hand, if the United States
rents the developed water power to adjoining property owners it is
safe to assume that the public will expect the lowest possible rates,
which will probably be much lower by the time the dams are finished
than they are at present. The estimated benefit figured by Mr.
Leighton ($20 per horsepower annual rentage) seems much higher
than can be counted upon in the future, as to which more details
will be given later. The Federal Government will probably be for-
tunate if it realizes $10, or even $5, per horsepower per year.¹
17. The benefits from water supply and irrigation usually go to
municipalities and private parties below the dams; and their interests
will be almost entirely opposed and detrimental to those of naviga-
tion. On this account it will be exceedingly difficult to arrive at any
reasonable arrangement of division of cost between the irrigation and
navigation interests. The irrigation public will want the most water
at the times when it is most needed by navigation, and they will want
it at the lowest rates.
18. The benefits for fisheries will go largely to the public in general
both above and below the dam. Under favorable circumstances it
is estimated by the Illinois State Internal Improvement Commission.
that the fisheries may return to the general public a value of as much
as from $10 to $20 per acre of water surface; but it will be so difficult
to secure the return of any of this profit to the Federal Government
that none of such revenues can be properly counted upon to assist in
the cost of construction and maintenance of the reservoir system.
19. Major Chittenden, in his extensive and valuable report of 1898,
shows quite clearly that the actual benefits coming simply from flood
prevention and navigation improvement can hardly be expected in
themselves alone to justify the construction of storage reservoirs.
But where flood prevention by proper rainfall storage, can be combined
with flood protection works the matter may become sufficiently
public to demand state and sometimes federal control, and where it
also is liable to greatly assist general navigation in the lower river it
may properly authorize federal control alone; in which cases there
ought to be some way by which the revenues and other benefits
belonging to the newly created reservoirs and their water powers
might legally be used to defray the cost of construction and opera-
tion of the whole improvement. But so far it has not been found
practicable.
20. Handling of reservoirs for flood prevention. Providing that
weather can be forecasted with certainty and that the storage reser-
voir has no other object to perform than to store floods, and that
1 In some important localities the public is already demanding that the Federal Government sell its
water power at even lower rates than $5.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 193
there are no limitations as regards the size and number of reservoirs,
the storage-reservoir system should, theoretically, be able to prevent
all serious floods in the manner indicated by Mr. Leighton. But in
order to always have sufficient water held back for the low-water sea-
son it is hardly probable that the reservoirs will uniformly be in con-
dition to catch the results of a sudden storm; as for surety in such
matters, the reservoir should be kept only three-fourths to one-fourth
full during all the months subject to flood, which means nearly half
of the year. When a heavy rainfall is expected and actually fore-
casted, the time will always be too short for drawing down the reser-
voir to any large extent. Quick run-offs of water into rivers imme-
diately after heavy rain storms are to-day largely due to the existence
of roads, gutters, sewers, drains, clearings, etc., which are now every-
where established by cities, towns, counties, and all intelligent farmers
and landowners. This element of quick run-offs will increase rather
than diminish during coming years. Some of it may be held back by
a proper system of reforestry, but not much.
21. Handling of reservoirs for low-water improvement. The impos-
sibility of forecasting with certainty a coming wet or dry summer, and
the length of time which it takes for water released from the reservoir
to reach the lower river, make it necessary for the improvement of
low-water navigation to commence water storage early in the wet
season, to hold the reservoirs full until the dry season is actually in
evidence, and then, after starting the low-water flow, to keep it fairly
regular and well ahead of its demand. Until weather can be success-
fully predicted several months in advance, and until the discharge
from the reservoirs can be controlled absolutely by the Federal Gov-
ernment, the best intentioned service of storage reservoirs on rivers
like the Missouri might prove dangerous to the lower portions of the
river by causing the storage discharge to reach such lower portions
at times when the latter might be already full to overflowing.
22. On the upper Mississippi River it has been found that the
progress downstream of released water was twenty-one days for the
first 70 miles, and sixteen days for the rest of the distance down to
St. Paul. On the Ohio River the crest of a heavy flood requires seven
days for passage in the open river from Pittsburg to Louisville, where
conditions are many times better than in the Mississippi River above
St. Paul. In order that the water shall run off freely when released,
the river must be straightened and its sides and bottom made com-
paratively smooth, and the increase of current thereby caused is not
always advantageous. It is still somewhat doubtful whether the
amount of water flow named by Mr. Leighton would in actual practice
be sufficient to keep the river steadily up to the levels named by him
during the low-water season, and, if so, whether the river bottom will
not be raised by the formation of new permanent bars so as to make
the gain in available draft much less than the gain in stage. On the
upper Missouri, within the limits of North and South Dakota, while
there is often 3.5 to 5 feet draft at dead low water, there is only a
draft of 3 feet at a 5-foot stage of water, the crest of bars rising with
rising water. On the Mississippi River, from St. Louis to Red River,
where the natural unimproved depth over the bars is only about 4
feet, the rise of bar crests is about half the rise of the river, giving
below St. Louis only 14 feet on the bars at a 20-foot stage above low
water, so that the benefit to navigation is rather illusory.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-13
194 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
23. On the Ohio River in the past, a few attempts have been made
to use the stored-up water of the Kanawha River slack-water dams,
to send a flood wave down the Ohio River and thereby to carry
through from the mouth of the Kanawha River to Louisville the coal
fleets which had accumulated in the Kanawha. So far as these
particular coal fleets were concerned, the experiment was fairly
successful, but it was found that the water ran off so much more
rapidly than was expected, that unless each coal fleet could keep
close to the crest of the artificial flood, it was caught by falling
water and was stranded on the river bars. These few experiments
were not continued, because of the numerous protests against the
same made by the local raft and boat owners down the river, as
under the unexpected rise their log tows might float out over the
bank or strand on shoals, and boats which had been insecurely
moored on the banks might float away by the unexpected rise, and
property (deposited freights) unloaded on the river bank by steamers
might be submerged before it could be taken away. Of course, much
of this trouble could be obviated if there were an extensive telegraph
and telephone and patrol service all along the river bank; but even
then the irregular fluctuations due to any sudden release of water
from pools or reservoirs, are undesirable.
On the upper Mississippi, where regularity of release of stored
water is undoubtedly desirable, several different methods were tried;
and eventually it was found best to hold back the water so far as
practicable (allowing for the time judged necessary for released water
to reach the point of its use) until the water stage in the lower river
approached that desired to be preserved during the low-water season,
and then to release at first a small amount of water, afterwards more,
increasing the same as the river stages fell and diminishing the same
as the river stages rose, with a view to keeping the stage in the lower
river fairly constant at, or a little above, its desired minimum.
Although such method as above stated has secured on the Mississippi
a 9 inches to 18 inches increase of low-water stage (with less gain in
draft) at St. Paul, and although it is hoped and expected that this
can be held during nine years out of ten, the actual permanency is
yet to be proved. It is quite possible that the volume of stored
water in these reservoirs, available for use, may later be increased
by dredging a lower outlet (canal or tunnel) to the reservoir, by which
the reservoir may be drawn down to lower levels than heretofore.
Where such arrangement is practicable, such method may often be
more economical and useful than to attempt to get an equivalent
extra storage by building higher dams and overflowing larger areas.
But all this work is still more or less tentative and the proof of per-
manent good results must depend upon long actual practice. The
extent of success possible, when dams shall be many times larger
and many times more numerous than already built on the Missis-
sippi, while undoubtedly greater than so far obtained, is still quite
debatable.
24. The above brings out forcibly one fact, namely, that regularity
of storage-reservoir flow must either depend upon or lead up to an
extensive system (a) of measurements of rainfall, run-off, gauge
heights, storage, and water release, at the reservoirs; and (b) meas-
urements of gauge heights and currents, in the river below; and to
an extensive system (c) of information service (including telegraphs,
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 195
telephones, and patrols) to the boating and landed interests in the
river below. The proper development of these must necessarily take
much time, and will require large appropriations for the first and each
subsequent year.
25. Cost of the reservoir system. The cost of reservoir construction.
and land damages will, of course, be very great, and Mr. Leighton
apparently admits this by his estimate of $125,000,000 for the Ohio
River.
26. Such a system is practicable in Russia or India (where it has
already been extensively adopted) mainly because land is exceed-
ingly cheap, and labor is equally cheap. Similar features made com-
paratively cheap the construction of the five existing upper Mississippi
reservoirs in Minnesota; but the cost of these reservoirs would prob-
ably be very much greater if such constructions were to be duplicated,
commencing to-day. The American public are already beginning
to realize the prospective value of water power as well as of land, and
are beginning to charge high for the same and to obtain high com-
pensation for the same under condemnation suits. (For further
details, see first paragraph under head of "Special objections"
below.)
27. Moreover, Mr. Leighton bases his approximate estimate of
cost of a reservoir system on the cubic contents of his reservoirs;
but considering the much greater value of land in the Ohio Basin than
in the localities where preceding reservoirs have been built, and con-
sidering the great height of his reservoir dams and the consequent
expensiveness of the same, it would seem to be much more proper
for him to base his figures on the acreage of reservoir site, and on the
square of the height of his dams, than on the mere capacity of the
reservoir itself.
28. Besides, occasional accidents must be expected and should be
estimated for, and to-day the business public are accustomed to a
capitalization of the cost of insurance just as much as of the cost of
other operations, and to the addition of the same to the first cost of
construction when determining the total final cost of new works,
which, of course, has not been done in this case. (See further under
"Special objections" below.)
29. Any person estimating to-day upon the cost of dams will find
valuable information in condensed form in the extensive tables com-
piled by Morris Knowles and printed as an appendix to a discussion
of floods and their prevention on the Ohio River in the printed pro-
ceedings of the Engineers' Society of Western Pennsylvania for July
and October, 1907. These tables contain most of the information
previously given by the 1895 Massachusetts State board of health
reports, by the 1897-98 Annual Reports, Chief of Engineers, U. S.
Army, by the 1899 edition of Wegmann, by the recent annual reports
of the United States Reclamation Service, and by recent engineering
journals.
30. The eventual cost of a satisfactory system will probably go
very far beyond the $125,000,000 of Mr. Leighton's estimate, perhaps
to ten or twenty times such amount.¹
31. Extent of area needed for reservoirs.-If the reservoir system is
to be a success it must be of great magnitude. Major Chittenden in
his 1897 report (p. 2852, annual report, 1898) states that he con-
1 Later investigations tend to confirm these predictions.
196 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
siders a storage reservoir as having capacity enough to prevent floods
if it is large enough to store one-fourth of the annual rainfall. Mr.
Leighton apparently does not differ very far from Major Chittenden
in his estimate. At any rate, Mr. Leighton apparently recognizes
the necessity for a system of considerable magnitude, for in his
article he provides for the Ohio River over 100 reservoirs, whose area
is approximately 1,700 square miles, storing the outflow from the
river basins of 93,000 square miles, total area; so that his reservoirs
(although many of them are of great depth) occupy, as above stated,
on an average 1.8 acres out of every 100 acres of river basins of the
tributaries containing the reservoirs, and in some cases, as on the
Little Kanawha and Big Sandy, even as much as 3.4 acres out of
every 100 acres on the river basins. Considering the opposition that
is liable to arise from submerging such a large proportion of the farms,
roadways, and perhaps occasional villages, the sanitary protests that
may come from the repeated partial emptying of the same, to say
nothing of the cost of the dams and the land itself and the sacrifice of
mines and other undeveloped properties that may be submerged. It
is quite doubtful if the United States is prepared, even at the present
time, to go into such an extensive development.
32. The time for construction of reservoir systems. As has been
intimated above, one of the drawbacks to storage reservoirs is the
fact that the first constructions give no very appreciable results,
unless the reservoirs are of unusually great capacity. Even then
the effect of the first one or two is rather disappointing; and the
public will be very liable to lose enthusiasm long before the system
is completed. On the upper Mississippi River the original project
proposed 41 reservoirs, the proposition being first agitated about
1868; it was 1874 before Congress could make any appropriations
for surveys, and by that time the number of reservoirs to be imme-
diately built was cut down to seven. In 1908, forty years from the
first movement, the actual reservoirs built number only five, and, as
has been above shown, the result in the way of assistance to low-
water navigation, while valuable, has only been to add about 1.5 feet.
to the previous low-water stage and less to the available draft. At
the rate of forty years for construction of only five reservoirs on the
upper Mississippi River, it might take fifty or one hundred years to
get 100 reservoirs on the Ohio, even admitting full value for all reason-
able gain in public sentiment due to the good results already ob-
tained on the Mississippi.
33. Value of water power.-While the water power which may be
developed by the surplus water of storage reservoirs will be, of course,
quite valuable, Mr. Leighton's estimates on the same are considered
as too optimistic, especially in his figuring on one-half of the water
being available for economic development and being worth $20 per
horsepower year.
34. The Engineering News in 1895 shows that on the old hydraulic
tunnels at Niagara, N. Y., the water power was rented sometimes as
low as $4 per horsepower year and that on the newer tunnels the rent
varied all the way from $21 in small quantities down to $10 per horse-
power year in large quantities.
35. The Engineering News in 1900 (p. 49) shows rates sometimes
less than $4 per horsepower year at Manchester, N. H., and Lowell,
Mass., and rates less than $8 per horsepower year at Bellows Falls
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 197
and Turners Falls, Mass., all in New England, where factories are
numerous.
36. The Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1906 (p. 1469)
shows rates less than $6 per horsepower year at Minneapolis, Minn.
37. The Chicago Sanitary District Canal, while hoping for $20 per
horsepower year, is already seeing that it will be fortunate if it se-
cures an actual $12 on an average for the entire surplus power.
38. In the new canal which is now being proposed in Canada for
heavy-draft boats from Lake Huron, via Georgian Bay and the
Ottawa River, to Ottawa, on the lower St. Lawrence River (see
Engineering News, Oct. 3, 1907, p. 370), Canada is figuring on receiv-
ing only $12 per horsepower year for its surplus water power.
39. While parties who can exercise a monopoly may properly
expect high rates for their surplus water power, the Federal Govern-
ment, as well as state governments, can not safely expect to receive
anything more than the lowest rates given to other parties-perhaps
even lower—and, in any case, rates that are close to actual cost. The
general sentiment of the country is that a public business is to be con-
ducted for the public benefit rather than for the purpose of making
profits, and if the Federal Government takes up the business of fur-
nishing water power to the people it must be prepared to place the
matter on the same basis as the Post-Office Department, which is
obliged to ignore any question of direct profit.
40. If power development for federal use is desirable, such power
might in many cases be obtained in connection with slack-water or
lock and dam improvements by using the existing pools unchanged
(as has already been done to some extent on the Muskingum River)
or by building its dams higher or by constructing feeder canals from
existing pools to power houses at advantageous points below. This
might have been done in past days, and might still be done to-day, at
St. Paul, Des Moines, Louisville, the Kanawha River, Tennessee
River, and various other places. In some recent cases by congres-
sional authority private parties have been allowed to construct dams
or erect power houses on federal dams in navigable rivers (for ex-
ample, the Tennessee River, Ala., and Rock River, Ill.) under con-
dition that they either provided locks or lock sites or furnished
other compensation to the Federal Government to assist public navi-
gation. Much more might probably be done in such direction with
benefit to the general public. But public sentiment and congres-
sional action are not yet specially favorable thereto.
It is quite probable that the present general feeling of the country
is voiced by the statement in the House of Representatives on Feb-
ruary 6, 1907 (Congressional Record, 1907, p. 2411), to the effect that
although a general statute might be framed that would give to the
United States Government control of water power along navigable
waterways, there is no existing authority allowing the acquisition of
such water power; and even if acquired it would have to be paid
for under condemnation proceedings; and that it is questionable
whether the Federal Government at present desires to go into such an
enterprise merely for its water power.
41. Some special objections to the reservoir system. As above indi-
cated, storage reservoirs usually benefit existing conditions below the
¹ The big dam across the Mississippi River at Keokuk (Ill.), rapids is a marked example of what can be
done at favorable places.
198 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
reservoir dam and usually injure existing conditions above the dam,
so that extensive compromises are necessary between the conflicting
interests. The 1905 board on the Upper Mississippi River reservoirs
found on this river at that date at least seven of these conflicting
interests, all of which had to be harmonized. If the storage reservoir
is to be used primarily for benefit to navigation, it will become neces-
sary for the Federal Government to assume positive and complete
control and to indemnify the injured parties for the majority of their
claims.
42. The existence of a storage dam will cause the overflow of large
areas of land, mainly above the dams during water storage and
secondarily below the dams during water release; such overflow may
seriously injure or totally destroy the river bottoms for farming pur-
poses or for resident sites or for manufacturing sites, and such bot-
toms being usually of rich soil, will be naturally held as specially
valuable; and such overflow may interfere seriously with highway
travel during the high-water stages of every flood, causing long
detours to such travel. The storage reservoir may also injure exist-
ing or potential power plants mainly above the reservoir dam by
destroying either the waterflow (valuable for paper mills and other
factories needing good water) or destroying the head of water, which
might otherwise have been serviceable for local power plants; and
may also seriously flood and ruin mines and other underground
properties. Under the existing laws as regards riparian rights, the
landowner in the majority of the States of the Union has heretofore
enjoyed the undisputed right to all uses of the land so far as not
overflowed under natural conditions of the waterflow, and similar
right to the use of all water front along his property, and all under-
ground and underriver properties.
A recent brief article on this subject in the November, 1907, issue
of the American Political Science Review, by R. H. Hess, of the
University of Wisconsin, upon "The passing of the doctrine of
riparian rights" shows that this doctrine is at present undergoing
considerable revision throughout the United States and must soon
undergo still further revision; but at the same time this article shows
quite clearly that until such doctrine shall have been legally modified
by constitutional enactments of the various States, not only the
individual States but also the Federal Government, must abide by
existing laws. Under such circumstances the construction of storage
reservoirs means that the individual States or the Federal Govern-
ment must compensate the riparian owner for his loss either by pay-
ments in money or in water power, thereby either purchasing or
renting the overflowed land or paying damages for the right to over-
flow them, the price being usually fixed by condemnation proceed-
ings, owing to the extreme difficulty of reaching any equitable result
by private arrangements.
A compensation by payment in either water or water power, while
occasionally made in the past by the United States, has almost in-
variably been found to result in serious later troubles, so that in
general it is found necessary in the end to buy outright all land sub-
ject to overflow and to buy all water flow and water power subject
to injury. All this means not only great expense in money, but also
long delays in time. Any payment in compensation by furnishing
water flow or water power may be no serious inconvenience during
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 199
high-water stages, but is sure to become troublesome and costly
during low-water stages, when navigation wants all the water which
can be spared. Power companies which usually commence with
having more water than they have use for, almost always eventually
arrive at a stage of development where their demand for water ex-
ceeds the supply. As the power companies will then wish to use
more water than the average of the season, they will then endeavor
to use the water steadily and to their fullest capacity throughout the
winter and at other times when navigation interests will wish to hold
it back for storage, by which use the reservoir will be drawn down
to its lowest point considerably before the low-water season arrives,
the power company having arranged to supplement its own lack of
water during the low-water season by the use of steam power, leav-
ing the navigation interests short of water at the very time when
they need it most. Such treatment of water pondage is already a
matter of actual practice. The power companies are naturally look-
ing for profits, and as soon as they find that they can get a higher
return out of the whole year by this method they will use every
endeavor to do so. Even with such a big reservoir as Lake Superior,
the conflict, between water-power demands for water supply and
navigation demands for water storage, is already a fact of record.
43. Where storage reservoirs are intended to prevent floods as
well as to improve navigation at low-water stages, there is a further
difficulty, viz, that, for the best prevention of floods the storage
reservoir should be emptied as rapidly as practicable as soon as such
heavy rainfall is well over, so as to have the reservoir empty at the
time of the arrival of the next flood; whereas for the best interest of
low-water navigation it is desirable to keep the reservoir entirely
full until the commencement of the dry season, and perhaps one-
fourth full for emergencies until the dry season is nearly ended.
44. Another serious objection to the storage reservoirs, is the
great element of danger in case of any accident to the dam while full.
While the loss to property from annual freshets on a river like the
Ohio is enormous, it is small in comparison with the loss of life and
property which might result from the bursting in either the Allegheny
or Monongahela River of a single dam 100 to 250 feet high, the latter
of which might contain as much as 20,000,000,000 cubic feet of water.
Until the arrival of at least another_generation of people, who shall
have forgotten the horrors of the Johnstown flood, it is probable
that Pittsburg and the other large cities on the upper Ohio River
will protest vigorously against the construction of many large and
high dams on the river above them.
45. In comparing reservoir systems with slack-water improvement
of rivers, the reservoir system suffers a further disadvantage in that
very little good result can be expected until the system is nearly
complete, or until, on the Ohio River at least, $100,000,000 have
been spent; whereas in slack-water improvement the construction of
each dam gives an immediate local benefit of much magnitude.
Reservoir dams are rarely located in regions where they can be
directly useful to cities, factories, or general navigation; but slack-
water dams across rivers are very often placed below large tribu-
taries and below large cities, where they establish extensive and deep
quiet-water harbors above each dam available at all ordinary river
stages, and especially valuable to the large commercial centers near
200 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
them. On the Ohio River, although the present slack-water system
provides for 6 to 9 feet depth of water, each of these slack-water
dams establishes pools averaging 20 miles each in length whose
lower half is from 14 to 17 feet deep. The river front along these
pools, therefore, becomes immediately of great value to factories and
commercial houses, and the value of land along each bank is imme-
diately and greatly increased. For such reasons, on the upper Ohio,
between Pittsburg and Beaver, where five dams have already been
built, at a cost of about $5,000,000, the increase in value of the mere
land on one side of the river due to the development of deep slack-
water pools was much greater than the total cost of all five dams.
The same results are to be expected farther down the river at Wheel-
ing, Parkersburg, Cincinnati, Evansville, and Paducah. The slack-
water dams below the mouths of large tributaries are also valuable
to the steamboat interests of both tributaries and of main river, because
furnishing a place below the mouth of the tributary where the local
towboat fleets can be assembled for downstream travel, or where these
fleets can be broken up prior to going up the main river or up the
tributary. Such harbors also make possible for about half the length
of each pool the establishment of systems of permanent docks with
vertical fronts, and they make unnecessary to a large extent the use
of the former floating docks, which require to be constantly moved
up or down the river banks as the water varies between high and low
water stages.
46. While the reservoir system assists the down passage of boats
by furnishing a comparatively clear channel for navigation at all
times of the year, the greater current will delay the up passage of
boats. For a round trip downstream and back again there is prob-
ably not very much difference between the total time necessary under
a storage reservoir system and a system of slack-water improvement.
47. Summary.-Briefly stated, the main objections to the adoption
of a storage reservoir system to replace existing systems of river
improvement in the United States, as recommended by Mr. Leighton,
are as follows:
48. The United States does not seem to be yet educated up to the
point of the extensive appropriation of land and the great expendi-
tures necessary for effective storage reservoir systems, nor to the
federal ownership of power dams, nor has it yet legally modified the
doctrine of riparian rights sufficiently to allow of taking possession
of existing water powers without due compensation to the former
owners. The day may come when the United States will feel pre-
pared to start in upon such propositions; but until that time, the
executive departments must be prepared to proceed slowly in all such
directions.
49. The storage reservoir system alone will not produce valuable
results until it is nearly one-half or two-thirds completed, which
will take very many years; during which time the lack of immediate
results will cause much dissatisfaction to the navigation interests,
who need immediate benefits, and to the general public, who are
paying for the work.
50. The army engineer board of 1881, and all subsequent civil
engineering reports, appear to either admit or fail to disprove the
necessity of considering a storage reservoir system as merely an
adjunct to the other existing methods of river improvement rather
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 201
than as a system which will be complete in itself. Undoubtedly
dredging, contraction works, and bank protection, and perhaps even
a large proportion of the locks and dams now looked forward to, will
be necessary even with a perfect storage reservoir system. The
slack-water system, as applied to the Ohio River, has already proved
to the general public its ability to do the work which it proposes to
accomplish, and such improvement is now generally understood and
accepted. It seems very inadvisable to abandon an already proven
and generally approved method, in order to adopt another not posi-
tively proved successful and which may require another twenty
years to be thoroughly understood and appreciated and which even
then will only supplement and not entirely replace the existing sys-
The slack-water system of improvement for the Ohio River
has now reached such a stage that its successful accomplishment could
be arrived at at any time within not more than six to eight years
from the date when the funds are provided; and the cost of the same,
even at the highest estimates of to-day, will only be about two-thirds
of the low estimates of Mr. Leighton for the storage reservoir system.
51. While details of the objections raised by W. Milnor Roberts in
his report of 1870 have changed with the growth of the country and
of navigation plant and interests, his general objection of 1870 and
those of the engineer board of 1881 to the use of the storage-reservoir
system as a replacement of other methods are still serious ones and
will still be supported by the practical judgment of the general
public.
52. At the same time the storage-reservoir system, theoretically
and as viewed from all its aspects, has enormous possibilities and
advantages for the public at large and should be looked forward to
as a desirable supplement to existing constructions as soon as law
and general public sentiment are ready for the same; and it might be
exceedingly desirable, from this point of view, to encourage the estab-
lishment of at least a few large storage reservoirs in the Allegheny and
Monongahela river basins as an adjunct to the existing slack-water
system of the Ohio River, as already approved by Congress.
If these first few storage reservoirs prove acceptable to the com-
munity and receive the necessary authority and appropriations of
Congress, their construction and operation can not in any way injure
existing navigation, ought to assist very materially the other improve-
ments now in progress, and will serve as a valuable object lesson to
the general public and to the engineering profession. As, however,
the local benefits which will come from such reservoirs on the Ohio
River will be felt most extensively and mainly in the prevention of
floods, the protection of river banks, the development of water
powers, and the establishment of water supply for domestic and
manufacturing uses in the State of Pennsylvania, it would seem as if
public sentiment for the same should first be created inside of the
State of Pennsylvania, and the cost of the same should be paid for
mainly by state appropriations or by the local corporations and
individuals most directly benefited. Meanwhile the navigation
interests of the Ohio River and all the influence of the Ohio River
Valley Association will protest vigorously against any step which
shall delay in any way the rapid completion of the existing slack-
water improvement of the Ohio River which they already are ac-
quainted with and know to be possible of giving the results which
they desire.
202 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
53. Suggestions. If it is thought advisable to develop further the
storage-reservoir system in the United States to assist navigation,
then probably one of the best places for such further development
would be on the Mississippi River, between St. Paul and St. Louis,
by an extension of the existing upper Mississippi system in such way
as to cover the tributaries of the Mississippi between St. Paul and
St. Louis (in the manner outlined by the 1880-81 reports of Captain
Allen), with a view to securing a greater low-water depth from St.
Paul to Cairo. This would help existing work, and might give very
useful results at reasonable cost.
54. Until the time comes when the Federal Government is prepared
to assume full control of water powers on navigable rivers, it might
possibly be well for the Federal Government to give long-term leases
of all its river rights, except navigation, to private associations or
corporations, one or more in each river basin, on the condition that
each association shall assume all cost and other financial responsi-
bility of construction and operation of its dams and pools, and that in
addition it shall build a proper boat lock or at least furnish a lock site
at each dam, and shall guarantee to navigation a definite minimum
stage above each dam, and minimum flow past each dam, during each
of the low-water months of each year, all free of cost to the United
States. Wherever the existing law allows the Federal Government
the right to condemn land and flowage, these rights might be turned
over to the dam owner or lessee, so as to simplify his legal difficulties.
Under such conditions, it might be possible for the dam owner or
lessee to even pay the United States a low rental for each horsepower
per year thereby obtained, and still make a reasonable profit on his
investment.¹ Such an experiment might easily be tested in the upper
Mississippi Valley below St. Paul. The result could hardly make the
Mississippi River water flow any more irregular than at present, and
would undoubtedly raise the water stage somewhat, and might
increase the boat draft appreciably. The risk would be small com-
pared with the possible gain.
CHICAGO, ILL., January 11, 1908.
1 Some of the above suggested features have already been provided for by the general dam act of
June 23, 1910.
APPENDIX V.
FORESTS AND WATER IN THE LIGHT OF SCIENTIFIC
INVESTIGATION.
By RAPHAEL Zon, Chief of Silvics, United States Forest Service.
203
TABLE OF CONTENTS TO APPENDIX V.
Page.
Object of the report.
205
Methods of determining the influence of forests upon streamflow.
PART I.-RESULTS BY THE PHYSICAL METHOD:
205
Forests and climate.
207
Temperature of the air..
207
Temperature of the soil..
Relative humidity.
210
212
Precipitation.
213
Local precipitation….
213
Precipitation over continents.
221
Source of atmospheric moisture over the land
221
Summary of effects of forests upon climate.
227
Forests as conservers of precipitation..
Effect of forests in level regions.
Interception by tree crowns.
Evaporation from the soil..
Wind..
Character of soil cover..
228
Water available for streamflow.
228
229
229
231
232
232
Transpiration...
Total amount of water lost to streams.
Effect of forests in mountainous regions..
Surface run-off converted to seepage.
Severity of rainfall checked...
Melting of snow retarded..
233
235
237
Interception, evaporation, and transpiration. .
237
238
240
240
Surface run-off obstructed..
Summary of effects of forests in conserving precipitation.
Forests and erosion..
243
245
245
Records at the Swiss Central Experiment Station.
Total discharge of streams..
Forests and springs..
Forests and floods..
Summary of effects of forests upon streamflow.
Bibliography..
204
PART II.-RESULTS BY THE HYDROMETRIC METHOD:
Reliability of available records of stream measurements.
Records of American rivers..
Records of European rivers.
Records of rivers in British India.
Report of the Tenth Congress of Navigation..
Seasonal variation of streamflow
247
251
256
259
260
260
262
264
265
270
273
274
APPENDIX V.
FORESTS AND WATER IN THE LIGHT OF SCIENTIFIC INVESTI-
GATION.
By RAPHAEL ZON, Chief of Silvics, United States Forest Service.
OBJECT OF THE REPORT.
Of all the direct influences of the forest the influence upon the
supply of water in streams and upon the regularity of their flow
is the most important in human economy. Yet so many are the
factors which play related parts in this influence, so great is the
difficulty of observing them with precision, and so wide the range of
economic interests affected, that considerable divergence of opinion
has arisen on the subject. This, however, if prompted by a sincere
desire to reach the bottom of a complicated and vital problem, can
only be productive of results of the highest scientific value.
There is, perhaps, no other problem facing the American people
to-day which demands such care in the scientific accuracy of its
data and conclusions as does the relation between forests and water.
It is imperative, therefore, that no final conclusions be drawn in
regard to this relation until ample, reliable, and critically revised
evidence upon which to base them is available. A national policy
which, though considering the direct value of forests as a source
of timber, fails to take full account also of their influence upon
erosion, the flow of streams, and climate, may easily endanger the
well-being of the whole people.
This paper aims to bring together impartially all the well-estab-
lished scientific facts in regard to the relation of forests to water
supply. Such a critical statement of our present knowledge of this
subject should be helpful in separating what is definitely known of
this relation from that which still needs to be determined.
METHODS OF
DETERMINING THE INFLUENCE OF FORESTS UPON
STREAMFLOW.
The influence of the forest on streamflow can be determined in
two ways: (1) By actual measurements, continued for sufficient time,
of the total discharge and of the high and low stages of rivers hav-
ing drainage areas essentially similar in regard to precipitation,
geologic formation, topography, and soil, but differing in the amount
of forest cover, and (2) by determining, through the measurement
of individual factors, the total amount of water available for stream-
flow.
205
206 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The first method, since it deals directly with the measurement of
water, may properly be called the hydrometric method; while the
other, which deals chiefly with the physical and mechanical effects
of the forest upon evaporation, run-off, etc., may be termed the
physical method. The first method studies the final result of all the
factors affecting streamflow as they are shown in the behavior
of the stream. It is the most direct, and would be the most practical,
provided all the conditions of the watersheds studied, except forest
cover, were essentially similar. Since, however, such similarity
between watersheds is seldom met with in nature, this method, which
has frequently been employed by engineers, is particularly liable to
error. Further, the existing hydrometrical data are incomplete, for
the hydrographic method requires the nicest observations, extending
over a considerable period of time. The defects of the method in this
regard were well brought out at the International Milan Congress
of Hydrographic Engineers of 1905, as shown in the summary of
the papers presented there.
The ideal application of this method would consist in comparing
the regimen of a stream flowing from a completely forested water-
shed with the regimen of the same stream after its forest cover has
been removed. As a control area there ought to be another water-
shed, exactly similar in character, on which the forest cover re-
mains unchanged while that on the one under experiment is being
removed. To make such a comparison thorough and accurate, the
topography, geological formation, and character of the soil of the
two watersheds should be surveyed, and each watershed then
equipped, at different elevations, with ordinary and self-registering
rain gauges, as well as with instruments for measuring evaporation,
wind velocity, level of ground water, and especially the flow of the
stream during different seasons of the year. This would yield re-
liable information as to the influence of forest upon streamflow
for regions having similar soil, climate, and character of forest.
Such experiments, however, with the exception of one now being
conducted at Emmenthal, Switzerland, by the Swiss experiment
station, and one at Wagon Wheel Gap, Colo., by the Forest Service,
in cooperation with the Weather Bureau, have never been made in
any part of the world. The most common practice, especially with
engineers, has been to compare the run-off from drainage areas in
the same general region, of which one may have more forest cover
than the other. If the comparisons were based on equally large
numbers of stream gaugings and dependable meteorological records,
and the drainage areas compared were similar in regard to topog-
raphy and soil, the average results might assume some practical
value. Unfortunately, however, reliable gaugings for a given stream
too often can not be supplemented by reliable meteorological data
for the same region. Therefore, while there is no end to the material
gathered in this way, it is often contradictory, at best showing only
tendencies, and failing to determine with any accuracy the nature
and extent of the influence which the forest has upon streamflow.
The second method analyzes separately the influence of the forest
upon each of the different factors affecting streamflow, and the
final effect of the forest upon streamflow is deduced from the com-
bined effect on all the factors. While less direct, this method lends
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 207
itself more readily to experimentation, and has been largely em-
ployed by foresters.
Since a large amount of reliable data concerning the influence of
the forest upon the amount of precipitation over forested and un-
forested drainage areas upon evaporation, surface run-off, percola-
tion, etc., has been obtained by this method, it will be discussed first.
PART I.—RESULTS BY THE PHYSICAL METHOD.
FORESTS AND CLIMATE.
The influence of forests upon climate has been a subject of in-
vestigation for a long time, and is not settled yet. Now and then this
influence has been exaggerated, thus leading to the other extreme of
denying it entirely. In discussing the subject, therefore, one has to
be very careful in selecting facts and in drawing conclusions from
them.
The physical and physiological processes which accompany any
plant growth must necessarily reduce the temperature of the air, at
Ïeast during the vegetative period. First, because the leaves evapo-
rate water. Second, because the heat of the sun is consumed in this
evaporation, and the plant can not become heated to the same extent
as, for instance, a rock or soil without any vegetative cover. Sim-
ilarly, the ground under plants can not become greatly heated on ac-
count of shading. Third, the surface from which heat radiates at
night is much greater when vegetation is on the ground than when
the ground is bare. The cooling effect on the air by crops has been
experimentally proven. For every pound of dry substance produced
it has been found that corn evaporates 233 pounds of water and
turnips 910 pounds.
Under good cultivation an acre may produce about 7 tons of dry
substance. If the evaporation of water be only 500 times more than
the amount of dry substance produced, then an acre will evaporate
during the vegetative period about 3,500 tons of water. This example
shows the extent to which ordinary crops can contribute to the
moisture content of the air and the cooling which accompanies this
evaporation. Forests, being the most highly developed form of
vegetable life, exert this influence in the greatest degree.
The first systematic observations upon the effect of forests on
climate were made in Bavaria. The climatic influences first observed
were those which are least changeable from year to year and which
are fairly uniform over large areas, namely, the temperature and
humidity of the air, evaporation, temperature of the soil, and per-
colation of the water into the ground.
TEMPERATURE OF THE AIR.
Table 1 gives the results of early observations upon the tempera-
ture of the air outside and inside the forest carried on in central
Italy,¹ eastern France,¹ in the mountains of Alsace, Bavaria, and
eastern Prussia. The stations inside and outside the forest were
Ber-
1 Woeikov, A. I. The climates of the world (in Russian). St. Petersburg, 1884.
2 Ebermayer, E. Die physikalischen Einwirkung des Waldes auf Luft und Boden.
lin, 1873.
Jahresbericht uber due Beobacht ungsergebnisse der im Konigreich
Preussen und in den Reichslanden eingerichteten forstlich-meteorologischen Stationen,
1875, 1876.
3 Muttrich, A.
208 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
scarcely a mile apart. The differences between the temperature of
the air outside and inside the forest are shown by plus and minus.
Plus indicates that the temperature in the forest is higher; minus,
lower than in the field.
TABLE 1.—Temperature of air in the forest compared with that in the open.
February-April:
Average of daily maximum.
Average of daily minimum
Mean temperature.
May-July:
Average of daily maximum.
Average of daily minimum.
Mean temperature...
August-October:
Average of daily maximum.
Average of daily minimum
Mean temperature.
November-January:
Average of daily maximum.
Average of daily minimum.
Mean temperature....
Entire year:
Average of daily maximum.
Average of daily minimum.
• ►
· • •
Mean temperature.
Central
Italy.
Eastern
France.
Mountains
of Alsace.
Bavaria.
Eastern
Prussia.
• F.
° F.
-1.44
°F.
-1.98
• F.
• F.
-0.90
+1.44
+3.42
+ .36
-1.26
+.18
+ .72
.54
- .54
-7.38
-5.76
-4.50
-3.96
-2.52
+2.88
+2.16
+3.42
+1.98
+ .90
-2.16
-1.8
54
•
-1.62
.72
-6.48
-4.68
-3.42
-5.76
-2.88
+1.98
+2.34
+4.32
+2.88
-2.34
-1.08
.36
-1.44
+ .36
-1.26
-1.62
+1.62
+1.08
+3.06
+2.16
.54
- .36
- .18
+2.34
+1.08
- .36
-3.42
-2.26
-2.70
+1.8
+3.6
+1.8
-1.8
+ .36
72
+ .72
•
54
.72
This table brings out clearly the moderating influence of the forest
upon temperature of the air. In the forest the maximum tempera-
ture is always lower, and the minimum temperature higher, than
outside. More recent observations extending over long periods in
France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and other countries have
confirmed the earlier results.
The yearly mean temperature at equal elevations and in the same
locality has invariably been found to be less inside than outside a
forest. In a level country this difference is about 0.9° F. It in-
creases, however, with altitude, and at an elevation of about 3,000 feet
is 1.8° F.
The monthly mean temperature is less in the forest than in the
open for each month of the year, but the difference is greatest during
the summer months, when it may reach 3.6° F., while in winter it
does not often exceed 0.1° F.
The daily mean temperature shows the same difference, but to a
greater degree. During the hottest days the air inside the forest
was more than 5° F. cooler than that outside, while for the coldest
days of the year the difference was only 1.8° F.
The temperature of the air within the forest is, therefore, not only
lower, but also subject to less fluctuation than in the open.
It is in tropical and subtropical regions that the influence of the
forest upon the temperature of the air is probably greatest. In
northern British India, in latitude 24-27° N., the mean annual tem-
perature for the year varies but little with latitude. In winter the
rainfall is very scant, and in summer very abundant. Before the
rainy season the valleys of northern India have a period of extreme
hot weather and drought. On the whole, the temperature and the
dryness are moderated by proximity to the sea.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 209
The country along the Ganges, and in general to the west of the
lower extension of Brahmaputra, is almost treeless, while in Assam,
along the middle extension of Brahmaputra, there are large forests.
A comparison of temperatures at these places, made by Woeikov,¹ and
given in Table 2, shows clearly the influence of the forest upon the
temperature and humidity of the air. Of the places named, Brah-
maputra lies at 24° N., the others between 25° and 27° Ń. The
arrangement is from west to east.
TABLE 2.-Difference in temperature and humidity between treeless and forested
regions, British India.
Mean temperature.
Abso-
lute
Relative humidity (per
cent).
Dis-
maxi-
tance
Locality.
mum
from
tem-
sea.
Apr. May
June July.
pera- Apr. May. June. July.
ture.
Treeless region:
Lucknow
Benares.
Patna.
• F.
86.18
°F.
91.94
•
168
Miles.
526
367 86.36 91.76 91.04 85.46 113.00
267 86.54 88.52 88.52 84.56 112.28
84.28 86.18 84.56 83.66 111.38
• F.
91.58
• F.
86.72
• F.
114.44
30 36
54
74
41
60
81
82
52
60
75
79
265 77.36 78.62 80.42 81.86 95.18 66
345 74.30 77.54 82.76 83.30 96.08 81
77
85
84
82
83
83
Berhampur
Forested region:
Goalpara.
Sibsagar.
** 8: 80
** : **
The figures in the table indicate that forests play a much greater
part in moderating the temperature in the hot and dry months of
April and May than does proximity to the sea. The same thing holds
for the relative humidity, especially in Sibsagar, which is the center
of the forested region. The most striking influence of the forest is
the lowering of the absolute temperature maxima. Proximity to the
sea has but little effect upon this, but as soon as the forest region is
reached, the absolute maximum temperature is at once decreased by
about 15° F. Especially striking is the difference in the average tem-
perature in May between Benares and Goalpara. The distance be-
tween the two places is only 462 miles, the latitude about the same,
and the intervening country level. Both are at considerable dis-
tances from the sea, yet the difference in the average temperatures
for May is 13° F., or about 1° for every 35 miles. This difference
in temperature Woeikov explains by the presence of forest in Goal-
para.
Woeikov further cites observations in the basin of the Amazon
River, which possesses the largest forest area in the world. The
middle and upper extensions of the Amazon River are about 621
miles from the Atlantic Ocean and are separated from the Pacific
Ocean by very high mountains. At such great distances from the
ocean, and so close to the equator, one would naturally expect to
find very high temperatures and great dryness. Yet there the aver-
age temperature of the warmest month and the absolute temperature
maxima are not greater than at the sea, and even not as high as the
temperatures often experienced in middle latitudes. This is shown
in Table 3.
¹ Woeikov, A. I. The climates of the world (in Russian). St. Petersburg, 1884, p. 321.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2—————14
210 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
TABLE 3.—Temperature and relative humidity in Amazon River basin and at
points on or nearer the coast.
Temperature.
Locality.
Altitude. Latitude.
Distance
from
Atlantic
Ocean.
Mean
annual.
for the
warmest
month.
Average Absolute
Annual
maxi-
mum.
mean rel-
ative hu-
midity.
Feet.
Para..
Manaos.
121
Iquitos.
311
Pernambuco..
San Antonio on the Madeira.
Miles.
• F.
• F.
• F.
Per cent.
11
SO DONE CON
O
62
80.6
81.86
714
78.98
80.6
97.26
130
76.64
78.26
90.32
78.26
80.78
89.06
8823
80
72
1,087
78.8
80.6
Woeikov attributes this remarkably moderate temperature of the
Amazon basin to the cooling effect of the forest, due to the enormous
evaporation of water from the soil and plants in the tropics. He
assumes that in tropical countries covered with luxuriant forest
vegetation the rainfall is seldom less than about 60 inches a year.
So thick usually is the mass of decayed leaf litter and fallen and
half-rotted trees in the forest that most of the rainfall is absorbed
by the soil, and only a small portion runs off from the surface. Even
allowing one-third of the annual precipitation for surface run-off,
there is still transpired by the plants and evaporated by the soil
a layer of water about 40 inches high. About 35.5 cubic feet of water
are given off from every 10.7 square feet, and in the evaporation of
this amount of water 606,500 calories of heat are consumed. The
cooling of the air due to this evaporation explains why, in the vast
tropical forests, the temperature of the air never becomes as high as
it is even in middle latitudes.
The evaporation of water from forests differs from evaporation
from water surfaces in that, while forests are, during the day,
continually using up heat by converting it into latent heat through
transpiration, bodies of water are directly heated by the sun's rays,
becoming, as it were, temperature reservoirs. Interior seas and
lakes in the tropics are often heated considerably above 82°, and even
86° F., and increase the temperature of the lower air when it is cooler
than the water.
The total area of the leaves is so great that at night they cool off
quickly. When they have reached the dew-point temperature, vapor
of the air condenses on their surface. A part of the water which has
been transpired during the day is thus brought back to be transpired
again next day. The forests may therefore be likened to a self-
feeding boiler, the water from which is evaporated into the air at the
expense of the heat of the sun and surrounding air.
TEMPERATURE OF THE SOIL.
Forests influence the temperature of the soil in almost the same
way as they do that of the air. The differences in temperature out-
side and inside of the forest, however, as a comparison of Tables
3 and 4 will show, are greatest in the case of the soil.
This is readily explained by the fact that the temperatures of
bodies of air near one another tend to become equalized by the pas-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 211
sage of air currents. Moreover, the surface of the soil is heated
directly by the sun, while the air receives its heat chiefly from the
surface of the soil, so that the difference between the temperature
of the soil in the forest, where the ground is at least partially pro-
tected from heat, and that outside of the forest, where no such pro-
tection exists, is especially pronounced. This difference is not lim-
ited to the surface of the soil, but is manifest at a considerable depth.
TABLE 4.—Difference in soil temperatures inside and outside the forest.
February-
April.
May-July.
August-
October.
November-
January.
Mean annual.
At
surface.
At a
At a
depth At depth
of 35.5 surface. of 35.4
inches.
inches.
At a
At depth
surface. of 35.4
inches.
At a
At
surface.
depth
of 35.4
inches.
At
surface.
At a
depth
of 35.4
inches.
• F.
Mountains of Alsace. -1.8
Bavaria..
Do...
Eastern Prussia.
• F.
• F.
• F.
+0.90-14.04 -5.04
-3.24 -1.44 8.10 -7.02
-2.34 -1.08 8.28 -7.38
-2.34
7.92 -6.48
›
• F.
• F.
10.26
-5.76
• F.
+0.54
• F.
• F.
• F.
-1.26
-6.30
-2.70
4.68 -5.4
.18
-3.96
-3.96
-
4.68 -5.4
4.14 -3.96
+ .54
.18
-3.78
-3.6
+2.34
+1.62
-2.88
-2.16
In winter soil temperatures of the forest and field differ but
little. The temperature of the soil in the forest is even somewhat
higher, especially where snow lies on the ground for several months,
when the difference is considerable. In eastern Prussia, for in-
stance, it amounts to almost 3.6° F. The fluctuations of soil tem-
perature in the forest, therefore, are much smaller than in the field.
The moderating influence of the forest upon the temperature of
the surface of the soil becomes especially marked when the maxi-
mum and minimum temperatures for the entire year are compared.
(Table 5.)
TABLE 5.—Fluctuation of soil temperatures inside and outside the forest.
Bavaria (6 stations)
Mountains of Alsace..
Eastern Prussia (2 stations)...
Outside the forest.
Inside the forest.
Maxi-
mum.
Mini- Fluctua- Maxi-
mum. tion.
mum.
Mini-
mum.
Fluctua-
tion.
• F.
84.02
°F.
12.92
•F.
• F.
•F.
• F.
71.10
71.24
18.14
53.10
86.00
23.00
63.00
63.32
27.68
35.64
81.68
6. 44
75.24
64.58
16.52
48.06
More recent observations upon the temperature of the soil inside
and outside of the forest yielded results very similar to the earlier
ones. These later results show that the forest soil is warmer in
winter by 1.8° F. and cooler in summer by from 5.4° to 9° F. than
soil without a forest cover, and that this holds true for a depth of as
much as 4 feet. In the spring, and especially in the summer,
forest soil is cooler than that of open land. In the fall and winter,
however, it is warmer, but the degree of difference is always less
than in summer.
the
212 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Observations in 1892 and 1893 at L'Adlisberg, near Zürich,¹ showed
that under the complete cover of a young beech stand the average
temperature of the soil from April 1 to November 1 was from 9° to
12.6° F. lower than in the open on level ground, and from 10.8°
to 18° F. lower than on ground sloping toward the south, but other-
wise almost identical. On August 24, 1894, the soil on an open south-
erly slope attained a temperature of 91.4° F. Under the forest, close
by on the same slope, the temperature was only 63.3° F. A cover of
young_beeches thus produced a soil temperature lower by about
28.1° F. The temperatures were taken at a depth of 2 inches; at
the surface the difference was still greater.
The influence which forest cover has upon the freezing of the
ground was well brought out by 21 years' observations in Germany,2
as shown in Table 6.
TABLE 6.-Freezing of soil inside and outside the forest.
Depth to which
soil freezes.
Stations.
Altitude, nature of soil, and com-
position of forest.
Differ-
ence.
Outside
the
Within
the
forest.
forest.
Depth of
frost in
forest soil
in per
cent of
depth in
the open.
Haguenau (Alsace).
Eberswalde (near Ber-
lin).
...
Neunath (Lorraine)..
Melkerei (Alsace).
Rhine Valley, 492 feet; gravelly sand
mixed with humus; Scotch pine.
160 feet; sandy soil mixed with hu-
mus; Scotch pine.
Plateau, 164 feet; lime rock; beech..
Moderate southeast slope, 3,114 feet
(167 feet below summit of slope);
decomposed granite; beech and fir.
Inches.
Inches.
Per cent.
19.7
8.3
11.4
42
27.6
18.5
9.1
8.7
5.9
2.8
•
17.7
13.0
4.7
288 2
67
68
73
Thus, the soil under the forest may remain soft when the ground
in the open is frozen hard to some depth. If it does freeze it is to a
depth of from one-half to less than three-fourths that in the open.
RELATIVE HUMIDITY.
In the summer the relative humidity of the air is higher in the
forest than in the open; first, because the transpiration of water by
the leaves appreciably increases the moisture content of the air with-
in or near the forest; and, second, because the temperature of the air
in the forest is lower, and therefore nearer its saturation point. This
difference is usually between 4 and 10 per cent, but in some places.
may be as much as 12 per cent. In regions of heavy snow there is
practically no difference in the relative humidity during the spring,
when the snow melts. Table 7 shows the difference between the
relative humidity of the air outside and inside the forest for different
months of the year.
1 Bühler, A. Beobachtungen an den forstlich-meteorologischen Stationen, 1892, 1893.
(Mitteilungen der Schweizerischen Centralanstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen, 1895,
vol. 4, pp. 34, 94.)
2 Schubert, J. Der jährliche Gang der Luft- und Boden-Temperature im Freien und in
Waldungen. Berlin, 1900.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 213
TABLE 7.—Relative humidity inside and outside the forest.
February-
April.
May-July.
August-
October.
November-
January.
Entire year.
Outside Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside Outside Inside
the the the the the the the the the the
forest. forest. forest. forest. forest. forest. forest. forest. forest. forest.
Mountains of Alsace.
Bavaria..
80
80
Eastern Prussia.
84
•
38888
8888
85
68
75
78
84
70
85
64
888
80
78
68
76
00000
84
85
81
899098998
85
89
87
888
77
90
92
ZIL
79
78
88888
84
85
82
PRECIPITATION.
The water which reaches the ground and becomes available for
vegetation and streamflow comes from two chief sources-first, rain,
snow, hail, etc., which form in the upper strata of the air; and, sec-
ond, dew, hoarfrost, and similar condensations of the air moisture
which form on the surfaces of foliage, branches, and trunks, and
also on the surface and in the interior of the soil when these are
colder than the surrounding air.
EFFECT UPON LOCAL PRECIPITATION.
Observations upon the influence of forests on local precipitations
began as early as the middle of the last century, but systematic obser-
vations did not start until the second half of the sixties (Bavaria,
France, and Switzerland), and in many places are still being carried
on. In a few cases these observations do not show any essential
difference in the amount of precipitation over forest and over open
fields. Most of them, however, demonstrate beyond doubt that the
amount of precipitation over forests¹ is greater.
This excess of precipitation over forested areas varies from a frac-
tion of 1 per cent to 25 per cent. Such wide variation is due partly
to differences of geographic situation, altitude, character of the for-
est, etc. At the forest experiment station at Nancy, 33 years' ob-
servations show an average excess of precipitation on forested areas
1 Blodget, Lorin. Climatology of the United States. Phila., 1857; Lorenz-Liburnau,
Josef Roman von. Resultate forstlich-meteorologischer Beobachtungen insbesondere in den
jahren 1885-1887, pt. 1-2. Wein, 1890-1892. (Mittheilungen aus dem forstlichen Ver-
suchswesen Österreichs, Heft. 12–13); Bühler, A. Beobachtungen an den forstlich-meteor-
ologischen Stationen Adlisberg, etc., 1889-1897. (Schweizerische Centralanstalt für das
forstliche Versuchswesen. Mittheilungen, 1891-1898, v. 1, pp. 201–282; v. 2, pp. 61-126;
v. 4, pp. 34–173; v. 5, 22–190; v. 6, pp. 18-28); Bühler, A. Die Niederschläge im Walde.
(Schweizerische Centralanstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen. Mittheilungen, 1892, v.
2, pp. 127-160); Hamberg, H. E. De l'influence des forêts sur le climat de la Suède, pt.
4-5. Stockholm, 1896; Blanford, H. F. Influence of the Indian forests on the rainfall.
(Asiatic society of Bengal. Journal, pt. 2, 1887, v. 56, pp. 1-15); Studnička, F. J.
Grundzüge der Hyetographie des Königreichs Böhmen. (Archiv für naturwissenschaft-
liche Landesdurchforschungen von Böhmen, 1887, v. 6, No. 3); Fritsch, Karl. Zur Frage
über den Einfluss des Waldes auf den Regen. Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesell-
schaft für Meteorologie, 1867, v. 2, pp. 230-235); Krutzch, H. Ueber den Einfluss der
Waldungen auf die Regenverhältnisse der gemässigten Zone. (Tharander forstliches Jahr-
buch, 1855, v. 11, pp. 123-141); Fautrat, L. Observations météorologiques faites de 1874
à 1878. Paris, 1878; Ebermayer, E. W. Untersuchungs-Ergebnisse über die Menge und
Vertheilung der Niederschläge in den Wäldern. (Forstlich-naturwissenschaftliche Zeit-
schrift, 1897, v. 6, pp. 283-301); Müttrich, A. Bericht über die Untersuchung der Ein-
wirkung des Waldes auf die Menge der Niederschläge. Neudamm, 1903; Hann. Julius.
Wald und Regen. (Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft für Meteorologie, 1867,
v. 2, pp, 129-136); Kopezky, Richard. Wald und Niederschläge. (Centralblatt für das
gesamte Forstwesen, May, 1899, v. 25, pp. 195-213, 243-253); Zacher, Gustav. Ueber den
Čausalnexus von Wald und Regen. (Oesterreichische Vierteljahresschrift für Forstwesen,
1890, v. 40, pp. 103-108); and others in Russian.
214 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of 23 per cent, while Ebermayer in Germany, Bouvard at Moumal,
and Blandford in India compute it as being 12 per cent. Some
meteorologists are inclined to ascribe the difference in the amount of
precipitation over forests and open fields to the imperfection of the
rain gauges. Hellman's¹ experiments, for instance, showed that the
ordinary rain gauge in a wind of medium velocity registers 19 per
cent less of precipitation than actually falls. It is possible that rain
gauges in the forest, being protected from wind, will catch more rain
and therefore show a greater amount of precipitation than when
placed in the open. That the greater amount of precipitation over
forest areas as compared with open fields can not, however, be
ascribed entirely to this, has been clearly brought out by Müttrich,
who, during four years of careful observation with Hellman's im-
proved rain gauges, found that the difference of precipitation in the
forest and outside the forest still amounted to 6 per cent.
French observers are practically unanimous in recording a larger
amount of precipitation over forests than over fields. This conclu-
sion is the result of experiments carried on at the forest school at
Nancy, in the forests of Haye, by Fautrat in the forest of Halatte
(Oise), and by de Pons in the forest of Troncais (Allier). Most
of those carried on in Germany, Austria, Russia, and India have
forced similar conclusions.
Regular observations taken at Nancy for 33 years since 1866, at
stations inside, on the edge of, and outside the forest, show that,
without exception, more rain has fallen inside than outside the for-
est, and that during 8 or 10 years more rain fell on the edge of the
forest than outside. If the amount of the rainfall at the center of
the forest be designated as 100, then the amount of rainfall at the
edge of the forest would be represented by 93.9 and the rainfall out-
side the forest by 76.7.
The difficulty of bringing out clearly the influence which forests
have upon precipitation results from the fact that the bulk of the
forests are in the mountains. Altitude, as is well known, has a defi-
nite relation to the amount of precipitation, and unless this influence
is eliminated that of the forest can not be clearly determined. To
neutralize this altitudinal influence Prof. R. Weber 2 has grouped
(Table 8) precipitation data obtained during a period of 10 years
(1876-1885) at Prussian forest stations situated at different altitudes,
together with average figures obtained by Dr. van Bebber³ from 192
ordinary weather stations within the respective regions at corre-
sponding altitudes but outside the forest.
1 Hellman, G. Resultate des Regenmessungs-Versuchsfeldes bei Berlin, 1855 bis 1891.
(Meteoroligische Zeitschrift, 1892, v. 9, pp. 173-181.)
2 Weber, R. Die Aufgaben der Forswirtschaft ( in Lorey's Handbuch der Forstwissen-
schaft, 1903, v. 1, pp. 1-102).
München, 1877.
3 Bebber, J. van. Die Regenverhältnisse Deutschlands.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 215
TABLE 8.-Precipitation within and outside of the forest at different altitudes.
Altitude (feet).
Stations in the forest (R. Weber)..
Ordinary stations (Dr. van Bebber).
Difference..
Per cent...
3-300 330-650
980-1,300 1,970-2,300 2,300-2 600 3,000-3,250
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
25.9
26.2
29.4
42.9
55.5
69.9
25.5
22.9
27.4
36.0
38.6
37.9
.4
1.25
3.3
2.0
6.9
16.9
32.0
14.2
7.3
19.0
43.7
84.2
This table shows that, while the rainfall at the forest stations
situated in the plains of north Germany exceeds the average for
such lands by only 0.4 of an inch, or 1.25 per cent, the excess at
moderate altitudes of from 328 to 656 feet amounts to 14.2 per cent.
At elevations between 1,970 and 2,300 feet the difference is increased
to 19 per cent, between 2,300 and 2,600 feet to 43.7 per cent, and
between 3,000 and 3,250 feet to 84.2 per cent. These figures seem to
show that the influence of the forest upon precipitation increases
with the increase in altitude. Therefore, while it is true that moun-
tains affect precipitation, wooded mountains affect it to a still greater
degree. On the other hand, it is not true, as it was for many years
commonly believed to be, that the rainfall chart is practically identi-
cal with the contour chart. In reality the matter is not so simple.
Angot, in his "Régime des pluies de la peninsule iberique," pub-
lished in the Annales du Bureau Meteorologique de France, 1893,
brings out most strikingly the fact that denuded mountains do not
always cause moisture-laden winds to precipitate their moisture. An
examination of the monthly and annual mean precipitation during
the months of June, July, and August shows it to have an entirely
different character from that during the preceding months. In June
the fall is from 1 to 2 inches in the northern part of the peninsula
and less than 1 inch in the southern part. In July and August only
from four-tenths to 1 inch falls in the north and less than four-tenths
of an inch in the south. "These three months, therefore, are the
driest months, yet," says Angot, "the wind generally blows from the
sea during this period, but owing to the excessive heat of the soil
the moisture-laden clouds, on arriving inland, are further heated
and are therefore further than ever removed from the saturation
point. In all this mountainous region, which covers the Provinces
of Granada, Jeon, and Murcia, in spite of the proximity of the
in spite of the entire absence of mountain ranges to the west which
might precipitate the moisture before it reaches here, in spite of the
presence within the region of the high peaks, some having an eleva-
tion of from 6,500 to 16,400 feet, the rainfall during July and August
does not exceed four-tenths of an inch. It is certain that if these
mountain ranges, which stretch between Sierra Nevada and Sierra
Segura, were wooded instead of being absolutely bare and dry, the
precipitation in the southeast of Spain would be increased, and there
would be no fear of the disastrous floods which at times occur in the
basin of the River Segura."
sea,
Wooded mountains, therefore, increase precipitation to a much
greater degree than denuded mountains. This effect is especially
216 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION,
1
marked during summer months, and as Fautrat's ¹ observations show,
the effect is greater over coniferous than over broadleaf forests.
The greater effect of coniferous forests upon the amount of precipi-
tation can not be due to transpiration, since coniferous forests, as is
well known, transpire less than broadleaf forests. According to
Henry 2 this greater concentration of vapor over coniferous forests
must be due to the fact that the crown of conifers intercept a greater
amount of precipitation and therefore return into the atmosphere
larger quantities of water than broadleafed trees. Fautrat's obser-
vations in 1876 showed that while the soil under broadleaf forests
received 16.7 inches, the soil under coniferous forests received only
11 inches. Therefore, 5.7 inches, or 20,608 cubic feet, per acre were
retained by the crowns of the conifers and returned into the atmos-
phere. Similar results were obtained by him in 1877.
3
Dr. Paul Schreiber, a noted meteorologist, after working up elabo-
rate meteorological data for Saxony, came to the conclusion that in a
region completely covered with forests the influence of the forest in
increasing precipitation would be equal to elevating the region 650
feet. A comparison by Prof. R. Weber of the precipitation data for
seven years at the French weather stations at Cinq Transchees and at
Amance is shown in Table 9. The two stations lie on an oölitic
plateau near Nancy at an elevation of 1,246 feet above the sea. That
at Cinq Transchees is located on a pasture surrounded by large forest
areas, while the one at Amance is in a region practically stripped of
forest. The results are given for the four seasons of the year.
TABLE 9.—Precipitation over forest pasture and in treeless region, France.
Cinq Tranchees (forest station).
Amance (not in forest)...
·
Difference.
Spring. Summer.
Fall. Winter. Total.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
6.3
7.4
5.9
6.5
7.6
6.2
8.3
29.6
7.0
25.5
.4
.9
1.4
1.3
4.1
The greater excess of precipitation over the forest pasture during
fall and winter when the clouds are very low is no doubt the result
of condensation due chiefly to the mechanical obstruction offered to
the moisture-leaden strata of air.
During the four-year period from 1874 to 1877, Fautrat and Sar-
tiaux conducted experiments on precipitation in the 12,500-acre state
forest of Halatte. The experiments were carried on in the space.
above the tops of trees; in one case 23 feet above a hardwood forest,
and in another 10 feet above a coniferous forest, with similar obser-
vations in the open. The observations yielded the following results:
Differ-
Broadleaf...
Coniferous..
Above
tree tops.
In the
open.
ence.
Inches.
25.8
26.3
Inches.
24.8
Inches.
1.0
24.0
2.3
1 Fautrat, L. Observations météorologiques faites due 1874 à 1878. Paris, 1878, p. 21.
2 Henry, E. Sur le rôle de la forêt dans la circulation de l'eau à la surface des con-
tinents. Paris, 1902, p. 14.
3 Schreiber, P. Die Einwirkung des Waldes auf Klima und Witterung.
forstliches Jahrbuch, 1899, v. 49, pp. 85-204.)
(Tharander
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 217
Dr. Müttrich¹ observed at the meteorological station at Lintzel in
the Luneburg heath the influence which the planting of a forest in
the open waste land has upon the amount of precipitation. Plant-
ing was begun in 1877. At that time the region was made up of
cultivated land, 12 per cent; heath, 85 per cent; and forest, 3 per
cent. After the planting was finished the proportion of forest land
had been increased to 80 per cent, and that of heath and agricul-
tural land reduced to 10 per cent each. Regular observations on
the amount of precipitation were begun in 1882, and the figures for
each year thereafter compared with those for five neighboring sta-
tions where conditions had, of course, remain unchanged. For the
years 1882-1888, inclusive, the precipitation at Lintzel, expressed in
per cent of the average for the five other stations, was 81.8, 86.3, 95.2,
99.8, 100.6, 103.7, and 103.9, respectively. As compared with that at
any one of the other stations, in fact, the precipitation at Lintzel
showed a steady increase for the seven-year period. This demonstra-
tion of the effect of forest cover upon local precipitation is particu-
larly striking.
A most direct proof, however, of the effect of forests in increasing
local precipitation is afforded by observations following forest plant-
ing in the steppes of southern Russia. Between 1845 and 1863 over
5,000 acres of forest were planted in an entirely open situation in
the high steppes (prairies). About 1892 two meteorological stations
were established for determining in a most accurate and thorough
manner the climatic influence of the forest. One station was located
on the open steppe and the other in the forest. At the first the
average annual precipitation during the period between 1893 and
1897 was found to be 17.9 inches, while in the newly established
forest it was 22.2 inches, or 23.9 per cent more, in spite of the fact
that the station in the open was located somewhat higher than the
one in the forest. In addition, eight parallel observations on pre-
cipitation in the open and in the forest, carried on elsewhere, showed
that the influence of the forest upon the amount of precipitation
was greatest at the time of heavy rains, but was also well marked
during the dry periods of the year. Thus, while the amount of pre-
cipitation at stations in the open during the summer of 1895 was
8.3 inches, that at the forest stations was 9.7 inches, or 16.4 per cent
greater. These observations tally with similar ones taken in 1894
and 1895 by J. Klingen in the open steppe and in the neighboring
forest of Chrinovsky, in the Government of Voronej.
TABLE 10.—Precipitation on the open steppe and in pine and oak forests.
Total for the year.
Total for the grow-
ing season.
1894
1895
1894
1895
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
In the open steppe.
In a pine forest..
In an oak forest..
Excess in pine forest over the open, actual.
Excess in pine forest over the open.
13.9
14. 1
12.0
7.6
19.9
19.8
15.0
10.1
21.3
20.7
13.9
10.3
6.0
5.7
3.0
2.5
·
.per cent..
43.0
40.0
25.0
32.0
Excess in oak forest over the open, actual..
Excess in oak forest over the open..
7.4
6.6
1.9
2.7
- per cent..
53.0
46.0
16.0
36.0
1 Müttrich, A. Ueber den Einfluss des Waldes auf die Grösse der atmosphärischen
Neiderschläge. Zeitschrift für das gesamte Forstwesen, 1892, v. 24, pp. 27–42.)
218 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The effect of forests upon precipitation, as shown from the data
brought together by such meteorologists as Woeikov and Blanford, is
even greater in tropical and subtropical climates than in temperate
regions. Thus, for British India, Woeikov shows that the forest
cover exerts a greater influence upon precipitation than does prox-
imity to the ocean.
TABLE 11.—Precipitation in forested and treeless regions, British India.
Treeless region:
Lucknow.
Benares..
Patna...
Berhampur.
Forested region:
Goalpara...
Sibsagar..
Locality.
Precipitation.
Distance
from sea.
April. May. June. July.
Miles.
526
0.2
0.7
5.0
15.5
367
.2
.5
5.0
12.9
276
.4
1.0
6.0
10.9
168
2.2
3.9
9.5
10.1
265
3555
5.8
13.0
25.3
19.6
10.2
12.0
15.5
15.9
H. F. Blanford, meteorologist to the Government of British India,
regards Woiekov's statement as too sweeping, but admits that the
forest is one of the elements which contributes to the amount of
precipitation over Assam Valley. He furnishes a very striking evi-
dence of the effect of forest protection upon increase in precipita-
tion. In part of the central Provinces of British India a forest area
of about 600,000 acres has been protected for a number of years
(since 1875) from fire. As a result there appeared, under the thin
stands of trees, a dense young growth. Complete precipitation
records were kept at seven stations from 1865 or 1867 up to the
present time. A comparison between the precipitation before 1875
and after 1875 (Table 12) shows a marked increase in the latter
period for the same area.¹
TABLE 12.-Precipitation over protected forest area, British India.
Badnur.
Mean annual precipitation.
Weather stations within the protected region.
Obser-
vations
begun. Before After Differ-
1875. 1875.
ence.
Chhindwara
Seoni..
Mandla
Burha..
Bilaspur.
Raipur...
Average..
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
1867
39.83
47.83
+ 8.00
1865
41.43
48.48
+ 7.05
1865
52.07
54.76
+ 2.69
1867
53.58
56.32
+ 2.74
1867
64.51
71.65
+7.14
1865
41.85
54.81
+12.96
1866
51.59
54.41
+ 2.82
49.27
55.47
+ 6.20
Practically all observations, then, tend to show that there is an
increase in the total amount of precipitation over wooded areas as
compared with that over barren or deforested ones. One reason for
this is undoubtedly the tendency of moisture-bearing currents to pre-
cipitate their moisture more readily above or near the forests than
1 Brandis, D. Regen and Wald in Indien. (Meteorologische Zeitschrift 1887, v. 4, p. 375.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 219
over bare or cultivated fields at the same elevation, due to the damp-
ening and chilling effect of the forest upon the atmosphere, which
induces a greater condensation of the water vapor.
That the air over forests contains a much larger amount of mois-
ture than that over bare or cultivated fields is to-day a proven fact,
based both on actual observations in the upper air strata and deter-
minations of the quantities of water evaporated by the forest. The
latest experiments by Russian agronomists and foresters, corrobo-
rated by similar observations in France and Germany, have shown
conclusively that in level or slightly hilly regions (where the stratifi-
cation of the rock is horizontal and the ground waters are stagnant,
as, for example, in the steppes of Russia or the landes of Gascony)
the forest has a desiccating effect upon the ground, causing the
water table to be lower under forest than in adjoining open fields.
Prof. Henry, in his recent investigations upon the effect of forests
upon ground waters in level country, found that the minimum de-
pression of the water table produced by the transpiration of forest
trees in the Mondon forest near Luneville, France, amounts to 11.8
inches. With a porosity of the soil strata ranging between 45 and 55
per cent, such depression would correspond to a rainfall of 5.9
inches, which amounts to 21.443 cubic feet per acre.
This amount of water given off by the forest into the air obviously
contributes greatly to the moisture content of the atmosphere above
the forest. Dr. Franz R. von Höhnel,¹ of the Austrian forest experi-
ment station at Mariabrunn, after observations carried on for a
period of three years (1878-1880) upon the amount of water tran-
spired by forests, found that one acre of oak forest, 115 years old,
absorbed in one day from 2,227 to 2,672 gallons of water per acre,
which corresponds to a rainfall of from 0.09 to 0.115 per day, or 2.9
to 3.9 per month. Taking the period of vegetation as five months,
the absorption of water would be 158,895 cubic feet, which represents
a rainfall for this period of 17.7 inches. This amount of water is
given off through transpiration from the leaves and does not include
the physical evaporation from the surface of the twigs, branches,
and leaves. These figures, while only approximate, give an idea of
the enormous quantities of water given off by forests into the air,
which has justly given them the name of the "oceans of the continent."
As a matter of fact, small clouds are frequently observed hanging
persistently over forested areas in the presence of a fairly strong
wind. If all the moisture given off by the forest could be made visi-
ble as a fog, heavily forested areas would appear enveloped by a
damp mist, more dense over coniferous than over broadleaf forests.
That the vertical influence of the forest extends to a height far
greater than 100 or 200 feet has been proven by observations taken
during balloon ascensions. Thus, Renard, commander of engineers,
and subdirector of the Central Military Balloonist Institute of
France, states that the effect of the forest upon the temperature of the
upper strata of air has been repeatedly felt during ascensions at an
elevation of nearly 5,000 feet over the forest of Orleans, which has
an area of 75,000 acres. This influence is scarcely felt over field
crops, and it is obvious that the difference can not be due to the
1 Höhnel, F. R. von. Ueber die Transpirationsgrössen der forstlichen Holzgewächse.
(Mitteilungen aus dem forstlichen Versuchswesen Oesterreichs, 1881, v. 2, pp. 47-90,
275-296.)
220 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
greater height of the trees, which at best reach but a little over 100
feet on an average. It can be accounted for only by the greater
amount of water given off by the forest and the lower temperature
above it.
1
The condensation of vapor on the surface of leaves in the form of
dew, hoarfrost, etc., in northern latitudes, according to C. E. Ney,"
is from 0.4 to 0.8 inches a year. It is much more in southern lati-
tudes, especially in tropical forests. The condensing capacity of
many tropical forests, because of the extreme dampness of the air
within them, is so great that during every clear and still night drops
of dew fall continuously from the leaves as in rain. (This is also
the case in the redwood belt on the Pacific coast.) Thus part of the
moisture which is evaporated from the leaves during the day is con-
densed during the night, and the dews in the forest in all latitudes
are so heavy that they dampen the soil under the leaves.
Condensation formed within the soil may be omitted from this
discussion, judging from the results of local observations over limited
areas, since there seems to be no difference in this respect between
open field and forest.
Another reason for greater precipitation over forests may be the
mechanical action of the trees themselves. When a cloud in the
mountains passes through a forest, the branches and the leaves of the
trees retard its movement. It comes, therefore, into a state when it
can no longer retain its moisture in suspension, just as a river carry-
ing sediment deposits part of it as soon as the rapidity of its flow is
diminished. The moisture from such clouds is intercepted by the
forest in the form of mist or drops of dew or crystals of hoarfrost on
the branches and foliage of the trees.
The mechanical action of the forest is especially important in the
case of snow. The influence of forests upon the amount of snow has
been especially studied in Russia, where in some places more than 30
per cent of all the precipitation is in that form. During heavy
storms the forests not only catch more snow than do large open fields,
from which it is blown away, but they prevent it drifting. There is
always more snow deposited within the forest than in nonforested
areas, except in depressions and protected places where snow accu-
mulates. În regions where the snowfall is heavy the amount of snow
that accumulates in the forest, and especially in small openings
within the forest, is often so great that gauges located even under the
crowns of trees contain more snow than those located in large open
places, in spite of the fact that snow is very readily retained by the
branches, especially in coniferous forests, and that part of the snow
thus retained by the trees gets into the rain gauges only at the time
of thawing, and therefore can not be accurately recorded. The re-
sults of many years of observations in Russia upon the accumulation
of snow in the forest and outside of it have conclusively shown that
young forests, deciduous forests, and small openings within the forest
collect nearly twice as much snow as open fields.
After all, it really matters very little for the final result whether
the increased precipitation over the forest is due to its influence upon
the condensation of vapor in the air or to the mechanical action of its
branches and leaves. The fact remains that forests receive more pre-
cipitation than open fields.
1 Ney, C. E. Der Wald und die Quellen. Tübingen, 1893.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 221
PRECIPITATION OVER CONTINENTS.
The effect of the forest upon local precipitation, however, is insig-
nificant as compared with its effects upon the precipitation over the
interior of continents.
The moisture given off into the atmosphere by forests is carried
great distances over the country or out to sea before it appears as
rain; yet, owing to the enormous quantities of water given off by the
forest, the amount of moisture in the air, and consequently the chance
for rain, is increased. So widely distributed is this influence, how-
ever, that even the most exact observations could never determine its
extent. The great drawback to local observations, on the other hand,
is that the neighboring open areas, the climate of which is compared
with that of the forest, are themselves under the influence of the
forest.
Prof. Lorentz Liburnau, at the end of his book on Forest, Climate,
and Water, remarks that his data and conclusions apply only to the
influence which the forest exerts while it exists, but do not extend to
conditions which may arise from its complete destruction. "If, for
instance, according to our observations in the Carpathian foothills,
it appears that the influence of the forest upon the neighboring coun-
try is only insignificant, this does not indicate that a complete de-
struction of all the existing forests will produce here also only insig
nificant climatic changes. Very likely, if the forest were completely
destroyed, the difference would be much greater than that which now
exists between the climate of the forest and its neighboring areas."
Source of atmospheric moisture over the land. While definite ob-
servations to show the relation between the forest and the climate of
continents are still lacking, there are many theoretical considerations
which strongly point to a distinct influence of the forest, especially
upon the climate of large continents of a level character.
The accompanying maps, on which the direction of the prevailing
winds is indicated by arrows and the mean precipitation by lines, one
typical of the summer period and the other of the winter, show a
most intimate relation between the prevailing winds and precipita-
tion in the eastern half of the United States. A high meteorological
authority in this country states that the "precipitation in the eastern
half of the United States is from the aqueous vapor that is raised up
from the vast waters to the south and southeast of the continent,"
and that "the supply is inexhaustible." 1
29
If by this is meant that the precipitation over the eastern part of
the United States is derived entirely from evaporation from the Gulf
of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, the statement is not entirely cor-
rect. It is true that the southern winds which prevail all over the
eastern United States during the summer pass over the Atlantic
Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico and reach the land loaded with mois-
ture. As soon, however, as they reach the land, part of the moisture
is precipitated, and as they move farther inland they become drier
and derive their moisture more and more from the evaporation from
the land.
Of the 44,015,400 square miles of land surface of the earth 79 per
cent drains directly toward the ocean and 21 per cent forms an in-
1 Moore, W. L. A report on the influence of forests on climate and on floods. Wash-
ington, D. C., 1910.
222 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
2"
closed inland area without ocean drainage. The 79 per cent may be
called the peripheral area of the earth's surface, and the importance
of the evaporation from it is, on the whole, very great.
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
LINES OF MEAN PRECIPITATION
AND DIRECTION OF
PREVAILING SURFACE WINDS
IN THE
UNITED STATES
FOR THE MONTH OF JANUARY
PREPARED IN THE FOREST SERVICE
FROM DATA FURNISHED BY THE
U.S. WEATHER BUREAU
3"
5″
2× GULF OF MEXICO
PACIFIC
1
OCEAN
Prof. Ed. Brückner ¹ computes the "continental vapor
66
evapor-
ated from this peripheral area to be about 21,000 cubic miles (20,871.3
cubic miles). It plays, therefore, even a more important part in
1 Brückner, E. Die Bilanz des Kreislaufs des Wassers auf der Erde. (Geographische
Zeitschrift, v. 6; also in La Pedologie (Russian), 1905, v. 7, No. 3.)
1161
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 223
↑
ས །
L.
3"
supplying moisture to the air than does the vapor directly evaporated
from the ocean. Brückner estimates that the peripheral regions of
the continents are capable of supplying seven-ninths of their pre-
ATLANTIC
OCEAN
LINES OF Mean pregIPITATION
AND DIRECTION OF
PREVAILING SURFACE WINDS
IN THE
UNITED STATES
FOR THE MONTH OF JULY
PREPARED IN THE FOREST SERVICE
FROM DATA furnishED BY THE
U.S. WEATHER BUREAU
1911
3" 4"
GULF OF MEXICO
PACIFIC
इन
OCEAN
cipitation_by_evaporation from their own areas. If the evaporation
from land plays such an important part in the precipitation over
areas adjoining the ocean, it becomes still more important at some
distance from the ocean.
It may be assumed, therefore, that the
224 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
moisture which is carried by the winds into the interior of vast
continents, thousands of miles from the ocean, is almost exclusively
due to continental vapor and not to evaporation from the ocean.
In the interior closed basins the precipitation and evaporation
are, as a rule, equal.
The circulation of water on the earth's surface may be shown in
the form of a balance sheet, as follows:
Balance sheet-Circulation of water on the earth's surface.
A. Entire earth surface (196,911,000.59 miles):
Cubic
miles.
Depth, in
inches.
Per cent.
Evaporation from water surfaces....
Evaporation from land surfaces..
92, 121
23,270
29.5
7.5
Precipitation on entire earth surface..
115,391
37.0
100
8218
B. Oceans (141,312,600 square miles):
Evaporation from oceans..
92, 121
41.3
100
Amount of ocean vapor carried to the land (net ¹)..
5,997
2.8
7
86, 124
38.5
93
C. Peripheral land area (44,015,400 square miles):
Ocean vapor (net)
5,997
8.7
29
Continental vapor from the peripheral land surface...
20,871
29.9
100
Precipitation over the peripheral land area.
26,868
38.6
129
D. Closed interior basins with no drainage to the ocean (11,583,000 miles):
Evaporation from closed basins.
2,399
13.0
100
Precipitation over closed basins...
2,399
13.0
100
¹ The difference between the amount of vapor that escapes from land to the ocean and from the ocean
to land.
An analysis of these figures discloses the fact that one-fifth of the
entire vapor on the earth's surface comes from evaporation on land;
that only 7 per cent, or 5,997.5 cubic miles, of all the water evaporated
from the oceans enters into the precipitation over land; and that 78
per cent of all the precipitation that falls over the peripheral land
area is furnished by this area itself.
Where is evaporation on land greatest? The evaporation from a
moist, bare soil is, on the whole, greater than from a water surface,
especially during the warm season of the year when the surface of the
soil is heated. Soil covered only with a dead vegetable cover evapo-
rates moisture much more slowly than a bare soil or an open water
surface. On the other hand, a soil with a living vegetal cover loses
moisture, both through direct evaporation and absorption by its
vegetation, much faster than bare, moist soil.
The more highly developed the vegetal cover the faster is moisture
extracted from the soil and given off into the air. In this respect the
forest is the greatest desiccator of ground moisture. The experiments
of Otozky, which have been fully confirmed by many observers in
other countries, have conclusively shown that the forest, on account
of its excessive transpiration, consumes more moisture, all other con-
ditions being equal, than a similar area bare of vegetation or covered
with some herbaceous growth.
The amount of water consumed by the forest is nearly equal to the
total annual precipitation-in cold and humid regions less and in
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 225
warm and dry regions somewhat greater. This enormous amount of
moisture, which is later given off into the air by the forest, may be
compared to clouds of exhaust steam thrown into the atmosphere, and
must necessarily play an important part in the economy of nature.
If the southern and southeastern winds, in their passage toward the
north, northwest, and northeast, in the spring and summer, did not
encounter the vast forest areas bordering the shores of the Gulf of
Mexico and the Atlantic coast, and those of the Southern Appa-
lachian, and, therefore, were not enriched with the enormous quan-
tities of moisture given off by them, the precipitation in the Central
States and the prairie region would probably be much smaller than
it is now. For the central interior region of the United States is the
battle ground of two titanic forces, one harmful, the other beneficial.
The beneficial one takes the form of the mild and humid summer
winds from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, which at
their height extend into the continent as far north as North Dakota,
as far west as the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, and as far east as
New England, and during the prevalence of which the rainfall in the
eastern United States is heaviest. The other and harmful force is
made up
of the warm chinook winds which blow out of the northern
Rocky Mountains, and the dry westerly winds of the upper Missis-
sippi and the western lake region, both of which carry in their wake
serious injury to orchards and fields. The Central States and the
prairie region are geographically at the point where the battle be-
tween the two forces is fiercest, and the victory is now on one side,
now on the other. When the humid southerly winds extend their
influence far into the interior of the continent and overpower the dry
continental winds, the Central States and prairie region, the granary
of the United States, produce large crops. When the dry winds
overpower the humid southerly winds there are droughts and crop
failures.
As soon as the moisture-laden winds from the Gulf reach the land
and encounter irregularities they are cooled and begin to lose part
of their moisture in the form of precipitation. As long as the air
currents remain saturated with moisture the slightest cooling or irreg-
ularity of the land that causes them to rise will result in precipita-
tion. But as they move inland and become drier the remaining
moisture is given off with difficulty, and precipitation decreases.
The sooner the humid air currents over land are drained of their
moisture, the shorter, of course, is the distance from the ocean over
which abundant precipitation falls. If precipitation over land de-
pended solely on the amount of water brought by the prevailing
winds directly from the ocean, rainfall would, of course, be confined
only to a narrow belt close to the sea. Not all the water that is
precipitated, however, is lost from the air current. A large part of
it is again evaporated from the land into the atmosphere. The
moisture-laden air currents, therefore, soon lose the moisture which
they obtain directly from the ocean, but in moving further into the
interior absorb the evaporation from the land. Hence, the further
from the ocean the greater is the proportion which evaporation from
the land forms of the air moisture. In fact, at certain distances in-
land practically all the moisture of the air, or at least as great a part
as that formed originally by the water evaporated direct from the
ocean, must consist of that obtained by evaporation from the land.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-15
226 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In the case of the central and plain States, then, what would be
the effect upon precipitation of complete or even partial destruction
of forests in the Atlantic plains or in the Southern Appalachians?
Since the mean temperature in the eastern portion of the United
States drops rapidly from north to south, the moisture-laden air
currents, upon reaching the land, would be cooled off and rapidly
drained of their moisture within a comparatively short distance from
the ocean. The sandy soil so characteristic of the southern pine belt
of the Gulf and South Atlantic States would rapidly absorb the rain,
without returning much of it into the atmosphere. The rain which
fell upon the slopes of the mountains would rapidly run off into the
streams. While the removal of the forest might increase the evapo-
ration from the ground itself, yet the more rapid run-off and the
absence of transpiration by the trees would reduce the total amount
of water evaporated into the atmosphere. The land, even if taken up
for agriculture, could never return such large quantities of rain into
the atmosphere as the forests did. The result would be that less
moisture would be carried by the prevailing winds into the interior
of the country, and, therefore, less precipitation would occur there.
Regarding Sweden, an eminent meteorological authority, Dr. Ham-
berg,¹ says:
"The excess of evaporation which the forest vegetation of Sweden
furnishes to the atmosphere above what the same area would furnish
if it were covered only with herbaceous vegetation must, of course,
be very considerable. If this aqueous vapor remained in the forest
and returned to the land in the form of rain, it would be extremely
beneficial. But winds carry it off and spread it in all directions with
such rapidity that its beneficial influence for our country (Sweden)
remains very doubtful."
The forests of Sweden have, however, an important influence upon
the precipitation of the countries to the east, into which the prevail-
ing winds blow, since in regions far removed from the ocean the
feeding of the atmosphere by local evaporation has an important
bearing upon the humidity and amount of precipitation. "On the
continents, in countries like central Siberia," says Hamberg, "forest
vegetation must influence, of course, the humidity of the air. It re-
turns to the atmosphere in the form of vapor the water collected
and conserved in the forest which otherwise would run off. It lowers
the temperature of the air. As a result of these two causes, the
relative humidity of the air must increase, and with it must also
increase the inclination to precipitation in the form of rain or snow."
Whether mountain forests have the same effect as forests in level
countries upon the precipitation of the regions into which the pre-
vailing winds that pass over them blow, is difficult to determine.
The problem is complicated by the fact that high mountain chains
themselves exert an influence upon precipitation and the direction
of the winds, not only by presenting a mechanical obstruction to the
free passage of the air, but also on account of the difference in tem-
perature on the different slopes. A moist current of air in passing
over a mountain chain undergoes several changes. In ascending it
becomes cooler, the temperature of air not fully saturated decreasing
1° F. for every 182 feet of ascension. At the same time, the water-
1 Hamberg, H. E. De l'influence des forêts sur le climat de la Suède. Stockholm,
1885-1897.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 227
holding capacity of the air decreases until the saturation point is
reached, and fogs, clouds, and precipitation begin to form. Further
cooling of the air in its upward course is counteracted to some ex-
tent by the heat that is separated in the process of condensing vapor,
and from then on proceeds only at the rate of about 0.5° F. for every
182 feet of ascension. After the air current has passed the crest of
the mountain and lost an amount of moisture in ratio to the degree
to which it has been cooled, it descends on the leeward side and
becomes heated. In its descent it absorbs the fogs and clouds, and in
this process takes on some heat. Further heating goes on at the rate
of 1° F. for every 182 feet of descent.
The more moisture the air loses in ascending a mountain the
greater is the amount of heat it can absorb in descending. If, for
instance, a current of saturated air, before ascending, had a tempera-
ture of 50° F., and the crest over which it passed was 9,900 feet
high, then, on the leeward side at the same altitude at which it
began to ascend, it would have a temperature of 77° F. and, provided
no moisture is absorbed in the descent, a relative humidity of 21
per cent.¹ At other obstructions met by the same current of air the
same changes would take place, though on the next chain of moun-
tains new precipitation begins, as a rule, only at an altitude equal
to that of the crest of the previous mountain chain over which the
current of air has passed.
2
Prof. Mayr has shown that wherever, as on the Pacific coast, in
the Rocky Mountains, and in Caucasus and Turkestan, there are
several parallel chains of mountains at right angles to the moist air
current, each chain higher than the previous one, the forest on each
consecutive mountain chain does not extend below an altitude equal
to that of the preceding chain. Between the mountain chains are
treeless, dry valleys.
As a rule the moist air currents passing over wooded slopes, being
chilled, deposit most of their precipitation on the windward side.
It is only in exceptional cases, such as when the air is not fully satu-
rated, or when warm currents rise from below, that the air current,
instead of depositing moisture, becomes enriched with moisture and
carries it over the crest to the regions lying beyond. This may
occur on southern slopes, which are likely to be warm. The influence
of wooded windward slopes upon the humidity of the region to the
leeward side of the mountains, therefore, varies. It is apparent,
however, that while the forests in the mountains have a marked
influence upon local precipitation, their influence upon the humidity
of regions lying to the leeward can not, on the whole, be very great.
SUMMARY OF EFFECTS OF FORESTS UPON CLIMATE.
Accurate observations, continued for many years in different parts
of the world, establish with certainty the following facts in regard
to the influence of forests upon climate:
The forest lowers the temperature of the air inside and above it.
The vertical influence of forests upon temperature extends in some
cases to a height of 5,000 feet.
1 Klossovsky, A. V. Osnovi meteorologii. Odessa, 1910, p. 48.
2 Mayr, H. Waldungen von Nord Amerika, Munich, 1890.
4
228 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Forests increase both the abundance and frequency of local pre-
cipitation over the areas they occupy, the excess of precipitation, as
compared with that over adjoining unforested areas, amounting in
some cases to more than 25 per cent.
The influence of mountains upon precipitation is increased by the
presence of forests. The influence of forests upon local precipitation
is more marked in the mountains than in the plains.
Forests in broad continental valleys enrich with moisture the pre-
vailing air currents that pass over them, and thus enable larger
quantities of moisture to penetrate into the interior of the continent.
The destruction of such forests, especially if followed by weak,
herbaceous vegetation or complete baring of the ground, affects the
climate, not necessarily of the locality where the forests are destroyed,
but of the drier regions into which the air currents flow.
While the influence of mountain forests upon local precipitation is
greater than that of forests in level countries, their effect upon the
humidity of the region lying in the lee of them is not very great.
FORESTS AS CONSERVERS OF PRECIPITATION.
WATER AVAILABLE FOR STREAMFLOW.
All the water precipitated over an area covered with vegetation
does not go to swell the underground drainage which feeds the
springs and the regular flow of streams. Some of it is dissipated
before it has a chance to reach the lower strata. A part (i) is inter-
cepted by the branches and leaves of vegetation and is evaporated
from them into the air; another part (e) is evaporated from the
surface of the soil; a third part (r) runs off from the surface of the
slopes into the valleys below; and a fourth part (t) is absorbed by
plants and used by them for the building up of tissue and trans-
piration. Finally, a surplus (S), which is left over and above the
amount absorbed by plants and evaporated by the soil, filters through
into the ground and enriches the water which goes to supply the
streams. Thus the water balance of any given area may be expressed
in the form of an equation, in which P=i+e+r+t+S, and the
amount of precipitation available for streamflow may then be ex-
pressed as S=P—(i+e+r+t). Thus it is evident that, since the
water available for streams is the amount which is left over and
above that evaporated, transpired, and lost through surface run-off,
the smaller the loss of atmospheric precipitation, the greater will be
the amount of water that penetrates into the ground and becomes
available for streamflow. Hence, to determine the effect of forests
upon streamflow, it is necessary first to determine whether a greater
or less amount of precipitation is dissipated in a forested than in a
treeless region.
In a level country, where there is practically no surface run-off,
the only sources of loss of water to the streams are interception by
vegetation, evaporation from the soil, and transpiration. The water
available for streamflow in a level country, therefore, may be repre-
sented by the equation S-P—(i+e+t). In mountainous regions,
on the other hand, surface run-off is one of the largest sources of
loss to ground waters, and the hydrophysical influence of the forest
in mountainous country is therefore essentially different from that
in level country.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 229
EFFECT OF FORESTS IN LEVEL REGIONS.
The forest, all other conditions being equal, has an influence dis-
tinct from that of any other vegetable cover upon the amount of
precipitation lost to the streams. This influence varies, of course,
with the kind of forest, just as the influence of field crops or of
bare soil varies in accordance with the character of each.
INTERCEPTION BY TREF CROWNS.
On bare ground, for instance on a plowed field, it is self-evident
that no water is lost through interception by vegetation. In a field or
meadow from which the grass or crops have been removed intercep-
tion by the vegetal cover is very slight. It is greater on fields with
growing crops, and is greatest in the forest, especially when the trees
are in leaf.
Many experiments have been carried on in different parts of the
world to determine the amount of water intercepted by the crowns of
trees. The results obtained vary considerably with the character
of the trees, their age, density of crown, the amount and severity of
precipitation, velocity and direction of the wind, etc. The amount
of water retained by tree crowns is, however, not much greater than
that retained by a meadow of dense grass or cultivated plants at the
time of their full development. Ney¹ estimates, on the basis of the
average number and weight of beech leaves shed, that the aggre-
gate foliage of a middle-aged beech forest on 1 acre would occupy
8.4 acres, and on the basis of the average yield of straw and hay, that
the aggregate area occupied by the foliage of cereals would be 7.4
acres; of clover, 5.6 acres; and of meadow grass, 4.8 acres. Though
cultivated plants present less surface per acre than do beech leaves
the latter offer more mechanical hindrances to the run-off of the
water. It is very likely, therefore, that during the summer months
cultivated fields retain as much water as does a beech forest.
For the entire year, however, the tree tops intercept more water
than field crops, which are present for only a few months. The
foliage in deciduous forests, on the other hand, remains intact for
six months, and in coniferous forests all the year around. In decidu-
ous forests, even when the foliage is gone, the branches still prevent
a portion of the precipitation from reaching the ground directly.
As a result of a great number of investigations, it may be assumed
that coniferous forests intercept more precipitation than broadleaf
forests. Under average conditions a spruce forest will intercept
1 Ney, C. E. Der Wald und die Quellen. Tübingen, 1893.
2
2 Hoppe, E. Hegenmessung unter Baumkronen, Vienna, 1896; Fautrat, L. Influence
comparée des bois feuillus et des bois résineux, sur la pluie et sur l'etat hygrométrique de
l'air (Académie des science, Paris, Comptes rendus, 1877; Fautrat, L. Observations
météroligique faites de 1874 à 1878. Paris, 1878; Krutzsch, H. Ueber den Einflus der
Waldungen auf die Regenverhältnisse der germässgten Zone. (Tharander forstliches
Jahrbuch, 1855, v. 11, pp. 123-141); Ebermayer, E. Die physikalischen Einwirkung des
Waldes auf Luft und Boden. Berlin, 1873; Bühler, A. Die Niederschläge im Walde.
(Schweizerische Centralanstalt für das forstliche Versuchswesen. Mitteilungen, 1892, v. 2,
pp. 127-160); Ney, C. E. Ueber die Messung des an den Schäften der Bäume herabflies-
senden Regenwassers. (Mitteilungen aus dem forstlichen Versuchswesen Oesterreichs,
1894, no. 17, pp. 115-125); Johnen, A. Comparative Beobachtungen der Neiderschläge
nach Fautrat's Methode. (Centralblatt für das gesamte Forstwesen, 1878, pp. 16-19);
Riegler, W. Beobachfungen über die Abfuhr meteorlogischen Wassers entang den Hoch-
stämmen (Mitteilungen aus dem forstlichen Versuchswesen Oesterreichs, 1881, v. 2, pp.
234-246); Mathieu, J. Météorologie comparée, agricole et forestière. Paris, 1878; Eber-
mayer, E. Untersuchungs-Ergebnisse über die Menge und Vertheilung der Niederschläge
in den Wäldern (Forstlich natürwissenschaftliche Zeitschrifa, 1897, v. 6, pp. 283-301).
230 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
about 39 per cent of the precipitation, a broadleaf forest about 13
per cent. The amount of precipitation intercepted is the smallest
in a young stand and greatest in a middle-aged one. This fact is
clearly brought out by investigations conducted by Dr. Bühler in
Switzerland in dense beech stands of different ages. The figures
given in table 13 are averages for two to three years' observations:
TABLE 13.-Interception of precipitation by tree crowns in beech stands of
various ages.
Age of stand.
20 years. 50 years. 60 years. 90 years.
Proportion which reached the ground.
Proportion retained by the tree crowns.
27
Per cent. Per cent. Per cent. Per cent.
98
73
77
2
83
23
17
The interceptive influence of forests is much greater in light than
in heavy rains. It is evident, therefore, that all the figures which
show the interceptive influence of tree crowns have a value only for
the place and time that the measurements were taken, and for this
reason can not be of general application. In regions where the pre-
cipitation is in the form of heavy or prolonged rains the ground
under the forest, no matter whether the latter is deciduous or conifer-
ous, will receive as much or nearly as much water as the bare ground,
while in regions where the rains are neither heavy nor of long dura-
tion a large portion of the precipitation will remain in the tree
crowns and escape the soil.
Of the precipitation intercepted by branches and leaves, however,
only a part is evaporated into the air and so lost to the soil; the rest
runs along the branches and trunks down to the ground. The amount
of precipitation which reaches the ground along the twigs and
trunks varies with the species, the bark, and character of branching.
Thus, in a coniferous forest, the amount of precipitation which
reaches the ground along the branches and trunks is very small (0.7
to 3 per cent), while in deciduous forests, under average conditions,
it is about 15 per cent. Ney, after deducting from the amount of
precipitation retained by the tree crowns the amount of water which
runs down the trunks and branches, computed the loss of precipita-
tion for the whole year, through interception by the crowns, to
average for beech forests, 15 per cent; for pine, 20 per cent; and for
spruce, 333 per cent. Mathieu, at Nancy, on a basis of 11 years'
observations, found that a forest of blue beech intercepts by its
foliage and returns into the atmosphere on an average 8.48 per cent,
and in winter only 5.85 per cent of the precipitation.
That portion of the precipitation which is prevented from reach-
ing the ground directly is, however, not lost to the forest. Its evap-
oration increases the relative humidity of the air, which, together
with the lower temperature within the forest, results in the condensa-
tion, especially in a coniferous forest, of a great deal of moisture, in
the form of fog, dew, and hoarfrost.
Thus, though the forest, more than any other vegetable cover,
intercepts atmospheric precipitation and prevents it from reaching
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 231
the ground, the amount of precipitation thus lost is offset, except
in dense, old stands of pure spruce, by the greater precipitation
over the forest and the greater condensation of vapor within it in
the form of dew, hoarfrost, etc.
EVAPORATION FROM THE SOIL.
The influence of the forest upon evaporation has been determined
for both water and soil surfaces. Numerous experiments on evapo-
ration from water surfaces outside and inside the forest 1 have
been carried on in France, Germany, and Russia. All these give
practically the same result, namely, that evaporation from a free
water surface is two and a half times greater outside the forest than
inside.
Though investigations on the evaporation of water from soil sur-
faces were begun in the eighteenth century, and there are on record
at least 50 different experiments, the results are less conclusive than
those relating to the evaporation from free water surfaces.2 Ac-
cording to the most accurate investigations, evaporation from bare
soil in the open, under average conditions, amounts to about 50 per
cent of precipitation. This ratio, however, varies within very wide
limit. Ebermayer¹ and Wollney, whose experiments are among
the most accurate, determined in one case the evaporation from a
bare sandy soil in the open to be 33.6 per cent of the precipitation,
and that from a clayey soil, 50.8 per cent. In another experiment,
where the kind of soil was not given, the evaporation was 49.4 per
cent. Comparative observations on the amount of water evaporated
by soil within the forest and in the open have been carried on chiefly
by Prof. Ebermayer. These observations were made only during
the summer on soils always kept at the point of saturation. The
absolute figures, therefore, must be taken with considerable caution,
but the ratio between the evaporation from soil in the forest and
from a similar soil in the open which they show is extremely im-
portant. This is that the evaporation from forest soil without a
cover of leaf litter is 39 per cent, and with a cover of litter 15.4 per
cent of the amount evaporated by a similar soil in the open. If the
same ratio holds for winter, then, within the forest, a soil covered
with leaf litter evaporates only 7.7 per cent, and one without litter
19.5 per cent of the total annual precipitation.
It is fair to assume that in a pine forest which thins out with age
the evaporation from the soil will be above the average. In a beech
or other deciduous forest, with heavy, dense foliage, it will be less
than the average.
4
Ney determines the evaporation from the soil in a beech forest
with leaf litter to be 6 per cent of the precipitation, without a leaf
litter 15 per cent; in a pine forest with a leaf litter 15 per cent, with-
out leaf litter 24 per cent; in a spruce forest with leaf litter 8.1 per
cent, without leaf litter 19.5 per cent.
1 Ebermayer, E. Die physikalischen Einwirkung des Waldes auf Luft und Boden.
Berlin, 1873.
2 Ezera, K. Untersuchungen über den Einfluss der physikalischen und chemischen
Eigenschaften des Bodens auf dessen Verdunstungsvermögen. Erlangen, 1844; Mangin,
A. Influence des forêts sur le régime des eaux. (Revue des eaux et forêts, 1869.)
3 Wollney, E. Des Einfluss der Pflanzendecke und der Beschattung auf die physikal-
ischen Eigenschaften des Bodens. Berlin, 1877.
4 Ney, Č. E. Der Wald und die Quellen. Tübingen, 1893.
232 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The evaporation from soil in an open field covered with some vege-
tation has never been accurately determined, but, according to Ney,
it scarcely exceeds one-third of the precipitation.
These results only confirm what one would expect of the influence
which the forest has upon evaporation. The rate at which water is
evaporated from the surface depends on the temperature of the air
and soil, relative humidity of the air, movement of the air, and char-
acter of the soil cover. It has already been pointed out that the
temperature of the air throughout the entire year and that of the
soil in summer is lower within the forest than in the open; and
that the relative humidity, especially in the summer, is greater in
the forest than outside of it.
Wind. The wind exercises a great influence on evaporation, both
in summer and winter, by constantly renewing the air in contact with
the moisture-containing surface. By breaking the force of the wind
and checking the circulation of air, a forest cover reduces the evapo-
ration of water or snow from the forest soil.
Mr. F. H. King,¹ of the agricultural experiment station of the
University of Wisconsin, carried on in 1894 a number of interesting
experiments to determine the effect of winds upon the rate of evapo-
ration within and outside the sphere of influence of woods. The
first series of experiments was made to the northwest of Plainfield,
on a piece of ground planted to corn, south of a grove of black oaks
having an average height of from 12 to 15 feet. At the time of the
experiment there was a gentle breeze from a little west of north. The
results showed in one case that the evaporation at 20 feet from the
wood was 17.2 per cent less than at 120 feet. In another case, at
three stations located within 60 feet of the woods, the amount of
evaporation was 24 per cent less than at three stations located be-
tween 280 and 320 feet away from the woods. Another experiment
near the town of Almond, to the south of an oak grove 80 rods square,
in a field sowed to oats and wheat, showed that the amount of evapo-
ration increased until a point 300 feet from the woods was reached.
Here the evaporation was 17.7 per cent greater than at 200 feet and
66.6 per cent greater than at 20 feet from the woods, the difference.
being due entirely to the protection from the wind afforded by the
forest.
2
Observations made by the Forest Service on the influence of wind-
breaks upon crops have shown that the per cent of moisture saved
within an area 12 times as wide as the height of the trees may amount
at different wind velocities to from 11 to over 40 per cent.
Character of soil cover.—As already shown the soil cover in the
forest, composed of a mulch of fallen leaves and humus, reduces con-
siderably the amount of moisture evaporated from the ground. Ex-
periments conducted by Prof. Ebermayer for five years (1869–1873)
in Bavaria demonstrated that a layer of fallen leaves is capable of
reducing evaporation from the soil by 24 per cent. Thus, while the
average evaporation from the soil in the forest deprived of leaf litter
during the summer months (May to September) amounted to 39
1 King, F. H. Influence of woods on the rate of evaporation and amount of moisture
in the air over fields to the leeward of them. (Wisconsin-Agricultural experiment sta-
tion. Bulletin 42, 1894, pp. 14–19.)
2 Bates, C. G. Windbreaks: their influence and value. Wash., D. C., 1911. (U. S.—
Dept. of agriculture-Forest service. Bull. 86.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 233
per cent of that in the open, the evaporation from the same soil cov-
ered with a fairly deep layer of leaf litter was only 15 per cent of
that in the open. In other words, while the forest cover alone dimin-
ished the evaporation from the ground by 61 per cent, the forest
cover, together with the leaf litter, reduced it by 85 per cent.
Evaporation from soil in the open decreases greatly, of course,
with increase in altitude; yet the forest cover, together with the leaf
litter still exercises its influence, although the difference between the
evaporation in the open and that in the forest at high altitudes is
not so great as at lower ones.
The lower summer temperature of the soil and air in the forest,
the greater relative humidity of the air, the checking of strong air
currents, together with the double protection afforded to the soil by
the mulch of fallen leaves and humus and the tree tops, tend to re-
duce the direct evaporation from the soil in the forest to practically
a negligible quantity as compared to that in the open.
TRANSPIRATION.
Besides the loss of water through direct evaporation from the soil.
a large amount is returned to the atmosphere by the transpiration
of leaves. This may be called physiological evaporation, in distinc-
tion from physical evaporation, since it is essential to the physio-
logical function of the tree.
Loss of water through transpiration is one of the most complicated
physiological processes. Although the problem has received a great
deal of attention and has been studied by a large number of investi-
gators, the exact quantities of water transpired by different trees and
plants are still unknown. What the experiments thus far have
established are the comparative amounts transpired by different
plants. Of the experiments carried on upon the amount transpired
by forest trees those of Wollny, Höhnel, and Bühler are the most
valuable since they were carried on for long periods of years and with
the utmost care.
Höhnel determined the consumption of water by forest trees by
repeated weighings of the pots containing them, and determined the
loss of water through transpiration by the difference between succes-
sive weighings.
In Table 14 are brought together the results of Höhnel's experi-
ments. The table is of especial interest in that it gives the compara-
tive water consumption of different species. The figures are only
for the vegetative season, and show the number of pounds of water
transpired for every pound of dry-leaf substance.
234 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
TABLE 14.—Amount of water transpired by different forest trees per pound of
dry-leaf substance.
Birch.
Ash..
Hornbeam.
Beech.
•
Maple (Spitzahorn)
Maple (Bergahorn).
Elm..
Oak.
Oak (Zerreiche)..
Spruce..
Scotch pine..
Fir..
Austrian pine.
1878
1879
1880
Pounds.
Pounds.
Pounds.
679.87 845.13
918.00
566.89 983.05
1,018. 50
562.51
759.01
871.70
472.46 859.50
913.80
462.87 517.22
611.80
435.77
618.30
703.80
407.31 755.00
822.80
283.45
622.21
691.50
253.33
614.22
492.20
58.47
206.36
140.20
58.02
103.72
121.05
44.02
77.54
93.80
32.07
99.92
70.05
Thus, during the vegetative period, birch and ash trees transpire
for every pound of dried-out leaves from 567 to 1,019 pounds of
water-more than do any other forest trees; beeches and maples from
436 to 914 pounds; oaks from 253 to 692 pounds; and conifers, which
transpire least, from 32 to 206 pounds. The difference in the amount
of transpiration in the different years is explained by the fact that
the years 1879 and 1880 had more rain and therefore more water
penetrated the soil.
Höhnel estimates that a fully stocked beech stand, 115 years
old, consumes from 1,560 to 2,140 tons of water per acre, or 1.15
acre-feet per year. The last means that if the water were spread
over an acre it would have a depth of 1.15 feet. If an acre contains
526 trees from 50 to 60 years old, the water consumption is only
1,026 tons per acre, or 0.70 acre-foot; and if it contains 1,620 trees,
only 35 years old, the consumption is as low as 321.5 tons per acre,
or 0.23 acre-foot. Höhnel expressed the quantities of water that
were transpired in 1880 in per cent of the precipitation of that year.
He found that elm transpired 431 per cent, beech 25 per cent, and
birch 40 per cent of the precipitation. In 1878 and 1879 the per
cent of transpiration was smaller.
Wollny, in observations carried on for six years, determined the
amount of water transpired by different species of trees in pots,
containing identical amounts and kinds of soil, by measuring the
amounts of water which percolated through the pots. He found
that spruce transpires, on an average, during the year 37.9 per cent
of the annual precipitation and birch 27.8 per cent; but that during
the vegetative period the amount transpired by the two species is
almost the same, spruce 33 per cent and birch 32.1 per cent.
Ney¹ computed, on the basis of Höhnel's results, the amount
transpired during the entire vegetative season by beech as 10.8
inches, spruce 8.3 inches, and pine 2.9 inches; or, for the forest in
general, 7.3 inches. This, expressed in per cent of the total precipi-
tation (31.5 inches), would be 23.2. In the case of coniferous trees
the amount transpired during the winter must be taken into ac-
count, so that the transpiration of pine for the entire year would be
3.1 inches (10.2 per cent of the total precipitation) and for spruce
9.1 inches (28.9 per cent of the total precipitation).
1 Ney, C. E. Der Wald und die Quellenbildung. (Forstwissenschaftliches Centralblatt
1901, p. 452.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 235
TOTAL AMOUNT OF WATER LOST TO STREAMS.
Loss of water to streams through interception by tree crowns and
ground cover, by evaporation from the ground, and by transpiration,
in a level country with no surface run-off, may be summed up for
different kinds of forest, as in Table 15.
TABLE 15.-Loss of water to streams in forests in level country (annual pre-
cipitation 31.5 inches).
With leaf litter:
Beech..
Pine.
Spruce..
Average.
Without leaf litter:
·
Beech.
Pine.
Spruce..
•
Average...
Intercep-
tion by
forest
tion from
Evapora- Transpi-
ration.
soil.
Total loss
Total loss. of annual
rainfall.
cover.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Per cent.
6.7
1.9
10.8
19.4
61.5
9.4
2.8
3.1
15.3
48.6
12.1
2.6
9.1
23.8
75.6
9.4
2.4
7.7
19.5
61.9
4.7
4.7
10.8
20.2
64.1
6.3
7.6
3.1
17.0
54.0
10.5
6.1
9.1
25.7
81.6
7.2
6.1
7.7
21.0
66.
On the basis of Wollny's and Riesler's experiments Ney has deter-
mined the total annual loss of water from field crops through inter-
ception of precipitation by the plants, evaporation from the soil, and
transpiration to be as shown in Table 16.
TABLE 16.-Loss in water to streams from field crops.
Meadow (overflowed)..
Potato field.
Grain field.
Field crops in general.
Total
loss.
Annual
precipita-
tion (31.5
inches).
Inches.
Per cent.
41.6
132.1
13.5
42.9
25.3
80.3
19.4
61.6
On bare soil in level country the only loss is from evaporation from
the soil. This amount has been found to be on an average about
50 per cent of the precipitation.
The figures given, which are corroborated by daily practical_ex-
perience, show that in a level country a soil covered with vegetation
of some kind surrenders to the ground waters a much smaller amount
of water than bare soil with no vegetation at all; and a forest, at
least a spruce forest, less than field crops. The only vegetative cover
which uses up more water than a spruce forest is an overflowed
meadow, which can draw upon a supply of water in addition to the
precipitation. That any vegetable cover in a level country tends
to reduce the amount of water available for streamflow is clearly
shown by numerous experiments. In the United States King¹ has
1 King, F. H. Observations and experiments on the fluctuations in the level and rate
of movement of ground water (U. S.-Weather bureau. Bulletin 5, 1892, p. 32).
236 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
demonstrated this for corn. During the growing seasons of 1899
and 1890 the mean height of ground water under corn was lower
than that under fallow land. From this he inferred that corn exerts
a measureable influence in depressing the height of ground water
lying at a depth of over 7 feet below the surface.
Recent experiments in Russia by Ototzky and others, taken with
those by German and French investigators, have brought out the fact
that in a level country with ground waters not in motion the humidity
of the forest soil, which is very great at the surface, rapidly decreases
with depth. According to Evermayer, this desiccating influence ex-
tends under spruce stands to 31.5 inches, and, according to Russian
investigators, even to from 10 to 13 feet. The forest, like any other
vegetable cover, desiccates the layer of soil within which its roots are
active, and since the roots of forest trees go to a much greater depth
than the roots of cultivated crops, this has led to the conclusion that
forest cover absorbs more moisture, and therefore desiccates the soil
to a greater depth, than any other vegetal cover.
These investigations, of which those carried on by Prof. Henry in
the forest of Mondon, near Luneville, France, must be considered the
most conclusive, have established with sufficient accuracy that in the
forests of a level country, in a temperate or cold climate, where the
geological strata are homogeneous and horizontal, and the ground
water is, therefore, not in motion, and where there is no surface run-
off, (1) the water table is lower under the forest than outside during
every season of the year, and (2) this depression is more marked in
regions with deficient precipitation than where the precipitation is
great.
Ototzky's and Henry's experiments can not, however, be general-
ized for all species and for all level countries of the world, since
there are species and level regions where just the reverse is true.
Thus, for instance, in level tropical regions, where the heat is intense,
and the bare soil, though it may receive large quantities of rain, is
subject to great evaporation, the soil under forest cover, in spite of
intense transpiration, may contain more moisture than that in the
open, especially since transpiration in tropical climates during the
period or rest, which occurs in the hot season (equivalent to the
winter of the temperate zones), is considerably reduced, while evapo-
ration, which follows physical laws, is especially intense at that time.
B. Ribbentrop¹ reports that wells from 6 to 10 feet deep, dug within
the forest plantations in the suburbs of Madras, near Trichinopoli,
British India, contain water during the hottest season, while neigh-
boring wells, 15 feet deep, outside of the forest, and rivers in the
vicinity, are entirely dry during the hot months. This is due to the
enormous evaporation from the bare soil during the hot months,
evaporation which is much greater than the transpiration from the
forest cover.
It is also true, as Ney has shown, that, from the consumption of
water by different forest trees, it may be inferred that in a level
country the cutting away of such forests as beech or spruce may even
lead to an increase in ground waters. The cutting away of pine
forests in a level country would, however, be injurious to ground
1 Ribbentrop, B. Influence of forests on the climatic conditions and fertility of a
country. (In his Forestry in British India, 1900, pp. 39-59.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 237
waters unless the soil should remain entirely bare, for any other
vegetation which would take the place of pine would consume a
larger amount of water and, therefore, tend to lower the ground
water to a greater extent than the pine forests.
The lowering effect on ground waters of the forest is well known
from practical experience. The afforestation of the swamp lands
of southern France, called the Landes, with maritime pine, brought
about a lowering of the water table. In Italy the water table in
swamps has been lowered by planting eucalypts, and in many
swampy regions in Europe the drainage ditches, which before af-
forestation were always full of water, after planting became entirely
dry.
As a net result of all these experiments in different parts of the
world, it must be admited that a difference exists between the hydro-
physical influence of the forest in the plains and that of forests in
the mountains and hills. In the plains the forest, because of its
desiccating effect upon the soil:
(1) Constitutes an effective means of draining and drying up
swampy lands, the breeding places of malaria and swamp fevers.
The reforestation of the Landes, Sologne, the Pontine marshes, and
a hundred other examples prove this.
(2) It draws moisture from a greater depth than does any other
plant organism, thus affecting the unutilized water of the lower
horizontal strata by bringing it again into the general circulation of
water in the atmosphere, and making it available for vegetation.
(3) While it lowers to some extent the subterranean water level,
it has no injurious effect upon springs, since these are practically
lacking in the level countries with horizontal geological strata where
its lowering influence has been chiefly noted.
(4) It refreshes the air above it and increases the condensation of
moisture carried by the winds, thus increasing the frequency of rains
during the vegetative season.
EFFECT OF FOREST IN MOUNTAINOUS REGIONS.
INTERCEPTION, EVAPORATION, AND TRANSPIRATION.
In mountainous regions, as already shown, the amount of precipi-
tation increases within certain limits with elevation. The denser the
forest cover, the greater is this increase. Forests in the mountains
receive more precipitation than forests at lower altitudes in the same
region.
The loss of precipitation through interception (i) by tree crowns
and humus in mountainous regions, while it has never been measured
accurately, is accepted to be less than in level regions, first, because
in the mountains precipitation more often falls in heavy showers,
and second, because a larger part of it is in the form of snow.
In mountain forests the loss through direct evaporation (e) from
the soil is considerably less than in forests of a level country, because
of the lower temperatures at higher altitudes.
The amount of water transpired (t) by a forest in the mountains
is also less, for the vegetative period is shorter, the temperature
lower, and there is, in consequence, less growth per unit of area.
This is well illustrated by the variation in the amount and weight of
238 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
leaves produced by the same species at different altitudes. At an ele-
vation of 450 feet, 1,000 beech leaves have an aggregate surface of
36.7 square feet, but at an elevation of 4,500 feet this falls to 9.8
square feet. Not only the surface and weight of the same number
of leaves decrease with increase in altitude, but the ash content de-
creases as well. At a height of 450 feet, the ash content of beech
leaves is 9.91 per cent, and of fir needles 10.19 per cent. At an
elevation of 3,500 feet, that of beech is 4.03 and of fir 3.58 per cent.
Thus in mountain forests everything tends to reduce loss of pre-
cipitation, through interception, evaporation, and transpiration, to
a minimum, and, consequently, to increase the amount of water
available streamflow.
Observations carried on in forests over a broken topography,
where the geological strata are not horizontal, and the ground waters
therefore in motion, and where there is a surface run-off, have failed
to establish any lowering of the water table under the forest. On
the contrary, Hartmann, hydraulic engineer of the State of Bavaria,
who carried on these investigations in cooperation with the Bavarian
Forest Service at the initiative of the International Association of
Forest Experiment Stations, found that the water table at Mindel-
heim (altitude 2,000 feet) was nearer the surface in the forest than
outside.
SURFACE RUN-OFF CONVERTED TO SEEPAGE.
In the mountains the greatest source of loss of precipitation is
through surface run-off (r), and the most important influence which
a forest cover has is in reducing this.
A German investigator of high standing (Ney) estimates the
amount of water which the forest cover saves to the soil by reducing
the surface run-off and changing it to underground seepage to be as
follows: For forests at low altitudes where the rains are not heavy
and the soil is less subject to freezing, 20 per cent; for forests of
moderate altitudes, 35 per cent; and for mountain forests, 50 per
cent of the precipitation.
Measurements of surface run-off made in 1860 by Jeandel, Cante-
gril, and Bellot 2 in the Vosges, show that the surface run-off from
the wooded slopes is only about half as much as that from deforested
slopes, while, from the former, the underground seepage is greater
and the flow of the streams more regular.
Such an authority as Huffel³ states that under ordinary conditions
of railfall there is practically no surface run-off from wooded water-
sheds having an abundant leaf litter.
The saving of precipitation effected in this way by the forest is
more than sufficient to offset whatever loss may be sustained through
transpiration or interception by tree crowns. This is clearly brought
out by the following facts: The entire loss of water from forested
areas at moderate altitudes, even on the steepest slopes, is about equal
to that from forest in level country. Ney places this at 19.4 inches.
4
1 Ebermayer, E., and Hartmann, O. Untersuchungen über den Einfluss des Waldes auf
den Grundwasserstand. Munich, 1904.
2 Jeandel, F., Cantegril and Bellot. Études experimentales sur les inondations. Paris,
1862.
3 Huffel, G. Études experimentales sur les inondations. Paris et Nancy, 1862.
Der Wald und die Quellen. Tübingen, 1893.
4 Ney, C. E.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 239
or 61.5 per cent of the precipitation (31.5 inches). Cultivated fields
on similar slopes have been computed to lose, through interception by
vegetable cover, evaporation from the soil, transpiration, and sur-
face run-off, 24.9 inches, or 79 per cent of the precipitation, and bare
surfaces 27.2 inches, or 86.4 per cent. The higher the altitude, the
steeper the slope, the heavier the rainfall, and the greater the pre-
cipitation, the more marked will be the difference. This holds true,
not only for such species of trees as beech or pine, the entire loss of
water from which is less than that from cultivated fields, but also
for spruce. Although in a level country a spruce forest consumes
more water than do cultivated fields, at high elevations, where the
precipitation is from 43 to 47 inches, it consumes only 9.2 inches, or
21.5 per cent of the total precipitation, less than open fields and nearly
15.7 inches or 34 per cent less than bare surfaces.
The ability of the forest to check surface run-off is greatest when
the ground beneath is covered with an unbroken leaf litter. A forest
without leaf litter, on slopes at moderate altitudes, has little effect
in checking run-off. The entire loss of precipitation from such a
forest was found to be 26.9 inches, while that from bare surface in
the same situation was 27.2 inches. Hence, for a forest to exercise
its most beneficial effect upon run-off, it must not be burned over,
grazed, or otherwise interfered with in its normal function.
That a normal forest in the mountains saves more water for stream-
flow than any other vegetal cover or any bare surface is shown also
by the abundance of springs in mountain forests.
This difference in the hydrological influence of the forest in level
country and in the mountains makes clear how unfounded is the con-
tention occasionally expressed that if the forests are to control stream-
flow it is necessary to keep them not only on the headwaters of the
stream, but also on their lower levels, since the latter form by far the
largest part of the drainage basin. As carefully conducted experi-
ments have shown, the presence of forests at low levels, especially
spruce, may impoverish the ground waters instead of enriching them.
At best, the influence would be the same of that of agricultural soil
kept in good tillage. A forest in the mountains, on the other hand,
actually conveys more water to the ground than does any other vege-
tal cover. The greatest influence of a forest upon streamflow, there-
fore, is at high altitudes, where precipitation is heaviest, slopes steep-
est, and erosion easiest. Even if good agriculture, as sometimes
claimed, could have there the same effect upon erosion and absorption
of water as forest cover, which it has not, the fact would be of no
practical value, since agriculture at high altitudes is, as a rule,
impracticable.
Reduction of surface run-off means both an increase of under-
ground seepage and prevention of erosion, two important factors in
the regulation of streamflow. The action of mountain forests in
protecting the soil against erosion and in increasing underground
seepage at the expense of surface run-off is the result of their ability
to lessen the severity of rainfall, to retard the melting of snow, to
offer mechanical obstacles to surface run-off, to hold the soil together,
to keep it in a permeable state, to increase its volume by constantly
adding new soil, and to absorb large quantities of water by its leaf
litter.
240 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Severity of rainfall checked.-The amount of water which filters
into the ground depends, for one thing, upon the length of time
the water remains in contact with the soil. For slopes of the same
gradient this, in turn, depends upon the duration of the rain, or on
the time the snow takes to melt. Imbeaux¹ found, for deforested or
poorly forested watersheds near Mirabeau, that during three excep-
tional rainfalls the surface run-off from slopes of the same gradient
constituted in one case 33 per cent, in another 39 per cent, and in a
third 42 per cent of the precipitation, while during less heavy rains
this per cent fell to 22, and in light rains to 18. Other figures
obtained at the confluence of the Durance with the River Rhone
were close to those obtained at Mirabeau, but somewhat smaller.
For the Danube, near Vienna, Lauda, the Central Hydrographic
Bureau, using the same method, found that for the period between
July 28 and August 14, 1897, the surface run-off formed 42 per cent
of the precipitation.
The forest modifies both the severity and the duration of the
rainfall. By its foliage and branches it breaks the force of the
rain, so that the water reaches the soil without violence and at the
same time prolongs its duration. After a storm water continues to
drip from the leaves and twigs for one or two hours. The water in
the forest, therefore, falls more quietly and for a longer time and
has thus a better chance to be absorbed by the soil.
Melting of snow retarded.-The rapid melting of the snow in the
spring, especially when the ground is frozen or is saturated with
water, favors surface run-off and lessens seepage. In this country
the systematic measurement of snow in the mountains has but
recently been begun by the Weather Bureau in cooperation with
other bureaus, and it will be several years before definite results are
obtained. Such measurements, however, have been made in other
countries, and the influence of the forest upon the melting of snow
has been thoroughly determined by experiment, especially in Russia,
where snow forms a large portion of the precipitation and affects
most vitally the flow of streams.
2
At the Imperial Agronomic Institute at Moscow measurements
on the amount of snow that reaches the ground in the forest have
been carried on for five years, both by means of rain gauges and
directly by measuring the snow cover in the forest before its melt-
ing. These measurements show very clearly that the species, density,
and age of the forest have a direct influence upon the amount of
snowfall that reaches the ground. Thus, while in a birch stand
between 70 and 75 years old only from 4 to 5 per cent of the total
snowfall is prevented from reaching the ground, in dense spruce
stands the tree crowns retain from 50 to 55 per cent. In other words,
only about half as much snow reaches the ground in a dense spruce
forest as in the open. This is brought out in Table 17.
1 Imbeaux, E. Essai programme d'hydrologie. (Zeitschrift für Gewasserkunde, 1898-
1899, v. 1, pp. 68-91, 225-278; v. 2, pp. 220-248, 257-274.)
2 U. S.-Department of agriculture Weather bureau. Instructions no. 76.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 241
TABLE 17.-Interceptive influence of forests on snowfall.
Num-
ber of
areas
Num-
ber of
Thickness of snow.
meas-
ure-
ex- ments
lamined. of snow
Number
of snow
samples
weighed.
Water
equiva- Amount
lent of of water
Mini- Maxi- Aver-
mum. mum. age.
snow
per acre.
depth.
depth.
1. Young plantations (2 to 4 years
old) and small clearings
within the forest
•
2. Birch forest (35 to 75 years old).
3. Oak forest (25 and 90 years old).
4. Pine forests.
Young (25 to 35 years old).
Old (60 to 90 years old)...
5. Spruce forest (25 to 35 years old)
6. Pine forest with admixture of
birch (65 to 75 years old).....
Inches. Inches. Inches.
Inches. Cubic feet.
32
212222
20
259
7
15.4
26.8
21.9
5.1
18,420
11
377
27
18.9
26.8 22.2
5.0
18,290
63
3
19.7
27.2
23.5
5.6
20,148
887
56
11.4
19.7
15.5
3.1
11,255
25
662
43
11.4
19.7
15.2
3.1
10, 417
7
225
13
11.8
19.3
16.4
3.2
11, 497
460
29
6.7
13.8
9.7
2.1
7,711
4
6
3
14.2
22.8
20.0
4.4
15,753
Pine forest with admix-
ture of larch (25 to 35
years old).
3
74
2
11.4
16.5
15.2
3.1
11,230
Pine forest with admix-
ture of spruce (35 years
old)..
СЛ
5
157
9
8.7
15.7
12.9
2.9
10,391
of larch...
7. Spruce forest with admixture
8. Cultivated field....
♡ 1
3
57
1
332
2∞
8.3
21.7
14.1
3.1
11, 103
8
5.1
22.4 13.0
3.1
11, 281
Thus, an acre of broadleaf forest (birch 35 to 75 years old, and oak
25 to 90 years old) will contain per acre about 41 per cent more snow
water than a pure pine forest (20 to 90 years old); 60 per cent
more more than a pure spruce forest; or an average of about 50 per
cent more than coniferous forests in general. The table shows also
that the age of the stand has an important influence upon the amount
of snow on the ground. Thus, young pine stands contain from 9 to
10 per cent more snow than older pine stands (60 to 90 years old).
The important fact which these figures show, however, is that young
forests, deciduous forests, and small openings within the forest col-
lect nearly twice as much snow as open fields, while dense, pure spruce
forests contain less than open fields.
Upon the comparative loss of snow, through drifting or evapora-
tion, from forested and from unforested areas, there exists compara-
tively little data. This is due chiefly to the great difficulty of mak-
ing satisfactory measurements on the wind-blown and constantly
shifting snow in the open. Such meteorological observations and
empirical data as do exist, however, agree in showing that the loss of
snow in the forest during thaws in the winter and from other causes
is much less than that outside. This is due, as in the case of aqueous
precipitation, to the protection afforded by the forest cover from the
direct rays of the sun and from radiation, to the lesser circulation of
the forest air, and to the narrower range of temperature inside the
forest than outside. Because of this protection from the sun and
wind, and also because of the partial retention of the spring rains
by the forest cover, the melting of snow in the forest continues for
three, four, and five weeks longer than in the open.
The influence of forests in retarding the melting of snow has been
demonstrated with especial precision in a 10 years' series of observa-
tions carried on at the Imperial Agronomic Institute at Moscow.
These show that the period of snow melting lasts within the forests
from 26 (1904) to 57 (1902) days, while snow in the open disappears
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2————16
242 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
within 6 or 7 days. Thus, in 1908, the melting of snow, which began
April 12, lasted in the forest until May 15 (34 days), but in the
fields, pastures, and all other open places surrounding the institute,
only until April 22 (11 days), while in the more exposed fields the
snow had all disappeared as early as April 18, 7 days after it had
begun to melt. The retention of snow in the forest until May 15
was in spite of the fact that after April 22 there were frequent warm
rains.
The rapidity with which snow melts in the forest varies with the
species, and with the density, age, and location of the stand. This
variation has been found to hold true from year to year, irrespective
of the weather at the time of melting. The snow disappears first of
all from clearings in the forest, simultaneously with its disappear-
ance from open fields. Next it disappears from young forest plan-
tations, in which the tree tops have not yet begun to touch each other,
then from thin oak forests on southerly slopes, and old, open pine
forests; then from dense stands of birch on northerly slopes; later
from pine, and last of all from spruce. Thus, in 1908, at the Im-
perial Agronomic Institute, the ground in field and forest became
entirely free of snow on the following dates:
In fields, clearings, and open places_.
In young, open stands.
In old, open stands on south slopes__
In birch stands_
In pine stands_
In spruce stands___
April 22.
April 24.
April 26.
April 29.
May 6.
May 15.
Thus, while compared with deciduous stands, coniferous forests,
and especially pure dense spruce, prevent large accumulations of
snow, their effect in retarding its melting, especially in the case of
spruce, is much greater, and for this reason they are more efficient in
reducing the height of spring freshets."
In an ordinary forest region the water in the streams in the spring
is derived from three sources: (1) The snow water that runs off
from fields and clearings; (2) the surface run-off from forest soil,
however slight; and (3) one, one and one-half, or two months
later, after all the snow is melted, the underground water. With
the destruction of the forest the ground water is greatly decreased,
there is no longer the retarded surface run-off from forest soil, and
nearly all the snow water runs off at once as surface water from the
fields and cleared land.
•
In cultivated fields and clearings in the north the ground is still
frozen when the snow melts. This, together with the rapid melting
of the snow in the open, causes the water soon to run off, even from
gentle slopes, in great quantities, as though from the roof of a build-
ing. Freezing of the ground in fields and clearings is due chiefly
to unimpeded radiation in the fall and to the blowing away of the
protective cover of snow in the winter. Cultivated ground freezes
especially deep during the winter if saturated with rain water at the
time of the first fall frost. Surface run-off from open fields is further
increased when thaws during the winter coat the ground under the
snow with an icy sheet, over which the snow waters run off in the
spring without penetrating the ground.
In the forest, on the other hand, the soil is warmer than in the
open. It is protected from radiation by trees. It is further pro-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 243
tected by the leaf litter, a poor conductor of heat, which both pre-
vents its cooling off and protects it from freezing in winter, and, in
the processes of fermentation and decay, contributes the heat which
these evolve. The relatively even cover of snow on the ground pro-
tects it still further. Under this triple protection the forest soil
either does not freeze at all or freezes much later in the winter and
to a much less depth than in open places. Moreover, it thaws out
in the spring while still under its cover of snow. The slow melting
of snow in the forest, together with the unfrozen, or only slightly
frozen, condition of the ground beneath, permits a much greater
percolation there than in the open. This water-holding capacity
of the northern forest is more marked in coniferous stands, especially
in spruce.
Closely connected with the relatively high temperature of the
forest soil is another important fact which is often entirely overlooked.
If the soil of watersheds remains soft and unfrozen, the ground
water which feeds the streams continues to flow throughout the win-
ter, thus keeping up the normal winter water stages in the streams
under the ice. If, however, the flow of underground water ceases
during the winter, the water accumulates in the ground, small streams
freeze to the bottom, and the water stage of the river falls. In spring
the ground water which has accumulated behind the icy dams thus
formed at the bottoms of slopes bordering the streams enters the
rivers in large quantities. For the regimen of rivers, therefore, the
importance of forest cover on slopes bordering springs, creeks, and
small streams, which are fed by underground waters, is especially
great.
Surface run-off obstructed. The forest floor, penetrated by a net-
work of roots and covered by branches and stumps, offers many ob-
structions to the surface run-off and so permits the water to sink
into the ground. Percolation is made still easier by the presence of
deep channels in the soil, left by the decay of large roots.
The porosity or permeability of the soil has a great influence on
the amount of surface run-off. The influence of the forest, therefore,
will vary with the character of the soil on which it grows. On heavy
clay or other impermeable soils the crowns of trees, which break the
violence of the rainfall, together with a surface mulch of leaves and
twigs, prevent the soil from becoming compact and allow it to retain
its granular structure, thus making it more permeable to water. On
a soil very permeable to water, such as sand, the influence of the
forest in decreasing surface run-off may be very insignificant, con-
sisting chiefly in preventing the soil from being washed away.
An unbroken forest soil cover of half decomposed leaf mulch and
humus aids greatly in retarding surface run-off and forcing it to
penetrate into the ground. Its importance in this respect is made
clear by the following facts: The leaf mulch on an acre of virgin
beech forest weighs, when air-dried, about 8,818 pounds; in a pine
forest, 15,873 pounds; and in a spruce forest, 12,346 pounds. If the
specific gravity of the air-dry leaf litter be only 0.5, then the dry sub-
stance of the leaf mulch if evenly distributed over an acre would
cover it in a beech forest to a depth of only 0.08 inch, in a pine forest
to 0.14 inch, and in a spruce forest to 0.11 inch. In nature, however,
this amount of leaf litter covers the ground in beech and pine forests
244 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
to a depth of 3.1 inches, and in a spruce forest to a depth of 3.9 inches,
which gives an idea of the space within the leaf litter and of the
volume of water it may accommodate.
Hüffel found that a forest with leaf litter, after a rainfall of from
2.4 to 2.8 inches, did not give off, even on the steepest slopes, a drop
of water in the form of surface run-off. If water does not run off
from such stands it comes from the precipitation which falls on an
area deprived of its forest cover-for instance, a road.¹
1
To determine precisely the actual effect of different kinds of forest
soil in retaining the water which they receive as rain or melting snow,
Prof. E. Henry 2 conducted a series of experiments with typical soils
from spruce and beech forests. Taking the greatest care to preserve
the natural arrangement and solidity of the soil, a number of samples
were removed, thoroughly saturated by plunging into water for
several days, drained of the excess moisture, and weighed. After be-
ing thoroughly dried at a temperature of 100° C. (212° F.) the
samples were reweighed, and the weight of water held by the satu-
rated soil thus determined. From the average of all the weighings
it was found that the spruce-needle humus contained, when satu-
rated, 4.15 times its own weight in water, while the beech-leaf humus
contained 5.38 times its own weight. When simply air-dried, which
is, of course, the case in nature, beech-leaf humus was found still to
absorb 4.41 times its weight, while air-dried spruce humus took up
about 3.38 times its weight.
To ascertain the actual amount of water absorbed and retained per
given unit of area by spruce and beech humus, the average weight of
oven-dried (100° C.) humus per 2 acres was determined. Allowing
15 per cent for excess moisture content of air-dried over oven-
dried humus, the air-dried spruce and beech humus were found
to have a retentive capacity of approximately 46.44 and 22.2 tons of
water per acre, respectively. This amounts in volume to 1,510 cubic
feet per acre for spruce and 712 cubic feet for beech humus, equiva-
lent to a rainfall of 0.41 inch and 0.2 inch, respectively.
The depth of soil has a bearing upon the amount of water which
it can retain. No matter what its character may be, a thin soil can
not retain much water. The forest, however, tends to increase the
volume of soil, and thus creates greater reservoirs for water. It does
this in two ways: (1) From above, by the addition of leaves and
twigs, which, when decayed, become a constituent part of the soil;
and (2) from below, by inducing disintegration and decomposition
of the underlying rock. The forest, by constantly increasing the
depth of the soil, lessens the likelihood of it being washed away and
enables it to remain where it was formed. The addition of organic
matter to the soil increases its water-holding capacity. The tree roots
at the same time enter the narrow fissures of the rock, which they
widen, thus producing many new openings into which the water may
sink.
During the vegetative season the demand of the forest upon the
water stored in the ground is very great. In summer the forest, like
other crops, consumes more water than it receives in the form of pre-
cipitation. At the end of the vegetative season, therefore, the level
1 Ney, C. E. Der Wald und die Quellen. Tübingen, 1893.
2 Henry, E. Influence de la couverture morte sur l'humidité du sol forestier. (Annales
de la science agronomique, 1901, tome 2, 182-196.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 245
of the underground water is low. As a result, the forest soil can
absorb large quantities of water during the period of vegetative rest,
when there is an excess of water on the ground, either from heavy
rains or from the melting of snow. The forest soil, therefore, forms
a reservoir whose capacity is greatest when the excess of water on the
ground and the danger of floods is greatest. The water stored in the
time of rest is used by vegetation and for the flow of streams later on
when there is usually a deficiency of precipitation.
SUMMARY OF THE EFFECTS OF FORESTS IN CONSERVING PRECIPITATION.
(1) The hydrological rôle of forests in level countries differs from
that of forests in hilly or mountainous regions.
(2) In level country, where there is no surface run-off, forests, in
common with other vegetation, act as drainers of the soil; hence
their importance in draining marshy land and improving hygienic
conditions. In such country their effect upon springs is unimportant.
(3) In hilly and mountainous country forests are conservers of
water for streamflow. Even on the steepest slopes they create con-
ditions with regard to surface run-off such as obtain in a level coun-
try. Irrespective of species, they save a greater amount of precipi-
tation for streamflow than does any other vegetable cover similarly
situated. They increase underground storage of water to a larger
extent than do any other vegetable cover or bare surfaces. The
steeper the slope the less permeable the soil, and the heavier the pre-
cipitation the greater is this effect.
(4) In the mountains, the forests, by breaking the violence of rain,
retarding the melting of snow, increasing the absorptive capacity of
the soil cover, preventing erosion, and checking surface run-off in
general, increase underground seepage, and so tend to maintain a
steady flow of water in streams.
FORESTS AND EROSION.
One far-reaching influence of the forest upon streamflow lies in
its ability to protect the soil from washing. Wherever the topog-
raphy is at all rough, erosion of the soil is a factor to be dealt with.
The extent to which soil is eroded depends upon the climate, steepness
of the ground, the character of the soil, the geological formation of
the region, and the surface cover. When the slopes are steep, the
soils and the underlying rock friable, the rains torrential, and the
surface bare of vegetation, erosion by surface run-off reaches colossal
proportions. In such regions thousands of acres of fertile soil are
destroyed each year and millions of cubic feet of silt deposited in the
bottom of rivers to form bars and shoals which change the regimen
of the streams and obstruct navigation.
Erosion on cleared slopes above the headwaters of streams, where
agriculture is impracticable, may be prevented by sodding, by a
growth of shrubs, by engineering work such as log or rock dams in
deep gullies, or by covering the surface with straw, leaves, and brush.
The most permanent, effective, and cheapest protection against ero-
sion, however, is a forest cover. Grass, while effective in preventing
erosion, does not diminish the surface run-off and serves no other
useful purpose. A surface blanket of straw, leaves, and brush is
246 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
only a palliative, and must eventually be replaced by some permanent
cover. Engineering work is, as a rule, very expensive, and alone
will not fully accomplish the purpose sought. Where the soil has
been entirely washed away, however, engineering work of some sort is
necessary before any vegetable cover can be started.
The forest is the most effective agent for protecting the soil from
erosion because (1) the resistance of the soil to erosive action is
increased by the roots of the trees, which hold the soil firmly in
place, and (2) at the same time the erosive force of the run-off is
itself reduced, because the rate of its flow is checked and its distribu-
tion over the surface equalized.
France furnishes a good example of the effect of forest cover upon
erosion and streamflow. There some 800,000 acres of farm land
had been ruined or seriously injured as a result of clearing about
the headwaters of streams, and the population of 18 departments
was reduced to poverty and forced to emigrate. In 1860 forest plant-
ing was begun on the headwaters of the streams. Already 163 tor-
rents have been entirely controlled by this means, and 624 more are
beginning to show the effects of forests on their headwaters. Thirty-
one of the torrents now entirely controlled were a half century ago
considered hopelessly bad. The foremost French engineers, after
many experiments, have come to the final conclusion that forest cover
is one of the most effective means for checking erosion and that the
best place to control streamflow is at the headwaters of the streams.
Examples of reforestation of mountains for the control of torrents
are to be found not only in the French Alps, but also in the Swiss
Alps and in Tyrol.
Erosion has a bearing on the height of flood water in the rivers,
since the sediment carried by the rivers and the coarser detritus
brought down by mountain streams often increase stream volume to
such an extent that the height of the water is raised far beyond the
point it would reach if it came free of detritus and sediment. When
the channel of a stream has become filled with waste material-even
a slight rainfall will cause a flood, while, if the channel were deep,
it would have no perceptible effect upon the height of water in the
stream. The filling of mountain streams with waste not only in-
creases the frequency of floods, but causes the streams to assume the
character of torrents. A channel filled entirely or partially with
foreign material can not hold large quantities of water, while the
denuded slopes deliver the storm water almost as fast as it falls.
How great may be the volume of detritus carried by a given volume
of water is shown by Demontzey,¹ who computed that one mountain
torrent brought down in 85,020 cubic yards of water 221,052 cubic
yards of detritus, or more than two and a half times its own volume.
L. C. Glenn 2 ascribes the change in regimen of many of the moun-
tain streams in the Southern Applachian to the denudation of the
steep mountain slopes and the consequent erosion. He finds con-
clusive evidence of increased erosion, the result of clearing on the
mountain stream basins since 1885, in the character of the flood-plain
deposits within recent years. When floods are small or gentle the
1 Demontzey, P. Traité pratique du reboisement et du gazonnement des montagnes.
Paris, 1882.
2 Glenn, L. C. Denudation and erosion in the Southern Appalachian region and the
Monongahela Basin. Washington, D. C., 1911. (U. S.-Geological survey. Professional
paper 72.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 247
flood-plain deposits consist of fine aluvium. When the floods are
great and violent the deposits consist of coarse sand, cobbles, and
bowlders. In the past the flood-plain deposits of such southern rivers
as the Watauga, the Doe, the Nolichucky, the French Broad, the
Catawba, and the Yadkin, were built of fine sandy loam or clay. In
the last decade, however, the deposits have grown coarser, which
points to an increase both in the height and in violence of floods.
In mountainous regions where a thin soil covered with forest is
underlaid with hard rock, such as limestone, or with unfertile forma-
tions, such as chalk, destruction of the forest may often result in
the complete desolation of the region. As long as the soil, formed
during centuries by the disintegration of the rock and the accumu-
lation of humus, is held together by the roots of trees, some ground
waters may accumulate within it, or even small springs may be
found. As soon, however, as the forest is removed the thin soil is
washed, even from gentle slopes, and nothing remains but bare rock.
Examples of this kind are common all over the world and may be
found even in this country, in spite of the fact that here destruction
of the forests is comparatively recent, and consequently erosion has
not progressed as far as in some portions of the Old World. There,
as in Karst, portions of Greece, Palestine, and the mountainous prov-
inces of southern France and Italy, the evils of forest destruction and
subsequent erosion are strikingly evident.
In Karst deforestation has practically converted the region into a
desert. The burning sun now strikes the naked rocks, from which
the atmosphere is heated by radiation, while the rain is lost in the
rock fissures, without benefit to vegetation. For many square miles
the country is one of drought.
In the United States the effect of destruction of forest cover upon
erosion is most impressively shown by the conditions prevailing in
the Ducktown copper region, Tennessee. Smelters started about 16
years ago near Ducktown have killed, by sulphuric fumes, all vege-
tation in their immediate vicinity. The slopes are now bare and are
being rapidly eroded. On Potato Creek this eroded material is
accumulating at the rate of a foot or more each year and has buried
telephone poles almost to their cross arms. On Ocoee River each
flood deposits large quantities of sand and periodically dams the
river. The country for several miles has become a barren waste.
Of all vegetable covers, forests are most efficient in preventing the
slopes from eroding and the beds of streams from filling with silt.
Even on very permeable soils, where their effect upon the under-
ground storage of water may be of secondary importance, they are
necessary as protection against erosion.
PART II.-RESULTS BY THE HYDROMETRIC METHOD.
RELIABILITY OF AVAILABLE RECORDS OF STREAM MEASUREMENTS.
Measurements of the flow of waters in streams from forested and
unforested watersheds would theoretically be the best check upon
the conclusions obtained by the physical method. Actual measure-
ments of streamflow, however, have not lead to such conclusive re-
sults as have the data secured by the physical method; nevertheless,
the concensus of opinion among the leading authorities in engineer-
248 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
ing and forestry the world over is that the forest exercises a potent
influence in the regulation of streamflow. It is true that there is a
very considerable divergence of opinion on the extent of this in-
fluence. Close study, however, traces this to the complexity of the
problem and the failure to give due weight to the factors involved,
as well as to the needless confusion arising from the introduction of
factors which have no bearing on the subject.
While in many countries observations on the behavior of streams
date back a number of years, most of them suffer from lack of exact
measurements of stream discharge over a period of years long enough
to neutralize exceptional conditions, and also from lack of accurate
records of the condition of the drainage basin during the same
period.
In this country there are about 287 rivers which are classed as
navigable. Of these scarcely 25 per cent have any kind of coex-
tensive records of precipitation and stream measurements covering
periods of more than 15 years. In Europe records of stream meas-
urements for some rivers, like the Seine, at Paris, have been kept
since 1732; for the Elbe, near the town of Madgeburg, since 1728;
for the Rhein, since 1770. But these measurements, also, are not of
such a character as to enable one to draw accurate conclusions with
regard to the effect of forests upon streamflow. Even in Germany
there are not more than two or three rivers for which any records
of scientific value are available.
With the exception of a carefully planned experiment by the
Swiss Government and a similar experiment started in the Rocky
Mountains by the Forest Service, no thoroughly accurate studies of
this problem have been made anywhere. In practically none of the
American investigations, and in very few of the European stream-
flow studies, have accurate records existed of the condition of the
cover on the catchment basins, though in some cases the changes in
the cover are roughly referred to for the period under investigation.
The mere statement that lumbering has been carried on in a given
watershed, while in another watershed no logging has been done, is
not a sufficient proof that the beneficial influence of the forest cover
on the former has been impaired, while on the other it has not. A
logged-over area may contain young reproduction, the effect of which
upon the run-off may be just as favorable as virgin forest. On the
other hand, a virgin forest, if repeatedly burned or grazed and thus
deprived of its leaf litter, may cease to exercise its normal beneficial
influence upon the surface run-off. Thus, in discussing the relation
between precipitation and forest cover, the statement has recently
been made that in New England, where logging began early in the
history of the United States, the average precipitation showed a
slight decrease during a certain period (since 1836 up to a few years
ago). From this statement it was sought to convey the inference
that forest destruction and precipitation have no relation to each
other. As a matter of fact, New England alone, of all sections in
the United States, has, during this period, actually been gaining in
the area under forest cover.
It is a matter of common observation and knowledge to anyone
who travels through New England that many abandoned fields are
going back to young, thrifty stands of forest, and actual statistics
show a perceptible increase in the forest area of such States as New
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 249
Hampshire and Vermont. In addition, there has been, especially in
recent years, a marked decrease in the use of woodland for the
pasturage of stock in this part of the country. How misleading are
conclusions based on the mere fact that logging has been carried on
in certain watersheds is indicated by the conditions existing through
the Southwest, especially in southern California. There, on the
lower edges of the forest, a constant struggle is going on between it
and the chaparral. Any setback to the commercial forest, such as
destructive lumbering or fire, gives at once an advantage to the
chaparral growth which permits it to occupy the place of the other.
Though the commercial forest is reduced in area, this may have no
visible effect upon streamflow, provided the chaparral takes its place,
since the latter may have a similar influence on the surface run-off.
It is not enough to show in any given case that the forest area has
been reduced; it must be shown that the forest has not been replaced
by some cover, natural or artificial, which affords a similar protec-
tion to the soil.
Deductions made from deficient data secured in limited regions
have often been generalized as applying to all rivers, climates, and
conditions. In order to bring out the true relation between surface
cover and streamflow the conditions must be studied separately for
each stream. The effect of the forest on streamflow is different in
different climates. It varies with the abundance, character, and dis-
tribution of the precipitation, and with temperature. In regions
with severe winters, abundant snowfall, and sudden springs, all
other conditions being equal, the effect is greater than in humid
climates with prolonged, drizzling rains.
The effect of the forest varies further with the geological forma-
tion, topography, and size of the watershed, as well as with the depth.
and character of the soil. On steep, impermeable soils the effect of
the forest is greatest; on deep sandy soils it may be insignificant.
In some basins the geologic formation and the dip of the strata are
such that as much as 10 per cent of the precipitation is allowed to
escape by deep underground passages and so entirely lost, at least to
the given drainage basin.
The character of the stream and its tributaries, the slope or
gradient of the stream, the presence of falls and rapids, the section
of the stream, the arrangement of the tributaries, and the presence
of natural storage reservoirs, all have an important bearing upon
the character of the flow in the stream. They may also obscure or
increase the effect of forest cover. The artificial use of streams for
irrigation or for water supply may again obscure the true effect of
the forest on the regulation of its flow.
Observations of the factors affecting stream flow, like precipita-
tion, stream discharge, and forest condition, in order to yield con-
clusive results, must be carried on for long periods of time, cover-
ing not only a few years of extreme conditions, but also embracing
periods of climatic fluctuations.
The height of the water in a river may rise or fall with a change
in the character of the bed, yet the amount of the water discharged
by the river may remain the same. This change, for instance, may
be caused by silting of river beds. In order to obtain reliable data
as to the discharge of rivers, it is therefore necessary to measure
not only the height of the water, but also the rapidity of the flow,
250 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
since both of these affect the discharge. This, however, has been done
on very few rivers, either here or abroad.
Most of the studies of streamflow so far made have been confined
to large river basins of many thousand square miles. On such there
exist many conditions of soil, topography, and vegetative cover,
which counteract each other and obscure the relation that may
exist between the behavior of the stream and any one of these factors.
Recently the International Association of Forest Experiment Sta-
tions abroad has realized that the relation of soil cover to stream
flow can not be satisfactorily studied from observations on rivers
with large drainage basins, and the central forest experiment station
at Zurich, Switzerland, is now carrying on intensive observations
on two drainage basins, one with an area of 140 acres and the other
of 175 acres. For the same reason the Forest Service, in its intensive
study of the relation of forest to streamflow, now being carried on
in the Rocky Mountains on the Rio Grande National Forest, has
selected two watersheds of 212.3 and 222.7 acres, respectively.
A great many observations have been carried on on the lower por-
tions of large rivers. These are misleading, since they are the result
of the diverse conditions prevailing on the various tributaries.
The method of computing the results of stream gaugings and pre-
cipitation has a most important bearing upon the problem. By
averaging the records of stream gaugings and precipitation for two
periods, for which the regimen of the stream is compared, it is pos-
sible entirely to obscure the effect which forests might have had on
the flow of water. By working up the data separately for each storm
it may be possible to show much more fluctuation in one period than
in the other. Thus, Prof. Willis Moore, Chief of the United States
Weather Bureau, by computing the average annual river stage of the
Ohio River at Cincinnati for two periods between 1871-1889 and 1890–
1908, as well as the average precipitation for the two periods, found
that both the flow of the Ohio River and the precipitation over its
watershed did not vary perceptibly in the two periods under com-
parison. On the other hand, Mr. M. O. Leighton, Chief Hydrog-
rapher of the United States Geological Survey, by comparing the
annual precipitation and the number of days in each year that the
gauge registered 20 feet and above on the Ohio River at Wheeling,
W. Va., clearly showed a change in the behavior of the river during
the period between 1896-1907 as compared with the period 1885-1895.
The importance of all these factors has been recognized only within
comparatively recent years, and scientific methods of studying the
relation of forest to streamflow, even abroad, have not been followed
for very long. No thorough observations extend very far back, there-
fore, on any of the European rivers, and less so on our own rivers.
Any attempt to base conclusions upon inexact observations of stream-
flow made before the present scientific methods were introduced leads
only to groundless speculation and confusion. A striking example of
this is given by the Tiber, with the exception of the Nile perhaps, the
most historic of rivers. It has so far proved impossible to ascertain
whether the floods of the Tiber have increased or diminished in the
course of centuries, owing to the fact that the incomplete records lend
themselves to conflicting conclusions. Under these circumstances it
is clear that the American records, as well as the European, can show
at most only tendencies, though these tendencies may be so marked
as to justify important inferences.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 251
RECORDS OF AMERICAN RIVERS.
A general study made by the United States Geological Survey and
the Forest Service of the changes which have taken place in the flow
of rivers in the United States, during the time for which records
have been kept, revealed the fact that in many streams, particularly
in those which rise in the eastern mountains, there has been, during
the past 20 or more years, a marked and steady increase in the fluc-
tuation of all the river stages and in the duration of high and low
waters. Of especial importance is the work of M. O. Leighton,¹
Chief Hydrographer of the United States Geological Survey, whose
report to the National Conservation Commission is not only the first
systematic attempt at a broad and comprehensive review of river
discharge records in the United States, but also marks a departure in
the method of computing the river discharge records.
It has already been pointed out that a comparison of average river
stages for two periods can not prove or disprove the effect of forest
cover upon streamflow. Prof. Moore's method of comparing the
average annual discharge and precipitation for the Ohio River in
each of the 19-year periods for which records are available simply
proves that the average annual discharge of the Ohio River in each
of the periods has been the same. Since practically as much rain
fell in the one period as in the other, it is no cause for surprise that
the stream's average was the same for both. It has been lost sight of
that the average flow in one of the periods might be made up of com-
paratively uniform stages, and in the other of many short and sharp
floods with intervening low stages. It is as unsafe to rely on averages
to show changes in a stream's regimen as it would be to rely on acci-
dents. Indeed, instead of bringing out the facts sought, averages
conceal them.
The method which Mr. Leighton used was that of comparing the
annual precipitation with the number of days in each year that the
gauge at a given point on a river registered above a certain stage,
and using the relation of the number of days of flood to the precipi-
tation as an indication of the changes in the regimen of a given river
during two periods under observation. Results were worked up for
decades as well as for each individual year, since the former bring
out more clearly the trend of the changes. The data analyzed by
Leighton relate to the Ohio River at Wheeling, W. Va., and to its
three principal tributaries, the Allegheny, the Youghiogheny, and
the Monongahela, and to the Wateree River above Camden, S. C.,
the Savannah above Augusta, Ga., the Alabama above Selma, Ala.,
the Connecticut at Holyoke, Mass., and the Tennessee River above
Chattanooga. These records were presented in the form of a series
of diagrams, which show that, during the period 1885-1907, inclusive,
the ratio of high river stages to annual precipitation increased on
the Ohio River at Wheeling, W. Va., from 0.38 in the period be-
tween 1885-1895 to 1.48 in the period between 1896-1907. The Alle-
gheny River at Freeport, Pa., showed for the period 1874-1907, in-
clusive, an increase in the ratio from 0.86 in the first half to 1.04 in
the second half. For the period 1886-1907, the Monongahela River
1 Leighton, M. O.
pp. 95-107.)
Floods. (National conservation commission. Report, 1909, v. 2,
252 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
showed an increase of the ratio from 0.49 in the first half to 0.55 in
the second half. In the Youghiogheny River there was also an in-
crease of from 0.35 in the first half to 0.47 in the second half of the
period 1875-1906, inclusive. The southern rivers showed similar in-
crease in the ratio of high river stages to annual precipitation.
For the Wateree River at Camden, S. C., this was from 0.41 to 0.51;
for the Savannah at Augusta, Ga., from 0.24 to 0.29; for the Ala-
bama at Selma, Ala., from 0.18 to 0.28. In the Connecticut at Hol-
yoke, Mass., there was also a marked increase of from 0.86 during
the period 1874-1890 to 0.95 during the period 1891-1907.
In obtaining the ratio between the number of days of high river
stages and the annual precipitation, Leighton divided the number
of days in each year that the gauge at a given point on a river regis-
tered above a certain stage by the total annual precipitation. For the
Tennessee River, however, he compared the number of flood days
with the number and depth of flood-producing rains. The latter
method is the more accurate, but because of the enormous amount of
labor involved it was applied only to the Tennessee River. The
results secured for this river show that, although during the last half
of the period studied the number of days of flood were less than dur-
ing the first half, the rainfall decreased in an even greater degree.
A comparison of the average annual river stages for the two consecu-
tive 12-year periods for which coextension records of streamflow
and precipitation are available would show a decrease in the high
river stages during the second period. By comparing, however, the
number of days of high river stages with the number of days of
individual rain storms of sufficient magnitude to produce flood con-
ditions, Leighton brought out the fact that there has been an increase
in the number of high river stages in proportion to the rainfall, the
average percentage of increase in the last 12 years as compared with
the 12 years previous being 18.75.
In analyzing the causes of this marked change in the behavior of
a large number of streams, Leighton found that the cutting of the
forest on the watersheds of these rivers is responsible for the change
in their regimen, as all other factors, such as climate, topography,
and geology remained the same, and no artificial storage or drainage
affected in the slightest degree the flow of the rivers under discus-
sion. The same conclusion has been reached by Hall and Maxwell,¹
of the Forest Service, who worked up the records of the Weather
Bureau relating to stream gauging and precipitation for 10 im-
portant rivers. The results of their survey are given in Table 18.
1
1 Hall, W. L., and Maxwell, H. Surface conditions and streamflow. (U. S.-Depart-
ment of Agriculture-Forest service. Circular 176, 1910.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 253
Name of
stream.
Point of measure-
ment.
TABLE 18.-Flood and low-water records for 10 important rivers.
FLOODS INCREASED.
Area of basin.
in this
High-water stages taken
table.
Low-water stages taken
in this table.
First and second
periods of record.
Years.
High-water data.
Low-water data.
Precipitation.
Duration.
Number of floods.
Days of floods.
Average times per
year of floods.
Average days per
year of floods.
riod compared
with first.
Times of last pe-
Days of last pe-
riod compared
with first.
Number of low
stages.
Days of low stages.
year of low
Average times per
stages.
Average days per
year of low
stages.
Times of last pe-
riod
compared
with first.
Days of last pe-
riod compared
with first.
Number of sta-
tions.
Mean (inches).
Mean annual in-
crease
or
de-
crease (inches).
Sq. mi.
Ft. Ft.
Yrs.
Per ct. Per ct.
Per ct.
Per ct.
Potomac
Monongahela. Lock 4, Pennsylvania
Ohio...
Wh eling, W. Va...
Harpers Ferry,W.Va.
9,363 12
5,430
5, 430 20 7
23,820 22
1890-1898
9
19 33 2.11
3.55
54
3
136.801 72.70
1,351 6.00
5
1890-1898
Cumberland.. Burnside, Ky
3,739
Wateree.. Camden, S. C.
5,135
Savannah..
Augusta, Ga.
7,300❘ 20
2 2 20
25 3
1899-1907
1892-1899
6
6
1900-1907
1890-1898
1899-1907
Tennessee..
Allegheny...
Chattanooga, Tenn.. 21,418 | 24
Freeport, Pa.
9,220❘ 16 2
2
0402388
1899-1907 9 26 57 2.77 6.33
1886-1896 11 30 55 2.73 5.09
1897-1907 11 52 100 4.73 9.09
1882-1894 13 46 143 3.54 11.00
1895-1907 13 59 188 4.54 14.40
9 32 89 3.55 9.90
9 43 102 4.77 11.33
8 46 147 5.75 18.37
8 70 187 7.75 23.50
9
116 5.22 12.77
9 58 170 6.44 17.77
1874-1890 17
173 1.88 10.18
1891-1907 17 33 137
1874-1890 17 39 92
1891-1907 17 53 131
76
1,693
8.44
150.00
188.00
1 40.7
1 25.3
5
5 37.97
36.81
+.13
66
912
6.00
83.00
6
42.25
173.001 82.00
136.33
17.33
.08
90
979
8. 17
89.00
6
41.35
128.25 131.50
79
1,333
6.08
112.50
11
41.74
110
1,609 8.46
123.70
$139.00 | 1 20. 75
.14
11
39.90
61
1,261 6.77
138.00
3
46.27
134.40 1 14.60
1 6.50
1 27.00
.54
65
1,576 | 7.17
175.00
3
41.42
| 35.00 | 1 22.00
115
1,164 14.37
145.50
3
45.46
244.30 2 56.40
+.25
64
508 8.00
63.50
3
47.48
70
566 7.70
63.00
3
48.12
.1 23. 40 | 1 46.50
2 41.00 2 48.00
17
41
292
3.56
32.00
3
46.58
71
902
4. 17
53.00
5
53. 17
13. 132 20.80
222.53
18.86
-.37
1.94
8.06
55
982
3. 24
57.70
5
46.83
2.29
5.41
99
1,747
35.90 | 1 42.40
1,747
5.82
102.70
4
41.65
2 8.10 35.00
.32
3. 12
7.70
91
1, 136
5.35
66.80
4
36. 17
FLOODS DECREASED.
Wabash.
Red.
Mount Carmel, Ill
Arthur City, Tex.
26,300❘ 15 3
40, 200❘ 20 4
1890-1898
1899-1907
1892-1899
1900-1907
9 21
8
∞∞∞
9 19
19
2009
351
2.33
39.00
29.50 2 20.50
38❘ 1,365
4. 22
279
2. 11
31.00
44
1,160
4.93
152.00
129.00
2 15. 75 2 15.00
87
2.37
10.87
49
826
6. 12
103.25
5
LO LO LO
5 39.54
40
35.99
31.80
2 16.00 2 30.00
83.602 74.80
.24
8 16 60
2.00
7.50
8
208
1.00
26.00
5 29.86
1 Increase.
2 Decrease.
254 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The results indicate that the tendency of the rivers examined is
toward greater irregularity in the flow of water. The period for
which coextensive records of precipitation and stream measurements
exist were divided into two equal parts and a comparison made of
high and low water stages for the two halves of the period Of the
10 rivers examined 8 showed greater river stages in the last half
than in the first half of the period. As in Leighton's work, it was
not the average annual stages of the rivers which were compared
for the two periods, but the actual number of days of high and low
river stages and their duration.
Both the Geological Survey and the Forest Service have compared,
not the highest floods that have occurred in the two periods under
observation, but definite high river stages. Extreme stages of the
rivers, such as excessive floods and aggravated droughts, are acci-
dents, due to abnormal conditions or chance combinations of circum-
stances and can not be relied upon to prove or disprove changes
in a stream's regimen. If a stream discharges its water more spas-
modically or more regularly than formerly, its habit has changed,
whether excessive floods or droughts occur oftener or not. Thus, on
the Passaic River, according to the State Geologist¹ of New Jersey,
a rate of 24 cubic feet per second per square mile was reached only
two or three times during 17 years, for a few days in each case,
whereas the stream stood at stages between 0.4 and 1.34 cubic feet
per second per square mile on an average of 112 days yearly, and be-
tween 1.34 and 3.35 cubic feet on an average of the same number of
days each year. It is evident, therefore, that the really important
thing to determine on the Passaic would be a cause affecting these
moderate stages of the river, as they are of a greater economic value
than the extreme stages, which are of infrequent occurrence.
The method employed, therefore, by the Geological Survey and
the Forest Service is the only one that could be relied upon to deter-
mine whether the river's habit is changing. The results brought
out by Leighton, Hall, and Maxwell would be still more convincing
if they were based on longer periods of observation, on the actual
discharge of rivers, and were accompanied by evaporation records.
They are, however, the best available. Moreover, since in no other
country in the world have surface conditions changed on so large
a scale and so quickly as in the United States, the effects of forest
cover upon streamflow should be very marked, even within the short
period for which observations exist. The rivers examined by Leigh-
ton, Hall, and Maxwell are not the only ones which show a change
in their regimen with a change in the surface cover.
A number of other records exist to show that the flow of water
in streams has undergone a considerable change with the change in
the surface cover of the watershed, but lack of supplementary rec-
ords, such as those for the precipitation, make it impossible to show
conclusively that this change is entirely due to reduction in the forest
cover. Thus, Perkiomen Creek, a large tributary of the lower Schuyl-
kill River, draining 360 square miles, has been measured regularly
since 1883. The records show that during the 10 years, 1885 to
1894, the average minimum flow was 20.8 second-feet, while in the
11 years, 1895 to 1905, it was 17.4 second-feet; or, in other words,
1Vermeule, C. C. Forests and Water Supply. (New Jersey-Geological survey. An-
nual report, 1889, pp. 137–172.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 255
that the minimum flow during the last period was 16.3 per cent less
than in the first half of the period. The average maximum during
the first 10 years was 4,908 second-feet, against an average maximum
of 5,330 second-feet during the 11 years following, or 9 per cent
greater. There has undoubtedly been a considerable change on the
watershed of this creek, but the assumption that the less uniform
flow during the latter 11 years is due to the change of the surface
cover alone can not be safely accepted until it can be shown that
all other factors affecting streamflow have remained unchanged dur-
ing this period.
Rafter found the maximum flow of the Genesee River, whose
watershed is entirely deforested, to be over three times as great as
that of the Hudson, whose watershed is 90 per cent in forest, and
its minimum flow to be just a little over one-fourth as great. The
maximum observed flow of the Hudson from 1887 to 1898 was at the
rate of 13.2 second-feet per square mile, and the minimum 0.29 second-
feet; on the Genesee the maximum flow, 1890 to 1896, was about 40
second-feet per square mile, and the minimum flow 0.08 second-feet.
Farley Gannett 2 mentions an example of two streams in Delaware
County, Pa., measured by Henry Birkinbine. These two streams
drained adjoining areas, and weirs were placed on each at a point.
above which the drainage was 1 square mile. One stream flowed
through woodland and the other through open country. The meas-
urements showed that, following rains, the open stream flowed almost
invariably more water than the forested one, and that during
droughts the reverse was the case.
The importance of the underground water in feeding the dry-
season flow of streams is very apparent from the behavior of three
streams, of which one has a forested, the second a cultivated, and
the third a barren watershed, during the different seasons of the
year. Table 19, which is taken from the report of the State Geolo-
gist of New Jersey, gives the computed daily run-off in gallons
per square mile during the last eight months of the dry year of 1881.
3
TABLE 19.—Computed run-off, in gallons, daily per square mile, from forested,
cultivated, and barren watersheds during the last eight months of 1881.
Barren
April...
May.
June.
July.
August..
September.
October.
November.
Passaic,
forested.
Raritan,
cultivated. | watershed.
597,000
754,000
631,000
297,000
325,000
145,000
272.000
272,000
139,000
207,000
134,000
22,000
140,000
89,000
22,000
139,000
87.000
23,000
129,000
84.000
22,000
127,000
93.000
23,000
In the three spring months, April, May, and June, the forested
watershed yielded 61 per cent of its flow for the eight months from
April to November, inclusive, while the cultivated area yielded 73
per cent and the barren drainage area 89 per cent. This is the high-
¹ Rafter, G. W. The application of principles of forestry and water storage to the mill
streams of New York. N. Y., 1899.
2 Gannett, Farley. What stream gaugings indicate as to the run-off from forested and
barren areas.
(Engineering news, 1910, v. 63, pp. 759–760.)
9 Vermeule, C. C. Forests and water supply. (N. J.-Geological survey. Annual
report, 1899, p. 163.)
256 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
water season of most streams and is the season during which the
ground storage is taking place. In the next three months the forested
watershed yielded 25 per cent of its flow for eight months, the cul-
tivated 16 per cent, and the barren watershed 6 per cent. In the
last two months the forested watershed yielded 13 per cent, the cul-
tivated 10 per cent, and the barren 4 per cent. This shows how
small is the underground storage in barren watersheds.
On the basis of this difference in the behavior of the three rivers,
the State geologist computes that the Passaic River, with its forested
watershed, will furnish for nine months of the year per 100 square
miles of watershed 45 horsepower, or 10 feet fall, whereas the Rari-
tan (cultivated watershed) will furnish only 41 horsepower, and the
barren watershed 28 horsepower. During the other three months the
Passaic will furnish an average of 36, the Raritan 32, and the barren
watershed 20 horsepower.
Mansfield Merriman,¹ in his survey of the Delaware River between
Trenton, N. J., and Easton, Pa., pointed out, even as early as 1873,
the great frequency with which high-water stages occurred then as
compared with the time previous to 1835. Previous to 1835 floods
of 12 feet at Lambertville were considered very high, while 14 feet
had been attained only three times within the memory of man, in
1776, 1801, and 1814. After 1835, however, water stages of 14 feet
became common, while in 1841, 1846, and 1862 three floods occurred,
during which probably one-third to one-half more water was dis-
charged than during any previously known. Merriman does not
hesitate to attribute this increase of the high-water stages to the
clearing away of the forest in the river basins, "which previously
exercised a protective action in restraining the percolation of the
rainfall through the soil, and thus insured to the river a more even
flow of water than at present.'
""
An inquiry among engineers regarding the influence of forest upon
streamflow, made by the National Conservation Commission in the
fall of 1908, showed that the majority of engineers in this country
are of the opinion that forests affect the regularity of flow of water
in streams. Of the 171 replies received from active, associate, and
junior members of the American Society of Civil Engineers, 151, or
about 89 per cent, mentioned rivers and creeks the regimen of which
has changed to their knowledge after a reduction of the forest cover
on the watersheds. Only about 20 replies were to the effect that per-
sonal observations upon the flow of water in rivers showed no direct
connection between forests and stream flow.
RECORDS OF EUROPEAN RIVERS.
In Europe the effect of forests upon streamflow was pointed out
by hydrographers as early as in the thirties of the last century. Thus
in 1837, a hydrographer of note, Dr. Heinrich Berghaus, on the basis
of his observations upon the Elbe and upon the Oder, from 1778 to
1835, showed that the amount of water in these rivers was gradually
decreasing, and attributed it to the destruction of forests, cultivation
of the soil, and the draining of swamps. The effect of forests upon
1 Merriman, M. Survey of the Delaware River between Trenton, N. J., and Easton, Pa.
(U. S.-War Dept.-Engineer Dept. Report, 1893, Appendix U 19, pp. 899-921.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 257
streamflow, however, was brought to the front in 1873, when an
Austrian hydrographer, Gustave Wex, published the results of a
number of actual measurements of the discharge of five of the most
important rivers of Europe, the Rhine, Elbe, Oder, Vistula, and
Danube. His measurements were confined chiefly to the medium
and low stages of these rivers. In table 20 are shown the results of
the measurements, reduced to a 50-year period.
forests.
TABLE 20.-Measurements of flow in five European rivers,
Name of the stream and
gauge station,
Periods of observa-
tion and their du-
ration in years.
Decrease in the height
of medium stages
during the half pe-
riod of observation.
lof
Of lowest Of annual
stages.
stages.
Increase or
decrease in
the mean
flood stages
during the
half period
of observa-
tion.
Decrease in the height
of the mean stages
reduced to a period
of 50 years.
Rhine at Emmerich.
Rhine at Düsseldorf……….
Rhine at Cologne...
Rhine at Germersheim..
Elbe at Magdeburg..
Oder at Küstrin..
Vistula at Marienwerder.
Danube at Vienna.
Danube at Orsova.
•
Of lowest Of annual
stages.
means.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
Inches.
13.64
16.91
+ 0.85
20.65
25.62
-.62
4.87
+ 8.84
-.85
6.86
7.42
4.40
+15.44
13.73
8. 14
17.12
Unknown. Unknown.
61.16
29.86
31.92
- 9.27
16.23
17.35
9.73
10.43
+ 1.61
16.75
17.97
28.48
16.99
-
1.63
45.21
26.98
5. 19
8.71
15.20
18.14
-10.37
-11.41
11.73
18.94
47.49
56.70
1770-1835 (66 years).
1800-1870 (71 years)….
1782-1835 (54 years).
1840-1867 (28 years).. Unknown.
1728–1869 (142 years).
1778-1835 (58 years)..
1809-1871 (63 years).
1826-1871 (46 years).
1840-1871 (32 years)..
The records adduced by Wex show that the lowest and the annual
stages, and therefore the discharge of the five principal rivers of
central Europe, whose total basins have an area of about 586,751
square miles, have been continually decreasing during a long series
of years.
He ascribes the decrease of water in these rivers to the
decrease in the amount of precipitation under the influence of forest
destruction, increase in the area of tilled land, and increase in the
consumption of water by the increased population. Wex's book,
which appeared in western Europe at the time when the flood of
1872 was still fresh in the memory, and while the country was ex-
periencing a severe drought, made a deep impression and aroused
great interest, although his conclusions in the light of more recent
investigations are no longer tenable. While the fact of a general
lowering of the water level of the main European rivers could not
be established, there was almost a unanimous opinion that the
regimen of the European rivers had undergone a considerable change.
This is the attitude which has been taken by the Imperial Acad-
emy of Sciences at St. Petersburg, the Royal Academy of Sciences
at Copenhagen, by the Society of Austrian Engineers and Archi-
tects, and by such prominent scientific men as Markham, Hahn,
Wanger, Humboldt, Berghaus, Ebermayer, Grollger, and Branders
in Germany; Colvert, Arago, Malte-Brum, Dumas, and Becquerel
in France; Herschel, Dove, Glaisher, Milne-Holne, and Bergmore,
in England.
The objections raised to Wex's conclusions were based on the fact
that he compared the mean annual medium and low-water stages.
It has been pointed out that an average river stage can not be a
reliable measure of the actual discharge of the river. The water
stages may decrease, yet the total discharge of the rivers may remain
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2————17
258 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
the same, as when the river beds are deepened or a change in the
slope caused by river improvements takes place. Therefore, even
if the height of the medium and low-water stages decreases, this
does not furnish reliable proof that the total discharge has also
decreased. The only way to determine with certainty whether
decrease in the volume of water has taken place is to measure di-
rectly, for a long period of years, the actual discharge of rivers and
streams. It has been especially emphasized that a diminished height
of medium and low-water stages may be produced by an increase
in the height of high-water stages, or, in other words, that the
regimen of the rivers might undergo a change without a decrease
in the total annual discharge. This criticism of Wex's data applies
to most of our stream measurements of to-day.
Louis Torelli, in his work published in 1873, brought together ob-
servations and facts gathered in Italy of the injurious effects of
clearing of forests upon streamflow. Thus, according to him, the
volume of water at the lowest stage of the River Sele had decreased
33 per cent during 150 years; that of the River Brenta at Bassano,
7 per cent between 1684 and 1877; and that of the River Adda, 13
per cent between 1842 and 1862. Basilari, vice president of the
board of public works, in Italy, in his report submitted to the Italian
Government, in 1876, "On the Destructive Floods of the River Po,"
after a very careful hydrographic survey of the whole valley, came
to the conclusion that the floods of the river had constantly increased
in height, especially during the last century, and that one means by
which the height of these floods could be diminished, or at least the
increase stopped, was suitable laws prohibiting the destruction of
forests.
Such a noted meteorologist as Prof. Ebermayer, after a careful
study of the different effects of the forest, pointed out in 1873 that
the wealth of forests and the water supply of a country are closely
bound together; that springs and creeks dry up the flow only peri-
odically; that the mean stages of rivers and creeks diminish in
height when large clearings are made in the forest; and that, on the
other hand, springs flow more copiously and regularly when new
trees are planted and forests are increased in extent.
Europe abounds in many historic proofs of the influence of forests
in regulating streamflow. The rivers Durance and the Seine were
navigable at the time of the Roman rule in France, while at present,
their watersheds having been cleared of forests, the Durance can
hardly float a skiff in summer, and the Seine, in which the difference
between high and low water stages is now over 32 feet, was only made
navigable again by the construction of numerous wind dams.
The Loire was formerly a navigable river of the highest order,
which afforded sure communication between Nantes and the central
provinces. In 1551 the Marquis of Northumberland, ambassador
from England, went from Orleans to Nantes "with his suite in five
large, many-cabined boats." Now navigation on the Loire above
Saumur is impossible. The bed of the river has risen enormously
because of the large volume of detritus, brought from the mountains
of the central plateau, that it carries with every flood. The remains
of Roman villas recently discovered on the shores of the river are
several feet lower than the present level of the river.
Forests cover hardly 13 per cent of the area of the drainage basin
of the Loire, which is composed of impermeable ground. The many
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 259
denuded slopes are favorable to surface run-off. On account of
deforestation the Loire is in summer nothing but a great stretch of
sand. When a storm comes, or a sudden thaw in winter, or prolonged
rains in autumn "every depression of the ground gathers a torrent,
every ravine confines a river, and all these waters, accumulating in
the valley of the Loire, form a roaring sea which reminds one of
the great rivers of America."1 At Roanne the flow at low water
and the flow at times of flood is in the ratio of 1 to 1,458. Five days
are sufficient to restore the almost dried-up river and to raise the
water level to 20 or 23 feet.
In Russia the noted meteorologist, Woeikov, from the records col-
lected on the River Volga, the largest river in Europe, for the period
between 1828-1868, computed the changes which took place in the
length of time, first, between the opening of the river and the begin-
ning of high water; second, between the opening and the maximum
flow of the river; third, between the opening of the river and its
normal flow; and fourth, the changes in the maximum river stages.
He computed his data by decades and came to the conclusion that
high waters in the latter part of the period under observation began
earlier than in the 40's. The duration of the high-water stage had
become longer and the height of the spring floods had increased. He
attributed this change in the regimen of the river to the destruction
of the forests upon its watershed.
RECORDS OF RIVERS IN BRITISH INDIA.
In British India there are many reliable records of changes in the
regimen of the rivers because of the destruction of forests. In Ben-
gal the Rivers Koina and Rora, in Singhbhum, both 30 to 45 miles
in length, clearly show the influence of forest cover upon streamflow.
The River Koina drains a tract of country of which 80 per cent is
reserved forest and holds a plentiful supply of water throughout
the year. The River Rora flows through country almost entirely
denuded of forests. Its waters run very low even in the cold weather,
while in the hot weather it dwindles away to nothing.
Another striking instance of the influence of forest growth upon
the flow of a stream is furnished by Popa Hill in the Myingyan dis-
trict, Burma. Before the present Popa reserve was formed and the
clearing of the hillsides prohibited, the stream which runs by Popa
village gave a very precarious supply of water in the dry season,
and one year it completely dried up, with the result that the village
and the military police post had to be temporarily abandoned. Since
the forests on Popa Hill have been reserved and protected from fire,
there has always been an abundance of water in the springs during
the dry season of the year.
In 1908 an influential committee was appointed in British India
to examine the question of denudation of forests in Chota Nagpur
and Orissa. The committee considered it proved that streams in
Government reserves last longer through the hot weather than streams
of the same size in a denuded area, and was so convinced of the im-
portance of preserving the forest that it drafted a bill which is now
1 Castle, M. A., tr. The effect of the forest upon waters. (American forestry, 1910,
v. 16, pp. 156-173.)
260 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
under consideration, giving the Government power to insist on the
protection of forest growth or reforestation on waste lands not the
property of the Government.¹
RECORDS AT THE SWISS CENTRAL EXPERIMENT STATION.
The most careful and conclusive evidence of the influence of for-
est upon the regularity of streamflow is furnished by the Swiss
Central Experiment Station. Experiments have now been carried on
there for 11 years, or since 1890, and are confined to two watersheds
located in the valley of the River Emme. In order to eliminate many
of the counteracting factors which are found on large drainage
basins, the Swiss Experiment Station selected for its study similar
watersheds, one with an area of about 140 acres, the other about 175
acres. The two watersheds are as similar in topography, geological
formation, soil, and latitude as could be found. The only difference
is that one of them is completely wooded (98 per cent), the other is
only partially wooded (30 per cent). Accurate measurements of
rainfall, snow, run-off, and temperatures are carried on by means of
ordinary and self-registering instruments. The two streams are
measured continuously by a self-recording instrument installed by
the Hydrographic Institute of Switzerland.
The final results of this experiment are not yet published, since
the aim is to include records of excessively dry and wet years. So
far the station has secured records for extremely dry years, but no
records of exceptionally wet ones. The preliminary report made by
Prof. Engler at the International Association of Forest Experiment
Stations in 1906 shows, first, that at the time of the maximum of
high water the channel of the deforested region carries from 30 to
50 per cent more water per unit of surface than the wooded region;
second, that after prolonged dry periods the springs of the defor-
ested region dry up completely, and the bed of the stream is dry,
while the stream from the wooded valley is still yielding at least 5
liters of water per second; third, that the forest performs the bene-
ficial function of equalizing the flow through the year in dry and
wet periods without diminishing the total yearly discharge of the
streams; in other words, that the amount of water discharged by
the two streams during the year is about the same.
REPORT OF THE TENTH CONGRESS OF NAVIGATION.
The views held by the hydrographic engineers of Europe were
fully expressed at the Tenth Congress of the Permanent Înterna-
tional Association of Navigation, at Milan, in 1905. One of the sub-
questions considered at this congress was the influence which the de-
struction of forests and the drainage of marshes has upon the regi-
men and discharge of rivers. Seven reports upon this question were
submitted, six of which were summarized in a general report.²
1 Influence of forests on drought. (Indian Forester, 1911, v. 37, pp. 477-489.)
* The seven individual reports were by: Mr. H. Keller, privy councillor, department of
public works, Austria; Mr. H. N. R. Lafosse, inspector of rivers and forests, France;
Mr. V. Lokhtine, engineer, Russia; Mr. Ponti, chief engineer of the Genio Civille, Italy;
Mr. J. Riedel, engineer, technical councillor at Vienna, Austria; Mr. J. Wolfschütz, agri-
cultural councillor in Brünn, Austria; Mr. E. Lauda, engineer, senior councillor of con-
struction, etc., of the Hydrographic Office, Vienna, Austria.
The general report, which failed to consider Mr. E. Lauda's paper, was prepared by
Mr. Cesare Cipoletti, an Italian engineer.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 261
The general report shows that the engineers were unanimous upon
the following points:
1. Forests increase the mean low-water levels of rivers and make
their flow more uniform at ordinary stages.
2. When situated on impermeable soils and on slopes, forests form
and maintain springs.
3. Forests hold the soil on slopes and so prevent destructive erosion
and its consequences.
Regarding impermeable soils, the engineers were agreed (except
the representative from Austria) that forests facilitate the storage of
water by the soil, and are therefore favorable to the formation and
maintenance of springs. None of the engineers denied the advan-
tageous influence of forests upon streamflow during the low-water,
high-water, and ordinary flood stages.
One of the engineers representing Austria, Mr. Keller, held the
opinion that arable lands must be considered to be more favorable
for the replenishment of subsoil water than forests are, but in con-
nection with this conclusion he advanced an argument which is of
the utmost importance in any public-land policy. Arable land, he
contended, retains its water-storing capacity only when it is worked
under scientific systems of agriculture. Since it is always doubtful
whether such systems will be applied and continued, deforestation
implies a menace to the storage capacity of the soil. He points to
Asia Minor and to many Provinces of southern Italy which were
formerly rich and flourishing, but are now arid and waste, and
ascribes the deterioration not to deforestation, but to the decay of
agriculture.
The chief engineer of the Genio Civille, Italy, drew a radical dis-
tinction between permeable and impermeable soils. On imperme-
able soils the forest cover, by allowing the rainfall to drip slowly to
the ground and by preventing its rapid surface run-off, induces the
water to sink gradually into the ground. He cited numerous in-
stances in Sardinia, the basin of the Adda, the Province of Bene-
vento, and other places in Italy, where all springs on impermeable
soils disappeared after the forests had been destroyed. On highly
permeable soil, however, he did not attribute to the forests any effect
upon the storage of ground water. On the contrary, he held that
forests on such soils may be even detrimental to direct absorption of
water, as in the case of fissured or porous limestones. Thus, on the
permeable limestone he claimed that from 75 to 80 per cent of the
rainfall is absorbed by the soil directly, an amount which could not
be absorbed by any vegetative cover.
All the engineers, without distinction, admitted that the deforesta-
tion of sloping lands, unless the lands are afterwards kept under
some substitute cover of equal efficiency, causes erosion, and in many
places landslides and avalanches. This conclusion was reached both
directly and indirectly. It was supported both by positive and nega-
tive evidence. Thus, the enormous damage by erosion which followed
deforestation in Sardinia and other Italian Provinces was noted by
Ponti and others, while Lafosse pointed to the marked improvement
which has taken place in the regimen of rivers in France since the
State has successfully reforested several million acres in their catch-
ment basins.
262 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
It was pointed out that damage from erosion is most severe in small
and narrow basins and where the subsoil is impermeable. Landslides
and avalanches are most likely to occur where the forest is removed
from ground that is marly, sandy, or composed of fibrous rocks.
The damage will be less serious if the cleared land is left as a meadow.
and is not broken up with the plow, or if steep slopes are eased off
by terraces, or if the speed and force of the run-off is broken by con-
tour ditches, such as the so-called "gira-monti" in Italy. At the
same time such artificial aids may not prove efficacious. Their con-
struction and maintenance are as a rule costly, and they may not be
used at all; or if used, may be neglected, and in that case the logical
effect of deforestation will make itself felt in the land waste which
Keller points out has followed the decay of agriculture in regions
that have been thus abused.
TOTAL DISCHARGE OF STREAMS.
In discussing the relation of forests to streamflow a clear distinc-
tion must be made between total annual discharge of a river, or aver-
age annual discharge, based upon observations for a number of years,
and the actual behavior of the stream during the different seasons of
the year. The total discharge of a river, or its average annual dis-
charge, or its average annual stages may remain the same throughout
a series of years, yet its regimen may be so changed that its useful-
ness is greatly impaired either for water power or navigation. It is
very necessary to keep in mind that the average height of a river is
not a reliable measure of its actual average annual discharge or of its
total discharge. The average annual river stages may remain the
same, yet the average annual discharge may increase or decrease, or
vice versa.
Thus Ule,¹ from an actual comparison of the water stages and the
flow of water in the River Saale for March, 1896, has shown that
while on the basis of the mean water stage the flow was computed on
378,000,000 cubic meters, the daily measurements gave 508,000,000
cubic meters, or 34 per cent more. The mean water stage in March
was 2.13 meters, and in December 2.15 meters, yet the amount of flow
in the month of March was 23 per cent smaller than in December.
These figures show how unreliable are the readings of average river
stages for determining the actual discharge of the rivers. If the flow
of water in a stream is compared with the precipitation over its water-
shed for a number of years, there will be found a similarity between
the fluctuation in the flow of water and that of the precipitation.
On the whole, the amount of water carried by a river depends upon
precipitation and temperature. It is greater when the temperature
is low, though the precipitation is scant, than during years of
greater precipitation but of higher temperature. Large rivers are
least affected by climatic fluctuations, because their large water-
sheds exercise an equalizing influence upon the ununiform distribu-
tion of precipitation. That the flow of water in streams depends
largely upon climate is now a fact accepted by meteorologists, engi-
neers, and foresters, and is supported by very careful observations
on a number of rivers, especially in Europe.
1 Ule, W. Theoretische Retrachtungen über den Abfluss des Regenwassers. (Zeitschrift
für Gewässerkunde, 1905, v. 7, 65-86.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 263
The geologist and hydrographic engineer, Dr. Penck,¹ has, more
than anyone else, been instrumental in showing, by actual measure-
ments of streamflow, precipitation, and evaporation, the dependence
of the total amount of water carried by rivers upon precipitation
and temperature. His studies of the River Danube, and especially
of the Elbe, led him to the conclusion that the rivers of central
Europe depend for their flow upon precipitation. He found that
the total run-off in the rivers of central Europe forms about seven-
tenths of the precipitation above a certain minimum (16.38 inches).
If precipitation fell below this minimum no water would be avail-
able for stream flow. Practically the same thing has been found to
be true by F. H. Newell 2 for the run-off of North American rivers.
Here the minimum of precipitation below which no run-off would
take place is 11.7 inches. Of the precipitation remaining above this
minimum eight-tenths runs off into the rivers. In order to show the
relation between total run-off and precipitation, Newell used two
maps, one showing the total run-off from land in the various large
divisions of the country and the other the mean annual precipitation.
The run-off has been expressed by depth in inches over the whole
catchment basin. While the two maps do not coincide exactly, yet
there is a close similarity between the depth of run-off and the mean
precipitation. Thus in the central regions of the United States,
where the run-off ranges from 0 to 2 inches, it forms 10 per cent
of the precipitation; where the run-off is from 2 to 5 inches, from
10 to 25 per cent; where it is from 5 to 10 inches, from 40 to 50
per cent; and, finally, where the run-off is 20 inches and over it rep-
resents over 50 per cent of the rainfall. This relation between total
run-off and precipitation, modified by topography, shows clearly that
the total amount of water in the rivers depends first of all upon the
climate of the region. Similarly, a German engineer, Scheck, has
shown that the per cent of run-off in the European rivers decreases
from west to east (in accordance with the decrease in precipitation),
from 0.4 for the Rhine to 0.2 for the Memmel.
The rivers of a country, therefore, are the result of the climate,
and fluctuations in the total amount of water carried by them must
depend upon climatic fluctuation. Without a general change in the
climate there can be no general decrease of water in large rivers.
Prof. Brückner, from a mass of evidence collected by him, has
shown that there exist climatic cycles with cool and humid, and dry
and hot years, and that the variation in the yearly discharge of
rivers must be attributed to the climatic fluctuations. Thus, accord-
ing to Brückner, in Europe the periods between 1806-1815, 1841–
1855, and 1871-1875 were humid and cool, and the highest water
in the rivers occurred in 1815 and in the five-year periods between
1846-1850 and 1876-1880. The periods between 1820-1840 and 1856–
1870 were warm and dry, and the water during the five-year periods
between 1831-1835 and 1861-1865 was at its minimum. The pres-
ence or absence of forests, therefore, can have no influence upon the
mean annual flow of water in large rivers.
1 Penck, A. Die Flusskunde als ein Zweig der physikalischen Geographie. (Zeitschrift
für Gewässerkunder, 1898, v. 1, p. 4.)
2 Newell, F. H. Results of stream measurements.
annual report, 1892-93, pt. 2, pp. 89-155.)
(U. S.-Geological survey.
14th
264 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In many quarters there exists an impression that foresters claim
that wooded watersheds have an effect upon the total yearly discharge
of water in streams, and that with the destruction of the forest the
total discharge or the average annual discharge of water must in-
evitably decrease. As a matter of fact, foresters have never made
any such claim. On the contrary they were the first to point out
the possibility, under certain conditions for instance, in a semi-
arid region-of a wooded watershed consuming a larger amount of
water than a bare watershed or one covered with low vegetation, and
in this way diminishing the total amount of water available for
streamflow during the year.¹
Any figures, therefore, which show that the average annual water
stages or actual average annual discharge of water in a stream re-
main the same, irrespective of change in the surface cover of the
watershed, do not prove in any way that a forest has no influence
on the behavior or the regularity of the flow of water in streams.
SEASONAL VARIATION OF STREAMFLOW.
While precipitation is responsible for the amount of water in the
streams, the relation between precipitation and the river stages during
the year is not direct or immediate. Prof. D. W. Mead,² in his study
of the Wisconsin rivers, points out that rainfalls of 3 or more
inches per month during the early portions of the year give rise to
a flow of considerable magnitude, whereas even greater rainfalls
during the summer months have little or no effect in augmenting
the flow of the stream. During the period between December and
May the winter snow and the spring rains saturate the ground.
This is the storage period. During June, July, and August the rain-
fall is rarely sufficient to take care of evaporation and plant life, and
the streamflow is therefore usually dependent entirely on the ground
water. The ground water begins to furnish more or less of the
stream flow as early as May. Prof. Penck found, for the Elbe, that
during the months of August, September, October, November, De-.
cember, and January there is going on a storage of water in the form
of snow and underground waters, while in the months of February,
March, April, May, and June the stored water is gradually fed out
and sustains the flow of water in the river.
From a table worked up by him for the Elbe, it follows that if
there was no storage of water in the form of snow and underground
water during the period between the months of August and January
the discharge of the river in April would be near zero, and in May it
would stop flowing entirely. By actual measurements of the dis-
charge of water in the Elbe and of the precipitation over and evapo-
ration from its watershed for 15 years, Penck found that one-third
of the total precipitation goes into the river. Of this one-third, two-
thirds reach the river as surface run-off and the remaining one-third,
or one-ninth of the total precipitation, reaches the river as under-
ground water. The highest stages during the early spring are the
direct consequence of the accumulation of underground waters dur-
1 Toumey, James A. The relation of forests to streamflow.
Yearbook, 1903, pp. 279–288.)
(U. S.-Dept. of agriculture.
2 Mead, D. W. The flow of streams and the factors that modify it, with special reference
to Wisconsin conditions. (University of Wisconsin. Bull. 425, 1911.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 265
ing the fall and winter. The accumulated underground water is.
gradually fed out during the early summer. It is evident, therefore,
that if the total amount of water carried by the river during the
entire year depends upon the amount of precipitation, the amount of
water carried by a stream during the different seasons of the year
depends upon the storage capacity of the watershed, whether the
storm waters reach the river as soon as they fall or are retarded in
their flow and reach the river as underground seepage at a time when
precipitation is lacking or scant. The flow of water in the stream
during the summer is sustained by the underground water stored at
the time of excessive precipitation.
FORESTS AND SPRINGS.
The forest cover, among other factors, affects the storage capacity
of a watershed and is instrumental in sustaining the flow of water in
rivers at times when precipitation is lacking or is just sufficient to
cover evaporation.
1
The effect of forest cover upon the sustaining of springs and the
flow of water during the dry part of the year is well brought out in
the annual report of the State geologist¹ of New Jersey for the year
1899. A comparison of the amount of water, expressed in inches of
rainfall, that reaches streams through underground seepage from
forested, cultivated, and barren watersheds during a dry period,
when the rainfall is equal to the evaporation, and, therefore, the
effect upon streams is eliminated, give the results shown in Table 21.
TABLE 21.-Yield of springs on forested, cultivated, and barren watersheds
during drought.
•
First month
Second month.
Third month.
Fourth month.
Fifth month..
Sixth month..
Seventh month.
Eighth month.
Ninth month...
Total...
Month.
Forested Cultivated
Barren
watershed, watershed, watershed.
Passaic. Raritan.
1.16
1.43
0.94
.54
.64
.38
.40
45
•
.26
.33
35
•
.20
.32
.30
.14
.31
.27
.12
.30
.25
.10
.29
.23
.08
.28
. 22
.07
3.93
4.14
2.29
These figures, which are the result of computation based upon
actual gaugings, show that while the cultivated and forested water-
sheds yield almost the same amount, the cultivated watershed gives
off its water faster during the first months, and therefore, sooner
becomes exhausted. The barren watershed, whose underground
storage capacity is small, has little flow for springs, which almost dry
out toward the end of the drought.
Europe abounds in authentic historic records of the disappearance
of springs as a result of deforestation. Edward Ney, forester and
1 Vermeule, C. C. Forests and Water Supply.
nual report, 1899, p. 162.)
2 Ney, E.
1875.
2
(New Jersey-Geological survey. An-
Ueber den Einfluss des Waldes auf die Bewohnbarkeit der Länder. Prag,
266 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
hydrographer, of Alsace, in a paper published in 1875, mentioned that
in the Provence, after all the olive trees, which there formed regular
forests, and which were frozen in 1822, had been cut down, a great
number of springs failed entirely, and that in the city of Orleans,
after the surrounding heights had thus been cleared, nearly all the
wells dried up, making it necessary to conduct the headwaters of the
river Little Loire into the city.
A Swiss engineer and hydraulic expert, Robert Lauterburg,¹ who
collected a large number of exact data relative to the discharge of
rivers in Switzerland, found, on the basis of accurate measurements
of the discharge of springs, that in the Melasse formation, within an
area of 0.29 of a square mile, the springs in wooded portions dis-
charge from 5 to 10 times more water than those in the clearings.
The springs of Bresle dried up about 1840, after clearing off a
forest of some importance situated in the parish of Formerie (Oise).
Soon after the forest of Cressy was cut in 1837 the source of the
Arrivaux River descended toward Breuil (Somme) one kilometer.
Clearings made in the forest of Arronaise were injurious to all the
streams that flowed from it to Escaut and Somme.
After the death of Don Bouthillier de Rancé the abbe of la Trappe
leased the iron works connected with the monastery to private parties
for 12 years.
It was necessary, according to the biography of Don
Pierre the Dwarf, subprior of the monastery, "to destroy the forests
of la Trappe in order to maintain the furnace fires, and it is impos-
sible to tell how far-reaching the effects were. The springs soon
dried up and the ponds yielded water only six weeks in the whole
year." This was written in 1715.2
Near the little village of Orgelet (Jura), at the foot of the east
slope of the Orgier Mountain, in the parish of Plaisia, there is a
spring called the Fountain of Plaisia, which disappeared during the
entire time that the mountain remained cleared of its forests (from
the end of the eighteenth century to the middle of the nineteenth),
and reappeared 30 years ago, when the work of reforesting the
slope had been finished. Numerous inhabitants of the country testify
to this fact.
According to the testimony of the mayor of Flacey (Côte d Or),
the spring supplying this village had always had a constant and
regular flow as long as the limestone uplands, from the foot of which
it issued, remained covered with a coppice of vigorous oak over an
area of 100 hectares. At the beginning of the nineteenth century,
the area having been deforested, the spring no longer had a regular
flow, and was entirely dry the greater part of the time."
De Rothenbach, director of the water service of the city of Berne,
made observations on the flow of the springs of that city. Express-
ing the minimum as 1, the flow per minute of two of them, the
Schliern and the Gasel, varied from 1 to 2.7 and from 1 to 4.1, re-
spectively, while the variation of a third spring, that of Scherli, was
from 1 to 6.7. The basin of the springs of Gasel and Schliern is
1 Lauterburg, R. Ueber den Einfluss der Wälder auf die Quellen und Stromverhältnisse
der Schweiz. Bern, 1875.
2 Mr. E. Charlemagne has given an instance to the point in the Revue des Eaux et
Forêts of the disastrous effects that the heedless cutting of forests may have upon stream-
flow.
• Mathey, A. Influence des Forêts sur le débit et la régularité des sources. (Revue
des eaux et foréts, 1898, v. 37, pp. 561-563.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 267
sheltered by a considerable mass of forests, while that of Scherli
comes from a mountain partly deforested. Other observations
tended further to show that the forest, during dry times, gave out
slowly the water it had stored up during a rainy period. Thus dur-
ing the summer of 1893, which was marked by a long and destructive
dry period, the spring of Scherli reached its smallest flow September
3, 1893; but that of Gasel not until three and a half months later, and
that of Schliern six and a half months later.
In Algeria the trees disappeared and the springs dried up. In
the Canton of Bouffarik, formerly noted for its rich water supply, 15
springs decreased in two years from 1,316 to 710 liters; rivers such as
the Oued Chemla, which had a flow in 1864 of 150 to 180 liters, no
longer yield more than from 70 to 80 liters; the Oued Kremis, which
had a flow in 1864 of from 100 to 200 liters, in 1881 had a flow of
only 15 liters. The water supply of cities like Saint-Denis-du-Sig
disappeared, and water was shipped in over the railways. The water
in the canals of the city of Algiers diminished from year to year.
At the gates of the city a striking example of the dearth of water
can be observed. Thirty years ago the Oued M'Kacel, in its cool
valley, had the power to turn four mills; to-day water and mills have
disappeared with the forest that covered Mount Bouzarea.
The eminent geographer, Onesimé Reclus, cited the example of
the city of Tunis, which was formerly supplied with pure water
from the springs issuing from Mount Zaghouan, springs that have
disappeared since the mountain was deforested.
The flow of the streams diminished notably at Martinique after
the island was deforested for charcoal. In the same way water in the
canal built in 1867 by Admiral de Gueydon to convey good water to
Fort-de-France diminished considerably, and the government of
the colony has very recently adopted measures to check the defor-
estation.
Mr. Crahay, inspector of waters and forests at Brussels, noticed
at Planchimont that the flow from the springs of La Sure became
more regular after the region has been reforested with spruce for 40
years. "One of them," he wrote, "that gave no water during the
summer, never dries up now, and issues 70 meters higher on the slope
than did the former spring. At Bois-le-François, parish of Villiers-
devant-Orval, after the clearing of an old coppice forest, two springs
disappeared. The place where the water issued and the little channel
that it followed down the slope can still be seen."
At the International Congress of Silviculture, held at Paris on the
occasion of the exposition of 1910, Grebe, forester councilor at Eisen-
bach (Alsace), cited numerous examples of springs that had dried
up or of diminutions in streamflow noticed after deforestation in
central Germany. He told also of cases where springs reappeared
after reforestation had taken place. Another German forester,
M. B. A. Bargmann, told of the disappearance of two springs in the
valley on St. Amarin (Alsace) after clearings had been made above.
them.
At the same congress Mr. Servier, a landholder at Lamure-sur-
Azergues (Rhone), gave several interesting facts. In the region in
which he lives, which until late years was almost completely de-
forested, he noticed that wherever a cluster of trees remained their
presence was coincident with the existence of a spring. The flow
268 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of a spring on the western outskirts of a coppice wood diminished
continually after the coppice had been cut, but returned to normal
when the coppice grew up again.
An inquiry into the influence of forest cover upon springs, made
by the National Conservation Commission in the fall of 1908 among
foresters and engineers throughout the country, revealed a remark-
able unanimity of opinion on this point, and brought to light numer-
ous instances of the drying up of springs as a result of forest
destruction.
"Springs near Odessa, N. Y., have had their flow decreased 50
per cent as a result of forest destruction." (H. A. Paine, Denton,
Md.)
66
Streams are lower in every case in Vermont where the virgin tim-
ber has been cut, and new growth does not help this condition until
it gets large enough to completely cover the ground and high enough
to afford perfect shade and admit circulation of air under the
branches." (H. D. Packer, West Burke, Vt.)
66
Capt. Miller, an old settler in Alamogordo, N. Mex., states that
a large spring at the head of the La Luz Canyon dried up after
logging at its watershed in 1899." (A. M. Neal, Alamo National
Forest, Alamogordo, N. Mex.)
"In north Georgia it has been noticed that in many cases streams
have perceptibly lessened in flow since the destruction of the forest.
In many cases large streams have dried up." (S. W. McCallie,
Geological Survey of Georgia, Atlanta, Ga.)
"At Truckee Ranger Station, Tahoe National Forest, is a spring
never known to go dry before July, 1908. The timber has been almost
entirely removed from the watershed and the snowfall is also much
less than in former years. In another part of the Forest is a spring
which flowed throughout the year previous to the removal of the tim-
ber in 1902. In August, 1905, the spring contained some water, but
none was flowing on the surface of the ground. Still another spring
is now dry about 3 months in the year, whereas previous to the re-
moval of the timber 10 years ago it was never known to go dry."
(M. B. Pratt, Tahoe National, Forest, Nevada City, Cal.)
"Glens Spring, near Fremont, Ohio, in 1879 had a daily discharge
of 35,000 gallons. It is now reduced to less than 1,000. Muscalounge
Spring has had its flow reduced from 140,000 to 2,000 gallons.
Numerous other springs near Fremont which flowed profusely be-
fore 1890 have now dried up completely, undoubtedly due to defor-
estation." (C. O. Lasley, Fremont, Ohio.)
"Flow of streams on Big Pryor Mountain have diminished greatly
in the last 5 years, and many have dried up entirely in July. Forest
of lodge-pole pine was removed." (V. G. Langtry, jr., Absaroka
National Forest, Livingston, Mont.)
"Several small springs east of Marysvale, Utah, previous to 1901
had sufficient flow to water large herds of cattle and maintain a
steady flow. Since then overstocking of range and removing grass
covering have caused the springs to dry up, until they are of prac-
tically no use." (C. S. Jarvis, 33 East Second Street, South Provo,
Utah.)
"All springs in the Manti National Forest now flow more freely
than ever before the creation of the Forest. The formation is lime-
stone. The forest cover has now returned." (A. E. Jensen, Manti
National Forest, Ephraim, Utah.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 269
"In Stonelick Township, Ohio, there was a spring which during
the Civil War flowed regularly and freely, but has now ceased to
flow. It is located at the foot of a high hill on which the timber
has been cut and which may be the cause of the stoppage in the flow
of water." (G. H. Hill, box 26, Milford, Clermont County, Ohio.)
"Spring Gulch, near Providence, Ariz., had always had a steady
flow until the timber surrounding it was cut, when the water ceased
to flow during the dry months." (J. D. Guthrie, Prescott National
Forest, Prescott, Ariz.)
"The cutting of forests in Newport, Ky., has resulted in drying
up of springs which old residents say used to flow throughout the
year. (W. L. Glazier, Newport, Ky.)
وو
"Numerous springs in Pike National Forest have dried up as a
result of cutting timber. One spring in particular which flowed
throughout the year for 30 years entirely dried up after clearing the
timber from 360 acres about it.
"On the west branch of Michigan Creek, Colo., several streams
which previously flowed all the time are now dry as the result of
cutting.
"Since the severe fire in Calahan Gulch, Pike National Forest,
Colo., several springs have entirely dried up." (C. W. Fitzgerald,
Pike National Forest, Denver, Colo.)
"In Caribou, Me., is a spring which in 1880 was large enough to
be used as part of the water supply of the village. Since the cutting
of the forests on its watershed its flow has materially decreased, and
in 1904 was practically dry." (A. C. Hardison, Santa Paula, Me.)
"Many years ago the springs near Iowa City, Iowa, flowed.
throughout the year. Since the cutting of the timber they have en-
tirely dried up." (Clark R. Fickes, C., B., & Q. R. R., Chicago, Ill.)
Many springs near Meadville, Pa., have been dried out in recent
years, and many wells are much deeper than formerly, due to defor-
estation." (W. A. Doane, Meadville, Pa.)
66
"Since the cutting away of the timber on the hillsides near Lead-
ville numerous springs which flowed all the time have dried up and
the snow melts much earlier in the spring." (J. W. Deen, Denver &
Rio Grande Ry. Co., Salida, Colo.)
"Springs near Wilmington, Mass., dried up as a result of cutting
pine forests. Where these were cut 20 to 30 years ago springs have
begun to flow again." (W. W. Cummings, Boston, Mass.)
The most direct evidence, however, of the effect of extensive clear-
ing upon ground water has been recently brought out by Dr. W J
McGee.¹ During a period of about 22 years 9,507 wells in the States
of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio,
Tennessee, and Wisconsin show a lowering of the water table at a
minimum mean rate of 1.315 feet, or, with moderate allowance for
new wells, 1.73 feet, per decade, corresponding to a total of 13.8 feet
for the 80 years since settlement began. The loss, according to Dr.
McGee, is due largely to increased run-off in freshets and floods,
which are in increasing degree wreaking destruction of property and
loss of life, while innumerable springs and smaller-source streams
have disappeared, and the regimen of nearly all streams has been
impaired.
1 McGee, W J. Principles of water-power development. (Science, Dec. 15, 1911, pp.
813-25.)
270 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
These facts tend to show that there is a most intimate relation be-
tween forest cover and underground water, and as the continuity of
streamflow depends wholly upon the water stored in the ground, the
effect of forests upon the regularity of streamflow becomes evident.
FORESTS AND FLOODS.
High floods are caused in large navigable rivers either by exces-
sively heavy or by long-continued rains. During the first hours of
heavy rainfall, and often during the precipitation which may precede
it, the forest floor becomes so completely saturated with water that it
allows any further rain to pass off just as it would from open ground.
The influence of the forest on the prevention of catastrophes from
high water and floods is therefore limited. The forest can prevent
smaller floods by retaining a certain amount of water and retarding
the flow, but it is powerless to prevent greater ones. The latter are
the result usually of either a large quantity of rain falling on frozen
or saturated ground covered with snow, especially in late winter, or
an unsual amount of rainfall, even for a short period, in the territory
drained.
Since the amount of water which the forested soil can absorb or
retain is small as compared with the amount which it receives during
a downpour, or with a sudden thaw, it is evident that under excep-
tional meteorological conditions the retentive capacity of the forest
floor must fail. Forests can absorb a quantity of water corresponding
to a precipitation of 0.16 of an inch, or, in very favorable conditions,
of 0.24 of an inch. According to Bühler, the highest amount beech
foliage can absorb is 18,000 liters per hectare (7,200 liters per
acre) and moss 24,000 liters per acre, corresponding to a precipita-
tion of 0.07 and 0.24 inch, respectively. Ebermayer estimates that
dry litter in beech forests absorbs an amount equal to 0.09, in
pine forests 0.05, and in spruce forests about 0.05 inch of precipita-
tion. Ney's results give 0.09 inch for beech forests, 0.15 inch for
pine, and 0.07 inch for spruce. According to Riegler, the water
absorption by moss amounts to from 200 to 900 per cent of its weight;
with foliage it equals 150 to 220 per cent; and with pine needles 120
to 134 per cent. According to Gerwig, moss can absorb from 0.18 to
0.39 inch of water.
In comparison with these amounts the quantities of water that
cause excessive floods are enormous. On March 6, 1896, there fell on
the Kniebis in the Schwarzwald 7 inches of rain; in three days (from
6th to 8th of March), 13 inches (flooding of the Dreysam Valley); in
Eichberg, Silesia, July 29, 1897, 4.4 inches; from July 28 to 30, 6
inches; on the ridge of the Riesen-Gebirge, July 30 and 31, 8.8 inches
(flooding of the Hirschberg Valley); in Munich, September 13, 1899,
3 inches (destruction of the Prinz-Regent Bridge); in the Bavarian
Mountains, more than 4 inches.
In Austria, at the time of the high-water catastrophe in July, 1897,
in the course of two days, in the Unter Inns district, there was a rain-
fall of 5.8 inches; in the Traun district, 7.4; and in Vienna, 6.9 inches.
In September, 1899, in the course of two days in the Salzach district,
the rainfall amounted to 6.7; in the Traun district, 8.3; at Enns, 7.8; at
Ybbs, 8.3; and at Trausen, 6.6 inches. From July 26 to 31 (six days),
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 271
1897, in the territory of the Donau River, there was a rainfall of
421,768,000,000 cubic meters; and in September, 1899, within seven
days, 565,024,000,000 cubic feet. The total of this land ocean
amounted to 1,412,560,000,000 cubic feet.
While the forest is necessarily helpless to prevent the occurrence
of excessive floods during periods of exceptional rainfall, yet by pro-
tecting the soil against erosion, by diminishing the proportion of
detritus carried by the run-off, and by absorbing at least part of the
water that falls upon the ground, it has a mitigating influence even
on the highest floods. The fact that the volume of eroded matter
carried by the streams in periods of flood is greatly diminished by
the presence of the forest must necessarily decrease the violence of
the floods, since sand, gravel, pebbles, and rocks torn from the soil
by the stream raise the level of the stream beds and increase the
volume of water carried.
There is no lack of facts to establish this moderating action of the
forest. Marchand gives an example of a torrent in the canton of
Appenzell, Switzerland, which formerly became swollen at Weissen-
bach about three hours after the storms had burst upon the mountain.
Following a partial deforestation of the mountain, the floods be-
came manifest at Weissenbach within one hour after the appearance
of storms. The presence of the forest, then, had the effect of delay-
ing by two hours the manifestation of flood and of increasing by
four hours the duration of the run-off.
Many streams that descend from the departments of the Vosges
Mountains, which still bear a large forest cover, do not have as
frequent nor as disastrous floods as the torrents that come down the
denuded slopes of the Alps, or the streams of irregular flow that
issue from the deforested Cevennes (Ardeche, Lot, Tarn, Dourbie,
Loire, Allier), or from the waste lands of the Central Plateau (Cher,
Sioule, Creuse). The proportion of forest area of the Vosges is 35
per cent, while that of the Alps of Savoy is 21 per cent, that of the
Alps of Dauphiny (Isere, Drome, and Hautes-Alpes) 13 per cent,
that of the Alps of Provence (the Lower Alps and Maritime Alps)
12 per cent, and that of the Central Plateau and of the Cevennes
12.2 per cent.
In the Department of Aude, in France, there occurred, on Sep-
tember 12, 1893, a terrific storm, which caused considerable damage
throughout the whole region. All the tributaries of the River Aude
experienced sudden floods, and that river rose 16 feet at St. Marcel.
The storm lasted an hour and a half, and there was a rainfall of 2.4
inches. The Blanque River, which unites with the Salz 5.6 miles
above Couiza, and which, like it, flows down slopes almost entirely
denuded, immediately rose 3 feet and devastated a large amount
of property along the river, especially at Rennes-les-Bains. At
Couiza the flood was greater, and the frightened inhabitants feared
a repetition of the disasters of 1891. In the basin of the Rialsesse,
which flows into the Salz 3.6 miles above Couiza, the amount of
the rainfall was 2.4 inches also. This river, however, did not over-
flow nor cause any damage. In contrast to the denuded slopes down.
which poured the run-off into the Salz and the Blanque was the
heavily wooded basin of the Rialsesse, where, to supplement the
existing cover, 4,200 acres had been reforested.
272 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
At the International Congress of Navigation, in 1905, Cipoletti,
an Italian engineer, who prepared the general report embodying the
views of the engineers representing the different countries at the
Congress, maintained that while it is true that during a prolonged
rain a moment is at last reached when the run-off to the valley is
equal in amount' to the rainfall in the forest above, it does not
follow by any means that this moment coincides exactly with the
moment of the heaviest rainfall. In every instance he found that
the balance between run-off and rainfall was reached only when
the rain had begun to abate; in other words, the moderating influence
of the forest upon run-off continued to act during the critical period,
and that without this influence the floods would be destructive in
their effect.
In Baden the Government, after disastrous floods of the Rhine and
its tributaries in 1882-83, appointed a commission composed of an
officer of the central bureau for meteorology and hydrography, an
officer of the engineer department, and an officer of the forest de-
partment to investigate the relation of forests to floods. This
commission, after a most detailed survey which comprised not only
the geographic, climatic, and geognostic conditions of the water-
shed, but more especially its surface cover, submitted a number of
conclusions.¹
1. The forest cover retards the surface run-off. It retards also
the melting of the snow. In exceptional cases, however, this influ-
ence of the forest may become ineffectual, namely, during an un-
favorable sequence of periods of heavy precipitation, as was the case
in the catastrophe of 1882.
2. The binding of the soil by forest cover is entirely beyond dispute
and, hydrographically, is of the greatest importance. The forest of
the Alb watershed fulfills well its function as a protective cover.
The satisfactory condition of the watercourse and valley bottoms, and
the moderate extent of the damage experienced from the floods of this
watershed, are due to the small amount of detritus. The soil condi-
tions being extremely favorable to the formation of detritus and rock
chutes, their absence can only be due to the forest cover on the de-
clivities. Where masses of detritus and waste rock and landslide
material were found (on about 60 acres), they could be traced to
improper deforestation and pasturage.
3. While the forest could not have prevented such an extreme flood
as that of 1882, yet, on the other hand, to the forest is due the fact
that the Alb watershed experiences such disasters but rarely, more
rarely even than adjoining valleys with a smaller proportion of forest
area.
These facts tend, therefore, to show that while in the occurrence of
floods, climate, character of soil, slope, and especially meteorological
conditions, play the most important part, the forest cover must also
be considered a factor without which the floods would be greater and
more destructive. It is evident, however, that forests alone can not
be depended upon to prevent the occurrence of exceptional floods, and
that engineering works are necessary for the control of the flow of
water in the rivers.
1 Fernow, B. E. Forests and floods. (Garden and forest, 1890, vol. 3, pp. 9 and 10.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 273
SUMMARY OF EFFECTS OF FORESTS UPON STREAMFLOW.
The available observations upon the behavior of streams in this
country and abroad have established the following facts:
1. The total discharge of large rivers depends upon climate, pre-
cipitation, and evaporation. The observed fluctuation in the total
amount of water carried by rivers during a long period of years.
depends upon climatic cycles of wet and dry years.
2. The regularity of flow of rivers and streams throughout the year
depends upon the storage capacity of the watershed, which feeds the
stored water to the streams during the summer through underground
seepage and by springs. In winter the rivers are fed directly by
precipitation, which reaches them chiefly as surface run-off.
3. Among the factors, such as climate and character of the soil,
which affect the storage capacity of a watershed, and therefore the
regularity of streamflow, the forest plays an important part, espe-
cially on impermeable soils. The mean low stages as well as the
moderately high stages in the rivers depend upon the extent of forest
cover on the watersheds. The forest tends to equalize the flow
throughout the year by making the low stages higher and the high
stages lower.
4. Floods which are produced by exceptional meteorological con-
ditions can not be prevented by forests, but without their mitigating
influence the floods are more severe and destructive.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-18
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#
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286 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
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302 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
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APPENDIX VI.
THE LAW OF WATERS.
Prepared by G. W. MoONEY.
66
66
RUNNING WATER THE PROPERTY OF NO ONE.
* * *
66
""
Unrestrained running water, according to the civil law, is the
property of no one. It is said in the Institutes of Justinian that,
By natural law these things are common to all, namely, air, run-
ning water, the sea, and as the consequence, the shores of the sea.
This rule of civil law passed into the common law. Blackstone says,
But after all there are some few things which, notwithstanding the
general introduction and continuance of property, must still unavoid-
ably remain in common.
Such are the elements of light,
air, and water." "For," as he further says, a man can have no
absolutely permanent property in these as he may in the earth and
land, since they are of a vague and fugitive nature." Where the
common law has been adopted in the United States, the same rule has
been recognized. In the case of Mitchell v. Warner, 5 Conn., p. 519,
it was said: "It is too late to enter into the legal character and
quality of water; the law having been settled, time out of mind, on
this subject, and remained uniform and unquestioned. Water is
neither land nor tenement nor susceptible to absolute ownership.
It is a movable, wandering thing, and must of necessity continue
common by law of nature.'
""
RIGHTS OF RIPARIAN OWNERS.
While the corpus of running water is not a subject for private own-
ership and has been generally regarded, in some cases together with
the bed of the stream, as belonging to the State in trust for the benefit
of the people, nevertheless both the civil and the common law recog-
nizes a proprietary right in its flow, called a usufructuary right.
Justice Story, in Tyler v. Wilkinson, 4 Mason, p. 397, says: "But
strictly speaking, he has no property in the water itself but a
simple use of it while it passes along." Kent says, in 3 Conn.,
Margin, page 439, "He has no property in the water itself but a
simple usufruct as it passes along." This usufruct right in running
water is, nevertheless, limited to riparian owners; this limitation being
naturally evolved because only riparian owners had access to the
stream. The right is not a personal one but is attached to, and passes
by conveyance of, the land, and is limited to a beneficial and reason-
able use. Farnum, in his work on Water and Water Courses, section
303
304 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
461, says: "The rights of a riparian owner is that he is entitled to have
the stream remain in place and flow as nature directs, and to make
such use of the flowing water as he can make without materially in-
terfering with the equal rights of the owners above and below him
on the stream. This prevents the upper proprietor from diverting
the stream, consuming the water for other than natural uses, pollut-
ing the water, or interfering with the regular, natural flow of the
current to such an extent as materially to injure the lower owner; and
it prevents the lower owner from throwing the water back on the
land of the upper owner." In some States the fee of riparian lands
runs to high-water mark, in others to low-water mark, but in the ma-
jority of cases to the thread of the stream. This, however, is not a
distinction of any great importance, for in case the fee to the bed of
the stream vests in the riparian owners, still the State has an ease-
ment over such bed, which for the purpose of protecting the public
interest is equally as effective as its ownership in trust.
THE COMMON-LAW RULE OF RIPARIAN RIGHTS NOT ADOPTED IN
WESTERN STATES.
The common-law rule of riparian rights, having been found in-
applicable to the conditions existing in the Western States, has been
superseded to a greater or less extent by constitutional and statutory
provisions. Mr. Justice Brewer, in United States v. Rio Grande
Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U. S., p. 690, says:
"Although this power of changing the common-law rule as to
streams within its dominion undoubtedly belongs to each State, yet
two limitations must be recognized: First, that in the absence of
specific authority from Congress a State can not, by its legislation,
destroy the right of the United States, as the owner of lands border-
ing on a stream, to the continued flow of its waters, so far at least as
may be necessary for the beneficial uses of the Government property;
second, that it is limited by the superior power of the General Gov-
ernment to secure the uninterrupted navigability of all navigable
streams within the limits of the United States."
The first of the above limitations is denied by the courts of Colo-
rado and those States following the so-called Colorado doctrine; the
Federal Government, as a riparian owner, being regarded as having
no rights superior to any other riparian owner. The decisions of
the Supreme Court of the United States have not yet fully deter-
mined whether the States are subject to this limitation, although they
appear to support the view of the Colorado courts. The second
limitation, being based on a constitutional grant of power to Con-
gress, is undoubtedly the law. It would also seem reasonably well
established by the opinion rendered in United States v. Rio Grande
Dam & Irrigation Co., 174 U. S., 690, that the Federal Government
might extend its sovereign control over every stream to its sources
in the mountains wherever its waters eventually reach a stream, any
part of which is navigable in fact; that is to say, it may very readily
be established that it is essential to a complete and adequate control
of navigation to regard the entire course of any stream, navigable
in part, together with all its tributaries, as a unit, sovereignty over
which can not be divided.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 305
THE DOCTRINE OF PRIOR APPROPRIATION CALIFORNIA.
The doctrine of prior appropriation grew out of the peculiar con-
ditions existing in those States which adopted it, the common-law
principle of riparian rights being deemed inapplicable to the proper
development of the State and its resources. In these localities the
prosecution of the mining industry was of paramount importance, and
for this purpose it was necessary to divert water to places remote from
riparian lands. Another characteristic condition was that the entire
course of streams was usually within the public domain. In locating
and taking possession of mineral deposits and in securing water
for their development the pioneers necessarily became trespassers
upon the public domain. Possessory rights, so called, immediately
became recognized and respected in these localities. As between
these early possessors" the principle of "first in time, first in
right" became an established rule, which subsequently the courts
adopted. In the case of Irwin v. Phillips, 5 Cal., p. 140 (1855), the
court says:
66
"Courts are bound to take notice of the political and social condi-
tion of the country which they judicially rule. In this State the
larger part of the territory consists of mineral lands. nearly the
whole of which are the property of the public. No right or intent
of the disposition of these lands has been shown either by the United
States or the State government, and, with the exception of certain
State regulations, very limited in their character, a system has been
permitted to grow up by the voluntary action and assent of the
population, whose free and unrestrained occupation of the mineral
region has been tacitly assented to by the one government and
heartily encouraged by the expressed legislative policy of the other.
"If there are, as must be admitted, many things connected with
this system which are crude and undigested and subject to fluctua-
tion and dispute, there are still some which a universal sense of
necessity and propriety have so firmly fixed as that they have come
to be looked upon as having the force and effect of res judicata.
Among these the most important are the rights of miners to be
protected in the possession of their selected localities and the rights
of those who, by prior appropriation, have taken the waters from
their natural beds and by costly artificial works have conducted
them for miles over mountains and ravines to supply the necessity
of gold diggers, and without which the most important interests of
the mineral region would remain without development.
""
After referring to certain acts of the legislature which recognized
these possessory rights as of valid existence within the State, the
court continues:
66
This simply goes to prove what is the purpose of the argument,
and however much the policy of the State, as indicated by our legis-
lation, has conferred the privilege of working the mine, it has equally
conferred the right to divert the streams from their natural channels,
and as these two rights stand upon an equal footing, when they
conflict they must be decided by the fact of priority upon the maxim
of equity, qui prior est in tempore, potior est in jure. The miner
who selects a piece of ground to work must take it as he finds it,
subject to prior rights, which have an equal equity, on account of an
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-20
306 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
equal recognition from the sovereign power. If it is upon a stream
the waters of which have not been taken from their bed they can
not be taken to his prejudice, but if they have already been diverted,
and for as high and legitimate a purpose as the one he seeks to
accomplish, he has no right to complain, no right to interfere with
the prior occupation of his neighbor, and must abide the disadvan-
tages of his own selection."
The earlier cases which the California courts were called upon to
decide involved questions growing out of water rights within the
public domain; that is to say, between persons taking water from
streams which did not touch lands privately owned.
Because of the uniformity with which the courts in these early
cases upheld the doctrine of prior appropriation it came to be very
generally believed that the common-law rule of riparian rights had
been entirely abolished in California. In fact, however, the ques-
tion of water rights, as between private riparian owners, had never
been definitely determined by the courts. This question was defi-
nitely presented to the court for determination in Lux v. Haggin,
69 Cal., p. 255.
LUX v. HAGGIN.
In this case the court expressly declared that the common law
of riparian rights existed in California as between private land
owners. The doctrine was thus established in California that the
principle of appropriation and of riparian rights existed side by
side, the former applying to the public domain and the latter to
lands privately owned. However, when lands were transferred from
public to private ownership, riparian rights thus acquired were
subject to all prior appropriation but protected from any subsequent
appropriation adversely affecting such rights.
The court said:
"The owners of land by or through which a watercourse natu-
rally and usually flows have a right of property in the waters of
the stream" (p. 264).
"Neither a grantee of the United States nor the grantee of a
private person who was a riparian owner when the code was adopted
need rely for the protection of his riparian rights on section 1422 of
the civil code. Such persons are protected by constitutional prin-
eiples" (p. 368).
"The statute of April 13, 1850, adopts as the rule of decision in
all the courts of this State the common law of England, not the
civil law, nor the 'ancient common law' of the civilians, nor the
Mexican law" (p. 379).
"The doctrine of 'appropriation' so called is not the doctrine
of the common law" (p. 387).
THE COLORADO DOCTRINE OF APPROPRIATION.
The doctrine of appropriation may, however, rest upon a wholly
different consideration as exemplified by the so-called Colorado doc-
trine. Proceeding upon the theory that the water in running streams
belongs to no one, it is an easy step to assert that it is the property of
the State and that the State in its sovereign capacity may determine
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 307
the rules governing its use. This conception has prevailed in the
State of Colorado and in those States which have adopted the
Colorado doctrine.
Of necessity in these States the common-law principle of riparian
rights has been entirely abolished, or, in most instances, declared
never to have existed, either by provision of their constitution or by
declaration of statute. The denial of the existence of the common-
law rights of riparian owners is made applicable by the courts of
these States to the Federal Government as a riparian owner, with
equal effect as in the case of private owners.
STATES WHICH HAVE ABOLISHED IN TOTO THE COMMON-LAW RULE OF
RIPARIAN RIGHTS.
The following States have abolished in toto the common-law rule
of riparian rights and adopted the doctrine of appropriation: Ari-
zona, Colorado, Idaho, Nebraska (partially), Nevada, New Mexico,
Oregon (partially), Texas (partially), Utah, and Wyoming. In
these States it is maintained that the right of appropriation is de-
rived solely from the authority of the State.
STATES ADOPTING BOTH THE COMMON-LAW RULE AND APPROPRIATION.
The following States have adopted the common-law doctrine of
riparian rights as to waters flowing over lands privately owned and
the doctrine of prior appropriation as applying to waters upon public
lands: California, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska (partially), North
Dakota, Oklahoma (doubtful), Oregon (partially), South Dakota,
Texas (partially), and Washington. These States base their doctrine
of appropriation upon the enactments of the Federal Government,
particularly the act of 1866, which in effect validated all rights to
the use of water acquired by appropriation, and the desert land act
of 1877, which more fully confirmed the jurisdiction of the States over
the waters within their borders.
ALL WATER RIGHTS MUST BE EXERCISED SUBJECT TO PARAMOUNT
RIGHT OF NAVIGATION.
Both the principle of riparian rights and that of prior appropria-
tion are applicable to navigable as well as nonnavigable streams.
However, in the case of navigable streams it must be exercised sub-
ject to the paramount right of navigation.
The court says, in United States v. Rio Grande Dam Irrigation
Co., 174 U. S., p. 709:
"It does not follow that the court would be justified in sustaining
any proceeding by the Attorney General to restrain any appropria-
tion of the upper waters of a navigable stream. The question is
always one of fact, whether such appropriation substantially inter-
feres with the navigable capacity within the limits where navigation
is the recognized fact."
CONCLUSION.
It would thus appear that the law of waters now existing in the
several States of the Union has been developed by the applicability
308 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
or inapplicability of the common law to the conditions therein exist-
ing. The common law, having been found suitable to the conditions
and needs of the Eastern and Middle States, has been almost univer-
sally adopted. The comparatively small body of statutory law found
in these States is simply a definite embodiment of the customs of the
people and the practice of the courts. On the other hand, the com-
mon-law principle having been found unsuited to the physical con-
ditions and natural development of the Rocky Mountain States, it
was soon either partially or wholly set aside by constitutional or
statutory enactment and the doctrine of prior appropriation sub-
stituted.
It is to be noted, however, that the use of running water, whether
acquired by the common law of riparian rights or by prior appro-
priation, must he exercised for a beneficial use and in a reasonable
manner, and, in the case of navigable rivers, subject to the paramount
right of navigation.
TABLE OF CONTENTS TO APPENDIX VII.
Page.
Alabama
312
Arizona
California
Colorado
Idaho __
Louisiana
Michigan_
Mississippi --
Missouri
Montana
New Mexico
North Dakota
Oklahoma___¬
South Carolina
Tennessee_
Utah..
Washington
Wyoming_
312
313
313
314
316
316
316
317
317
317
318
318
318
318
318
319
320
309
APPENDIX VII.
CONSTITUTIONAL PROVISIONS OF VARIOUS STATES RELATING TO
WATER COURSES AND THE USE OF WATER.
Compiled by G. W. MOONEY.
Express provisions relating to water courses or the use of water
are found in but 18 of the States of the Union. These States are
Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Louisiana, Michi-
gan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota,
Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and
Wyoming. It will be noted that all these States except five are
located west of the Mississippi River, and of the five east of the
Mississippi two, Tennessee and Mississippi, border the river.
Under the conditions existing during the early history of the
country in those areas from which the Eastern and Middle States
were formed the common law of riparian ownership was found
adequate and satisfactory. Consequently, with the exception of
Michigan and the Southern States above named, there is no mention
of the law of waters in their fundamental law and very limited
statutory enactment.
The constitutional provisions of Mississippi and Tennessee, to-
gether with those of Louisiana and Missouri, relate only to maintain-
ing the navigability of the Mississippi, and to rights of the public
and of the citizens of those States in connection therewith. The
constitutions of Michigan and South Carolina contain general
declarations intended to preserve the free and unobstructed naviga-
tion of the streams of those States.
Altogether the most important provisions relating to water courses
and the right to the beneficial use of such waters are found in the
constitutions of several of the Western States. In these States the
common law of riparian rights was found to be inapplicable to
existing conditions, either for the development of the natural re-
sources of the State or for the equitable determination of rights be-
tween citizens.
The water of natural streams is declared to be the property of the
public by the constitutions of Colorado and New Mexico, and to
be the property of the State by those of North Dakota and Wyoming.
The constitution of Arizona, recently approved, proclaims that the
common law of riparian rights shall not obtain or be of force and
effect in that State.
The doctrine of prior appropriation is recognized by the constitu-
tions of Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico,
311
312 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Utah (by implication), and Wyoming. In those of Colorado and
Idaho perference is given to domestic uses over those for irrigation,
and for irrigation over uses for manufacture. By the constitutions
of California and Idaho all water appropriated for any beneficial
use is declared to be a public use and subject to the control of the
State, while in the case of the latter State and also of Colorado the
duty is laid on the legislature of regulating charges.
By the constitutions of Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oklahoma,
Washington, and Wyoming the right of eminent domain is granted
for the construction of reservoirs, conduits, ditches, and kindred
structures over private property, even where the purpose is for a
private use.
CONSTITUTION OF ALABAMA.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 26. That all navigable waters shall remain forever public
highways, free to the citizens of the State, and of the United States,
without tax, impost, or toll imposed; and that no tax, toll, impost,
or wharfage shall be demanded or received from the owner of any
merchandise or commodity for the use of the shores, or any wharf
erected on the shores or in or over the waters of any navigable stream,
unless the same be expressly authorized by the general assembly.
CONSTITUTION OF ARIZONA.
ARTICLE X.
SEC. 5. No lands shall be sold for less than $3 per acre, and no
lands which are or shall be susceptible of irrigation under any projects
now or hereafter completed or adopted by the United States under
legislation for the reclamation of lands, or under any other project
for the reclamation of lands, shall be sold at less than $25 per acre:
Provided, That the State, at the request of the Secretary of the In-
terior, shall from time to time relinquish such of its lands to the
United States as at any time are needed for irrigation works in con-
nection with any such Government project, and other lands in lieu
thereof shall be selected from lands of the character named and in
the manner prescribed in section 24 of the said enabling act.
SEC. 6. No lands reserved and excepted of the lands granted to
this State by the United States, actually or prospectively valuable
for the development of water powers or power for hydroelectric use
or transmission, which shall be ascertained and designated by the
Secretary of the Interior within five years after the proclamation
of the President declaring the admission of the State, shall be subject
to any disposition whatsoever by the State or by any officer of the
State, and any conveyance or transfer of such lands made within said
five years shall be null and void.
ARTICLE XVII.
SEC. 1. The common-law doctrine of riparian water rights shall
not obtain or be of any force or effect in the State.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 313
SEC. 2. All existing rights to the use of any of the waters in the
State for all useful or beneficial purposes are hereby recognized and
confirmed.
ARTICLE XX.
Tenth. There are hereby reserved to the United States, with full
acquiescence of this State, all rights and powers for the carrying out
of the provisions by the United States of the act of Congress entitled
"An act appropriating the receipts from the sale and disposal of pub-
lic lands in certain States and Territories to the construction of irri-
gation works for the reclamation of arid lands," approved June 17,
1902, and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, to the
same extent as if this State had remained a Territory.
CONSTITUTION OF CALIFORNIA.
ARTICLE XIV.
SEC. 1. The use of all water now appropriated, or that may here-
after be appropriated, for sale, rental, or distribution, is hereby de-
clared to be a public use, and subject to the regulation and control of
the State, in the manner to be prescribed by law: Provided, That the
rates of compensation to be collected by any person, company, or
corporation in this State for the use of water supplied to any city
and county, or city, or town, or the inhabitants thereof, shall be fixed
annually by the board of supervisors, or city and county, or city or
town council, or other governing body of such city and county, or
city, or town, by ordinance or otherwise, in the manner that other
ordinances or legislative acts or resolutions are passed by such body,
and shall continue in force for one year and no longer. Such ordi-
nances or resolutions shall be passed in the month of February of
each year and take effect on the 1st day of July thereafter. Any
board or body failing to pass the necessary ordinances or resolutions
fixing water rates, where necessary, within such time, shall be sub-
ject to peremptory process to compel action at the suit of any party
interested, and shall be liable to such further processes and penalties
as the legislature may prescribe. Any person, company, or corpora-
tion collecting water rates in any city and county, or city, or town in
this State, otherwise than as so established, shall forfeit the fran-
chises and water works of such person, company, or corporation to
the city and county, or city, or town where the same are collected, for
the public use.
SEC. 2. The right to collect rates or compensation for the use of
water supplied to any county, city and county, or town, or the inhabi-
tants thereof, is a franchise, and can not be exercised except by au-
thority of and in the manner prescribed by law.
CONSTITUTION OF COLORADO.
ARTICLE II.
SEC. 14. That private property shall not be taken for private use
unless by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity
314 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
and except for reservoirs, drains, flumes, or ditches on or across the
lands of others, for agricultural, mining, milling, domestic, or sani-
tary purposes.
ARTICLE XVI.
SEC. 5. The water of every natural stream, not heretofore appro-
priated, within the State of Colorado, is hereby declared to be the
property of the public, and the same is dedicated to the use of the
people of the State, subject to appropriation as hereinafter provided.
SEC. 6. The right to divert unappropriated waters of any natural
stream to beneficial uses shall never be denied. Priority of appro-
priation shall give the better right as between those using the water
for the same purpose; but when the waters of any natural stream
are not sufficient for the service of all those desiring the use of the
same, those using the water for domestic purposes shall have the
preference over those claiming for any other purpose, and those
using the water for agricultural purposes shall have preference over
those using the same for manufacturing purposes.
SEC. 7. All persons and corporations shall have the right of way
across public, private, and corporate lands for the construction of
ditches, canals, and flumes for the purpose of conveying water for
domestic purposes, for the irrigation of agricultural lands, and
for mining and manufacturing purposes, and for drainage, upon
payment of just compensation.
SEC. 8. The general assembly shall provide by law that the board
of county commissioners in their respective counties shall have
power, when application is made to them by either party interested.
to establish reasonable maximum rates to be charged for the use of
water, whether furnished by individuals or corporations.
CONSTITUTION OF IDAHO.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 14. The necessary use of lands for the construction of reser-
voirs or storage basins, for the purposes of irrigation, or for the
rights of way for the construction of canals, ditches, flumes, or
pipes to convey water to the place of use, for any useful, beneficial,
or necessary purpose, or for drainage; or for the drainage of mines,
or the working thereof, by means of roads, railroads, tramways,
cuts, tunnels, shafts, hoisting works, dumps, or other necessary
means to their complete development, or any other use necessary to
the complete development of the material resources of the State or
the preservation of the health of its inhabitants, is hereby declared
to be a public use and subject to the regulation and control of the
State.
Private property may be taken for public use, but not until a just
compensation, to be ascertained in a manner prescribed by law, shall
be paid therefor.
ARTICLE XV.
SEC. 1. The use of all waters now appropriated, or that may here-
after be appropriated for sale, rental, or distribution; also of all
water originally appropriated for private use, but which after such
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 315
appropriation has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, sold, rented,
or distributed, is hereby declared to be a public use and subject to
the regulation and control of the State, in the manner prescribed
by law.
SEC. 2. The right to collect rates or compensation for the use of
water supplied to any county, city, or town, or water district, or
the inhabitants thereof, is a franchise, and can not be exercised
except by authority of and in the manner prescribed by law.
SEC. 3. The right to divert and appropriate the unappropriated
waters of any natural stream to beneficial uses, shall never be denied.
Priority of appropriation shall give the better right as between
those using the water; but when the waters of any natural stream
are not sufficient for the service of all those desiring the use of the
same, those using the water for domestic purposes shall (subject to
such limitations as may be prescribed by law) have the preference
over those claiming for any other purposes; and those using the
water for agricultural purposes shall have preference over those
using the same for manufacturing purposes. And in any organized
mining district, those using the water for mining purposes or mill-
ing purposes connected with mining shall have preference over those
using the same for manufacturing or agricultural purposes. But
the usage by such subsequent appropriators shall be subject to such
provisions of law regulating the taking of private property for pub-
lic or private use, as referred to in section 14 of Article I of this
constitution.
SEC. 4. Whenever any waters have been, or shall be appropriated
or used for agricultural purposes, under a sale, rental, or distribu-
tion thereof, such sale, rental, or distribution shall be deemed an
exclusive dedication to such use; and whenever such waters so dedi-
cated shall have once been sold, rented, or distributed to any per-
son who has settled upon or improved land for agricultural pur-
poses with the view of receiving the benefits of such water under
such dedication, such person, his heirs, executors, administrators,
successors, or assigns, shall not thereafter, without his consent, be de-
prived of the annual use of the same, when needed for domestic pur-
poses, or to irrigate the land so settled upon or improved, upon
payment therefor, and compliance with such equitable terms and
conditions as to the quantity used and times of use, as may be pre-
scribed by law.
SEC. 5. Whenever more than one person has settled upon, or im-
proved land with a view of receiving water for agricultural pur-
poses, under a sale, rental, or distribution thereof, as in the last pre-
ceding section of this article provided, as among such persons
priority in time shall give superiority of right to the use of such
water in the numerical order of such settlements or improvements;
but whenever the supply of such water shall not be sufficient to meet
the demands of all those desiring to use the same, such priority of
right shall be subject to such reasonable limitations as to the quantity
of water used and times of use as the legislature, having due regard
both to such priority of right and the necessities of those subse-
quent in time of settlement or improvement, may by law prescribe.
SEC. 6. The legislature shall provide by law the manner in which
reasonable maximum rates may be established to be charged for
the use of water sold, rented, or distributed for any useful or bene-
ficial purpose.
316 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
CONSTITUTION OF LOUISIANA.
ART. 290. Riparian owners of property on navigable rivers, lakes,
and streams, within any city or town in this State having a popu-
lation in excess of 5,000 shall have the right to erect and maintain
on the batture or banks owned by them such wharves, buildings, and
improvements as may be required for the purpose of commerce and
navigation, subject to the following conditions, and not otherwise,
to wit: Such owners shall first obtain the consent of the council, or
other governing authority, and of the board of levee commissioners,
within whose municipal or levee district jurisdiction such wharves,
buildings, and improvements are to be erected, and such consent
having been obtained, shall erect the same in conformity to plans
and specifications which shall have been first submitted to, and ap-
proved by, the engineer of such council, or other governing authority;
and when so erected, such wharves, buildings, and improvements
shall be and remain, subject to the administration and control of
such council, or other governing authority, with respect to their
maintenance and to the fees and charges to be exacted for their
use by the public, whenever any fee or charge is authorized to be, and
is, made; and shall be and remain subject to the control of such board
of levee commissioners, in so far as may be necessary for the mainte-
nance and administration of the levees in its jurisdiction. The
council, or other governing authority, shall have the right to expro-
priate such wharves, buildings, and improvements, whenever neces-
sary for public purposes, upon reimbursing the owner the cost of
construction, less such depreciation as may have resulted from time
and decay; such reimbursement, hovewer, in no case to exceed the
actual market value of the property: Provided, That nothing in this
article shall be construed as affecting the right of the State, or of any
political subdivision thereof, or of the several boards of levee commis-
sioners to appropriate without compensation such wharves, buildings,
and improvements, when necessary for levee purposes.
CONSTITUTION OF MICHIGAN.
ARTICLE XVIII.
* * *
SEC. 4. No navigable stream in this State shall be either bridged
or dammed without authority from the board of supervisors of the
proper county under the provisions of law. No such law shall preju-
dice the right of individuals to the free navigation of such streams,
or preclude the State from the further improvement of the naviga-
tion of such streams.
CONSTITUTION OF MISSISSIPPI.
SEC. 81. The legislature shall never authorize the permanent ob-
struction of any of the navigable waters of the State, but may provide
for the removal of such obstructions as now exist, whenever the
public welfare demands. This section shall not prevent the con-
struction, under proper authority, of drawbridges for railroads or
other roads, nor the construction of booms "and chutes" for logs
in such manner as not to prevent the safe passage of vessels or logs
under regulations to be provided by law.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 317
SEC. 90. The legislature shall not pass local, private, or special
laws in any of the following enumerated cases, but such matters
shall be provided for only by general laws, viz:
(g) Granting to any person, corporation, or association the right
to have any ferry, bridge, road, or fish trap.
(9) Relating to stock laws, watercourses, and fences.
CONSTITUTION OF MISSOURI.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 1. The boundaries of the State, as heretofore established
by law, are hereby ratified and confirmed. The State shall have
concurrent jurisdiction on the Mississippi River and every other
river bordering on the State, so far as the said rivers shall form a
common boundary to this State and any other State or States; and
the River Mississippi and the navigable rivers and waters leading to
the same shall be common highways, and forever free to the citizens
of this State and of the United States, without any tax, duty, impost,
or toll therefor, imposed by this State.
CONSTITUTION OF MONTANA.
ARTICLE III.
SEC. 15. The use of all water now appropriated, or that may
hereafter be appropriated for sale, rental, distribution, or other
beneficial use and the right of way over the lands of others, for all
ditches, drains, flumes, canals, and aqueducts, necessarily used in
connection therewith, as well as the sites for reservoirs necessary for
collecting and storing the same, shall be held to be a public use.
Private roads may be opened in the manner to be prescribed by law,
but in every case the necessity of the road, and the amount of all
damage to be sustained by the opening thereof, shall be first deter-
mined by a jury, and such amount, together with the expenses of
the proceeding, shall be paid by the person to be benefited.
CONSTITUTION OF NEW MEXICO.
ARTICLE XVI.
SEC. 1. All existing rights to the use of any waters in this State
for any useful or beneficial purpose are hereby recognized and con-
firmed.
SEC. 2. The unappropriated water of every natural stream, peren-
nial or torrential, within the State of New Mexico is hereby declared
to belong to the public and to be subject to appropriation for bene-
ficial use, in accordance with the laws of the State. Priority of
appropriation shall give the better right.
SEC. 3. Beneficial use shall be the basis, the measure, and the limit
of the right to the use of water.
SEC. 4. The legislature is authorized to provide by law for the
organization and operation of drainage districts and systems.
318 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
CONSTITUTION OF NORTH DAKOTA.
ARTICLE XVII.
SEC. 210. All flowing streams and natural watercourses shall for-
ever remain the property of the State for mining, irrigating, and
manufacturing purposes.
CONSTITUTION OF OKLAHOMA.
ARTICLE II.
SEC. 23. No private property shall be taken or damaged for pri-
vate use, with or without compensation, unless by consent of the
owner, except for private ways of necessity, or for drains and ditches
across lands of others for agricultural, mining, or sanitary purposes,
in such manner as may be prescribed by law.
CONSTITUTION OF SOUTH CAROLINA.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 28. All navigable waters shall forever remain public high-
ways,
free to the citizens of the State and the United States without
tax, impost, or toll imposed, and no tax, toll, impost, or wharfage
shall be imposed, demanded, or received from the owners of any
merchandise or commodity for the use of the shores or any wharf
erected on the shores or in or over the waters of any navigable
stream unless the same be authorized by the general assembly.
ARTICLE XIV.
SEC. 1. The State shall have concurrent jurisdiction on all rivers
bordering on this State, so far as such rivers shall form a common
boundary to this and any other State bounded by the same, and they,
together with all navigable waters within the limits of the State,
shall be common highways and forever free, as well to the inhabi-
tants of this State as to the citizens of the United States, without
any tax or impost therefor, unless the same be expressly provided
for by the general assembly.
CONSTITUTION OF TENNESSEE.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 29. That an equal participation in the free navigation of the
Mississippi is one of the inherent rights of the citizens of this State;
it can not, therefore, be conceded to any prince, potentate, power,
person, or persons whatever.
CONSTITUTION OF UTAH.
ARTICLE XI.
SEC. 6. No municipal corporation shall, directly or indirectly,
lease, sell, alien, or dispose of any waterworks, water rights, or
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 319
sources of water supply now or hereafter to be owned or controlled
by it; but all such waterworks, water rights and sources of water sup-
ply now owned or hereafter to be acquired by any municipal cor-
poration shall be preserved, maintained, and operated by it for sup-
plying its inhabitants with water at reasonable charges: Provided,
That nothing herein contained shall be construed to prevent any
such municipal corporation from exchanging water rights or sources
of water supply for other water rights or sources of water supply of
equal value and to be devoted in like manner to the public supply of
its inhabitants.
ARTICLE XIII.
* * *
SEC. 3. The legislature shall provide by law a uniform and equal
rate of assessment and taxation on all property in the State, accord-
ing to its value in money, and shall prescribe by general law such
regulations as shall secure a just valuation for taxation of all prop-
erty, so that every person and corporation shall pay a tax in propor-
tion to the value of his, her, or its property: Provided, That
ditches, canals, reservoirs, pipes, and flumes owned and used by in-
dividuals or corporations for irrigating lands owned by such indi-
viduals or corporations, or the individual members thereof, shall not
be separately taxed as long as they shall be owned and used exclu-
sively for such purpose.
ARTICLE XVII.
SEC. 1. All existing rights to the use of any of the waters in this
State for any useful or beneficial purpose are hereby recognized and
confirmed.
CONSTITUTION OF WASHINGTON.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 16. Private property shall not be taken for private use, ex-
cept for private ways of necessity, for drains, flumes, or ditches on
or across the lands of others for agricultural, domestic, or sanitary
purposes.
* * *
ARTICLE XV.
.SEC. 1. The legislature shall provide for the appointment of a
commission whose duty it shall be to locate and establish harbor
lines in the navigable waters of all harbors, estuaries, bays, and
inlets of this State, wherever such navigable waters lie within or
in front of the corporate limits of any city, or within 1 mile thereof
upon either side. The State shall never give, sell, or lease to
any private person, corporation, or association any rights what-
ever in the waters beyond such harbor lines, nor shall any of the
area lying between any harbor line and the line of ordinary high
tide, and within not less than 50 feet nor more than 600 feet of such
harbor line (as the commission shall determine), be sold or granted
by the State, nor its rights to control the same relinquished, but
such area shall be forever reserved for landings, wharves, streets,
and other conveniences of navigation and commerce.
320 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
SEC. 2. The legislature shall provide general laws for the lease
of the right to build and maintain wharves, docks, and other struc-
tures upon the areas mentioned in section 1 of this article, but no
lease shall be made for any term longer than 30 years, or the legis-
lature may provide by general laws for the building and maintain-
ing upon such area wharves, docks, and other structures.
SEC. 3. Municipal corporations shall have the right to extend
their streets over intervening tide lands to and across the area
reserved as herein provided.
ARTICLE XXI.
SEC. 1. The use of the waters of this State for irrigation, mining,
and manufacturing purposes shall be deemed a public use.
CONSTITUTION OF WYOMING.
ARTICLE I.
SEC. 31. Water being essential to industrial prosperity, of limited
amount and easy of diversion from its natural channels, its control
must be in the State, which, in providing for its use, shall equally
guard all the various interests involved.
SEC. 32. Private property shall not be taken for private use unless
by consent of the owner, except for private ways of necessity, and
for reservoirs, drains, flumes, or ditches on or across the lands of
others for agricultural, mining, milling, domestic, or sanitary pur-
poses, nor in any case without due compensation.
ARTICLE VIII.
SEC. 1. The water of all natural streams, springs, lakes, or other
collections of still water within the boundaries of the State are
hereby declared to be the property of the State.
SEC. 2. There shall be constituted a board of control, to be com-
posed of the State engineer and superintendents of the water divi-
sions, which shall, under such regulations as may be prescribed by
law, have the supervision of the waters of the State and of their
appropriation, distribution, and diversion and of the various offi-
cers connected therewith. Its decisions to be subject to review by
the courts of the State.
SEC. 3. Priority of appropriation for beneficial uses shall give the
better right. No appropriation shall be denied except when such
denial is demanded by the public interests.
SEC. 4. The legislature shall by law divide the State into four (4)
water divisions and provide for the appointment of superintendents
thereof.
SEC. 5. There shall be a State engineer, who shall be appointed
by the governor of the State and confirmed by the senate. He shall
hold his office for the term of six years, or until his successor shall
have been appointed and shall have qualified. He shall be presi-
dent of the board of control, and shall have general supervision
of the waters of the State and of the officers connected with its
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 321
distribution. No person shall be appointed to this position who
has not such theoretical knowledge and such practical experience
and skill as shall fit him for the position.
ARTICLE XIII.
SEC. 5. Municipal corporations shall have the same right as
individuals to acquire rights by prior appropriation and otherwise
to the use of water for domestic and municipal purposes, and the
legislature shall provide by law for the exercise upon the part of
incorporated cities, towns, and villages of the right of eminent do-
main for the purpose of acquiring from prior appropriators, upon
the payment of just compensation, such water as may be necessary
for the wellbeing thereof and for domestic uses.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2- -21
APPENDIX VIII.
FEDERAL STATUTES RELATING TO WATER POWER.
G. W. MOONEY.
The following compilation of statutes was originally prepared by
Alexander Mackenzie, brigadier general, United States Army, Chief
of Engineers, but has now been revised and brought down to date.
Abstract of legislation enacted by Congress in relation to the construction of
power dams in the navigable waters of the United States between 1789 and
Jan. 1, 1912.¹
Location.
Grantee.
Date.
Reference.
1
General dam act.
June 21, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 386. (Pub-
2
General dam act.
June 23, 1910
Vol. 36, p. 593.
lic, No. 262.)
lic, No. 246.)
(Pub-
2
Bear River, Miss.
4
Bear River, Miss.
North Mississippi Traction | Apr. 23, 1906
Co.
Andrews & Jourdan...
Vol. 34, p. 130. (Pub-
lic, No. 119.)
Feb. 25, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 929. (Pub-
lic, No. 115.)
(Mar. 16,1908
Vol. 35, p. 45.
(Pub-
5
Black Warrior River, Ala.
lic, No. 59.)
T. II. Friel...
(Mulberry Fork).
Aug. 22, 1911
Vol. 37, p.
(Pub-
lic, No. 40.)
6
Cahaba River, Ala. (Center-
Cahaba Power Co....
Mar. 6, 1908
Vol. 35, p. 37.
(Pub-
ville).
lic, No. 38.)
7
Choctawhatchee
River
Choctawhatchee Power Co.. Apr. 5, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 102.
(Pub-
8
Andrew J. Smith et al..
Andre
Co.
10
11
12
Greeley-Arizona Irrigation
Co.
Riparian owners.
Riparian owners, etc...
(Newton, Ala.).
Choctawhatchee River, Ala.
(below Newton-Ozark
Road).
9 Colorado River near mouth
of Pyramid Canyon.
13
Colorado River in Yuma
County, Ariz. 2
Coosa River, Ala. (Lock No.
2).
Coosa River, Ala. (Dam No.
4). Completion of Gov-
ernment dam and use of
water power by private
parties.
Coosa River, Ala. (Dam No.
12).
14 Coosa River, Ala..
15
Crow Wing River, Minn....
16
Cumberland River and its
South Fork above Burn-
side, Ky.
Alabama Power Co..
Mar. 4, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1288. (Pub-
lic, No. 247.)
Vol. 36, p. 939. (Pub-
June 16, 1906
Ragland Water Power Co.. Feb. 27, 1911
Judd Wright....
Cumberland River Im- Mar. 3, 1905
provement Co.
lic, No. 425.)
Vol. 34, p. 296. (Pub-
lic, No. 238.)
Vol. 33, pp. 1132, 1133.
(Public, No. 215, pp.
18 (pars. 1 to 6) and
19 (par. 1).)
1 This list does not include cases in which dams appear to have been intended for purposes otherwise than
for the generation of mechanical power.
2 This dam is intended primarily for diversion.
lic, No. 84.)
[Mar 10, 1908
Feb. 13, 1911
Chucawalla Development
Development `Feb. 15, 1911
Vol. 35, p. 40.
(Pub-
lic, No. 47.)
Vol. 36, p. 905.
(Pub-
lic, No. 361.)
Vol. 36, p. 909.
(Pub-
lic, No. 374.)
Mar. 3,1911
May 9, 1906
June 4, 1906
Vol. 36, p. 1081. (Pub-
lic, No. 464.)
Vol. 34, p. 183. (Pub-
lic, No. 150.)
Vol. 34, p. 211. (Pub-
lic, No. 196.)
323
324 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Abstract of legislation enacted by Congress in relation to the construction of
power dams, etc.-Continued.
Location.
Grantee.
Date.
Reference.
18
Flint River, Ga. (Porter
Shoals).
19
20
17
Cumberland River (Dam
No. 1, above Nashville,
Tenn.). Leasing of water
power created by the Gov-
ernment dam.
Goose Creek, S. C…………….
James River, Mo. (Stone
County).
21 Kansas (Kaw) River, Kans..
22 Kansas (Kaw) River, Kans.
23
24
Klamath Indian Reserva-
tion, Oreg. Indian appro-
priation act, under De-
partment of the Interior.
Little River, Ala. (Blanche).
power plant.
25 Minnesota River..
|
J. W. Vance et al.
Topeka Water & Electric
Power Co.
Chicago-Topeka Light,
Heat & Power Co.
Private parties..
26 Mississippi River (Bemidji, Kirby Thomas et al.
Minn.).
27 Mississippi River (Bemidji,
Minn.).
28 Mississippi River (Brainerd,
Minn.).
29 Mississippi River (Clear- The Mississippi
water, Minn.).
(June 13, 1902 Vol. 32, p. 358. (Pub-
lic, No. 154, p. 31,
par. 3.)
June 28, 1902
Vol. 32, p. 408. (Pub-
lic, No. 180.)
Albany Power & Manufac-
turing Co.
Feb. 5, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 878.
(Pub-
lic, No. 62.)
Charleston Light & Water
Co.
June 14, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 265.
(Pub-
lic, No. 230.)
Feb. 24, 1911
|
Vol. 36, p. 929.
(Pub-
lic, No. 412.)
June 6, 1892
Vol. 27, p. 46.
(Pub-
Jan. 22, 1894
June 21, 1906
|
Henry T. Henderson et al..
June 30, 1906
Minnesota River Improve-
ment & Power Co.
Feb. 24, 1911
(Mar. 3, 1905
al…….
Feb. 1,1908
Morrison & Haines..
June 4, 1906
lic, No. 77.)
Vol. 28, p. 27. (Pub-
lic, No. 14.)
Vol. 34, pp. 325 and 368.
(Public, No. 258.)
Vol. 34, p. 818. (Pub-
lic, No. 408.)
Vol. 36, p. 932. (Pub-
lic, No. 421.)
Vol. 33, p. 1043. (Pub-
lic, No. 207.)
Vol. 35, p. 3. (Public,
No. 8.)
Vol. 34, p. 210. (Pub-
lic, No. 194.)
Mississippi Water Power
Mississippi Water Power
& Boom Co.
Apr. 15, 1886
Vol. 24, p. 12.
(June 14, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 266.
(Pub-
River
lic, No. 231.)
Power Co.
Mar. 2,1907
Vol. 34, p. 1235.
(Pub-
lic, No. 205.)
30 Mississippi River
Moines Rapids).
(Des Des Moines Rapids Power
Co.
Feb. 24, 1894
Vol. 28, p. 38.
(Pub-
lic, No. 28.)
Feb. 8,1901
Vol. 31, p. 764.
(Pub-
31 Mississippi River (Des
Moines Rapids at Keokuk,Keokuk & Hamilton Water
Iowa).
lic, No. 43.)
Feb. 26, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 56.
(Pub-
Power Co.
lic, No. 32.)
Feb. 9, 1905
Vol. 33, p. 712.
(Pub-
lic, No. 65.)
Feb. 27, 1899
Vol. 30, p. 904.
(Pub-
32 Mississippi River (Grand
(Grand | Grand
Rapids, Minn.).
Rapids Water
Power & Boom Co.
lic, No. 80.)
Feb. 27, 1900
Vol. 31, p. 33.
(Pub-
lic, No. 26.)
Co.
33 Mississippi River (Little Little Falls Water Power July 3,1886
Falls, Minn.).
Vol. 24, p. 123.
34 Mississippi River (Minne-Twin City Rapid Transit
apolis, Minn., to Coon
Mar. 5, 1898
Vol. 30, p. 253.
(Pub
lic, No. 28.)
Rapids).
Co.
Apr. 12, 1900
Vol. 31, p. 75.
(Pub-
lic, No. 67.)
35 Mississippi River (Minne-
June 25, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 456.
(Pub-
apolis to St. Paul). Com-
cerning use of surplus wa-
ter flowing over Govern-
ment dams.
lic, No. 282.)
mission to report concern-
(June 14, 1906
36 Mississippi River (Monti- The
cello, Minn.).
Mississippi
Power Co.
River
Vol. 34, p. 264. (Pub-
lic, No. 229.)
Mar. 2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1235. (Pub-
lic, No. 204.)
[June 4, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 209. (Pub-
37 Mississippi River (in Morri-
son County).
The Pike Rapids Power
Co.
Mar. 2, 1907
lic, No. 193.)
Vol. 34, p. 1219.
(Pub-
lic, No. 179.)
Mar. 4, 1911
4,1911
Vol. 36, p. 1359.
(Pub-
lic, No. 517.)
Mar. 12, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 66.
(Pub-
Minnesota
Trolley Co.
Power &
lic, No. 47.)
Mar. 22, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 84. (Pub-
lic, No. 63.)
38 Mississippi River (Otsego,
Minn., between Wright
and Sherburne Counties).
39 Mississippi River (Rock Is-
land, Ill.).¹
1 Dam authorized in 1837 by charter of State of Illinois to private parties; charter extended by State in
1839. Developed by Moline Water Power Co. et al. Further developed by Ordnance Department, U. S.
Army, under authority of acts of Congress of Apr. 19, 1864 (vol. 13, p. 50), and June 27, 1866 (vol. 14, pp. 75
and 76). See also in this connection joint resolutions of Congress of Mar. 2, 1867 (vol. 14, p. 573), and Mar. 3,
1877 (vol. 19, p. 410), act of Congress of Mar. 3, 1879 (vol. 20, p. 387, first paragraph), and joint resolution of
Congress of June 20, 1879 (vol. 21, p. 51). For history of operations by Ordnance Department concerning
the development of this water power see "A history of the Rock Island Arsenal," etc., 1877, published by
the Ordnance Department, U. S. Army.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 325
Abstract of legislation enacted by Congress in relation to the construction of
power dams, etc.-Continued.
Location.
40 Mississippi River (Rock Is-
land Rapids, between
Davenport and Le Claire,
Iowa).
41 Mississippi River (Sauk
Rapids, St. Cloud, Minn.).
42 Mississippi River (village of
Sauk Rapids, Minn.).
43 Mississippi River (Sauk
Rapids, between village of
Sauk Rapids and St.
Cloud, Minn.).
44 Mississippi River (between
Stearns and Sherburne
Counties, Minn., at Au-
gusta).
45 Mississippi River (Watab,
Minn.).
St. Cloud Water Power & July
Mill Co.
Grantee.
Date.
Reference.
(Apr. 5, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 158. (Pub-
Davenport Water Power
Co.
lic, No. 82.)
Feb. 5, 1907
5, 1884
Vol. 34, p. 876.
(Pub-
lic, No. 56.)
Vol. 23, p. 154.
(Feb. 26, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 52.
(Pub-
lic, No. 28.)
Mar. 2,1907
Vol. 34, p. 1058.
(Pub-
Sauk Rapids Water Power
Co.
lic, No. 164.)
Feb. 13, 1911
Vol. 36, p. 902.
(Pub-
lic, No. 352.)
Feb. 24, 1911
Vol. 36, p. 931. (Pub-
lic, No. 420.)
Feb. 20, 1905
|
Vol. 33, p. 723. (Pub-
lic, No. 83.)
Sauk Rapids Manufactur-
ing Co.
The St. Cloud Electric June 28, 1906 Vol. 34, p. 537. (Pub-
Power Co.
Watab Rapids Power Co...
Apr.
23, 1904
46 Mississippi River (Hennepin
County, Minn.).
Great Northern Develop-
ment Co.
Jan.
12,1911
12, 1911
47
ment Co.
Missouri River (Fort Ben-
ton, Mont., somewhere
within a distance of 30
miles above).
lic, No. 315.)
Vol. 33, p. 295. (Pub-
lic, No. 151.)
Vol. 36, p. 893. (Pub-
lic, No. 333.)
Missouri River Improve- Feb. 20, 1907 Vol. 34, p. 912. (Pub-
lic, No. 98.)
48
Missouri River (Ox Bow Ox Bow Power Co
Bend, Mont.).
[Apr. 28, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 570.
(Pub
Co....
lic, No. 253.)
Mar. 4,1907
Vol. 34, p. 1415.
(Pub-
49 Missouri
Ferry
River (Stubbs
to
June 3, 1896
|
headwaters).
General authority for con-
struction of dams.
50 Missouri River (near Stubbs
Ferry, Mont.).
Missouri River Power Co...
June 8, 1894
51
Missouri River (vicinity of
Buck Rapids, Mont.).
Capital City Improvement
Co.
Apr. 12, 1906
lic, No. 271.)
Vol. 29, p. 231. (Pub-
lic, No. 175, p. 34,
par. 1.)
Vol. 28, p. 91. (Public
No. 85.)
Vol. 34, p. 111. (Pub-
lic, No. 93.)
≈ 3 +
3ཚ
57
58
60
52 Namakan Lake,
Falls, Minn.
53
Kettle
New River, Va. and W. Va.
(at Stevens Creek, Va.).
54 New River, Foster Falls, Va.
55
New River, Wythe County,
Va.
56 Niobrara River, Nebr. (Fort
Niobrara Military Reser-
vation.).
Virginia Iron, Coal & Coke
Co.
Ivanhoe Furnace Corpora-
Ivanhoe Furnace Corpora-
tion.
C. H. Cornell.
Jc.
Osage River, Mo. (Warsaw).| City of Warsaw.
Pea River, Ala. (Elba).....
59 Pend Oreille River, Wash.
(Big or Metaline Falls).
Pend Oreille River, Wash.
(near Pierwee Creek).
61 Rainy River, Minn.......
Rainey River Improvement
Co.
Fries & Ruffin..
Feb. 24, 1911
Vol. 36, p. 931.
(Pub-
lic, No. 418.)
June 4, 1900
Vol. 31, p. 264.
(Pub-
lic, No. 142.)
| Feb. 18,1911
Feb. 18,1911
Vol. 36, p. 921.
(Pub-
lic, No. 395.)
Feb. 18,1911
Feb. 18,1911
Vol. 36, p. 922.
(Pub-
lic, No. 398.)
(June 18, 1906
|
Vol. 34, p. 297.
(Pub-
lic, No. 239.)
[Feb. 18,1911
Vol. 36, p. 920.
(Pub-
lic, No. 393.)
Jan. 14,1901
Vol. 31, p. 729.
(Pub-
lic, No. 7.)
Pea River Power Co....……….
Feb. 23, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 18.
(Pub-
lic, No. 20.)
Pend d'Oreille Develop-
ment Co.
do...
June 1, 1906
Vol. 34, p. 205.
(Pub-
lic, No. 187.)
Feb. 25,1907
Vol. 34, p. 931.
(Pub-
lic, No. 119.)
May 4, 1898
Vol. 30, p. 398.
(Pub-
lic, No. 80.)
May 4,1900
Vol. 31, p. 167.
(Pub-
Koochiching Co. and
Rainy River Improve-
ment Co.
lic, No. 89.)
June 28, 1902
Vol. 32, p. 485.
(Pub-
lic, No. 186.)
Feb. 25,1905
Vol. 33, p. 814. (Pub-
May 23, 1908
62
Red Lake River, Minn....
W. J. Murphy.
Mar. 16,1906
63
Rock River, Ill. (Grand De-
tour.)
S. B. Newberry et al.
Feb. 16,1906
[Mar. 3,1905
lic, No. 103.)
Vol. 35, p. 273.
lic, No. 138.)
lic, No. 49.)
lic, No. 16.)
lic, No. 171.)
(Pub-
Vol. 34, p. 65. (Pub-
Vol. 34, p. 14. (Pub-
Vol. 33, p. 1004. (Pub-
64 Rock River, Ill. (Lyndon)... Edward A. Smith et al.....Feb. 25, 1907
Feb. 25, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 933. (Pub-
Feb. 18,1911
lic, No. 124.)
Vol. 36, p. 920. (Pub-
lic, No. 392.)
326 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Abstract of legislation enacted by Congress in relation to the construction of
power dams, etc.-Continued.
Location.
Grantee.
Date.
Reference.
(May 1,1906
65 Rock River, Ill. (at Van-
druffs and at Carrs Islands).
S. S. Davis………
Vol. 34, p. 155. (Pub-
lic, No. 137.)
Mar. 3,1909
Vol. 35, p. 819.
(Pub-
66
Rock River, Ill. (Sterling). | Sterling Hydraulic Co......
(Power, etc.).
Mar. 2,1907
67
Rock River, Ill. (Byron)....
Byron Water Power Co....
Feb. 18, 1911
68
69
70
(Mottville.)
71
St. Croix River, Wis. and
Minn. (St. Croix Falls,
Wis.).
St. Joseph River, Mich.
(Berrien Springs).
St. Joseph River,
St. Croix Falls, Wisconsin
Improvement Co., and
St. Croix Falls, Minne-
sota Improvement Co.
Berrien Springs Power &
Electric Co.
St. Joseph River, Mich. City of Sturgis.
(Sturgis).
Feb.
7,1903
Vol. 32, p. 802. (Pub-
lic, No. 317.)
Vol. 34, p. 1103. (Pub-
lic, No. 168, p. 33,
par. 5.)
lic, No. 397.)
lic, No. 64.)
Vol. 36, p. 922. (Pub-
Apr.
5,1906
Vol. 34, p. 102. (Pub-
lic, No. 85.)
Mich.
H. L. Hartenstein.
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1254.
(Pub-
lic, No. 238.)
Jan. 12, 1911
Vol. 36, p. 893.
(Pub-
72
St. Marys' River, Mich...... Michigan Lake Superior
Superior
June 13, 1902
Vol. 32, p. 361.
Power Co.
[Mar. 3,1909
lic, No. 332.)
lic, No. 154.)
Vol. 35, p. 821. (Pub-
lic, No. 317.)
(Pub-
73
333
Savannah River, Ga., and
S. C. (Andersonville
J. R. Earle Development Mar.
Co.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1240. (Pub-
lic, No. 214.)
shoals).
74
Savannah River, Ga., and Hugh MacRae Co...
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1240. (Pub-
S. C. (Calhoun Falls).
lic, No. 212.)
75
Savannah River, Ga., and
.do..
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1255.
(Pub-
S. C. (Cherokee shoals).
lic, No. 239.)
76
77
78
79
81
82
83
84
86
Savannah River, Ga., above
Augusta (at Dortons
Creek, Prices Island, and
Crouchs Bluff).
Savannah River, Ga.,(Gregg
Shoals).
Savannah (Tugaloo)_River,
Ga. and S. C. (Hattons
Ford).
Savannah River, Ga. and S.
C. (McDaniel Shoals).
80 Savannah River, Ga., and
S. C. (Middleton Shoals).
Savannah River, Ga. and
S. C. (Trotters Shoals).
Savannah River, Ga. and
S. C. (Turner Shoals).
Savannah River, Ga. (Stev-
ens Creek).
Savannah River, Cherokee |
Shoals.
85 Spokane River, Wash.
Under Department of the
Interior.
Tennessee River, Ala.
(Elk River Shoals to Flor-
ence).
Hugh MacRae Co.
Anderson Guaranty &
Trust Co.
J. L. Hankinson, et al..
Hugh MacRae et al
Private parties....
al..
(Feb. 8,1901
Vol. 31, p. 763.
(Pub-
lic, No. 41.)
Twin City Power Co...
Feb. 27, 1907 Vol. 34, p. 1000.
(Pub-
lic, No. 134.)
Feb. 29,1908
Vol. 35, p. 36.
(Pub-
lic, No. 36.)
Savannah River Power Co.
Feb. 5,1907
Vol. 34, p. 876.
(Pub-
Hugh MacRae Co......
Mar.
2, 1907
lic, No. 55.)
lic, No. 213.)
Vol. 34, p. 1240. (Pub-
Anderson Guaranty &
Trust Co.
.do...
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1238. (Pub-
lic, No. 208.)
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1239. (Pub.
lic, No. 210.)
Mar.
2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1241.
(Pub-
lic, No. 215.)
&
Mar. 2, 1907
Vol. 34, p. 1239.
(Pub-
lic, No. 209.)
Aug. 5, 1909
Vol. 36, p. 180.
(Pub-
lic, No. 9.)
Feb. 18, 1911
Vol. 36, p. 922.
(Pub-
lic, No. 396.)
Mar. 3, 1905
Vol. 33, p. 1006.
(Pub-
lic, No. 173.)
Report by a board of engi- Mar.
neers called for.
2, 1907 Vol. 34, p. 1094. (Pub-
lic, No. 168, p. 23,
par. 5.)
[Apr. 26, 1904
Vol. 33, p. 309.
(Pub-
lic, No. 169.)
87
Tennessee
River, Ala.
(Hales Bar, near Scott
Point). The provisions
of the last two acts cited
are merely appropriations
for certain work assumed
by the General Govern-
ment.
88 Tennessee River,
(Muscle Shoals).
City of Chattanooga etc.,
and Chattanooga & Ten-
nessee River Power Co.
Jan. 7, 1905
Mar. 3, 1905
Mar. 2, 1907 Vol. 34, p. 1093. (Pub-
lic, No. 168, p. 23,
par. 4.)
Vol. 36, p. 181. (Pub-
lic, No. 11.)
Vol. 34, p. 52.
lic, No. 35.)
(Pub-
Vol. 30, p. 1351. (Pub-
Ala.
General authority for con-
struction of dams.
Aug. 5, 1909
Mar. 6. 1906
Mar. 3, 1899
June 6, 1900
Vol. 31, p. 274. (Pub-
89
Tennessee River, Ala.
(Muscle Shoals).
Muscle Shoals Power Co....
scle
Mar. 1, 1901
Feb. 18, 1903
lic, No. 201.)
lic, No. 151.)
Vol. 31, p. 846. (Pub-
lic, No. 108.)
Vol. 32, p. 839. (Pub-
lic, No. 96.)
Vol. 33, p. 603.
(Pub-
lic, No. 6.)
Vol. 33, p. 1133.
(Pub-
lic, No. 215, p. 19,
par. 5.)
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 327
Abstract of legislation enacted by Congress in relation to the construction of
power dams, etc.-Continued.
Location.
Grantee.
Date.
Reference.
Tugaloo River
(Hattons
Ford). See Savannah
River (67), supra.
90
Turtle Bay, Anahuac, Tex.. Lone Star Canal Co…….
June 25, 1910
Vol. 36, p. 828. (Pub-
lic, No. 278.)
91
Wabash River or tributaries,
Feb. 14, 1889
Vol. 25, p. 670.
Ill. (above Grand Rapids
Dam). To draw water by
Mount Carmel
Develop-Feb. 12, 1901
Vol. 31, p. 785.
ment Co.
Mar. 3, 1909
Vol. 36, p. 819.
(Pub-
canal, flume, or race.
92
White River, Ark. (Lock | Batesville Power Co.
and Dam No. 1). For
June 28, 1906
canals, power stations,
93
etc.
White River, Ark. (above J. A. Omberg, jr..
Lock No. 3).
94 White River,
County, Mo.
Taney
95 Additional miscellaneous
legislation.
June 29, 1906
Ozark Power & Water Co.. Feb. 4, 1911
lic, No. 317.)
Vol. 34, p. 536. (Pub-
lic, No. 313.)
Vol. 34, p. 628. (Pub-
lic, No. 368.)
Vol. 36, p. 897. (Pub-
lic, No. 342.)
Subject.
96
Act of 1866.
97
Act of 1870..
98
Desert-land act
·
99
Reservoir sites.
100
Forest reserves.
101
Forest reserves under Secre-
1 Not primarily for power purposes.
Statutes relating to water power on the public domain.
Date.
July 26, 1866
July 9, 1870 |
Mar. 3, 1877
Feb. 26.1897
Mar. 3,
June
3, 1891
4, 1897
Reference.
Rev. Stats., sec. 2339.
Rev. Stats., sec. 2340.
26 Stat., 52.
Vol. 29, p. 599. (Pub-
lic, No. 95.)
Vol. 26, p. 1095.
Vol. 30, p. 34.
tary of the Interior.
102
Revocable permits..
Feb. 15, 1901
Vol. 31, p. 790.
(Pub.
lic, No. 64.)
103
Forest reserves transferred
Feb. 1, 1905
to Secretary of Agricul-
Vol. 33, p. 628.
lic, No. 34.)
(Pub-
104
ture.
Withdrawal act...
June 25, 1910 Vol. 36, p. 847. (Püb-
lic, No. 303.)
105 Rules of the Forest Service.
Dec. 28, 1910
(1)
CHAP. 3508.-An Act To regulate the construction of dams across
navigable waters.
June 21,
1906.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
[Public, No.
for construct-
gable waters.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 8428.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress as- 262.1
sembled, That when, hereafter, authority is granted by
Congress to any persons to construct and maintain a dam Dams.
for water power or other purposes across any of the navi- Regulations
gable waters of the United States, such dams [sic] shall ing, over navi-
not be built or commenced until the plans and specifica-
tions for its construction, together with such drawings of
the proposed construction and such map of the proposed
location as may be required for a full understanding of
the subject, have been submitted to the Secretary of War Approval of
and Chief of Engineers for their approval, or until they war and Chief
shall have approved such plans and specifications and the of Engineers.
location of such dam and accessory works; and when the
plans for any dam to be constructed under the provisions
Secretary
Changes.
of
328 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Proviso.
of this Act have been approved by the Chief of Engi-
neers and by the Secretary of War it shall not be lawful
to deviate from such plans either before or after comple-
tion of the structure unless the modification of such plans
has previously been submitted to and received the ap-
proval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of
War: Provided, That in approving said plans and loca-
Conditions. tion such conditions and stipulations may be imposed as
the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War may
deem necessary to protect the present and future interests
of the United States, which may include the condition
that such persons shall construct, maintain, and operate,
without expense to the United States, in connection with
said dam and appurtenant works, a lock or locks, booms,
sluices, or any other structures which the Secretary of
War and the Chief of Engineers at any time may deem.
necessary in the interest of navigation, in accordance with
such plans as they may approve, and also that whenever
Approaches, Congress shall authorize the construction of a lock, or
atc., to locks. other structures for navigation purposes, in connection.
with such dam, the person owning such dam shall convey
to the United States, free of cost, title to such land as
may be required for such constructions and approaches,
Water power. and shall grant to the United States a free use of water
power for building and operating such constructions.
Rights re-
igation.
SEC. 2. That the right is hereby reserved to the United
served for nav-States to construct, maintain, and operate, in connection
with any dam built under the provisions of this Act, a
suitable lock or locks, or any other structures for naviga-
tion purposes, and at all times to control the said dam
and the level of the pool caused by said dam to such an
extent as may be necessary to provide proper facilities
for navigation.
Flowage, etc.,
damages.
SEC. 3. That the person, company, or corporation build-
ing, maintaining, or operating any dam and appurtenant
works, under the provisions of this Act, shall be liable for
any damage that may be inflicted thereby upon private
Lights, fish- property, either by overflow or otherwise. The persons
owning or operating any such dam shall maintain, at
their own expense, such lights and other signals thereon
and such fishways as the Secretary of Commerce and
Labor shall prescribe.
ways, etc.
Forfeiture of
eights.
Punishment
ance
with or-
SEC. 4. That all rights acquired under this Act shall
cease and be determined if the person, company, or cor-
poration acquiring such rights shall, at any time, fail to
comply with any of the provisions and requirements of
the Act, or with any of the stipulations and conditions
that may be prescribed as aforesaid by the Chief of Engi-
neers and the Secretary of War.
SEC. 5. That any persons who shall fail or refuse to
for noncompli-
oncompli comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of War
ders, etc. and the Chief of Engineers, made in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a viola-
tion of this Act, and any persons who shall be guilty of a
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 329
violation of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a misde-
meanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by a
fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and every month
such persons shall remain in default shall be deemed a
new offense and subject such persons to additional penal-
ties therefor; and in addition to the penalities above de-
scribed the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers
may, upon refusal of the persons owning or controlling
any such dam and accessory works to comply with any
lawful order issued by the Secretary of War or Chief of
Engineers in regard thereto, cause the removal of such Removal, etc.
dam and accessory works as an obstruction to navigation
at the expense of the persons owning or controlling such
dam, and suit for such expense may be brought in the
name of the United States against such persons, and re-
covery had for such expense in any court of competent
jurisdiction; and the removal of any structures erected or
maintained in violation of the provisions of this Act or
the order or direction of the Secretary of War or Chief
of Engineers made in pursuance thereof may be enforced
by injunction, mandamus, or other summary process,
upon application to the circuit court in the district in
which such structure may, in whole or in part, exist, and
proper proceedings to this end may be instituted under
the direction of the Attorney-General of the United
States at the request of the Chief of Engineers or the Sec-
retary of War; and in case of any litigation arising from Litigation.
any obstruction or alleged obstruction to navigation cre-
ated by the construction of any dam under this Act, the
cause or question arising may be tried before the circuit
court of the United States in any district in which any
portion of said obstruction or dam touches.
Time of con-
SEC. 6. That whenever Congress shall hereafter by law
authorize the construction of any dam across any of the struction.
navigable waters of the United States, and no time for
the commencement and completion of such dam is named
in said Act, the authority thereby granted shall cease and
be null and void unless the actual construction of the dam
authorized in such Act be commenced within one year
and completed within three years from the date of the
passage of such Act.
served.
re-
SEC. 7. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Right to al-
Act is hereby expressly reserved as to any and all dams ter, etc.,
which may be constructed in accordance with the pro-
visions of this Act, and the United States shall incur no
liability for the alteration, amendment, or repeal thereof
to the owner or owners or any other persons interested
in any dam which shall have been constructed in accord-
ance with its provisions.
SEC. 8. That the word "persons
as used in this Act Meaning of
shall be construed to import both the singular and the “persons."
plural, as the case demands, and shall include corpora-
tions, companies, and associations.
Approved, June 21, 1906.
330 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
June
1910.
(2)
23, CHAP, 360.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to
Vol. 36, p. regulate the construction of dams across navigable waters," ap-
proved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
593.
[H. R. 24375.]
[Public, No.
246.]
Vol. 34, p.
governing con-
navigable wa-
Changes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Dams. bled, That the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the con-
386, amended. struction of dams across navigable waters," approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six, be, and the
same is hereby, amended to read as follows:
Regulations "SECTION 1. That when authority has been or may
structing over hereafter be granted by Congress, either directly or indi-
ters, extended rectly or by any official or officials of the United States,
to any persons, to construct and maintain a dam for water
power or other purpose across or in any of the navigable
waters of the United States, such dam shall not be built
or commenced until the plans and specifications for such
dam and all accessory works, together with such draw-
ings of the proposed construction and such map of the
proposed location as may be required for a full under-
Approval of standing of the subject, have been submitted to the Secre-
Secretary of
War and Chief tary of War and the Chief of Engineers for their ap-
of Engineers. proval, nor until they shall have approved such plans and
specifications and the location of such dam and accessory
works; and when the plans and specifications for any
dam to be constructed under the provisions of this Act
have been approved by the Chief of Engineers and by
the Secretary of War it shall not be lawful to deviate
from such plans or specifications either before or after
completion of the structure unless the modification of
such plans or specifications has previously been submitted
to and received the approval of the Chief of Engineers
and of the Secretary of War: Provided, That in approv-
ing the plans, specifications, and location for any dam,
such conditions and stipulations may be imposed as the
Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War may deem
necessary to protect the present and future interests of
the United States, which may include the condition that
the persons constructing or maintaining such dam shall
construct, maintain, and operate, without expense to the
United States in connection with any dam and accessory
or appurtenant works, a lock or locks, booms, sluices, or
any other structure or structures which the Secretary of
War and the Chief of Engineers or Congress at any time
ete Pproaches, may deem necessary in the interests of navigation, in
accordance with such plans as they may approve, and also
that whenever Congress shall authorize the construction
of a lock or other structures for navigation purposes in
connection with such dam, the persons owning such dam
Water power. shall convey to the United States, free of cost, title to
such land as may be required for such constructions and
approaches, and shall grant to the United States free
Provisos.
Conditions.
etc., to locks.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 331
to be consid-
Charges for
improvements,
water power or power generated from water power for
building and operating such constructions: Provided fur- Bearing upon
ther, That in acting upon said plans as aforesaid the improvements
Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War shall con- ered.
sider the bearing of said structure upon a comprehensive
plan for the improvement of the waterway over which it
is to be constructed with a view to the promotion of its
navigable quality and for the full development of water
power; and, as a part of the conditions and stipulations
imposed by them, shall provide for improving and devel-
oping navigation, and fix such charge or charges for the
privilege granted as may be sufficient to restore conditions etc.
with respect to navigability as existing at the time such
privilege be granted or reimburse the United States for
doing the same, and for such additional or further ex-
pense as may be incurred by the United States with ref-
erence to such project, including the cost of any investi-
gations necessary for approval of plans and of such super-
vision of construction as may be necessary in the interests
of the United States: Provided further, That the Chief
of Engineers and the Secretary of War are hereby au-
thorized and directed to fix and collect just and proper Charges for
charge or charges for the privilege granted to all dams voirs, etc., con-
authorized and constructed under the provisions of this structed.
Act which shall receive any direct benefit from the con-
struction, operation, and maintenance by the United
States of storage reservoirs at the headwaters of any
navigable streams, or from the acquisition, holding, and
maintenance of any forested watershed, or lands located
by the United States at the headwaters of any navigable
stream, wherever such shall be, for the development, im-
provement, or preservation of navigation in such streams
in which such dams may be constructed.
storage reser-
re
served for nav-
damages.
"SEC. 2. That the right is hereby reserved to the Rights
United States to construct, maintain, and operate, in con- igation.
nection with any dam built in accordance with the pro-
visions of this Act, a suitable lock or locks, booms, sluices,
or any other structures for navigation purposes, and at all
times to control the said dam and the level of the pool
caused by said dam to such an extent as may be necessary
to provide proper facilities for navigation.
66 SEC. 3. That the persons constructing, maintaining. Flowage, etc.,
or operating any dam or appurtenant or accessory works,
in accordance with the provisions of this Act, shall be lia-
ble for any damage that may be inflicted thereby upon
private property, either by overflow or otherwise. The
persons owning or operating any such dam, or accessory
works, subject to the provisions of this Act, shall main-
tain, at their own expense, such lights and other signals Lights, fish-
thereon and such fishways as the Secretary of Commerce be maintained.
and Labor shall prescribe, and for failure so to do in any
respect shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and sub-
ject to a fine of not less than five hundred dollars, and
each month of such failure shall constitute a separate
ways, etc., to
Penalty for
failure.
•
332 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Forfeiture of
rights.
offense and subject such persons to additional penalties
therefor.
"SEC. 4. That all rights acquired under this Act shall
cease and be determined if the person, company, or cor-
poration acquiring such rights shall, at any time, fail,
after receiving reasonable notice thereof, to comply with
any of the provisions and requirements of the Act or with
any of the stipulations and conditions that may be pre-
scribed as aforesaid by the Chief of Engineers and the
Secretary of War, including the payment into the Treas-
ury of the United States of the charges provided for by
Provisos. section one of this Act: Provided, That Congress may re-
Revocation voke any rights conferred in pursuance of this Act when-
for public use. ever it is necessary for public use, and, in the event of any
when needed
such revocation by Congress, the United States shall pay
the owners of any dam and appurtenant works built
under authority of this Act, as full compensation, the
reasonable value thereof, exclusive of the value of the
authority or franchise granted, such reasonable value to
be determined by mutual agreement between the Secre-
tary of War and the said owners, and in case they can
not agree, then by proceedings instituted in the United
States circuit court for the condemnation of such prop-
Termination erties: And provided also, That the authority granted
in fifty years. under or in pursuance of the provisions of this Act shall
terminate at the end of a period not to exceed fifty years
from the date of the original approval of the project
under this Act, unless sooner revoked as herein provided
or Congress shall otherwise direct: Provided, however,
Exceptions. That this limitation shall not apply to any corporation or
individual heretofore authorized by the United States,
or by any State, to construct a dam in or across a naviga-
ble waterway, upon which dam expenditures of money
have heretofore been made in reliance upon such grant or
grants.
Penalty for "SEC. 5. That any persons who shall fail or refuse to
noncompliance comply with the lawful order of the Secretary of War
and the Chief of Engineers, made in accordance with the
provisions of this Act, shall be deemed guilty of a viola-
tion of this Act, and any persons who shall be guilty of
a violation of this Act shall be deemed guilty of a mis-
demeanor and on conviction thereof shall be punished by
a fine not exceeding five thousand dollars, and every
month such persons shall remain in default shall be
deemed a new offense and subject such persons to addi-
Removal, etc. tional penalties therefor; and in addition to the penalties
above described the Secretary of War and the Chief of
Engineers may, upon refusal of the persons owning or
controlling any such dam and accessory works to comply
with any lawful order issued by the Secretary of War or
Chief of Engineers in regard thereto, cause the removal
of such dam and accessory works as an obstruction to
navigation at the expense of the persons owning or con-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 333
Suits for ex-
pense.
trolling such dam, and suit for such expense may be
brought in the name of the United States against such
persons and recovery had for such expense in any court
of competent jurisdiction. Said provision as to recovery
of expense shall not apply wherever the United States
has been previously reimbursed for such removal; and
the removal of any structures erected or maintained in Proceeding.
violation of the provisions of this Act or the order or
direction of the Secretary of War or the Chief of Engi-
ners made in pursuance thereof may be enforced by in-
junction, mandamus, or other summary process, upon
application to the circuit court in the district in which
such structure may, in whole or in part, exist, and proper
proceedings to this end may be instituted under the direc-
tion of the Attorney-General of the United States at
the request of the Chief of Engineers or the Secretary of
War; and in case of any litigation arising from any Litigation.
obstruction or alleged obstruction to navigation created
by the construction of any dam under this Act the cause
or question arising may be tried before the circuit court of
the United States in any district in which any portion of
said obstruction or dam touches.
construction.
"SEC. 6. That whenever Congress shall hereafter by Time for
law authorize the construction of any dam across any of
the navigable waters of the United States, and no time for
the commencement and completion of such dam is named
in said Act, the authority thereby granted shall cease and
be null and void unless the actual construction of the dam
authorized in such Act be commenced within one year
and completed within three years from the date of the
passage of such Act.
66
Right to al-
ter, etc.. re-
SEC. 7. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved as to any and all dams served.
which may be constructed in accordance with the pro-
visions of this Act, and the United States shall incur no
liability for the alteration, amendment, or repeal thereof
to the owner or owners or any other persons interested in
any dam which shall have been constructed in accordance
with its provisions.
Construction
66
of persons
"SEC. 8. That the word 'persons' as used in this Act
shall be construed to import both the singular and the and "dam."
plural, as the case demands, and shall include corpora-
tions, companies, and associations. The word 'dam' as
used in this Act shall be construed to import both the
singular and plural, as the case demands."
Approved, June 23, 1910.
334 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(3)
Apr. 23, 1906. CHAP. 1660.-An Act To authorize the North Mississippi Trac-
Vol. 34, p. 130. tion Company to construct dams and power stations on the Bear
[H. R. 15259.] River on the northeast quarter of section thirty-one, township
[Public, No. five, range eleven, in Tishomingo County, Mississippi.
119.]
Miss.
North
tion Company
may dam.
Location.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem
Bear River, bled, That the North Mississippi Traction Company, their
Mis- successors and assigns, having authority therefor under
sissippi Trac- the laws of the State of Mississippi, may hereafter erect,
maintain, and use a dam or dams in or across the Bear
River, in the State of Mississippi, at such points on the
northeast quarter of section thirty-one, township five,
range eleven, in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, as they
may elect, for the purpose of erecting, operating, and
maintaining power stations and to maintain inlet and out-
let races or canals and to make such other improvements
on Bear River as may be necessary for the development
of water power and the transmission of the same, sub-
ject always to the provisions and requirements of this
Act and to such conditions and stipulations as may be im-
posed by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War.
Secretary of
War to approve
SEC. 2. That detailed plans for the construction and
plans, etc. operation of a dam or dams and other appurtenant and
necessary works shall be submitted by said North Missis-
sippi Traction Company, their successors and assigns, de-
siring to construct the same, to the Chief of Engineers
and the Secretary of War, with a map showing the loca-
tion of such dam or other structures, with such topograph-
ical and hydrographic data as may be necesasry for a sat-
isfactory understanding of the same, which must be ap-
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War before work can be commenced on said dam or dams
or other structures; and after such approval of said plans
no deviation whatsoever therefrom shall be made without
first obtaining the approval of the Chief of Engineers
Provisos. and the Secretary of War: Provided, That the construc-
navigation. tions hereby authorized do not interfere with the naviga-
Restriction. tion of Bear River: And provided further, That said dam
Unobstructed
Locks, etc.
cr dams and works shall be limited only to the use of
the surplus water of the river, not required for the navi-
gation of Bear River, and that no structures shall be built
and no operations conducted by those availing themselves
of the provisions of this Act which shall injure or inter-
fere with the navigation of Bear River or impair the use-
fulness of any improvement made by the Government in
the interest of navigation.
SEC. 3. That the Government of the United States re-
serves the right, at any time that the improvement of the
navigation of Bear River demands it, to construct, main-
tain, and operate, in connection with any dam or other
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 335
works built under the provisions of this Act, suitable
lock or locks or any other structures for navigation pur-
poses, and at all times to control such dam or dams or
other structures, and the level of the pool caused by such
dam or dams, to such an extent as may be necessary to
provide facilities for navigation; and whenever Congress
shall authorize the construction of such lock or other
structures, the person, company, or corporation owning
and controlling such dam or dams or other structures
shall convey to the United States, under such terms as
Congress shall prescribe, titles to such land as may be
required for the use of such lock and approaches, and in
addition thereto shall grant to the United States, free
of cost, the free use of water power for building and op-
erating such constructions: Provided, also, That the per-
son, company, or corporation building, maintaining, or
operating any dam or dams or other structures under the
provisions of this Act shall be liable for any damage that
may be inflicted thereby upon private property, either
by overflow or otherwise, and the nearest State or Fed-
eral court shall have jurisdiction to hear suits to deter-
mine the amount of compensation for alleged damage.
The person, company, or corporation owning or operating Lights, etc.
any such dam shall maintain, at their own expense, such
lights and other signals thereon and such fishways as
the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall prescribe.
Proviso.
Damages.
Fishways.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 4. That all the rights acquired under this Act Forfeiture.
shall cease and be determined if the person, company, or
corporation acquiring such right shall at any time fail to
comply with any of the provisions or requirements of this
Act, or with any of the stipulations that may be pre-
scribed by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War, or in case a person, company, or corporation author-
ized by the laws of the State of Mississippi to erect and
maintain a dam and improvements as contemplated by
this Act shall fail to begin the erection of said dam and
improvements within one year after being so authorized
and shall fail to complete the same within three years
after obtaining such authority.
SEC. 5. That the provisions of this Act shall in no man-
ner interfere with or impair the rights of any person,
company, or corporation heretofore authorized by Con-
gress to erect a dam or other structures for the develop-
ment of water power on the Tennessee River.
SEC. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, April 23, 1906.
Prior rights
not affected.
Amendment.
336 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(4)
Feb.
1907.
25,
Vol. 34, p.
929.
+
CHAP. 1192.—An Act To authorize J. F. Andrews, J. W. Jourdan,
their heirs, representatives, associates, and assigns, to construct
dams and power stations on Bear River, on the southeast quarter
of section thirty-one, township five, range eleven, in Tishomingo
[H. R. 21194.]
[Public, No. County, Mississippi.
115.1
et al. may_con-
mingo County,
Miss.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress as-
Bear River. sembled, That J. F. Andrews, J. W. Jourdan, their heirs,
J. F. Andrews representatives, associates, and assigns may hereafter
struct dam erect, maintain, and use a dam or dams in or across the
across, in Tisho- Bear River, in the State of Mississippi, at such points on
the southeast quarter of section thirty-one, township five,
range eleven, in Tishomingo County, Mississippi, as they
may elect, for the purpose of erecting, operating, and
maintaining power stations, and to maintain inlet and
outlet races or canals, and to make such other improve-
ments on Bear River as may be necessary for the develop-
ment of water power and the transmission of the same,
in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Congress
Vol. 34, p. entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters," approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six: Provided, That this Act shall
in no manner interfere with or impair the rights of any
person, company, or corporation heretofore authorized by
Congress to erect a dam or other structure for the devel-
opment of water power on Bear River.
386.
Proviso.
Restriction.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, February 25, 1907.
Vol. 35, p.
45.
[H. R. 16746.]
59.]
(5)
March 16, CHAP. 91.-An Act To authorize T. H. Friel or assigns to con-
1908.
struct a dam across Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
[Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That T. H. Friel or assigns be, and they are hereby,
authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam
Mulberry across the Mulberry Fork of the Black Warrior River,
Fork of Black at a point within ten miles north and within two miles
south of its junction with the Sipsey Fork, in Walker
County, in the State of Alabama, in accordance with the
provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the
Vol. 34, p. construction of dams across navigable waters," approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
Warrior River,
Ala.
T. H. Friel
may dam.
Location.
386.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 16, 1908.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 337
CHAP. 41.-An Act To improve navigation on Black Warrior
River, in the State of Alabama.
August 22,
1911.
Vol. 37, p.
[S. 943.]
[Public, No.
40.]
for
Dam 17.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized, in Black War-
his discretion, to change the detailed plans and specifica- rior River, Ala.
tions for the construction of Lock and Dam Seventeen, thorized in
on the Black Warrior River, Alabama, so as to increase plan Lock
the height of the pool level over the dam crest of Lock
Seventeen to a height of sixty-three feet above the pool
level of Lock Sixteen, so as to render unnecessary the
building of Locks Eighteen and Nineteen, as now author-
ized, and so as to provide for the extension of slack water
up the Mulberry and Locust Forks of the Black Warrior
River to Sanders Shoals and Nichols Shoals, respectively,
and for the development of water power.
Detailed
be prepared.
of work.
SEC. 2. That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized
and directed to have prepared such detailed plans and plans, etc. to
estimates as may be necessary to carry into effect the pur-
poses of this Act, and he is further authorized in his dis-
cretion to suspend operations during his investigations Suspension
and to enter into supplemental agreements with the pres-
ent contractors for Lock and Dam Seventeen, providing
for the annulment of existing contracts or for their modi-
fication so as to cover the work required for the construc-
tion of the higher lock and dam, as he may deem most
advantageous for the interests of the United States.
Use of ap-
propriations if
Vol. 35, pp.
SEC. 3. Should the construction of the higher dam at
site seventeen be found advisable the appropriations and changes advis-
authorizations heretofore made for the cost of locks and able.
dams on the Black Warrior, Warrior, and Tombigbee 359, 998.
Rivers, Alabama, shall be available for the construction 646, 729,' 742,
of Dam Seventeen and such locks as may be necessary to 1406.
overcome the lift between the pools created by Dams
Sixteen and Seventeen.
Approved, August 22, 1911.
Vol. 36, pp.
(6)
CHAP. 57.-An Act To authorize the Cahaba Power Company, March 6,
a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Alabama, 1908.
to construct a dam across the Cahaba River, in said State, at or 37.
near Centerville, Alabama..
Vol. 35, p.
[H. R. 16051.]
[Public, No.
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 38.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Cahaba Power Company, a corporation Cahaba
organized under the laws of Alabama, its successors and Cahaba
assigns, be, and they are hereby, authorized to construct, pany may dam,
maintain, and operate a dam across the Cahaba River at Centerville,
at Centerville, in the State of Alabama, in accordance
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2——22
Power Com-
Ala.
338 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
386.
""
Vol. 34, p. with the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regu-
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,
Amendment, approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 6, 1908.
Apr. 5, 1906.
(7)
CHAP. 1367.-An Act Authorizing the Choctawhatchee Power
Vol. 34, p. Company to erect a dam in Dale County, Alabama.
102.
[Public, No.
84.]
hatchee River.
hatchee Power
ton, Ala.
Provisos.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
[H. R. 14808.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Choctaw-bled, That the Choctawhatchee Power Company, its suc-
Choctaw-cessors and assigns, be, and is hereby, authorized to erect,
Company may build, have, and maintain a steel and concrete dam, or
dam, near New-dam of other material, on the Choctawhatchee River at
a point above the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad bridge
near Newton, on said river and in Dale County, Alabama:
Provided, That the plans of said dam shall be submitted
War to approve to and be approved by the Chief of Engineers and the
Secretary of War before construction is commenced; and
the Secretary of War may at any time require and en-
force, at the expense of the owners, such modifications in
the construction of said dam as he may deem advisable in
the interests of navigation: Provided further, That there
shall be placed and maintained in connection with said
Sluiceway. dam a sluiceway so arranged as to permit logs, timber,
and lumber to pass around, through, or over said dam
without unreasonable delay or hindrance and without toll
or charges; and suitable fishways, to be approved by the
United States Fish Commission, shall be constructed and
maintained on said dam.
Fishways.
Time of com-
pletion.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized is commenced within one year and
completed within three years from the date hereof.
SEC. 3. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, April 5, 1906.
(8)
March 10, CHAP. 77.-An Act To authorize A. J. Smith and his asso-
1908.
ciates to erect a dam across the Choctawhatchee River in Dale
County, Alabama.
40.
Vol. 35, p.
[H. R. 6195.]
[Public, No.
47.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
hatchee River. bled, That Andrew J. Smith and his associates, their
Choctaw -
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 339
J.
Smith et al.
Location.
successors and assigns, be, and they are hereby, author- sndrew
ized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam across may dam.
the Choctawhatchee River about one-eighth of a mile
below or west of the bridge across said river on the road
known as the Newton and Ozark public road, in Dale
County, in the State of Alabama, in accordance with the
provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the
construction of dams across navigable waters," approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 10, 1908.
CHAP. 57.-An Act Extending the provisions of the act ap- Feb. 13, 1911.
proved March tenth, nineteen hundred and eight, entitled "An Act
905.
to authorize A. J. Smith and his associates to erect a dam across
the Choctawhatachee River in Dale County, Alabama."
Vol. 36, p.
[S. 10324.]
[Public, No.
361.]
hatchee River.
Time extend-
ed for dam-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the time for completing the construction of Choctaw-
the dam authorized by the Act entitled "An Act to author-
ize A. J. Smith and his associates to erect a dam across ming, by A. J.
the Choctawhatchee River, in Dale County, Alabama," Smith et al.
Vol. 35, p.
approved March tenth, nineteen hundred and eight, is 40, amended.
hereby extended to one year from and after the passage
of this Act.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 13, 1911.
(9)
Vol. 36, p.
909.
CHAP. 79.—An Act To authorize the Chucawalla Development Feb. 15, 1911.
Company to build a dam across the Colorado River at or near the
mouth of Pyramid Canyon, Arizona; also a diversion intake dam
at or near Black Point, Arizona, and Blythe, California.
[H. R. 31859.]
[Public, No.
374.]
Colorado
River.
Chu cawalla
Co. may dam,
yon.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Chucawalla Development Company, a
corporation organized under the laws of the State of
California, its successors and assigns, be, and they are Development
hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a at mouth of
dam across the Colorado River at the mouth of Pyramid Pyramid Can-
Canyon, known as "Bulls Head damsite," about twenty-
two miles north of Fort Mohave, Mohave County, Ari-
zona, and a portion of said site being located in Lincoln
County, Nevada; also a diversion intake dam, ten feet Diversion in-
high, to be located at or near Black Point, about twenty Black Point,
miles north and upstream from the town of Ehrenburg, Ariz.
Yuma County, Arizona, and about twenty miles north
take dam
at
340 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Provisos.
Time
Construction. and above the town of Blythe, Riverside County, Cali-
fornia, in accordance with the provisions of the Act ap-
proved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten, en-
titled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to regu-
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,'
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six":
Provided, That the actual construction of said dams shall
nstruction. be begun within two years and completed within five
years from the date of the passage of this act: And pro-
Secretary of vided further, That the actual construction of said dams
Interior to ap- shall not be commenced until the plans and specifications
therefor shall have been presented to and approved by the
Secretary of the Interior in addition to the requirements
of the act approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred
and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An
Act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and
six," and in approving the plans and specifications, the
Indian Secretary of the Interior may impose such conditions as
rights, etc. to him shall seem proper for the protection of the public
prove plans,
etc.
Amendment.
interests of Indians and the United States.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 15, 1911.
Mar. 3, 1911.
(10)
CHAP. 220.-An Act To authorize the Greeley-Arizona Irriga-
Vol. 36, p. tion Company to build a dam across the Colorado River at or near
1081.
Head Gate Rock, near Parker, in Yuma County, Arizona.
[S. 10808.]
[Public, No.
464.]
River.
tion Co. may
ker, Ariz.
593.
386.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Colorado bled, That the Greeley-Arizona Irrigation Company,
Greeley-a corporation organized under the laws of Arizona, is
Arizona Irriga- hereby authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a
dam, near Par- diversion dam in and across the Colorado River at a
Vol. 36, p. place known as Head Gate Rock, near Parker, Yuma
County, in the Territory of Arizona, in accordance with
the provisions of the Act approved June twenty-third,
Vol. 34, p. nineteen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an
Act entitled 'An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters, approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six ": Provided, That the actual
Time of con- construction of said dam shall be begun within two years
and completed within four years from the date of the
Approval of passage of this Act: And provided further, That the
actual construction of said dam shall not be commenced
until the plans and specifications therefor shall have been
presented to and approved by the Secretary of the In-
terior in addition to the requirements of the Act approved
June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten, entitled
Provisos.
struction.
plans, etc.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 341
593.
"An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to regulate the Vol. 36, p.
construction of dams across navigable waters,' approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six," and, in
approving the plans and specifications, the Secretary of
the Interior may impose such conditions as to him shall
seem proper for the protection of the public interests of
Indians and the United States.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, March 3, 1911.
(11)
CHAP. 2438.—An Act To authorize the construction of dams and
power stations on the Coosa River at Lock Two, Alabama.
May 9, 1906.
Vol. 34, p.
183.
Ala.
to
Lock 2, grant-
Location.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 150.]
bled, That any riparian owner, whether person, company, Coosa River,
or corporation having authority therefor under the laws Right
of the State of Alabama may hereafter erect, maintain, dam, etc., near
and use a dam or dams in or across the Coosa River, in ed.
the State of Alabama, at such points at or near Lock
Two as they may elect and the Secretary of War may ap-
prove, between a point on the eastern side of the river
in the abandoned portion thereof at a point below the
United States Government dam at Lock Two and above
the navigable portion of the river between Locks Two
and Three, for the purpose of erecting, operating, and
maintaining power stations and to maintain inlet and
outlet races or canals and to make such other improve-
ments on the eastern bank of the Coosa River between
the two points above mentioned as may be necessary for
the development of water power and the transmission of
the same, subject always to the provisions and require-
ments of this Act and to such conditions and stipulations
as may be imposed by the Chief of Engineers and the
Secretary of War for the protection of navigation and the
property and other interests of the United States.
SEC. 2. That detailed plans for the construction and
operation of a dam or dams and other appurtenant and
necessary works shall be submitted by the person, com-
pany, or corporation desiring to construct the same to
the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War, with a
map showing the location of such dam or other structures,
with such topographical and hydrographic data as may
be necessary for a satisfactory understanding of the same,
which must be approved by the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War before work can be commenced on
said dam or dams or other structures; and after such ap-
proval of said plans, no deviation whatsoever therefrom
shall be made without first obtaining the approval of
Secretary of
plans, etc.
War to approve
342 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Provisos.
Unobstructed
navigation.
Restricted
the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War: Pro-
vided, That the constructions hereby authorized do not in-
use of water. terfere with the navigation of the Coosa River: And pro-
vided further, That said dam or dams and works shall be
limited only to the use of the surplus water of the river,
not required for the navigation of the Coosa River, and
that no structures shall be built and no operations con-
ducted by those availing themselves of the provisions of
this Act which shall injure or interfere with the naviga-
tion of said river or impair the usefulness of any im-
provement made by the Government in the interest of
navigation.
Locks, etc.
of titles.
Damages.
SEC. 3. That the Government of the United States re-
serves the right, at any time that the improvement of the
navigation of the Coosa River demands it, to construct,
maintain, and operate, in connection with any dam or
other works built under the provisions of this Act, suit-
able lock or locks or any other structures for navigation
purposes, and at all times to control such dam or dams or
other structures, and the level of the pool caused by such
dam or dams, to such an extent as may be necessary to
Conveyance provide facilities for navigation; and whenever Congress
shall authorize the construction of such lock or other
structures, the person, company, or corporation owning
and controlling such dam or dams or other structures
shall convey to the United Staes, under such terms as
Congress shall prescribe, titles to such land as may be
required for the use of such lock and approaches, and in
addition thereto shall grant to the United States, free of
cost, the free use of water power for building and operat-
ing such constructions: Provided also, That the person,
company, or corporation building, maintaining, or oper-
ating any dam or dams or other structures under the pro-
visions of this Act shall be liable for any damage that
may be inflicted thereby upon private property, either by
overflow or otherwise, in a court of competent jurisdic-
Injury to tion: Provided further, That any injury or damage to the
navigable capacity of the Coosa River, or to the works
of improvement of the United States in the said river
which may result from the construction of the dam and
other works herein authorized, or any alteration, enlarge-
ment, or change in said works of improvement which
may, in the judgment of the Secretary of War, be made
necessary by the construction of said dam and other
works, shall be made good and completed at once by those
availing themselves of the provisions of this Act, their
executors, successors, and assigns, and failing this, such
Failure to re- injury or damage may be remedied, and such alteration,
enlargement, or change may be completed by the United
States, and the cost of the work so required shall be paid
Payment for by the grantees, their heirs or assigns, and to secure the
payment for any work thus done by the United States a
bond with good and sufficient security in a sum judged
navigation.
pair damages.
repairs, etc.
Bond.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 343
adequate by the Secretary of War for the payment of the
costs of said work shall be executed and filed with the
Secretary of War before any advantage shall be taken of
the provisions of this Act. The person, company, or cor-
poration owning or operating any such dam shall main-
tain, at their own expense, such lights and other signals
thereon and such fishways as the Secretary of Commerce
and Labor shall prescribe.
Lights, etc.
cease on fail-
ments, etc.
SEC. 4. That all the rights acquired under this Act shall Rights to
cease and be determined if the person, company, or cor- ure to comply
poration acquiring such rights shall at any time fail to with require-
comply with any of the provisions or requirements of
this Act, or with any of the stipulations that may be pre-
scribed by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War, or in case a person, company, or corporation author-
ized by the laws of the State of Alabama to erect and
maintain a dam and improvements as contemplated by
this Act shall fail to begin the erection of said dam and
improvements within two years after being so authorized
and shall fail to complete the same within five years after
obtaining such authority.
SEC. 5. That the provisions of this Act shall in no man-
ner interfere with or impair the rights of any person,
company, or corporation heretofore authorized by Con-
gress to erect a dam or other structures for the develop-
ment of water power on the Coosa River.
Time of con-
struction.
Prior rights
not affected.
SEC. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, May 9, 1906.
(12)
CHAP. 2577.—An Act Authorizing the use of the waters in Coosa
River at Lock Numbered Four, in Alabama.
June 4, 1906.
Vol. 34, p.
211.
Ala.
R. 19473.]
by private par-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-196.]
bled, That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized Coosa River,
and empowered to enter into contract with any individ- Completion
ual or corporation, private or municipal, preference be- of Lock No. 4
ing given to riparian owners and their assigns, herein- ties authorized.
after designated "the contracting party," to complete
the dam and forebay of the lock which has been partially
constructed by the Government at Lock Numbered Four
on the Coosa River, the work to be done under his super-
vision and control, and in accordance with the present
adopted project and any modification thereof that he may
deem proper: Provided, That the contracting party shall
furnish all materials, of every character, and pay for all
labor required in the construction of said dam and fore-
bay, which, upon completion, shall become the property
of the United States, free of all costs, claims, or charges
Provisos.
Conditions.
344 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Protection to of any kind whatsoever: Provided further, That the
navigation.
Time of com-
pletion.
terms of this Act and any stipulations which the Secre-
tary of War may deem necessary to safeguard the inter-
ests of navigation and other interests of the United
States shall be embodied in any contract entered into as
aforesaid.
SEC. 2. That the contracting party shall begin the said
work within two years from the passage of this Act and
shall complete the same within four years from the date
of commencing construction, and the Secretary of War
may, upon reasonable diligence of the contracting party
being shown, extend the time for completion, the Gov-
ernment reserving the right to commence and finish the
work, if deemed advisable, at any time before it is com-
to menced by the contracting party; or, if begun and not
carried out in strict conformity to the directions of the
Secretary of War, the Government may assume the com-
pletion of said work at its option, the cost of such comple-
Proviso. tion to be paid by the contracting party: Provided, That
War to approve the Secretary of War shall determine from time to time.
the work. whether the work is being properly done.
Failure
complete.
Secretary of
Contractors
water power.
Provisos.
Plans.
Lock.
SEC. 3. That in consideration of the completion of said
granted use of dam and forebay, including buttresses and gates, free of
cost to the Government, the contracting party is hereby
granted such rights as the Government possesses to use
the water power produced by said dam for manufacturing
and other industrial purposes for a period of ninety-nine
years: Provided, That the plans for the necessary works
and structures to utilize said water power shall be ap-
proved by the Secretary of War: Provided further, That
the right is reserved to the United States to construct,
maintain, and operate a lock for navigation purposes in
connection with said dam and forebay, and nothing shall
be done in the use of the water from said dam or other-
wise to interfere with or in any way impede or retard the
operation of said lock or the proper and complete naviga-
tion of the river at all times, nor in any way to inter-
fere with the use and control of the same by the United
States or the maintainance [sic] of the water surface
above the dam at the established pool level; and the Sec-
Regulations. retary of War is hereby authorized to prescribe regula-
tions to govern the use of the said water power and the
operations of the plant and force employed in connection
therewith; and no claim shall be made against the United
States for any failure of water power, resulting from any
Free use of cause whatsoever: Provided further, That the contract-
electric current ing party shall furnish to the United States, free of cost,
such electric current as may be necessary for operating
the Government lock, in case the same shall be built, and
Right of in-lighting its buildings and grounds: And provided fur-
ther, That the contracting party may have ingress and
egress over Government lands in the construction and
operation of plant.
States.
gress and
egress.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 345
Bond.
Forfeiture.
Proviso.
Inspection.
SEC. 4. That the Secretary of War may require the con-
tracting party to execute a bond, with proper securities,
before the commencement of the work, in such amount as
he may consider necessary, to insure the beginning, prose-
cution, and completion of the work and compliance with
the terms and requirements of this Act, and in case of
failure to comply with the requirements of said bond the
contracting party shall forfeit to the United States the
full amount thereof: Provided, That a suitable force of
inspectors shall be employed on the work by the Secretary
of War, at the expense of the United States, to see that
the plans and specifications and the terms and require-
ments of the Act and the conditions of the contract are
strictly carried out, and any expense incurred by the Expense.
United States in maintaining said inspectors shall be paid
from any funds available pertaining to the appropriations
made by Congress for examinations, surveys, and contin-
gencies of rivers and harbors.
SEC. 5. That Congress reserves the right to revoke the Revocation
of rights
etc.
re-
Proviso.
Suspension
rights and privileges conferred by this Act; but in the served.
Reimburse-
event of such revocation the United States shall pay to the ment for im-
contracting party, as full compensation, the reasonable provements,
value, exclusive of any franchise that may be required
under this Act, of all properties erected and lands pur-
chased by them, necessary for the enjoyment of the bene-
fits hereby conferred, such value to be determined by
mutual agreement between the Secretary of War and the
owners of said properties, and in case they can not agree,
then by proceedings in condemnation, to be instituted in
the proper United States court: Provided, That to insure
compliance with the terms of the contract, or to protect of privileges.
the interests of navigation and other interests of the
United States, the Secretary of War shall have power, at
any time before or after the completion of the work, to
order a suspension of all privileges granted by this Act,
and compliance with such order may be enforced by in-
junction of the court of the United States exercising juris-
diction in the district in which the work is situated, and
proper proceedings to this end shall be instituted by the
Attorney-General upon request of the Secretary of War.
SEC. 6. That nothing in this Act shall be construed as
in any way abridging the exclusive jurisdiction and con-
trol by the United States over the Coosa River, and of
any structures therein, nor as repealing or modifying any
of the provisions of law now existing for the protection Existing law
of navigation.
Approved, June 4, 1906.
Jurisdiction.
not affected.
346 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(13)
Mar. 4, 1907. CHAP. 2912.—An Act Permitting the erection of a dam across
Vol. 34, P. Coosa River, Alabama, at the place selected for Lock Numbered
Twelve on said river.
1288.
[S. 8526.]
[Public, No.
247.1
Ala.
dam.
Location.
353.
Provisos.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Coosa River, bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
the Alabama Power Company, a corporation organized
Alabama under the laws of the State of Alabama, its successors
Power Co. may and assigns, to build a dam, of such height as the Chief
of Engineers and the Secretary of War may approve,
across the Coosa River, in Alabama, at the place selected
for the location of Lock and Dam Numbered Twelve on
Vol. 32, p. said river, as located in the survey made by the engineers
of the United States of the Coosa and Alabama rivers in
Georgia and Alabama, in compliance with the require-
ments of the river and harbor Act approved June thir-
teenth, nineteen hundred and two, for the development
of water power, and such works and structures in con-
nection therewith as may be necessary or convenient in
the development of said power and in the utilization of the
power thereby developed: Provided, That plans for the
Secretary of construction of said dam and appurtenant works shall be
War to approve submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War before the commencement of the
construction of the same: Provided further, That the
Alabama Power Company, its successors or assigns, shall
not deviate from such plans after such approval, either
before or after the completion of said structures, unless
the modification of said plans shall have previously been
submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of
Unobstruct Engineers and Secretary of War: Provided further, That
ed navigation. said dam and appurtenant works shall be limited to the
use of the surplus water only of the river not required for
the navigation of the Coosa River, and that no structure
shall be built and no operations conducted under the pro-
visions of this Act which shall at any time injure or inter-
fere with the navigation of said river or impair the use-
fulness of any improvement by the Government in the
interests of navigation.
plans, etc.
Changes.
Locks.
SEC. 2. That the said dam shall be so constructed, in-
cluding a proper forebay, that the Government of the
United States may at any time construct in connection
therewith a suitable lock or locks for navigation pur-
poses, and may at any time, without compensation, con-
trol the said dam or other structures and the level of the
pool caused by such dam so far as shall be necessary for
purposes of navigation, but shall not destroy the water
power developed by said dam and structures to any
greater extent than may be necessary to provide proper
facilities for navigation, and that the Secretary of War
may at any time require and enforce, at the expense of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 347
Electric
power.
for construc-
the owners, such modifications and changes in the con- Changes.
struction of such dam as may be neccessary in the in-
terest of navigation: Provided, That the Alabama Power Provisos.
Company, its successors or assigns, shall furnish the
necessary electric current, while its power plant is in op-
eration, to move the gates and operate the locks in con-
nection with said dam and to light the United States
buildings and grounds free of cost to the United States:
Provided further, That the Alabama Power Company,, Use of lands
its successors or assigns, is hereby granted the right to tion, etc.
use any lands which may belong to the United States of
America and necessary for the construction and main-
tenance of said dam and appurtenant works, or which
may be inundated with water by reason of the construc-
tion of said dam and appurtenant works, and in consid-
eration therefor the said company, its successors or
assigns, shall, upon request of the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War, convey fre of cost to the United
States of America such suitable tract or tracts of land to the United
as may be selected by the Chief of Engineers and the States.
Secretary of War for the establishment of such lock or
locks and approaches and other purposes as the needs of
navigation may require.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within three years
and completed within seven years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. The authority herein conferred shall, except as
herein specifically provided, be subject in all respects to
the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate
the construction of dams across navigable waters," ap-
proved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
Conveyance
of other lands
Time of con-
struction.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
SEC. 5. The right to alter, amend, or repeal this Act is Amendment,
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 4, 1907, 10 a. m.
(14)
[Extract from river and harbor act of February 27, 1911.]
and
Feb. 27.
1911.
Vol. 36, p.
[Fublic, No.
425.1
Coosa River,
Ga. and Ala.
Improving Coosa River, Georgia and Alabama: Con- 939.
tinuing improvement by the completion of lock and dam [H. R. 28632.]
at Mayos Bar, near Rome, Georgia, one hundred
twenty-one thousand and thirty-nine dollars.
Improving Coosa River, Georgia and Alabama: Con- Mayos Bar.
tinuing improvement by the construction of a lock in
Dam Numbered Four, and by the construction of Dam
Numbered Five, in the State of Alabama, one hundred
and fifty thousand dollars.
The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and em-
powered to enter into contract with the Ragland Water
Power Company, its successors or assigns, hereinafter
Dams Nos. 4
and 5.
Ragland Wa-
ter Power Co.
348 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
May
plete dam, etc.,
Provisos.
To bear all
expense.
etc., interests
struction, etc.
com-designated "the contracting party," to complete the dam
at Lock No. 4. heretofore partially constructed by the Government at
Lock Numbered Four on the Coosa River, the work to be
done under his supervision and control, and in accord-
ance with the present adopted project and any modifica-
tion thereof that he may deem proper: Provided, That
the contracting party shall furnish all materials, of every
character, and pay for all labor required in the construc-
tion of said dam, which, upon completion, shall become
the property of the United States, free of all costs, claims,
Navigation, or charges of any kind whatsoever: Provided further,
protected. That the terms of this Act and any stipulation which the
Secretary of War may deem necessary to safeguard the
interests of navigation and other interests of the United
States shall be embodied in any contract entered into as
Time of con- aforesaid. The contracting party shall begin the said work
within one year from the approval of this Act, and shall
complete the same within three years from the date of
commencing construction; otherwise the authorization
hereby conferred shall be void and the rights hereby con-
ferred shall cease and be determined, the Government re-
serving the right to commence and finish the work, if
deemed advisable, at any time before it is commenced by
the contracting party; or, if begun and not carried out in
strict conformity to the directions of the Secretary of
War, the Government may assume the completion of said
work at its option, the cost of such completion to be paid
by the contracting party: Provided, That the Secretary
of War shall determine from time to time whether the
Water power work is being properly done. In consideration of the
completion of said dam free of cost to the Government,
the contracting party is hereby granted such rights as the
Government possesses to use the water power produced by
said dam for manufacturing and other industrial pur-
Approval of poses for a period of fifty years: Provided, That the plans
for the necessary works and structures to utilize said water
power shall be approved by the Secretary of War: Pro-
Rights for vided further, That the right is reserved to the United
poses reserved. States to construct, maintain, and operate a forebay and
lock for navigation purposes in connection with said dam,
and nothing shall be done in the use of the water from
said dam or otherwise to interfere with or in any way im-
Regulations, pede or retard the operation of said lock or the proper
and complete navigation of the river at all times, nor in
any way to interfere with the use and control of the same
by the United States or the maintenance of the water sur-
face above the dam at the established pool level; and the
Secretary of War is hereby authorized to prescribe regu-
lations to govern the use of the said water power and the
operations of the plant and force employed in connection
therewith; and no claim shall be made against the United
States for any failure of water power, resulting from any
rent to Govern- cause whatsoever: Provided further, That the contracting
free of costs, party shall furnish to the United States, free of cost, such
franchise
granted.
plans.
navigation pur-
etc.
Electric cur-
works,
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 349
etc.
Easement.
Right to al-
ter, etc.
Secretary
of
electric current as may be necessary for operating the
Government lock and lighting its buildings and grounds:
And provided further, That the contracting party may
have ingress and egress over Government lands in the
construction and operation of the plant. The Secretary Bond, etc.
of War may require the contracting party to execute a
bond, with proper securities, before the commencement of
the work, in such amount as he may consider necessary,
to insure the beginning, prosecution, and completion of
the work and compliance with the terms and requirements
of this act, and in case of failure to comply with the
requirements of said bond the contracting party shall
forfeit to the United States the full amount thereof:
Provided, That a suitable force of inspectors shall be Inspectors,
employed on the work by the Secretary of War, at the
expense of the contracting party, to see that the plans and
specifications and the terms and requirements of the Act
and the conditions of the contract are strictly carried out.
Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal the
rights and privileges hereby conferred, and the United
States shall incur no liability because of the alteration,
amendment, or repeal thereof: Provided, That to insure Authority
compliance with the terms of this contract, or to protect war.
the interests of navigation and other interests of the
United States, the Secretary of War shall have power, at
any time, to order a suspension of all privileges hereby
granted, and a compliance with such order may be en-
forced by an injunction of the court of the United States
exercising jurisdiction in the district in which the work is
situated, and proper proceedings to this end shall be insti-
tuted by the Attorney General upon request of the Secre-
tary of War. Nothing herein shall be construed as in
any way abridging the exclusive jurisdiction and control not impaired.
by the United States of the Coosa River, and of any
structure therein, or as repealing or modifying any of
the provisions or laws now existing for the protection of
navigation. The contracting party, in consideration of Raising
the privileges granted hereby, must, under such regula- etc., required.
tions as the Secretary of War may require, obligate and
bind itself, its successors or assigns, to raise the height of
said dam at Lock Numbered Four three feet, and shall
stop the leaks above Dam Numbered Four by which water
escapes under such dam, so far as the same can be done,
and to keep said leaks stopped so far as it is possible so
to do. In consideration of making said improvements, Storage ba.
the said contracting party shall have the right to raise
said dam during low water to such a height as may be
necessary to give it a storage basin above the dam, in
order that it may develop and operate a water power:
Provided, That the said storage does not interfere with
navigation: Provided further, That the said contracting Condition.
party shall pay all damages incurred by reason of over- damages.
flowed lands. Beginning with the year nineteen hundred Payment for
and twenty-five, the contracting party shall pay to the power.
Jurisdiction
height at dam,
sin.
Overflow
350 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
for
from
voirs.
increase
reser-
United States for the power due to the natural flowage of
the river the sum of one dollar per ten-hour horsepower
Additional, per year: Provided, That in case the natural flowage of
the river is increased at this point by storage reservoirs
above this point, the power company shall have the right
to lease, for a period not exceeding the life of this au-
thorization, the increased power due to said storage, and
shall pay on all power above that due to natural flowage
of the river, as increased by local storage at Dam Num-
bered Four, the sum of one dollar per year for the first
five years, two dollars per year for the second five
years, and thereafter three dollars per year for each
ten-hour horsepower sold or used, or in lieu of above
payment may, in the discretion of the Secretary of War,
pay its equitable share toward the construction of said
reservoir or reservoirs, such share to be determined by
Readjusting the Secretary of War: Provided, That the Secretary of
War, in his discretion, may readjust such rate of com-
pensation at periods of ten years.
rate.
June 16,
1906.
(15)
CHAP. 3339.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Crow Wing River, between the counties of Morrison and Cass,
Vol. 34, P. State of Minnesota.
296.
[Public, No.
238.]
River, Minn.
may dam.
Location.
Provisos.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
[H. R. 17881.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
Crow Wing That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to Judd
Judd Wright Wright, his heirs or assigns, to construct and maintain
across the Crow Wing River a dam, canal, and works
necessary incident thereto, for water power and supply
purposes, at any point at or near the junction of the
Gull River with the Crow Wing River, on section thirty,
township one hundred and thirty-three north, range
twenty-nine west, fifth meridian, between the counties
of Morrison and Cass, in the State of Minnesota: Pro-
War to approve vided, That the plans for the construction of said dam
and appurtenant works shall be submitted to and ap-
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War before the commencement of construction of the
Restriction. same: And provided further, That the said Judd Wright,
his heirs or assigns, shall not deviate from such plans
after such approval, either before or after the comple-
tion of said structures, unless the modification of such
plans shall have previously been submitted to and re-
ceived the approval of the Chief of Engineers and of the
Sluiceway. Secretary of War: And provided further, That there
shall be placed and maintained in connection with said
dam a sluiceway so arranged as to permit logs, timber,
and lumber to pass around, through, and over said dam
without unreasonable delay or hindrance, and without
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 351
toll or charges: And provided further, That the dam
shall be so constructed that the Government of the
United States may at any time construct in connection
therewith a suitable lock for navigation purposes, and
may at any time, without compensation, control the said
dam, so far as shall be necessary for purposes of naviga-
tion, but shall not destroy the water power developed
by said dam and structures to any greater extent than
may be necessary to provide proper facilities for navi-
gation; and that the Secretary of War may at any time
require and enforce, at the expense of the owners, such
modifications and changes in the construction of said
dam as he may deem advisable in the interests of navi-
gation.
SEC. 2. That suitable fishways, to be approved by the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall be constructed
and maintained at said dam by the said Judd Wright, his
heirs or assigns.
Lock.
Changes.
Fishways.
SEC. 3. That in case any litigation arises from the Litigation.
building of said dam or from the obstruction of said
river, by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota or in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the pro- laws
visions of law now existing in reference to the protec-
tion of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said struc-
tures from the operation of the same.
Proviso.
Existing
fected.
not af-
Time of com-
SEC. 4. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved, and the same shall be- pletion.
come null and void unless the construction of the dam
hereby authorized is commenced within one year after
the passage of this Act and completed within three years
thereafter.
Approved, June 16, 1906.
(16)
[Extracts from river and harbor act approved March 3, 1905.]
Mar. 3, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
1132.
Cumberland
ment Com
con-
Improving the upper Cumberland and South Fork [H. R. 18809.]
rivers, above Burnside, Kentucky: The Cumberland River [Public, No.
Improvement Company, a corporation formed and exist- 215.1
ing under the laws of the State of Kentucky, is authorized River Improve-
and permitted to improve the Cumberland River and its pany.
tributaries, including the South Fork, above Burnside, May
struct locks
Kentucky, at its own expense, by the construction of and dams above
necessary locks and dams, under the supervision and pur-
suant to plans to be submitted to and approved by the
Secretary of War, and the power generated by the con-
struction of such locks and dams may be utilized by such
Burnside, Ky.
Use of
power.
352 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Unobstruct-
ed navigation.
etc.
Size of locks,
Open to navi-
gation.
Toll.
、
company for commercial and other purposes, under the
following express provisions:
That the use of such power shall in no instance impede
or hinder navigation;
That the locks and dams shall be at least equal in size
and capacity to other locks and dams constructed on the
Cumberland River;
That they shall be open to all purposes of navigation
by the general public, subject to the payment of uniform,
reasonable rates of toll by all parties using such water-
way, which rates of toll shall be fixed from time to time
by the Secretary of War, and shall at no time produce an
income greater than six per centum, cumulative interest,
on the investment in such locks and dams, after deducting
the cost of maintenance and operation, reckoned from the
beginning, and based on the total initial cost; such locks
and dams to be kept and maintained by such corporation
without expense to the Government: Provided further,
struction, etc. That this franchise shall not be effective unless said cor-
poration shall commence in good faith the construction of
such improvement within eighteen months after the com-
pletion and operation of lock and dam numbered twenty-
one on said river, and shall afford a permanent navigable
stage, within the next succeeding five years, of at least six
feet in depth, by means of such locks and dams, to the
mouth of Rock Castle River:
Proviso.
Time of con-
Bond.
Collection of
tolls.
maintenance,
etc.
That said corporation shall file with the Secretary of
War, before beginning its construction of such lock and
dam, a suitable bond, to be approved by him, conditioned
to pay all reasonably prospective damages arising from
trespass or overflow or other injury to private rights;
That the right to collect tolls shall cease at the expira-
Time limit. tion of forty years from the date of completion of lock
Operation, and dam numbered twenty-one on said river, and that
upon the ceasing of the right to collect tolls the United
States may assume the possession, care, operation, mainte-
rance, and management of the lock or locks so con-
structed, without compensation to any person or persons
or corporation, but without in any way impairing the
right or ownership of the water power and dams created
by said corporation, which shall continue the care and
maintenance of such dams without interference on the
part of the United States;
Amendment.
Congress reserves the right to alter, amend, or repeal
any of the provisions of this Act in so far as it relates to
this franchise.
June 13,
1902.
Vol. 32, p.
358.
(17)
[Extracts from river and harbor act approved June 13, 1902.]
Improving Cumberland River, Tennessee, above Nash-
[H. R. 12346.] ville: For the completion of Lock and Dam Numbered
One and for maintenance, one hundred and five thousand
[Public, No.
154.1
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 353
Lock and
Dam No. 1.
Vol. 32, p.
Lease of wa-
408.
Canals.
Restrictions.
dollars. And the Secretary of War is hereby author-
ized, in his discretion, to grant leases or licenses to the
highest responsible bidder for the use of the water power
created by said dam, at such a rate and on such conditions ter power.
and for such periods of time as may seem to him expedi-
ent; and he is also authorized, in his discretion, to issue
permits for the construction, maintenance, and operation
of inlet and outlet canals and other structures, on such
plans as he may approve, for the diversion of water afore-
said: Provided, That any lease or license so granted shall Provisos
be limited to the use of the surplus water not required.
for navigation, and no structures shall be built and no
operations be conducted which shall in any manner injure
navigation, interfere with the operations of the Govern-
ment, or impair the usefulness of any improvement made
by the Government for the benefit of navigation; and the
right of Congress to alter, amend, or repeal the provisions amend, etc., re-
of this paragraph is hereby expressly reserved: Provided
further, That before leasing or licensing such water privi- Advertising.
leges, or issuing permits for the construction and opera-
tion of such canals, or otherwise disposing of any water
power or privilege, the Secretary of War shall first adver-
tise the same in one or more daily papers at Nashville,
for sixty days immediately preceding, stating specifically
the right or privilege proposed to be leased or conveyed,
with its exact limitations, inviting bids for the same, and
he may, in his discretion, then lease the same for a spe-
cific term of years at so much per year, to be paid semi-
annually in cash into the Treasury, and the Secretary of
War shall reserve the right to reject any or all bids.
Right to
served.
Bids.
CHAP. 1299.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act making June 28,
appropriations for the construction, repair, and preservation of 1902.
certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other pur- 408.
Vol 32, p.
poses," approved June thirteenth, nineteen hundred and two.
[Public, No.
180.1
River, Tenn.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Act entitled "An Act making appropria-Cumberland
tions for the construction, repair, and preservation of Improvement
certain public works on rivers and harbors, and for other of. Vol. 32, p.
purposes," approved June thirteenth, nineteen hundred 358.
and two, be, and the same is hereby, amended so that the
two paragraphs thereof providing for the improvement
of the Cumberland River, Tennessee, below Nashville,
and of the Cumberland River, Tennessee, above Nashville,
shall read as follows:
dam at Har-
"Improving Cumberland River, Tennessee, below, Lock and
Nashville: For the completion of the lock and dam at peth Shoals.
Harpeth Shoals and for maintenance, one hundred and
eighty thousand dollars.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-23
354 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Dam No. 1.
Water-power
leases, etc.
construction,
Protection to
navigation.
"Improving Cumberland River, Tennessee, above
Nashville: Continuing improvement, and for mainte-
nance, two hundred thousand dollars, of which so much
as may be necessary shall be used for the completion of
Lock and Lock and Dam Numbered One. And the Secretary of
War is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to grant
leases or licenses to the highest responsible bidder for the
use of the water power created by said dam, at such a
rate and on such conditions and for such periods of time
as may seem to him expedient; and he is also authorized,
Permits for in his discretion, to issue permits for the construction,
etc., of canals.' maintenance, and operation of inlet and outlet canals
and other structures, on such plans as he may approve,
Provisos. for the diversion of the water aforesaid: Provided, That
any lease or license so granted shall be limited to the use
of the surplus water not required for navigation, and no
structures shall be built and no operations be conducted
which shall in any manner injure navigation, interfere
with the operations of the Government, or impair the
usefulness of any improvement made by the Government
for the benefit of navigation; and the right of Congress
to alter, amend, or repeal the provisions of this para-
graph is hereby expressly reserved: Provided further,
Proposals. That before leasing or licensing such water privileges, or
issuing permits for the construction and operation of
such canals, or otherwise disposing of any water power
or privilege, the Secretary of War shall first advertise
the same in one or more daily papers at Nashville, for
sixty days immediately preceding, stating specifically the
right or privilege proposed to be leased or conveyed, with
its exact limitations, inviting bids for the same, and he
may, in his discretion, then lease the same for a specific
term of years at so much per year, to be paid semiannually
in cash into the Treasury, and the Secretary of War shall
reserve the right to reject any or all bids.”
Approved, June 28, 1902.
Payments.
Feb. 5, 1907.
(18)
CHAP. 467.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Vol. 34, p. Flint River at Porter Shoals.
878.
[H. R 24275.]
[Public, No.
62.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Albany Power and Manufacturing Com-
pany, a corporation organized under the laws of Georgia,
its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to con-
Flint River, struct and maintain a dam across the Flint River at a
A 1 bany point in Dougherty County, Georgia, about one-fourth
Power and mile above the Georgia Northern Railway bridge across
Company may said river, upon or in the vicinity of Porter Shoals, and
all works incident thereto in the utilization of the power
Ga.
Manufacturing
dam.
Location.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 355
386.
thereby developed, in accordance with the provisions of Vol. 34, p.
an Act entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of
dams across navigable waters,” approved June twenty-
first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 5, 1907.
(19)
June 14,
CHAP. 3301.-An Act To authorize the Charleston Light and
Water Company to construct and maintain a dam across Goose 1906.
Creek in Berkeley County, in the State of South Carolina.
Vol. 34, p.
265.
[H. R. 8410.]
Public, No.
230.1
S. C.
ter Company
Provisos.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the right, power, and privilege to construct, Goose Creek,
erect, and maintain a dam across the said Goose Creek is Charleston
hereby authorized, granted, and given to the said the Light and Wa-
Charleston Light and Water Company, its successors and may dam.
assigns: Provided, That the said the Charleston Light
and Water Company shall be liable for all such damages Damages.
as may be established in any court of competent jurisdic-
tion by any landowner claiming that his land has been
damaged by reason of the erection of the said dam: And
provided further, That nothing herein shall impair any Riparian
navigation or other rights of any riparian owner, other tected.
than the closing of said creek, by the construction, erec-
tion, and maintenance of said dam at said location.
rights
pro-
Right to al-
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, and repeal this Amendment.
Act, and the right to require the alteration or removal of ter, etc., the
the structure authorized without any liability on the part dam reserved.
of the United States, are hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 14, 1906.
(20)
24,
Vol. 36, p.
[S. 574.]
CHAP. 150.-An Act To authorize J. W. Vance, L. L. Allen, C. F. Feb.
Helwig, and H. V. Worley, of Pierce City, Missouri; A. B. Durnil, 1911.
D. H. Kemp, Sig Soloman, J. J. Davis, S. A. Chappell, and W. M. 929.
West, of Monett, Missouri; M. L. Coleman, M. T. Davis, Jared R.
Woodfill, junior, J. H. Jarrett, and William H. Standish, of [Public, No.
Aurora, Lawrence County, Missouri; and L. S. Meyer, F. S. Hef- 412.]
fernan, Robert A. Moore, William H. Johnson, J. P. McCammon,
M. W. Colbaugh, and W. H. Schreiber, of Springfield, Greene
County, Missouri, to construct a dam across the James River, in
Stone County, Missouri, and to divert a portion of its waters
through a tunnel into the said river again to create electric power.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That J. W. Vance, L. L. Allen, C. F. Helwig, and James River.
H. V. Worley, of Pierce City, Missouri; A. B. Durnil, and others may
D. H. Kemp, Sig Soloman, J. J. Davis, S. A. Chappell, Bend of.
J. W. Vance
dam, in Big
356 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
and W. M. West, of Monett, Missouri; M. L. Coleman,
M. T. Davis, Jared R. Woodfill, junior, J. H. Jarrett,
and William H. Standish, of Aurora, Lawrence County,
Missouri; and L. S. Meyer, F. S. Heffernan, Robert Ă.
Moore, William H. Johnson, J. P. McCammon, M. W.
Colbaugh, and W. H. Schreiber, of Springfield, Greene
County, Missouri, their heirs and assigns, be, and they
are hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate
a dam in the Big Bend of the James River, in section
twenty-two, township twenty-three north, range twenty-
four west, in the county of Stone and State of Missouri,
across the said James River at said point, and to im-
pound thereat in what is known as the Lower Narrows of
the Big Bend of the said James River the waters of said
river, and by canal and tunnel to divert and conduct
across said narrows such portion of the water of said
river, through said tunnel into said river again, as may
Construction, be necessary for electric-power purposes. The construc-
tion, maintenance, and operation of the dam herein
authorized, as well as the determination of the rights and
obligations under the permission granted hereby, shall
be in all respects in accordance with and subject to the
provisions of the Act approved June twenty-third, nine-
teen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act
entitled 'An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters,' approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six.”
etc.
Vol. 34,
386.
Amendment.
p.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act in whole or in part is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 24, 1911.
46.
June 6, 1892.
(21)
CHAP. 92.-An Act Granting to the Topeka Water and Electric
Vol. 27, p. Power Company of Kansas the right to erect and maintain a dam
or dams across the Kansas River, within Shawnee County, in
[Public, No. the State of Kansas.
77.3
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress
Topeka _Wa- assembled, That the assent of Congress is hereby given
ter and Elec- to the Topeka Water and Electric Power Company, a
may dam Kan- corporation created and organized under the laws of
tric Power Co.
sas River.
etc.
Amendment,
Kansas, its successors and assigns, to erect, construct,
and maintain a dam or dams across the Kansas River at
any suitable place or places within Shawnee County, in
the State of Kansas.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 6, 1892.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 357
(22)
CHAP. 15.-An Act To authorize the construction and mainte- Jan. 22,
1894.
nance of a dam or dams across the Kansas River, within Shawnee Vol. 28, p. 27.
County, in the State of Kansas.
[Public, No.
Kansas
authorized in
Provisos.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 14.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress
assembled, That the Chicago-Topeka Light, Heat, and River.
Power Company, a corporation organized under the laws Dam across
of the State of Illinois, its successors and assigns, be, s ha w nee
and they are hereby, authorized and empowered to con- County.
struct and maintain a dam or dams across the Kansas
River, at any suitable place or places within the county
of Shawnee, in the State of Kansas: Provided, That on
notice by the Secretary of War that said dam or dams Removal, etc.
are material obstructions to navigation, said dam or
dams shall be at once removed, or suitable lock or locks
provided by the owner or owners thereof at his or their
expense, so as not to interfere with navigation: And pro-
vided further, That if after due and sufficient notice in Removal,
such case the owner or owners of said dam or dams shall tary of War.
neglect or fail to provide suitable lock or locks, or other-
wise modify or remove said obstructions, in such manner
as the Secretary of War may direct, the said Secretary
is hereby authorized and directed to cause suitable lock
or locks to be provided, or said obstructions to be re-
moved or modified at the expense of the United States,
and to institute proceedings against the person or per-
sons or corporation owning or controlling said dam or
dams for the recovery of the expense thereof before the Recovery of
circuit court of the United States in and for the district
in which said dam or dams may be located.
etc., by Secre-
expense.
Commence-
ment and com-
SEC. 2. That the dam or dams herein provided for shall
be commenced within one year from the date of ap- pletion.
proval of this act and completed within three years, un-
der penalty of the forfeiture of the franchise herein
granted.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, January 22, 1894.
Amendment,
etc.
(23)
June 21,
1906.
CHAP. 3504.—An Act Making appropriations for the current and
contingent expenses of the Indian Department, for fulfilling treaty Vol. 34, pp.
stipulations with various Indian tribes, and for other purposes, 325, 368.
for the fiscal year ending June thirtieth, nineteen hundred and
seven.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, * * *
[H. R. 15331.]
[Public, No.
258.1
Res-
That the Secretary of the Interior be, and is hereby, Railroad
authorized, in his discretion, to exchange the whole of the Klamath
grant lands in
odd numbered sections and parts thereof in the Klamath ervation,
Exchange au-
Indian Reservation in the State of Oregon, now held in thorized.
358 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
private ownership under the final decree and decision of
the Supreme Court of the United States, affirming the
title of the California and Oregon Land Company thereto,
in the suit of the United States against said company as
reported in volume one hundred and ninety-two, at page
three hundred and fifty-five, of the decisions of said
court, and aggregating one hundred and eleven thousand
three hundred and eighty-five acres, for other lands not
exceeding eighty-seven thousand acres, situate in one or
more compact bodies, in townships thirty-one and thirty-
two south, of ranges eleven, twelve, and thirteen east in
said reservation, said lands so taken in exchange to be
selected, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the
Interior; and in order to facilitate such exchange and the
development of the lands to be so taken thereunder there
may also be selected in like manner and as part of the
quantity aforesaid other lands in said reservation for the
wer location, construction, and operation of mills and power
plants, and with the right to construct railroads, dams,
reservoirs, and power-transmission lines, subject to the
provisions of existing law and such rules and regulations
as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe thereunder.
And when such exchange is effected patents for the lands
so selected and approved shall issue therefor.
Power
plants,
etc.
mills,
*
*
Approved, June 21, 1906.
*
*
*
(24)
1906.
June 30, CHAP. 3939.-An Act To authorize Henry T. Henderson and his
associates to divert the waters of Little River in the State of
Vol. 34, P. Alabama from the lands of the United States for use of electric
light and power plant.
818.
[H. R. 20173.]
[Public, No.
408.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Little River, bled, That there be, and is hereby, granted unto Henry T.
Henry T. Henderson and associates the right or authority to per-
Henderson may petually divert the waters of Little River from lands
power plant at owned by the United States of America, and situated in
Ala.
divert, for
Blanche.
Proviso.
Payment.
Mays Gulf, in township eight south, range nine east, in
the State of Alabama, for the purpose of storing and uti-
lizing said waters in the operation of a water-power plant
to be erected at or near Blanche, in Cherokee County, in
the State of Alabama, for the generation of electric en-
ergy or power, and the sale of electric light and electric
power: Provided, That the said Henry T. Henderson and
associates shall pay to the Secretary of the Interior the
reasonable value thereof within six months after the pas-
sage of this Act, the value to be fixed by the register and
receiver of the land office in the district where said water
is located, and on failure to pay for the same the Secre-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 359
tary of the Interior may, in his discretion, declare for-
feited the right to divert said water.
Approved, June 30, 1906.
(25)
Feb.
24,
CHAP. 159.-An Act To authorize the Minnesota River Improve- 1911.
ment and Power Company to construct dams across the Minnesota Vol. 36, p.
River.
932.
[S. 10836.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Minnesota
bled, That the Minnesota River Improvement and Power River.
Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the Minnesota
State of Minnesota, its successors and assigns, be, and provement
they are hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and Power Co. may
operate dams across the Minnesota River at points suit-
able to the interests of navigation, as follows:
River Im-
&
dam.
At outlet of
First. One at or near the outlet of Lake Bigstone, in Lake Bigstone.
the counties of Bigstone and Lac qui Parle, Minnesota,
and the county of Grant, South Dakota, and in that con-
nection to divert the waters of the Whetstone River into
Bigstone Lake.
with Redwood
Second. One at or near the confluence of the Redwood Confluence
and Minnesota Rivers between the counties of Renville River.
and Redwood, in said State.
Construction,
etc.
386.
Each of said dams are to be constructed, maintained,
and operated in accordance with the provisions of the Vol. 34, p.
Act approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and
ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable waters,'
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.”
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 24, 1911.
(26)
Amendment.
Mar. 3, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
CHAP. 1474.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Mississippi River near the village of Bemidji, Beltrami 1043.
County, Minnesota.
[H. R. 19026.]
[Public, No
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 207.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Kirby Thomas, E. J. Swedback, and M. A. Spooner, their
heirs, administrators, and assignees, to build a dam across River.
the Mississippi River near the village of Bemidji, be- Dam across,
tween the outlet of Lake Bemidji and Wolf Lake, Bel- Minn., author
trami County, in said river, and near the village of ized.
Mississippi
near Bemidji,
360 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minnesota, for the develop-
ment of water power, and such works and structures in
connection therewith as may be necessary or convenient
in the development of said power and in the utilization
Provisos. of the power thereby developed: Provided, That the
to ap- plans for the construction of said dam and appurtenant
plans, works shall be submitted to and approved by the Chief of
Secretary of
War
prove
etc.
tions.
etc.
Engineers and the Secretary of War before the com-
Modifica-mencement of the construction of the same: And pro-
vided further, That the said Kirby Thomas, E. J. Swed-
back, and M. A. Spooner, their heirs, administrators, and
assignees, shall not deviate from such plans after such
approval, either before or after the completion of said-
structure, unless the modification of said plans shall have
previously been submitted to and received the approval of
the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War:
Sluiceway. And provided further, That there shall be placed and
maintained in connection with said dam a sluiceway so
arranged as to permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass
around, through, or over said dam without unreasonable
delay or hindrance and without toll or charges: And
provided further, That the dam shall be so constructed
that the Government of the United States may at any
time construct in connection therewith a suitable lock for
navigation purposes, and may at any time, without com-
pensation, control the said dam so far as shall be neces-
sary for purposes of navigation, but shall not destroy the
water power developed by said dam and structures to any
greater extent than may be necessary to provide proper
facilities for navigation, and that the Secretary of War
may at any time require and enforce, at the expense of the
owners, such modifications and changes in the construc-
tion of such a dam as he may deem advisable in the inter-
Fishways, ests of navigation: And provided further, That suitable
fishways and lights, to be approved by the Secretary of.
Commerce and Labor, shall be constructed and maintained
at said dam by Kirby Thomas, E. J. Swedback, and M. A.
Spooner, their heirs, administrators, and assignees.
Lock.
Litigation.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam or from the obstruction of said river
by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be tried in
the proper courts as now provided for that purpose in
the State of Minnesota and in the courts of the United
States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be so
Existing laws construed as to repeal or modify any of the provisions of
law now existing in reference to the protection of the
navigation of rivers or to exempt said structures from the
operation of same.
Proviso.
not affected.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year
and be completed within three years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 3, 1905.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 361
Feb. 1, 1908.
Vol. 35, p. 3.
CHAP. 8.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act permitting
the building of a dam across the Mississippi River near the village
of Bemidji, in Beltrami County, Minnesota." approved March [H. R. 7606.1
third, nineteen hundred and five.
8.1
[Public, No.
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the time limited in which to complete the Mississippi
dam' authorized by the Act entitled "An Act permitting Time extend-
the building of a dam across the Mississippi River near ed for dam-
the village of Bemidji, Beltrami County, Minnesota, Thomas, etc., at
approved March third, nineteen hundred and five, be, Vol. 33, P.
and the same is hereby, extended for a period of one year. 1044, amended.
Approved, February 1, 1908.
ming, by Kirby
Bemidji, Minn.
(27)
CHAP. 2575.—An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Mississippi River near the city of Bemidji, Beltrami County, Min-
nesota.
June 4, 1906.
Vol. 34, p.
210.
[H. R. 18026.]
[Public, No.
Morrison and
Bemidji, Minn.
Secretary of
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 194.]
tives of the United States of American in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to River.
Mississippi
William R. Morrison and H. W. Haines to build a dam William R.
across the Mississippi River near the city of Bemidji, H. w. Haines
Minnesota, between the point where the same crosses the may dam, near
west line of township one hundred and forty-five, range
thirty-five, and the point where said river crosses the
north line of said township in Hubbard County, Minne-
sota, for the development of water power and such works
and structures in connection therewith as may be neces-
sary or convenient in the development of such power and
in the utilization of the power thereby developed: Pro- Provisos.
vided, That the plans for the construction of said dam war to approve
and appurtenant works shall be submitted to and ap- plans, etc.
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War before the commencement of the construction of
the same: And provided further, That the said William Changes.
R. Morrison and H. W. Haines, their heirs, administra-
tors, and assigns, shall not deviate from such plans after
such approval, either before or after the completion of
said structure, unless the modification of said plans shall
have previously been submitted to and received the ap-
proval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of
War: And provided further, That there shall be placed Sluiceway.
and maintained in connection with said dam a sluiceway,
so arranged as to permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass
around, through, or over said dam without unreasonable
delay or hindrance and without toll or charges: And pro-
vided further, That the dam shall be so constructed that
the Government of the United States may at any time
construct in connection therewith a suitable lock for navi-
gation purposes, and may at any time, without compensa-
Lock.
362 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
tion, control the said dam so far as shall be necessary for
purposes of navigation, but shall not destroy the water
power developed by said dam and structures to any
greater extent than may be necessary to provide proper
facilities for navigation; and that the Secretary of War
may at any time require and enforce, at the expense of
the owners, such modifications and changes in the con-
struction of such a dam as he may deem advisable in the
Fishways and interests of navigation: And provided further, That suit-
able fishways and lights, to be approved by the Secretary
of Commerce and Labor, shall be constructed and main-
tained at said dam by William R. Morrison and H. W.
Haines, their heirs, administrators, and assigns.
lights.
Litigation.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the build-
ing of said dam or from the obstructions of said river by
said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be tried in the
proper courts as now provided for that purpose in the
State of Minnesota and in the courts of the United States:
Existing law Provided, That nothing in this Act shall be so construed
as to repeal or modify any of the provisions of law now
existing in reference to the protection of the navigation
of rivers or to exempt said structures from the operation
of the same.
not affected.
Time of com-
pletion.
Amendment.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year and
be completed within three years from the time of the pas-
sage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 4, 1906.
Apr. 15, 1886.
Vol. 24, p. 12.
Mississippi
built by Missis-
Power and
Minn.
(28)
CHAP. 49.-An Act To authorize the Mississippi Water-Power
and Boom Company, of Brainard [Brainerd], Minnesota, to con-
struct a dam across the Mississippi River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress
Dam across assembled, That the consent of the Government is hereby
River may be given to the Mississippi Water-Power and Boom Com-
sippi Water-pany of Brainard, Minnesota, to construct across the
Boom Co., of Mississippi River, at some point not more than two miles
Brainerd, from the limits of said city of Brainard, to be approved
Canal and by the Secretary of War, a dam, canal and the appur-
tenances thereof, for water-power and other purposes,
and in connection therewith a wagon and foot bridge
for public travel: Provided, That the Government of
United States may at any time construct in connection
therewith a suitable lock for navigation purposes: Pro-
may take pos- vided also, That the Government of the United States
may at any time take possession of said dam and control
bridge.
Provisos.
Lock.
Government
session.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 363
Navigation.
the same for purposes of navigation, by paying said
company the actual cost of the same, but shall not do so
to the destruction of the water-power created by said
dam: Provided further, That the Secretary of War may
at any time require and enforce, at the expense of the
owners, such modification and changes in the construc-
tion of said dam as he may deem advisable in the interests
of navigation; and that said dam shall, if necessary, be so
built that boats and rafts may pass through the same,
without the imposition of any toll or charge: And pro-
vided further, That all suits relative to any obstruction
of navigation arising from said dam may be tried in the
United States circuit and district courts for Minnesota.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Right to
act is hereby expressly reserved without any claim of any
kind arising in favor of any party in consequence of
such amendment or repeal.
Approved, April 15, 1886.
Litigation.
amend, etc., re-
served.
(29)
CHAP. 3302.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Mississippi River at or near the village of Clearwater, Wright
County, Minnesota.
1906.
June 14,
Vol. 34, p.
266.
[H. R. 17455.]
231.]
River.
The Missis-
sippi River
water, Minn.
Provisos.
Secretary of
War to approve
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to Mississippi
The Mississippi River Power Company, a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota, its Power Co. may
successors and assigns, to build a dam across the Missis- dam, at Clear-
sippi River above the mouth of Clearwater River, at or Vol. 34, p.
near the village of Clearwater, Wright County, Minne- 1235.
sota, for the development of water power, and such works
and structures in connection therewith as may be neces-
sary or convenient in the development of said power and
in the utilization of the power thereby developed: Pro-
vided, That the plans for the construction of said dam
and appurtenant works shall be submitted to and ap- plans, etc.
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War before the commencement of the construction of
the same: And provided further, That The Mississippi Modification
River Power Company, its successors or assigns, shall not
deviate from such plans after such approval, either be-
fore or after the completion of said structures, unless
the modification of said plans shall have previously been
submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of
Engineers and of the Secretary of War: And provided
further, That there shall be placed and maintained in
connection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to Sluiceway
permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through,
or over said dam without unreasonable delay or hindrance
of plans.
364 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Lock.
Control
dam by United
States.
Changes.
and without toll or charges: And provided further, That
the dam shall be so constructed that the Government of
the United States may at any time construct in connec-
tion therewith a suitable lock for navigation purposes,
of and may at any time, without compensation, control the
said dam so far as shall be necessary for purposes of navi-
gation, but shall not destroy the water power developed
by said dam and structures to any greater extent than
may be necessary to provide proper facilities for naviga-
tion, and that the Secretary of War may at any time re-
quire and enforce, at the expense of the owners, such
modifications and changes in the construction of such
dam as he may deem advisable in the interests of naviga-
tion: And provided further, That suitable fishways, to be
approved by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall
be constructed and maintained at said dam by The Mis-
sissippi River Power Company, its successors or assigns.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts, as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota and in the courts of the
Existing laws United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provi-
sions of law now existing in reference to the protection
of the navigation of rivers or to exempt said structures
from the operation of same.
Fishways.
Litigation.
not affected.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Mar. 2, 1907.
1235.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year
and completed within three years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 14, 1906.
CHAP. 2546.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act per-
Vol. 34, P. mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River at or
near the village of Clearwater, Wright County, Minnesota," ap-
[H. R. 25717.1 proved June fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six.
[Public, No.
205.]
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act per-
Time extend- mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
ed for dam, at River at or near the village of Clearwater, Wright County,
Minnesota," approved June fourteenth, nineteen hun-
dred and six, be, and the same hereby is, amended so as
to read as follows:
Clearwater,
Minn.
Time of con-
struction.
Vol. 34, p.
"SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless
the construction of the dam hereby authorized is com-
267, amended. menced within one year from June fourteenth, nineteen
hundred and seven, and completed within three years
thereafter."
Approved, March 2, 1907.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 365
(30)
CHAP. 30.-An Act Granting to the Des Moines Rapids Power
Company the right to erect, construct, operate, and maintain a
wing dam, canal, and power station in the Mississippi River in
Hancock County, Illinois.
38.
Feb. 24, 1894.
Vol. 28, p.
28.]
[Public, No.
Rapids Power
dam, etc., Mis-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the Des Moines
Des Moines Rapids Power Company, a corporation cre- co. may build
ated and organized under the laws of the State of Illinois, sissippi River,
its successors and assigns, to erect, construct, operate, Ill.
and maintain a canal along the east bank of the Missis-
sippi River, between Nauvoo and Hamilton, in Hancock
County, in the State of Illinois, to erect, construct, op-
erate, and maintain a power station thereon, and to pro-
ject, erect, construct, operate, and maintain a wing dam
five hundred feet into the river from the head of said
canal, and to make such other improvements as may be
necessary within said limit for the development of water
power and the generation, use, and transmission there-
form [sic] of electric energy and power at, in, and upon
the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi River: Pro- Provisos.
vided, That the constructions hereby authorized do not in
any way interfere with the existing low-water channel
over the Des Moines Rapids, or with any interests of nav-
igation: And provided further, That until the plans and
locations of the works herein authorized, so far as they
affect the interests of navigation, have been approved by
the Secretary of War the canal shall not be commenced or
built.
Navigation
not obstructed.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
War to approve
ment and com-
SEC. 2. That this act shall be null and void if actual Commence-
construction of the works herein authorized be not com- pletion.
menced within two years and completed within four
years from the date hereof.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 24, 1894.
(31)
CHAP. 346.—An Act Granting to Keokuk and Hamilton Water
Power Company right to construct and maintain wing dam, canal,
and power station in the Mississippi River in Hancock County,
Illinois.
Amendment,
etc.
Feb. 8, 1901.
Vol. 31, p.
764.
[Public, No.
43.1
Hamilton Wa-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the Keokuk and
Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Company, a corpo- ter Power Co.
ration created and organized under the laws of the State may dam, etc..
of Illinois, its successors and assigns, to erect, construct, vek County,
operate, and maintain a canal along the east bank of the ill. Vol. 33, p.
Mississippi River, between Nauvoo and Hamilton, in 56.
Mississippi
River in Han-
cock
366 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Hancock County, in the State of Illinois, to erect, con-
struct, operate, and maintain a power station thereon,
and to project, erect, construct, operate, and maintain a
wing dam five hundred feet into the river from the head
of the said canal, and to make such other dams and im-
provements as may be necessary within said limits for the
development of water power and the generation, use, and
transmission therefrom of electric energy and power at,
in, and upon the Des Moines Rapids of the Mississippi
Existing low- River: Provided, That the constructions hereby author-
water channel, ized do not in any way interfere with the existing low-
Rapids, etc. water channel over the Des Moines Rapids or with the
Approval of interests of navigation: And provided further, That until
the plans and location of the works herein authorized, so
far as they affect the interests of navigation, have been
approved by the Secretary of War the canal or other im-
provements shall not be commenced or built.
Provisos.
Des Moines
plans.
Commence-
ment and com-
pletion.
56.
Amendment.
Feb. 26, 1904.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void if actual
construction of the works herein authorized be not com-
menced within three years and completed within six
years from the date hereof.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 8, 1901.
CHAP. 171.-An Act To amend an Act granting to the Keokuk
Vol. 33, P. and Hamilton Water Power Company right to construct and main-
tain a dam, and so forth, approved February eighth, nineteen hun-
[H. R. 9640.] dred and one.
[Public, No.
32.]
River.
ed for dam, etc.,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That the Act granting to the Keokuk and Hamilton
Time extend- Water Power Company right to construct and maintain
by Keokuk and wing dam, canal, and power station in the Mississippi
Hamilton Wa- River in Hancock County, Illinois, approved February
Vol. 31, p. eighth, nineteen hundred and one, be, and it is hereby,
amended as follows: In section two of said Act strike out
the word "three " and insert the word "four" in lieu
thereof; also strike out the word "six" and insert the
word "
seven " in lieu thereof.
ter Power Co.
764, amended.
Feb. 9, 1905.
Approved, February 26, 1904.
CHAP. 566.-An Act Granting to the Keokuk and Hamilton
Vol. 33, p. Water Power Company rights to construct and maintain for the
712.
improvement of navigation and development of water power a
[H. R. 15284.] dam across the Mississippi River.
[Public, No.
65.1
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the
Keokuk and Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Company, a corpo-
Hamilton Wa- ration created and organized under the laws of the State
may dam at of Illinois, its successors, and assigns, to erect, construct,
Rapids, Iowa. Operate, and maintain a dam, with its crest at an eleva-
tion of from thirty to thirty-five feet above standard low
water, across the Mississippi River at or near the foot of
ter Power Co.
Des Moines
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 367
Construction
dock, etc.
Restrictions.
ed navigation.
the Des Moines Rapids, from Keokuk, Iowa, to Hamilton,
Illinois, and to construct, operate, and maintain power
stations on or in connection with the said dam, with suit-
able accessories for the development of water power, and
the generation, use, and transmission therefrom of elec-
tric energy and power to be derived from the Des Moines
Rapids on the Mississippi River: Provided, That in lieu Provisos.
of the three locks and the dry dock, with their appurte- of lock and dry
nances, now owned and operated by the United States, at
the Des Moines Rapids Canal, the said Keokuk and Ham-
ilton Water Power Company shall build, coincidentally
with the construction of the said dam and appurtenances,
at locations approved by the Secretary of War, a lock
and dry dock with their appurtenances; the said lock
shall be of such a kind and size and shall have such
appurtenances and equipment as shall conveniently and
safely accommodate the present and prospective com-
merce of the Mississippi River; the said dry dock and its
appurtenances shall be such as to give space, facilities,
and conveniences for the repair of vessels at least equal
to those afforded by the existing Government dry dock
and shops at the Des Moines Rapids Canal: And provided
further, That the said dam and appurtenant works shall Unobstruct
be so designed, located, constructed, maintained, and op-
erated, and the said lock and dry dock, with their ap-
purtenances, shall be so designed, located, constructed
and equipped, as to permit at all times during the season
of navigation, and at any stage of water, the safe and
convenient navigation of steamboats and other vessels,
or of rafts and barges, through the portion of the Missis-
sippi River now occupied by the Des Moines Rapids, as
well as through the entire length of the pool formed by
the said dam: And provided further, That detailed plans
for the construction and operation of the said dam, lock,
dry dock, and appurtenant works, shall be submitted to
and approved by the Secretary of War before the com-
mencement of any portion of the said works; and the Supervision
said works shall be constructed under the supervision of ficer, etc.
some engineer officer of the Army designated for that
purpose, and that after the approval of the said plans
no deviation therefrom shall be made without the prior
approval of the Secretary of War of any such deviation;
And provided further, That compensation shall be made compensa-
by the said Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Com- tion for dam-
pany to all persons, firms, or corporations whose lands or
other property may be taken, overflowed, or otherwise
damaged by the construction, maintenance, and opera-
tion of the said works in accordance with the laws of the
State where such lands or other property may be situ-
ated; but the United States shall not be held to have in- Nonliability
curred any liability for such damages by the passage of of the United
this Act: And provided further, That when the said dam, Operation of
lock, dry dock, and appurtenant works shall have been dock.
completed to the satisfaction of the Secretary of War, the
United States shall have the ownership and control of the
Secretary of
plans, etc.
War to approve
of engineer of-
ages.
States.
lock and dry
368 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Protection to
navigation.
Proviso.
Fishways.
Cost of con-
Provisos.
pervision.
said lock, dry dock, and their appurtenances, and op-
erate and maintain the same.
SEC. 2. That the withdrawal of water from the Missis-
sippi River and the discharge of water into the said river,
for the purpose of operating the said power stations and
appurtenant works, shall be under the direction and con-
trol of the Secretary of War, and shall at no time be such
as to impede or interfere with the safe and convenient
navigation of the said river by means of steamboats.or
other vessels, or by rafts or barges: Provided, That the
said company shall construct such suitable fishways as
may be required from time to time by the Secretary of
Commerce and Labor.
SEC. 3. That, except as provided for below in this sec-
struction, etc. tion, the Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Company
shall bear the entire cost of locating, constructing, main-
taining, and operating the structures and appurtenances
provided for in this Act: Provided, That the United
Cost of su- States shall bear the cost of the supervision of the work
by an engineer officer of the Army as provided for in sec-
tion one of this Act, and also the cost of maintaining and
operating the lock and dry dock with their appurte-
nances, after their completion and due acceptance by the
Secretary of War on behalf of the United States: And
Power plant. provided further, That the Keokuk and Hamilton Water
Power Company shall provide, in connection with such
lock, dry dock, and appurtenances, a suitable power plant
for operating and lighting the same, according to plans
and specifications submitted to and approved by the Sec-
retary of War.
Repeal of
former act.
Vol. 31, p.
764.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Feb. 27, 1899.
SEC. 4. That the Act entitled "An Act granting to the
Keokuk and Hamilton Water Power Company right to
construct and maintain wing dam, canal, and power sta-
tion in the Mississippi River in Hancock County, Illi-
nois," approved February eighth, nineteen hundred and
one, is hereby repealed.
SEC. 5. That this Act shall be null and void if actual
construction of the works herein authorized be not com-
menced within five years and completed within ten years
from the date hereof,
SEC. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 9, 1905.
(32)
CHAP. 211.-An Act To authorize the Grand Rapids Water
Vol. 30, P. Power and Boom Company, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to con-
struct a dam and bridge across the Mississippi River.
904.
80.1
[Public, No.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Grand Rapids bled. That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
and Boom Co. the Grand Rapids Water Power and Boom Company, of
Water Power
may bridge,
etc., Mississippi River at Grand Rapids, Minn.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 369
33.
Vol. 31, p.
Dam, etc.,
for water-
power pur-
Provisos.
Government
control, etc.
Grand Rapids, Minnesota, its successors and assigns, to
construct across the Mississippi River, at a point within
the limits of the village of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, to
be approved by the Secretary of War, a dam, canal, and poses.
works necessarily incident thereto, for water-power pur-
poses, and a wagon and foot bridge if desired in connec-
tion therewith for the purpose of travel. Said dam shall
be so constructed that there can at any time be constructed
in connection therewith a suitable lock for navigation
purposes: Provided, That the Government of the United
States may at any time take possession of said dam with-
out compensation and control the same for purposes of
navigation, but shall not do so to the destruction of the
water power created by said dam to any greater extent
than may be necessary to provide proper facilities for
navigation: Provided also, That said dam shall be so Construction,
constructed that it will not at any time raise the water
surface, at a point three hundred feet above said dam, to
an elevation higher than the floor of the sluices of the
reservoir dam built by the Government at Pokegama
Falls on the Mississippi River, in section thirteen, town-
ship fifty-five, range twenty-six west of the fourth prin-
cipal meridian, Minnesota: Provided further, That said Passage
dam shall be so constructed as to provide for the free saw logs.
passage of saw logs without tolls or charges; and the said
company shall construct and maintain, at its own expense,
suitable fishways, to be approved by the United States Fishways.
Fish Commissioner; and the said company, its successors
etc.
and assigns, shall make such change and modification in Changes.
said dam, canal, and works incident thereto, and said
bridge, as the Secretary of War may from time to time
deem necessary in the interests of navigation, at its own
cost and expense: Provided further, That in case any Litigation.
litigation arises from the obstruction of the channel by
said dam, canal, and works incident thereto, or such
bridge, the case may be tried in the proper court of
the United States in the district in which said works are
situated.
of
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless said
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year and
completed within three years from the date hereof.
Approved, February 27, 1899.
CHAP. 26.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act to author-
ize the Grand Rapids Water Power and Boom Company, of Grand
Rapids, Minnesota, to construct a dam and bridge across the
Mississippi River," approved February twenty-seventh, eighteen
hundred and ninety-nine.
Commence-
ment and com-
pletion.
33.
Feb. 27, 1900.
Vol. 31, p.
[Public, No.
26.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Time extend-
bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act to ed to Grand
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–224
Rapids Water
Power and Boom Co. to dam, etc., Mis-
sissippi River at Grand Rapids, Minn.
370 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Vol. 30, p.
904.
authorize the Grand Rapids Water Power and Boom
Company, of Grand Rapids, Minnesota to construct a
dam and bridge across the Mississippi River," approved
February twenty-seventh, eighteen hundred and ninety-
nine, is hereby amended so as to read as follows:
66
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless
said dam herein authorized be commenced within two
years and completed within four years from the date
hereof."
Approved, February 27, 1900.
(33)
July 3, 1886.
CHAP. 623.—An Act To authorize the improvement of the water-
Vol. 24, p. power of the Mississippi River at Little Falls, Minnesota.
123.
Water- Power
dam, etc., at
River, Minn.
Provisos.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Little Falls bled, That it shall be lawful for the Little Falls Water-
Co., may build Power Company of Minnesota to improve and develop the
Little Falls, Water-power in the Mississippi River at Little Falls, in
Mississippi the State of Minnesota, by constructing, maintaining,
and operating in said river, at said Little Falls, dams,
piers, sluice ways, canals, locks, ponds, breakwaters,
abutments, and mill sites for manufacturing purposes.
Provided, That there shall be placed and maintained in
Sluiceway, connection with said dam and other works a sluice-way,
pas- lock, or other fixture sufficient and so arranged as to per-
mit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through, or
over said dam or other works without unreasonable delay
or hindrance, and without tolls or charges: Provided
further, That the Secretary of War may at any time
require such changes and alterations to be made in said
works, at the expense of said water-power company, as
he may deem advisable and necessary in the interest of
navigation.
etc., for
sage of logs,
etc.
Changes.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, July 3, 1886.
Mar. 5, 1898.
(34)
CHAP. 37.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam between
Vol. 30, P. Coon Rapids and the north limits of the city of Minneapolis,
Minnesota, across the Mississippi River.
253.
[Public, No.
28.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 371
Rapid Transit
con-
struct dam,
River between
and Minneapo-
75.
etc.
Provisos.
the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, its successors or Twin City
assigns, to construct across the Mississippi River, at any Co. may
point between Coon Rapids and the north line of the etc., across
limits of the city of Minneapolis, a dam, canal, and Mississippi
works necessarily incident thereto, for water-power pur-Coon Rapids
poses. The said dam shall be so constructed that there lis.
can, at any time, be constructed in connection therewith Vol. 31, p.
a suitable lock for navigation purposes: Provided, also, Lock.
That the Government of the United States may at any Possession by
time take possession of said dam and appurtenant works Government,
and control the same for purposes of navigation by pay-
ing the said company the value not exceeding the actual
cost of the same, but shall not do so to the destruction of
the water power created by said dam to any greater ex-
tent than may be necessary to provide proper facilities
for navigation: Provided further, That the works shall Passage
be constructed so as to provide for the free passage of
saw logs. The said Twin City Rapid Transit Company
shall make such change and modification in the works as
the Secretary of War may from time to time deem neces-
sary in the interests of navigation, at its own cost and ex-
pense: Provided further, That in case any litigation Litigation to
arises from the obstruction of the channel by the dam, court.
canal, or appurtenant works, the case may be tried in the
proper Federal court of the United States in which the
works are situated.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved: And provided further,
That suitable fishways, to be approved by the United
States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed and main-
tained at said dam by the Twin City Rapid Transit
Company, its successors or assigns.
saw logs.
Changes.
of
be in Federal
Amendment.
Proviso.
Fishways.
Commence-
ment and com-
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within two years pletion.
and completed within five years from the date hereof.
Approved, March 5, 1898.
CHAP. 189.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam between Apr. 12,
Coon Rapids and the north limits of the city of Minneapolis, 1900.
Minnesota, across the Mississippi River.
75.
Vol. 31, p.
Rapid Transit
River at Coon
30, p.
Vol. 30,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-[Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-67.]
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to Twin City
the Twin City Rapid Transit Company, its successors or Co., may dam
assigns, to construct across the Mississippi River, at any Mississippi
point between Coon Rapids and the north line of the Rapids, etc.
limits of the city of Minneapolis, a dam, canal, and works 253.
necessarily incident thereto, for water-power purposes.
The said dam shall be so constructed that there can, at
any time, be constructed in connection therewith a suit-
able lock for navigation purposes: Provided, also, That Provisos.
the Government of the United States may at any time
take possession of said dam and appurtenant works and
Government
control.
372 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
saw logs.
Changes.
control the same for purposes of navigation by paying
the said company the value not exceeding the actual cost
of the same, but shall not do so to the destruction of the
water power created by said dam to any greater extent
than may be necessary to provide proper facilities for
Passage of navigation: Provided further, That the works shall be
constructed so as to provide for the free passage of saw
logs. The said Twin City Rapid Transit Company shall
make such change and modification in the works as the
Secretary of War may from time to time deem necessary
in the interests of navigation, at its own cost and expense:
Litigation. Provided further, That in case any litigation arises from
the obstruction of the channel by the dam, canal, or ap-
purtenant works, the case may be tried in the proper
Federal court of the United States in which the works
are situated.
Amendment.
Proviso.
Fishways.
pletion.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved: And provided further,
That suitable fishways, to be approved by the United
States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed and main-
tained at said dam by the Twin City Rapid Transit Com-
pany, its successors or assigns.
Commence- SEC. 3. That this Act shall become null and void unless
ment and com- the dam herein authorized be commenced on or before
the first day of July, nineteen hundred and one, and be
completed within three years thereafter.
Approved, April 12, 1900.
June 25,
1906.
(35)
CHAP. 3530.-An Act To provide for a commission to examine
and report concerning the use by the United States of the waters
Vol. 34, P of the Mississippi River flowing over the dams between Saint
Paul and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
456.
[S. 6451.]
[Public, No.
282.]
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That a commission is hereby created to examine and
Commission report to the Secretary of War, for transmission to Con-
of surplus wa- gress, concerning the use of the surplus water which shall
ter, Minnesota. not be needed for the purposes of navigation flowing over
to report on use
Composition.
the dams now under construction by the United States in
the Mississippi River between the cities of Saint Paul
and Minneapolis, Minnesota.
That such commission shall be composed of one officer
of the Corps of Engineers of the United States Army, one
officer of the Quartermaster's Department of the United
States Army, both of whom shall be designated by the
Secretary of War, and one official of the Treasury De-
partment, who shall be an expert in electrical engineer-
ing, who shall be designated by the Secretary of the
Treasury.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 373
і
SEC. 2. That this commission shall examine and report Scope.
upon the following propositions:
First. Whether there will be any surplus water flowing Use for com-
over said dams not needed for the purpose of navigation
which might be available for mechanical or commercial
power.
mercial, etc.,
power.
ment buildings,
and Fort Snell-
Second. Whether such power, or any part thereof, could For Govern-
be economically utilized for furnishing the light and etc., St. Paul,
power now needed or which hereafter may be needed in Minneapolis,
the buildings and property of the United States at Saint ing.
Paul, Minneapolis, and Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and, if
so, to what extent, and what proportion or amount of the
available power could be so utilized by the United States
or disposed of in any manner to the advantage of the
United States.
using power.
Third. If it shall appear to said commission feasible and Plans for
economical for the United States to use or dispose of such
power or any part thereof, then said commission shall re-
port a plan or plans, with terms and conditions for such
use or disposition, and an estimate of the cost thereof to
the United States.
SEC. 3. That the said commission shall meet at such Report.
time and place as may be directed by the Secretary of
War, and shall transmit said report within two years
after the passage of this Act.
Approved, June 25, 1906.
(36)
CHAP. 3300.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Mississippi River above the village of Monticello, Wright County,
Minnesota.
June
1906.
14,
Vol. 34, p.
264.
[S. 5357.]
229.1
Mississippi
River, Minn.
sippi River
Location.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
The Mississippi River Power Company, a corporation The Missis-
organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota, its power Com-
successors and assigns, to build a dam across the Missis- pany may dam.
sippi River, between the township of Monticello, in Wright Vol. 34, p.
County, Minnesota, and the township of Becker, in Sher- 1235.
burne County, Minnesota, and above the village of Monti-
cello, in said Wright County, for the development of
water power, and such works and structures in connection
therewith as may be necessary or convenient in the devel-
opment of said power and in the utilization of the power
thereby developed: Provided, That the plans for the con-
struction of said dam and appurtenant works shall be sub- war to approve
mitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and plans, etc.
the Secretary of War before the commencement of the
construction of the same: And provided further, That Modification
The Mississippi River Power Company, its successors or
Provisos.
Secretary of
of plans.
374 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Lock.
assigns, shall not deviate from such plans after such ap-
proval, either before or after the completion of said struc-
tures, unless the modification of said plans shall have pre-
viously been submitted to and received the approval of
the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War:
Sluiceway. And provided further, That there shall be placed and
maintained in connection with said dam a sluiceway so
arranged as to permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass
around, through, or over said dam without unreasonable
delay or hindrance, and without toll or charges: And
further provided, That the dam shall be so constructed
that the Government of the United States may at any
time construct in connection therewith a suitable lock for
navigation purposes, and may at any time, without com-
Control of pensation, control the said dam so far as shall be neces-
sary for purposes of navigation, but shall not destroy the
water power developed by said dam and structures to
any greater extent than may be necessary to provide
proper facilities for navigation, and that the Secretary of
War may at any time require and enforce, at the expense
of the owners, such modifications and changes in the con-
struction of such dam as he may deem advisable in the
interests of navigation: And provided further, That
suitable fishways, to be approved by the United States
Fish Commission, shall be constructed and maintained
at said dam by The Mississippi River Power Company,
its successors or assigns.
dam by United
States.
Changes.
Fishways.
Litigation.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts, as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota and in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
Existing laws be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provi-
sions of law now existing in reference to the protection of
the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said structures
from the operation of same.
Proviso.
not affected.
Time of com-
pletion.
Amendment.
Mar. 2, 1907.
1235.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year
and be completed within three years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 14, 1906.
CHAP. 2545.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act permit-
Vol. 34, p. ting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River above the
village of Monticello, Wright County, Minnesota," approved June
[H. R. 25716.] fourteenth, nineteen hundred and six.
[Public, No.
204.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act per-
mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
ed for dam, River above the village of Monticello, Wright County,
Monti- Minnesota," approved June fourteenth, nineteen hundred
River.
Time extend-
above
cello, Minn.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 375
and six, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read
as follows:
struction.
"SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the Time of con-
construction of the dam hereby authorized is commenced Vol. 34, p.
within one year from June fourteenth, nineteen hundred 265, amended.
and seven, and completed within three years thereafter."
Approved, March 2, 1907.
(37)
Vol. 34, p.
CHAP. 2574.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across June 4, 1906.
the Mississippi River in the county of Morrison, State of Minne-
sota.
209.
[H. R. 17758.]
Mississippi
River.
Co. may dam,
son County,
Vol. 34, p.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
Changes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
The Pike Rapids Power Company, a Minnesota corpora- The Pike
tion, its successors or assigns, to construct and maintain Rapids Power
across the Mississippi River a dam, canal, and works etc., in Morri
necessary incident thereto for water power and supply Minn.
purposes at any point between section twenty, township 1219.
one hundred and twenty-eight north, range twenty-nine
west, and section seventeen, in township thirty-nine,
range thirty-two, in Morrison County, Minnesota: Pro- Provisos.
vided, That the plans for the construction of said dam war to approve
and appurtenant works shall be submitted to and ap-
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War before the commencement of the construction of the
same: And provided further, That the said The Pike
Rapids Power Company, its successors or assigns, shall
not deviate from such plans after such approval, either
before or after the completion of said structures, unless
the modifications of such plans shall have previously
been submitted to and received the approval of the Chief
of Engineers and of the Secretary of War: And pro-
vided further, That there shall be placed and maintained
in connection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as
to permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around,
through, and over said dam without unreasonable delay
or hindrance, and without toll or charges: And provided
further, That the dam shall be so constructed that the
Government of the United States may at any time con-
struct in connection therewith a suitable lock for naviga-
tion purposes, and may at any time, without compensa-
tion, control the said dam so far as shall be necessary
for the purposes of navigation, but shall not destroy the
water power developed by said dam and structures to any
greater extent than may be necessary to provide proper
facilities for navigation, and that the Secretary of War
may at any time require and enforce, at the expense of
the owners, such modifications and changes in the con-
Sluiceway.
Lock.
376 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Fishways.
Litigation.
struction of said dam as he may deem advisable in the
interests of navigation.
SEC. 2. That suitable fishways, to be approved by the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor, shall be constructed
and maintained at said dam by said corporation, its suc-
cessors or assigns.
SEC. 3. That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota, or in the courts of the
Existing law United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provi-
sions of law now existing in reference to the protection
of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said structures
from the operation of same.
not affected.
Amendment.
Time of com-
pletion.
Mar. 2, 1907.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved; and the same shall be-
come null and void unless the construction of the dam
hereby authorized is commenced within one year after
the passage of this Act and completed within three years
thereafter.
Approved, June 4, 1906.
CHAP. 2520.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act per-
Vol. 34, P. mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River in the
county of Morrison, State of Minnesota," approved June fourth,
nineteen hundred and six.
1219.
[S. 8377.]
[Public, No.
179.]
River.
ed to The Pike
Morrison
Vol. 34, p.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That section one of an Act entitled
An Act per-
Time extend-mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
Rapids Power River in the county of Morrison, State of Minnesota,"
Co. to dam, in approved June fourth, nineteen hundred and six, be, and
County, Minn. the same is hereby, amended so as to read as follows:
Location. "SECTION 1. That the consent of Congress is hereby
209, amended. granted to the Pike Rapids Power Company, a Minne-
sota corporation, its successors or assigns, to construct
and maintain across the Mississippi River a dam,
canal, and works necessary incident thereto for water
power and supply purposes at a point between sections
twenty, twenty-nine, and thirty-two in township one
hundred and twenty-eight north, range twenty-nine west.
of the fifth principal meridian, and sections seventeen
and twenty, in township thirty-nine, range thirty-two
west of the fourth principal meridian, in Morrison
Provisory of County, Minnesota: Provided, That the plans for the con-
War to approve struction of said dam and appurtenant works shall be
submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers
and the Secretary of War before the commencement of
the construction of the same: And provided further,
That the said the Pike Rapids Power Company, its suc-
cessors or assigns, shall not deviate from such plans after
Secretary
plans, etc.
Changes.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 377
Lock.
such approval, either before or after the completion of
said structures, unless the modifications of such plans
shall have previously been submitted to and received the
approval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary
of War: And provided further, That there shall be placed
and maintained in connection with said dam a sluiceway Sluiceway.
so arranged as to permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass
around, through, and over said dam without unreasonable
delay or hinderance [sic] and without toll or charges:
And provided further, That the dam shall be so con-
structed that the Government of the United States may
at any time construct in connection therewith a suitable
lock for navigation purposes, and may at any time, with-
out compensation, control the said dam so far as shall be
necessary for the purposes of navigation, but shall not
destroy the water power developed by said dam and
structures to any greater extent than may be necessary
to provide proper facilities for navigation, and that the
Secretary of War may at any time require and enforce,
at the expense of the owners, such modifications and
changes in the construction of said dam as he may deem
advisable in the interests of navigation.
""
SEC. 2. That section four of said Act above referred to
be, and the same is hereby, amended so as to read as
follows:
struction.
p.
"SEC. 4. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Time of con-
Act is hereby expressly reserved, and the same shall strVol.34,
become null and void unless the construction of the dam 210, amended.
hereby authorized is commenced within one year from
June first, nineteen hundred and seven, and completed
within three years thereafter, and that except so far as
may be otherwise provided in this Act, the provision of Vol. 34, p.
the Act of Congress entitled 'An Act to regulate the con-
struction of dams over navigable waters,' approved on
the twenty-first day of June, nineteen hundred and six,
shall be applicable to the construction of the dam pro-
vided in this Act."
Approved, March 2, 1907.
386.
Mar. 4, 1911.
Vol. 36, p.
1359.
CHAP. 277.-An Act To extend the time for commencing and
completing the construction of a dam authorized by the act entitled
"An Act permitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
River in the county of Morrison, State of Minnesota," approved [H. R. 32721.]
June fourth, nineteen hundred and six.
[Public, No.
517.1
Mississippi
Time ex
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the time for commencing and completing the
construction of the dam, canal, and other structures au- River.
thorized by the Act of Congress approved June fourth, tended for dam
nineteen hundred and six, and its amendatory Act ap- rison
proved March second, nineteen hundred and seven, to be Minn., by Pike
built across the Mississippi River, in Morrison County, Co
Minnesota, is hereby extended one year and three years, 210, 1220.
across, in Mor-
County,
Rapids Power
Vol. 34, p.
-
378 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
respectively, from July first, nineteen hundred and
eleven: Provided, That except as may be otherwise pro-
vided in the aforesaid Acts, the construction, mainte-
nance, and operation of the said structures therein au-
thorized shall be subject to, and in accordance with, the
provisions of the Act approved June twenty-third, nine-
Amendment. teen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act
entitled 'An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters,' approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six."
Vol. 34, p.
386.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 4, 1911.
(38)
Mar. 12, CHAP. 542.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Vol. 33, p. 66. Mississippi River between the counties of Wright and Sherburne,
1904.
[H. R. 9308.]
[Public, No.
47.]
River.
ley Co.
& Trol-
nesota (near
Location.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
in the State of Minnesota.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Minnesota the Minnesota Power and Trolley Company (a Minne-
Power may sota corporation), its successors or assigns, to construct
dam, in Min- and maintain across the Missisippi River a dam, canal,
Otsego). and works necessarily incident thereto, for water-power
purposes, at any point between section seventeen or
eighteen, in township one hundred and twenty-one north,
of range twenty-three west, in Wright County, and sec-
tion six, in township thirty-two north, of range twenty-
Provisos. six west, in Sherburne County, Minnesota: Provided,
War to approve That the plans for the construction of said dam and ap-
purtenant works shall be submitted to and approved by
the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War before
the commencement of construction of the same: And
provided further, That the said Minnesota Power and
Trolley Company, its successors or assigns, shall not
deviate from such plans after such approval, either before
or after the completion of said structures, unless the
Modification modification of said plans shall have previously been
submitted to and received the approval of the Chief of
Engineers and of the Secretary of War: And provided
for logs, as further, That there shall be placed and maintained in
connection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to
permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through,
or over said dam without unreasonable delay or hindrance
and without toll or charges: And provided further, That
the dam shall be so constructed that the Government of
Aids to navi- the United States may at any time construct in connec-
tion therewith a suitable lock for navigation purposes,
and may at any time, without compensation, control the
of plans.
Sluiceways
gation.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 379
said dam so far as shall be necessary for purposes of
navigation, but shall not destroy the water power de-
veloped by said dam and structures to any greater extent
than may be necessary to provide proper facilities for
navigation, and that the Secretary of War may at any
time require and enforce, at the expense of the owners,
such modifications and changes in the construction of Changes.
such dam as he may deem advisable in the interests of
navigation: And provided further, That in case any
litigation arises from the building of said dam, or from Litigation.
the obstruction of said river by said dam or appurtenant
works, cases may be tried in the proper courts, as now
provided for that purpose in the State of Minnesota and
in the courts of the United States; but nothing in this Existing laws
Act shall be so construed as to repeal or modify any
of the provisions of law now existing in reference to the
protection of the navigation of rivers or to exempt said
structures from the operation of same.
SEC. 2. That suitable fishways, to be approved by the
United States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed
and maintained at said dam by said corporation, its suc-
cessors or assigns.
not modified.
Fishways.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 3. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved; and the same shall
become null and void unless the construction of the dam
hereby authorized be commenced within one year after
the passage of this Act and completed within three years
thereafter.
Approved, March 12, 1904.
CHAP. 1128.-An Act Extending the time for the construction of Mar. 22,
the dam across the Mississippi River authorized by the Act of 1906.
Congress approved March twelfth, nineteen hundred and four.
Vol. 34, p. 84.
[H. R. 15649.1
[Public, No.
River, Minn.
structing dam
by Minnesota
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 63.1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Mississippi
bled, That subject to all the other provisions contained in Time ex-
the Act of Congress entitled "An Act permitting the tended for con-
building of a dam across the Mississippi River between (near Otsego)
the counties of Wright and Sherburne, in the State of Power
Minnesota," approved March twelfth, nineteen hundred Trolley Co.
and four, the time limitations for the construction and 67, amended.
completion of the dam authorized by said Act are hereby
extended until December thirty-first, nineteen hundred
and eight.
Approved, March 22, 1906.
and
Vol. 33, p.
(39)
Act of April 19, 1864 (Stats. L., vol. 13, p. 50), relates
exclusively to the establishment of an arsenal at Rock
Island, Ill., and makes no specific mention of water power,
380 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
and is therefore, not included in this compilation, it being
cited here simply because of reference being made to it by
subsequent laws concerning water power.
For history of operations by Ordnance Department
concerning the development of this water power see "A
History of the Rock Island Arsenal," etc., 1877, published
by the Ordnance Department, United States Army.
Act of June 27, 1866 (Stats. L., vol. 14, pp. 75 and 76),
appropriates $100,000 "to secure water power at the head
of Rock Island." [See next to last paragraph of Sec-
tion 4.]
No. 54. Joint Resolution to enable the Secretary of War to
carry out an agreement in relation to water power for the arsenal
at Rock Island.
Be it resolved by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby,
authorized and empowered to carry into effect the recom-
mendations of the commissioners appointed under the
acts of April nineteen, eighteen hundred and sixty-four,
and June twenty-seven, eighteen hundred and sixty-six,
relative to the Moline Water [Power] Company and the
water power at Rock Island, Illinois, as contained in the
report of said commissioners, and to make application
for that purpose of the money heretofore appropriated
for securing water power at the head of Rock Island.
Approved, March 2, 1867. [Stats. L., vol. 14, p. 573.]
No. 8. Joint resolution to appoint a commission to examine into
the matter of contracts made by and between the United States
and the Moline Water Power Company as to the water power at
Moline, Illinois, and to report to Congress as to same.
Whereas the Moline Water Power Company, of Moline
in the State of Illinois, complains that certain contracts
made with said Company by the United States, through
the Secretary of War, acting under the authority of Con-
gress have not been carried out in good faith in develop-
ing and maintaining the water power at said town of
Moline as required by said contracts, and that by reason
of such failure said Company has sustained and is sus-
taining large damages, therefore,
Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives
of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, author-
ized and required to appoint a commission to consist of
three competent civil engineers, one of whom shall be the
Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, whose
duty it shall be to examine into the subject-matter of said
contracts, made by and between the United States, as
aforesaid, and the said Water Power Company, as to said
water power, and the development and maintenance of
the same, and to report to the Congress of the United
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 381
States at its next session, what if anything is necessary to
be done by the United States to carry out in good faith
said contracts, and to relieve said Water Power Company
from its alleged grievances. Said report to be submitted
through the Secretary of War, to the Congress of the
United States at the commencement of its next session;
and to be directed to the Speaker of the House of Repre-
sentatives.
Approved, March 3, 1877. [Stats. L., vol. 19, p. 410.]
[Extract from sundry civil act approved March 3, 1879. Stats. L., vol. 20,
p. 387.]
That the Secretary of War is hereby authorized and
empowered to lease the water power, at Moline, or such
portion as may be agreed upon, to the Moline Water
Power Company upon such terms and conditions and for
such term of years as may be agreed upon, if the same can
be done consistently with the interests of the Government
of the United States. Said lease to be made upon the
condition that the said Moline Water Power Company
shall go on and complete the development of the water
power and maintain it at its own cost and expense.
[Extract from joint resolution approved June 20, 1879. Stats. L., vol. 21,
p. 51.]
That the following paragraph in said sundry civil
Act approved March 3, 1879, namely: "That the Sec-
retary of War is hereby authorized and empowered to
lease the water power at Moline, or such portion as may
be agreed upon, to the Moline Water Power Company,
upon such terms and conditions, and for such term of
years, as may be agreed upon, if the same can be done
consistently with the interests of the Government of the
United States; said lease to be made upon the condition
that the said Moline Water Power Company shall go on
and complete the development of the water power and
maintain it at its own cost and expense," be, and the
same is hereby, repealed.
(40)
CHAP. 860.-An Act Granting to the Davenport Water Power
Company rights to construct and maintain a canal, power station,
and appurtenant works in the Mississippi River, in Scott County,
Iowa.
158.
Apr. 5, 1904.
Vol. 33, p.
[S. 4142.]
[Public, No.
82.]
Mississippi
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the assent of Congress is hereby given to the
Davenport Water Power Company, a corporation created Davenport
and organized under the laws of the State of Iowa, its suc- Water Power
cessors and assigns, to erect, construct, operate, and main- struct a canal,
tain a canal along the north bank of the Mississippi County, Iowa.
River between Leclaire and Davenport, in Scott County,
Co. may con-
etc., in Scott
382 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Dams.
Provisos.
Unobstructed
navigation.
in the State of Iowa, to erect, construct, operate, and
maintain a power station thereon, and to project, erect,
construct, operate, and maintain such dams and other
works as may be necessary within said limits for the
development of water power and the generation, use, and
transmission therefrom of electric energy and power at,
in, and upon the Rock Island Rapids of the Mississippi
River: Provided, That the said canal and appurtenant
works shall be so designed, constructed, and operated as
not to interfere in any way with the safe and conven-
ient navigation of steamboats and other vessels or of
rafts and barges over the Rock Island Rapids, at any
stage of water; and the expense of any reconstruction
or extension of or addition to existing works for the im-
provement of navigation on the said Rock Island Rapids,
which may be found necessary, in the opinion of the Sec-
retary of War, on account of the construction, mainte-
nance, or operation of the said canal and appurtenant
works, shall be borne by the said company, its successors,
or assigns, under conditions to be prescribed by the Sec-
Secretary of retary of War: And provided further, That detailed
War to approve plans for the construction and operation of the said canal
and appurtenant works shall be submitted to and ap-
proved by the Secretary of War before the commence-
ment of the construction of any portion of the said works;
and that after the approval of the said plans no devia-
tion therefrom shall be made without the prior approval
Protection to by the Secretary of War of the said deviation: And pro-
vided further, That the said works and appurtenances
shall be so designed, constructed, and operated as not to
overflow or otherwise damage the lands and other prop-
erty of the United States at Rock Island Arsenal, or in-
jure or diminish the water power of the United States
at the said arsenal, or the water power of any person,
firm, or corporation having hydraulic works already con-
Payment of structed: And provided further, That before entering
upon the construction of the said works, compensation
shall be made to any person, firm, or corporation whose
lands or other property may be taken, overflowed, or
otherwise damaged by the construction, maintenance, and
operation of the said works, in accordance with the laws
of the State where such lands or other property may be
situate.
plans, etc.
Rock Island
Arsenal, etc.
damages.
1
Protection to
navigation.
SEC. 2. That the withdrawal of water from the Missis-
sippi River and the discharge of water into the said river,
for the purpose of operating the said canal and appur-
tenant works, shall be under the direction and control of
the Secretary of War, and shall at no time be such as to
impede or interfere with the safe and convenient naviga-
tion of the said river by means of steamboats or other
vessels, or by rafts and barges, or to injure or diminish
the water power of the United States at Rock Island
Arsenal, or the water power of any person, firm, or cor-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 383
Provisos.
Litigation.
poration having hydraulic works already constructed:
Provided, That if any litigation arises from the construc-
tion, operation, or maintenance of the said works, or from
the obstruction of any part of the Mississippi River by the
said works or any portion thereof, cases may be tried in
the proper courts as now provided for that purpose in the
States of Illinois and Iowa, and the courts of the United
States: And provided further, That suitable fishways Fishways.
shall be constructed and maintained by the said company
its successors and assigns, at such of the dams and in such
manner as may be required from time to time by the
United States Fish Commission.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void if actual
construction of the works herein authorized be not com-
menced within three years and completed within six years
from the date hereof.
SEC. 4. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, April 5, 1904.
CHAP. 461.-An Act To amend an Act granting to the Davenport
Water Power Company rights to construct and maintain a canal,
power station, and appurtenant works in the Mississippi River in
Scott County, Iowa.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Feb. 5, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
876.
[H. R. 21677.]
[Public, No.
56.1
Mississippi
River, Iowa.
ed to construct
Power Co. be-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Act granting to the Davenport Water Time extend-
Power Company rights to construct and maintain a canal, canal by Dav
power station, and appurtenant works in the Mississippi enport Water
River in Scott County, Iowa, approved April fifth, nine- tween Daven-
teen hundred and four, be, and it is hereby, amended as port and Le
follows: In section three of said Act strike out the word
three" and insert the word "six" in lieu thereof; also 159, amended.
strike out the word "six " and insert the word "nine" in
lieu thereof.
"6
Approved, February 5, 1907.
(41)
CHAP. 231.-An Act Granting the consent of Congress to the
Saint Cloud Water Power and Mill Company to construct a dam
across the Mississippi River at Saint Cloud, Minnesota.
Claire.
Vol. 33, p.
July 5, 1884.
Vol. 23, p.
154.
sippi River, St.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Construction
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- of dam, etc.,
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to across Missis
the Saint Cloud Water Power and Mill Company to con- Cloud, Minn.,
struct across the Mississippi River, at some point within authorized.
the incorporated limits of the city of Saint Cloud, a
dam, canal, and works necessarily incident thereto, for
water-power and other purposes, and in connection there-foot bridge.
Wagon and
384 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Not to inter-
and mill
Rights of
reserved.
Proviso.
Proviso. with a wagon and foot-bridge for public travel: Pro-
fere with dam vided, That said dam shall be so constructed as not to
Sauk Rapids. at interfere with the existing dam and mill at Sauk Rapids,
and so that the Government of the United States can at
any time construct in connection therewith a suitable
Proviso. lock for navigation purposes: Provided also, That the
Government of Government of the United States may at any time take
United States possession of said dam, and control the same for purposes
of navigation, by paying said company the actual cost
of the same, but shall not do so to the destruction of the
water-power created by said dam: Provided further,
of saw logs, That the works be constructed so as to provide for the
free passage of saw-logs and rafts, and, when necessary,
to permit the passage of boats; and, further, that such
changes or modifications in the works as the Secretary of
War may from time to time deem necessary in the in-
terest of navigation shall be made, at the expense of the
water-power company: Provided further, That in case
of any litigation arising from the obstruction of the
channel by the dam, canal, or bridge, the cause may be
tried in the district court of the United States in which
the works are situated.
Free passage
rafts, etc.
Proviso.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, July 5, 1884.
52.
Feb.26, 1904.
(42)
CHAP. 167.—An Act Perinitting the building of a dam across the
Vol. 33, P. Mississippi River at or near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton
[S. 2818.]
28.]
County, Minnesota.
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Sauk Rapids the Sauk Rapids Water Power Company, a corporation
Co may dam organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota, its
at Sauk Rapids, successors and assigns, to build a dam across the Missis-
River.
Water Power
Minn.
Provisos.
sippi River at or near the Sauk Rapids, so called, in said
river, and at or near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton
County, Minnesota, for the development of water power,
and such works and structures in connection therewith as
may be necessary or convenient in the development of
said power and in the utilization of the power thereby
developed: Provided, That the plans for the construc-
War to approve tion of said dam and appurtenant works shall be sub-
mitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War before the commencement of the
construction of the same: And provided further, That the
said Sauk Rapids Water Power Company, its successors
or assigns, shall not deviate from such plans after such
approval, either before or after the completion of said
Modification structures, unless the modification of said plans shall
Secretary of
plans, etc.
of plans.
have previously been submitted to and received the ap-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 385
Sluiceway
for logs, etc.
Alds to navi-
gation.
proval of the Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary
of War: And provided further, That there shall be placed
and maintained in connection with said dam a sluice-
way so arranged as to permit logs, timber, and lumber
to pass around, through, or over said dam without
unreasonable delay or hindrance and without toll or
charges: And provided further, That the dam shall be
so constructed that the Government of the United States
may at any time construct in connection therewith a suit-
able lock for navigation purposes, and may at any time,
without compensation, control the said dam so far as
shall be necessary for purposes of navigation, but shall
not destroy the water power developed by said dam and
structures to any greater extent than may be necessary
to provide proper facilities for navigation, and that the
Secretary of War may at any time require and enforce, at
the expense of the owners, such modifications and changes Changes.
in the construction of such dam as he may deem advis-
able in the interests of navigation: And provided further,
That suitable fishways, to be approved by the United Fishways.
States Fish Commission, shall be constructed and main-
tained at said dam by the Sauk Rapids Water Power
Company, its successors or assigns.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the Litigation.
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts, as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota, and in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the pro-
visions of law now existing in reference to the protection fed.
of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said structures
from the operation of same.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within three years
and be completed within six years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
Proviso.
Existing
laws not modi-
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 26, 1904.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1058.
[S. 8400.]
[Public, No.
CHAP. 2505.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act per-
mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River at or
near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton County, Minnesota," ap-
proved February twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 164.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act
per- River.
mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi Dam at Sauk
River at or near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton Rapids, Minne-
County, Minnesota," approved February twenty-sixth, Vol. 33, p. 53,
nineteen hundred and four, be, and the same is hereby,
amended so as to read as follows:
Mississippi
sota.
amended.
Time extend-
ed for construc-
"SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within three years tion.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2——25
*
386 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Feb. 13, 1911.
and six months and be completed within six years from
the time of the passage of this Act."
Approved, March 2, 1907.
CHAP. 48.-An Act To amend an act entitled "An act permit-
Vol. 36, p. ting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River at or near
the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton County, Minnesota," approved
February twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four.
902.
[S. 6693.]
[Public, No.
352.]
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act per-
mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
at Sauk Rap- River at or near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton
Vol. 33, p. County, Minnesota," approved February twenty-sixth,
53, amended. nineteen hundred and four, be, and the same is hereby,
amended so as to read as follows:
Dam across
ids, Minn.
Post, p. 3072.
Time extend-
ed for construc-
tion.
66
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless
the construction of the dam herein authorized be com-
Vol. 34, p. menced on or before the first day of July, anno Domini
nineteen hundred and ten, and completed within two
years from that date."
1058.
Feb. 24, 1911.
931.
Approved, February 13, 1911.
CHAP. 158.
An Act To amend an act entitled "An act permit-
Vol. 36, P. ting the building of a dam across the Mississippi River at or near
the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton County, Minnesota,” approved
February twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four.
[S. 10757.]
[Public, No.
420.]
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act per-
Time extend- mitting the building of a dam across the Mississippi
ed for dam- River at or near the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton
Rapids, Minn. County, Minnesota," approved February twenty-sixth,
Vol. 33, p. 53, nineteen hundred and four, be, and the same is hereby,
ming at Sauk
amended.
struction.
amended so as to read as follows:
Time of con- "SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void and all
Vol. 34, p. rights acquired under the same forfeited unless the con-
Ante, p. 3057. struction of the dam herein authorized be commenced
1058.
on or before the first day of July, anno Domini nineteen
hundred and eleven, and such construction continued
with and the dam completed within two years from the
date last mentioned.”
Approved, February 24, 1911.
(43)
CHAP. 591.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Mississippi River between the village of Sauk Rapids, Benton
Feb. 20, 1905. County, Minnesota, and the city of Saint Cloud, Stearns County,
Vol. 33, p. Minnesota.
723.
[S. 5972.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
[ Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
83.1
Mississippi bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
the Sauk Rapids Manufacturing Company, a corporation
River.
Sauk Rapids
Manufacturing Company may dam, at Sauk Rapids, Minn.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 387
etc.
Secretary of
Modification
organized under the laws of the State of Minnesota, its
successors or assigns, to build a dam across the Mississippi
River at the Sauk Rapids, so called, in said river, and
between the village of Sauk Rapids, in Benton County,
Minnesota, and the city of Saint Cloud, or an addition
thereof, in Stearns County, Minnesota, for the develop-
ment of water power, and such works and structures în
connection therewith as may be necessary or convenient
in the development of said power and in the utilization
thereof: Provided, That the plans for the construction of Proviso.
said dam and appurtenant works shall be submitted to war to a p-
and approved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secre- prove plans,
tary of War before the construction of the same: And
provided further, That the said Sauk Rapids Manufac-
turing Company, its successors or assigns, shall not devi- of plans.
ate materially from said plans after such approval, either
before or after the completion of said structures, unless
the modification of said plans shall have been submitted
previously to and received the approval of the Chief of
Engineers and of the Secretary of War: And provided Sluiceway.
further, That there shall be placed and maintained in
connection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to
permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through,
or over said dam without unreasonable delay or hindrance
and without toll or charges: And provided further, That
said dam shall be so constructed that the Government of
the United States may at any time construct in connection
therewith a suitable lock for navigation purposes, and
may at any time, without compensation, control said dam
so far as shall be necessary for purposes of navigation,
but shall not destroy or reduce the water power devel-
oped by said dam and structures to any greater extent
than may be necessary to provide proper facilities for
navigation, and the Secretary of War may at any time
require and enforce, at the expense of the owners, such
modifications and changes in the construction of said dam
as he may deem advisable in the interests of navigation:
And provided further, That suitable fishways, to be ap-
proved by the United States Fish Commissioner, shall be
constructed and maintained at said dam by said company,
its successors or assigns.
Aids to navi-
gation.
Changes.
Fishways.
Litigation.
SEC. 2. That in case anv litigation arises from the
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, such cases may
be tried in the proper courts, as now provided for that
purpose in the State of Minnesota and in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the pro- laws not af
visions of law now existing in reference to the protection fected.
of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said structures
from the operation of the same.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
said dam herein authorized be commenced within one
year and be completed within three years from the time
of the passage of this Act.
Proviso.
Existing
Time of con-
struction.
388 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Amendment.
June 28, 1906.
Vol. 34.
537.
p.
[H. R. 19431.]
[Public No.
315.]
River.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 20, 1905.
(44)
CHAP. 3566.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Mississippi River between the counties of Stearns and Sher-
burne, in the State of Minnesota.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Mississippi bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
The St. Cloud The Saint Cloud Electric Power Company, a Minnesota
pany may dam, corporation, its successors or assigns, to construct and
in Minnesota maintain across the Mississippi River a dam, canal, and
(at Augusta). works necessarily incident thereto for water power and
Power Com-
Location.
supply purposes, and a lock for navigation purposes,
which lock shall be operated and kept in repair, as may
be required by the Secretary of War, by the said com-
pany at its own expense, at any point between section
seven, township one hundred and twenty-three, range
twenty-seven, in the county of Stearns and State of
Minnesota, and section twenty-five, township thirty-five,
range thirty-one, and sections thirty and thirty-one, in
township thirty-five, range thirty west, in Sherburne
Provisos of County, Minnesota: Provided, That the plans for the con-
Approval
plans.
Changes.
struction of such dam and appurtenant works including a
lock shall be submitted to and approved by the Chief of
Engineers and the Secretary of War before the commence-
ment of the construction of the same: And provided fur-
ther, That the said The Saint Cloud Electric Power
Company, its successors and assigns, shall not deviate
from such plans after such approval, either before or after
the completion of said structure, unless the modification
of such plans shall have previously been submitted to and
received the approval of the Chief of Engineers and the
Sluiceway. Secretary of War: And provided further, That there shall
be placed and maintained in connection with said dam a
sluiceway, so arranged so [sic] as to permit logs, timber,
and lumber to pass around, through, and over said dam
without unreasonable delay or hinderance [sic] and with-
out toll or charges: And provided further, That the dam
Lock for shall be so constructed that the Government of the United
navigation.
States may at any time construct in connection therewith
any further suitable lock for navigation purposes and
may at any time without compensation control the said
dam so far as shall be necessary for purposes of naviga-
tion, but shall not destroy the water power developed by
said dam and structures to any greater extent than may
be necessary to provide proper facilities for navigation,
and that the Secretary of War may at any time require
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 389
and enforce at the expense of the owners such modifica-
tions and changes in the construction of said dam as
he may deem advisable in the interest of navigation: And
provided further, That in consideration of the conveyance
to the United States of America by said corporation, or
its successors or assigns, of such suitable tract or tracts of
land as may be approved or selected by the Chief of
Engineers and the Secretary of War for lock or other pur-
poses for such navigation as aforesaid, the right shall
become and the same is hereby vested in the said The
Saint Cloud Electric Power Company, its successors and
assigns, to flow and inundate with water any islands in
the Mississippi River situate above said proposed site and
situated southerly of the municipal limits of Saint Cloud,
Stearns County, Minnesota, which may belong to the
United States of America and which have not been sub-
jected to any entry under the homestead laws or other
disposition at the time of the passage of this Act, such
right of flowage to be enjoyed without any compensation
to be paid to the United States of America, save and
except the value of said lands so to be conveyed for lock
or other purposes.
Flowage
rights.
SEC. 2. That suitable fishways, to be approved by the Fishways.
United States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed
and maintained at said dam by said corporation, its suc-
cessors or assigns.
SEC. 3. That in case any litigation arises from the build- Litigation.
ing of said dam or locks or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works cases may be
tried in the proper courts as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota or in the courts of the
United States.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved, and the same shall be-
come null and void unless the construction of the dam
hereby authorized is commenced within one year after
the passage of this Act and completed within three years
thereafter.
Approved, June 28, 1906.
(45)
CHAP. 1487.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Mississippi River between the counties of Stearns and Benton,
in the State of Minnesota.
Apr. 23, 1904.
Vol. 33, p.
295.
[H. R. 14413.]
Watab Rap-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 151.
[Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to River.
Mississippi
the Watab Rapids Power Company, a Minnesota corpora-ids Power Co-
tion, its successors or assigns, to construct and maintain may dam in
across the Mississippi River a dam and works necessary Location.
incident thereto for water power and supply purposes at
Minnesota.
390 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
Changes.
any point not less than four hundred feet above the mouth
of Watab River, between section twenty-one, in township
one hundred and twenty-five north, range twenty-eight
west, in Stearns County, and section nine, in township
thirty-six north, range thirty-one west, in Benton County,
Minnesota, which may be approved by the Chief of Engi-
Provisos. neers and the Secretary of War: Provided, That the
War to approve plans for the construction of said dam and appurtenant
works shall be submitted to and approved by the Chief of
Engineers and the Secretary of War before the com-
mencement of the construction of the same: And pro-
vided further, That the aforesaid Watab Rapids Power
Company, its successors or assigns, shall not deviate from.
such plans after such approval, neither before nor after
the completion of said structures, unless the modification
of said plans has been previously submitted to and re-
ceived the approval of the Chief of Engineers and the
Secretary of War: And provided further, That there
shall be placed and maintained in connection with said
Sluiceways. dam a sluiceway so arranged as to permit logs, timber,
and lumber to pass around, through, or over said dam
without unreasonable delay or hindrance and without toll
or charges: And provided further, That the dam shall be
so constructed that the Government of the United States
may at any time construct in connection therewith a suit-
able lock for navigation purposes, and may at any time,
without compensation, control the said dam so far as
shall be necessary for purposes of navigation, but shall not
destroy the water power developed by said dam and
structures to any greater extent than may be necessary to
provide proper facilities for navigation, and that the
Secretary of War may at any time require and enforce, at
the expense of the owners, such modifications and changes
in the construction of said dam as he may deem advisable
in the interests of navigation.
Lock.
Fishways.
Litigation.
SEC. 2. That suitable fishways, to be approved by the
United States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed
and maintained at said dam by said corporation, its suc-
cessors or assigns.
SEC. 3. That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam, or from the, obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota, and in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
not af be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the provi-
sions of law now existing in reference to the protection
of the navigation of rivers or to exempt said structure
from the operation of the same.
Provisos.
Existing
laws
fected.
Amendment.
struction.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
Time of con- Act is hereby expressly reserved; and the Act shall be-
come null and void unless the construction of the said
dam is commenced within one year and completed within
three years from the date of approval thereof.
Approved, April 23, 1904.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 391
(46)
CHAP. 12.-An Act To authorize the Great Northern Develop-
ment Company to construct a dam across the Mississippi River
from a point in Hennepin County to a point in Anoka County,
Minnesota.
Jan. 12, 1911.
Vol. 36, p.
893.
[H. R. 25775.]
[Public, No.
333.]
River.
ment Co. may
Creek Rapids,
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Great Northern Development Company, a Mississippi
corporation organized under the laws of the State of Great North-
Maine, with special permit to do business in Minnesota, ern Develop-
its successors and assigns, be, and they are hereby, au- dam, at Coon
thorized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam across Minn.
the Mississippi River at Coon Creek Rapids from a
point in lot one, section two, township one hundred and
nineteen, range twenty-one, Hennepin County, to a point
in lot four, section twenty-seven, township thirty-one,
range twenty-four, Anoka County, all in the State of
Minnesota, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten,
entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, January 12, 1911.
(47)
CHAP. 1136.—An Act To authorize the Missouri River Improve-
ment Company, a Montana corporation, to construct a dam or
dams across the Missouri River.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
Feb. 20, 1907.
Vol. 34, p. 912.
[S. 7515.]
[Public, No.
98.1
Missouri
River, Mont.
ment Company
da m
above
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
biled, That the consent of the Government is hereby given MI'ssouri
to the Missouri River Improvement Company, a Montana River Improve-
corporation, its successors or assigns, to construct across may
the Missouri River at some point or points, to be ap-mes
(within 30
proved by the Secretary of War, between sections twenty Fort Benton).
and twenty-one, township twenty-one north, range five
east, and the north line of township twenty-four north,
range eight east, Montana meridian, a dam and canals
and appurtenances thereof for water power and other
purposes, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of dams Vol. 34, p.
across navigable waters," approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six, and in connection therewith a
foot bridge or bridges for public use in accordance with
the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate
the construction of bridges over navigable waters," ap-
proved March twenty-third, nineteen hundred and six.
386.
Footbridge.
Vol. 34, p. 84.
392 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 20, 1907.
[Somewhere within a distance of 30 miles above Fort
Benton.]
Apr. 28, 1904.
(48)
CHAP. 1821.-An Act To authorize the Ox Bow Power Company,
Vol. 33, P. of South Dakota, to construct a dam across the Missouri River.
570.
253.]
[H. R. 11972.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
[Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Missouribled, That the consent of the Government is hereby given
0x Bo W
Bw to the Ox Bow Power Company, of South Dakota, its suc-
Power Co. may cessors or assigns, to construct across the Missouri River,
River, S. Dak.
construct
across.
Location.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
Fishways.
from lot three, in section twenty-six, township fourteen
north, range three west of the Montana meridian, to the
opposite bank of same river, to be approved by the Sec-
retary of War, a dam, causeway, and the appurtenances
Provisos. thereof for water power and other purposes: Provided,
War to approve That the plans for the construction of said dam and ap-
purtenant works shall be submitted to and approved by
the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War before
the commencement of construction, and when so ap-
proved no change shall be made in said plans without
the prior approval of the Chief of Engineers and the
Secretary of War: Provided further, That the said com-
pany shall construct and maintain in connection with
Booms, etc. Said dam a suitable boom and log sluice; that suitable
fishways, to be approved by the United States Fish Com-
missioner, shall be constructed and maintained in said
dam by said corporation, its successors or assigns; and
Conveyance shall obtain and convey to the United States, whenever
United States. requested to do so by the Secretary of War, clear title to
such land as in his judgment may be required for con-
structions and approaches to said dam for transferring
boats and freight around the same, and shall grant to the
Use of water United States a free use of water power for operating
such construction work; and to insure compliance with
these conditions the said company shall execute and de-
liver to the Secretary of War a proper bond, in such
amount as may be fixed by him: And provided further,
That the said company shall be liable for any damage to
private property resulting from the construction and op-
eration of said dam and appurtenant works, either by
Proceedings. overflow or otherwise, and proceedings to recover com-
pensation for such damage may be instituted either in
the State or Federal courts.
of title to
power.
Bond.
Damages.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
structures herein authorized shall be commenced within
one year and completed within three years from the date
of approval hereof.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 393
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, April 28, 1904.
Mar. 4, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
CHAP. 2936.-An Act To amend an act entitled "An Act to
authorize the Ox Bow Power Company of South Dakota to con- 1415.
struct a dam across the Missouri River."
[H. R. 25672.1
[Public, No.
Missouri
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 271.1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- River, Mont.
bled, That section two of chapter eighteen hundred and Time extend-
twenty-one of the laws of eighteen hundred and ninety- Power Com-
four, approved April twenty-eighth, nineteen hundred pany to dam,
and four, is hereby amended to read as follows:
ed to Ox Bow
at Ox Bow
Bend.
Vol. 33, p.
"SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void unless Time of con-
the structures herein authorized shall be commenced struction.
within one year and completed within three years from 571, amended.
the date of approval thereof."
Approved, March 4, 1907, 11 a. m.
(49)
[Extract from river and harbor act of June 3, 1896, relative to con- June 3, 1896.
struction of dams across Missouri River above Stubbs Ferry, Mont.]
Vol. 29, p.
231.
175.]
Improving the upper Missouri River between Stubbs' [Public, No.
Ferry, in Montana, and the lower limits of Sioux City, Missouri
Iowa. * * * Provided, That subject to such condi- River.
Stubbs Ferry,
tions as the Secretary of War may prescribe, any person, Mont., to Sioux
company, or corporation may construct a dam or dams City, Iowa.
across said river above Stubbs Ferry, with necessary canal Dams per-
and improvements to develop water power and for other
useful purposes;
* * *
Proviso.
mitted.
(50)
CHAP. 103.-An Act To authorize the Missouri River Power
Company of Montana to construct a dam across the Missouri
River.
June 8, 1894.
Vol. 28, p. 91.
85.]
[Public, No.
Co. may dam
Mont.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of the Government is hereby given Missouri
to the Missouri River Power Company of Montana, its River Power
successors or assigns, to construct across the Missouri Missouri River,
River, at some point at or near the southeast corner of
Township Eleven north, of Range Two west, Montana
meridian, to be approved by the Secretary of War, a dam,
canal, and the appurtenances thereof, for water power
and other purposes, and in connection therewith a foot-
bridge or bridges for public use. Said dam shall be con- Secretary of
structed under the supervision and control of the Secre- War to ap-
tary of War, and before the same shall be commenced the Prove plans,
etc.
394 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
plans and specifications shall be approved by the Secre-
tary of War. The dam shall be furnished with a suitable
Sluice, etc. boom and log sluice, and the company, or its successors
and assigns, shall execute to the United States, with
sureties approved by the Secretary of War, a bond in
such sum as the Secretary may determine, conditioned to
indemnify the United States against all claims for
damages for overflow or otherwise caused by the con-
struction of said dam.
Government
use, etc.
Amendment,
etc.
Apr. 12, 1906.
SEC. 2. That the United States shall be secured a free
right of way for constructions and approaches to said
dam for transferring boats and freight around the same,
and a free use of water power for operating such con-
struction works.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved, and the rights and privi-
leges hereby granted to said Missouri River Power Com-
pany shall expire at the end of fifty years from and after
the approval of this Act.
Approved, June 8, 1894.
(51)
CHAP. 1617.-An Act To authorize the Capital City Improvement
Vol. 34, P. Company, of Helena, Montana, to construct a dam across the Mis-
111.
[S. 4130.]
p.
[Public, No.
93.]
River, Mont.
souri River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Missouri bled, That the consent of the Government is hereby given
Capital City to the Capital City Improvement Company, of Helena,
Improvement Montana, its successors or assigns, to construct across the
Helena, ma y Missouri River, at some point between the south line of
ity of Buck township twelve north, range two west, and the north
Rapids). line of township fourteen north, range three west, Mon-
Company, of
dam (in vicin-
bridges, etc.
etc.
Secretary of
tana meridian, to be determined by them and approved
Canal, foot- by the Secretary of War, a dam, canal, and appurte-
nances thereof, for water power, and other purposes, and
in connection therewith a foot bridge, or bridges, for
Provisos. public use: Provided, That the plans for the construc-
War to ap- tion of said dam and appurtenant works shall be sub-
prove plans, mitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War before the commencement of con-
struction, and when so approved no change shall be made
in said plans without the prior approval of the Chief of
Engineers and the Secretary of War: Provided further,
That whenever required to do so by the Secretary of
War the said company shall construct and maintain in
Sluiceway. connection with said dam a suitable boom and log sluice;
that suitable fishways, to be approved by the United
States Fish Commissioner, shall be constructed and main-
tained in said dam by said corporation, its successors and
assigns; and shall obtain and convey to the United
Boom, etc.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 395
States, whenever requested to do so by the Secretary of
War, clear title to such land as in his judgment may be
required for constructions and approaches to said dam
for transferring boats and freight around the same, and
shall grant to the United States a free use of water
power for operating such construction work; and to in-
sure compliance with these conditions the said company
shall execute and deliver to the Secretary of War a
proper bond in such amount as may be fixed by him:
And provided further, That the said company shall be
liable for any damage to private property resulting from
the construction and operation of said dam and appur-
tenant works, either by overflow or otherwise, and pro-
ceedings to recover compensation for such damage may
be instituted either in the State or Federal courts.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
structures herein authorized shall be commenced within
one year and completed within three years from the date
of approval hereof.
Transfer of
freight, etc.
Bond.
Damages.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, April 12, 1906.
(52)
Vol. 36, p.
CHAP. 156.—An Act To authorize the Rainy River Improvement Feb. 24, 1911.
Company to construct a dam across the outlet of Namakan Lake 931.
at Kettle Falls, in Saint Louis County, Minnesota.
[S. 10596.]
[Public, No.
Namakan
Lake.
Rainy River
comay dam
at Kettle
Improve ment
Co.
Falls, Minn.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 418.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Rainy River Improvement Company, a
corporation organized under the laws of the State of
Minnesota, its successors and assigns, be, and they are
hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a
dam across the outlet of Lake Namakan at Kettle Falls,
in Saint Louis County, Minnesota, at a point suitable
to the interests of navigation, in accordance with the
provisions of the Act approved June twenty-third, nine- Vol. 34, p.
teen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act
entitled 'An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters,' approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six."
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 24, 1911.
386.
Amendment.
396 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(53)
June 4, 1900. CHAP. 620.-An Act Permitting building a dam across New
Vol. 31, p. River.
264.
[Public, No.
142.]
Provisos.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
F. H. Fries bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
et al. may dam F. H. Fries and W. C. Ruffin, of the State of North Caro-
lina, their successors and assigns, to erect, construct, and
maintain across New River, in Grayson County, Virginia,
at any point within two miles of the mouth of Stevens
Creek, a dam and all other works necessarily incident
thereto for water-power purposes: Provided, That the
said F. H. Fries and W. C. Ruffin, their successors and
assigns, shall make, at their own expense, such change
and modification of the said dam as the Secretary of
War may from time to time direct in the interests of the
navigation of said river: Provided further, That ladders
of suitable for the passage of fish over the said dam shall
be constructed and maintained by the said parties, their
successors and assigns, as may from time to time be re-
quired by the United States Fish Commissioner: Pro-
vided further, That in case any litigation arises from
the obstruction of the channel by the said dam, or works
appurtenant thereto, that the same may be tried in the
courts of the United States having proper jurisdiction.
-changes.
Passage
fish.
Litigation.
Commence-
ment and com-
pletion.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall become null and void unless
the dam herein authorized shall be commenced within
two years and completed within five years of the date
hereof.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 4, 1900.
Feb. 18, 1911.
(54)
CHAP. 120.-An Act To authorize the Virginia Iron, Coal and
Vol. 36, P. Coke Company to build a dam across the New River near Foster
Falls, Wythe County, Virginia.
921.
[H. R. 31922.]
[Public, No.
395.]
Virginia
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
New River: bled, That the Virginia Iron, Coal and Coke Company,
Iron, Coal & a corporation organized under the laws of the State of
dam, near Fos- Virginia, its successors and assigns, be, and they are
ter Falls, Va. hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a
Coke Co. may
dam across the New River, at a point suitable to the inter-
ests of navigation, at a point near Foster Falls, Wythe
County, in the State of Virginia, in accordance with the
provisions of the Act approved June twenty-third, nine-
Vol. 34, p. teen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to amend an Act
entitled 'An Act to regulate the construction of dams
386.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 397
across navigable waters,' approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six."
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 18, 1911.
Amendment.
(55)
Feb. 18, 1911.
Vol. 36, p.
CHAP. 123.-An Act Authorizing the Ivanhoe Furnace Corpo-
ration, of Ivanhoe, Wythe County, Virginia, to erect a dam across 922.
New River.
[H. R. 31931.]
[Public, No.
New River.
Cor-
poration may
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 398.1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Ivanhoe Furnace Corporation, of Ivanhoe, vanhoe
Wythe County, Virginia, its successors and assigns, be, Furnace
and they are hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, dam, at Ivan-
and operate a dam across New River, at a point suitable hoe, Va.
to the interests of navigation, at Ivanhoe, Wythe County,
Virginia, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten, Vol. 34, p.
entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
386.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 18, 1911.
(56)
June 18, 1906.
Vol. 34, p.
297.
CHAP. 3340.-An Act To grant to Charles H. Cornell, his assigns
and successors, the right to abut a dam across the Niobrara
River on the Fort Niobrara Military Reservation, Nebraska, and
to construct and operate a trolley or electric railway line and [H. R. 17982.1
telegraph and telephone lines across said reservation.
,
[Public, No.
239.]
Niobrara
River.
Cornell may
Fort Niobrara
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That Charles H. Cornell, his assigns, assignees, suc-
cessors, and grantees, be, and are hereby, privileged, Charles H.
authorized, and granted the authority and right to con- dam, etc., on
struct, maintain, and use for power purposes a dam across Military Reser-
the Niobrara River on parts of sections twenty-two and vation, Nebr.
twenty-seven, township thirty-four north, range twenty-
seven west of the sixth principal meridian, in the State of
Nebraska, and to abut said dam on the east bank of said
Niobrara River upon land which is a part of the Fort
Niobrara Military Reservation, the property of the
United States; and said dam may be of sufficient height
and strength to support a body of water affording or fur-
398 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Overflow etc.
Damages.
Provisos.
Time for
completion.
nishing as much as fifty feet effective head for power
purposes, with the privilege of backing water upon or
overflowing such part of the Fort Niobrara Military Res-
ervation as may reasonably result from the proper con-
struction, maintenance, and use of said dam, and that
any damages caused thereby may be assessed by the Secre-
tary of War and paid to the United States before any
construction hereby provided for shall be commenced,
Provided, That the grants and privileges above
* * *
*
* *
afore-
specified as to such dam, water power
said shall become void unless the construction of said dam
be commenced within two years from the approval of this
Act and completed and put into operation within five
years from the approval of this Act; *
Pro-
Secretary of vided, That a map of said proposed dam, storage reser-
voir *
* shall be filed with the honorable Secre-
tary of War, and the location thereof shall by him be
approved before any of these privileges herein aforesaid
shall become effective: Provided further, That the privi-
leges herein granted may at any time be rescinded or
suspended by order of the Secretary of War;
War to approve
plans, etc.
Feb. 18, 1911.
920.
*
Approved, June 18, 1906.
* * *
CHAP. 118.-An Act Granting five years' extension of time to
Vol. 36, p. Charles H. Cornell, his assigns, assignees, successors, and grantees,
in which to construct a dam across the Niobrara River, on the
[H. R. 31662.] Fort Niobrara Military Reservation, and to construct electric light
[Public, No. and power wires and telephone line and trolley or electric railway,
with telegraph and telephone lines, across said reservation.
393.]
River.
ming, etc., on
Military Reser-
297, amended.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Niobrara bled, That the time given Charles H. Cornell, his assigns,
Time extend- assignees, successors, and grantees, by an Act of Congress
ed for dam- entitled "An Act to grant to Charles H. Cornell, his
Fort Niobrara assigns and successors, the right to abut a dam across the
vation, Nebr. Niobrara River on the Fort Niobrara Military Reserva-
Vol. 34, p. tion, Nebraska, and to construct and operate a trolley or
electric railway line and telegraph and telephone lines
across said reservation," approved June eighteen, nine-
teen hundred and six, in which to construct and to put
into operation such dam, and to construct and suspend
Right of way. wires across the said Fort Niobrara Military Reservation
for the purpose of transmitting electric light and power,
and to complete the construction of telegraph wires across
said military reservation; also, the time in which to com-
plete the construction and commence the operation of the
trolley or electric railway, with telegraph and telephone.
lines, over said Fort Niobrara Military Reservation, be,
and the same is hereby, extended for five years from the
Provisos. date of the approval of this act: Provided, That the privi-
of privileges. leges granted in said Act may be revoked by order of the
Secretary of War, in the event of which, on the further
order of the Secretary of War so to do, any or all of the
Revocation
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 399
constructions of any kind, improvement, fixtures, or
appurtenances, shall be removed by the owner of the same
at his or its own expense and cost, and without any claim
of any kind from the United States.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 18, 1911.
(57)
CHAP. 11.—An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Osage River at the city of Warsaw, Benton County, Missouri.
Jan. 14, 1901.
Vol. 31, p.
729.
[Public, No.
may dam Osage
Provisos.
Changes in
construction.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 7.1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Warsaw, Mo.,
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to River.
the city of Warsaw, being a city incorporated and organ-
ized under the laws of the State of Missouri, its succes-
sors or assigns, to construct, erect, and maintain a dam
across the Osage River, in Benton County, in the State of
Missouri, at said city of Warsaw, and all work necessarily
incident thereto: Provided, That the said city of War-
saw, its successors or assigns, shall make such change and
modification in the works as the Secretary of War may
from time to time deem necessary in the interest of navi-
gation, at its own cost and expense: Provided further,
That in case any litigation arises from the building of Litigation.
said dam, the maintaining of the same, or from the ob-
struction of the said river by said dam or appurtenant
works, cases may be tried in the proper courts as now
provided for that purpose in the State of Missouri and
the courts of the United States.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved: And provided further,
That suitable fishways shall be constructed and main-
tained at said dam by said city, its successors and assigns.
as may be required from time to time by the United States
Fish Commissioner.
Amendment.
Proviso.
Fishways.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the Completion.
dam herein authorized shall be completed within three
years of the date hereof: And provided further, That Provisos.
Hydraulic
such dam shall be constructed in such manner as not to works not to
injure or diminish the water power of any person or com-
be impaired.
pany having a dam or hydraulic works constructed: And
provided further, That before the construction of said Damages.
dam compensation shall be made to any person or com-
pany whose lands may be taken or overflowed in the
construction or maintenance of such dam, in accordance
with the laws of the State of Missouri.
Approved, January 14, 1901.
!
400 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(58)
Feb. 23, 1906. CHAP. 501.-An Act Authorizing the Pea River Power Company
Vol. 34, p. 18. to erect a dam in Coffee County, Alabama.
[H. R. 7085.]
20.]
Ala.
pany may dam.
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
Pea River, tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Pea River bled, That the Pea River Power Company, a corporation,
Power Com-be, and is hereby, authorized to erect, build, have, and
maintain a steel and concrete dam, or dam of other ma-
terial, on Pea River, at a point four miles below, or about
four miles below, the town of Elba, in Coffee County,
Provisos. State of Alabama: Provided, That the plans of said dam
Secretary of shall be submitted to and be approved by the Chief of
prove plans, Engineers and the Secretary of War before construction
Location.
War to ap-
etc.
Changes.
is commenced; and the Secretary of War may at any time
require and enforce, at the expense of the owners, such
modifications in the construction of said dam as he may
deem advisable in the interests of navigation: Provided
Sluiceways. further, That there shall be placed and maintained in con-
nection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to
permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through,
or over said dam without unreasonable delay or hindrance
and without toll or charges; and suitable fishways, to be
approved by the United States Fish Commission, shall
be constructed and maintained on said dam.
Fishways.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized is commenced within one year and
completed within three years from the date hereof.
SEC. 3. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 23, 1906.
June 1, 1906.
205.
p.
(59)
CHAP. 2568.-An Act Authorizing the construction of a dam
Vol. 34, P. across the Pend d'Oreille River, in the State of Washington, by
the Pend d'Oreille Development Company, for the development of
[Public, No. Water power, electrical power, and for other purposes.
187.]
[S. 6038.]
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Pend d'Oreille bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to,
Pend d'Oreille and it shall be lawful for, the Pend d'Oreille Develop-
Development ment Company, a corporation duly incorporated under
dam, at Big the laws of the State of Washington, its successors or
Falls, Wash. assigns, to construct and maintain a dam across the Pend
Company may
d'Oreille River at a point at or about the Big Falls (some-
times known as Metaline Falls) on the Pend d'Òreille
River, in the county of Stevens, State of Washington,
such point to be selected by the Pend d'Oreille Develop-
ment Company, its successors or assigns, at said falls, or
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 401
within one thousand feet above or below the same, for
the purpose of erecting, operating, and maintaining a
power station, and to maintain inlet and outlet races or
canals, and to make such other improvements as may be
necessary for the development of water power, electrical
power, and the transmission of the same, subject always
to the provisions and requirements of this Act and to such
conditions and stipulations as may be imposed by the
Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War for the
protection of navigation and the property and other in-
terests of the United States: Provided, That such dam Proviso.
Secretary of
and works shall not be built or commenced until after the war to ap-
plans and specifications for their construction, together prove plans,
with such drawings of the proposed construction and such
map of the proposed locations as may be required for a
full understanding of the subject have been submitted to
the Secretary of War for his approval, and until after he
shall have approved such plan and specifications and the
location of such dams and accessory works; when the
plans for any dam to be constructed under the provisions
of this Act have been approved by the Secretary of War
it shall not be lawful to deviate from such plans, either
before or after the completion of the structure, unless the
modification of such plans has previously been submitted
to and received the approval of the Secretary of War.
etc.
Changes.
Locks, etc.
Protection to
Conveya n ce
of title to
SEC. 2. That the Government of the United States re-
serves the right at any time that the improvement of the
navigation of the Pend d'Oreille River demands it to con-
struct, maintain, and operate, in connection with any dam
or other works built under the provisions of this Act,
suitable lock or locks or any other structures for naviga-
tion purposes, and at all times to control such dam or
dams or other structures, and the level of the pool caused navigation.
by such dam or dams, to such an extent as may be neces-
sary to provide facilities for navigation; and whenever
Congress shall authorize the construction of such lock or
other structures, the Pend d'Oreille Development Com-
pany, its successors or assigns, owning and controlling
such dam or other structures, shall convey to the United
States, under such terms as Congress shall prescribe, titles United States.
to such lands as may be required for such lock and ap-
proaches, and in addition thereto shall grant to the United
States free of cost the free use of water power for build-
ing and operating such constructions: Provided, That the
Pend d'Oreille Development Company, its successors or
assigns, building, maintaining, or operating any dam or
other structures under the provisions of this Act, shall
be liable for any damage that may be inflicted thereby
upon private property, either by overflow or otherwise, in
a court of competent jurisdiction. The Pend d'Oreille Lights, etc.
Development Company, its successors or assigns, owning
or operating any such dam, shall maintain at their own
expense such lights and other signals thereon and such
36135-S. Doc. 469, 62-2 -26
Free use of
water power.
Proviso.
Damages.
402 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Time of com-
pletion.
Amendment.
Feb. 25, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
931.
fishways and such ways for the free passage of saw logs
as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor shall prescribe.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized shall be commenced within two
years and completed within five years from the date of
the approval hereof.
SEC. 4. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 1, 1906.
(60)
CHAP. 1196.-An Act Authorizing the construction of a dam
across the Pend d'Oreille River, in the State of Washington, by
the Pend d'Oreille Development Company, for the development of
[H. R. 24760.] water power, electrical power, and for other purposes.
[Public, No.
119.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
Pend d'Oreille tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
River, Wash. bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to,
Development and it shall be lawful for, the Pend d'Oreille Develop-
Company may ment Company, a corporation duly incorporated under
Pend d'Oreille
Location.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
the laws of the State of Washington, its successors or
assigns, to construct and maintain a dam across the Pend
d'Oreille River at a point at or about where Pierwee
Creek empties into the Pend d'Oreille River, near the in-
ternational boundary line in the county of Stevens, State
of Washington, at such point to be selected by the said
Pend d'Oreille Development Company, its successors or
assigns, at the mouth of said Pierwee Creek, or within
one thousand feet above or below the same, in accordance
with the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regu-
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,"
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 25, 1907.
May 4, 1898.
(61)
CHAP. 238.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 30, P. Rainy Lake River.
398.
80.1
Company may
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Koochiching bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
dam Rainy the Koochiching Company, its successors and assigns, to
River, Minn. construct across the Rainy Lake River, at any part of the
Vol. 31, p. rapids in section twenty-seven, township seventy-one
Vol. 32, p. north, range twenty-four west of the fourth principal
meridian, in the State of Minnesota, a dam, canal, and
167.
485.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 403
Koochiching
Government
of
works necessarily incident thereto, for water-power pur-
poses. The said dam shall be so constructed that there
can at any time be constructed in connection therewith Company, lock.
a suitable lock for navigation purposes: Provided, That Provisos,
the Government of the United States may at any time possession.
take possession of said dam and appurtenant works and
control the same for purposes of navigation by paying
the said company the actual cost of the same, but shall not
do so to the destruction of the water power created by
said dam to any greater extent than may be necessary to
provide proper facilities for navigation: Provided fur- Passage
ther, That the works shall be constructed so as to provide ash.
for the free passage of saw logs and fish. The said Changes.
Koochiching Company, its successors and assigns, shall
make such change and modification in the works as the
Secretary of War may from time to time deem necessary
in the interests of navigation, at its own cost and expense:
Provided further, That in case any litigation arises from Litigation.
the obstruction of the channel by the dam, canal, or other
works erected in connection therewith, the case may be
tried in the proper court of the United States in the dis-
trict in which the works are situated.
saw logs and
SEC. 2. That the right to amend, alter, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
ment and com.
Vol. 31, p.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the Commence-
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year pletion.
and completed within three years from the date hereof. 167.
Approved, May 4, 1898.
CHAP. 346.-An Act To amend an Act entitled "An Act permit- May 4, 1900.
ting the building of a dam across Rainy Lake River."
Vol. 31, p.
167.
[Public, No.
Kooch iching
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 89.]
bled, That section three of an Act entitled "An Act per- Time extend-
mitting the building of a dam across Rainy Lake River,"ed to the
approved May fourth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight, co. to dam
and granting to the Koochiching Company, its succes-Minn.
sors and assigns, the consent of Congress to construct a
dam across the Rainy Lake River, be, and the same is
hereby, amended so as to read as follows:
Rainy River,
Vol. 30, p.
398.
Vol. 32, p.
"That this Act shall be null and void unless the dam
herein authorized shall be commenced within three years 485.
and completed within five years after the fourth day of
May, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight."
Approved, May 4, 1900.
CHAP. 1305.-An Act Relating to the construction of a dam
across Rainy River.
June 28,
1902.
Vol. 32, p.
485.
[Public, No.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 188.1
bled, That the time for the construction of a dam across Rainy River,
the Rainy River by the Koochiching Company, its suc- Time extend-
cessors and assigns, as provided by chapter two hundreded to the
Minn.
Koochiching
Company to dam.
404 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
398.
Vol. 30, P. and thirty-eight of volume_thirty of the Statutes at
Vol. 31, p. Large and chapter three hundred and forty-six of volume
thirty-one of the Statutes at Large, is hereby extended
to May fourth, nineteen hundred and seven.
167.
Terms.
398.
Height
dam.
SEC. 2. That the Koochiching Company, its successors
Vol. 30, P. and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and main-
tain said dam, subject to the terms of said chapter two
hundred and thirty-eight of volume thirty of the Stat-
utes at Large, upon the plans now on file with the Secre-
tary of War, or any modification of said plans which the
of Secretary of War may approve; and the Koochiching
Company, its successors and asigns, is hereby authorized
to construct such dam at such height as will raise the
waters of Rainy Lake to high-water mark: Provided,
Waste ways. That said dam shall be furnished with such openings or
gates or waste ways as will carry the waters of the river
at flood stage without raising the water higher than it
would rise in the natural condition of the stream: And
provided further, That nothing in this Act contained
shall be construed as relieving the Koochiching Com-
pany, its successors or assigns, from liability for any
damage inflicted upon private property by reason of the
raising of the waters of the lake as aforesaid.
Provisos.
Damages.
Effect.
Feb. 25, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
814.
[Public, No.
103.]
Minn.
Improvement
succeed to
398.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall take effect and be in force
from and after its passage.
Approved, June 28, 1902.
CHAP. 797.-An Act Relating to a dam across Rainy River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
[H. R. 17331.] tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Rainy River Improvement Company, a
Rainy River, corporation organized under the laws of the State of
Rainy River Minnesota for the improvement of the navigation of
Company to Rainy River and Rainy Lake, and its successors and as-
rights of for signs, upon filing with the Secretary of War proof satis-
mer company. factory to him of its succession to the rights and priv-
ileges granted to the Koochiching Company by the fol-
Vol. 30, p. lowing Acts of Congress, namely: Chapter two hundred
and thirty-eight of volume thirty of the Statutes at
Large," An Act permitting the building of a dam across
Rainy Lake River," approved May fourth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-eight; chapter three hundred and forty-
Vol. 31, P. six of volume thirty-one of the Statutes at Large," An
Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act permitting the
building of a dam across Rainy Lake River," approved
Vol. 82, P. May fourth, nineteen hundred; chapter thirteen hundred
and five, volume thirty-two, of the Statutes at Large,
"An Act relating to the construction of a dam across
Rainy River," approved June twenty-eighth, nineteen
hundred and two, shall have the right, subject to the
restrictions, conditions, and terms of said several Acts,
to construct and maintain the dam provided for therein,
167.
485.
p.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 405
at such height at the Secretary of War may approve:
Provided, That such dam shall be completed on or before Proviso.
July first, nineteen hundred and eight.
Time of con-
struction.
Proof of suc-
SEC. 2. That upon filing the proof of its succession to
the rights of the Koochiching Company, and the ap- cession.
proval thereof by the Secretary of War, that officer shall
issue to the Rainy River Improvement Company a cer-
tificate of such approval.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 25, 1905.
CHAP. 194.-An Act Extending the time for the construction of May 23, 1908.
Vol. 35, p.
a dam across Rainy River.
273.
[Public, No.
138.1
ed for dam-
Improve-
Vol. 30, p.
398.
Vol. 33, p.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 15444.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Rainy River Improvement Company, a Rainy River.
corporation organized under the laws of the State of Time extend-
Minnesota, as the successor to the rights and privileges ming, by Rainy
heretofore granted to the Koochiching Company underment Company.
the following acts of Congress, namely: Chapter two
hundred and thirty-eight of volume thirty, Statutes at
Large, entitled "An Act permitting the building of a dam
across Rainy River," approved May fourth, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-eight; and of chapter seven hundred and
ninety-seven of volume thirty-three, Statutes at Large,
entitled "An Act relating to a dam across Rainy River," 814
approved February twenty-fifth, nineteen hundred and
five, and of the various Acts and provisions therein re-
cited amending said Act approved May fourth, eighteen
hundred and ninety-eight, and further subject to the re-
strictions, conditions, and terms of all of said Acts, is
hereby authorized to construct and maintain a dam across
Rainy River, Minnesota, at the place designated in said
Acts, in accordance with the provisions of the Act en-
titled "An Act to regulate the construction of dams across
navigable waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen
hundred and six, so far as the same shall be applicable
thereto: Provided, That said dam shall be completed on pletion.
cr before July, nineteen hundred and eleven.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
J. G. CANNON
Speaker of the House of Representatives.
CHARLES W. FAIRBANKS
Vice-President of the United States and
President of the Senate.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 12, 1908.
The President of the United States having returned
to the House of Representatives, in which it originated,
the bill (H. R. 15444) "An Act extending the time for
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Time of com-
Amendment.
406 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
the construction of a dam across Rainy River," with his
objections thereto the House proceeded in pursuance of
the Constitution to reconsider the same; and
Resolved, That the said bill pass, two-thirds of the
House of Representatives agreeing to pass the same.
Attest:
A MCDOWELL Clerk.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 23, 1908.
The Senate having proceeded, in pursuance of the Con-
stitution, to reconsider the bill entitled "An Act extend-
ing the time for the construction of a dam across Rainy
River," returned to the House of Representatives by the
President of the United States, with his objections, and
sent by the House of Representatives to the Senate, with
the message of the President returning the bill:
Resolved, That the bill do pass, two-thirds of the Sen-
ate agreeing to pass the same.
Attest:
CHARLES G. BENNETT
Secretary.
By H. M. ROSE
Asst. Secy.
(62)
Mar. 16, 1906.
CHAP. 953.—An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Vol. 34, p. 65. Red Lake River at or near the junction of Black River with said
[S. 4128.] Red Lake River in Red Lake County, Minnesota.
[Public, No.
49.]
River, Minn.
authorized.
Location.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Red Lake bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Dam by Wil- William J. Murphy, his successors and assigns, to build
liam J. Murphy a dam across the Red Lake River at or near the junction
of the Black River, so called, with said Red Lake River,
in Red Lake County, Minnesota, for the development of
water power, and such works and structures in connection
therewith as may be necessary or convenient in the devel-
opment of said power and in the utilization of the power
Provisos of thereby developed: Provided, That the plans for the con-
War to approve struction of said dam and appurtenant works shall be
submitted to and approved by the Chief of Engineers and
the Secretary of War before the commencement of the
construction of the same: And provided further, That
Modification the said William J. Murphy, his successors or assigns,
Secretary
plans.
of plans.
Sluiceway.
shall not deviate from such plans after such approval,
either before or after the completion of said structures,
unless the modification of said plans shall have previously
been submitted to and received the approval of the Chief
of Engineers and of the Secretary of War: And provided
further, That there shall be placed and maintained in
connection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 407
changes.
permit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through,
or over said dam without unreasonable delay or hin-
drance and without toll or charges: And provided fur-
ther, That the dam shall be so constructed that the Gov-
ernment of the United States may at any time construct
in connection therewith a suitable lock for navigation Lock.
purposes, and may at any time, without compensation,
control the said dam so far as shall be necessary for pur-
poses of navigation, but shall not destroy the water power
developed by said dam and structures to any greater ex-
tent than may be necessary to provide proper facilities
for navigation, and that the Secretary of War may at
any time require and enforce at the expense of the owners
such modifications and changes in the construction of
such dam as he may deem advisable in the interests of
navigation: And provided further, That suitable fish-
ways, to be approved by the United States Fish Commis-
sion, shall be constructed and maintained at said dam by
the said William J. Murphy, his successors or assigns.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the Litigation.
building of said dam, or from the obstruction of said
river by said dam or appurtenant works, cases may be
tried in the proper courts, as now provided for that pur-
pose in the State of Minnesota and in the courts of the
United States: Provided, That nothing in this Act shall
be so construed as to repeal or modify any of the pro- laws not af
visions of law now existing in reference to the protection fected.
of the navigation of rivers, or to exempt said structures
from the operation of same.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized be commenced within one year
and be completed within three years from the time of the
passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Fishways.
Proviso.
Existing
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Approved, March 16, 1906.
(63)
CHAP. 256.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the Feb. 16, 1906.
Rock River at Grand Detour, Illinois.
Vol. 34, p. 14.
[H. R. 8442.]
[Public, No.
16.1
Dam, etc., at
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to Rock River.
Spencer B. Newberry and George A. Blackford, both of Grand Detour,
the city of Sandusky, Erie County, Ohio, and Charles H. Ill., authorized.
Hughes, of Dixon, Lee County, Illinois, their heirs, ad-
ministrators, successors, and assigns, to build, operate,
and maintain a dam across Rock River near Grand De-
tour, Illinois, at any point within one mile distant from
the center of section thirteen, township twenty-two north,
408 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
supply.
Provisos.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
range nine east of the fourth principal meridian, in the
State of Illinois, for the development of water power
and such works and structures in connection therewith
as may be necessary or convenient in the development
Use of water of said power and in the utilization of the power thereby
developed; and the said Spencer B. Newberry, George
A. Blackford, and Charles H. Hughes, their heirs, admin-
istrators, successors, and assigns, are hereby authorized
and empowered to draw and divert by canal, flume, or
race from the pool formed by the construction of the
above dam and works incident thereto, such supply of
water as may be required for the full development and
utilization of said water power and to conduct said water
through the canal reservation in Grand Detour and dis-
charge the same into said Rock River at or near the
westerly end of said canal reservation, and also for
that purpose to construct, operate, and maintain such
structures and improvements as may be required: Pro-
War to approve vided, That the plans for the construction of the said
dam, canal, and appurtenant works shall be submitted to
and approved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secre-
tary of War before the commencement of the construction
of the same: And provided further, That the said Spencer
B. Newberry, George A. Blackford, and Charles H.
Hughes, their heirs, administrators, successors, and as-
signs, shall not deviate from such plans after such ap-
proval either before or after the completion of the struc-
tures therein described, unless the modification of said
plans shall have been previously submitted to and re-
ceived the approval of the Chief of Engineers and Secre-
tary of War: And provided further, That suitable fish-
ways shall be constructed and maintained by the grantees
under the Act at their own expense, as may be required
from time to time by the United States Fish Commission:
And provided further, That the said dam shall be so con-
structed that the Government of the United States may
at any time construct in connection therewith a suitable
lock for navigation purposes, and may at any time con-
trol the said dam so far as shall be necessary for the pur-
poses of navigation, but shall not destroy or impair the
water power developed by said dam, canal, and appur-
tenant structures to a greater extent than shall be neces-
sary to provide proper facilities for navigation, and other
purposes of public interest.
Changes.
Fishways.
Lock.
Litigation.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the
building, operation, and maintenance of said dam, canal,
and appurtenant works, or from the obstruction of the
river by the same, or any damages resulting to private
property by overflow or otherwise, proceedings to adjust,
determine, and to recover compensation for such damages
shall be instituted either in the State or Federal courts.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam, canal, and appurtenant works herein authorized be
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 409
commenced within three years and completed within six
years from the time of the passage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 16, 1906.
(64)
CHAP. 1438.-An Act Authorizing the construction of a dam Mar. 3, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
across Rock River at Lyndon, Illinois.
1004.
[Public, No.
ized across at
Secretary of
}
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 15440.1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 171.1
Rock River,
bled, That permission be given to Edward A. Smith, Har- m.
vey S. Green, and John J. Hurlbert, of Morrison, Illinois, Dam author-
or their assigns, to erect a dam with an eight-foot head Lyndon.
across Rock River at or near Lyndon, Whiteside County,
Illinois, the south end of said dam to be located near the
line between sections twenty-one and twenty-two in town
twenty north of range five east of the fourth principal
meridian, and the north end of said dam to intersect the
bank of said river in section twenty-one in the same town,
range, and meridian: Provided, That the plans for the Provisos.
construction of said dam shall be submitted to and ap- War to approve
proved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of plans, etc.
War, and until approved by them the construction of the
dam shall not be commenced; and after such approval
the plans shall not be changed, either before or after the
completion of the structure, unless authorized by the
Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War, and the
Secretary of War may at any time require and enforce at
the expense of the owners of the structure such modifica-
tions and changes in said structure as he may deem ad-
visable in the interest of navigation: Provided further,
That the Secretary of War may at any time require the
grantees under this Act to construct at their own expense
in connection with said dam suitable locks, canals, sluice-
ways, or other structures, for the passage of boats and
other water craft, the said structures to be built upon
plans which he may approve; and the said grantees shall
maintain and operate said locks, canals, and other struc-
tures at their own expense, and shall pass all water craft
through the same without delay and without any charge
whatever as long as said dam is maintained; and if said
dam and other structures shall be abandoned by the said
grantees at any time, all portions thereof shall be
promptly removed by the grantees at their own expense.
SEC. 2. That before entering upon the construction of Payment for
the works herein authorized compensation shall be made
to any person, firm, or corporation whose lands or other
property may be taken, overflowed, or otherwise damaged
by the construction, maintenance, and operations of the
Locks, etc.
damages.
410 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
said works in accordance with the laws of the State where
such lands or other property may be situated, and if any
Litigation. litigation arises from the construction, operation, or
maintenance of the said works, cases may be tried in the
proper courts, as now provided for that purpose in the
State of Illinois and the courts of the United States.
Fishways.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Feb. 25, 1907.
SEC. 3. That such suitable fishways shall be constructed
and maintained by the grantees under this Act at their
own expense as may be required from time to time by the
United States Fish Commission.
SEC. 4. That this Act shall be null and void if actual
construction of the dam herein authorized be not com-
menced within two years and completed within four years
from the date hereof.
SEC. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 3, 1905.
CHAP. 1201.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 34, p. Rock River at Lyndon, Illinois.
933.
[H. R. 25234.]
[Public, No.
124.]
Rock River.
may dam,
Lyndon, Ill.
at
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Edward A. bled, That Edward A. Smith, Harvey S. Green, and John
Smith et al. J. Hurlbert, of Morrison, Illinois, their heirs, adminis-
trators, executors, successors, and assigns, are hereby au-
thorized to construct and maintain a dam across Rock
River at or near Lyndon, Whiteside County, Illinois, the
south end of said dam to be located near the line between
sections twenty-one and twenty-two in township twenty
north, range five east, fourth principal meridian, and the
north end of said dam to intersect the bank of said river
in section twenty-one in the same township, range, and
meridian, and all works incident thereto in the utilization
of the power thereby developed, in accordance with the
Vol. 34, p. provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regulate the con-
struction of dams across navigable waters," approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
386.
Amendment.
Feb. 18, 1911.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 25, 1907.
CHAP. 117.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 36, p. Rock River at Lyndon, Illinois.
920.
[H. R. 30571.]
[Public, No.
392.]
Edward A.
vey S. Green
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Rock River. bled, That Edward A. Smith and Harvey S. Green, of
Smith and Har- Morrison, Illinois, their heirs, administrators, executors,
may dam, at successors, and assigns, are hereby authorized to construct,
maintain, and operate a dam across Rock River at a point
suitable to the interests of navigation at or near Lyndon,
Whiteside County, Illinois, the south end of said dam to
be located near the line between sections twenty-one and
twenty-two in township twenty north, range five east,
Lyndon, Ill.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 411
Vol. 34, p.
fourth principal meridian, and the north end of said dami
to intersect the bank of said river in section twenty-one in
the same township, range, and meridian, and all works
incident thereto in the utilization of the power thereby de-
veloped, in accordance with the provisions of the Act ap- 386.
proved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten, en-
titled An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
66
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 18, 1911.
(65)
May 1, 1906.
Vol. 34, p.
155.
CHAP. 2072.-An Act Permitting the building of dams across the
north and south branches of Rock River, adjacent to Vandruffs
Island and Carrs Island, and across the cut-off between said
islands, in Rock Island County, Illinois, in aid of navigation and [H. R. 14508.]
for the development of water power.
[Public, No.
137.]
Ill.
Rock River,
Davis may
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Samuel S. Davis, of the city of Rock Island, in the county Samuel S.
of Rock Island and State of Illinois, his heirs, executors, dam, in Rock
administrators, and assigns, to build, operate, and main- Island County.
tain dams across the north and the south branches or chan- Location.
nels of Rock River adjacent to Vandruffs Island and to
Carrs Island, and across the cut-off between said islands,
in said county of Rock Island, State of Illinois, in aid of
navigation and for the development of water power, to-
gether with such works and structures in connection there-
with as may be necessary or convenient in the develop-
ment of said power and the utilization of the power
thereby developed; said dams may be built at or near the
sites of the dams formerly existing across said branches.
and said cut-off, or at any place or places between said
sites and the dams now constructed at or near the head of
said Carrs Island for the purposes of the Illinois and
Mississippi Canal, and the said Samuel S. Davis, his Canal, etc.
heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns are hereby
authorized and empowered to draw and divert by canal,
flume, or race, or canals, flumes, and races, from the pool
formed by the construction of said dams and works inci-
dent thereto, such supply of water as may be required for
the full and complete development and utilization of said
water power, and to discharge the same into said Rock
River or some branch or channel thereof at or near the
lower part of said Vandruffs Island, or at some place or
places on or near the north shore of said river or of the north
branch or channel thereof opposite to or below said Van-
druffs Island; and also for that purpose to construct,
412 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Provisos.
Secretary of
War to approve
plans, etc.
operate, and maintain such structures and improvements
as may be necessary or convenient: Provided, That such
dams shall not be built or commenced until the plans and
specifications for their construction, together with such
drawings of the proposed construction and such map of
the proposed locations as may be required for a full un-
derstanding of the subject, have been submitted to the
Secretary of War for his approval, or until he shall have
approved such plans and specifications and the location
of such dams and accessory works; and when the plans
for any dam to be constructed under the provisions of
this Act have been approved by the Secretary of War it
shall not be lawful to deviate from such plans, either
before or after completion of the structure, unless the
modification of such plans has previously been submitted
to and received the approval of the Secretary of War:
Provided, That in approving said plans and locations
Locks, etc. such conditions and stipulations may be imposed as the
Secretary of War may deem necessary to protect the pres-
ent and future interests of the United States, which may
include the condition that said Samuel S. Davis, his heirs,
executors, administrators, or assigns, shall construct.
maintain, and operate, without expense to the United
States, in connection with said dams and appurtenant
works, a lock or locks, booms, sluices, or any other struc-
tures which the Secretary of War at any time may deen
necessary in the interest of navigation, in accordance with
such plans as he may approve, and also that whenever
Congress shall authorize the construction of a lock or
other structures for navigation purposes in connection
with such dams, the person owning such dams shall con-
vey to the United States, free of cost, title to such land
as may be required for such constructions and approaches,
and shall grant to the United States a free use of water
power for building and operating such constructions:
And provided further, That suitable fishways shall be
constructed and maintained in said dams by said Samuel
S. Davis, his heirs, executors, administrators, or assigns,
at his or their own expense, as may be required from time
to time by the Secretary of Commerce and Labor: And
Illinois and provided further, That said dams and other structures
shall be so constructed as in the judgment of the Secre-
Operation of tary of War not to interfere with the Illinois and Missis-
sippi Canal and the operation thereof, and the Secretary
of War shall at any time control said dams so far as shall
be necessary for the purposes of said last above-mentioned
canal, but shall not destroy or impair the water power
developed by said dams, canals, and appurtenant struc-
tures to a greater extent than shall be necessary to pro-
vide proper facilities for the navigation of said Illinois
and Mississippi Canal or other purposes affecting naviga-
tion; and the said Secretary of War may impose reason-
able charges for the use of the flowage rights of the
United States, if any, below the sites of the present Gov-
Fishways.
Mississippi
Canal.
not to be af-
fected.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 413
South Branch
ernment dams at the head of said Carrs Island: And Dam across
provided further, That the Secretary of War is hereby of Rock River.
authorized, if in his judgment the interests of the United
States will not be injured thereby, to permit the dam
across the south branch of Rock River to be located and
built on land belonging to the United States, under and
subject to such terms and conditions as he may consider
just and reasonable.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the Litigation.
building, operation, and maintenance of said dams, ca-
nals, and appurtenant works, or from the obstruction of
said river by the same, or any damages resulting to pri-
vate property by overflow or otherwise, proceedings to
adjust, determine, and recover compensation for such
damages may be instituted in any court of competent
jurisdiction.
SEC. 3. That unless the actual construction of the dams
herein authorized shall be commenced within one year
and completed within three years after the passage of this
Act, the rights and privileges herein granted, so far as
they pertain to the construction of any dam or dams not
then completed, shall cease and determine.
SEC. 4. That the right to alter, amend, and repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, May 1, 1906.
[Extract from the river and harbor act of March 3, 1909.]
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Mar. 3, 1909.
Vol. 35, p.
819.
[H. R. 28243.]
[Public, No.
317.1
south branch.
Provisos.
SEC. 8. That section three of "An Act permitting the
building of dams across the North and South branches
of Rock River, adjacent to Vandruffs Island and Carrs Rock River,
Island, and across the cut-off between said islands, in Ill Time extend-
Rock Island County, Illinois, in aid of navigation and ed for daming
for the development of water power," approved May first, vol. 34, p.
nineteen hundred and six, be, and the same is hereby, 156, amended.
amended by extending the time for the completion of
the dam across the south branch to May first, nineteen
hundred and eleven: Provided, That the said dam shall, Transfer of
immediately upon its completion, become the property dam to United
of the United States, and that the grantee under the said Operation.
Act of May first, nineteen hundred and six, shall operate
and maintain the other works authorized by the said Act
in accordance with and subject to the provisions of the
Act entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of dams 386.
across navigable waters," approved June twenty-first,
nineteen hundred and six, so far as such provisions may
be applicable.
States.
Vol. 34, p.
(66)
[Extract from river and harbor act approved March 2, 1907.]
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol.
34, p.
The Secretary of War is authorized to permit the Ster- 1103.
ling Hydraulic Company, of Sterling, Illinois, to erect, [H. R. 24991.]
own, and operate a power station in connection with the Public, No.
168.]
414 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Ill.
Sterling.
location, etc.
not to be ob-
Rock River, dam built or to be built by the United States in Rock
Dam author- River at or near Sterling, Illinois, in connection with the
ized across, at construction of the Illinois and Mississippi Canal: Pro-
Provisos. vided, That the location and plans of said power station
Approval of shall be subject to the approval of the Secretary of War:
Provided further, That the navigation of Rock River and
Navigation of the Illinois and Mississippi Canal and the operation
structed. and maintenance of said dam shall be in no way ob-
structed thereby: And provided further, That prior to
the issue of said permit the Sterling Hydraulic Company
shall waive any and all claims that it may have against
the United States by reason of the construction, opera-
tion, and maintenance of the Illinois and Mississippi
Canal, except such claims as it may have for the abstrac-
tion from Rock River of more than three hundred cubic
feet of water per second when the flow of Rock River
immediately above is less than one thousand cubic feet of
water per second.
Condition.
Feb. 18, 1911.
Vol. 36. p.
922.
397.1
Byron Wa-
Byron, Ill.
(67)
CHAP. 122.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Rock River near Byron, Illinois.
[H. R. 31926.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Rock River. bled, That the Byron Water Power Company, a corpora-
ter Power Co. tion organized under the laws of the State of Illinois,
may dam, near with is principal office at Byron, Illinois, its successors
and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and main-
tain a dam across Rock River, at a point suitable to the
interests of navigation, near the upper end of an island
in said river at or near the north line of the south half
of the southeast quarter of section twenty, township
twenty-five north, range eleven east, of the fourth prin-
cipal meridian, in Ogle County, Illinois, and all works
incident thereto in the utilization of the power thereby
developed, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten,
entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
Vol. 34, p.
386.
(68)
Feb. 7. 1903.
CHAP. 513.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 32, P. the St. Croix River at or near the village of St. Croix Falls, Polk
County, Wisconsin.
802.
[Public, No.
64.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 415
River, Wis.
Falls Wiscon-
may dam at St.
the
Secretary
St. Croix Falls Wisconsin Improvement Company, a cor- St. Croix
poration organized under the laws of the State of Wis- St. Croix
consin, and to St. Croix Falls Minnesota Improvement sin Improve-
Company, a corporation organized under the laws of the ment Co., et al.,
State of Minnesota, or either of them, their and each of Croix Falls.
their successors or assigns, to build a dam across the St.
Croix River at or near the St. Croix Falls, so called, in
said river, and all works incident thereto in the utiliza-
tion of the power thereby developed: Provided, That the Provisos.
Plans to be
plans for the construction of said dam and appurtenant approved by
works shall be submitted to and approved by the Chief of War.
of Engineers and the Secretary of War before the com-
mencement of the construction of such dam: And pro-
vided further, That said St. Croix Falls Wisconsin Im-
provement Company and said St. Croix Falls Minnesota
Improvement Company, or either of them, their and
each of their successors or assigns shall not deviate from
such plans after such approval either before or after the
completion of the structure, unless the modification of
said plans shall have previously been submitted to and
received the approval of the Chief of Engineers and of
the Secretary of War: And provided further, That there
shall be placed and maintained in connection with said
dam a sluiceway so arranged as to permit logs, timber,
and lumber to pass around, through or over said dam,
without unreasonable delay or hindrance, and without
toll or charges; that the Government of the United States
may, at any time, construct in connection therewith
suitable lock for navigation purposes, may at any time
without compensation control the said dam for purposes
of navigation, but shall not destroy the water power
created by said dam to any greater extent than may be
necessary to provide proper facilities for navigation; and
that the Secretary of War may, at any time, require and
enforce, at the expense of the owners, such modifications
and changes in the construction of said dam and may Changes.
make such regulations for the operation of said dam as
he may deem advisable in the interests of navigation.
Construction
of sluiceway.
Aids to navi-
gation.
SEC. 2. That in case any litigation arises from the Litigation.
building of said dam or from the obstruction of said river
by said dam or appurtenant works cases may be tried in
the proper courts, as now provided for that purpose in
the States of Wisconsin and Minnesota, and in the courts
of the United States.
·
struction.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the Time of con-
dam herein authorized be commenced within two years
and completed within five years from the time of the pas-
sage of this Act.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 7, 1903.
416 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Apr. 5, 1906.
(69)
CHAP. 1368.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 34, P. the Saint Joseph River near the village of Berrien Springs, Ber-
rien County, Michigan.
102.
[H. R. 16671.]
85.]
River, Mich.
Springs Power
Co. may dam.
Location.
Provisos.
Secretary of
plans, etc.
gan,
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
St. Joseph bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
Berrien the Berrien Springs Power and Electric Company, a cor-
and Electric poration organized under the laws of the State of Michi-
its successors and assigns, to construct, erect, and
maintain a dam across the Saint Joseph River, in Berrien
County, in the State of Michigan, at any point within
two miles south of the highway bridge at Berrien
Springs, together with all necessary works appurtenant
thereto: Provided, That the plans of said dam shall be
War to approve submitted to and be approved by the Chief of Engineers
and the Secretary of War before construction is com-
menced; and the Secretary of War may at any time
require and enforce, at the expense of the owners, such
modifications in the construction of said dam as he may
deem advisable in the interest of navigation: Provided
Sluiceway. further, That there shall be placed and maintained in con-
nection with said dam a sluiceway so arranged as to per-
mit logs, timber, and lumber to pass around, through, or
over said dam without unreasonable delay or hindrance
and without toll or charges, and suitable gates, weirs,
and sluices shall be provided in said dam and shall be
so operated as to furnish at all times the flow of water
necessary for the navigation of the Saint Joseph River
below Berrien Springs; and suitable fishways, to be ap-
proved by the United States Fish Commission, shall be
constructed and maintained on said dam.
Fishways.
Damages.
Time of con-
struction.
Amendment.
Mar. 2, 1907.
SEC. 2. That before the construction of said dam shall
be begun, the permission of the board of supervisors of
Berrien County, Michigan, shall be obtained thereto, and
compensation shall be made for all property taken or
damages thereby occasioned according to the laws of the
State of Michigan.
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless the
dam herein authorized is commenced within one year and
completed within three years from the date hereof.
SEC. 4. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, April 5, 1906.
(70)
CHAP. 2579.-An Act To authorize Herman L. Hartenstein to
Vol. 34, P. construct a dam across the Saint Joseph River, near the village
of Mottville, Saint Joseph County, Michigan.
1254.
[H. R. 25832.]
238.]
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
St. Joseph tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Herman L. bled, That Herman L. Hartenstein, a citizen of the State
River, Mich.
Hartenstein may dam, at Mottville.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 417
of Michigan, his heirs and assigns, be, and they are here-
by, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam
across the Saint Joseph River, at any point up the
stream within one mile from the highway bridge at the
village of Mottville, Saint Joseph County, in the State
of Michigan, in accordance with the provisions of the
Act entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of dams
across navigable waters," approved June twenty-first, 386.
nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
Amendment.
(71)
i,
Chap. 11.-An Act To authorize the city of Sturgis, Michigan,
to construct a dam across the Saint Joseph River.
Jan. 12, 1912.
Vol. 36. p.
893.
Public, No.
[H. R. 6867.]
River, Sturgis,
dam.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 332.1
bled, That the city of Sturgis, a corporation organized St. Joseph
under the laws of the State of Michigan, its successors Mich., may
and assigns, be, and they are hereby, authorized to con-
struct, maintain, and operate a dam across the Saint
Joseph River, at or near its intersection with the section
line between sections one and two, township six south,
range eleven west, Saint Joseph County, in the State
of Michigan, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten,
entitled "An Act to amend an Act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, January 12, 1911.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
(72)
[Extract from the river and harbor act of June 13, 1902.]
June 13,
1902.
32, p.
Water-power
Subject to the express precedent conditions hereinafter Vol.
361.
mentioned, the Michigan Lake Superior Power Company, [Public, No.
of Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, its successors and as- 154.1
signs, after first obtaining consent of the Secretary of canal at Sault
War and the Chief of Engineers and their approval of Sainte Marie,
the said canal and remedial works proposed, is hereby Diversion of
authorized to divert water from the Saint Marys River water into.
into its water-power canal now being constructed at
Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, for water-power purposes
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2——27
Mich.
418 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
water into.
Warto pre-
tions.
while and so long as such works and diversion of water
from said river shall not injuriously affect navigation
therein, nor impair or diminish the water levels or any
natural increase thereof either in Lake Superior or in the
Protection to United States ship canal and locks or the navigable chan-
nels, locks, or ship canals connected therewith, whether
natural or artificial, now existing or which may hereafter
be established or created by the United States for naviga-
tion purposes. And conditioned further, that said com-
pany shall establish, maintain and operate suitable and
sufficient remedial and controlling works in the rapids of
said river, to the approval of the Secretary of War and
the Chief of Engineers; and said company shall maintain
and operate said canal and works in accordance with any
rules and regulations that may hereafter be recommended
by any International Commission and that shall become
operative. Whenever, in the judgment of the Secretary
Secretary of of War, the operation of said canal and remedial and
scribe regula - controlling works, or either of them, either in themselves
or in conjunction with any other canal or canals in the
United States or Canada which now or hereafter may
exist, is injuriously affecting water levels or the naviga-
tion of Lake Superior, the River Saint Marys or other
channels, locks or ship canals connected therewith as
hereinbefore provided, he shall impose upon said Com-
pany such rules and regulations for the operation of said
Maintenance canal and remedial works, as may, in his opinion, bet
necessary to prevent such injury. It shall become his
duty, and he shall have the authority to enter upon the
property of said company and to close said canal in whole
or in part to the extent necessary to maintain water levels
and to require said Company, at its own expense, to re-
move, add to or modify said works or any part thereof
Nonliability. to the extent necessary to maintain water levels. Neither
the Secretary of War nor the Chief of Engineers or any
officer or other person acting under direction of them or
either of them, shall be in any way liable by reason of
anything done in the execution of this provision.
of water levels.
Remedies.
rights.
All remedies herein provided however, shall be cumu-
lative and shall be without prejudice to any other reme-
dies either of the United States or of individuals for
failure of said Company to maintain said levels for navi-
gation purposes as herein provided.
Riparian Nothing herein contained shall be held to affect any
existing riparian or other rights of any person or corpo-
ration, or the existing remedies therefor, or any action at
to law or equity now pending. The right is hereby ex-
pressly reserved to Congress to alter, amend or repeal the
provisions contained in this paragraph.
Right
amend, etc.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 419
[Extract from river and harbor act of March 3, 1909.]
Mar. 3, 1909.
Vol. 35, p.
821.
[ Public, No.
Michigan
SEC. 12. That part of the Act entitled "An Act making
appropriations for the construction, repair, and preserva- [H. R. 28243.1
tion of certain public works on rivers and harbors, and 317.1
for other purposes," approved June thirteenth, nineteen Lake Superior
hundred and two, in section one, relating to the Michigan- Power Com-
Lake Superior Power Company, is hereby amended by Vol. 32, p.
adding the following:
pany.
361, amended.
Declaration
United States
Leases
a u-
tion to be paid
Limitation
The right to the flow of water, and riparian, water of right of
power, and other rights, now or hereafter owned by the to flow of wa-
United States, in the Saint Marys River in Michigan shall ter, etc.
be forever conserved for the benefit of the Government
of the United States, primarily for the purposes of navi-
gation and incidentally for the purpose of having the
water power developed, either for the direct use of the
United States, or by lease or other agreement, through
the Secretary of War, who is hereby authorized to make thorized.
such leases or agreements: Provided, That a just and Provisos.
reasonable compensation shall be paid for the use of all Compensa-
waters or water power now or hereafter owned in said for use.
Saint Marys River by the United States, whether utilized
in said river or in any lateral canal, said compensation to
be fixed by the Secretary of War: Provided further, That
under no circumstances shall any rights be granted in on all grants.
said river which will interfere with the needs and uses
of navigation, or which will limit the absolute control of
said land and waters when desired for purposes of navi-
gation by the United States, or for a longer period than
thirty years, and the Secretary of War, in his discretion,
may provide for readjustment of compensation at periods
of ten years, nor shall any such rights be granted without
just and adequate compensation. It is intended that any
excess of water in the Saint Marys River at Sault Sainte Only excess
Marie over and above the amount now or hereafter re- of water for
navigation to
quired for the uses of navigation shall be leased for be leased.
power purposes by the Secretary of War upon such terms
and conditions as shall be best calculated in his judgment
to insure the development thereof. The Secretary of
War may, as often as necessary, make such regulations Regulations,
as in his judgment are reasonable and just and best cal-
culated to carry out the purposes of this section.
etc.
Appropria-
tion for exami-
SEC. 13. That for examinations, surveys, and contin-
gencies, and for incidental repairs for rivers and harbors nations, etc.
for which there may be no special appropriation, the
sum of seven hundred thousand dollars is hereby appro-
priated, to be immediately available.
examinations
The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and di- Preliminary
rected to cause preliminary examinations and surveys to to be made.
be made at the localities named in this section, as herein-
after set forth, and a sufficient sum to pay the cost thereof
may be allotted from the amount appropriated in this
section. In all cases a preliminary examination of the
river, harbor, or other proposed improvement mentioned
420 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
advisability.
rected.
Review
board.
Vol. 34, p.
1118.
Provisos.
Additional
ports.
Report on shall first be made, and a report as to the advisability of
its improvement shall be submitted, unless a survey or
estimate is herein expressly directed. If upon such pre-
liminary examination the proposed improvement is not
deemed advisable, no further action shall be taken thereon
without the further direction of Congress; but in case the
report shall be favorable to such proposed improvement,
Surveys di- or that a survey and estimate should be made to deter-
mine the advisability of improvement, the Secretary of
War is hereby authorized, in his discretion, to cause sur-
veys to be made, and the cost and advisability to be re-
by ported to Congress. Such examinations and surveys shall
be reviewed by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and
Harbors, as provided in section three of the river and
harbor Act of March second, nineteen hundred and seven:
Provided, That every report submitted to Congress in
information re- pursuance of this section, in addition to full information
quired in re-regarding the present and prospective commercial im-
portance of the project covered by the report, and the
benefit to commerce likely to result from any proposed
plan of improvement, shall contain also such data as it
may be practicable to secure regarding (first) the estab-
lishment of terminal and transfer facilities, (second)
the development and utilization of water power for in-
dustrial and commercial purposes, and (third) such other
subjects as may be properly connected with such project:
Scope of in- Provided further, That in the investigation and study of
these questions consideration shall be given only to their
bearing upon the improvement of navigation and to the
possibility and desirability of their being coordinated in
a logical and proper manner with improvements for navi-
gation to lessen the cost of such improvements and to
compensate the Government for expenditures made in the
Extension to interest of navigation: And provided further, That the
investigation and study of these questions as provided
herein may, upon review by the Board of Engineers for
Rivers and Harbors when called for as now provided by
law, be extended to any work of improvement now under
way and to any locality the examination and survey of
which has heretofore been, or may hereafter be, author-
ized by Congress.
vestigations.
other works.
!
Depth of wa-
ters.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol.
1240.
The depth of water in tidal waters, as well as in rivers
and nontidal channels, whenever referred to in this Act
shall be understood to mean the depth at mean low water
unless otherwise expressed.
(73)
CHAP. 2555.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
34, P. Savannah River at Andersonville Shoals.
[H. R. 25848.]
[Public, No.
214.]
Savannah
River.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the J. R. Earle Development Company, a cor-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 421
J. R. Earle
at Anderson-
poration to be organized under the laws of South Caro- Development
lina, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to Co. may dam,
construct and maintain a dam across the Savannah River, ville Shoals.
extending from a point in Hart County, Georgia, to a
point in Anderson County, South Carolina, upon or in
the vicinity of Andersonville Shoals, and all works inci-
dent thereto in the utilization of the power thereby devel-
66
386.
oped, in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled Vol. 34, p.
An Act to regulate the construction of dams across navi-
gable waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen hun-
dred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
(74)
CHAP. 2553.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Savannah River at Calhoun Falls.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1240.
25846.1
Savannah
houn Falls.
may
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 212.]
bied, That the Hugh MacRae Company, a corporation River.
organized under the laws of South Carolina, its successors Rae Co.
Hugh Mac-
and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and main- dam at Cal-
tain a dam across the Savannah River extending from a
point in Elbert County, Georgia, to a point in Abbe-
ville County, South Carolina, upon or in the vicinity of
Calhoun Falls, and all works incident thereto in the
utilization of the power thereby developed, in accordance
with the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regu- 386.
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
""
Vol. 34, p.
(75)
CHAP. 2580.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Savannah River at Cherokee Shoals.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1255.
S. C.
R. 25849.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 239.1
Savannah
bled, That the Hugh MacRae Company, a corporation River, Ga., and
organized under the laws of South Carolina, its successors Hugh Mac-
and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and main- Rae Co. may
tain a dam across the Savannah River extending from a kee Shoals.
point in Elbert County, Georgia, to a point in Abbe-
ville County, South Carolina, upon or in the vicinity of
Cherokee Shoals, and all works incident thereto in the
dam, at Chero-
422 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
utilization of the power thereby developed, in accordance
with the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regu-
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,"
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
Feb. 8, 1901.
(76)
CHAP. 344.-An Act Permitting the building of two dams across
Vol. 31, p. the Savannah River above the city of Augusta in the State of
Georgia.
763.
[Public, No.
41.1
dam Savannah
S. C.
Provisos.
Locks.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
Twin City lives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Power Co. may bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby granted to
River at Dor- Twin City Power Company, a corporation organized under
tons Creek, the laws of the State of South Carolina, its successors
or assigns, to construct, erect, and maintain a dam across
the Savannah River at or near where Dortons Creek, in
the county of Edgefield, State of South Carolina, empties
into the Savannah River, and all works incident thereto
in the utilization of the power thereby developed; and
also a dam across the said river at or near the southern
also at Prices end of Prices Island in said river, and about five miles
Island, etc.
from the mouth of Dortons Creek, and all works incident
thereto in the utilization of the power thereby developed:
Provided, That each of the dams constructed shall be
provided with an accessible lock of such capacity as may
be prescribed by the Secretary of War: Provided also,
Secretary of That the plans for the construction and maintenance of
said dams and appurtenant works shall be submitted to
and approved by the Chief of Engineers and the Secre-
tary of War before the commencement of the construction
of such dam or dams, and that the said Twin City Power
Company shall not deviate from such plans after such
approval, either before or after completion of the same,
unless the modification of said plans shall have previ-
ously been submitted to and received the approval of the
Chief of Engineers and of the Secretary of War: Pro-
Litigation. vided further, That in case any litigation arises from the
building of said dam or dams, the maintaining of the
same, or from the obstruction of said river by the said
dam or dams or appurtenant works, cases may be tried in
the proper courts as now provided for that purpose in the
States of South Carolina and Georgia, and the courts of
the United States.
War to approve
plans, etc.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
Proviso. hereby expressly reserved: And provided further, That
suitable fishways shall be constructed and maintained at
Completion. said dams by said company, its successors and assigns,
Fishways.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 423
as may be required from time to time by the United
States Fish Commissioner.
No injury to
hy
SEC. 3. That this Act shall be null and void unless one
of the said dams herein authorized shall be completed
within five years from the passage of this Act, and unless
both dams shall be completed within the same time the
rights and privileges hereby granted shall cease and be
determined so far as pertains to the incompleted dam:
And provided further, That such dam or dams shall be Provisos.
constructed in such manner as not to injure or diminish existing
the water power of any person or company having a dam draulic works.
or hydraulic works already constructed: And provided
further, That before the construction of either of said Damages.
dams compensation shall be made to any person or com-
pany whose lands may be taken or overflowed in the
construction or maintenance of such dam or dams, in
accordance with the laws of the State where said lands
may be situate.
Approved, February 8, 1901.
CHAP. 2074.-An Act Authorizing the Twin City Power Com-
pany to build two dams across the Savannah River above the
city of Augusta, in the State of Georgia.
Feb. 27, 1907.
Vol. 34, P.
1000.
[S. 8182.]
[Public, No.
Savannah
River.
pany may dam,
Creek and at
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 134.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Twin City Power Company, a corporation Twin City
organized under the laws of the State of South Carolina, Power Com-
its successors and assigns, be, and they are hereby, au- at Dortons
thorized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam across Prices Island,
the Savannah River, at or near where Dortons Creek, in s. c.
the county of Edgefield, State of South Carolina, empties
into the Savannah River, and also a dam across the said
river at or near the southern end of Prices Island in said
river and about five miles from the mouth of Dortons
Creek in the State of South Carolina, in accordance with
the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate
the construction of dams across navigable waters," ap-
proved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six: Pro-
vided, That one of said dams shall be completed within struction.
three years, and the other within five years from the
passage of this Act.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Proviso.
Time of COF-
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 27, 1907.
CHAP. 55.-An Act To authorize the Twin City Power Company
to build, operate, and maintain three dams across the Savannah
River, above the city of Augusta, in the State of Georgia.
Feb. 29, 1908.
Vol. 35, p. 36.
[S. 3726.]
•
[Public, No.
36.]
Savannah
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Twin City Power Company, a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of South Carolina, Twin City
its successors and assigns, be, and they are hereby, au-pany may dam.
River.
Power Com-
424 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Creek, S. C.
thorized to construct, maintain, and operate a dam across
Dortons the Savannah River, at or near where Dortons Creek, in
the county of Edgefield, State of South Carolina, empties
into the Savannah River, and also a dam across the said
Prices Is-river at or near the southern end of Prices Island, in said
land, S. C.
river, and about five miles from the mouth of Dortons
Creek, in the State of South Carolina, in accordance with
Vol. 34, p. the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act to regulate the
construction of dams across navigable waters," approved
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six: Provided,
Time of com- That one of said dams shall be completed within three
years and the other within five years from the passage of
386.
Proviso.
pletion.
Crouchs
Bluff.
Provisos.
Site.
this Act.
SEC. 2. That the said Twin City Power Company is
authorized to construct, operate, and maintain a dam
across the Savannah River at what is known as Crouchs
Bluff, in Edgefield County, South Carolina: Provided,
That the said site at Crouchs Bluff can be obtained by
contract from the owners thereof: And provided further,
Vol. 34, p. That said dam at Crouchs Bluff shall be constructed
under the provisions of the said Act of June twenty-first,
Time of com- nineteen hundred and six: Provided further, That said
dam if constructed at Crouchs Bluff shall be completed
within three years.
886.
pletion.
former act.
1000.
Repeal of SEC. 3. That the Act entitled "An Act authorizing the
Vol. 34, p. Twin City Power Company to build two dams across the
Savannah River, above the city of Augusta, in the State
of Georgia," approved February twenty-seventh, nine-
teen hundred and seven, be, and the same is hereby, re-
pealed.
Amendment.
Feb. 5, 1907.
SEC. 4. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 29, 1908.
(77)
CHAP. 460.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across the
Vol. 34, P. Savannah River at Gregg shoals.
876.
[H. R. 21402.1
55.]
River, Ga. and
8. C.
Savannah
River power
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Savannahbled, That the Savannah River Power Company, a cor-
poration organized under the laws of South Carolina, its
successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct
Company may and maintain a dam across the Savannah River, extend-
dam, at Gregg ing from a point in Elbert County, Georgia, to a point in
South Carolina near the dividing line between Anderson
County, South Carolina, and Abbeville County, South
Carolina, upon or in the vicinity of Gregg shoals, and all
Vol. 34, p. works incident thereto in the utilization of the power
shoals.
386.
thereby developed in accordance with the provisions of an
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 425
Act entitled "An Act to regulate the construction of
dams across navigable waters," approved June twenty-
first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 5, 1907.
(78)
CHAP. 2554.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Savannah [Tugaloo] River at Hattons Ford.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1240.
(Tugaloo)
Hattons Ford.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 25847.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 213.1
[Public, No.
bled, That the Hugh MacRae Company, a corporation Savannah
organized under the laws of South Carolina, its succes- River.
sors and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and Hugh Mac-
Rae Company
maintain a dam across the Savannah River, extending may dam, at
from a point in Hart County, Georgia, to a point in
Anderson County, South Carolina, upon or in the vicinity
of Hattons Ford, and all works incident thereto in the
utilization of the power thereby developed, in accordance
with the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regu- 886.
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,'
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is Amendment.
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
""
Vol. 34, p.
(79)
CHAP. 2549.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
the Savannah River at McDaniel Shoals.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1238.
[Public, No.
Anderson
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 25773.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-208.1
bled, That the Anderson Guaranty and Trust Company, Savannah
a corporation organized under the laws of South Caro- River.
lina, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to Guaranty and
construct and maintain a dam across the Savannah River Trust Company
may dam, at
extending from a point in Hart County, Georgia, to a McDaniel
point in Anderson County, South Carolina, upon or in shoals.
the vicinity of McDaniel Shoals, and all works incident
thereto in the utilization of the power thereby developed
in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled "An
Act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
426 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
(80)
Mar. 2, 1907.
CHAP. 2551.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 34, P. the Savannah River at Middleton Shoals.
1239.
[Public, No.
210.1
River.
[H. R. 25776.1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Savannah bled, That the Anderson Guaranty and Trust Company,
Anderson a corporation organized under the laws of South Caro-
Guaranty and lina, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to
may dam, at Construct and maintain a dam across the Savannah River
the Middleton extending from a point in Elbert County, Georgia, to
Trust Company
shoals.
a point in Anderson County, South Carolina, upon or in
the vicinity of Middleton Shoals, and all work incident
thereto in the utilization of the power thereby developed,
Vol. 34, p. in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled "An
Act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six.
386.
Amendment.
Mar. 2, 1907.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
(81)
CHAP. 2556.-An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 34, p. the Savannah River at Trotters Shoal.
1241.
215.]
River.
[H. R. 25850.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
[Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Savannah bled, That the Hugh MacRae Company, a coroporation
Hugh Mac- Organized under the laws of South Carolina, its succes-
Rae Company sors and assigns, is hereby authorized to construct and
Trotters maintain a dam across the Savannah River extending
shoals. from a point in Elbert County, Georgia, to a point in
may dam, at
Abbeville County, South Carolina, upon or in the vicinity
of Trotters Shoals, and all works incident thereto in the
utilization of the power thereby developed, in accordance
Vol. 34, p. with the provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regu-
late the construction of dams across navigable waters,"
approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
386.
Amendment.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
29
(82)
Mar. 2, 1907.
CHAP. 2550.—An Act Permitting the building of a dam across
Vol. 34, p. the Savannah River at Turner Shoals.
1239.
[H. R. 25774.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
Public, No. tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Savannah bled, That the Anderson Guaranty and Trust Company,
a corporation organized under the laws of South Caro-
209.]
River.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 427
Anderson
shoals.
lina, its successors and assigns, is hereby authorized to Guaranty and
construct and maintain a dam across the Savannah River Trust Company
extending from a point in Elbert County, Georgia, to a may dam, lat
point in Abbeville County, South Carolina, upon or in
the vicinity of Turner Shoals, and all works incident
thereto in the utilization of the power thereby developed,
in accordance with the provisions of an Act entitled “An
Act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six.
SEC. 2. That the right to amend or repeal this Act is
hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 2, 1907.
(83)
CHAP. 10.-An Act To authorize the building of a dam across the
Savannah River at or near the mouth of Stevens Creek, between
the counties of Edgefield, South Carolina, and Columbia, Georgia.
Vol. 34, p.
386.
Amendment.
Aug. 5, 1909.
Vol. 36, p.
180.
[H. R. 6277.]
[Public, No.
inson, N. B.
dam.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 9.1 Savannah
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- River.
bled, That J. L. Hankinson, N. B. Dial, and their asso- J. L. Hank-
ciates, their successors and assigns, be, and they are Dial, etc., may
hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a
dam across the Savannah River at or near the mouth of
Stevens Creek, between the counties of Edgefield, South Location.
Carolina, and Columbia, Georgia, in accordance with the
provisions of an Act entitled "An Act to regulate the
construction of dams across navigable waters," approved, Vol. 34, p.
June twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six.
Approved, August 5, 1909.
386.
(84)
CHAP. 121.-An Act Authorizing the building of a dam across
the Savannah River at Cherokee Shoals.
Feb. 18, 1911.
Vol. 36, p.
922.
[Public, No.
Rae & Co. may
kee Shoals, Ga.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 31925.)
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-396.1
Savannah
bled, That Hugh MacRae, M. F. H. Gouverneur, and River.
E. W. Van C. Lucas, partners trading under the firm Hugh Mac-
name of Hugh MacRae and Company, bankers, of the city dam, at Chero-
of Wilmington, North Carolina, and their assigns, are
hereby authorized to construct and maintain a dam across
the Savannah River, at a point suitable to the interests of
navigation, extending from a point in Elbert County,
Georgia, to a point in Abbeville County, South Carolina,
upon or in the vicinity of Cherokee Shoals, and all works
incident thereto in the utilization of the power thereby
428 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
386.
Vol. 34, P. developed, in accordance with the provisions of the Act
approved June twenty-third, nineteen hundred and ten,
entitled "An Act to amend an act entitled 'An Act to
regulate the construction of dams across navigable
waters,' approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six."
Amendment.
Former law
repealed.
1255.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
act is hereby expressly reserved.
SEC. 3. That the Act of Congress approved March sec-
Vol. 34, p. ond, nineteen hundred and seven, entitled "An Act per-
mitting the building of a dam across the Savannah River
at Cherokee Shoals by the Hugh MacRae Company, a
corporation organized under the laws of South Carolina,'
is hereby repealed.
Approved, February 18, 1911.
""
Mar. 3, 1905.
1006.
(85)
CHAP. 1440.-An Act Providing for the acquirement of water
Vol. 33, P. rights in the Spokane River along the southern boundary of the
Spokane Indian Reservation, in the State of Washington, for the
[H. R. 15609.] acquirement of lands on said reservation for sites for power pur-
[Public, No.
173.]
poses and the beneficial use of said water, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Spokane bled, That the right to the use of the waters of the Spo-
River, Wash.
Use of waters. kane River where the said river forms the southern bound-
ary of the Spokane Indian Reservation may, with the
consent of the Secretary of the Interior, be acquired by
any citizen, association, or corporation of the United
States by appropriation under and pursuant to the laws
of the State of Washington.
Spokane In-
dian Reserva-
tion.
lands of, for
dams, etc.
SEC. 2. That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he
hereby is, authorized and empowered to grant such appro-
Grant of priator or appropriators land on said reservation, whether
the same has been allotted in severalty to any individual
Indians, but which has not been conveyed to the allottee
with full power of alienation, or whether the same re-
mains unallotted, on the north bank of the said Spokane
River, such as shall be necessary and requisite for overflow
rights and for the erection of suitable water, electrical,
or power plants, dams, wing walls, flumes, or other need-
ful structures required for the development of power or
for the beneficial use of said water: * * *
Rules, etc.
SEC. 5. That the Secretary of the Interior shall make
all needful rules and regulations not inconsistent here-
with for the proper execution and carrying into effect of
this Act.
Approved, March 3, 1905.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 429
(86)
[Extract from river and harbor act approved March 2, 1907.]
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
Improving Tennessee River at Colbert and Bee Tree 1094.
shoals, Alabama: Continuing improvement, two hundred [H. R. 24991.1
[Public, No.
Proviso.
Contract.
amine condi-
thousand dollars: Provided, That the Secretary of War 168.1
Colbert and
may enter into a contract or contracts for such materials Bee Tree
and work as may be necessary for the completion of said shoals, Ala.
project, to an amount not exceeding two hundred and
thirteen thousand dollars, exclusive of the amounts
herein and heretofore appropriated or authorized. And Board to ex-
the Secretary of War may appoint a Board of Engineers tions, etc.
whose duty it shall be to examine the present condition
of the United States canal and the Tennessee River from
the head of Elk River Shoals to the Florence Railway
bridge in the State of Alabama, with a view to permitting
the improvement of the above-described stretch of said
river by private or corporate agency in conjunction with
the development of water power by means of not more
than three locks and dams; and the said Board may ex-
amine any plans presented by such agency and shall
report whether the same, if constructed, can, without
injury to navigation, or with advantage thereto, be used
to develop water power, and what portion, if any, of the
expense of the work should be borne by the United States;
and such Board shall report its findings not later than
the first Monday in December, nineteen hundred and
seven, and until such Board shall make its report and
action shall be taken thereon by Congress no permits shall
be issued under the provisions of the Act approved March withheld.
sixth, nineteen hundred and six, entitled "An Act to au-
thorize the construction of dams and power stations on
the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.”
Report.
Muscle
shoals, permits
Vol. 34, p. 52.
(87)
CHAP. 1605.-An Act To enable the Secretary of War to permit
the erection of a lock and dam in aid of navigation in the Ten-
nessee River near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for other purposes.
Apr. 26, 1904.
Vol. 33, p.
309.
[H. R. 15014.]
[Public, No.
Chattanooga,
au-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 165.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Tennessee
bled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, River.
fully authorized and empowered to grant permission to
the city of Chattanooga, Tennessee, or to a private cor- Tenn., etc., a
poration or company, or to individuals, as provided in thorized to
section five of this bill, to build and construct a lock and
dam across the Tennessee River at "Scott Point," near
Chattanooga, Tennessee, under his direction, supervision,
and control, and in accordance with and conformity to
the plans and designs made by Major Dan C. Kingman,
an engineer of the United States Army, in pursuance of
build lock and
dam.
430 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
1151.
Proviso.
Vol. 30, P. an Act of Congress passed on March third, eighteen hun-
dred and ninety-nine, with such changes and modifica-
tions as the Secretary of War may direct: Provided,
Conditions. That the said contracting municipality or parties shall
purchase and pay for all lands on either side of the river
that may be necessary to the successful construction and
operation of said lock and dam, including flowage rights
and rights of way for ingress and egress from public
highways, and deed the same to the United States, and
make all excavations, erect all stone, concrete, and timber
work, furnish all materials of every character, and pay
for all labor employed in the construction of said lock
and dam, and give said lock and dam to the United States
completed, free of all cost, expense, claims, or charges of
any kind whatsoever, except for expenses connected with
the preparation of plans and the superintendence, as pro-
vided in section five of this Act, and further excepting
the cost of the lock gates and ironwork and machinery
necessary to operate the lock when completed, which shall
be furnished by the United States.
Time of con-
struction.
may construct.
SEC. 2. That the said municipality, corporation, com-
pany, or individuals undertaking the construction of said
work shall begin the building of said lock and dam within
eighteen months from the passage of this Act, and the
same shall be completed within four years from the date
of beginning the construction, the right being reserved to
United States the United States to enter on the construction of said lock
and dam if deemed advisable at any time before the work
is commenced by said contracting parties; or if begun
and not carried on in strict accordance with the directions
of the Secretary of War, then the United States may
assume the further construction and completion of said
work at its option, the cost of such further construction
and completion to be paid by the said contracting munici-
pality, corporation, company, or individuals.
Delivery of
deed.
Use of water
power.
SEC. 3. That the deed to the United States to the land
to be purchased and donated to the same, as mentioned in
the first section of this Act, shall be executed and deliv-
ered within twelve months after the passage of this Act;
and, further, that the Secretary of War shall determine
from time to time whether the work is being properly
done, and may require an increase in force to be em-
ployed by the contractor so as to force the work to
completion within the limit mentioned in the Act.
SEC. 4. That in consideration of the construction of
said lock and dam, free of cost to the United States ex-
cept as provided in section one of this Act, the United
States hereby grants to the municipality, corporation,
company, or persons constructing said lock and dam
under the provisions of this Act such rights as it pos-
sesses to use the water power produced by said dam, and
to convert the same into electric power or otherwise util-
Electric cur- ize it for a period of ninety-nine years: Provided, That
plied free to Government buildings, etc.
Provisos.
rent to be sup-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 431
navigation,
it or they shall furnish the necessary electric current
while its or their power plant is in operation to move
the gates and operate the locks and to light the United
States buildings and grounds, free of cost to the United
States: And provided further, That the plans for the Unobstructed
necessary works and structures to utilize said water
power shall be approved by the Secretary of War, and
that nothing shall be done in the use of the water from
said dam or otherwise to interfere with or in any way
impede or retard the proper and complete navigation of
the river at all times, nor in any way to interfere with
the use and control of the same by the United States for
the purposes of navigation: And provided further, That
the Secretary of War is hereby authorized to prescribe
regulations to govern the use of the said water power and Regulations.
the operations of the plant and force employed in con-
nection therewith; and no claim shall be made against
the United States for any failure of water power result-
ing from any cause whatever.
Preference
SEC. 5. That it shall be the duty of the Secretary of Contract.
War in contracting for the erection of the said lock and options.
dam to give the preference, option, or first right to con-
tract to do said work to the city of Chattanooga, Tennes-
see, but if said city of Chattanooga shall fail within four
months from the passage of this Act to formally notify
the Secretary of War of its intention to construct said
lock and dam and to enter into contract to do so, then to
C. E. James and J. C. Guild, residents of Chattanooga,
Tennessee, their heirs and assigns. In case of failure on
the part of said C. E. James and J. C. Guild, residents of
Chattanooga, Tennessee, their heirs and assigns, for a
further period of eight months to formally notify the
Secretary of War of their intention to proceed with the
construction of the lock and dam as herein provided, then
it shall be lawful for the Secretary of War to contract
with any private corporation, company, firm, or persons
for the construction of said lock and dam on the terms
and in the manner herein provided: Provided, That the
Secretary of War may require the contracting party to
execute a bond, with proper sureties, before the commence-
ment of the work in such amount as he may consider nec-
essary, not exceeding one hundred thousand dollars, to
insure the commencement, prosecution, and completion
of the work herein, authorized and compliance with the
terms, conditions, and requirements of this Act, and in
case of failure to comply with the requirements of said
bond the said contracting party shall forfeit to the United
States the full amount thereof: Provided further, That Plans, etc.
the plans, including specifications and drawings for the
work, shall be prepared at the expense of the United
States, under the direction and subject to the approval of
the Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers, United
States Army, by the officer of the Corps of Engineers,
United States Army, having under his charge the work
Provisos.
Bond.
432 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of improving the Tennessee River, who shall at the ex-
pense of the United States maintain a suitable force of
Inspection. inspectors upon the work to see that the plans and speci-
fications are strictly carried out, and such conditions or
safeguards as the Secretary of War and the Chief of
Engineers may deem essential to securing proper results
shall be made a part of the contract. The expense for
plans as well as for the maintenance of the force of in-
spectors herein referred to shall be paid from the amount
appropriated for preliminary examinations, surveys, con-
tingencies, and so forth, made in section two of the river
and harbor Act of June thirteenth, nineteen hundred and
Expense.
Vol. 32, p.
372.
Extension of
time for con-
two.
SEC. 6. That in the event the city of Chattanooga un-
struction. dertakes the erection of said lock and dam the Secretary
of War shall extend the time provided herein for begin-
ning the work on the same for a period not exceeding
twelve months from the passage of the enabling act that
the general assembly of the State of Tennessee may pass
at its next regular session, enabling said municipality to
undertake said work, if the same be necessary; and in the
same event he shall extend the time for the completion of
said lock and dam twelve months.
Right of revo-
fication.
SEC. 7. That the right is expressly reserved in the
cation reserved. United States to revoke by Act of Congress the rights
Indemni-privileges, and benefits conferred by this Act; but in the
event of such revocation the United States shall pay to
the municipality, corporation, company, firm, or persons
who may erect said lock and dam under the provisions of
this Act, as full compensation, the reasonable value, ex-
clusive of the franchise hereby conferred, of all properties
erected and lands purchased by them necessary for the en-
joyment of the benefits conferred upon them by the provi-
sions of this Act, such value to be determined by mutual
agreement between the Secretary of War and the owners
of said properties, and in case they can not agree, then by
proceedings instituted in the United States circuit court
for the condemnation of said property, such proceedings
to conform as nearly as may be to the laws of the State of
Tennessee in respect of condemning land for the right of
Provisos. way for railroad purposes: Provided, That to insure
of privileges. compliance with the terms of the contract or of this Act,
or to protect the interests of navigation, the Secretary of
War shall have power at any time, before or after the
completion of the work, to order a suspension of all priv-
Enforcement ileges granted by this Act: And provided further, That
compliance with such order of suspension may be en-
forced by the injunction of the circuit court of the United
States exercising jurisdiction in the district in which the
work is situated, and proper proceedings to this end shall
be instituted by the Attorney-General upon request of the
Secretary of War.
Suspension
by injunction.
Existing
SEC. 8. That nothing in this Act shall be construed as
fected. in any way interfering with the exclusive jurisdiction
laws not
af-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 433
over and control by the United States of the Tennessee
River and the lock and dam therein to be erected for the
purpose of navigation, nor as repealing or modifying any
of the provisions of law now existing in reference to the
protection of navigation.
Approved, April 26, 1904.
Jan. 7, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
603.
CHAP. 32.-An Act To amend an Act approved April twenty-
sixth, nineteen hundred and four, entitled "An Act to enable the
Secretary of War to permit the erection of a lock and dam in aid
of navigation in the Tennessee River near Chattanooga, Tennessee, [H. R. 15590.]
and for other purposes."
6.1
[Public, No.
Tenn es see
River, Tenn.
Construction
dam in, near
Vol. 33, p.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Act of Congress approved April twenty-
sixth, nineteen hundred and four, entitled "An Act to en-
able the Secretary of War to permit the erection of a lock of lock and
and dam in aid of navigation in the Tennessee River Chattanooga.
near Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for other purposes," be, 309.
and the same is hereby, amended by inserting in section
one, line seven, after the words "Scott Point,"
Chattanooga, Tennessee," and before the word "under,"
the following: "or at such other point or place in the Location.
mountain section of said river below Scott Point as the
Secretary of War may approve.
Approved, January 7, 1905.
""
66
[Extract from river and harbor act approved March 3, 1905.]
near
Mar. 3, 1905.
Vol. 33, p.
[Public, No.
Scott Point,
(Hales bar.)
Proviso.
Contracts.
Improving Tennessee River, Tennessee: Continuing 1133.
improvement by the partial construction of lock gates at
the lock projected at or near Scotts Point, together with 215
the cost of superintendence and the preparation of plans Lock gates.
to be made by the United States, ten thousand dollars:
Provided, That a contract or contracts may be entered
into by the Secretary of War for such materials and work
as may be necessary for the further prosecution of said
work, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to
time be made by law, not to exceed in the aggregate forty
thousand dollars exclusive of the amount here in appro-
priated.
[Extract from river and harbor act approved March 2, 1907.]
Improving Tennessee River at Hales bar, Tennessee:
Completing improvement, sixty-two thousand nine hun-
dred and seventy dollars.
CHAP. 12.-An Act To amend an Act relative to the erection of a
lock and dam in aid of navigation in the Tennessee River.
Mar. 2, 1907.
Vol. 34, p.
1093.
[Public, No.
168.]
Hales bar,
Tenn.
Aug. 5, 1909.
181.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Vol. 36, p.
bled, That the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to en-
able the Secretary of War to permit the erection of a lock [H. R. 11579.1
and dam in aid of navigation in the Tennessee River near 11.]
Chattanooga, Tennessee, and for other purposes," ap- River.
[Public, No.
Tennessee
Time extend-
ed for lock and dam across, at Chattanooga, Tenn.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2———28
434 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
amended.
proved April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four,
and amended by an Act approved January seventh, nine-
Vol. 33, pp. teen hundred and five, be and the same is hereby amended
pp.
309, 603 ' as follows: Strike out in line four of section two of the
Act of April twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred and four,
after the word "Act," the following words: "And the
same shall be completed within four years from the date
of beginning the construction" and insert in place thereof
the words: "And the same shall be completed within six
years from the date of beginning the construction or
within such time in excess thereof, as the Secretary of
War may allow."
Approved, August 5, 1909.
Mar. 6, 1906.
Vol. 34, p. 52.
[H. R. 297.]
[Public, No.
35.]
Tenn es see
River.
Dams a t
ized.
1094.
(88)
CHAP. 517.-An Act To authorize the construction of dams and
power stations on the Tennessee River at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That any person, company, or corporation having
Muscle shoals, authority therefor under the laws of the State of Ala-
Ala., author-bama may hereafter erect, maintain, and use a dam or
Vol. 34, p. dams in or across the Tennessee River, in the State of
Alabama, at such points at Muscle Shoals as they may
elect, and the Secretary of War may approve, between a
point on the southern side of the river opposite to, or
below the head or opening of the canal constructed by the
United States on the north side of the river, on the east,
and the western line of section sixteen, township three,
etc. of cower range ten on the west, for the purpose of erecting, operat-
ing, and maintaining power station and to maintain inlet
and outlet races or canals and to make such other im-
provements on the southern bank of the Tennessee River,
between the two points above mentioned, as may be neces-
sary for the development of water power and the trans-
mission of the same, subject always to the provisions and
requirements of this Act, and to such conditions and
stipulations as may be imposed by the Chief of Engineers
and the Secretary of War for the protection of naviga-
tion and the property and other interests of the United
States.
stations.
Secretary of
War to approve
plans, etc.
SEC. 2. That detailed plans for the construction and
operation of a dam or dams and other appurtenant and
necessary works shall be submitted by the person, com-
pany, or corporation desiring to construct the same to the
Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War, with a
map showing the location of such dam or other structures
with such topographical and hydrographic data as may
be necessary for a satisfactory understanding of the same,
which must be approved by the Chief of Enginers and
the Secretary of War before work can be commenced on
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 435
Unobstructed
Restrictions.
said dam or dams or other structures; and after such
approval of said plans, no deviation whatsoever there-
from shall be made without first obtaining the approval
of the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of War:
Provided, That the constructions hereby authorized do Provisos.
not interfere with the navigation of Muscle Shoals Canal navigation.
or the navigation of the Tennessee River: And provided
further, That said dam or dams and works shall be lim-
ited only to the use of the surplus water of the river, not
required for the navigation of the Muscle Shoals Canal
or the Tennessee River, and that no structures shall be
built and no operations conducted by those availing them-
selves of the provisions of this Act which shall injure or
interfere with the navigation of the Muscle Shoals Canal
or impair the usefulness of any improvement made by
the Government in the interests of navigation.
Locks, etc.
SEC. 3. That the Government of the United States re-
serves the right, at any time that the improvement of the
navigation of the Tennessee River demands it, to con-
struct, maintain, and operate, in connection with any
dam or other works built under the provisions of this
Act, suitable lock or locks or any other structures for
navigation purposes, and at all times to control such dam
or dams or other structures, and the level of the pool
caused by such dam or dams, to such an extent as may be
necessary to provide facilities for navigation; and when-
ever Congress shall authorize the construction of such
lock or other structures, the person, company or corpo-
ration owning and controlling such dam or dams or other
structures shall convey to the United States, under such
terms as Congress shall prescribe, titles to such land as
may be required for the use of such lock and approaches,
and in addition thereto shall grant to the United States,
free of cost, the free use of water power for building and
operating such constructions: Provided also, That the
person, company, or corporation building, maintaining.
or operating any dam or dams or other structures under
the provisions of this Act shall be liable for any damage Damages.
that may be inflicted thereby upon private property,
either by overflow or otherwise, in a court of competent
jurisdiction. The person, company, or corporation own-
ing or operating any such dam shall maintain, at their
own expense, such lights and other signals thereon and
such fishways as the Secretary of Commerce and Labor
shall prescribe.
Proviso.
Lights, etc.
comply with
SEC. 4. That all the rights acquired under this Act Failure to
shall cease and be determined if the person, company, or stipulations,
corporation acquiring such right shall at any time fail to etc.
comply with any of the provisions or requirements of
this Act, or with any of the stipulations that may be pre-
scribed by the Chief of Engineers and the Secretary of
War, or in case a person, company, or corporation au-
thorized by the laws of the State of Alabama to erect
and maintain a dam and improvements as contemplated
by this Act shall fail to begin the erection of said dam
436 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
struction.
Time of con- and improvements within two years after being so au-
thorized and shall fail to complete the same within five
years after obtaining such authority.
Existing
SEC. 5. That the provisions of this Act shall in no man-
rights not af ner interfere with or impair the rights of any person,
fected.
Amendment.
Mar. 3, 1899.
Vol. 30, p.
1351.
[Public, No.
201.]
Shoals Power
company, or corporation heretofore authorized by Con-
gress to erect a dam or other structures for the develop-
ment of water power on the Tennessee River.
SEC. 6. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, March 6, 1906.
(89)
CHAP. 437.-An Act Granting to the Muscle Shoals Power Com-
pany right to erect and construct canal and power stations at
Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Muscle sembled, That the consent of Congress is hereby given to
Co. may con- the Muscle Shoals Power Company, a corporation created
etc., at Muscle and organized under a charter granted by the legislature
Shoals, Ala. of the State of Alabama, its successors or assigns, to erect,
struct canal,
No interfer-
construct, operate, and maintain inlet and outlet races or
canals and a power station or stations at a point or points
at or near the Muscle Shoals in Tennessee River, and to
make such other improvements as may be necessary
within said limits for the development of water power
Provisos. and transmission of the same: Provided, That the con-
ence with structions hereby authorized do not in any way interfere
Muscle Shoals with the Muscle Shoals Canal, or with navigation of said
river: Provided further, That until the plans and loca-
tion of the works herein authorized, so far as they affect
the interests of navigation, have been approved by the
Approval of Secretary of War, the improvements shall not be com-
menced or built, and the Secretary of War is authorized
and directed to fix reasonable charges for use of said
Canal, etc.
Secretary of
War.
Commence-
ment and com-
power.
SEC. 2. That unless the work herein authorized be com-
pletion. menced within one year and completed within three years
Vols. 31, pp. from the date hereof, the privileges hereby granted shall
cease and be determined.
274, 846;
p. 839.
Amendment.
June 6, 1900.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, March 3, 1899.
CHAP. 779.-An Act To amend an Act granting to the Muscle
Vol. 31, P. Shoals Power Company right to erect and construct canal and
power stations at Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
274.
[Public, No.
151.]
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 437
Shoals Power
bied, That section two of an act entitled "An act grant- Muscle
ing to the Muscle Shoals Power Company right to erect Co. canal and
and construct canal and power stations at Muscle Shoals, power stations.
Alabama," approved March third, eighteen hundred and 1351 31,
eighty-nine, be, and the same is hereby, amended so as
to read as follows:
p.
846; 32, p. 839.
"SEC. 2. That unless the work herein authorized be Time extend-
ed to complete
commenced within two years, and completed within four work.
years from the date hereof, the privileges hereby granted
shall cease and be determined."
Approved, June 6, 1900.
[Public, No.
ed to Muscle
Power
canal, etc., at
Ala.
CHAP. 672.-An Act To extend the time granted to the Muscle Mar. 1, 1901.
Vol. 31, p.
Shoals Power Company by an Act approved March third, eighteen 846.
hundred and ninety-nine, within which to commence and complete
the work authorized in said Act to be done by said company. 108.1
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- Time extend-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- shoals
bled, That the time allowed the Muscle Shoals Power Co. to complete
Company by section two of an Act entitled "An Act Muscle Shoals,
granting to the Muscle Shoals Power Company right to vol. 30, p.
erect and construct canal and power stations at Muscle 1351.
Shoals, Alabama," approved March third, eighteen hun- 274.
dred and ninety-nine, to commence and complete the work Vol. 32, p.
therein authorized to be done, be extended so that unless
the work authorized to be done in said Act be commenced
within two years and completed within four years from
the date of this Act the privileges granted to said com-
pany by said first-mentioned Act shall cease and be de-
termined.
Approved, March 1, 1901.
CHAP. 565,-An Act To extend the time granted to the Muscle
Shoals Power Company by an Act approved March third, eighteen
hundred and ninety-nine, within which to commence and complete
the work authorized in the said Act to be done by said company,
and for other purposes.
Vol. 31, p.
839.
Feb. 18, 1903.
Vol. 32, p.
839.
[Public, No.
96.]
:
Shoals, Ala.
of canal, etc.,
Shoals Power
Vol. 30, p.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the time allowed the Muscle Shoals Power Muscle
Company by section two of an Act entitled "An Act Time extended
granting to the Muscle Shoals Power Company right to for construc-
erect and construct canal and power stations at Muscle by Muscle
Shoals, Alabama," approved March third, eighteen hun- Co.
dred and ninety-nine, to commence and complete the work 1351 Vol: 31;
therein authorized to be done be extended so that unless pp. 274, 846.
the work authorized in said Act to be done be commenced
within two years and completed within four years from
the date of this Act the privileges granted to said com-
pany by said first-mentioned Act shall cease and be deter-
mined; and the Secretary of War is authorized, in his
discretion, to permit the said company to erect and con-
struct dams which may abut on lands of the United States Construction.
along the line of the Muscle Shoals Canal upon such terms
of dams.
438 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
June 25,
1910.
Vol. 36, p.
828.
[H. R. 12353.]
[Public, No.
278.]
Tex.
and conditions as may be deemed just and equitable to the
public interests.
Approved, February 18, 1903.
(90)
CHAP. 396.-An Act Authorizing the Lone Star Canal Company,
of Anahuac, Chambers County, Texas, to erect a dam across the
mouth of Turtle Bay, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Lone Star Canal Company, of Anahuac,
Chambers County, Texas, be, and hereby is, authorized,
under the supervision of the Secretary of War, to con-
struct and maintain a bulkhead or dam across the mouth
Turtle Bay, of Turtle Bay, north of Browns Pass of the Trinity River,
Lone Star commencing on the mainland abutting on the property of
pany may dam. said company, extending westwardly about one thousand
nine hundred feet to a point three hundred feet north of
the mouth of said Browns Pass, abutting on state land:
Provided, That said company shall, at its own expense,
provide and keep a lock in said bulkhead or dam at such
place and of such dimensions as may be approved by the
Secretary of War.
Canal Com-
Proviso.
Lock.
Closing
passes.
River
SEC. 2. That said company, under the supervision of
the Secretary of War, is hereby authorized to close by
dam all passes from the Trinity River to said Turtle Bay,
also Jacks Pass, connecting Trinity River with Galveston
Bay.
SEC. 3. That said company, after it shall have acquired
title to the right of way, shall have and is hereby granted
Ditch from authority to cut a ditch of such depth and dimensions as
Trinity
Smiths may be prescribed by the Secretary of War from the
Bayou. Trinity River, opposite the junction of Old and Trinity
rivers, to Smiths Bayou.
to
Construction
386.
SEC. 4. That the work herein authorized shall not be
commenced until the plans therefor shall have been filed
in the War Department, and that the said work shall be
Vol. 34, P constructed under the provisions of the Act entitled "An
Act to regulate the construction of dams across navigable
Ante, p. 2823. waters," approved June twenty-first, nineteen hundred
and six, and the Act amendatory thereof, approved June,
nineteen hundred and ten, so far as the same may be
hereto applicable.
Amendment.
670.
SEC. 5. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, June 25, 1910.
(91)
Feb. 14, 1889. CHAP. 165.-An Act To authorize and empower the Mount
Vol. 25, P. Carmel Development Company to draw water from the Wabash
River, or its tributaries, in the county of Wabash, and State of
Illinois.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 439
construct ca-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That the Mount Carmel Development Company, amel Develop-
corporation created and existing under the laws of the ment Co. may
State of Illinois, be, and the same is hereby, authorized as from Wa-
and empowered to construct and operate, during its cor- bash River, Ill.
porate existence, a hydraulic canal from any point on the
Wabash River above the lock and dam now in process of
construction at the Grand Rapids of said Wabash River,
or from any tributary of said river within the county of
Wabash and State of Illinois, to any point on said river
within the corporate limits of the city of Mount Carmel,
Illinois; and to draw from said Wabash River or tribu-
tary thereof such supply of water as may be required for
the purposes of such corporation: Provided, That such
withdrawal be not detrimental to the interests of naviga- trolled by Sec-
tion and be subject to the direction and control of the Sec- retary of War.
retary of War.
Approved, February 14, 1889.
CHAP. 358. An Act Authorizing the Mount Carmel Develop-
ment Company to draw water from Wabash River at Grand
Rapids, Wabash County, Illinois.
Proviso.
To be con-
Feb. 12, 1901.
Vol. 31, p.
785.
draw water
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- Mount Car-
bled, That the Mount Carmel Development Company, a mel Develop-
corporation chartered by the State of Illinois as of the ment Co. may
date of October twenty-sixth, nineteen hundred, be, and from Wabash
the same is hereby, authorized and empowered to draw, River at Grand
by canal, flume, or race, from the pool of the Grand
Rapids dam of the Wabash River, in the county of
Wabash and State of Illinois, such supply of water as
may be necessary or required for the purposes of said cor-
poration during the continuance of said corporation: Pro-
vided, That such withdrawal of water shall not be so supply, etc.
great as to be detrimental to the navigation of said
Wabash River, and shall be under the direction and con-
trol of the Secretary of War: And provided further,
That the said corporation shall submit detailed plans,
showing the location and method of construction of said
canal, Hume, or race, to the Secretary of War for ap- war to approve
proval; and until he shall approve the same the work plans.
hereby authorized shall not be commenced.
Approved, February 12, 1901.
[Extract from the river and harbor act. of March 3, 1909.]
Provisos.
control of
Secretary of
Mar. 3, 1909.
Vol. 35, p.
[Public, No.
SEC. 9. That the Act of Congress entitled "An Act to 819.
authorize and empower the Mount Carmel Development [H. R. 28243.]
Company to draw water from the Wabash River, or its 317.1
tributaries in the county of Wabash and State of Illi- Wabash
nois," approved February fourteenth, eighteen hundred Use by Mount
and eighty-nine, and the Act of Congress entitled "An Act opment Com-
authorizing the Mount Carmel Development Company to pany revoked.
River, Ill.
Carmel Devel-
440 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
670, repealed.
Vol. 25, P. draw water from Wabash River at Grand Rapids, Wa-
Vol. 31, p. bash County, Illinois," approved February twelfth, nine-
785, repealed. teen hundred and one, be, and the same are hereby, re-
Licenses for pealed. And the Secretary of War is hereby authorized
government and empowered to grant leases or licenses for the use of
power from
dam.
the water power created by the government dam on the
Wabash River at Mount Carmel, Illinois, at such a rate,
and on such conditions, and for such periods of time, as
may seem to him just, equitable, and expedient; the said
leases or licenses to be limited to the use of the surplus
water not required for navigation, and to a period not ex-
ceeding twenty years; and he is also empowered to grant
leases or licenses, not exceeding twenty years, for the oc-
cupation of such land belonging to the United States on
said river as may be required for mill sites or other indus-
trial purposes not inconsistent with the requirements of
navigation: Provided, That all moneys received under
Deposit, etc., such leases or licenses shall be deposited in the Treasury
of the United States, and an itemized statement thereof
shall accompany the annual report of the Chief of Engi-
Proviso.
of receipts.
neers.
June 28, 1906.
(92)
CHAP. 3564.-An Act Granting to the Batesville Power Company
Vol. 34, P. right to erect and construct canal and power stations at Lock and
Dam Numbered One, upper White River, Arkansas.
536.
[H. R. 13106.]
313.]
Ark.
Power Com-
struct canal,
for power sta-
tion.
Provisos.
Condition.
[Public, No. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
White River, bled, That the consent of Congress is hereby given to the
Batesville Batesville Power Company, a corporation created and or-
pany may con- ganized under a charter granted by the State of Arkan-
etc., at Lock sas, its successors or assigns, to erect, construct, operate,
and Dam No. 1 and maintain inlet and outlet races, canals, or other struc-
tures and a power station or stations at or near Lock and
Dam Numbered One, upper White River, Arkansas, and
to make such other improvements as may be necessary for
the development of water power from Pool Numbered
One, and the transmission or application of the same:
Provided, That the constructions hereby authorized are
not built on any lands belonging to the United States and
do not in any way impair the usefulness of any improve-
ment made by the Government for the benefit of naviga-
Control oftion: Provided further, That in the operation of the afore-
said constructions the withdrawal of water from the
river shall at all times be under the direction and control
of the Secretary of War, and that until the plans and
location of the works herein authorized, so far as they
affect the interests of navigation, have been approved by
the Secretary of War, the improvements shall not be com-
menced or built, and the Secretary of War is authorized
and directed to fix from time to time reasonable charges
to be paid by said company for the use of said power.
water.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 441
SEC. 2. That unless the work herein authorized be com-
menced within one year and completed within three years
from the date hereof the privileges hereby granted shall
cease and be determined.
Time of con-
struction.
SEC. 3. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this Amendment.
Act is expressly reserved.
Approved, June 28, 1906.
(93)
June 29,
1906.
Vol. 34, p.
628.
[Public, No.
J. A. Om-
dam across.
Proviso.
CHAP. 3622.—An Act To enable the Secretary of War to permit
the erection of a lock and dam in aid of navigation in the White
River, Arkansas, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [H. R. 18596.]
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 368.]
bled, That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, au- White River,
thorized and empowered to grant permission to J. A. Ark.
Omberg, junior, to build and construct a lock and dam berg, jr., may
across the White River at such point above Lock Num- build lock and
bered Three, now built or being built by the United
States, as may be approved by the Secretary of War, the
said lock and dam to be constructed under his direction,
supervision, and control, and in accordance with and con-
formity to the plans and designs as may be approved by
the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army: Pro-
vided, That the plans and designs of the said structure
shall be prepared by the said contracting party at his own Construction.
expense; and the said contracting party shall purchase
and pay for all lands on either side of the river that may
be necessary to the successful construction and operation
of said lock and dam, including flowage rights and rights
of way for ingress and egress from public highways, and
deed the same to the United States, and make all excava-
tions, erect all stone, concrete, and timber work, furnish Transfer free
all materials of every character, and pay for all labor em-
ployed in the construction of said lock and dam, and
give said lock and dam to the United States completed,
free of all cost, expense, claims, or charges of any kind
whatsoever.
SEC. 2. That the said individual undertaking the con-
struction of said work shall begin the building of said
lock and 'dam within eighteen months from the passage
of this Act, and the same shall be completed within two
years from the date of beginning the construction, the
right being reserved to the United States to enter on the
construction of said lock and dam, if deemed advisable,
at any time before the work is commenced by said con-
tracting party; or if begun and not carried on in strict
accordance with the directions of the Secretary of War,
then the United States may assume the further construc-
tion and completion of said work at its option, the cost
of such further construction and completion to be paid
by the said contracting individual.
Plans, etc.
Time of con-
struction.
442 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Deed.
SEC. 3. That the deed to the United States to the land
to be purchased and donated to the same, as mentioned in
the first section of this Act, shall be executed and deliv-
ered within twelve months after the passage of this Act;
Character of and, further, that the Secretary of War shall determine
from time to time whether the work is being properly
done, and may require an increase in force to be employed
by the contractor, so as to force the work to completion
within the limit mentioned in the Act.
work.
Grant of
water-power
privileges.
Provisos.
Electric cur-
rent.
locks.
SEC. 4. That in consideration of the construction of said
lock and dam, free of cost to the United States except as
provided in section one of this Act, the United States
hereby grants to the person constructing said lock and
dam under the provisions of this Act such rights as it
possesses to use the water power produced by said dam
and to convert the same into electric power or otherwise
utilize it for a period of ninety-nine years: Provided, That
he shall furnish the necessary electric current while his
power plant is in operation to move the gates and operate
the locks and to light the United States buildings and
Operating grounds free of cost to the United States: Provided fur-
ther, That the said person shall operate and maintain the
said locks, affording passage to all boats and craft desir-
ing to use the same, but the Secretary of War, in the in-
terest of navigation, may relieve him of this obligation:
Secretary of And provided further, That the plans for the necessary
works and structures to utilize said water power shall be
approved by the Secretary of War, and that nothing shall
be done in the use of the water from said dam or other-
wise to interfere with or in any way impede or retard the
proper and complete navigation of the river at all times,
nor in any way to interfere with the use and control of the
same by the United States for the purposes of naviga-
Regulations. tion: And provided further, That the Secretary of War is
hereby authorized to prescribe regulations to govern the
use of the said water power and the operations of the
plant and force employed in connection therewith; and no
claim shall be made against the United States for any
failure of water power resulting from any cause what-
War to approve
plans, etc.
Failure to
notify.
tract.
ever.
SEC. 5. That in case of failure on the part of said J. A.
Omberg, junior, his heirs and assigns, for a period of
twelve months to formally notify the Secretary of War of
New con-his intention to proceed with the construction of the lock
and dam as herein provided, then it shall be lawful for
the Secretary of War to contract with any private corpo-
ration, company, firm, or persons for the construction of
said lock and dam on the terms and in the manner herein
provided: Provided, That the Secretary of War may re-
quire the contracting party to execute a bond, with proper
sureties, before the commencement of the work, in such
amount as he may consider necessary, not exceeding one
hundred thousand dollars, to insure the commencement,
Proviso.
Bond.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 443
prosecution, and completion of the work herein author-
ized and compliance with the terms, conditions, and re-
quirements of this Act; and in case of failure to comply Forfeiture.
with the requirements of said bond the said contracting
party shall forfeit to the United States the full amount
thereof.
tion for im-
Determining
value of.
SEC. 6. That the right is expressly reserved in the Revocation.
United States to revoke by Act of Congress the rights,
privileges, and benefits conferred by this Act; but in the,,Compensa-
event of such revocation the United States shall pay to provements.
the corporation, company, firm, or persons who may
erect said lock and dam under the provisions of this Act
as full compensation the reasonable value, exclusive of
the franchise hereby conferred, of all properties erected
and lands purchased by them necessary for the enjoyment
of the benefits conferred upon them by the provisions of
this Act, such value to be determined by mutual agree-Deterr
ment between the Secretary of War and the owners of said
properties; and in case they can not agree, then by pro-
ceedings instituted in the United States circuit court for
the condemnation of said property, such proceedings to
conform as nearly as may be to the laws of the State of
Arkansas in respect of condemning land for the right of
way for railroad purposes: Provided, That to insure com-
pliance with the terms of the contract or of this Act, or of privileges.
to protect the interests of navigation, the Secretary of
War shall have power at any time, before or after the
completion of the work, to order a suspension of all privi-
leges granted by this Act: And provided further, That Enforcement
compliance with such order of suspension may be enforced
by the injunction of the circuit court of the United States
exercising jurisdiction in the district in which the work is
situated, and proper proceedings to this end shall be insti-
tuted by the Attorney-General upon request of the Secre-
tary of War.
Provisos.
Suspension
by injunction.
Jurisdiction
and existing
fected.
SEC. 7. That nothing in this Act shall be construed as
in any way interfering with the exclusive jurisdiction law
over and control by the United States of the White River
and the lock and dam therein to be erected for the purpose
of navigation, nor as repealing or modifying any of the
provisions of law now existing in reference to the protec-
tion of navigation.
Approved, June 29, 1906.
not
af-
(94)
CHAP. 36.—An Act Granting to the Ozark Power and Water
Company authority to construct a dam across White River, Mis-
souri.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
Feb. 4, 1911.
Vol. 36, p.
897.
[S. 10268.]
[Public, No.
342.1
444 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Mo.
White River, bled, That the Ozark Power and Water Company, a
Ozark Power corporation organized under the laws of the State of Mis-
may dam, in souri, with principal offices in the city of Saint Louis,
Taney County. Missouri, its successors and assigns, be, and they are
& Water Co.
hereby, authorized to construct, maintain, and operate a
dam across the White River at a point suitable to the in-
terests of navigation at or near its northernmost point, in
Taney County, Missouri, approximately ten miles down-
stream from the towns of Hollister and Branson and four
miles upstream from the town of Forsyth, county seat of
Vol. 34, p. Taney County, in the State of Missouri, in accordance
with the provisions of the Act approved June twenty-
third, nineteen hundred and ten, entitled "An Act to
amend an Act entitled 'An Act to regulate the construc-
tion of dams across navigable waters,' approved June
twenty-first, nineteen hundred and six."
386.
Amendment.
SEC. 2. That the right to alter, amend, or repeal this
Act is hereby expressly reserved.
Approved, February 4, 1911.
Muskingum
River, Ohio.
Proviso.
rights.
(95)
ADDITIONAL LEGISLATION.
Muskingum, Green, and Barren rivers.—In addition to
the water-power privileges granted by the aforemen-
tioned acts, Congress, in the river and harbor acts of 1888
and 1890, authorizes and empowers the Secretary of War
to grant leases or licenses for the use of the water power
on the Muskingum, Green, and Barren rivers, as shown
by the following extracts from those laws, to wit:
[Extract from river and harbor act of August 11, 1888: Muskingum River.]
Improving Muskingum River, Ohio: For the construc-
tion of a lock at Taylorsville and the reconstruction of
the lock at Zanesville, pursuant to the report of the engi-
neers, one hundred and two thousand dollars; and the
Secretary of War is hereby authorized and empowered
to grant leases or licenses for the use of the water powers
on the Muskingum River at such rate and on such condi-
tions and for such periods of time as may seem to him
Water-power just, equitable, and expedient: Provided, That the leases
or licenses shall be limited to the use of the surplus water
not required for navigation. And he is also empowered
to grant leases or licenses for the occupation of such lands
belonging to the United States on said Muskingum River
as may be required for mill-sites or for other purposes
not inconsistent with the requirements of navigation;
and all moneys received under such leases or licenses shall
be turned into the Treasury of the United States, and the
itemized statement thereof shall accompany the annual
report of the Chief of Engineers.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 445
But nothing in this act shall be construed to affect any Vested rights.
vested right, if such there be, of any lessee of water
power on said river.
[Extract from river and harbor act of September 19, 1890: Green and
Barren rivers.]
Green
leases.
Proviso.
Limited
and
to
The Secretary of War is hereby authorized and em- Barren rivers.
powered to grant leases or licenses for the use of the Water-power
water-powers on the Green and Barren Rivers at such a
rate and on such conditions and for such periods of time
as may seem to him just, equitable, and expedient; said
leases not to exceed the period of twenty years: Provided,
That the leases or licenses shall be limited to the use of
the surplus water not required for navigation. And he surplus water.
is also empowered to grant leases or licenses for the occu-
pation of such lands belonging to the United States on
said Green and Barren Rivers as may be required for
mill-sites or for other purposes not inconsistent with the leases.
requirements of navigation; said leases or licenses not to
extend beyond the period of twenty years; and all moneys
received under such leases or licenses shall be turned into
the Treasury of the United States, and the itemized state-
ment thereof shall accompany the annual report of the
Chief of Engineers. But nothing in this act shall be
construed to affect any vested right, if such there be, of Vested rights.
any lessee of water-power on said river.
Following is an extract from the river and harbor act
of March 2, 1907, which relates, in part, to the subject of
the utilization of water power, to wit:
[Waterway from Chicago to the Gulf.]
Mill-site
Moneys cov-
Report, etc.
ered in.
amine and re-
channel, St.
The Secretary of War may appoint a board of five Board to ex-
members, to be composed of three members of the Missis- port on 14-foot
sippi River Commission, one of whom shall be the presi- Louis to mouth
dent of such commission, and two engineer officers of the of river.
United States Army, to examine the Mississippi River
below Saint Louis and report to Congress, at the earliest
date by which a thorough examination can be made, upon
the practicability and desirability of constructing and
maintaining a navigable channel fourteen feet deep and
of suitable width from Saint Louis to the mouth of the
river, either by the improvement of said river or by
a canal or canals for part of said route. In its report Scope.
the board shall cover the probable cost of such improve-
ment, the probable cost of maintenance, and the present
and prospective commerce of said waterway, both local
and general, upstream as well as downstream, and the
said board may consider in connection with the examina-
tion herein provided for, the survey of a proposed water-
way from Chicago to Saint Louis, heretofore reported;
it shall also report whether other plans of improvement
can be devised by which the probable demands of traffic,
446 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Subjects
report.
1910.
630.
of
[H. R. 20686.]
Public, No.
264.]
Saint Paul to
present and prospective, can be adequately met, and the
sum of one hundred and ninety thousand dollars, or so
much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated
for the making of such survey, of which amount only one
hundred thousand dollars shall be available, unless in
presenting a plan for such waterway it shall be necessary,
in the judgment of said board, to make a survey for a
lateral canal or canals; and the force, plant, and records
of the Mississippi River Commission shall be available
for the use of said board in making said examination;
and said board shall also at the earliest date practicable
report upon the following:
First. What depth of channel is it practicable to pro-
duce between Saint Louis and Cairo at low water by
means of regulation works.
Second. What depth will obtain in such regulated
channel at the average stage of water for the year.
Third. For what average number of days annually will
fourteen feet of water obtain in such regulated channel.
Fourth. What increase of depth will be obtained over
the natural flow of water in such regulated channel by an
added volume of ten thousand cubic feet per second; also
fourteen thousand cubic feet per second.
Fifth. And the board shall consider further the prac-
ticability of producing at all seasons of the year a depth
of fourteen feet in such regulated channel by the aid of
locks and dams similar to those projected and in use on
the Ohio River improvement.
Sixth. And the said Board shall also report upon any
water power which may be created in the portion herein
directed to be surveyed, as well as in the proposed water-
way from Saint Louis to Chicago heretofore surveyed,
and the value thereof, and what means should be taken
in order that the Government of the United States may
conserve the same or receive adequate compensation
therefor, and upon any lands which may be drained by
the construction of either of said proposed waterways,
and shall also report what steps, if any, shall be taken to
cause the cost of the improvement to be defrayed, in
whole or part, by means of such water power or lands.
[Extract from river and harbor act June 25, 1910.]
June 25, Improving Mississippi River, from Saint Paul to Min-
Vol. 36, p. neapolis: The modified project recommended by the Chief
of Engineers in his report dated March third, nineteen
hundred and ten, printed in House Document Numbered
Seven hundred and forty-one, Sixty-first Congress, sec-
Minneapolis. ond session, is hereby adopted, and all future work on
Modified pro- said improvement shall be prosecuted in accordance there-
with: Provided, That in the making of leases for water
power a reasonable compensation shall be secured to the
United States and the rates as fixed shall be subject to
revision by Congress.
ject.
Proviso.
Water-power
leases.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 447
Improving Mississippi River in Minnesota: Improv-
ing reservoirs at the headwaters of the Mississippi River:
Completing improvement by constructing a canal be-
tween Lake Winnibigoshish and Leech Lake, in accord-
ance with the report submitted in House Document Num-
bered Three hundred and sixty-three, Sixty-first Con-
gress, second session, sixty-one thousand two hundred
dollars.
STATUTES RELATING TO THE CONTROL OF WATER
POWER WITHIN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Up to the year 1866, the Federal Government had not, by any
act of legislation, defined its policy with respect to the control of
water courses. In all the Eastern States the common-law doctrine
of riparian rights in the use of running water, subject to the pub-
lic easement for navigation, had been fully recognized. At this
time it was also true that the public domain of the Federal Gov-
ernment was practically confined to the Western States. In these
States the doctrine of riparian rights had proven to be inap-
plicable, being inconsistent with the conditions there existing. As
a matter of fact, the use of running water, being chiefly valuable
for mining purposes, had been acquired by priority of appropria-
tion and the doctrine of appropriation was fully recognized in the
customs and uses of these localities. It had been common prac-
tice for those requiring the use of water to trespass upon the
public domain for the purpose of diverting water from streams
passing through such domain. It is evident that the Federal Gov-
ernment, being the riparian proprietor, under the common law,
was entitled to the full benefit and use of all waters passing
through or by such property.
In the year 1866, the right to the use of running water by prior
appropriation had become so fixed in the policy of these western
jurisdictions that Congress, in response to the evident require-
ments, enacted the act of July 26, 1866, thereby giving legislative
authority for acquiring the use of water on the public domain
by appropriation and also surrendering the control of water rights
to the jurisdiction of the various States.
Reservoirs at
Canal.
headwaters.
(96)
Vol. 14, p.
sec. 2339.
priation recog-
Act of 1866.-Revised Statutes, section 2339.-"When- July 26, 1866.
ever by priority of possession, rights to the use of water 253.
for mining, agricultural, manufacturing, or other pur- Rev. Stats.,
poses, have vested and accrued, and the same are recog- Vested rights
nized and acknowledged by the local customs, laws and by prior appro
the decision of courts, the possessors and owners of such nized.
vested rights shall be maintained and protected in the
same; and the right of way for the construction of
ditches and canals for the purposes herein specified is
acknowledged and confirmed; but whenever any person
in the construction of any ditch or canal, injures or dam-
ages the possession of any settler on the public domain,
the party committing such injury or damage, shall be
liable to the party injured for such damage.
448 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
July 9, 1870.
Vol. 16, p.
218.
(97)
Act of 1870.-Revised Statutes, section 2340.-"All
patents granted, or preemption or homesteads allowed,
Rev. Stats., shall be subject to any vested and accrued water-rights,
Patents, etc., or rights to ditches and reservoirs used in connection
subject to with such water-rights as may have been accrued under
or recognized by the preceding section."
sec. 2340.
vested water
rights.
Mar. 3, 1877,
vol. 19, p. 377.
may be pur-
chased.
water.
(98)
The same principle was more fully confirmed in the Desert land
act, approved March 3rd, 1877.
"Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America, in Congress assem-
bled, That it shall be lawful for any citizen of the
Desert lands United States, or any person of requisite age, 'who may
be entitled to become a citizen, and who has filed his
Declaration. declaration to become such,' and upon payment of
twenty-five cents per acre-to file a declaration under
oath with the register and receiver of the land district
in which any desert land is situated, that he intends to
reclaim a tract of desert land not exceeding one section,
by conducting water upon the same, within the period
Right to use. of three years thereafter: Provided, however, That the
right to the use of water by the person so conducting
the same, on or to any tract of desert land of six hundred
and forty acres shall depend upon bona fide prior ap-
propriation: and such rights shall not exceed the amount
of water actually appropriated, and necessarily used for
the purpose of irrigation and reclamation; and all sur-
plus water over and above such actual appropriation
and use, together with the water of all lakes, rivers and
other sources of water supply upon the public lands and
Water on not navigable, shall remain and be held free for the ap-
propriation and use of the public for irrigation, mining,
and manufacturing purposes subject to existing rights.
Contents of Said declaration shall describe particularly said section
of land if surveyed, and, if unsurveyed, shall describe
the same as nearly as possible without a survey.
At any
time within the period of three years after filing said
Perfection of declaration, upon making satisfactory proof to the reg-
ister and receiver of the reclamation of said tract of land
in the manner aforesaid, and upon the payment to the
receiver of the additional sum of one dollar per acre
for a tract of land not exceeding six hundred and forty
acres to any one person, a patent for the same shall be
Limit to issued to him. Provided, That no person shall be per-
quantity
land purchas-mitted to enter more than one tract of land and not to
exceed six hundred and forty acres which shall be in
compact form.
public lands
to be free.
declaration.
title.
able.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 449
defined.
"SEC. 2. That all lands exclusive of timber lands Desert lands
and mineral lands which will not, without irrigation,
produce some agricultural crop, shall be deemed desert
lands, within the meaning of this act, which fact shall
be ascertained by proof of two or more credible wit-
nesses under oath, whose affidavits shall be filed in the
land office in which said tract of land may be situated.
Localities in
which act to
"SEC. 3. That this act shall only apply to and take
effect in the States of California, Oregon, and Nevada, apply.
and the Territories of Washington, Idaho, Montana,
Utah, Wyoming, Arizona, New Mexico and Dakota, and
the determination of what may be considered desert land
shall be subject to the decision and regulation of the
Commissioner of the General Land Office.'
(99)
That it had become a fixed policy of the Federal Government to
yield to the various states jurisdiction over water courses, sub-
ject only to the federal control for purposes of navigation, is
evident from numerous subsequent enactments.
The Act of March 3rd, 1891, entitled: An Act to repeal timber
culture laws, and for other purposes, provides, "The privilege
herein granted shall not be construed to interfere with the control
of water for irrigation and other purposes under authority of the
respective states and territories."
Also, The Forest Service Act of June 4th, 1897, "All waters of
such reservations may be used for domestic, mining, milling or
irrigation purposes under the laws of the state wherein such for-
est reservations are situated."
Also the Act of February 26th, 1897, "The charges for water
coming in whole or in part from reservoir sites used or occupied
under the provisions of this Act shall always be subject to the con-
trol and regulation of the respective states and territories in which
such reservoirs are in whole or in part situate.”
The full text of the last mentioned Act follows:
An Act To provide for the use and occupation of
reservoir sites reserved.
Feb. 26, 1897.
Vol. 29, p.
599.
95.1
Public lands.
Rights of
way, reservoir
Vol.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem-
bled, That all reservoir sites reserved or to be reserved
shall be open to use and occupation under the right-of-
way Act of March third, eighteen hundred and ninety-sites. 26, p.
one. And any State is hereby authorized to improve and 1101.
occupy such reservoir sites to the same extent as an indi-
vidual or private corporation, under such rules and regu-
lations as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe:
Provided, That the charges for water coming in whole or
part from reservoir sites used or occupied under the pro-
visions of this Act shall always be subject to the control
and regulation of the respective States and Territories
in which such reservoirs are in whole or part situate.
Approved, February 26, 1897.
36135-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-29
Proviso.
Water charges.
450 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Mar. 3, 1891.
Vol. 26, p.
1095.
vations.
(100)
The first important Act carrying into effect the policy of the
government to establish forest reserves was enacted March 3rd,
1891, and was entitled "An Act to repeal timber culture laws, and
for other purposes." Section 24 of this Act reads as follows:
"Sec. 24 That the President of the United States may,
from time to time, set apart and reserve, in any State or
Territory having public land bearing forests, in any part
Forest reser- of the public lands wholly or in part covered with timber
or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not, as
public reservations, and the President shall, by public
proclamation, declare the establishment of such reserva-
tions and the limits thereof."
34.
June 4, 1897.
1095.
p.
(101)
The above Act was amended on several occasions, and by an Act
approved June 4th, 1897, the execution of all laws relating to the
Forest Reserves was entrusted to the Secretary of the Interior.
The relevant portions of this enactment, being a part of the
Sundry Civil Appropriation Act, are hereafter set out:
66* * *
All public lands heretofore designated and
Vol. 30, P. reserved by the President of the United States under the
provisions of the Act approved March fourth, eighteen
Vol. 26, p. hundred and ninety one, the orders for which shall be and
remain in full force and effect, unsuspended and unre-
voked and all public lands that may hereafter be set aside
and reserved as public forest reserves under said Act,
shall be as far as practicable controlled and administered
in accordance with the following provision:
Forest reser-
vation, when to
"No public forest reservation shall be established, ex-
be established. cept to improve and protect the forest within the reserva-
tions, or for the purpose of securing favorable conditions
of water flows, and to furnish a continuous supply of
timber for the use and necessities of citizens of the United
States; but it is not the purpose or intent of these pro-
visions, or the Act providing for such reservations, to
authorize the inclusion therein of lands more valuable for
the mineral therein, or for agricultural purposes, than
for forest purposes.
against fire,
etc.
Provision for "The Secretary of the Interior shall make provision
protection for the protection against destruction by fire and depre-
dation upon the public forests and forest reservations
which may have been set aside or which may be here-
after set aside under the Act of March third, eighteen
hundred and ninety one, and which may be continued;
Rules and and he may make such rules and regulations and estab-
lish such service as will insure the objects of such reser-
vations, namely, to regulate their occupancy and use and
to preserve the forests thereon from destruction; and any
violation of the provisions of this Act or such rules and
5388, p. 1044. regulations shall be punished as is provided for in the Act
regulations.
Penalty.
Vol. 25, p.
166.
R. S.,
sec.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 451
of June fourth, eighteen hundred and eighty eight,
amending section five thousand three hundred and eighty
eight of the Revised Statutes of the United States.¹
* * * (pp. 34, 35).
1
"All waters on such reservations may be used for do- Waters.
mestic, mining, milling, or irrigation purposes, under the
laws of the State wherein such forest reservations are
situated, or under the laws of the United States and the
rules and regulations established thereunder
(p. 36).
* * * "
(102)
An Act approved February 15, 1901, entitled "An Act relating
to rights of way through certain parks, reservations, and other
public lands," authorized the Secretary of the Interior to grant
rights of way through public lands for transmission lines, water
conduits, and kindred constructions under such regulations as he
might make.
Following is the act in full:
An Act Relating to rights of way through certain parks, reser-
vations, and other public lands.
Feb. 15, 1901:
Vol. 31, p.
790.
way through
ized.
author-
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- [Public, No.
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- 64.]
Public lands.
bled, That the Secretary of the Interior be, and hereby is, Rights of
authorized and empowered, under general regulations to reservations,
be fixed by him, to permit the use of rights of way etc.,
through the public lands, forest and other reservations of
the United States, and the Yosemite, Sequoia, and Gen-
eral Grant national parks, California, for electrical plants,
poles, and lines for the generation and distribution of
electrical power, and for telephone and telegraph pur-
poses, and for canals, ditches, pipes and pipe lines, flumes,
tunnels, or other water conduits, and for water plants,
dams, and reservoirs used to promote irrigation or mining
or quarrying, or the manufacturing or cutting of timber
or lumber, or the supplying of water for domestic, public,
or any other beneficial uses to the extent of the ground
occupied by such canals, ditches, flumes, tunnels, reser-
voirs, or other water conduits or water plants, or elec-
trical or other works permitted hereunder, and not to
exceed fifty feet on each side of the marginal limits width, etc.
thereof, or not to exceed fifty feet on each side of the cen-
ter line of such pipes and pipe lines, electrical, telegraph,
and telephone lines and poles, by any citizen, association,
or corporation of the United States, where it is intended
by such to exercise the use permitted hereunder or any
one or more of the purposes herein named: Provided,
That such permits shall be allowed within or through Approval of
any of said parks or any forest, military, Indian, or other permit.
reservation only upon the approval of the chief officer of
¹ The penalty referred to is a fine in the sum of $500, or imprisonment
for one year, or both.
452 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
mits.
5263.
the Department under whose supervision such park or
reservation falls and upon a finding by him that the same
is not incompatible with the public interest: Provided
Telegraph further, That all permits given hereunder for telegraph
lines, etc., per- and telephone purposes shall be subject to the provision
R. S., sec. of title sixty-five of the Revised Statutes of the United
States, and amendments thereto, regulating rights of way
for telegraph companies over the public domain: And
Revocation provided further, That any permission given by the Sec-
retary of the Interior under the provisions of this Act
may be revoked by him or his successor in his discretion,
and shall not be held to confer any right, or easement, or
interest in, to, or over any public land, reservation, or
park.
of permit.
Approved, February 15, 1901.
Feb. 1, 1905.
(103)
By an act approved February 1st, 1905, the duty of executing
laws relating to forest reserves was transferred to the Secretary
of Agriculture and is now under the immediate charge of the
Forest Service.
Following is the text of the act:
An Act Providing for the transfer of forest reserves from the
Vol. 33, P. Department of the Interior to the Department of Agriculture.
628.
[Public, No.
34.]
serves, control
[H. R. 8460.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Repre-
sentatives of the United States or America in Congress
Forest re; assembled, That the Secretary of the Department of
of transferred Agriculture shall, from and after the passage of this
Agriculture. Act, execute or cause to be executed all laws affecting
Vol. 26, P. public lands heretofore or hereafter reserved under the
to Secretary of
1103.
provisions of section twenty-four of the Act entitled “An
Act to repeal the timber-culture laws, and for other
purposes," approved March third, eighteen hundred and
ninety-one, and Acts supplemental to and amendatory
thereof, after such lands have been so reserved, except-
ing such laws as affect the surveying, prospecting, locat-
ing, appropriating, entering, relinquishing, reconveying,
certifying, or patenting of any of such lands.
Export of SEC. 2. That pulp wood or wood pulp manufactured
from Alaska from timber in the district of Alaska may be exported
pulp wood, etc.,
permitted.
Selection
forest rangers.
therefrom.
of SEC. 3. That forest supervisors and rangers shall be
selected, when practicable, from qualified citizens of the
States or Territories in which the said reserved, respec-
tively, are situated.
mining, etc.,
purposes.
Water rights SEC. 4. That rights of way for the construction and
granted for maintenance of dams, reservoirs, water plants, ditches,
flumes, pipes, tunnels, and canals, within and across the
forest reserves of the United States, are hereby granted
to citizens and corporations of the United States for
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 453
municipal or mining purposes, and for the purposes of
the milling and reduction of ores, during the period of
their beneficial use, under such rules and regulations as
may be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and
subject to the laws of the State or Territory in which
said reserves are respectively situated.
Regulations.
received from
SEC. 5. That all moneys received from the sale of any Use of funds
products or the use of any land or resources of said for- sale of prod
est reserves shall be covered into the Treasury of the ucts, etc.
United States and for a period of five years from the
passage of this Act shall constitute a special fund avail-
able, until expended, as the Secretary of Agriculture
may direct, for the protection, administration, improve-
ment, and extension of Federal forest reserves.
Approved, February 1, 1905.
(104)
Under the provisions of an Act passed June 25, 1910, the Presi-
dent has temporarily withdrawn many of the most valuable water-
power sites from entry until a time may come when their develop-
ment may be more adequately controlled. Following is the act:
June
1910.
25,
Vol. 36, p.
847.
[Public, No.
An Act To authorize the President of the United
States to make withdrawals of public lands in certain cases.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assem- [H. R. 24070.]
bled, That the President may, at any time in his discre- 303.1
Public lands.
tion, temporarily withdraw from settlement, location, Temporary
sale, or entry any of the public lands of the United States withdrawals by
including the District of Alaska and reserve the same for power sites, ir-
water-power sites, irrigation, classification of lands, or authorized.
other public purposes to be specified in the orders of with-
drawals, and such withdrawals or reservations shall re-
main in force until revoked by him or by an Act of
Congress.
President for
rigation, etc.,
SEC. 2. That all lands withdrawn under the provisions Mining rights
of this Act shall at all times be open to exploration, dis- continued.
covery, occupation, and purchase, under the mining laws
Rights of
of the United States, so far as the same apply to minerals Exceptions.
other than coal, oil, gas, and phosphates: Provided, That Provisos.
the rights of any person who, at the date of any order of bona de oil or
withdrawal heretofore or hereafter made, is a bona fide gas claimants.
occupant or claimant of oil or gas bearing lands, and who,
at such date, is in diligent prosecution of work leading to
discovery of oil or gas, shall not be affected or impaired
by such order, so long as such occupant or claimant shall
continue in diligent prosecution of said work: And pro-pristataims.
vided further, That this Act shall not be construed as a
recognition, abridgment, or enlargement of any asserted
rights or claims initiated upon any oil or gas bearing
lands after any withdrawal of such lands made prior to
of
454 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
etc.. settle-
cepted.
Homestead, the passage of this Act: And provided further, That there
ments ex-shall be excepted from the force and effect of any with-
drawal made under the provisions of this Act all lands
which are, on the date of such withdrawal, embraced in
any lawful homestead or desert-land entry theretofore
made, or upon which any valid settlement has been made
and is at said date being maintained and perfected pur-
suant to law; but the terms of this proviso shall not con-
tinue to apply to any particular tract of land unless the
entryman or settler shall continue to comply with the law
under which the entry or settlement was made: And pro-
Restrictions vided further, That hereafter no forest reserve shall be
created, nor shall any additions be made to one hereto-
fore created within the limits of the States of Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, or Wyoming,
except by Act of Congress.
on new forest
reserves.
Reports of
withdrawals to
SEC. 3. That the Secretary of the Interior shall report
Congress. all such withdrawals to Congress at the beginning of its
next regular session after the date of the withdrawals.
Approved, June 25, 1910.
(105)
It being substantially admitted by Federal authorities that the
Government no longer had jurisdiction over nonnavigable streams
and that the control of water courses, even on the public domain,
had passed to the several States, an attempt has been made to con-
serve such water resources for the purpose of securing their maxi-
mum beneficial use by establishing rules and regulations for the
use of such parts of the public domain as were essential for dam
and reservoir sites, canals, transmission lines, and for similar
uses. By virtue of the authority of the acts already set out the
Forest Service has established the following rules, as announced in
the Use Book for 1911, issued December 28, 1910:
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 455
REGULATIONS
U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
FOREST SERVICE.
Henry S. Graves, Forester.
THE USE BOOK.
AND INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE USE OF THE
MANUAL OF PROCEDURE FOR
NATIONAL FORESTS, AND MANUAL
FOREST OFFICERS.
[Issued by the Secretary of Agriculture December 28, 1910.]
WATER POWER.
REGULATION L-1. Preliminary water-power permits
will allow the occupancy of the lands of the United States
within national forests for the purpose of securing the
data required for an application for final permit and for
such construction as may be necessary to preserve water
appropriation during that period. Final water-power
permits will allow the occupancy and use of such lands
for the construction, maintenance, and operation thereon
of works for the main purpose of the generation of elec-
trical power. Preliminary or final permits for commer-
cial water-power works or for noncommercial water-
power works of a capacity in excess of one thousand
(1,000) horsepower will be granted, extended, and re-
newed only by the Secretary of Agriculture. Permits for
noncommercial water-power works of a capacity of one
thousand (1,000) horsepower or less and for transmission
lines not a part of any water-power works covered by a
water-power permit will be granted, extended, and re-
newed by the district forester. The Secretary of Agri-
culture alone may revoke water-power permits.
REG. L-2. The term "noncommercial water-power
works" will be applied to water-power works owned and
used solely by the permittees for one or more of the fol-
lowing purposes: In the operation of their own mines or
in the milling and reduction of ores therefrom; as auxil-
iary to irrigation works owned and operated by permit-
tees; temporarily, in the construction of other works for
which permission has already been granted the per-
mittees; by municipalities for municipal purposes; or for
such other miscellaneous uses not herein enumerated as
may be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture to fall
within this class. No charge will be made for the use and
occupancy of lands for noncommercial water-power
works. All other water-power works will be termed
"commercial." (See regulation L-7 for charges.)
REG. L-3. Priority of application for a preliminary
water-power permit shall be established by filing an ap-
plication as prescribed in regulation L-9. Priority of
application for a final water-power permit shall be estab-
lished by filing an application as prescribed in regulation
I-10. If an application for a final permit as prescribed
by the said regulation is filed within the period required
456 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
in a preliminary permit, priority established thereunder
shall be maintained, and with reference to priority such
application for final permit shall relate back and be effec-
tive as of the date of the application for the preliminary
permit. Priority shall be maintained only when the
projects shown in the application for the final permit are
within the approximate limits of diversion and discharge
as shown in the application for the preliminary permit;
priority shall be established for any projects outside these
limits from the date of filing the application for final per-
mit. Priority established under an application for final
permit shall be lost if the applicant fails to return a duly
executed stipulation, as prescribed in regulation L-12,
within ninety (90) days from the date it is mailed by
the district forester, unless such period is extended by
written authority of the Secretary of Agriculture. Prior-
ity established under an application for preliminary per-
mit shall be lost if the application for final permit, as
prescribed in regulation L-10, is not filed within the time
required in the preliminary permit. Priority established
under an application for final permit shall be lost if the
permit is revoked. No other application for a like use,
covering in whole or in part the same lands, shall be ac-
cepted from the permittee whose priority of application
is lost until the expiration of one year thereafter.
REG. L-4 (amended July 10, 1911). No final water-
power permit shall be issued if the works to be con-
structed thereunder will in any way physically interfere
with works operated or constructed or to be constructed
under a final water-power permit, nor will a final water-
power permit be issued for the construction of works
within an area covered by a prior preliminary permit
until after the filing of final application or the loss of
priority by the prior preliminary permittee. Successive
preliminary permits may be issued covering the same
water-power site, but in each successive preliminary per-
mit it shall be specified that such permit is subordinate
to any prior permit or permits still in effect, and shall not
deprive any prior preliminary permittee of his prior right
to obtain a final permit.
REG. L-5. Occupancy and use of national forest lands
is the sole privilege granted under a water-power permit.
In the issuance of such permits no attempt will be made
to adjudicate water rights, since water rights are acquired
under State laws and adjudicated by the courts. There-
fore no protests against the granting of an application,
if based upon alleged lack of water rights, will be con-
sidered; nor, in general, will any allegation that the time
of beginning or completion of construction has been or
is delayed by litigation over water rights be accepted as
& sufficient reason for granting any extensions of time.
REG. L-6. Unless sooner revoked by the Secretary of
Agriculture, a final water-power permit shall terminate
at the expiration of fifty (50) years from the date of the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 457
permit, and may then be deemed to be an application by
the permittee for a new permit to occupy and use such
lands as are occupied and used under the original permit,
provided that the permittee shall, not less than two nor
more than four years prior to the termination of the
permit, formally notify the Secretary of Agriculture that
it desires such new permit, and will comply with all laws
and regulations at such time existing, regulating the
occupancy and use for water-power purposes of lands of
the United States within the national forests.
REG. L-7. The occupancy and use of lands of the United
States within national forests under a preliminary or
final water-power permit, other than noncommercial, shall
be conditioned upon the payment of an annual charge,
based upon the value for power purposes of such lands,
and the measure of said value shall be the net power ca-
pacity of the works, as defined in regulation L-8, and the
rates at which the charge shall be calculated shall be for
each net electrical horsepower per annum as follows:
For the first year-
For the second year.
For the third year__.
For the fourth year--
For the fifth year.
For the sixth year--.
For the seventh year..
For the eighth year..
For the ninth year-
For the tenth and each succeeding year-
$0.10
· 20
30
·40
.50
.60
.70
.80
.90
88
1.00
The above rates per net electrical horsepower per an-
num shall apply to preliminary water-power permits, in
accordance with the net power capacity of the works as
estimated at the time of granting the preliminary water-
power permit, and if the final application is made in ac-
cordance with the terms of the preliminary permit all
payments made under the preliminary permit shall be
credited to the permittee and be applied to the payment
due at the time of granting the final permit and, or, to
payments to become due thereafter; provided, however,
that if the final permit provides for only a partial devel-
opment of the project or projects protected by the pre-
liminary permit then only a proportional part of such
payments as may have been made under the preliminary
permit will be applied on payments due or to become due
under the final permit.
The above rates shall also apply to final water-power
permits, and if the works are completed and operation
is begun within the time specified in the stipulation
executed by the permittee or any approved extension
thereof, all payments made prior to such completion of
construction and beginning of operation and all pay-
ments which have been credited upon the final permit
shall be applied on payments due or to become due upon
or after the date of such completion of construction and
beginning of operation.
458 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The minimum rate of ten (10) cents per net electrical
horsepower per annum shall also apply upon the date of
the completion of construction and beginning of opera-
tion, if the works are completed and operation is begun
within the period specified in the stipulation executed by
the permittee or in an approved extension thereof, and
shall increase by ten (10) cents per net electrical horse-
power per annum for each year thereafter until a rate of
one dollar ($1) per net electrical horsepower per annum
is reached, and shall then remain at that rate until the
expiration of the permit.
The minimum rate of ten (10) cents per net electrical
horsepower per annum shall apply proportionately to
the fractional part of the calendar year succeeding the
date of the granting of the preliminary permit and of
the final permit, and the date of the completion of con-
struction and beginning of operation, if the works are
completed and operation is begun within the time speci-
fied in the stipulation executed by the permittee or any
approved extension thereof, and also to the following
full calendar year.
If the original permittee sells or transfers his improve-
ments in accordance with regulation L-15 and a new per-
mit is issued to the vendee or transferee, the subsequent
annual charges shall be at the rates that would have been
required under the original permit, and any advance pay-
ments made by the original permittee may be applied pro
tanto on the new permit. If all or any part of the
amounts due for charges as required in the preliminary
permit shall, after due notice has been given, be in arrears
for sixty days, then and thereupon the preliminary per-
mit shall terminate and be void. If all or any part of
the amounts due for charges as required in the final per-
mit shall, after due notice has been given, be in arrears
for six months, then and thereupon the final permit shal
terminate and be void.
Nothing in this regulation shall be construed to alter or
amend the rates or the methods of fixing the charges as
specifically provided in any existing permit.
REG. L-8. The term "gross power capacity," as used
in these regulations, shall mean the power capacity of the
entire works to be constructed, maintained, and, or, op-
erated in whole or in part, under the permit for which
application is made; provided that the term "power
capacity," as used in this regulation, shall mean estimated
average annual station output in electrical horsepower,
which, under continuous operation with reasonable load
factor, is possible of development from all water available
therefor, falling through effective head, with deductions.
for reasonable mechanical and electrical losses in gener-
ating machinery, and that the term "load factor," as used
in this regulation, shall mean ratio of average output to
maximum output.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 459
The "net power capacity" upon which the charges are
based (see regulation L-7) shall be determined by making
the following deductions from the gross power capacity
of the entire works:
(A) An amount bearing approximately the same ratio
to the storage power of the reservoir or reservoirs, pro-
posed to be constructed or maintained under permit, as
the area of unreserved lands and patented lands within
the flood lines of such reservoir or reservoirs bears to the
total area within said flood lines, as of the beginning of
each year.
(B) An amount bearing approximately the same ratio
to the difference between the gross power capacity and
the storage power as the length of the conduit or conduits,
proposed to be constructed or maintained under permit
upon unreserved lands and patented lands, bears to the
total length from intake to powerhouse, of the conduit or
conduits, as of the beginning of each year.
(C) From the gross power capacity remaining after
deductions (A) and (B) have been made a further deduc-
tion shall be made which, in per cent, shall be calculated
by multiplying the square of the distance of primary
transmission in miles by the constant factor 0.001, but in
no case shall deduction (C) exceed twenty-five (25) per
cent.
The term "storage power," as used in these regulations,
shall mean that part of the aforesaid gross power capacity
which is made possible of development by the use of any
reservoir or reservoirs to be constructed or maintained in
whole or in part under permit. The word " conduit," as
used in these regulations, shall include ditches, canals,
flumes, pipe lines, and all other means for the conveyance
of a flow of water..
If any part of the electric energy generated by the
works constructed in whole or in part under permit is
used by the permittee in the operation of its own mines,
or in the milling or reduction of ores therefrom, or as
auxiliary to irrigation works owned and operated by the
permittee, or for such other miscellaneous uses as may
be determined by the Secretary of Agriculture to fall
within "noncommercial" use, the net power capacity
upon which the charge for any year is to be calculated
shall, before such calculation, be reduced by an amount
bearing approximately the same ratio to the net power
capacity as the amount of electric energy generated by
the works and used for the above purposes bears to the
total amount of energy generated by the works during the
last preceding year.
If at any time not less than ten (10) years after the
original or after the last preceding determination of the
gross power capacity the permittee or the Secretary of
Agriculture, on the ground of the inaccuracy, insuffi-
ciency, or inapplicability of the data upon which the
460 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
original or said last preceding determination of the gross
power capacity was made, shall apply for or give notice
of review of the original or last preceding determination,
then and thereupon such review shall be taken by the
Secretary of Agriculture and a redetermination of the
gross power capacity and of the storage power shall be
made, and thereupon the redetermined gross power and
the redetermined storage power shall, for the purpose of
determining the charges, and from the beginning of the
next calendar year, be taken to be the gross power capac-
ity of the works and the storage power of the reservoir
or reservoirs.
The decision of the Secretary of Agriculture shall be
final as to all matters of fact upon which the determina-
tion of the power capacity of the works and the storage
power of the reservoir or reservoirs depend.
REG. L-9. All applications for preliminary permits to
occupy and use the lands of the United States within
national forests for the purpose of securing the data
required for a final application for water-power works
and for such construction as may be necessary to preserve
water appropriation, shall be filed with the district
forester of the district in which such lands are situated,
and shall consist of the following:
(A) An application in triplicate on Form 58.
B) A map on tracing linen and either one Van Dyke
negative or three print copies, cut to a uniform size
not larger than 28 by 40 inches and not smaller than 24
by 36 inches, with scale so selected as to show the entire
project upon a single map, showing the approximate
location of the dams, reservoirs, conduits, power houses
or other works for which final application is to be made;
each separate sheet of maps, estimates, and data shall be
signed and dated by the applicant. If the proposed devel-
opment is to be upon surveyed land, the map shall show
for each reservoir site the distance and bearing of one ex-
tremity of the dam from the nearest existing corner of the
public survey, and the approximate position and area of
the flood line of the reservoir; for each conduit line, the
distance and bearing of each terminus from the nearest
existing corner of the public survey, and the approxi-
mate location and length of the conduit; and for each
power-house site, the distance and bearing of one corner
of the site from the nearest existing corner of the public
survey, and the approximate area of the site. If on un-
surveyed land, the distances and bearings may be taken
from some natural feature that can be readily recognized
upon the ground, as a stream junction for example, or
from a permanent monument that can be readily found.
(C) A statement in triplicate, estimating the amount
of water available for use and the total head at each pro-
posed power house.
(D) Estimates in triplicate of the amount of power
that may be developed at each proposed power house.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 461
(E) Prima facie evidence, certified by the proper
public officer, of the appropriation by the applicant or
its predecessors of all the water which it is proposed to
use in the operation of the works applied for.
Application must be made for the occupancy and use
of such lands for a definite limited period only, which
period will allow a reasonable time for the preparation
and filing of the final application as prescribed in regula-
tion L-10.
The time prescribed in the preliminary permit may,
upon application, be extended by the Secretary of Agri-
culture if the completion of the final application has
been prevented by unusual climatic conditions that could
not reasonably have been foreseen or by some special or
peculiar cause beyond the control of the permittee.
Although not required as an essential part of the ap-
plication, a statement from the district or supervising
engineer of the United States Reclamation Service, to the
effect that the granting of the permit applied for will not
interfere with any Government reclamation project,
should be submitted with the application.
An application for a preliminary water-power permit
filed with the district forester shall not be complete until
the last map or paper required by this regulation shall
have been filed in the form prescribed.
REG. L-10. All applications for final permits to occupy
and use the lands of the United States within national
forests for commercial water-power works and for non-
commercial water-power works of more than 1,000 elec-
trical horsepower capacity shall be filed with the district
forester of the district in which the lands are situated,
and shall consist of the following:
A) An application in triplicate on Form 60.
$&
B) Maps of location and plans of structures, both on
tracing linen with either one Van Dyke negative or two
print copies cut to a uniform size not larger than 28 by
40 inches and not smaller than 24 by 36 inches, with a
graphical scale of not less than 6 inches in length drawn
thereon. Separate sheets shall be used for maps of loca-
tion whenever the whole survey can not be shown upon
a single sheet. Each separate sheet of maps and plans
shall contain the affidavit of the applicant's engineer
and the applicant's certificate.
(1) The following maps and plans shall be filed for
each reservoir which will be used as a part of the com-
plete power project: (a) A contour map of each reservoir
site, dam, and dam site on a scale of not more than 400
feet to the inch with a contour interval of not more than
10 feet. United States Geological Survey datum should
be used where available. The maps shall show the refer-
ence lines for the initial point of the survey and all land
subdivisions within the flood lines of the reservoirs, and
the status of all such lands which are within the national
forest, designating separately national forest land and
462 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
patented land. (b) Plans, elevations, and cross sections
of the dams, showing spillways, sluiceways, or sluice
pipes, the character of the material to be used, and the
type of construction.
(2) The following maps and plans shall be filed for the
entire length of each conduit which will be used as a part
of the complete power project: (a) A contour map of the
entire conduit location, except pressure lines, on a scale
of not more than 400 feet to the inch, with contour inter-
val of not more than 10 feet and a profile of the pressure
lines. United States Geological Survey datum should be
used where available. The contours shall cover either an
area of 100 feet in width on each side of the center line of
the conduit or a difference in elevation of at least 25 feet
above and below the grade line of the conduit. This map
shall show the transit line of the survey and the center
line of the proposed final location of conduits, including
curves between tangents, the reference line of the location
of termini, all land subdivisions to be crossed by the con-
duit, and the distance, from the nearest section or quarter-
section corner, of the intersection of the transit line with
section lines. If such corners can not be found within a
half mile of the line the fact should be noted upon the
map and the tie may be omitted. This map shall also
show the status of land within the national forest which
will be crossed by the conduits, designating separately
national forest land and patented land, what sections of
the conduit will be in flume, ditch, tunnel, pipe, etc., and
the grade of each section. (b) Plans, elevations, and
cross sections of each type of conduit, showing material,
dimensions, grades, flow, line, and capacity, and plans
of intake works and forebays.
(3) The following maps shall be filed for all power-
house sites which will be used as a part of the complete
power project. Contour maps on a scale of not more than
50 feet to the inch with contour interval of not more than
5 feet, of all proposed power-house sites, showing connec-
tions between initial point of survey and the reference
corner of the public survey, the proposed locations of
power houses, other buildings, etc., and the status of the
lands to be used, designating separately national forest
land and patented land. This map shall also state the
proposed type and probable number and rated capacity
of the water wheels and generators to be used.
(4) The following maps shall be filed for such portions
of transmission lines as lie within the exterior boundaries
of a national forest: A map of the survey of the proposed
final location of the center line of the transmission line
on a scale of not more than 1,000 feet to the inch. This
map shall show the reference lines for the location of
termini when within the exterior boundaries or of inter-
sections with national forest boundaries, all land sub-
divisions to be crossed by the transmission line, the dis-
tances, from the nearest section or quarter-section corner,
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 463
of the intersection of the survey lines with the section
lines and the status of the lands to be crossed by the trans-
mission line, designating separately national forest land
and patented land.
(C) Copies of field notes in triplicate of the entire final
location survey of conduits and transmission lines and the
exterior boundaries of power-house and reservoir sites
bearing the affidavit of the applicant's engineer and the
applicant's certificate.
(D) Detailed estimate in triplicate of the amount of
maximum, minimum, and average output of the proposed
works in electrical horsepower at the generator switch-
board, bearing the affidavit of the applicant's engineer
and the applicant's certificate. This estimate shall be
accompanied by a detailed statement in triplicate of the
complete data upon which estimates are based, consisting
of statement of the amount of water appropriated, the
estimated average amounts of water to be used from
natural flow and from storage, stream measurements, run-
off and evaporation records, total and effective heads,
estimated efficiencies of machinery, and estimated load
factor of the plant.
(E) Prima facie evidence, certified by the proper pub-
lic officer, of the appropriation by the applicant or its
predecessors of all the water which it is proposed to use
in the operation of the works. If such evidence has been
filed with a preliminary application only such additional
evidence will be required as will cover appropriations or
transfers subsequent to the date of the evidence filed with
the preliminary application.
(F) Articles of incorporation, if a corporation, certi-
fied under the State seal, or articles of association or
partnership, properly certified, and, if a corporation or-
ganized under the laws of a State or Territory other than
the State or Territory in which the project is located,
evidence of the right to operate within the State or Ter-
ritory within which the works are to be located.
Maps and field notes shall designate by termini and
length each conduit and transmission line, and by initial
point and area each reservoir site and power-house site.
The termini of conduits, the termini of transmission lines
when within the exterior boundaries, the intersections of
transmission lines with national forest boundaries, and the
initial point of survey of power-house sites shall be fixed
by reference of course and distance to the nearest existing
corner of the public survey. The initial point of the sur-
vey of reservoir sites shall be fixed by reference of course
and distance to the nearest existing corner outside of the
reservoir by a line, or lines, that does not cross an area
that will be covered with water when the reservoir is in
use. When either terminus or a conduit, or intersections
of transmission lines with national forest boundaries, or
the initial point of the survey of a reservoir or power-
house site is upon unsurveyed land, it shall be connected by
464 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
traverse with an established corner of the public survey,
and the distance from the terminus or initial point to the
corner shall be computed and noted on the map and in the
affidavit of the applicant's engineer. When an estab-
lished corner of the public survey is more than 2 miles dis-
tant, this connection may be with a natural object or a
permanent monument which can be readily found and
recognized and which will fix and perpetuate the position
of the terminus or initial point. This map shall show the
position of such point and shall give the course and dis-
tance to the terminus and initial point. The field notes
shall give an accurate description of the natural object
or monument and full data of traverse as required above.
The affidavit of the applicant's engineer and the appli-
cant's certificate shall state the connections.
Each separate original map, plan, set of field notes,
estimates and data, evidence of water right, articles of
incorporation and evidence of right to do business within
the State, when required, shall be plainly marked “Ex-
hibit A," "Exhibit B," etc., respectively, and referred
to by such designation in the application. Maps and
plans shall in addition be described in the application
by their titles as "Exhibit A," map of location of, etc.,
"Exhibit B," plan of, etc. Duplicate and triplicate
copies should be marked “Exhibit A, duplicate," " Ex-
hibit A, triplicate," etc. Maps should be rolled for mail-
ing and should not be folded.
An application for final permit filed with the district
forester shall not be complete until the last map or paper
required by this regulation has been filed in the form
prescribed.
REG. L-11. Applications for permission to occupy and
use the lands of the United States within national forests
for noncommercial water-power works of 1,000 horse-
power capacity or less shall be filed with the district for-
ester of the district in which such lands are situated, shall
be in writing, and shall be accompanied by:
(A) A map in triplicate showing the location of dams,
reservoirs, conduits, power houses, and transmission lines.
or other works.
(B) Field notes of the survey in triplicate.
(C) Prima facie evidence, certified by the proper public
officer, of the appropriation by the applicant or its prede-
cessors of all the water which it is proposed to use in the
operation of the works.
(D) A statement in triplicate of the amount of water
to be diverted for use and the amount of power to be
developed.
The map shall consist of one original on tracing linen
and either one Van Dyke negative or two print copies,
and shall be not larger than 28 by 40 inches or smaller
than 24 by 36 inches, and may be of any convenient scale.
If the proposed development is to be upon unsurveyed
land the map shall show, for each reservoir site, the dis-
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 465
tance and bearing of the initial point of survey from the
nearest existing corner of the public survey, the location
of the flood lines of the reservoir, and its area; for each
conduit line, the distance and bearing of each terminus
from the nearest corner of the public survey, the location
of the center line of the conduit, and its length; and for
each power-house site, the distance and bearing of the
initial point of survey from the nearest corner of the
public survey, the location of the exterior boundaries of
the site, and the area. If on unsurveyed land, the dis-
tances and bearings may, if the nearest existing corner of
the public survey is more than two miles distant, be taken
from some natural object or permanent monument that
can be readily found and recognized, and which will fix
and perpetuate the position of the terminus or initial
point.
REG. L-12. Before a water-power permit for noncom-
inercial water-power works of over 1,000 horsepower ca-
pacity shall be issued the permittee shall execute a stipu-
lation to include such of the requirements enumerated in
regulation L-13 as may be necessary to protect national
forest interests. Stipulations will not be required for
noncommercial water-power works of 1,000 horsepower
or less, or for transmission lines not a part of any water-
power works covered by a water-power permit.
REG. L-13. Before a final permit for commercial water-
power works shall be issued the permittee shall execute
and file with the district forester a stipulation:
(A) To construct its works on the locations shown upon
and in accordance with the maps and plans filed with its
final application for a water-power permit and to make
no material deviation from said location unless and until
maps and plans showing such deviation shall have been
filed with the district forester and approved by the Secre-
tary of Agriculture. (See regulation L-15.)
(B) To begin the construction of the works, or the
several parts of the works, within a specified period or
periods from the date of the permit for which applica-
tion has been made, and thereafter to diligently and con-
tinuously prosecute such construction unless temporarily
interrupted by climatic conditions or by some special or
peculiar cause beyond the control of the permittee. The
term "construction of the works" as used in this regula-
tion shall be deemed and taken to mean only the actual
construction of dams, conduits, power houses, transmis-
sion lines, or some permanent structure necessary to the
operation of the completed works, and shall not include
surveys or the building of roads and trails, or the clear-
ing of reservoir sites or other lands to be occupied, or the
performance of any work preliminary to the actual con-
struction of the permanent works.
(C) To complete the construction and begin the opera-
tion of the works, or the several parts of the works,
36136°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-
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466 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
within a specified period or periods from the date of the
permit for which application has been made.
(D) To operate continuously for the generation of
electric energy the works constructed and maintained in
whole or in part under the permit, unless, upon a full and
satisfactory showing that such operation is prevented by
unavoidable accidents or contingencies, this requirement
shall be temporarily waived by the written consent of
the Secretary of Agriculture.
(E) That any approval by the Secretary of Agricul-
ture of any alteration or amendment, or of any map or
plan, or of any extension of time, shall affect only the
portions specifically covered by such approval. And no
approval of any such alteration, amendment, or exten-
sion shall operate to alter or amend, or in any way what-
soever be a waiver of any other part, condition, or pro-
vision of the stipulation.
(F) To pay annually in advance for the use and occu-
pancy of the land such charges as may be required by the
regulations of the Secretary of Agriculture. (Regula-
tions L-7 and L-8.)
(G) To install and maintain in good operating con-
dition accurate measuring weirs, gauges, and other de-
vices approved by the Secretary of Agriculture, adequate
for the determination of the natural flow of the stream
or streams from which the water is to be diverted for the
operation of the works and of the amount of water used
from the natural flow in the operation of the works and
of the amounts of water held in and drawn from storage,
and to keep accurate and sufficient records, to the satis-
faction of the Secretary of Agriculture, of the above-
named measurements.
(H) That the books and records of the permittee in so
far as they show the amount of electric energy gener-
ated by the works constructed or maintained, in whole or
in part, under permit, or the amount of water held in or
used from storage, or the stream flow or other data of
the watershed furnishing water used in the generation of
electric energy, shall be open at all times to the inspec-
tion and examination of the Secretary of Agriculture, or
his duly authorized representative, and that the permittee
will during January of each year make a return to the
Secretary of Agriculture, under oath, of such of the rec-
ords of measurements made by or in the possession of the
permittee as may be required by the Secretary of Agri-
culture and for the year ending on December thirty-first
preceding.
(I) That the works to be constructed and maintained
under the permit will not be owned, leased, trusteed,
possessed, or controlled by any device or in any manner so
that they form part of, or in any way effect, any combina-
tion in the form of an unlawful trust, or form the subject
of any contract or conspiracy to limit the output of elec-
tric energy, or in restraint of trade with foreign nations
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 467
or between two or more States or Territories, or within
any one State or Territory in the generation, sale, or
distribution of electric energy.
(J) To protect all Government and other telephone
lines at crossings of and at all places of proximity to the
transmission line and to maintain the line in such a
manner as to prevent injury to stock grazing on the
national forests.
(K) To clear and keep clear the land along the trans-
mission line where it crosses national forest lands.
(L) To dispose of all brush and other refuse resulting
from the clearing out or cutting of timber on the national
forest lands to be occupied under the permit for which
application is made.
(M) To build and repair roads and trails whenever any
roads or trails are destroyed or injured by construction
work or flooding under the permission applied for, and
to build and maintain necessary and suitable crossings for
all roads and trails which intersect the conduit, if any,
constructed, operated, or maintained on the lands the
occupancy and use of which is applied for.
(N) To pay for the full value of all merchantable tim-
ber upon national forest lands to be cut, injured, or de-
stroyed.
(Ŏ) To pay full value for all damage to the national
forests resulting from the breaking of or the overflowing,
leaking, or seeping of water from the works to be con-
structed, maintained, or operated under the permission
applied for, and for all other damage to the national
forests caused by the neglect of the permittee or the em-
ployees, contractors, or employees of the contractors of
the permittee.
(P) To sell electric energy to the United States, when
requested, at as low a rate as is given to any other pur-
chaser for a like use at the same time; provided, that the
permittee can furnish the same to the United States with-
out diminishing the measured quantity of energy sold
before such request to any other customer by a binding
contract of sale; and provided further, that nothing in
this clause shall be construed to require the permittee to
increase its permanent work or to install additional gen-
erating machinery.
(Q) To do all reasonably within its power to prevent
and suppress forest fires on or near the lands to be occu-
pied under permit.
REG. L-14. During the progress of construction amend-
ments to maps of location or plans of structures will be
required from the permittee if there is a physical inter-
ference with the use of lands granted by existing permits
or pending applications, or if there is a material devia-
tion from the maps or plans as originally filed, but no
deviation will be considered material which involves a
change of less than 10 per cent in the estimated gross
capacity of the works. Any approval of an amendment
468 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of a map or plan or of any extension of time shall be in
the form of a supplemental stipulation and permit so
drawn as to become a part of the original stipulation and
permit and a substitute for the clauses amended. Any
approval by the Secretary of Agriculture of any amend
ment of any map or plan shall apply only to the portions
specifically covered by such approval, and no approval of
any such amendment shall operate to amend or be in any
way a waiver of any other part, condition, or provision of
the stipulation.
If after the completion of the works there are any devia-
tions in location from those shown upon the original map,
or approved amendments thereof, additional maps pre-
pared in the manner prescribed for original maps of loca-
tion will be required to be filed with the district forester
within six months after the completion of each part of
the works showing the extent of such deviations and the
final locations of such parts of the works. Also upon the
completion of the works detailed working plans will be
required of the works as constructed, except of such parts
as have been constructed in compliance with plans origi-
nally filed or approved amendments thereof. Such new
or additional plans may be originals on tracing linen or
Van Dyke negatives of the permittee's own working
plans. The plans of conduits, dams, and appurtenant
structures must be complete; of power houses, only
general lay-out plans are required.
REG. L-15. An extension of the periods stipulated by
the permittee for beginning construction, or for the com-
pletion of construction and the beginning of operation,
will be granted only by the written approval of the Sec-
retary of Agriculture after a showing by the permittee
satisfactory to the Secretary of Agriculture that the be-
ginning or completion of construction and beginning of
operation has been prevented by engineering difficulties
that could not reasonably have been foreseen, or by other
special and peculiar causes beyond the control of the
permittee.
REG. L-16. Upon the presentation to the Secretary of
Agriculture of certified copies of sale, lease, assignment,
execution of judgment, or other form of transfer of the
properties or other rights of the permittee in and to the
works constructed under a water-power permit and of the
water or other rights necessary to the enjoyment of the
use of the said works, the said Secretary may, in his dis-
cretion, upon the formal surrender of the original permit
and the filing of a stipulation satisfactory to the said
Secretary by the purchasers, transferees, executors, suc-
cessors, lessees, or assigns of the original permittee, issue
a new permit for the unexpired term of the original per-
mit to such purchasers, transferees, executors, successors,
lessees, or assigns, authorizing him, it, or them to occupy
and use the lands of the United States specified in the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 469
original permit for the purposes named in the original
permit.
REG. L-17. If any person shall make a false engineer's
affidavit under regulation L-10, the Secretary of Agricul-
ture may order that no map, field notes, plan, or estimate
made by such person shall be received or filed while the
order is in force. If any applicant shall offer or file any
map, field notes, plan, or estimate bearing a false engi
neer's affidavit, knowing the same to be false, the Secre-
tary of Agriculture may order that no water-power appli-
cation shall be received from and no water-power permit
shall be granted to such applicant while the order is in
force.
APPENDIX IX.
A COMPARISON OF AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN WATERWAYS WITH
SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE
DEVELOPMENT OF WATER TRANSPORTATION.
BY MR. E. O. MERCHANT.
471
TABLE OF CONTENTS TO APPENDIX IX.
I. Revival of water transportation:
Page.
The period of canal building.
475
The period of railway competition.
478
The period of revival…….
479
The growth of water transportation in European countries
The decadence of the waterways in England..
Recommendations of the Royal Commission.
480
483
484
The condition of water transportation in the United States.
The decline of traffic on the Mississippi..
Agitation for waterway improvements.
Factors affecting water transportation..
II. The importance of natural conditions:
Favorable natural conditions an essential requirement.
Physical characteristics of the German waterway system.
Physical characteristics of the Dutch waterway system
Physical characteristics of the Belgian waterway system.
Physical characteristics of the French waterway system.
Physical characteristics of the waterways of Russia.
484
488
490
491
492
493
496
497
499
502
Physical characteristics of the waterways of Austria-Hungary
Physical characteristics of the English waterways..
The waterway system of the United States...
502
503
504
III. The importance of improvements:
Improvements necessary for navigation..
505
Amount spent by Prussia for waterway improvements.
507
Amount spent by France for the improvement and maintenance of
waterways.
507
Amount spent by Belgium for waterway improvements...
508
The participation of localities in the expense of waterway improve-
ments...
508
Amount spent for harbors and terminals by different municipalities..
The results of expenditures in Europe..
509
510
Amount spent for river and harbor improvements in the United States.
The results of such improvements...
Reasons for the poor results.
510
511
512
IV. The importance of economic factors:
Sources of supply and centers of demand....
Sources of traffic for the German waterways.
For the Belgian waterways.
For the French waterways.
For the English waterways.
On the Great Lakes..
·
-
On the rivers of the United States.
516
516
521
524
528
529
531
V. The relations between railways and waterways:
Necessity for control..
533
Control of railways and waterways in Germany, Belgium, and
Holland..
534
The method of control in France..
534
Regulation of railway and canal companies in England..
Regulation of railways and waterways in the United States.
535
538
Influence of rate systems upon waterways.
542
In Germany
542
In Belgium.
544
In France.
546
In the United States.
The development of transfer traffic.
In Germany..
In Belgium and Holland...
In Russia and Austria-Hungary.
In France.
In the United States.
546
•
550
550
552
552
552
554
473
474
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
VI. Comparative rail and water rates:
Page.
Differential in favor of waterways in Germany
in Belgium..
556
562
}
in France..
in the United States..
American rail and European water rates compared.
The relative cost of transportation by rail and by water.
Theoretical arguments.
Difficulty of making exact comparisons...
VII. A waterway policy:
Economic conditions becoming more favorable..
Difficulty of further reducing railroad rates..
Principles to be followed in making improvements.
Necessity of regulating railway competition..
562
•
564
567
570
570
573
575
575
576
577
APPENDIX IX.
A COMPARISON OF AMERICAN AND EUROPEAN WATERWAYS
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FACTORS INFLUENCING
THE DEVELOPMENT OF WATER TRANSPORTATION.
By Mr. E. O. MERCHANT.
I.
THE REVIVAL OF WATER TRANSPORTATION.
The history of inland water transportation may be divided into
three periods. During the first period, which began with the six-
teenth century and closed with the advent of railway building, the
waterways furnished the principal means of transportation. Their
only competitors were the pack horse and the highway or turnpike,
and the advantage which they enjoyed often made them profitable en-
terprises. The second period was one of competition with the railways,
which resulted in a marked decline of water transportation and gen-
erally left the waterways in a decadent condition. The third period
is marked by the revival of water transportation, which began in
France, Germany, and Belgium as early as 1870.
The first period was essentially one of canal building. In many
cases it was less expensive to build canals along the banks of streams
than to improve the streams themselves. Particularly was this the
case in England, where the principal use of rivers seems to have been
to supply water for the canals. When Brindley, the pioneer in canal
building, was before a committee of the House of Commons, a member
asked him for what purpose he apprehended rivers were created. He
replied, "To feed navigable canals."¹
The construction of canals on level ground had been common
since the days of the Egyptians and Babylonians, but it was not until
the invention of the chamber lock that it was possible for canals to over-
come elevations. The discovery of this simple device led to the rapid
spread of canal building throughout Europe. The movement first be-
came prominent in France. The Canal de Briare, connecting the Seine
with the Loire, was begun in 1605 and completed in 1642. The famous
Languedoc Canal, now known as the Canal du Midi, connecting the
Bay of Biscay with the Mediterranean, was begun in 1666 and finished
in 1681. This was one of the greatest achievements during the
reign of Louis XIV. It was 148 miles in length, and accommodated
barges of 100 tons capacity. An elevation of 600 feet was overcome
by means of numerous locks, and a further elevation was avoided by
a tunnel 700 feet in length. This canal was constructed by private
enterprise under a grant from the Government, as were almost all
the canals in the early period. During the eighteenth century the
¹ J. Phillips, History of Inland Navigation (London, 1792,), p. 99.
475
476 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
French canal system was perfected. Less than 200 miles of new
canals have been added since 1800.
Canal building began early in Holland, where the use of the lock
was known even before it was employed in France. Many of the
canals were originally constructed for drainage purposes and later,
as the country developed, were also used for transportation. Practi-
cally the whole system was completed by the opening of the nineteenth
century. Most of the Belgian and many of the German canals were
also constructed before the year 1800.
The period of active canal building in England commenced with the
opening of the Bridgewater Canal from Worsley to Manchester, July,
1761. The success of this enterprise furnished the impetus for fur-
ther construction. About 1790 a mania for canal building developed.
Within four years acts were passed providing for the construction of
81 different canal projects, and by the year 1800 practically the whole
canal system, aggregating more than 1,000 miles, was completed. A
few additions were made between the years 1800 and 1830, but since
the latter date there has been no important construction, except
the Manchester Ship Canal.
Canal building in the United States began soon after the close of
the Revolutionary War. Washington was a pioneer in this movement
and advocated numerous projects, some of which were later under-
taken. The period of most rapid construction_commenced about
1825, with the completion of the Erie Canal. The success of this
enterprise aroused great enthusiasm for canal building. During the
same year an act was passed in New York State, known as the great
canal law, which provided for the survey of 17 new canal projects,
aggregating many hundred miles in length. The two Ohio State
canals, connecting Lake Erie with the Ohio River, were also begun
in 1825, and the Pennsylvania system of State canals, the purpose of
which was to connect Philadelphia with Pittsburgh and the interior,
was begun the following year. The Chesapeake & Ohio Canal was
begun in 1828 and completed in 1850. Some of the anthracite tide-
water canals in Pennsylvania and New Jersey were begun before 1825.
The canals constructed in Europe during this first period were for
the most part of small capacity. Particularly was this the case in
England, where considerable elevations had to be overcome. The
majority of English canals have a depth of about 3 feet. Thirty-
five per cent of the total canal mileage will accommodate boats car-
rying from 18 to 30 tons, 58 per cent of boats carrying from 40 to
60 tons, while only 7 per cent will accommodate boats of greater
capacity. The difficulty of overcoming elevations and of securing
adequate water supply for their canals appears not to have daunted
the courage of the pioneer canal builders. By means of staircases
of locks, lifts, and even tunnels of considerable length they carried
their canals from the seacoast to interior localities. On the Worces-
ter & Birmingham Canal, between Worcester and Tardebigge, a
distance of 16 miles, there are 58 locks, 30 of them in one flight. On
the Huddersfield Narrow Canal, between Huddersfield and Ashton,
there are 74 locks in 20 miles, and on the Rochdale Canal, between
Manchester and Sowerby, there are 92 locks in 32 miles. Vertical lifts
1 Report of the State Engineer and Surveyor of New York, 1905, Supplement, Vol. I, p. 763.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 477
and inclined planes were also employed to overcome elevations where
the water supply was not sufficient for lockages. Most of those devices
have since been discarded. There are also 45 tunnels on the English
canals, some of which are of considerable length. The longest tunnel
is on the Huddersfield Narrow Canal and has a length of more than 3
miles. There are also 11 other canal tunnels having a length greater
than 1 mile. Passage through these tunnels was generally accom-
plished by a process known as "legging."
legging." Two persons lying on
their backs, one on each side of the boat, worked it along through
by pushing with their feet against the side walls of the tunnel.¹
The early canals in the United States were also of shallow draft and
equipped with numerous locks and sometimes inclined planes. The
Morris Canal, connecting the Delaware River with Newark, N. J., was
perhaps the most difficult to construct. The elevation of 914 feet,
from Newark to the summit level near Stanhope, a distance of 57 miles,
was overcome by means of 12 inclined planes and 16 locks. The
descent of 760 feet from the summit level to Phillipsburg on the Dela-
ware River was accomplished by means of 11 inclined planes and 7
locks. The canal was built originally with a prism of small dimen-
sions, being only 4 feet in depth and accommodating boats of less
than 40 tons capacity.
Although the canals of the first period, as a rule, were scarcely
more than ditches, many of them proved to be profitable undertak-
ings. Until railway competition began they furnished the principal
means of transportation and played a very important rôle in the
prosperity and development of different countries. On the whole
they appeared to have been more profitable in England than else-
where, owing to the rapid industrial development that began during
the latter part of the eighteenth century. Their profits were much
greater than those of the railways have ever been. The Bridgewater
Čanal, which cost less than $1,000,000, yielded an annual revenue of
nearly $400,000. Canal shares paid high dividends and sometimes
sold at a premium of 100 per cent or more. The following table
gives a few examples of the dividends and prices of canal shares in
England during the year 1824:“
Canal.
Dividends. Price.
Trent and Mersey
Loughborough
Coventry
Oxford..
Grand Junction.
Staffordshire & Worcestershire.
Birmingham..
Shropshire..
£ s.
75 0
£2,200
197 0
4,600
44 0
1,300
32 0
850
10 0
290
40 0
960
12 10
350
8 0
175
One of the most profitable undertakings in this country was the
Schuylkill Navigation, which connected the anthracite coal fields in
Pennsylvania with Philadelphia. During the period 1829-1842 it
paid dividends ranging from 9 to 24 per cent, and the shares of the
canal rose from $50 to $175.3 The Erie Canal was undoubtedly the
1 Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England and Wales, pp. 10–16.
2 Gentleman's Magazine, December, 1824, p. 575. In addition to these regular dividends, most of the
companies also paid a bonus each year.
* Chester Lloyd Jones, The Economic History of the Anthracite Tide Water Canals, p. 130.
478
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
most successful of any of the State enterprises. Up to and including
the year 1882, when all tolls were discontinued, it had returned to
the State of New York $42,599,718 profits on an investment for con-
struction and improvement of $49,591,853.1 Another very profitable
enterprise was the Delaware & Hudson Canal, connecting the anthra-
cite coal fields of northern Pennsylvania with the Hudson River. In
1863 it paid as high as 34 per cent, and the next year would have
paid more if the capital stock had not been increased. But these
profits were derived more from the transportation and sale of coal
which the company mined and sold in New York City than from the
general transportation business.2
The period of railway building commenced about 1830. In Europe
within 10 years competition between the railways and waterways
became severe. This continued for the next 30 or 40 years, at the
end of which time the waterways were generally left in a decadent
condition. The first railroads often intersected the waterways and
served as feeders. As soon, however, as parallel lines were built active
competition began. The passenger traffic was the first to pass to the
railways. In fact, many of the first railways were intended primarily
for the purpose of transporting passengers, and their facilities for
carrying freight were very limited. Following the loss of passenger
traffic, the higher grade freight business, in which speed was an essen-
tial factor, was next to pass to the railways, and finally when the rail-
ways had amalgamated sufficiently to form through routes and to
offer cheaper rates, they also secured most of the coarse, bulky
traffic carried by the waterways.
In Germany the smaller streams and canals were the first to suffer
a marked decline of traffic. The railways were not so successful in
direct competition against the Rhine and Elbe, although the normal
increase of traffic on these rivers was checked and for some years
they barely held their own. Wherever a combination rail and water
route came into competition with an all-rail route the tonnage fell off
rapidly. From 1865 to 1879 the traffic of the competing railways
increased 183 per cent, while that of the most prosperous navigation
companies only increased 35 per cent.
In France as early as 1844 the superior advantages of the railways
had attracted attention and proposals were made to substitute rail-
ways for the canals. From 1852 to 1858 the short, disconnected
railway lines rapidly amalgamated to form the six large companies
which now exist. The severe competion which resulted was most
disastrous to the waterways, which did not effect a similar transfor-
mation. The Seine from Paris to Rouen lost three-fourths of its
traffic; the Canal Bourgogne from Paris to Lyon lost one-half.³
3
In England the railways and canal companies began active compe-
tition about 1840. When the shareholders of the latter saw their
profits dwindle, they became alarmed, and in various ways sought to
compel the railways to buy them out. Parliament yielded to the
popular clamor, and before the end of the year 1845 one-third of the
total canal mileage fell into the hands of the railway companies.
Some of the canals thus acquired were used for the roadbeds of new rail-
1 Report of the Committee on Canals of New York State, 1899, p. 151.
2 Chester Lloyd Jones, The Economic History of the Anthracite Tide Water Canals, p. 87.
8 Paul Leon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins des Fer., p. 13.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION, 479
way lines or abandoned. Others were used for feeders. On almost
all the traffic declined rapidly as the result of railway control or
competition.
The period of active canal building in the United States ended
with the panic of 1837. The depression which followed caused the
failure of many speculative canal enterprises. Also by this time the
railroad had demonstrated its usefulness, and people turned their
attention to railway building with the same enthusiasm previously
shown for canal enterprises. The first instance of competition
between railways and waterways in the United States occurred in
1842 with the opening of the Reading Railroad, which at once began
to compete for the coal traffic of the Schuylkill Navigation. Severe
competition continued until 1849, when the railroad and the canal
company entered into an agreement as to their charges. During
this time the canal made extensive improvements, as a result of
which it was able to lower its tolls to 3 mills per ton-mile. Finally
in 1879 the canal was leased to the Reading Railroad for a period of
999 years. Active competition between the Lehigh Valley Rail-
road and the Lehigh Cañal began about 1856, but was not. severe
until 1859. The outcome was that the canal company finally sold
out to its railroad competitor. In the course of a few years prac-
tically every one of the private canal companies in New York, Pennsyl-
vania, and New Jersey passed into the hands of their railway com-
petitors, and in Pennsylvania, owing to the dissatisfaction of the
people with the results of canal construction and popular discontent
caused by the heavy burden of debt incurred, the State system of
canals during the period 1845 to 1859 was also sold to the railway
companies.¹ New York and Ohio retained control of their principal
State canals despite popular dissatisfaction which at times manifested
itself. Since 1837 the aggregate length of the canals which have been
abandoned is about 2,244 miles, representing an original investment
of more than $80,000,000.2
In the southern part of the United States and also in the Mississippi
Valley severe competition between the railways and waterways did
not begin as a rule until after the close of the Civil War, when the
short railway lines were amalgamated into through routes and were
improved so as to greatly reduce the cost of transportation. The
improvement of rivers by the Federal Government, which became
more liberal during the seventies, enabled them to compete suc-
cessfully with the railroads for a time. The commerce of the Missis-
sippi River reached its maximum during the years 1880 to 1884,
since which time a steady decline has occurred. Some of the rivers
in the western part of the country have not yet experienced railway
competition, and their traffic has increased steadily with the settle-
ment of the country. But wherever railway competition has been
encountered almost without exception a marked decline in river
commerce has taken place. Only a very few streams with excep-
tional advantages have been able to show any increase in traffic.
Renewed interest in the development of water transportation
began in France during the sixties and in Germany during the
Report of the State Engineer and Surveyor of New York for 1905, Supplement, Vol. II, p. 1378.
2 Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water in the United States,
Pt. I, p. 44.
480 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
seventies. In England, also, investigations were made about the same
time and legislation passed to protect the waterways against railway
competition. This renewed interest was due principally to a growing
hostility toward the railways, which was engendered by discrimi-
nations, high rates, and lack of adequate service. In France in 1861
a congestion of traffic took place, which the railways were unable to
handle and great losses resulted to shippers. Furthermore, the rail-
ways insisted that they could not make any further reductions in their
rates. The high charges which they exacted wherever they enjoyed
a monopoly caused much dissatisfaction and the people began to turn
their attention to the possibility of relief which their neglected water-
ways might afford.
The agitation for waterway improvements in France resulted in the
adoption of the Freycinet program in 1879, which provided for the
taking over of most of the concessions, the improvement and stand-
ardization of the waterway system, and the construction of new canals,
aggregating some 800 miles in length. The carrying out of this pro-
gram would have meant an expenditure of nearly $140,000,000. But
many of the projects then adopted have never yet been undertaken.
From 1871-1905 extensive improvements were also made on the
German waterways. The rivers were deepened and linked together
with canals. And the largest expenditures for improvements in Bel-
gium were made during the years 1870-1900, when the waterway
system was enlarged and standardized to accommodate 300-ton barges.
The striking feature of this movement for the revival of water
transportation in Germany, France, and Belgium was the nationali-
zation of the waterways and large expenditures by the central Gov-
ernment upon their improvement and maintenance. Since 1879
France has acquired all but 158 miles of waterways, the principal
exceptions being three short canals belonging to the city of Paris.
Belgium has acquired all but about 17 per cent of her waterways.
The ship canal from the Rupel to Brussels was constructed by a
society of communes, and several of the other canals are still operated
by private companies under concessions which have not yet expired.
The German States have also taken over most of their waterways.
The principal exception in Prussia is the new Teltow Canal, near
Berlin, completed in 1906, which was built and is administered entirely
by the district of Teltow.
Where the revival of water transportation is in progress the
shallow-draft canals are being replaced by modern canals of standard
dimensions. The old methods of towage by mule or by man power
are now being superseded by towing steamers or electric tractors.
Terminals are being built and equipped with the latest appliances.
Better types of boats and barges are being used. The tendency also
is to make use of rivers whenever their improvement is practicable,
rather than to construct lateral canals.
The growth of water transportation in Germany, France and
Belgium during the last four decades has been phenomenal. From
1875-1909 the traffic on the German waterways increased 433 per
cent. During the period 1880-1909 the traffic on the French water-
ways increased over 90 per cent, and in Belgium, during the years
1890-1907, the traffic on the inland waterways increased almost 115
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
481
per cent. The following table shows in parallel columns the growth
of traffic in these three countries: 1
1875...
1880..
1890.
1895..
1900..
1905...
Year.
Germany.2 France.
Belgium.
Tons.3
13,600,000
Tons.3
Tons.3
18,000,000
24, 167, 000
30,000,000
27, 174,000
46,600,000
32, 446,000
67,000,000
34, 030, 000
25,242,000
30, 242, 000
38, 178, 000
53,345,000
73,357,000
34,702, 000
35,624,000
54, 164, 000
1907...
1909...
1 Compiled from Lindley and from the annual statistics of these countries.
2 The figures usually given for Germany are much larger than these since they include total receipts
and shipments. In 1909 they amounted to 118,495,448 tons. But they could not be compared with those
of France and Belgium from which all duplications have been removed.
3 In these three countries the metric tons of 2,204.6 pounds is meant.
While the statistics for Russia are not so complete, it is reported
that during the last decade water-borne traffic has increased 100 per
cent. In Austria-Hungary during the same period the traffic on the
inland waterway system has increased about 10 per cent.
The growth of traffic on the inland waterways of France, Germany
and Belgium has been more rapid than the growth of traffic on the
railways, and this notwithstanding the fact that the length of the
waterway systems has scarcely increased while that of the railways
has increased about 25 per cent in Belgium, 50 per cent in France,
and 100 per cent in Germany. During the period 1875-1909 the rail
tonnage in Germany increased about 350 per cent; in France during
the period 1880-1907 it increased about 72 per cent; while in Bel-
gium during the last two decades the increase of traffic on the rail-
ways has been about 62 per cent.
The importance of water transportation in Germany is shown by
the fact that at several of the largest inland cities the receipts and
shipments by water are nearly as large as those by rail. Since 1885
the waterways focusing at Berlin have carried from 40 to 50 per cent
of the total receipts and shipments.¹ Until recently the receipts by
water have exceeded those by rail. At Hamburg the receipts by
river are nearly equal to those by rail, while the shipments by river
are several times those by rail, as shown by the following table:
Receipts and shipments from Hamburg.2
1900.
1905..
1908.
Year.
Rail.
River.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Tons.
Tons.
2,360,877
1,306, 414
Tons.
2,606, 920
Tons.
3,457, 214
2,865, 154
1,697, 773
3, 001, 172
4,643, 465
3,357, 477
1,879, 246
3,082,776
5,522, 724
Paul Goehts, Berlin als Binnenschiffahrts-Platz. In Staats-und-Social-Wissenschaft Forschungen
Heft, 147 (1910), p. 111.
2 National Waterways Commission Document No. 19, pp. 81 and 82.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2————31
482
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
In collecting tonnage statistics both for the railways and water-
ways in Germany the country is divided for convenience into what are
known as traffic districts. Inasmuch as these are the same for both
agencies of transportation, the opportunity is afforded for making
comparisons between their respective receipts and shipments.
The following table shows a number of examples where the water
traffic is almost as large, if not larger, than that transported by rail.
The first district includes Hamburg.
Receipts and shipments in traffic districts for the year 1909.¹
Receipts.
Per
cent.
Shipments.
Per
cent.
Per
Total.
cent.
Lower Elbe, Geesthacht and vicinity:
Tons.
Rail..
4,898, 238
48.8
Tons.
3,541, 897
Tons.
40.9
8,440, 135
45.2
Water.
5,129,766
51.2
5, 111, 115
59.1
10, 240, 881
54.8
Berlin and suburbs:
Rail..
13, 274, 424
55.1
3,627,062
86.4
16,901, 486
59.8
Water..
10,812, 659
44.9
572, 401
13.6
11,385,060
40.2
Duisburg-Ruhrort:
Rail.
16,393, 262
Water.
Mannheim and Ludwigshafen:
Rail..
Water.
4,822, 761
2,224,538 21.6
8,074, 222 78.4
77.3
22.7 | 14, 018, 210 69.8
6,064, 011
30.2
22,457, 273
54.4
18,840,971
45.6
4,059,776 | 68.9
1,830,996 31.1
6,284, 314
38.8
9,905, 218
61.2
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 235, I, 1909, Part I, pp. XII and XIII.
If either the receipts or shipments by rail and by water of some
particular commodities such as coal are compared, it will be found that
the waterways sometimes handle as much as 90 per cent of the traffic.
This is especially true of the coal receipts at a number of Rhine ports,
such as Mannheim, Gustavsburg, Rheinau and Strassburg and of coal
shipments at Kosel on the Oder. It is also true of the receipts of sand,
gravel, and building stone at Berlin and a number of other cities
having a large population.
At some of the Belgian ports, particularly Bruges and Ghent, the
receipts and shipments by water compare very favorably with those
by rail. At Paris the waterways handle nearly half of the total
receipts and shipments, as shown by the following table, which is
for 1910:1
Shipments.
Receipts.
Total.
Tons.
Per
cent.
Tons.
Per
cent.
Per
Tons.
cent.
Waterways.
Railways.
2,357,712 44.0 6,563,749 47.0 8,921, 461
3,016, 911 56.0 7,389,065 53.0 10, 405, 976
2
46.0
54.0
There are also a number of cities in France where the waterways
carry more than 30 per cent of the total traffic and more than 50
per cent of either the receipts or shipments, taken separately, while
for some particular commodities like coal, the shipments by water at
Denain on the Escaut, Douai on the Scarpe, Bruay on the Canal d'Aire,
and other cities in the coal-mining districts of northern France,
1 Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1910, p. 127.
2 Cf. Bulletin, International Railway Congress, Eng. ed., vol. 24, Part I, p. 1175.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
483
greatly exceed those by rail. At some other ports, such as Bordeaux
on the Saône and Lyon on the Rhone, the receipts of sand, gravel,
and building stone by water exceed those by rail.
Holland has never nationalized her waterways to the extent that
France, Germany, and Belgium have, the reason being that they
have never encountered as severe railway competition nor experi-
enced a similar decline in traffic. The waterways exceed the rail-
ways in mileage and, it is stated, carry 90 per cent of the total freight
traffic. The river system in Holland, comprising about 560 miles, is
under the supervision of the national Government, while the canal
system, aggregating about 2,408 miles, is under the supervision of the
following authorities: 1
Under national authority.
Under provincial authority.
Under private companies..
Under local authority.
Under national and provincial authority…….
Under national and private authority.
Under national and local authority.
Under provincial and private authority
Under provincial and local authority.
Under local and private authority..
Total...
Miles.
342
493
372
805
114
3
31
47
117
84
2, 408
The national Government maintains and improves the waterways
under its supervision which are the most important, while the minor
political subdivisions and private interests improve the remainder.
The national Government also provides the entrances to harbors,
while the municipalities furnish the docks and terminal facilities,
except for several harbors of refuge which are owned by the Gov-
ernment.
England is the only one of the more advanced European countries
in which inland water transportation is still in a backward condition.
The canals were originally built by private interests and have remained
under private control ever since. The tidal portions of the principal
rivers are generally under the control of conservancy boards, represent-
ing the different municipalities. The central Government has never
participated at all in the improvement of waterways except for two
canals in Scotland and four waterways in Ireland. The different
canals and navigations still remain disconnected and under the juris-
diction of a multiplicity of authorities. Since the opening of the
period of railway building, 70 years ago, few of the waterways have
been enlarged or improved to meet modern conditions. Almost all
the through routes are blocked by railroad control of one or more
important links. Not one of the 19 different through routes in Eng-
land and Wales is controlled by a single body. On the three routes
connecting London and Liverpool there are 26 different authorities,
including those over the tidal portions of the Mersey, Severn, and
Humber. On the four routes between London and Bristol there are
27 different authorities. On the shortest route between Hull and
Bristol a boat must traverse 10 different waterways, with gauges
varying anywhere from 50 by 14 by 4.6 feet to 212 by 22 by 9.6 feet.2
Thus long-distance travel on the waterways is a practical impossibility.
1 National Waterways Commission Document No. 18, p. 19.
2 Forbes & Ashford, Our Waterways, p. 241.
484 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Since 1870 there has been a gradual revival of interest in water-
ways, which has led to numerous parliamentary inquiries and various
acts intended to prevent the railways from acquiring further canals
and from allowing those which they have already acquired to deteri-
orate. The revival of interest in water transportation has also led to
the building of the Manchester Ship Canal, completed in 1893.
During the last decade the agitation for a resuscitation of the water-
way system has become more pronounced. In 1904, at the annual
meeting of the Associated Chambers of Commerce at Manchester,
the advisability of the Government's purchasing and improving the
canal system was considered. In 1905 a canal trust bill, embodying
the conclusions of the Manchester conference, was introduced in
Parliament. This led to the appointment in 1906 of the royal com-
mission on canals and inland waterways, which, after three years
of investigation, has published its findings in 11 large volumes.
The work of this commission undoubtedly represents the most
thorough and complete study of water transportation in Europe
yet undertaken. The commission recommends that the four principal
routes popularly known as the "Cross," which connect the Midland,
or Birmingham, district with the estuaries of the Thames, Mersey,
Severn, and Humber, respectively, should be taken over by some
public body, amalgamated, standardized, and in other respects.
improved so as to render them more efficient as a means of transpor-
tation. Although not definitely recommending it, the commission
appeared to favor a type of canal accommodating barges of 100 tons
capacity, and estimated that the improvement of 544 miles of canals,
excluding water supply and incidental expenditures, would cost
about $65,000,000. The additional expenditures would probably
increase this amount by at least $20,000,000. No estimate was made
of the cost of acquisition and unification. It is thought by some
that it would bring the total up to $150,000,000. The commission
recommended that a nonpartisan waterway board, composed of
three or five commissioners, be created, with power to issue stock
or raise loans guaranteed by the State, in order to obtain the capital
necessary for the acquisition, unification, reconstruction, and improve-
ment of the four main routes.
Thus far the recommendations of the commission have not been
acted upon. The railways would offer great opposition to the
adoption of such a plan, and it seems quite probable that the
nationalization of the railway systems will be necessary before the
Government can secure control, at a reasonable price, of the canals
now in the possession of the railway companies.
In the United States, as elsewhere stated, most of the canals in the
eastern part of the country are owned or controlled by the railways,
while all the navigable rivers have always been under the jurisdiction
of the United States. Formerly it was customary for States or
private companies to construct canals around rapids in rivers and to
canalize streams. Sometimes they were assisted by land grants from
the Federal Government or a guaranty of their bonds. Since about
1870, however, the Federal Government has acquired all the con-
necting links in the Great Lakes and all the canalized rivers and
canals around rapids of navigable streams. In 1887 the Government
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
485
took over the Muskingum River from the State of Ohio, at a cost
of $1,500,000. In 1875 the State of West Virginia transferred to the
United States all rights which it had on the Great Kanawha River
and its tributaries. The locks and dams in the Little Kanawha River
were purchased by the Government from a private company in 1906.
The Monongahela River locks and dams were purchased under con-
demnation proceedings from a private company in 1896. The
Louisville & Portland Canal around the falls of the Ohio, near
Louisville, was taken over by the Federal Government in 1864. It
had previously been under the control of a private company, with a
grant from the State of Kentucky. The St. Marys Falls Canal,
between Lake Superior and Lake Huron, was transferred by the State
of Michigan to the United States in 1880. The Federal Government,
however, has not undertaken to nationalize State and private canals
as has been done in France.
In this country we have a very striking contrast presented-the
remarkable growth of water transportation on the Great Lakes and
the decadent condition of commerce on many of the rivers and canals.
The records kept by the engineers in charge of the locks in the two
canals which connect Lake Superior with Lake Huron furnish the
best index of the growth of commerce on the Great Lakes. In 1885
the traffic amounted to 3,256,628 tons; in 1910 it had increased to
62,363,218 tons, a gain of almost 2,000 per cent. In 1911 the traffic
decreased to 53,477,216 tons, owing to dull times and poor crops.
This record of growth surpasses that of any of the waterways in
Europe and is only possible on large bodies of water of this kind.
The growth of commerce at a number of the Great Lake ports has
been very rapid. At the present time the receipts and shipments at
the combined harbors of Duluth and Superior exceed those of any
other port in the country with the possible exception of the port of
New York. In 1900 the total receipts and shipments at Duluth alone
amounted to 7,089,441 tons. In 1906 they had risen to 14,424,101.
Since then the commercial statistics of Duluth and Superior have been
combined. During the season of navigation in 1910 the total receipts
and shipments of the two harbors amounted to 36,684,580 short tons,
valued at $284,000,000.
Some of the Lake Michigan ports have a large and rapidly increasing
traffic. In 1910 the total receipts and shipments at Milwaukee
amounted to 7,744,985, an increase of 100 per cent during the last
decade. On the other hand, the commerce at Chicago, although large,
has shown practically no increase since the year 1899. In 1910 the
total receipts and shipments at Chicago and South Chicago amounted
to 11,527,621 tons.
At some of the Lake Erie ports the growth of traffic has been
especially marked. The total receipts and shipments at Cleveland
were 5,201,357 tons in 1895 and 13,386,606 tons in 1910, an increase of
260 per cent. The receipts and shipments by lake, while not so large,
nevertheless compare very favorably with those by rail, as shown by
the table following."
1
Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water, Part II, p. 233. The rail
receipts and shipments for 1910 were obtained from the Cleveland Chamber of Commerce and the lake
receipts and shipments from the Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, December, 1910.
486 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
1895...
1900...
1905...
1910...
Years.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Lake.
Rail.
Lake.
Rail.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
3,593, 044
6, 100, 143
1,608, 313
4, 270, 152
4,769, 720
8,867, 904
2,548, 826
5,839, 071
6,749, 262
11, 255, 011
3,494, 866
8,974, 067
8,051, 121
13,700,312
5,335, 485
8,921, 630
Ashtabula is at present one of the greatest transfer ports on Lake
Erie. In 1895 the receipts and shipments amounted to 3,735,982, in
1900 to 5,248,938, in 1905 to 7,897,093, and in 1910 to 16,257,723
short tons, a gain of 450 per cent in 15 years. Fairport, Conneaut
and Erie also have a large traffic, which is increasing rapidly. At
Buffalo the total receipts and shipments by Lake and Erie Canal in
1910 amounted to 16,290,423 tons, valued at $431,784,982, as compared
with 11,642,862 tons in 1896.
It is very difficult to determine the actual condition of river traffic
for the reason that the statistics which have been collected are very
incomplete and unsatisfactory. Where a stream has locks and dams,
it is possible for the engineers in charge to obtain fairly good statistics
of the traffic that passes through, but where there is open river navi-
gation, accurate tonnage statistics are difficult to obtain. Often-
times they are nothing more than guesses. During the last few years
there has been considerable improvement noticeable in the collection
of these statistics, and they are much more reliable than formerly.
Attempts are now made in the case of many streams to give the valua-
tion of the traffic, and also, where possible, to give the ton-mileage,
but, on the whole, we are far behind France, Germany, and Belgium
in this particular. One of the worst defects from the standpoint of the
student of water transportation is the lack of coordination of tonnage
statistics. There is no way of knowing what the actual tonnage for
each stream as a whole is where it is of any length, for the reason
that statistics of receipts and shipments are not always collected at
every landing and as a rule do not include any information regarding
the points to which freight is destined or from which it is received.
Hence only in a few cases is it possible to remove the duplications
that occur. Not having complete statistics for each waterway, it is,
of course, impossible to compute by years the total water-borne traffic
for all of the streams in the country as is done in Europe.
Such statistics as are obtainable for the rivers in the United States
indicate that few streams during the last two decades have shown
any great increase in traffic, while many have shown a decided decline.
The rivers showing the largest increase are those estuaries or arms of
the sea which furnish ship channels or harbors for the important
seaports on the Atlantic, Gulf, or Pacific coasts. In Table No. 1 a
few examples are given. Most of these rivers have a depth of 20 feet
or more. The figures in the first column represent the average annual
tonnage for the years 1890-1895 wherever obtainable; those in the
second column are averages for the years 1906-1908; and those in
the third column are for the year 1910.¹
1 The figures in the first two columns are taken from National Waterways Commission Document No. 15;
those for 1910 are taken from the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1911. The following tables are
compiled in the same way.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
487
No. 1.-Examples of increasing traffic.
Project.
Traffic Traffic
1890-1895 1906-1908
(yearly (yearly
average). average).
Traffic in
1910.
Increase
over aver-
age for
1890-1895.
Mystic River (lower section).
Tons.
11, 430, 650
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
3,723,000
3,245, 630
1,814,980
1,305,000
3,128,000
4,662, 638
3,357,638
3,002,000
1,000,000
9,656,000
12,822, 855
9,820,855
2,577,000
2,366, 291
1,366, 291
13, 121,000 |
26, 259,000 |
25, 496, 213
12, 375, 213
3,243,000
220,000
8,441,000 29,806, 421
6,563, 421
567,000
870,000
2,115,000
724, 657
Providence River..
Harlem River.
Passaic River.
Delaware River.
Patapsco River..
Cape Fear River.
St. John's River.
·
...
944, 657
1,736,919
¹ Statistics are for 1901, the first year separated from Boston Harbor.
1,169,919
Harbor.
Boston.
Providence.
New York.
Newark.
Philadelphia.
Baltimore.
Wilmington.
Jacksonville.
2 Fiscal year 1911.
There are also a number of other streams of less depth emptying
into the Atlantic Ocean, which because of their proximity to large
cities have had a steadily increasing traffic. These are located prin-
cipally along the New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland
coast. The most important of these are shown by the following
table:
No. 2.-Other examples of increasing traffic.
Weymouth Fore River.
Bronx River..
East Chester Creek.
Shrewsbury River…….
Mispillion River..
Choptank River.
Nanticoke River.
Project.
Traffic
1890-1895
(yearly
Traffic
1906-1908
(yearly
Traffic
in 1910.
average). average).
Increase
over aver-
age for
1890-1895.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
68,000
153,000
186, 303
179,000
361,000
456,756
13,000
280,000
378, 400
568,000
1,718,000
1,608,600
Tons.
118, 303
277,756
365, 400
1,040, 600
47,000
202,000
191,745
13,000
210,000
237,273
144, 745
224, 273
17,000
120,000
136, 569
119,569
74,000
200,000
227,428
153, 428
Wicomico River.
Table No. 3 gives some examples of streams emptying into the
Atlantic Ocean, on which there has been a noticeable decline in com-
merce since 1890. It will be noted that in several instances an
improvement has taken place since the years 1906-1908. This is
particularly true of the Hudson River between Troy and Coxsackie.
In 1907 the traffic on this section of the river was 2,881,168 tons.
Since that time there has been an increase of more than 2,000,000
tons, so that the commerce now is as large as for the period 1890-1895.
No. 3.-Examples of decreasing traffic.
Penobscot River
Project.
Kennebec River...
Taunton River...
Connecticut to Hartford..
Hudson, Troy to Coxsackie.
Raritan and South..
Manokin River..
York River....
James River.
Roanoke River.
Oconee River.
Ocmulgee River.
Traffic Traffic
1890-1895 1906-1908
(yearly
average).
(yearly
average).
Traffic
in 1910.
Decrease
from aver-
age 1890-
1895.
Tons.
840,000
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
740,000
566, 434
273,566
1,140,000
488,000
1,041,000
5, 000, 000
550,000
412, 793
727,207
193,000
137,284
350, 716
532,000
636, 874
404, 126
3,000,000
5,033, 360
+33,360
1,594,000
889,000
963, 470
630, 530
144,000
59,000
306,000
169,000
186,947
699,000
563,000
627,684
119,053
71,316
150,000
74,000
53,989
96, 011
109,000 105,000
1 10,667
115,000
74,000
1 12,523
98,333
102, 477
¹ Rafted lumber is excluded. It would add in each case about 60,000 tons.
488 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
If we turn to the Mississippi River system and other streams in the
interior of the country, we find only a few instances of a large as well
as increasing traffic, and these are confined almost entirely to the
Ohio and some of its tributaries, especially the Monongahela.
No. 4.-The Ohio River and tributaries.
Ohio....
Monongahela.
Allegheny
Kanawha.
Project.
Traffic
1890-1895
Traffic,
1906-1908
(yearly.
average).
(yearly
average).
Increase
Traffic in over aver-
1910.
age for
1890-1895.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
7,355,000
11,965,000
11, 112, 216
Tons.
3,757,216
4,407,000
11,143,000
10,927, 430
6,520, 430
794,000
1,613,000
2,235, 015
1,441, 015
1,237,000
1,579,000
1,295,930
58,930
Some additional examples of a large increase in traffic for streams
not included in the table above are shown by Table No. 5. In
almost every instance, however, as will be seen, there was a notice-
able falling off in traffic during the year 1910. This is due in most
cases to the decline in the lumbering industry resulting from the
depletion of forests. Unless the traffic in some other commodities
increases sufficiently to offset the losses in lumber products, a further
decline may be looked for on these streams.
No. 5.-Examples of increasing traffic.
Project.
Traffic Traffic,
1890-1895 1906-1908
(yearly (yearly
average). average).
Traffic in
1910.
Increase
over aver-
age for
1890-1895.
Alabama.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tombigbee, mouth to Demopolis.
68,000
294,000
108,373
40,373
Bayou Plaquemine.
49,000
372,000
182,358
133, 358
Cumberland, below Nashville
118,000
604,000
742,716
624, 716
Cumberland, above Nashville
47,000
258,000
327,757
280,757
Tennessee, below Riverton.
73,000
296,000
319,000 188,067
115,067
690,000 464,030
168,030
The greatest decline in traffic has occurred on the Mississippi
River and some of its tributaries. The Mississippi was formerly a
great highway of commerce from the interior of the country to the
Gulf port of New Orleans, but except for some local traffic has now
been practically abandoned as an agency of transportation. Regard-
ing this feature the New Orleans Picayune makes the following
statement:
The abandonment of this great natural national free waterway for all purposes of
commerce is one of the most surprising facts in the history of trade, and no such
spectacle has appeared or been recorded in any other country.
The following table shows the decline of traffic on the Mississippi
for different sections. If the Ohio River coal traffic were subtracted
from the tonnage given, the average movement of freight would prob-
ably be less than 400,000 tons downstream and 300,000 upstream.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 489
No. 6.—The decline of Mississippi River traffic.
Project.
Traffic, Traffic,
1890-1895 1906-1908
(yearly (yearly
average). average).
Traffic
in 1910.
Decrease.
Minneapolis to St. Paul.
St. Paul to Missouri River.
Cairo to Memphis.
Missouri River to the Ohio.
Memphis to Vicksburg..
Vicksburg to New Orleans.
Tons.
455,000
3,558,000
1,119,000
1 2,306,000
1 1,856, 339
Tons.
300,000
4, 181,000
460,000
1,702, 099
1,756, 510
Tons.
120,000
1,836, 035
289,759
1,039, 195
1 1,835, 174
2, 335, 842
980,386
1,530,230
Tons.
335,000
1,721,965
829, 241
1,266,805
875,953
304, 944
1 These figures are for 1901, the first year when the traffic is reported by sections. If corresponding
figures for 1890 were obtainable, they would undoubtedly be much larger.
Much has been said of the great traffic carried on the Mississippi
River during the seventies and eighties. Although efforts have
often been made to arrive at some estimate of the amount of this
traffic, they have never been wholly successful, owing to the fact
that during those years few statistics were collected. The following
table, taken originally from the census report of 1890, however,
throws some light on the magnitude of the river commerce at that
time and indicates that during the last two decades the Mississippi
has lost approximately two-thirds of its former commerce.¹
Traffic on the Mississippi River system in 1889.
Upper Mississippi River system.
Lower Mississippi River system.
Ohio River system..
Total...
Number of
vessels.
Freight
tonnage.
Miles
traveled.
613
6, 260, 448
1,424, 655
572
6,245
6, 232, 087
2,311,573
15,796, 968
3,579, 233
7,430 28,289,503
7,315, 461
When the Passes of the Mississippi were opened in 1879 to admit
vessels of 26 feet draft, the grain traffic on the river increased enor-
mously. Probably the best index of this grain traffic is shown by
the shipments at St. Louis. In 1880, 15,762,644 bushels of wheat
were sent down the river from St. Louis to New Orleans. This was
approximately one-third of the total grain shipments from St.
Louis. Large quantities of grain were also shipped by water at St.
Paul, Peoria, Rock Island, and other river ports. The total receipts
and shipments by river at St. Louis reached their maximum during
years 1880 and 1881, amounting to slightly more than 2,000,000
tons. The following table shows the decline in traffic at St. Louis
since those years.2
the
1 Census Report on Transportation by Water, 1906, p. 178; also see Annual Report of the Chief of Engi-
neers, 1901, Supplement, p. 36.
2 Cf. Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1901, Supplement, p. 38.
490 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Receipts and shipments at St. Louis.
Year.
Total re-
ceipts and
Total grain
Total
shipments. shipments.
shipments,
rail and
Grain
shipments
by river.
river.
1880.
1885...
1890...
1895..
1900...
Tons.
2,130,525
2,231, 100
1,281, 715
812, 185
757,590
Tons.
Bushels.
1,038,350 | 48,321,983
534, 175 38,833, 580
617,985 65, 155, 187
303, 35529, 339, 368
245,580 54, 606, 499
Bushels.
15,762, 664
8,667, 919
10, 217, 244
1,690, 417
3,506,491
The shipment of grain from St. Louis by river was suspended in
1903, when 2,749,441 bushels were sent down to New Orleans. A
new company has recently been organized which intends to install
a barge line on the river and reestablish the service from St. Louis to
New Orleans.
Agitation for the improvement of waterways has been growing
rapidly in the United States during the last decade, and has been
especially marked since the boom years of 1906 and 1907, when the
congestion of traffic and the failure of the railways to afford sufficient
accommodations resulted in enormous losses to shippers in all parts
of the country. At the present time there are no less than 30 water-
way associations in the United States, 29 of which were organized
for the purpose of promoting some particular project, while the
National Rivers and Harbors Congress, composed of members from
all parts of the United States, advocates "a policy and not a project.
The principal aim of this association is to induce the Government to
expend at least $50,000,000 a year for general waterway improve-
ments throughout the United States.
""
The agitation for waterway improvements in this country, as well
as in Europe, is based fundamentally upon the economic necessity of
cheaper and more adequate transportation facilities, although at
times less worthy motives, such as the selfish interest of localities or
individuals, the zeal of politicians in securing appropriations for their
districts, or hostility to the railways, may appear to predominate.
This same fundamental cause has led to the improvement and utili-
zation of waterways on the Continent and is behind the present
agitation for waterway improvements in England, where, as the result
of high railroad rates, industries have been compelled to move to
the seaboard in order to maintain themselves against foreign com-
petitors. It is stated that the cost of transporting freight to London
or Liverpool from a city 50 miles in the interior is greater than to
bring the same traffic there from the heart of Germany or Belgium.
Thus far the renewed interest in the possibilities of water trans-
portation has had little result beyond inducing the Federal Govern-
ment to expend larger sums for channel improvements. Some States,
such as New York, are making efforts to revive the use of their water-
ways and some municipalities are assuming control and improving
their terminal facilities. While an increase of commerce is noticeable
on a few streams, on many the decline of traffic is still under way.
Whether the inland waterways of this country will ever be used to the
same extent as the waterways of Europe is a question often discussed.
Those who have been engaged in river transportation and have seen
their business dwindle are naturally somewhat pessimistic about its
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
491
future. Many who have seen little or no response to the large
sums spent by the Federal Government for the improvement of
waterways are opposed to a continuation of what they contend is a
wasteful expenditure of public funds. The opinion is often expressed
here, as it was formerly abroad, that inland water transportation is
obsolete, that the railways offer a cheaper and more convenient
means of transportation. On the other hand, the vast majority of the
people believe that the waterways can afford cheaper transportation
and that as the country develops it will become increasingly necessary
to utilize them to supplement the railways, whose capacity for han-
dling traffic is not capable of unlimited expansion.
Many explanations have been given for the decline of water trans-
portation in this country and the simultaneous growth of water
transportation abroad. The lack of sufficient appropriations for
waterway improvements as compared with the large sums spent by
European countries is perhaps the one most frequently heard. Many
are of the opinion that if the Federal Government would only pros-
ecute the work of improving rivers more vigorously, they would soon
regain their former importance as channels of commerce. But while
such improvements are essential and will have their influence, a
revival is not to be expected until the causes of the growth and
decline of water transportation are better understood and a compre-
hensive policy based on this knowledge is adopted.
The main factors affecting water transportation may be divided
into (1) natural conditions, by which is meant the existence or lack
of natural waterways; (2) the improvements made, not only in the
channels of streams but also in the construction of harbors equipped
with all modern facilities, and in the organization and methods of
water transportation so as to provide reliable service; (3) the abun-
dance or dearth of supplies of raw materials, such as coal, lumber,
iron ore, building materials, and grain accessible to the waterways,
on the one hand, and the existence of large population to demand these
products on the other; and (4) the relations existing between the
railways and waterways, which include among other things the
policy of the country in regulating these two methods of transporta-
tion, the system of railway rates in vogue, and the extent to which
the railways and waterways cooperate or compete. There are also
other factors, such as the habits and customs of different people and
their methods of doing business, which are less fundamental.
The existence of favorable natural conditions varies with each coun-
try and with each waterway and constitutes an advantage which can
only be partially overcome by the works of man. Likewise the ex-
istence of coal mines, quarries, forests, and other sources of coarse
freights within reach of a waterway and the existence of large centers
of consumption are conditions which vary greatly in different coun-
tries and for different streams within the same country. The methods
and extent of making improvements and the policy regarding the
relations between the railways and waterways are factors which
depend directly upon the policy adopted.
The influence exerted by these four factors upon the development
of water transportation in different countries forms the subject matter
of the following chapters. A better understanding of their influence
is necessary before a comprehensive policy regarding river and harbor
improvements can be adopted.
492 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
II.
THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURAL CONDITIONS.
It hardly need be said that an essential requirement for the devel-
opment of inland water transportation is that a country possess
natural waterways, such as lakes, free rivers of good depth, or rivers
which can be improved at a reasonable cost. Under modern con-
ditions canals may be profitably utilized only in exceptional cases.
Ship canals, such as the Suez or Panama, although of great cost,
are of incalculable benefit to commerce because of the great saving
in sailing distance which they effect. Ship canals are also useful
in connecting inland cities with the seacoast where they are of
comparatively short length and the elevation to be overcome is
not too great. Good examples of this use are the Manchester Ship
Canal in England, the canal from Ghent to Terneuzen in Belgium,
and the North Sea Canal in Holland, which affords Amsterdam an
outlet to the sea. The principal use of canals in an inland waterway
system is to avoid rapids in rivers or to connect rivers and lakes so
as to form through water routes. Where they are not too long and
do not overcome too great elevations, canals may be successfully
employed for such purposes, but ordinarily they are of too limited
capacity and navigation in them is too slow and tedious to permit
of their being extensively utilized as a means of transportation.
Under modern conditions they can not be substituted at random
for natural waterways.
The direction in which a river flows has an important influence
upon the amount of traffic which it will secure. The streams on
which the largest commerce has been developed invariably connect
sources of supply with large centers of consumption. It is not
difficult to recall instances where if rivers flowed in a different
direction their traffic would undoubtedly be greatly increased. If,
for instance, the Ohio River flowed into the Great Lakes or flowed
east to some seaport, such as Philadelphia, it would have greater
traffic possibilities. A good illustration is also furnished in Hungary,
where, if the Theiss or Tisza, a tributary of the Danube, which
traverses a fertile agricultural region, flowed west to meet the Danube
near the large and populous cities of Vienna and Budapest, instead of
south, it would undoubtedly have an enormous traffic in grain
products which now are carried almost entirely by rail. In almost
every country there are rivers whose direction of flow is unfavor-
able to the development of a large through traffic, although the
local traffic may assume considerable proportions if the country
adjacent is sufficiently populated.
It is not essential that a river should be of great depth, although
this is an advantage. What is more essential is that its gradient
should be gentle and its flow uniform, and also that a certain mini-
mum depth should be maintained throughout the season of naviga-
tion. It is also important that a river should be free from silt;
otherwise constant dredging is necessary to maintain the channel
depth. Where rivers are not deep, the disadvantage can be offset
to a considerable degree by the use of barges instead of larger boats.
The cost of propulsion is very little increased by dividing a given
tonnage among several barges instead of conveying it in one boat of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
493
greater draft. The great variation in stream flow on some rivers
materially affects their usefulness for navigation and makes difficult
the installation of docks and terminal facilities. This has led in
some instances to the use of storage reservoirs at the headwaters of
streams for the equalization of stream flow.
The rôle played by favorable natural conditions in those European
countries where the growth of water-borne traffic has been greatest
has seldom been sufficiently emphasized. The view is sometimes.
held that almost every stream of any size if improved or any canal
if constructed will convey a large traffic. The fact is that the growth
of inland water transportation has been greatest in those countries
which possess the best river systems combined with the most favorable
natural conditions. It is also a noteworthy fact that in most countries
the greater part of the inland waterway traffic is carried on a few
large streams or canals possessing special advantages. In Germany,
where water transportation has shown the greatest increase, 80 per
cent of the inland waterway system, aggregating about 6,200 miles,
is composed of rivers either free or canalized. Furthermore, it is an
interesting fact that the five principal rivers the Rhine, Weser,
Elbe, Oder, and Vistula--flow in nearly parallel lines from southeast
to northwest, forming water routes from the interior of Germany to
the north Atlantic or Baltic seaports. Approximately four-fifths of
the total water-borne commerce in Germany is carried on the first
four of these river systems, only a small section of the Vistula, about 150
miles in length, being in Germany. As is shown by the following
table, the Rhine system carries nearly half of the total tonnage:¹
Rhine system.
Elbe system..
Oder system..
Weser-Ems system.
Total, 4 rivers...
Mark waterways.
·
Eastern waterways.
Danube waterways.
D
·
Waterway.
Total, all waterways..
Receipts. Shipments. Total.
Per cent of
total.
Tons.
31,217,934 | 27,172, 134
Tons.
Tons.
| 58,390, 068
49.28
8, 138, 466
9, 242, 178
17,380, 644
14.68
2,978, 015
5,506,990
8,485, 005
7.16
3,878,855
4,084, 129
7,962, 984
6.82
46, 213, 270 46, 005, 401| 92, 218, 701
77.94
13,095, 033
7,803, 750
20,898, 783
17.64
2,618, 629
379, 462
290, 125
62,306,394 56, 189,054 118, 495, 448
2,089, 748
4,708, 377
4.00
669, 587
.42
100.00
The total receipts and shipments in 1909 for the German Rhine
without its tributaries aggregated 50,479,477 tons. Thus on 355
miles of river, or about one-twentieth of the total waterway mileage,
more than 42 per cent of the total traffic was carried.
The Rhine is by far the most important river in Germany and car-
ries a greater commerce than any other inland waterway in Europe.
From the earliest times it has been an important route for commerce
and trade to the interior of Europe. The Rhine is not a deep river,
but its flow is relatively more uniform than that of most streams.
This is due to the fact that the late melting of snow on the Alps
maintains the stream flow during the dry seasons and also to the
fact that the headwaters of the Rhine drain several lakes in Switz-
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 235, I, 1909, Part I. p. X.
494 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
erland, the largest of which is Lake Constance. These lakes act as
natural reservoirs to equalize the flow of the stream. Navigation
is rarely ever impeded by low-water conditions and is usually possible
for 300 days in a year. The direction of the Rhine's flow is very favor-
able to the development of large traffic, inasmuch as it affords a water
route from the most densely populated and industrially developed
section of Germany to the great seaports of Belgium and Holland,
notably Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and Antwerp.
The gradient of the Rhine is, on the whole, very favorable for navi-
gation. At Basle, where it crosses the German frontier from Switzer-
land, it is about 800 feet above sea level. The current is somewhat
swift as far as Strassburg, a distance of 80 miles, when it becomes more
gentle. From this point to Emmerich, on the Dutch frontier, there
are only two places where the current is rapid. One is at St. Goar and
the other at Bingen. The difficulty of getting upstream on these sec-
tions of the river has been obviated to a considerable extent by the use
of powerful towing steamers. The following table shows the mean
low-water depth of the Rhine and the gradient for different sections:¹
Section.
Length in
miles.
Depth at
mean low
water
(feet).
Gradient
(feet per
mile).
Dutch frontier to Cologne..
Cologne to St. Goar…….
St. Goar to Mannheim.
Mannheim to Strassburg.
Strassburg to Basle.
110
10.0
0.8
82
8.2
1.1
79
6.6
.9
84
4.0
1.8
80
3.0
The Weser has very few of the natural advantages possessed by the
Rhine. The average depth is from 3 to 5 feet, and the flow of the
stream is much more irregular. In dry seasons navigation is fre-
quently suspended because of low water. The gradient of the river
is also much steeper than that of the Rhine. The principal advan-
tage of the river is that possessed by the other German rivers, namely,
that it affords a water route from the interior of Germany to the sea-
ports of Bremen and Bremerhaven. The following table shows the
depth and gradient of the Weser for different sections: 2
Section.
Bremen to junction with the Aller at Eyssel.
Eyssel to Minden….
Minden to Carlshafen.
Carlshafen to Münden
Length in
miles.
Depth at
mean low
water
(feet).
Gradient
(feet per
mile).
2842
25
5-10
77
4.1
98
3.3
27
3.0
9206
SHND
0.9
1.2
2.0
2.5
Next to the Rhine, the Elbe is the most important river in Europe.
It is not so deep as the Rhine, and its flow is less uniform. In the
lower reaches it has been somewhat difficult to improve because of
the unstable character of the river bed. Frequently during dry
1 Report of the Royal Commission on Inland Waterways and Canals, Vol. VI, p. 182. This volume
contains the results of the foreign_inquiry of the Commission. It was prepared by Mr. W. H. Lindley,
and will hereafter be referred to as Lindley.
2 Lindley, p. 182.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
495
seasons navigation is impeded because of the low water. The prin-
cipal natural advantage of the Elbe is that it affords water communi-
cation from Austria and the interior of Germany to the port of
Hamburg, which is the most important seaport of the German
Empire. The following table shows the depth and gradient of the
Elbe for different sections: 1
Hamburg to Geesthacht..
Section.
Geesthacht to Ihle Canal.
Ihle Canal to Prussian-Saxon frontier.
Prussian-Saxon frontier to Austrian frontier
Length in
miles.
Depth at
mean low
water
Gradient
(feet per
mile).
(feet).
24
6.0 -10.0
Tidal.
147
-
4.1 4.6
0.8
140
75
3.6
4.25-4.75
1.15
1.35
During the last few years Austria has canalized the Elbe from the
German border to Melnik, and its tributary the Moldau from Melnik
to Prague, to a depth of 6.5 feet.
The Oder possesses less natural advantages than the Elbe. It is
not so deep and has been much more difficult to improve. In the
upper reaches above Breslau it has been necessary to canalize the
river in order to secure a sufficient depth. The principal advantage
of the Oder is that it flows from the Bohemian frontier, through the
center of Germany, to the port of Stettin. Both the Elbe and the
Oder with their connections form water routes to the thickly popu-
lated district around Berlin. The Elbe flows on the west and the Oder
on the east, and both rivers are connected with Berlin and with each
other by means of several short waterways. The mean low-water
depth of the Oder and the gradient by sections is shown in the
following table: ¹
1
Stettin to Finow Canal.
Finow Canal to Küstrin.
Küstrin to Breslau..
•
Section.
Breslau to junction with Neisse..
Length in
miles.
Depth at
mean low
water
(feet).
Gradient
(feet per
mile).
49
5.0-8.7
0.16
31
4.25
.95
223
3.0-3.3
1.5
46
2.6-3.0
1.7
There are 895 miles of important canals in Germany and about
1,350 miles of other canals on which there is only a very small amount
of traffic. The most successful canals form important links connect-
ing the rivers; they are of comparatively short length and do not
overcome great elevations. The best examples of this type are the
canals in the Mark waterway system, which with the two canalized
rivers, Havel and Spree, form connecting links between the Elbe
and the Oder and the city of Berlin. The receipts and shipments on
these waterways in 1909 amounted to more than 20,000,000 tons.
Of this amount fully half was for Berlin and its suburbs. The
lower Havel and the Ihle-Plauer Canal connect Berlin with the
lower and upper Elbe, respectively, and the Finow and the Spree-
Oder Canal afford connection with the lower and upper Oder. The
1 Lindley, p. 182.
496 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Finow Canal was begun in 1603, but not completed until 1746. It
was enlarged during the years 1849-1860, and again during the years
1874-1885. It has a length of 64 miles and a depth of a little more
than 5 feet. In spite of the fact that it accommodates boats of only
150 tons capacity, it carries an annual traffic of more than 1,000,000
tons. Because of its small capacity it is now being supplemented
by a larger canal provided by the law of 1905, which will accommo-
date the regular 600-ton Oder barges. The Spree-Oder Canal in 1905
carried 2,256,000 tons.
The greatest canal achievement in Germany is undoubtedly the
Dortmund-Ems Canal, completed in 1899. It extends from the
Westphalian mining and industrial district to the port of Emden, and
with its Herne branch has a length of 174 miles. It overcomes an
elevation of 225 feet by means of 16 locks and one ship lift. It has
a navigable depth of 6.6 feet and will accommodate barges of 600-tons
capacity. The purpose of this canal was to divert the Rhine traffic
from the Belgian and Dutch seaports to the German port of Emden.
The canal traverses the heart of the great mining and industrial region
of Westphalia, and it was confidently expected that it would carry
10,000,000 tons and that the tolls proposed would yield sufficient
revenue to meet all maintenance charges and also to amortize the
cost. Traffic on the canal in 1900, the first year of operation, was
476,000 tons, and in 1906, 1,731,000, an increase of 260 per cent, but
far below the expected tonnage. It was found necessary in 1905,
in order to encourage traffic, to reduce the tolls originally levied, so
that the prospects of amortizing the cost of this project, which aver-
aged about $105,000 per mile, are somewhat uncertain.
There are several other long canals in Germany which connect with
the waterway system of other countries. The Main-Danube Canal
connecting the two rivers indicated by its name is 110 miles in length,
and overcomes an elevation of 880 feet by means of 100 locks. Its
navigable depth is only 4.2 feet and the water supply on the summit
level is not always ample. The Rhine-Rhone and the Rhine-Marne
Canals connect with the French waterway system. The former is
87 miles in length, and overcomes an elevation of 700 feet by means
of 90 locks. Its depth is only 4.6 feet. The latter canal is a part
of a waterway to Paris. It is 65 miles long and about 6 feet deep,
and employs 64 locks to overcome a height of 542 feet. There are
also two tunnels, one of them more than a mile in length. These
canals are of the older type and carry a relatively small traffic in
comparison with the canals in the Mark waterway system. They
can hardly be said to be profitable undertakings, in view of the large
original cost and the heavy annual maintenance charges. A project
is now being agitated to enlarge the Main-Danube Canal, at a cost
of $67,500,000, to accommodate 600-ton barges. It is very doubtful
if the capacity of this canal even if it should be enlarged could accom-
modate a traffic large enough to make it a profitable enterprise.
Holland is a country possessing unusual advantages for the develop-
ment of water transportation. There are in all 560 miles of rivers
and about 2,400 miles of canals in the Dutch waterway system.
The most important rivers are the Rhine, with its two branches, the
Yssel and the Waal, leading from Germany, and the Meuse, which
connects with Liege and other interior cities of Belgium. The
great artery of inland water traffic in Holland is the Rhine, which
connects the Dutch and Belgian seaports with the inland cities of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
497
Germany. In 1907 more than 17,000,000 tons of imports and exports
were recorded as passing Lobith on the Dutch frontier, while the
total receipts and shipments for the 110 miles in Holland are esti-
mated at 23,028,224 tons.
Although the length of the canal system is much greater than that
of the rivers mentioned, this is no disadvantage. Holland is a
country particularly adapted for the construction of canals because
of the low level land and the abundant water supply. Much of the
land is below the level of the sea and also of the rivers, and few locks
are required. For this reason canal building is far less costly and
much more feasible than is usually the case.
Almost every town in Holland has water connections with the
leading seaports. This explains why about 90 per cent of the traffic
in Holland is carried on the inland waterways. The following table
shows the growth of receipts and shipments by the inland waterways
at Rotterdam. Almost 15,000,000 tons of this traffic is carried on
the Rhine between Rotterdam and the German river ports. A small
percentage is exchanged with Belgian cities and the remainder circu-
lates through the Dutch waterway system.¹
1
1908...
1907..
1906..
1905..
1904
1903.
-
Year.
Number of
vessels.
Metric
tons.
121,374
23, 541, 045
123,507
24,573, 332
120,059
22, 445, 574
114, 222
20, 731, 957
108, 988
106,144
19,024, 044
17,785, 342
Some idea of the amount of traffic which Amsterdam exchanges
with the inland waterways is shown by the following table, which
gives the traffic by years through the lock at Zeeburg on the Mere-
wede Canal. The Rhine boats carry about one-sixth of this tonnage.2
1896.
1900...
1903..
1904.
1905.
1906
·
Year.
Traffic
Number of Rhine
vessels.
Total
boats. tonnage.
Tonnage
of Rhine
boats.
with
German
Rhine
ports.
37,283
1,562
3,462, 788
44, 155
561, 513
1,900
307,098
4,737, 320
50, 251
919,228
2,046
664, 996
444, 475
50,477
949, 073
2,096
5,922, 357
436, 416
51,073
944, 100
2,366
6,021, 125
428,859
54, 415
1,008, 469
2,176
6,523, 713
478,320
1,006, 446
538, 945
The growth of water transportation has been marked in Belgium,
but not as rapid as in Germany. One reason undoubtedly is that
natural conditions are not so favorable. The rivers of Belgium are
not so large as those of Germany. In fact, there are only two free
rivers in the country-the Bas Escaut or Scheldt and its tributary,
the Rupel, with a total length of 75 miles, and both of these are tidal.
There are, however, a number of other rivers which, although small,
have been capable of improvement at a reasonable cost. The most
important of these are the Lys, the Dendre, Sambre, and Meuse.
1 National Waterways Commission Document, No. 18, p. 52.
2 "The Harbor of Amsterdam," report of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 1907, p. 80.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-32
498 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The direction of the flow of these Belgian rivers has been most favor-
able to the development of water transportation. The Lys, the Haut
Escaut, the Dendre, the Dyle, and the Rupel Rivers all converge
from the different parts of Belgium and northern France to form the
maritime Scheldt, which has its outlet at Antwerp, while the Sambre
and Meuse connect the eastern part of Belgium with the French
waterways on the south and the Dutch waterways system on the
the north. Thus most of the principal rivers focus at the one great
seaport and on them is carried the larger part of the total water-
borne commerce of the country. In 1907 the lower Scheldt alone,
with a length of 67 miles or one-fifteenth of the total mileage,
carried one-fifth of the total tonnage and one-fourth of the total ton-
mileage of the whole waterway system.
The following table shows the total tonnage and ton-mileage on
the seven principal rivers of Belgium for 1907. They comprise
about one-third of the total waterway mileage, but carry more than
half the total ton-mileage and nearly half of the total tonnage.¹
Traffic on the principal rivers of Belgium.
Escaut Maritime.
Haut Escaut.
Rupel...
Lys.
Dendre.
Sambre...
Meuse canalized.
Total..
Total, all waterways
Waterways.
Length
(miles).
Total ton-
mileage.
Total ton-
nage.
67.5
296, 376, 272
10,089, 911
59.2
89, 250, 966
1,943, 078
7.5
22, 880, 072
3,127,864
70.8
42, 120, 418
2,880, 176
41.0
27,166,287
1,296, 299
59.0
83, 469, 326
2,180, 450
70.5
137,697,093
2,922, 417
375.5
698, 960, 434
24, 440, 195
1,023.7 |1,198, 295, 230
52, 249, 129
The first five of these rivers belong to the Scheldt River system
and focus at Antwerp. The Sambre and Meuse form a second route
which connects the interior of Belgium with the Rhine and the Dutch
seaports of Rotterdam and Amsterdam.
The canal system of Belgium is almost as long as the river system,
but many of the canals are short connecting links and have been con-
structed through low, level country at relatively small expense. In
this respect the eastern part of the country, bordering the seacoast,
is much like Holland.
The following table shows the ton-mileage and total tonnage of the
five principal canals in Belgium:¹
Traffic on the principal canals of Belgium.
Waterways.
Length
(miles).
Total ton-
mileage.
Total
tonnage.
Brussels to the Rupel..
Charleroi to Brussels.
17.3
47, 506, 156
2,015,958
Ghent-Terneuzen….
Ghent to Ostende.
Bois le Duc-Maestricht.
45.5
36,068, 925
43.5
63,158, 241
1,087,083
2,988, 810
11.0
14,560, 526
29.5
87,693, 944
1,302,761
2,288, 701
Total..
146.8
248,987, 792
9,683,313
Total, all waterways......
1,023.7 1,198, 295, 230
52, 249, 129
1 Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique, 1908, p. 420.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
499
Three of these canals, the first, third and fourth, are in reality
ship canals. The canal connecting Brussels with the River Rupel
has been deepened to 21 feet, the canal connecting Ghent with
Ostende is 14 feet in depth, while the Ghent-Terneuzen Canal has
a navigable depth of about 28 feet. The tonnage statistics given,
however, do not include traffic carried by ocean-going vessels.
Considering its natural disadvantages, the canal from Brussels
to Charleroi carries a surprisingly large traffic. It is 45.5 miles in
length, and overcomes a height of 426 feet by means of 42 locks. The
reason for its large tonnage is that this canal forms a direct route
from the coal fields and industrial region of Charleroi to the port of
Antwerp.
In the interior of Belgium there are a number of comparatively
short canals which overcome considerable elevations. None of these
have shown as rapid a growth of traffic as the waterways in the
western part of the country. The Canal du Centre, which has only
recently been completed, is 13 miles in length, and overcomes a height
of 294 feet by means of 6 locks and 4 lifts. The cost of this waterway
is estimated at more than $4,000,000. It certainly is a question
whether the traffic on this canal will ever yield a fair return upon so great
a cost. On several of the less important Belgian canals in the interior
of the country the traffic has been stationary or has decreased during
the last decade. Among these are the Ath-Blaton Canal, which has
21 locks for a distance of 13 miles; the Antoing-Pommeroeul Canal
connecting the Escaut with the waterway from Condé to Mons, which
has 13 locks for a length of 15.6 miles; and the Condé-Mons Canal,
which has 5 locks in 12.5 miles.
France has sometimes been called the "Paradise of Canals," for
it has more miles of artificial waterways than any other European
country, and some of the canals carry a surprisingly large traffic. The
total length of the waterways used for navigation in 1907 was 7,418
miles, of which 4,356 miles consisted of rivers and 3,062 miles of
canals; but some of the rivers included in this mileage are very shal-
low and not capable of accommodating a large traffic. Some of
the canals are also of little importance. The principal waterways of
France comprise about 3,469 miles, half of which are canals. In 1907
these main lines, constituting less than half of the whole system, car-
ried 85 per cent of the total traffic and 97 per cent of the total ton
mileage.
While the inland-waterway traffic as a whole has shown a steady
increase since the period of revival began, the absence of large free
rivers and other natural disadvantages have made impossible such a
rapid development as has taken place in Germany and Belgium.
Although France has an area several times that of Belgium, and the
length of her inland waterways is seven times the length of the Bel-
gian system, the total water-borne traffic in 1905 was less than two-
thirds that carried on the Belgian system. It was also about half
the traffic carried on the German waterways, although in length the
two systems are nearly equal.
The only free rivers in France are the Rhone, the Garonne, and the
Loire. These three rivers are very shallow throughout most of their
length. The Rhone has a depth of a little over 4 feet from Lyon to
the Mediterranean Sea and a depth of only 2 feet above Lyon. The
Garonne from Castets to Bordeaux has a navigable depth of 6 feet,
500 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
but is very shallow above Castets. The River Loire has been
dredged so as to accommodate boats from the port of Nantes to St.
Nazaire, a distance of 37 miles. Above this point the river is less
navigable than formerly, owing to the large quantities of sand that
have silted up its channels. Between Roanne and Briare the river is
paralleled by a lateral canal 160 miles in length.
The steep gradient and great velocity of the current make the
Rhone difficult to navigate, especially upstream. On the Garonne
the gradient to be overcome is almost as great as that of the Rhone,
while on the Loire the gradient is somewhat less. The average
gradient for these three rivers is as follows:
The Rhone..
The Garonne.
The Loire.
Feet per mile.
2.5
2.33
2.10
The principal canalized rivers are the Seine, the Saône, the Yonne,
and the Marne with their tributaries. In addition to these there are
several rivers belonging to the Belgian system which rise in the north-
eastern part of France. These are the Lys, the Escaut and the
Sambre.
The Seine, although canalized, is the most important waterway in
France, and carried, in 1907, 9,300,000 tons, or more than 25 per cent
of the total traffic transported on the inland-waterway system of
the country. Its great natural advantage is that it connects Paris
with the ports of Rouen and Havre.
Aside from the Seine, the rivers showing the largest traffic are given
in the following table. It will be seen that all these rivers are in the
northern part of France. They constitute sections of the main line
from Paris to the principal coal fields of the country and to the Bel-
gian frontier. The large traffic carried on these waterways, as will be
explained in the following chapter, is due to exceptional conditions
which outweigh the somewhat unfavorable natural conditions.¹
Traffic on the principal rivers of France.
Oise, canalized
Escaut, from Cambrai to Étrun
Escaut, from Étrun to Condé
Scarpe, diversion around Douai
Aa
Lys
Sambre, canalized……
River.
Length in
miles.
Total
tonnage,
1907.
Total
tonnage,
1910.
64.5
4,370, 239
4,317,078
7.5
5,567, 147
5,783,626
22.0
2,087, 285
2,395,044
5.0
4,003, 545
4,301, 196
18.0
2,088, 285
2,085, 482
44.6
872,800
802,371
33.5
825, 287
787,724
The only river in France not included in the table above which has
a traffic of more than 1,000,000 tons is the Marne, a tributary of the
Seine, which joins it just east of the city limits of Paris. The traffic
on this river and on the other principal rivers of France is shown by
the table following.¹
1
1 Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1907 and 1910.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
501
Traffic on the less important rivers.
River.
Marne.
Garonne, from Castets to the Dordogne
Saône, from St. Jean de Losne to Ile Barbe
Saône, from Ile Barbe to the Rhone
Rhone, Lyon to Arles
Rhone, Arles to the Mediterranean
Loire, from Nantes St. Nazaire
Length in
miles.
Total
tonnage,
1907.
Total
tonnage,
1910.
113.5
1,015, 042
1,041,578
48.7
884, 138
125.3
825, 928
919, 743
955,569
5.6
561, 313
577, 133
178.0
670, 292
709, 754
30.0
412, 653
402, 045
35.0
314,843
312,934
As will be seen, the traffic on these rivers is much less than on the
rivers in the northern part of France, not because the natural condi-
tions are any more unfavorable, but because the demand for trans-
portation facilities is not so urgent.
While many of the canals of France carry but a comparatively
small tonnage, there are some in the midland, eastern, and north-
eastern parts of France that carry a heavy traffic. There are 20
canals or sections of canals aggregating about 925 miles, each of which
has an annual traffic of more than a million tons, and there are 6
other canals with a total length of 353 miles, with a traffic of more
than half a million tons each. The large tonnage of these artificial
waterways is due mainly to the fact that they are connecting links in
important through routes. The Canal St. Quentin has the largest
traffic of any of these canals. In 1910 it amounted to almost
7,000,000 tons, which is the maximum capacity of the canal. This
waterway has a length of 58 miles and a depth of from 6 to 7.25
feet. Although of comparatively short length, it overcomes a height
of 265 feet by means of 25 locks. It also has two tunnels, one of them
of considerable length. This is perhaps the best example in Europe
of an artificial waterway which, in spite of natural disadvantages,
carries an enormous traffic. The reason is that it is a connecting
link in a through route from Paris to the coal mines of northern
France and to the Belgian frontier, between which localities there is
a movement of traffic in heavy commodities far beyond what the
railways can accommodate.
The limited capacity of the St. Quentin Canal, due to its unfavor-
able natural conditions, has retarded the rapid growth of traffic over
this water route from Paris to the north. Consequently a plan for
building a new canal to supplement this one has been adopted. Work
on this new project known as the Canal du Nord was begun in 1905.
The cost of construction is estimated at $11,580,000, and of mainte-
nance and administration about $87,000 a year.
It will be approx-
imately 85 miles in length and about 7 feet in depth, and will have a
total of 18 locks.
The following table gives the total tonnage and other information
regarding the 10 canals carrying the largest traffic in France. All of
these waterways are either in the northern or eastern part of the
country. Considering the elevation that is overcome in several
instances the traffic transported by these canals is unusually large
and, as in the case of the rivers in this part of country, is due primarily
to the great demand for transportation facilities.¹
¹ Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1910.
!
502
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Traffic on the principal canals.
River.
Length. ble
Naviga- Elevation Number Total ton-
overcome of locks. nage in 1910.
depth. (feet).
St. Quentin..
58.0
5.9
265.0
35
6,965,877
Lateral to the Oise.
21.0
5.9
33.0
4
•
6,071, 119
Haute-Deûle, from Fort-de-Scarpe to Bauvin
39.0
5.9
35.0
7
6,177,025
Sensée...
15.5
5.9
16.0
1
4,585, 420
Aire and branch.
25.5
5.9
6.6
1
4, 285, 801
Marne to the Rhine and branch.
128.0
5.9
978.0
113
3,904, 550
Lateral to the Aisne.
31.6
5.9
57.5
7
2,737,506
Lateral to the Marne...
41.5
5.9
111.0
15
2,214, 840
Oise to the Aisne…….
30.0
5.9
129.0
13
2,240, 849
Aisne to the Marne.
140.0
5.9
211.0
24
2,214,840
The remarkable showing made by these 10 artificial waterways,
notwithstanding unfavorable conditions, indicates what the possi-
bilities for water transportation would be if only a large free river
such as the Rhine connected Paris with the northern coal fields and
the Belgian frontier.
Russia has the largest waterway system of any country in the
world. It comprises 3,158 rivers and their tributaries, 202 lakes, and
138 canals, aggregating more than 112,000 miles in length, but the
traffic carried on the Russian waterways system is less than that on
the Belgian system, with a total length of about 1,000 miles. Many
of the Russian rivers are small and shallow and suited only for the
rafting of lumber. The Volga system, with a length of 2,309 miles,
or about one-fiftieth of the total, carries more than half the total ton-
nage of the whole waterway system, while the Neva system, about
633 miles in length, carries approximately one-seventh of the total
traffic; and the Dnieper, 1,427 miles in length, carries about one-
eighth. The traffic on the principal inland waterways of European
Russia, not including Finland, Caucasus, and the Vistula region, in
1907 was as follows:
Volga River system..
Neva River system..
Duena River system..
Dnieper River system.
Dvina River system.
Niemen River system..
Vistula River system.
Other waterways..
Tons.
18, 930, 645
5, 822, 580
1,972, 580
4, 248, 387
1, 943, 548
1, 906, 451
393, 548
236, 664
Total..
35, 454, 403
The Austrian waterway system is composed almost entirely of
rivers which aggregate in length about 4,000 miles, but of this navi-
gable length 58 per cent is suitable for rafting only. About 900 miles
can be navigated by small boats and 823 miles by steamboats. The
total traffic on the inland waterways of Austria in 1905 amounted to
7,199,758 tons. All but about 200,000 tons of this amount was car-
ried on the three principal rivers. The Elbe carried 3,969,669 tons;
its tributary, the Moldau, 1,216,497 tons, and the Danube 1,869,911
tons. In other words, more than 95 per cent of the total water-borne
traffic was carried on less than one-eighth of the waterway system.
The total length of the Hungarian waterway system is approxi-
mately 3,100 miles, of which 1,920 miles are adapted to steamboat
¹ National Waterways Commission Doc. No. 22, p. 53.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 503
navigation and 1,180 miles to rafts and floats. The waterway system
is composed almost entirely of the Danube and its branches. There
is also one lake with a length of 75 miles, and four canals having a
combined length of 219 miles. The total traffic on the Hungarian
waterways for 1907 was 4,400,000 tons. Most of this traffic was car-
ried on the Danube for the section near the large cities of Budapest
and Vienna. On the other rivers in the system the commerce is
not large.
One reason for the decline of water transportation in England is un-
doubtedly the dearth of large free rivers, such as are found in Germany.
On the whole the natural conditions in England are very unfavorable
for the development of water transportation. There are only a few
small rivers suitable for navigation. To supply the deficiency a
large number of canals were constructed in the early period, through
a country whose topography is least suited for canal building. Many
of these canals overcome considerable elevations within a compara-
tively short distance. As already stated, it was found necessary to
employ flights of locks, lifts, and even tunnels to overcome the natural
disadvantages. There are only 8 waterways which have a traffic
amounting to more than 1,000,000 tons each. Although they aggre-
gate 872 miles in length, or less than one-fifth of the total waterway
mileage still in use for navigation, they carried in 1905 more than
19,000,000 tons, or half of the total water-borne tonnage.¹
Waterway.
Mileage.
Tonnagel Ton
conveyed. miles.2
Birmingham Canal.
159
Aire & Calder Navigation.
7,546, 453
85
2,810, 988
Leeds & Liverpool Canal.
59,591, 231
145
2,467,827
Grand Junction Canal.
48,395, 651
189
Regents Canal..
Thames River, above London Bridge to Inglesham
Trent & Mersey Navigation..
1,794, 233
41,629, 468
144
1,395, 642
23,300,000
119
1,137,663
11
1,045, 184
Weaver Navigation..
20
1,076,572
14,570,530
Total..
872
19, 274, 562
Total, all waterways..
5,085
39, 498, 926
¹In England the long ton of 2,240 pounds is used.
2 Ton-mile statistics are not collected on the railway-owned canals.
The Birmingham Canal has the largest traffic. In 1905 it was
about three times that of any other waterway, and about one-
fifth of the total water-borne tonnage of England and Wales.
The reason for this enormous traffic on a shallow draft canal which
can only accommodate boats of 30 tons capacity, is due to its loca-
tion in the greatest mining and manufacturing center of England.
Its sides are lined for miles with manufactories which were built there
when the canal was the only means of transportation. Further-
more, this canal is now used as a feeder for the London and North-
western Railway, which owns it. Most of its traffic is of a local
nature; only a very small percentage leaves the summit level which
this canal occupies, although it has connections with four different
seaports. Hence its ton-mileage is small. The next important
waterway is the Aire & Calder, which is composed mostly of small
1. Report of the Royal Commission on Inland Waterways and Canals, Vol. VII, p. 53.
504 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
streams that have been canalized so as to afford slack water naviga-
tion. A large part of its traffic consists of coal, which is carried from
Leeds to Goole on the Ouse for export. It has the largest ton-mileage
of any waterway in the United Kingdom. The Leeds & Liverpool
Canal is third in importance. Its traffic is also composed largely of
coal carried from the collieries to manufacturing concerns located on
its banks. Its ton-mileage ranks second. The large traffic carried
on these few waterways shows what the possibilities might be were
natural conditions more favorable. In all probability many of the
English canals will eventually be abandoned because of the physical
impossibility of modernizing them. The royal commission, in its
report, recommended the purchase and improvement of only about
1,000 miles of waterways forming the principal routes from the Mid-
lands to the seaports.
The United States undoubtedly possesses better natural water-
ways than any other country in the world. On the northern
boundary there is the chain of lakes, which accommodates boats of
20 feet draft from Lake Superior or Lake Michigan as far as Buffalo
on Lake Erie. According to the Report of the Commissioner of Cor-
porations on Water Transportation, there are also 295 rivers capable
of being used for navigation, with a total length of 26,400 miles.
Five thousand eight hundred miles of river navigation have a depth
of 6 feet or more for a greater part of the year. This includes 40
streams having a total length of 2,600 miles and a depth of nearly 10
feet.
The Mississippi River has a minimum depth of 30 feet from the
Passes to the mouth of the Red River, a distance of 291 miles. From
this point to Cairo, a distance of 750 miles, the mean low-water depth
is 9 feet. From Cairo to St. Louis, a distance of 175 miles, 8 feet
obtains for most of the year. Between St. Louis and St. Paul a
depth of 4 feet is generally available and a project for obtaining 6
feet is well under way. Were it not for the fact that the Mississippi
from the mouth of the Missouri to the Gulf has an unstable bed with
caving banks and shifting bottom, and that it is subject throughout
its length to great variations in stream flow, it would excel even the
Rhine in its natural advantages. With its tributaries it affords 2,500
miles of 6 feet navigation through the heart of the continent.
The Hudson is another river which possesses great natural ad-
vantages. For a considerable distance above its mouth it is tidal and
has a depth of 25 feet. Throughout its length from New York City
to Albany, a distance of 150 miles, it can accommodate vessels of 9
feet draft for most of the year, and an improvement is now being
carried out which will result in a low water depth of 12 feet. The
stream is not subject to great variations nor to the silting up charac-
teristic of the Mississippi River system. With the Erie Canal it
forms an important link in the water route from New York City to
the Great Lakes. As far as natural advantages are concerned this
river has not an equal in Europe.
It is evident that natural conditions have not been responsible for
the decline of water-borne traffic in this country, although in particular
cases they may have been a contributing cause. If favorable natural
conditions were the only determining factor a large traffic should have
developed on many of our streams as it has on the Great Lakes.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
505
There are, of course, a large number of rivers in the country which
are shallow or have currents too swift to be suited for any consider-
able commerce, even with extensive improvements. Some of our
rivers are also not in the line of greatest traffic movement. This is
especially true of the Tennessee, Kentucky and Cumberland Rivers,
whose direction of flow and tortuous course are unfavorable to the
development of a large through traffic. Since the Civil War the main
line of traffic movement has been east and west or transversal to a
number of large rivers, including the Mississippi.
From the foregoing it appears that only a few waterways in each
country with exceptional advantages carry a large commerce. The
movement of traffic is determined fundamentally by economic factors,
and the most successful waterways are those which are in line with
the greatest traffic movement. If such waterways are free rivers with
physical characteristics favorable to their use for navigation, the ex-
pansion of their commerce is almost unlimited, while if they are small
canalized rivers or canals, their ability to accommodate a growing
traffic has decided limits. Where railway competition is involved the
large free river is also better able to maintain its traffic because
of the cheaper transportation which it affords.
III.
THE IMPORTANCE OF IMPROVEMENTS.
The improvement of waterways is always necessary in order to make
them serviceable for transportation, since no stream in its natural
state is suitable for modern commerce. All have obstructions of
various kinds, such as sand bars, rocky projections or rapids, which
limit their navigability. Even lakes require the dredging of channels
and the construction of harbors. Large free rivers with gentle slopes,
as a rule, are much less expensive to improve than small streams
with rapid current, the improvement of the latter being sometimes.
as costly as the construction of canals.
From the economic standpoint waterway improvements for aiding
navigation are justified only when a sufficiently large traffic can be
developed to yield a commensurate return upon the expenditures for
this purpose. Hence, the waterways requiring the least improve-
ment for a given traffic have the greatest advantage. The regulari-
zation or canalization of rivers and the construction of canals
necessitate a much heavier expenditure than the simpler methods of
river improvement, and generally speaking the more expensive the
improvement the less the amount of traffic which can be accommo-
dated. Thus it is not always feasible to undertake such improve-
ments, even if the engineering difficulties to be overcome do not pre-
clude their adoption.
The development of water transportation requires other improve-
ments than merely deepening rivers and maintaining permanent
channels. Whenever necessary and feasible the waterways of a
country should be standardized and linked up so as to form through
routes. Above all, channel improvements should be supplemented by
ample harbors equipped with adequate terminal facilities. Physical
connection with the railways should also be secured and such facilities
should be under proper control so that the charges for their use may
not be unreasonable. Improvements should also be made in the
506 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
type of vessel so that it may be adapted to the depth and width of
a given channel, and in the means of propulsion or towage so that
greater speed and cheaper motive power may be attained. The better
organization of the water transportation business and the adoption
of improved methods are also necessary in order to afford a more re-
liable service.
As a rule, in more advanced countries the improvement of rivers
includes numerous objects not connected with navigation, such as
the reclamation of overflowed lands, bank protection, the prevention
of damage by floods, the development of water power as well as
the maintenance and purification of the water supply. In mak-
ing improvements to promote navigation one or more of these addi-
tional uses may also be developed. Where a stream is not destined
to carry a large commerce it may prove of greater benefit in under-
taking its improvement to make the promotion of navigation only a
secondary purpose. In Hungary the improvement of rivers is largely
under the supervision of the secretary of agriculture, the main pur-
pose of their improvement being to reclaim valuable agricultural
lands which are subject to overflow.
Where water-borne traffic has attained large proportions, the various
improvements necessary for the promotion of navigation have been
carried out. This fact has naturally led to the inference that the
improvements were responsible in a large measure for the growth of
traffic. As a matter of fact, improvements are more incidental than
fundamental to the development of water transportation. Only where
there is a large potential commerce will the deepening of channels
and the use of improved methods and facilities for handling freight
result in an immediate increase. The growth of traffic on a waterway
does not necessarily keep pace with the number of dollars spent for
its improvements but depends on more fundamental causes.
not difficult to find cases, especially in the United States, where ex-
pensive improvements have been followed by a very slight increase
or even a substantial decrease in traffic, and in foreign countries
the results from an improvement in one case may be far different
from the expenditure of a like amount on another project.
It is
An erroneous impression is current in the United States that the
main requirement for the revival of river commerce is increased
appropriations for the improvement of channels. This is based on
the belief that the remarkable growth of water transportation abroad
has been due mainly to the large sums spent by those countries for
improvements. The fact is overlooked that the United States has
also spent large sums for the improvement of waterways, but with
very different results.
While some of the earlier projects undertaken by European
countries were adopted without careful investigation, the policy
now is to examine with great care the traffic possibilities of each
project before it is adopted. Furthermore, the State expenditures for
channel improvements have been supplemented in many instances
by local expenditures for the improvement of terminal facilities and
by private expenditures for the better equipment and organization
of the shipping business. The quick response of traffic to the im-
provements made is the usual result.
It is customary in most of the European countries to provide for the
maintenance, administration, and operation of the waterways in the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
507
annual budgets, while special laws or programs are passed when new
works are to be undertaken. Up to March 1, 1907, the Prussian
Government has expended for the improvement and maintenance of
her rivers and canals, which include by far the larger part of the
German waterway system, the following amounts: 1
Waterway.
Improvements. Maintenance.
Rhine River since 1816..
Main River since 1876.
Ems and Ems-Dortmund Canal.
Weser, with the Fulda and Aller since 1842.
Elbe since 1815..
Brandenburg waterways up to Mar. 31, 1906
Oder since 1816..
Vistula since 1831.
Other waterways.
Total...
$12,590, 200
$5,712,000
2,213, 400
20,753, 600
642,600
2,261,000
3, 165, 400
2,094, 400
9,877,000
7,354, 200
22,895, 600
4,831, 400
12,590, 200
8,068, 200
23,942,800
11,590, 600
17,207, 400
9, 329, 600
125, 235, 600
51,884,000
The other German States have also spent correspondingly large
sums for the improvement of their waterways. The little State of
Hamburg has made very large expenditures for the improvement of
the Elbe in order to obtain a ship channel from the mouth of the river
to the city. Hamburg is also spending more than $10,000,000 for
the extension and improvement of its harbor. The State of Bremen
has spent more than $8,000,000 for deepening the Weser from its
mouth to the city, and is now spending $1,900,000 for the construction
of a large storage reservoir at Hemelingen for the improvement of
navigation. Bavaria has spent $3,665,000 for the improvement of
the Rhine, $4,212,000 for the Main, and $5,426,000 for the Danube.
In Prussia and the other German States tolls are only charged on
the canals and canalized rivers. There is a constitutional provision
which prohibits the charging of tolls on free rivers. As a result the
revenues derived from the tolls are not sufficient to defray the ordi-
nary expenses of maintenance and administration of the waterway
system, for, as already stated, nearly 80 per cent of the water-borne
traffic in Germany is carried on the free rivers. The deficit which
Prussia is obliged to pay each year averages about $4,000,000. Hence
it is not surprising that during the last decade she has been very
active in advocating a proposal to repeal this provision of the consti-
tution. After granting large concessions to the various other States,
a majority in favor of the proposition was finally obtained, and it
passed the Reichstag in the latter part of 1911. But before tolls can
charged on the Rhine and Elbe it will also be necessary to obtain
the consent of Holland and Austria, both of which countries are said
to be unalterably opposed to such a policy.
be
The French Government has spent approximately $450,000,000 for
the improvement and maintenance of its waterway system, as shown
by the following table. This large expenditure has been made neces-
sary because there are few large free rivers in France, and more than
half of the waterway system is composed of canals. Furthermore the
country is not naturally suited for canal construction. In most
cases considerable elevations have to be overcome and reservoirs and
1 Report of the consul at Hamburg to the National Waterways Commission in 1909.
508 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
pumping plants have to be installed in order to secure an adequate
water supply.¹
1
Period.
Construction and improvement, 1814 to 1900.
Maintenance and repairs, 1814 to 1900…….
Rivers.
Canals.
Total.
$128,439, 471❘ $180,752, 259
87,741, 370 59,925, 224
$309, 191, 730
147,666,594
All tolls were abolished on the French waterways in the year 1880.
Since this time expenditures for the maintenance and improvement
of waterways have been met entirely by taxation. The present
annual expenditure for this purpose is estimated at $2,000,000.
From 1831 to 1907, inclusive, Belgium spent on her waterways the
following amounts.2
Maintenance, general improvements, and other current expenses.
New construction and other extraordinary expenses.
Total..
$25, 777, 000
81, 118, 000
106,895, 000
Belgium has always maintained tolls on all her waterways, with
the exception of the two free rivers. Since 1831 these tolls have
yielded the State a total revenue of $29,547,000, which is slightly
more than the ordinary expense of maintaining the waterways dur-
ing this period. In recent years, however, the tolls have not been
sufficient to cover the entire cost of maintenance and other current
expenses, and the deficit is paid by the Government. In 1905 it
amounted to about $45,000.
Provinces, municipalities, and private interests have always volun-
tarily participated to some extent in waterway improvements, but
during the last decade there has come about a movement especially in
Germany and France, which makes it obligatory for the localities
benefited by improvements to participate in the cost. In Prussia
the law of April 1, 1905, adopted certain new works on condition that
the Provinces and interested parties guarantee:
1. The cost of maintenance, working, and administration;
2. With certain alleviations, 3 per cent interest on about one-third
of the capital; and
3. From the sixteenth year onward one-half per cent to the sinking
fund, the State undertaking to find the money for the interest and
sinking fund for the remaining two-thirds of the capital.
A change of policy in France was inaugurated by the law of 1903,
which provides that for all new works the localities interested must
contribute one-half of the expense and the Government will furnish
the remainder. The localities however, are allowed to charge tolls,
and in some cases to exploit towage monopolies, until they have
reimbursed themselves. The tolls to be collected and the towage
charges are fixed by the State. In carrying out projects already
adopted, there is no requirement for the participation of localities,
although their assistance is generally solicited by the Government
before the work of improvement is undertaken.
No such principle has as yet been adopted in Belgium, but there is
one notable instance of voluntary cooperation within the last decade.
The 21-foot ship channel from the 'River Rupel to Brussels and the
1 National Waterways Commission Document No. 16, p. 46.
2 National Waterways Commission Doc. No. 20, p. 41.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
509
inland harbor at Brussels were constructed by a corporation of
communes. The State contributed during the years 1901-1908
$2,216,000 and the localities $3,146,000.
The different cities in Germany and Belgium have spent large sums
on their river and canal ports. This has been especially the case on
the three largest rivers in Germany. Some of the harbors have several
basins, each intended for a particular use, and these river ports are
equipped with coal tipples, electric cranes, and other devices for
facilitating the rapid and economical loading and unloading of boats.
In some cases their equipment is superior to that of any seaport
of the United States. This is particularly true of the harbor at
Duisburg-Ruhrort. The municipal supervision exercised over the
docks and terminal facilities at these inland ports guarantees to
shippers their use at reasonable rates. The city of Düsseldorf on
the Rhine has spent $4,280,000 for enlarging and improving its har-
bor. The city of Cologne has spent on its two harbors $5,477,000
and $1,667,000, respectively. On the Oder the city of Breslau has
expended $1,309,000 on its harbor. The city of Dortmund on the
Dortmund-Ems Canal expended $1,963,500 for its harbor, the State
of Prussia loaning the city $317,000 of this amount.
In Germany the different States have sometimes spent large sums
for the construction of harbors. This has usually been done where
the State owned the harbor or where it was intended to be an
important transfer point between the State railways and the boat lines.
Along the Rhine there are a number of State-owned harbors. The
extent and equipment of these, as well as of the principal municipal
harbors of the German Rhine from Strassburg down, are shown in the
following statement:¹
Strassburg.
Kehl..
Karlsruhe.
Rheinau.
Mannheim.
Ludwigshafen..
Worms....
Gustavsburg.
Mayence.
Bingen..
Coblenz.
Cologne.
Mülhelm on the Rhine.
Düsseldorf.
Duisburg-Ruhrort.
Emmerich.
On the Main:
Frankfort.
Offenbach.
Name.
German Rhine ports.
Cranes.
Administra-
tion.
Loading
space.
Number. Capacity.
Miles.
Tons.
Municipal....
5.8
31
4
State...
6.4
10
8
Municipal.
2.8
15
State..
7.5
24
..do..
12.1
109
30
..do..
3.4
57
10
Municipal..
2.4
7
State...
1.7
27
12
Municipal.
4.0
16
.do.
.9
5
State...
.7
4
Municipal..
5.2
45
.do.
.62
10
..do..
6.2
36
State...
.do.
...
Municipal....
12.7
1.9
do...
3.2
.9
@ HOW HA
30
25
84
30
10
38
7
10
boo e☹ ~♡ Bona#Go∞
&
5
5
7
9
5
8
The State of Baden spent during the years 1865-1902 over
$5,000,000 for the transfer harbor and terminal facilities at Mann-
heim and in order to encourage the growth of traffic at this port has
maintained the harbor free of all dues. The city itself also spent
$1,850,000 for an industrial harbor. The total expenditure of the
¹National Waterways Commission Doc. No. 19, p. 57.
510 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
different States along the Rhine for their river ports amounts to nearly
$25,000,000.
Some of the principal cities in Belgium have also spent large sums
on their inland harbors. This is especially the case at Brussels, Bruges,
and Ghent. In France the only three river ports of any importance
are at Rouen and Paris on the Seine, and at Roanne on the Loire.
The extent and the equipment of these three river ports is hardly com-
parable with that found in Germany. The commerce is much smaller
and the predominance of canals makes such elaborate equipment
less necessary.
The large expenditures for waterway improvements by States and
localities in Europe have generally resulted in a substantial increase
in commerce, because the potential traffic was there before the improve-
ments were undertaken. In some cases the returns have been much
greater than in others, for almost all the European countries, in their
enthusiasm for water transportation, have adopted projects which
have not yielded benefits in proportion to those usually obtained
from such investments. It is a noticeable fact, however, that
expenditures by localities for inland harbors have rarely ever been
made except where a large prospective traffic existed.
On the whole, waterway improvements in Germany have been
followed by a more rapid growth of traffic than in other countries.
When the Main was canalized from the Rhine to Frankfort, at a cost
of $2,200,000, the traffic increased from 250,000 tons in 1887, the
first year of operation, to 3,270,668 tons in 1909. During this period
the receipts and shipments at Frankfort increased from 156,000 to
1,600,000 tons. When the Spree-Oder Canal was constructed to con-
nect the upper Oder with Berlin and the lower Elbe the traffic
increased from 637,000 tons in 1891, the first year of operation, to
2,256,000 tons in 1905. The upper Oder above Breslau was canal-
ized in 1896, and traffic increased from 288,000 tons to 1,730,000 tons
within 10 years. The enlargement of harbors, especially along the
Rhine, has in almost every instance been followed by a large increase
in traffic. The most noticeable increases have occurred at Mann-
heim and at Duisburg-Ruhrort. In the former case the receipts and
shipments increased from 1,415,279 tons in 1885 to 4,922,465 tons
in 1900 and to nearly 6,000,000 tons in 1909. In 1900 the total
receipts and shipments at Duisburg-Ruhrort amounted to slightly more
than 14,000,000 tons. In 1909 they had increased to nearly 20,000,000
tons.
The best examples in France of a large increase in traffic following
improvements are found on the Seine. On the section from Paris
to Rouen about $12,500,000 have been spent to obtain a reliable
depth of 10 feet. As a result, the traffic has increased more than 75
per cent since 1895. At Paris the total water-borne traffic has
increased from 4,749,000 tons in 1885 to more than 10,000,000 tons
in 1910.
In the United States the expenditures for river and harbor improve-
ments has been much larger than is generally realized. Since 1802
the Federal Government has appropriated about $366,000,000 for the
improvement of rivers, $240,000,000 for harbors, and $40,000,000 for
canals. In addition there have been appropriated about $10,000,000
for examinations, surveys, and other miscellaneous items, making the
total appropriations for all improvements, up to and including the
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 511
river and harbor bill of February, 1911, fully $650,000,000.¹ About
$25,000,000 of this amount appropriated has not yet been spent.
The aggregate expenditures of the Government to the close of the
fiscal year ending June 30, 1911, according to a recent report of
the Secretary of the Treasury, amount to $627,098,236.05.2
It may be said without contradiction that the United States has
derived less benefit from the expenditures of these large sums for
waterway improvements than any of the European countries have
from theirs. This is due partly to the lack of a comprehensive policy
and partly to the fact that the improvements of rivers are not funda-
mental to the growth of traffic. Economic factors are more important.
The Government has expended $121,142,554 upon the Mississippi
River, and since 1885 the traffic has been steadily declining. During
the last few years the Mississippi has had a depth of 30 feet from New
Orleans to Memphis, 9 feet from Memphis to Cairo, 8 feet from Cairo
to St. Louis, and 4 feet from St. Louis to St. Paul; but the present
traffic is not more than a third of what it was in 1880, when the channel
depth for these different sections of the river was much less.
A good
index of the decline of traffic on the upper Mississippi River is shown
by the statistics of shipments from St. Louis. În 1880 shipments
by steam boats and barges amounted to 1,038,350 tons. At this time
the depth of the river was only 3 to 4 feet. In 1900 the shipments
had declined to 601,862 tons. In 1903 thay had fallen to 212,207 tons;
and in 1904 to 82,565 tons. In 1910 they had decreased to 48,425
tons, while the depth of the river had increased to 8 feet for most of
the year.
During the period 1880 to 1910 the total receipts and shipments
at St. Louis decreased almost 90 per cent, as shown by the following
table: 3
1880..
1890..
1895
1900.
1905.
1910.
Year.
Shipments.
Receipts.
Total.
1,038, 350
1,092, 175
601,862
303, 355
663, 730
508,830
245,580
512, 010
2,130,525
1,265, 592
812, 185
757,590
80,575
289,850
370, 425
48, 425
143, 540
191, 965
The receipts and shipments at St. Louis via the upper Mississippi
River have declined from 1,314,379 tons in 1880 to 43,090 tons in
1910.4
On the Missouri River up to and including June 30, 1911, $11,425,000
have been spent for improving the channel, and yet on the stretch
between the mouth and Kansas City in 1910 only 41,502 tons of
freight were carried if the sand and gravel hauled for a distance of
less than a mile at Kansas City is excluded.
There are many instances in the United States where the expendi-
tures by the Federal Government have far exceeded the demand for
transportation facilities. On a considerable number of the streams
the Government has built expensive locks and dams where the traffic
consists mostly of saw logs, railroad ties, and other lumber products
1 Senate Doc. No. 807, 61st Cong., 3d sess.
2 Senate Doc. No. 382, 62d Cong., 2d sess.
Report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water, Part II, p. 295. The figures
for 1880 are from the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1901, Supplement, p. 38, and those for
1910 are obtained from the St. Louis Merchants' Exchange.
4 Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1911, p. 1934.
512 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
which are generally rafted and do not require such expensive improve-
ments. As soon as the forests are exhausted the traffic will be greatly
reduced. A few examples are shown by the following table: 1
Big Sandy..
Kentucky.
Ouachita.
Trinity.
White, Arkansas.
Upper White..
River.
Expendi-
tures.
Total traffic
in 1910.
Lumber
products.
Tons.
Tons.
$171, 812
185,534
184,572
3,623, 271
254, 721
144,978
1,834, 719
57,684
28,880
867, 714
73,789
62, 102
457,019
118,496
109, 145
813, 166
27,403
5,042
A striking example of large expenditures with little return is found
on the Red River in Louisiana. Up to June 30, 1911, the Govern-
ment had expended for the improvement of this river $1,457,499.
The traffic on this stream for the calendar year 1910 was 48,702 tons,
of which 48,640 tons were composed of lumber products capable of
being rafted. A still more striking example of the extravagant
expenditure of money by the Federal Government for water-
ways is the Illinois & Mississippi Canal, generally known as the
Hennepin Canal. For the construction of this artificial waterway
the Federal Government expended $7,463,680. The traffic on the
Milan section of this canal for the fiscal year 1911 amounted to 5,115
tons, while traffic on the eastern and western sections for the calendar
year 1910 amounted to 244,635 tons; but this figure is obtained by
adding together the tonnage statistics collected at each one of the
37 locks, and hence is misleading. If all duplications were eliminated
it is probable that 25,000 tons would cover the actual traffic on this
division of the canal.
The annual reports of Army engineers for rivers under their super-
vision furnish many illustrations of the lack of response to improve-
ments and every year numerous recommendations are made that the
further improvement of such streams be discontinued. On the Min-
nesota River, for instance, the Government has already spent $146,179.
The engineer in charge makes the following report:2
As will be seen on the graphical record for this river, there has never been any
commerce, whereas considerable sums of money have been expended. Although a
practicable channel has been provided at the mouth of the river, it has never been
used except by pleasure boats, and there is no prospect that it will be. For this
reason I recommend that the annual expenditure for maintenance of this channel
be discontinued, as it is not warranted by any existing or prospective commerce.
On the Tombigbee River above Columbus the Government has
carried on the work of improvement since 1872. The total appro-
priations amount to $90,667. In 1910 an examination of the stream
was made, and it was recommended that the section between Aber-
deen and Walker's bridge be abandoned.³
On the other hand, some of the improvements carried on by the
Federal Government have been followed by a large increase in traffic.
This is especially true of those channels which afford an entrance to
the important seaports on the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts.
It is also true of several of the Great Lake ports, especially Duluth
1 The expenditures are taken from S. Doc. 382, Sixty-second Congress, second session, and the traffic
statistics from the Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers, 1911.
2 Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1911, Vol. II, p. 1981.
3 Annual Report, Chief of Engineers, 1911, Vol. II, p. 1710.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
513
and Superior. Perhaps the best instance of the rapid increase of
traffic following improvements is found in the various channels con-
necting the Great Lakes, such as the St. Marys River, the St. Clair
Flats Canal, and the Detroit River. Every additional inch of depth
has been utilized. The capacity of boats has been constantly increas
ing, and the cost of transporting the enormous iron ore and coal
traffic has steadily declined. On these channels the Government has
spent the following amounts:
St. Marys River and Canal..
Hay Lake and Neebish Channels
St. Clair River and St. Clair Flats Canal
Detroit River..
During the last three decades the
channels has increased 2,000 per cent.
than 60,000,000 tons.
$9, 289, 874
17, 607, 523
1, 013, 135
9, 700, 283
traffic passing through these
In 1910 it amounted to more
There are several reasons why the expenditures for waterway
improvements in the United States have so often been followed by
such disappointing results. Among these, however, should not be
included the skill and character of the engineering work. The
methods of improving rivers to promote navigation in this country
are on the whole as advanced, from the engineering standpoint, as
those employed in Europe. In fact there is little difference in
methods, except in details and in the extent to which they have
been carried out. Practically all the different types of dams used in
river improvement in Europe can be found in different parts of the
United States. The type of locks used is also much the same.
Boat lifts have been more frequently tried in Europe than in the
United States, but they have not proved entirely satisfactory.¹
As difficult engineering works have been performed in connection
with river and harbor improvements in this country as have been
witnessed abroad.
A minor reason is the lack of coordination found in the adminis-
tration of waterway improvements. Such administration is much
more complete in France, Belgium, and Germany than in the United
States. In France the rivers and canals are supervised by the ad-
ministration des Ponts et Chaussees, which is directly under the
Minister of Public Works. The improvements are carried on accord-
ing to a comprehensive plan adopted in 1879, which has resulted in
the standardization of the principal lines throughout the country to
a navigable depth of 5.9 feet. The Seine with a depth of 10 feet is
the only exception. In Belgium the administration of rivers and
canals resembles very much that of France, after which it was mod-
eled. The waterways have been improved and standardized so as
to accommodate 300-ton barges. There are only three ship canals
with a greater depth. In Prussia there is a special department
under the minister of public works which supervises the improve-
ment of the State-owned waterways, but for the large rivers special
boards have been created. Such boards have been established for
the Rhine, the Elbe, Oder, Weser, Vistula, and also for the Ems and
Dortmund-Ems Canal. In the United States river and harbor im-
provements have been carried on by the Corps of Engineers, under
the direction of the Secretary of War. The country is divided into
300-ton_barges.
An excellent comparison of methods used here and abroad for the improvement of rivers is given by
Brig. Gen. W. H. Bixby, Chief of Engineers, in the Preliminary Report of the National Waterways
Commission, page 63.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2—33
514 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
districts, each of which is in charge of an officer. Owing to the lack
of a definite policy, the improvements are carried on in each district
and for each river or section of river with little regard to what is
being done elsewhere. No attempt has been made to standardize
the river systems and the tributaries are often deeper than the main
streams. The only instance where the improvement of a river is car-
ried on as a whole is the Mississippi River. In 1879 a special board
was created similar to those in charge of the principal rivers in
Germany. This commission has complete supervision over
improvements of the Mississippi River from St. Louis to the Passes.
An important reason for the failure of appropriations to result
in a growth of traffic is that until recently the purpose of improving
waterways has not been an earnest desire to use them as an agency
of transportation. Other purposes of a political or local nature or the
desire to force down railroad rates have often predominated. Hence
the real traffic possibilities of projects have been little considered, and
with the 295 navigable streams and 200 harbors requiring improvement
there has been a disposition to distribute river and harbor appropria-
tions over a large number of projects instead of concentrating them
upon those which expert investigation showed to be worthy of under-
taking. In view of the careful investigations of the traffic possibilities
of projects before their adoption by European countries, it is a most
surprising thing that until the year 1899 it was customary in this
country to adopt projects without any investigation whatever of
their traffic possibilities. The engineers were authorized by law
simply to submit to Congress an estimate of the cost of improve-
ment, and the probable benefits of the improvement were left to the
imagination of the legislators. Thus projects of all kinds were
adopted and their improvement for navigation undertaken without
regard to their future possibilities. Nor as a rule was any other
purpose than the promotion of navigation considered, although this
might be the least important use of a stream.
It has been generally realized that much of the money appropriated
for the improvement of rivers was wasted, and efforts have fre-
quently been made by those who were desirous of securing greater
economy in Government expenditures to prevent the frequent enact-
ment of such bills. In at least one instance a rivers and harbors bill
was defeated for purely political reasons by a filibuster deliberately
planned for that purpose. Consequently appropriations for river and
harbor improvements have until recently been intermittent and
irregular instead of being carried on in a businesslike manner, as
would have been the case if the purpose of the appropriation had
really been to promote navigation.
As has often been pointed out, the worst feature of spreading river
and harbor appropriations over a large number of projects in order to
insure the passage of such bills is the impossibility of spending enough
on any one project to complete it promptly and economically. Often-
times the improvements have been continued over a long period of years,
and much of the work done under one appropriation has deteriorated
before another appropriation was obtained. Thus the total cost of
completing a project is greatly enhanced and its utilization for navi-
gation delayed. The engineers in charge of different improvements
state each year what amount they will need to carry on the work
most efficiently and economically, but they are often given only a
very small percentage of the required amount.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 515
A gradual improvement in making appropriations has come about
during the last 10 or 12 years. Engineers are now required by law
to base their recommendations for the adoption of projects upon
the traffic possibilities of projects as well as upon the cost of con-
struction. By the river and harbor act of 1902 a board of review
was created, whose duty it is to pass upon the merits of each project.
The Chief of Engineers is also required to do the same and the rule
has been generally followed since that time of adopting only those
projects which have received the favorable recommendation of both
the board of review and the Chief of Engineers. In 1910 the plan of
having annual river and harbor bills was also adopted, which should
bring about more continuous work on projects under way. While
the traffic possibilities of streams are not as carefully investigated as
is the case in Europe, and occasionally projects are recommended
which prove to be very disappointing in their results, yet an impor-
tant step forward has been made, which in time will undoubtedly
result in placing the river and harbor appropriations upon a more
businesslike basis.
Another reason for the failure of river and harbor appropriations
to show results is that the minor political subdivisions as a rule have
made little or no attempt to supplement Federal expenditures for
channels with local expenditures for terminals. Furthermore, as
pointed out by the Commissioner of Corporations in his report on
water terminals, most of the available water frontage not only at the
seaports but also on the Great Lakes and along the principal rivers
is owned by private interests, prominent among which are the railroad
companies. The localities, as a rule, do not attempt to regulate the
use of private docks and terminals, nor have they provided public
docks for the use of water carriers. Out of more than 50 important
ports in the United States there are only two, New Orleans and San
Francisco, which have a public control at all comparable with the
supervision exercised at most of the European ports.
The indifference of local authorities to the development and control
of their terminal facilities largely nullifies the benefits that might
result from the appropriations by the Federal Government for chan-
nel improvements, and the control which the railways have obtained
over desirable water frontage has been very detrimental to the growth
of water transportation. At Buffalo, Philadelphia and other ports
the railways often refuse the use of their docks to independent boat
lines or allow such use only on condition that the freight unloaded on
them shall be sent over their lines. Where they own boat lines, as on
the Great Lakes and in the coastwise trade, their control over
terminal facilities is a most important factor in eliminating the com-
petition of independent lines.
While the lack of civic enterprise may be responsible in some cases
for the inadequate development and control of terminal facilities in
this country, the real cause in most instances is that the communities
realize that such expenditures would not be profitable investments.
Improvements can not increase the movement of traffic by water
unless for economic reasons it potentially exists. Private or local
interests are less willing than the Federal Government to make
expenditures for improvements unless the results are such as to
warrant them. But the failure on their part to provide adequate
terminals properly controlled furthers the decline or retards the
growth of water transportation. The result is what has sometimes
516 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
been very properly termed a vicious circle from which it is difficult
IV.
to escape.
THE IMPORTANCE OF ECONOMIC FACTORS.
The rapid development of water transportation which has taken
place in Europe and elsewhere has been due to something more than
good lakes or rivers and modern improvements. Economic causes,
which determine the movement of traffic from one place to another
have been more potent. Transportation on an inland waterway
will be large only where there exists accessible to it an abundance
of those commodities which are naturally suited to be transported
by water, and also thickly populated or industrially developed locali-
ties along its banks or within reach, which demand these commodi-
ties in large quantities. There is no instance of a waterway carrying
a large traffic where such conditions do not exist. Before the advent
of railway construction, when the waterways enjoyed a practical
monopoly of transportation, they carried all classes of commodi-
ties and even passengers, but as railway competition increased their
business became more and more confined to certain classes of coarse,
bulky freights. If these were not available and in demand to take
the place of the higher classes of freight the traffic of the waterways
necessarily declined. Where cooperation between the railways and
waterways exists for the transfer of freight the area which the latter
can reach is much enlarged, but where such cooperation does not
exist the business of a waterway is necessarily confined to its banks.
Under such circumstances the only successful waterways are those
which afford a direct route between coal mines or other sources of
supply of coarse bulky freight and centers of consumption.
The importance of these economic factors in the development of
water transportation are well illustrated by the principal waterways
in Europe. Here we find thickly settled districts which require much
larger quantities of food supplies and other raw products than they
are capable of producing. Hence these commodities must be
imported, and an important source of business for European water-
ways has been the distribution of this import traffic from the seaports
to the interior cities. The principal domestic sources of traffic have
been coal, building stone, sand and gravel, lumber, grain, and other
coarse bulky freight. These few commodities form the bulk of traffic
on all the principal waterways.
In 1909 the total traffic of the German waterways amounted to
75,115,272 tons, divided into the following amounts:
1
Tons.
Per cent.
Grain of all kinds.
Building stones.
Coal...
Lignite..
Dirt, sand, pyrites, marl
Iron ore, except pyrites.
-
Lumber and wood of all kinds, except basket willow
Brick and tiles.
Ores (other than iron) and slag.
21, 221, 606
1,227, 295
28.2
1.6
8,999,881
12.0
6,741, 825
9.0
6, 149, 452
8.2
5,457,074
7.3
5, 120, 855
6.8
1,724, 007
2.3
Cement and cement products..
1,648,000
2.2
Heavy iron products.
1,069, 402
1.4
All others.
1, 192, 144
1.6
14,563, 731
19.4
Total...
75, 115, 272
100.0
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 235, I, 1909, Part II, p. vm. This figure is about 2,000,000 tons
I arger than the figure given on page 481.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 517
Some of these commodities are imported and some are obtained
from domestic sources. In the former class are English coal, lignite,
iron ore, and grain. In the latter, German coal, dirt, sand, gravel,
brick and tiles, and heavy iron products. Coal and lignite both
imported and domestic form almost 30% of the total tonnage.
As already suggested, the rapid growth of traffic on the German
rivers has been due partly to the fact that they afford water routes
from the seaports to the populous interior, and thus make possible
the cheap importation of raw products which the interior cities
demand. The Rhine affords a water route from the Belgian and
Dutch seaports to the very thickly populated districts of western
Germany, where the density averages more than 600 persons per square
mile. Almost twice as much fr ight is imported and exported as is local.
In 1907 the exports and imp ts passing the Dutch frontier amounted
to 23,080,000 tons, while e local commerce of the river-that
exchanged between the different German ports-was only 12,400,000
tons. In 1909 the imports amounted to 14,881,299 tons and the
exports to 9,964,662 tons. All but about 3,000,000 tons of this
import and export traffic is handled at Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and
Antwerp. The receipts and shipments by the Rhine at each of these
ports in 1907 is shown by the following table:¹
Rotterdam.
Amsterdam.
Antwerp.
Total..
Ports.
Receipts
by river.
Shipments
by river.
Total.
Tons.
2,085,989
Tons.
12,674,637
275,281
306, 905
Tons.
14,760, 626
582, 186
2,691, 241
2,246, 495
4,937, 736
5,052,511
15,228,037
20,280,548
The import traffic on the German Rhine is composed largely of
iron ore, grain, English coal, lumber of various kinds, and other
The amounts imported from Rotterdam, Amsterdam, and
Antwerp, respectively, are as follows:
ores.
Port.
Total.
Iron ore.
Grain.
English
coal.
Wood.
Rotterdam..
Amsterdam.
Antwerp.
Tons.
12,674, 637
306,905
2,246, 495
Tons.
5,384, 461
348, 495
Tons.
2,225, 811
782, 415
Tons.
1,742,372
39, 764
Tons.
1,100, 697
The export traffic from the German Rhine ports is composed prin-
cipally of coal, sand, gravel, and manufactured iron products. The
amount of these exports received at the three seaports in 1907 is as
follows:
Rotterdam.
Amsterdam.
Antwerp..
Ports.
Total.
German
coal.
Sand, Manufac- Cenient,
gravel, etc. tured iron. limestone.
Fertilizers.
Tons.
2,085, 989
275, 281
2,691, 241
Tons.
766, 227
Tons.
300, 422
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
266,329
95,390
76,911
26,035
50,896
69,820
31, 233
1,660, 492
238,668
369,311
94, 383
43,370
1 Clapp, The Navigable Rhine, p. 74–75.
518
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The amount of traffic imported by different Rhine cities from for-
eign countries in 1909 is shown by the following table: 1
Receipts of foreign commerce at Rhine ports.
Port.
Duisburg-Ruhrort
Düsseldorf.
Neuss..
Cologne
Mainz...
·
Gustavsburg.
Traffic.
Tons.
3,657,170
Worms.
613, 018
353,635
Ludwigshafen.
Mannheim.
398, 862
Rheinau.
222,483
Karlsruhe.
121,744
Strassburg.
Port.
Traffic.
Tons.
152,576
777,526
2,151, 982
205,361
162,687
329,636
At Duisburg-Ruhrort 2,015,600 tons of iron ore alone were imported.
This freight came mostly from Rotterdam. At the combined harbors
of Mannheim, Ludwigshafen, and Rheinau the amount of wheat and
other cereals imported was considerably more than 1,000,000 tons,
while English coal amounted to 455,000 tons.
The principal domestic commodity transported on the Rhine is coal
obtained from the mines of the Ruhr district. This is brought by rail
to river port of Duisburg-Ruhrort and transshipped to river boats.
The traffic at this port is growing more rapidly than at any other in
Germany. Already it constitutes more than one-third of the total
receipts and shipments of all the important Rhine harbors, which in
1909 amounted to 45,781,000 tons, and is even larger than the for-
eign commerce of the port of Hamburg. The shipments from
Duisburg-Ruhrort in 1909 amounted to 14,018,678 tons, of which
12,352,631, or 90 per cent, consisted of coal. Of this amount,
5,871,717 tons were exported and the remainder shipped to the other
Rhine ports in Germany.
At Duisburg-Ruhrort the shipments are 3 times the receipts, while
at the remaining Rhine ports the receipts exceed the shipments, and
the commodity received in largest quantities is coal. At Mannheim
coal amounts to almost 40 per cent of the total receipts, and at Lud-
wigshafen and Rheinau about 90 per cent. The following table
shows the shipments from Duisburg-Ruhrort upstream to several of
the other Rhine ports. This traffic consists almost wholly of coal and
a small amount of coke:1
Shipments from Duisburg-Ruhrort.
Gustavsburg..
Ludwigshafen.
Mannheim..
Rheinau.
To-
Tons.
907,484
662,581
Karlsruhe.
Lauterburg.
1,641,091
Strassburg..
1,072,983
To-
Tons.
260,732
328,141
402, 723
The export and import traffic on the Elbe, Oder, and Weser also
constitutes an important part of their commerce. The Elbe and
Oder are connected with the populous district of Berlin. This city
and its suburbs have a population of more than 3,500,000, and are
dependent to a considerable extent for their supplies of coal, grain
1 Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 235, I, 1909, Part I, p. XV.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
519
and other food products and building materials on the cheap trans-
portation afforded by these rivers from the seaports of Hamburg,
Lübeck, and Stettin. More than 90 per cent of the water traffic in
the district of Berlin consists of receipts and less than 10 per cent of
shipments, which shows the importance of this district as a great con-
suming center. There are also several important cities on the Elbe,
such as Magdeburg and Dresden, which exchange large quantities of
traffic with Hamburg. On the Óder the largest city is Breslau. It
exchanges traffic with both Stettin and Hamburg.
The receipts and shipments from Hamburg to and from the inte-
rior by water are shown by the following table: 1
Goods shipped from Hamburg to the interior by water.
Food
products.
Building
material
and fuel.
Raw prod-
ucts and
semiman-
ufactures.
Dry goods
and fancy
articles.
Products
of art and
industries.
Total.
1899...
1900...
Tons.
1, 164, 299
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
618, 283
Tons.
1,679, 596
1,074, 893
6, 580
45, 370
1901..
763,396
3,514, 108
1,560, 558
5,764
1,397, 165
52, 603
1902...
574, 532
3,457, 214
1,457, 034
6, 546
1,227, 662
54, 664
1903..
C19, 386
3, 489, 941
1,431, 153
8,259
1,272, 908
49, 424
1904.
739, 812
3,335, 884
1,729, 335
7,264
954, 756
50, 44
1905..
561, 282
3,799, 768
1, 456, 035
1906..
1,571, 146
4,098
1,038, 809
36,845
3,013, 016
1,964, 558
6,732
1,509, 215
62, 220
1907.
1,263, 463
2, 171, 542
4,643, 465
4,347
1,609, 448
59, 417
1908...
1,811, 191
5,007, 984
2,347, 708
7,727
1,263, 246
1,994, 136
68,069
2, 193, 764
5,844, 143
7,876
63,702
5,522, 724
Goods arrived in Hamburg from the interior by water.
Food
products.
Building
Raw prod-
ucts and
material
and fuel.
semiman-
Dry goods
and fancy
articles.
Products
of art and
industries.
Total.
ufactures.
1899..
1900..
Tons.
1, 185, 613
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
617,360
Tons.
506, 380
1,729
1,312, 343
1901..
557,542
124,358
2,435, 440
596, 443
1,529
1,267, 254
139,063
1902..
525,099
2,606, 920
653, 011
1,277
1903.
1, 141, 423
118,965
587,681
2,565, 606
588, 237
1,612, 161
1,807
130, 265
1904..
730, 936
2, 449, 413
707, 407
2,712
979, 620
173, 770
1905..
541, 157
3,226, 987
532, 603
2,294
1,057, 611
1906.
832,296
122, 382
2, 178, 056
925, 036
1,498, 088
4,686
181, 543
1907..
969, 961
905, 350
5,013
1908..
1,258, 872
189, 385
912, 605
813, 900
1,241, 793
4,924
196, 507
907, 232
755, 401
3, 186, 808
3,980
174,370
3,001, 172
3,567,797
3,082, 776
The largest single item shipped from Hamburg by river in 1909
was English coal, amounting to 2,496,980 tons; the next in importance
was grain, amounting to 1,390,605 tons. Sugar forms the largest
item of receipts, amounting in 1909 to 1,001,198 tons.
It is difficult to ascertain the exact amount of traffic which Berlin
and other interior cities import from Hamburg on the Elbe and Stettin
on the Oder, inasmuch as practically all the imports are transshipped
by ocean-going vessels to river boats and barges, and for this reason
are registered in the tonnage statistics as domestic traffic. In 1909
the three traffic districts including Berlin and the localities along the
Mark waterways received from the traffic district of Hamburg
¹ National Waterways Commission Doc. No. 19, p. 82.
520 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
2,352,081 tons, of which 1,696,000 tons consisted of coal and 59,777
tons of coke. Practically all of this coal and coke came from England
Two hundred and twelve thousand tons consisted of grain of various
kinds and flour. A considerable quantity of tar, pitch, resin, and
other naval stores was imported and also oils, fats, and lards.
In 1909 the same three traffic districts imported 801,441 tons
from the port of Stettin. The largest items were coal, amounting
to 294,615 tons, and wood of all kinds, amounting to 106,119 tons.
A small amount of grain, building materials, and various other com-
modities were also included. As in the case of Hamburg, practically
all the coal came from England.
There are no coal mines accessible to the Elbe in Germany, but in
Austria large quantities of Bohemian lignite are sent down the river
to Dresden, Magdeburg and other river cities. Practically none of
this coal reaches Berlin. On the middle section of the Elbe in the
Province of Saxony and the Duchy of Anhalt, the shipments in
1909 were 1,969,016 tons, while the receipts were only 249,344 tons.
Of the shipments, 1,558,863 tons were sent to Hamburg and 221,146
tons to Berlin and localities along the Mark waterways. The prin-
cipal commodities sent to Hamburg were:
Phosphate....
Dirt, sand, gravel, marl, etc
Refined sugar.
Salt....
Grain of various kinds..
Tons.
573,000
272,756
258, 595
86, 464
65,000
Of the receipts, 179,987 tons, or 80 per cent, consisted of Bohemian
lignite from the Upper Elbe.
On the upper section of the Elbe, in the Kingdom of Saxony, in
which is included the large city of Dresden, with a population in
1905 of 516,996, the shipments in 1909 were 464,906 tons, of which
296,957 tons went to Hamburg and only about 50,000 tons to Berlin
and vicinity. These shipments were composed for the most part
of high-grade products, such as glassware, crockery, paper, etc. The
receipts in this traffic district amounted to 518,714 tons, of which
424,860 tons came from Hamburg and 376,700 tons from Austria.
About one-third of the receipts from Hamburg consisted of grain of
various kinds and grain products, the remainder being divided among
a large number of miscellaneous articles, while Bohemian coal,
amounting to 260,609 tons, was the principal commodity received
from Austria. On the whole, the traffic is more varied and a relatively
larger proportion of high-grade freight is carried on the Elbe than on
any other European river.
The most important item of traffic on the Upper Oder is Silesian
coal, which is brought to Kosel, Breslau, and other ports by rail and
transshipped to river barges. A large part of this coal traffic is
destined for Berlin and neighboring cities. In 1909 the total ship-
ments in the traffic district which extends from Oppeln to Kosel.
amounted to 1,311,553 tons, of which 1,159,238 tons were destined
for the three traffic districts, including Berlin and cities along the
Mark waterways. Practically the whole of this traffic, or 1,101,694
tons, consisted of Silesian coal. The shipments from the traffic dis-
trict of Breslau on the Oder in 1909 amounted to 572,280 tons, of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 521
which 125,137 tons passed through the connecting waterways to the
Elbe and the port of Hamburg, and 407,150 tons to Berlin and com-
munities along the Mark waterways. About 100,000 tons of the
shipments to Hamburg consisted of raw sugar, and 266,990 tons of
the shipments to Berlin consisted of coal.
The larger portion of the receipts at Berlin and suburbs comes
from localities along the Mark waterways and is brought from a com-
paratively short distance. In 1909 this traffic amounted to 5,672,836
tons, of which 2,944,753 tons, or more than 50 per cent, was composed
of bricks, tiles, and building stones, and 2,000,000 tons, or 38 per cent,
of sand, gravel, marl, and commodities of a similar nature.
important reason for the growth of Berlin has been the ability to
obtain cheap building materials.
An
There are two important reasons why the import traffic on the
German rivers has increased more rapidly than the export traffic.
The German seaports, as well as the Dutch and Belgian seaports at
the mouth of the Rhine, are all located some distance inland from the
coast, so that it is possible for river barges to run alongside the ocean-
going vessels in the estuaries in perfect safety and receive their cargoes
direct. The cost of transfer in this way is much cheaper than from
steamship to freight car. For instance, Peters states that in 1903 the
cost of transporting grain by water from Hamburg to Berlin, including
transshipment charges, averaged from 2 to 3 marks, while the cost
of transshipping grain from ocean vessels to freight cars alone aver-
aged about 3 marks, or álmost as much as the total cost by water.
Another reason is that it has been the policy of the Government to
charge high rates on its railways for grain and other commodities
imported in order to protect the home producer. The river rates are
not subject to the same control, and are therefore much lower. For
instance, in the case just mentioned, the rail rate was 13.8 marks,
plus 3 marks for transfer, while the highest water rate was only 3
marks. Since 1870 rail rates on imported cereals have increased,
while the water rates have declined.
1
The cheap importation of grain by river in Germany is responsible
for the hostility of agrarians to the improvement of waterways_by
the Government. Prof. Schumacher, the economist, points out that
from 1896 to 1899 the railways handled only 3,000,000 out of
15,000,000 tons of import grain traffic. In other words, the water-
ways handled 80 per cent of the business. In 1906 only 100,000 tons
of cereal imported into the Rhine basin came by rail and 3,000,000
tons by water.
2
Belgium is one of the most thickly populated countries of Europe
Its area is only 11,373 square miles, while its population in 1908 was
7,386,000. This gives a density of 649.43 persons per square mile.
The following are the largest cities in Belgium and the population of
each on January 1, 1908:3
Antwerp.
Brussels.
Ghent.
594, 523
995, 950
405, 976
Charleroi...
Mons..
Liege……
414, 679
259, 381
529,239
1 Max Peters, Schiffahrtsabgaben, in Schriften des Vereins für Socialpolitik, 115, pt. 3, p. 172.
Cf. Louis Marlio, La Politique Allemand, p. 19.
3 Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique, 1908, p. 43.
522 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The dense population centered in the different cities gives rise to a
large demand for those coarse freights and food products which are
naturally transported by water. These must be imported from other
countries. The main source of business for the inland waterways is
the import traffic which arrives at Antwerp, where as already ex-
plained most of the principal rivers focus, and also that received from
Holland and Germany on the north and France on the south, with
whose waterways the Belgian system is connected. Rhine boats
come into Belgium from Holland and ply through all parts of the
system, and a ready exchange of traffic is also possible between the
Belgian and the French waterway systems, owing to the numerous
connections and also to the fact that the main lines in both countries
are standardized to accommodate the same type of boat. This
international traffic forms a very important part of the total business
of the waterways. In 1905 the commerce with Holland and Ger-
many was 9,000,000 tons and with France 3,000,000 tons.
Coal forms the principal item of traffic on the Belgian waterways,
as shown by the following table:¹
Classification of total traffic on the Belgian waterways for the years 1905 and 1908 in ton-
miles and per cent.
Classification of goods.
1. Coals and coke.
2. Building materials, stone, gravel, etc.
3. Agricultural produce and foodstuffs
-
4. Metallurgic industry, metals, ores, pig iron, joists, rails, etc.
5. Pottery and glass industry.
6. Industrial products..
7. Wood (fire and constructional)
8. All others.
·
Total..
1905
1908
Total ton-
miles.
Per
cent.
Total ton-
miles.
Per
cent.
196, 640, 433
27.7
390,646, 513
32.6
127,892, 374
18.0
228, 130, 330
19.1
123, 740, 710
17.5
162, 323, 054
13.5
71, 531, 453
10.1
121, 850, 534
10.1
57, 613,555
8.2
93,315,510
7.8
27,750, 832
3.9
47,435,826
3.9
19, 834, 220
2.8
32, 200, 076
2.7
83, 357, 621
11.8
124, 101, 779
10.3
708, 361, 198
100.0 1,200,003,622 100.0
The import coal traffic on the Belgian waterways is much larger
and is increasing more rapidly than the shipments of domestic coal
used within the country The export coal traffic is also larger than
the amount of domestic coal transported by water, as the following
table for 1906 indicates:
Imported.
Exported.
Domestic..
Total....
Tons.
2, 178, 932
1,596, 000
750,000
4,524, 932
The reason for the predominance of imported coal in that the
domestic coal is hauled for such short distances that there is no
economy in water transportation. Of the 11,483,705 tons of coal
hauled on the State railways in 1906, 8,122,390 tons, or 74 per cent,
were hauled a distance of not more than 37½ miles.²
1 Lindley, page 175, and Annuaire Statistique de la Belgique, Brussels, 1910, p. 415.
* Vide, p. 545, infra.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
523
The following table shows the total importations of coal from
different countries by sea, by rail, and also by inland waterways:¹
-
Germany.
England
France.
Holland.
From-
By sea.
By rail.
Tons.
Tons.
1,797, 186
1,460, 191
74,287
496,573
54, 707
By inland
waterways.
Tons.
1,782, 586-
18,392
370,049,
7,905,
Total..
2, 178, 932
The growth of the import coal traffic for the period 1897-1906 and
the different waterways on which it is carried, is shown by the fol-
lowing table:
Sambre, canalized.
Canal de Mons à Condé
IIaut-Escaut..
Lys...
Escaut maritime
Principal waterways.
Canal de Gand à Terneuzen
-
Canal de Bois-le-Duc.
Total..
1897
1906
Increase.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
907
7.185
6,278
4, 138
6,518
2, 380-
141,037
162, 425
21,388
259,281
261,397
2,116
266, 645
844, 462
577,817
223, 423
298,008
74,585
34,517
299, 439
264,922
929, 948
1,879, 434
949,46
The coal from England arrives at Antwerp in ocean-going vessels and
is transshipped to barges to be taken inland. The coal arriving by
rail from foreign countries is never transshipped to waterways, but is
carried directly to the point of consumption. Much of the coal arriv-
ing from Duisburg-Ruhrort in Rhine boats passes through Antwerp
without breaking bulk and circulates through the Belgian system to
the various industrial centers.
The coal imported from France comes by the rivers and canals
connecting with the French waterway system, especially through
the canalized Sambre, Escaut, and Lys, and the Canal de Mons à
Condé, and the Canal Nieuwport á Dunkerquée.
The total exports of coal from Belgium by sea, by rail, and by
inland waterways is shown by the following table. As will be seen,
the largest exports of coal by inland waterways as well as by rail are
to France. 2
France.
Germany
Holland.
Switzerland.
·
Italy.
To-
By sea.
By rail.
By inland
waterways.
Tons.
7,920
6,035
Tons.
2,952, 686
234, 727
205
237,437
Tons.
1,357,905
113, 276
102, 322
68,834
11,545
1 Annals des Travaux Publics de Belgique, 1908, p. 938.
2 Ibid, p. 945.
524 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The exports of coal to France, Holland and Germany by inland
waterways go by four routes only. On the Sambre this export coal
traffic has decreased slightly during the last nine years, while on the
other three routes, as shown by the following table, this traffic has
increased considerably: 1
Sambre.
Meuse.
Canal de Mons à Condé
Canal de Bois-le-Duc.
Total...
•
Waterway.
1897
1906 Differences.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
584, 841
567,840
542,213
42, 628
,
791,571
223,731
171,844
180, 468
9,424
38, 694
81, 748
43,054
1,363, 219
1,596,000
232,681
Building materials, stone, gravel, etc., constitute a class of traffic
which in Belgium is transported almost entirely by water. In 1908 it
amounted to 228,000,000 ton-miles, or 19 per cent of the total ton-mile-
age on the Belgian waterways. This is the principal item of domestic
traffic, and is carried for comparatively short distances. Agricultural
produce and foodstuffs in 1908 amounted to 162,000,000 ton-miles, or
131 per cent of the total ton-mileage on the Belgian waterways. A
considerable proportion of this traffic is grain imported at Antwerp and
transshipped from ocean-going steamers into river barges for distribu-
tion to interior points. Some of it is imported from Holland and
France by the inland waterways.
The main sources of traffic in France, as in Germany and Belgium,
are, first, the import and export traffic; and, secondly, the transporta-
tion of raw products from mines, quarries, or farms adjacent to the
waterways to the large cities. The different classes of commodities
transported on the inland waterways of France for the year 1907 are
shown by the table which follows. It will be seen that the first three
classes alone comprise more than 78 per cent of the total traffic."
Number of tons transported.
2
Classes of merchandise.
Rivers.
Canals.
Total.
Percentage
of each
group.
1. Coal, coke, etc..
2. Building materials, stone, gravel.
3. Agricultural and food products.
4. Wood and lumber of all kinds.
5. Raw materials for metallurgy
6. Fertilizers and manures.
7. Manufactured products..
8. Metals and machinery.
9. Miscellaneous.
10. Rafted timber of all kinds..
Total..
·
3,461, 158
7,503,644
10,964,802
31.6
·
7,583, 659
4,489, 422
12,073, 081
34.8
1,799,809
2,468, 051
4,267,860
12.3
784, 542
945, 639
1,730, 181
5.0
417,807
1,298, 855
1,716, 662
4.9
867,756
701,953
1,569, 709
4.5
532, 321
623,961
1,156, 282
3.3
307,535
451,300
758,835
2.2
196, 474
133,002
329,476
1.0
111,883
22,844
134, 727
.4
16,062,944 18,638, 671 34, 701, 615
100
1 Annals des Travaux Publics de Belgique, 1908, p. 957.
2 Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1907, p. 45.
3 The variations from these figures in 1910 was less than 1%.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
525
The waterways having the largest traffic all center in the city of
Paris, whose population in 1906 was 2,763,393. While the density of
population for the whole of France is 190 persons per square mile, that
of the Department of the Seine is several thousand. Thus this
densely populated district furnishes the main center of demand for
food supplies and raw products of all kinds.
The vast importance of water-borne traffic for the city of Paris will
be shown by the following condensed exhibit of the commerce of this
port during the 13 years from 1898 to 1910, inclusive: 1
Year.
Number Total
loaded weight
vessels. cargoes.
Ship-
ments.
Arrivals. Transit.
Local
traffic.
Metric tons.
Tons.
1898...
1899..
46,457
9, 164, 825
1,814, 196
Tons.
5, 280, 788
Tons.
Tons.
1,418, 806
651,035
52,048
10,481, 483
2,662, 221
5,848, 370
1,321,855
649,037
1900...
46,174
9,301, 491
1,484, 152
5,699, 861
1,437, 324
1901..
680, 154
44, 721
8,900, 684
1,704, 510
5,197, 808
1,432, 410
565,956
1902..
45, 653
9, 238,056
1,960, 894
5,354, 405
1,370, 850
551,907
1903..
48, 111
9,857,146
2,329,999
5,694, 952
1,345,968
1904..
486, 227
49, 235
10, 130, 830
2,421, 110
5,689, 027
1,465, 743
454,950
1905..
50,192
10, 202, 828
2,507, 747
5,763,864
1906..
50, 904
10,525, 136
2,490, 238
6,273, 610
1,504,506
1,390, 280
426, 711
371,008
1907..
50, 109
10,845,558
2, 342, 359
6, 310,861
1,793, 809
398,529
1908..
47,519
10,529,267
2,264, 934
6,297, 736
1,602,797
1909..
345, 800
48,741
10,940, 525
2,566, 090
6, 197, 414
1910...
1,809, 801
367,220
51,316
10,330, 758
2,357, 712
6,563, 749
1,059, 451
349,846
If this record is extended backward so as to include the year 1884,
it will be found that during the period of 27 years ending with 1910
the total weight of cargoes has increased 93.56 per cent; the ship-
ments, 314.89 per cent; the freight arriving, 69.41 per cent; freight
in transit, 188.11 per cent; while local traffic has decreased 33.56 per
cent per annum.
The commerce on the River Seine consists largely of import and
export traffic between Paris and the seaports of Havre and Rouen.
The upstream traffic greatly exceeds the shipments downstream, and
coal forms the principal commodity in the former class. About 60
per cent of all the traffic which passes through the maritime section of
the Seine between Havre and Rouen consists of cargoes of coal.
2
At the latter port the coal is transshipped from the ocean-going
vessels to barges and towed up the river to Paris. In 1906 1,836,097
tons of coal were imported at Rouen and 1,156,411 tons were sent
up the river. In 1907 1,287,883 tons of coal were transported up-
stream from Rouen. Most of this coal comes from England and Wales.
The round trip from Rouen to Wales, including the time consumed in
loading and unloading, can be made in eight days. Agricultural and
food supplies form the next largest item imported. Most of this
traffic is also transshipped to river barges at Rouen from ocean-going
vessels.
1 Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1910, p. 129.
2 Notice sur le Port de Rouen, 1908, p. 7.
526 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The following table shows the predominance of upstream traffic on
the Seine from Havre and Rouen to Paris, and also the predominance
of coal and food supplies in this upstream traffic. A much larger
share of this traffic is transshipped at Rouen than at Havre.¹
Sections of river.
Grain and
Total
traffic.
Traffic
upstream.
Coal up-
food sup-
stream.
plies up-
stream.
Seine from Havre to Rouen
Seine from Rouen to mouth of the River Oise..
Seine from the Oise to La Briche ¹……….
Seine from La Briche to Paris…….
Tons,
394, 892
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
287,962
24, 827
139, 163
3, 014, 500
2,539, 809
1,287, 883
504, 829
6, 457, 632
5,471, 217
3,911, 874
530, 431
5, 281, 478
3,751, 770
2,777,566
350, 626
1 The River Oise is a part of the northeastern route on which, as shown below, there is also a heavy coal
traffic in the direction of Paris.
The major part of traffic on the Seine above Paris is downstream
to the city and consists mostly of building materials, wood, and grain.
Likewise on the Marne, which joins the Seine near the city limits,
the bulk of the downstream traffic consists of building materials.
They contributed in 1907, 459,206 tons out of a total downstream
traffic of 625,462 tons.
Next to the import traffic on the River Seine, the most important
source of business for the waterways leading to Paris is domestic
coal from the fields of northeastern France and coal imported from
Belgium. This is brought to Paris by the northeastern waterways.
On this route the downstream traffic is three or four times as great
as the upstream traffic, and consists largely of coal. The accompany-
ing tables for the main line and its two branches show the percentage
of coal transported in the direction of Paris.'
Sections.
Main line.
Total
traffic.
Traffic
toward
Paris.
Coal,
coke, etc.,
toward
Paris.
Percentage
of coal,
coke, etc.,
in traffic
toward
Paris.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
1. River Oise, from Janville to the Seine..
Tons.
4,370, 239
3,397, 409
2,970, 747
2. Canal, lateral to the Oise...
87.5
5,966, 179
3. Canal, St. Quentin.
4,359, 554
3,931, 720
90.2
6,795, 174
4,892, 127
4. River Escaut, from Cambrai to Étrun..
4,323, 197
88.4
5,567, 147
4,206, 735
3,831, 327
91.1
The main line just described divides at Étrun into two branches,
-one proceeding in a northwesterly direction toward the seacoast
near Calais, and the other following the river Escaut to the Belgian
frontier, where it connects with the Belgian waterway system. The
predominance of coal traffic on these branches is also marked.
¹ Statistique de la Navigation Interieure, 1907. Later statistics show an even greater predominance of
coal.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 527
1.-Northwestern branch.
Sections.
Canal de la Sensée..
River Scarpe around Douai.
Canal de la Deûle (Haute).
Canal d'Aire and branch
Canal de Neuffossé...
River Aa...
Sections.
River Escaut from Étrun to Condé.
Coal
Traffic
Total
traffic
Percentage
toward
traffic.
toward
Paris.
of coal
traffic.
Paris.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
4,300, 133
3,428, 302
3, 210, 032
93.6
4,003, 545
3, 219, 436
2,982, 723
92.6
5,685, 686
3,802, 407
3,395, 827
89.3
4, 109, 648
2,761, 581
2, 130, 469
77.1
1,952, 739
1,024, 033
658, 557
64.3
2,088, 285
1,097, 192
608, 778
55.5
2.-Northern Branch.
River Escaut from Condé to Belgian frontier ¹
Coal
Traffic
Total
traffic
Percentage
toward
traffic.
toward
Paris.
of coal
traffic.
Paris.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
2,087, 463
647,523
1,204, 195
207,839
876, 776
72.8
126,050
60.6
1 From Condé the predominance of traffic is downstream toward Antwerp. Of the 439,684 tons shipped
in this direction, 154,388 tons were coal and 157,365 tons building materials.
Building materials, stone, gravel, etc., constitute the largest class
of upstream traffic on this northeastern route. A considerable amount
of agricultural products and foodstuffs are also transported upstream.
Some of the waterways in the eastern part of France show a large
traffic independent of that to and from Paris. The bulk of this
traffic also consists of coal from the mines of the northeast, intended
for distribution to the interior industrial centers of France.
line of this traffic is shown by the following table:
The main
Sections.
Canal from the Oise to the Aisne.
Canal, lateral to the Aisne..
Canal, from the Aisne to the Marne.
Canal, lateral to the Marne.
Total
traffic.
South-
bound.
Coal south-
bound.
Percentage
of coal
south-
bound.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
2,008,082
1, 181, 123
974, 032
82.5
2,543, 322
1,429, 402
939, 312
65.7
2,003, 484
1,255,853
915,900
73.0
2,036, 648
1,082, 030
677,994
62.7
On this route it is seen that the traffic is more evenly distributed
between the two directions than is the case around Paris. While coal
predominates in the southbound traffic, the northbound is divided
among wood, grain, and heavy manufactured steel and iron products.
Belgian coal also contributes largely to the southbound traffic of
both the eastern and northeastern waterways. It is brought to the
frontier either by the canalized Sambre, which is connected by canal
with the River Oise, or by the canalized Meuse, which joins the north-
ern branch of the Canal de l'Est at the boundary. The predominance
528 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
of Belgian coal in the southbound traffic of these two routes is shown
by the following table:
Sections.
Canalized Sambre from frontier to Landrecies.
Canal from the Sambre to the Oise..
Total
South-
bound
traffic.
Coal south-
bound.
Percentage
of coal
south-
traffic.
bound.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
825,287
629, 360
579,056
92.0
874, 544
1,849, 084
648, 647
1,129,515
557, 644
806,578
86.0
71.4
Canal de l'Est, northern branch.
The five tables given above include practically all of the important
waterways of France. In the central part of the country and in the
basin of the Rhone the water-borne commerce is much smaller. The
traffic of the Rhone is largest on the section between Lyon and Arles.
In 1907 it amounted to 670,292, of which 354,093 tons, or more than
half, consisted of building materials, and 122,136 tons, or one-third,
of grain and agricultural products. There is very little coal trans-
ported on the Rhone. A small amount is imported from the Medi-
terranean. The Saône from Lyon, where it joins the Rhone to Carre,
where it connects with the southern branch of the Canal de l'Est, has
a commerce averaging about 600,000 tons. The southbound traffic
is about double the northbound, and nearly 40 per cent of the former
consists of Belgian and domestic coal received from its connection
with the northern waterways.
Most of the traffic on the waterways of England consists of coal,
iron ore, and pig iron; also building materials, sand, gravel, clay, and
some grain. On a number of the waterways coal forms the bulk of
traffic, as shown by the following table: ¹
1
Waterway.
Manchester, Bolton, and Bury
Aire and Calder.
Sheffield and South Yorkshire.
Leeds and Liverpool...
...
Total
tonnage,
1905.
Coal
tonnage.
Percentage
of coal to
total
tonnage.
654, 149
2,810, 988
835,982
2,467,827
7,546, 453
567,345
87
1,911, 470
68
487,757
58
1,277,779
51
3,785, 655
50
Birmingham Canal.
As already stated, most of this traffic is carried from mines adjacent
to the canal to manufacturing concerns located upon its banks.
Except for the Aire and Calder there is practically no import or
export traffic carried on the waterways of England, although this
forms the main source of business for the railways. England has
densely populated cities and extensive manufacturing industries
which require the cheap importation of raw products. She also has
an abundance of coal and building materials such as furnish the traffic
for the waterways of other European countries. If the other factors
were as favorable as the economic conditions, inland water transpor-
tation should flourish.
1 Report of Royal Commission, Vol. VII, p. 61.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
529
The necessity of having large supplies of coarse, raw materials, if
water transportation is to assume large proportions, is nowhere better
illustrated than on the Great Lakes. In 1910, as the table below
indicates, the total receipts and shipments at all the lake ports in the
United States amounted to 171,146,952 short tons, 54 per cent of
which consisted of iron ore and 21.5 per cent of soft coal.i
Total receipts and shipments, by commodities, for 1910.
[Total receipts, 84,414,636 short tons; total shipments, 86,732,316 short tons.]
Iron ore..
Soft coal.
Flour
Wheat.
Corn.
Oats, barley, rye, flaxseed
Unclassed.
Receipts.
Shipments.
Tons.
Percentage
of total.
Tons.
Percentage
of total.
46,376, 411
54.9
46,499,758
53.6
18, 401, 700
21.8
18,406, 469
21.2
1,169, 911
1.4
1,171,327
1.4
1,101,219
1.3
1,115,381
1.3
769,848
926,045
.9
948, 526
1.1
1.1
973,776
1.1
15, 669, 502
18.6 17,617,079
20.3
The principal iron ore beds are located near Duluth and other Lake
Superior ports. The great bulk of the iron ore traffic is carried to the
Lake Erie ports and there transshipped to rail for distribution to the
iron and steel centers of Pittsburgh and the Mahoning Valley. The
soft coal from the mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia forms the
bulk of the return traffic over this route. Thus the great artery of
commerce on the Great Lakes passes through the Sault Ste. Marie
Canals. In this traffic, as shown by the table below, iron ore and coal
form an even larger percentage than they do of the total receipts and
shipments at the Great Lake ports.
Percentages of principal commodities passing through the Sault Ste. Marie canals during
the last decade.¹
Iron ore...
Coal...
Wheat.
Commodity.
Other grains
Flour..
Lumber.
General merchandise.
1900 1905 1907 1909 | 1911
General direction.
64.1 70.8 68.0 70.0 57.4
17.5 14.7 19.6 17.3 28.7
4.8 4.6 5.1 5.9 5.5
1.5 2.1 1.8 1.1 1.8
2.6 1.3 1.1 1.2 1.4
6.0 3.7 1.9 1.3 2.2
2.1 1.9 1.8 2.0 2.6
Eastbound.
Westbound.
Eastbound.
Do.
Do.
Do.
90 per cent westbound.
¹ Compiled from the Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance and from the report of the Engineer
in charge, for 1911.
The following six tables, compiled from the monthly summary of
commerce and finance for December, 1910, shows, in parallel columns,
the ports from which the main articles of traffic on the Great Lakes
are shipped, and the ports at which they are received.
1 Compiled from the Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, December, 1911.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62—2—34
530 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The principal commodities carried over the main course of the Great Lakes during the year
1910.
I.-IRON ORE.
[Total shipments, 41,517,641 long tons; total receipts, 41,507,626 long tons.]
Ports of origin.
Ashland..
Duluth
Escanaba.
Marquette.
Superior-West Superior..
Two Harbors..
Shipments.
Ports of destination.
Receipts.
3,867,011
13, 548, 569
4,799,558
Ashtabula..
Buffalo..
9,626, 897
4,066, 158
Cleveland.
6,356, 762
1, 621, 782
Conneaut.
6,318, 135
8, 245, 225
Fairport.
1,516, 471
7,958, 060
Lorain.
2,830, 481
Toledo...
1, 166, 198
Chicago-South Chicago
Gary.
5, 120, 165
1,775, 407
Ashtabula.
Cleveland.
Lorain.
Sandusky.
Toledo..
Huron.
Conneaut
II.-SOFT COAL.
[Total shipments, 18,406,469 short tons; total receipts, 18,401,700 short tons.]
4,539, 147
2,952, 855
952,855
2,300, 644
1,255, 607
4, 112, 262
760, 187
534, 709
Ashland.
Manitowoc….
642, 938
2,099, 381
634, 919
868,783
5,020, 165
Duluth.
Green Bay.
Superior-West Superior.
Chicago-South Chicago
Milwaukee.
--
605, 456
3,987, 358
III.-WHEAT.
[Total shipments, 37,179,364 bushels; total receipts, 36,707,315 bushels.}
Chicago-South Chicago.
8, 536, 882
Milwaukee.
Duluth.
3,742, 556
13,049, 317
Buffalo..
Clevaland.
Detroit...
Superior-West Superior..
11, 747, 159
Toledo...
Chicago-South Chicago.
32,007, 382
1,014, 800
728, 998
665,839
1,473, 000
IV.-CORN.
[Total shipments, 39,521,929 bushels; total receipts, 32,284,915 bushels.]
Chicago-South Chicago.
Milwaukee…….
Superior-West Superior.
Manitowoc..
35,841, 997
2,506,963
546, 519
493, 414
Buffalo...
Detroit..
Cleveland..
Ludington.
Ogdensburg.
22,981, 573
630,000
748, 543
1,264, 129
4,302, 732
1,798, 590
Port Huron
V.—OATS.
[Total shipments, 22,659,792 bushels; total receipts, 20,669,747 bushels.]
Chicago-South Chicago..
Gladstone.
Kewaunee.
Manitowoc.
Milwaukee.
Duluth..
Superior-West Superior.
Buffalo..
Cleveland..
6, 954, 423
1,309, 149
972, 397
4,306, 139
Frankfort.
Grand Haven.
4,674, 845
1,239, 655
Ludington.
Port Huron.
D
3,017, 673
VI.-FLOUR.
[Total shipments, 1,171,327 short tons; total receipts, 1,169,911 short tons.]
Buffalo.
Erie.
Fairport.
Grand Haven.
Chicago-South Chicago.
283,872
Gladstone.
52, 720
Milwaukee.
310, 368
Duluth.
166,375
Superior-West Superior.
289, 514
Manitowoc……….
60, 500
Port Huron.
Ludington..
Ogdensburg..
11,232, 164
1, 185, 846
1,038, 970 ·
549, 492
5,912, 574
460, 500
749,137
140,467
54,816
73,304
103, 270
18,642
14,940
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 531
The lack of an abundant supply of coarse, bulky freights, coupled
with the lack of large population or industries near the rivers to
demand such commodities, has been a very important factor in the
decline of river traffic in the United States. In the first place, the
population, especially in the interior, is very sparse in comparison
with that of European countries. Except for the Lake ports there
are comparatively few large cities located on the inland waterways.
On the average, there are only 31 inhabitants per square mile in the
United States, while along many of our rivers the density of popu-
lation is much less. Railway competition has been more severe
than in Europe, with the result that the business of the waterways
has been confined to a very few commodities. Not only the miscel-
laneous freight has deserted the waterways, but also most of the
coarser freights. On some rivers lumber has furnished the principal
source of traffic for a time, but it is of a temporary character, owing to
the depletion of the forests. Grain and cotton, which once were
carried in large quantities on the Mississippi, are now carried almost
entirely by rail. The only rivers that have maintained a large com-
merce in competition with the railways are those which possess
exceptional advantages for the transportation of coal. The Monon-
gahela is the most important river in this class. Coal can be loaded
directly from the mines into river barges and floated downstream to
the mills and factories, where it is consumed. The Kanawha pos-
sesses similar advantages, but its market is not so convenient.
1
The first table below shows the traffic on the Monongahela for the
last six years, by commodities. Most of this coal is consumed in the
Pittsburgh district. Some of it is transported down the Ohio River
for consumption at the different river ports, and a small percentage
of it is sent each year as far as New Orleans. The second table
shows the amount of traffic by commodities passing through Dam
No. 1 in the Ohio River below Pittsburgh.
Traffic through locks on Monongahela River from 1906 to 1911, inclusive.
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
Coal...
Tons.
9,729,861
Iron and steel..
Sand and gravel.
Timber and lumber.
Miscellaneous..
Total...
Tons.
10,822, 169
Tons.
8, 191, 910
Tons.
9,746,326
58,297
69,859
96, 450
1,688, 413
1,763, 630
1,268, 362
144, 335
1,533, 187
Tons.
9,472,835
146, 580
Tons.
9, 207, 232
184, 568
1,217, 239
1,278, 295
38,363
23,294
26,775
46, 171
11,366
39,000
11,538, 228
12,728, 604
18, 509
28, 153
43, 921
62, 623
9,607,088 11, 486, 278 10,927, 430
20,046
56,900
10,747,041
Traffic through Lock and Dam No. 1, Ohio River, from 1906 to 1911,
inclusive.
1906
1907
1908
1909
1910
1911
Tons.
1,774, 760
45, 663
1, 166, 065
Coal...
Tons.
2,883,965
Tons.
3,206, 727
Iron and steel.
88, 180
33,955
Sand and gravel.
Tons.
1,745, 159
38, 022
24.415
682, 730
1, 224, 082
Timber and lumber.
Tons.
2,466, 710
55, 167
1,220, 340
12, 130
21, 621
Miscellaneous..
82,507
76, 773
Total...
3,091, 197
4,021, 806
9,953
43, 619
3,060,835
22, 486
56, 944
3,821, 647
3,140, 533
25, 127
128,918
Tons.
2,816,975
59, 025
1, 134, 540
20, 194
74,915
4, 105, 6
1 The economic reasons for the decline of traffic on the Mississippi are well set forth in Dixon's Traffi
History of the Mississippi River, National Waterways Commission Doc., No. 11; also in the report by a
special Board of Engineers on Survey of Mississippi River, Appendix 20 (H. Doc. No. 50, 61st Cong., 1st
sess.).
532 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
On the Mississippi River from St. Louis to Memphis, coal and
coke from the Ohio form about 50 per cent of the total receipts and
shipments and is the principal item of through traffic in the lower
two sections of the river, inasmuch as stone, gravel, and sand and
also lumber and logs are transported for much shorter distances.
Receipts and shipments for 1910.¹
Sections.
St. Louis to Cairo..
Cairo to Memphis..
Memphis to Vicksburg.
Vicksburg to New Orleans..
Total
tonnage.
Coal and
coke.
Stone,
gravel,
and sand.
Lumber
and logs.
Grain and
and its
products.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
Tons.
289,759
113,673
45,314
50,341
1,039, 195
508, 696
21, 481
408,542
16,981
15, 669
980, 386
1,530, 230
392,561
186,516
147,328
20,295
364,559
657,655
86, 441
28, 470
1 Compiled from the report of the Secretary of the Mississippi River Commission.
It is an interesting fact also that on those rivers along the Atlantic
coast which are deep enough to accommodate coastwise vessels
and at most of the harbors coal is one of the principal articles of
commerce notwithstanding railroad competition, while at points
which the railways do not reach miscellaneous freight of all kinds
is brought by boats. On the Merrimac, for instance, 99 per cent
of the traffic is coal brought in ocean barges; on the Connecticut
below Hartford coal contributes 410,148 tons of a total of 636,874
tons. On the St. Croix River in Maine the total traffic in 1910
amounted to 161,416 tons, of which 75,000 tons was coal and 75,420
tons lumber. Likewise on the Penobscot in Maine 244,666 tons of
coal and 228,497 tons of lumber and cooperage comprised the prin-
cipal items of traffic out of a total tonnage of 566,434.
The foregoing analysis of the traffic carried on the principal water-
ways of Europe and the United States reveals the fact that a few
bulky commodities form the great share of the tonnage. Among
these coal is the most conspicuous. In many cases it furnishes more
than 50 per cent of the total traffic, and sometimes as high as 90
or 95 per cent. The cases are rare on the principal waterways
where coal is not the largest single item carried. On the Mark
waterways it is surpassed by brick and tiles carried to Berlin, and
on the Great Lakes it is surpassed by the iron-ore traffic. In a few
other cases it is surpassed by sand, gravel, and building stone. But
in general it might almost be said that no waterway will have a
large traffic unless it is so situated as to afford a route for the cheap
transportation of coal. To cause the movement by water of this
commodity and others of like kind the sources of supply must be
accessible to a waterway or close enough to be made accessible by
a short rail haul. In this respect sand, gravel, etc., have the
greatest advantage, for they are generally obtained directly from the
bed or banks of a river. In Europe the imports also supply much
of the traffic carried by the principal rivers. There must also be
large centers of population or large factories to use these commodities
in full boat loads in order that the greater economy of water trans-
portation may be realized. Water transportation is never successful
in supplying the needs of a small scattering population which con-
sumes raw products in small units unless it is the only means of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 533
transportation available. In this event its traffic is not confined to
the lower grades of freight.
With these facts in mind, the fundamental reason for the small
traffic carried on many of the rivers of the United States is not diffi-
cult to understand. There are only a few cases where the economic
conditions are so favorable for the growth of inland water trans-
portation as in Europe. The rivers serving Pittsburgh are the best
examples, especially the Monongahela. The coal mines adjacent to
the river furnish the traffic and the numerous steel and iron indus-
tries along the river front in the Pittsburgh district furnish the prin-
cipal consumers. Large quantities of sand and gravel are also taken
from the Allegheny, Monongahela, and Ohio and transported to
Pittsburgh for building purposes.
V.
THE RELATIONS BETWEEN RAILWAYS AND WATERWAYS.
An essential factor for the success of water transportation is the
existence of amicable relations between the railways and waterways.
A country may possess fine rivers, well improved, and may also have
a large population and an abundance of coarse, bulky commodities
requiring transportation, but if the railways are allowed a free hand,
they will divert most of this traffic from the waterways, even though
the latter may afford cheaper transportation. In competing with
waterways the railways have a distinct advantage. Only a small
portion of their traffic is suited for water transportation. As a rule,
little competition is possible on their passenger, express, and high-
grade freight business. On the other hand, pactically all the traffic of
a waterway may be subject to rail competition. Furthermore, the
railroad competes with the water route only at comparatively few
points, when the whole system is taken into consideration, while the
water route is usually in competition with the railway at almost all
points. Under such conditions the railroad can recoup itself for losses
incurred by rate cutting on a few commodities and at a few points from
the profits it makes on all the traffic not affected by water competition,
while the water carrier, financially much weaker and having few, if any,
way stations where it enjoys a monopoly of the business, has little
opportunity to recoup itself anywhere. Thus the two never com-
pete on equal terms and the relative cost of transportation, which
should be the deciding factor, ordinarily makes little difference in the
outcome of the contest. In the long run if the railway forces the
competition the water carrier is almost certain to succumb. Only on
large bodies of water has it any chance at all.
A railway may also greatly limit the business of a waterway by pre-
venting the exchange of traffic between the two. This can be accom-
plished by charging high local rates to and from transshipment points
and by refusing to make prorating arrangements with water carriers
and to establish suitable connections with their terminals. In this
way the inconvenience and cost of transferring freight is greatly
increased. This method of competition becomes most prominent
when the railway system is fairly complete and the different roads are
working in harmony. As long as a waterway acts as a feeder for a
railway cooperation for the exchange of traffic will be manifest.
534 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
It may prove cheaper for a railway to control water carriers than
to compete against them, especially when the natural advantages of
the former are great. Thus it was the policy of railroads at one time
to purchase outright or secure a controlling interest in competing
canal companies. The common method in the United States now is
for the railways to own or control boat lines. Where they also own
the terminal facilities at a port it is a very easy matter to prevent
serious competition from independents. The view was once held that
the waterways were free highways on which competition would always
exist, but what has transpired in the United States during the last
decade indicates that even water transportation may be monopolized
or so effectively controlled that it is hazardous for independent boat
lines to enter the field.
The experience of all countries has been that as long as the railways
were not subject to strict control, they have succeeded in crushing
out or controlling water competition. The regulation of railway
activities for the protection of water carriers has, accordingly, been
found necessary in all countries before the normal development of
water transportation could take place.
THE CONTROL OF RAILWAYS AND WATERWAYS.
The protection of water transportation in European countries has
been accomplished in several different ways. Where the State owns
both the railways and waterways, as in Germany and Belgium, the
problem is much simplified. Both means of transportation are then,
as a rule, under the supervision of one department of the Government
and are administered in the interest of the public. In such countries.
it is unusual for a government-owned railroad to cut rates in direct
competition with a government-owned water route. Protection of
this kind is most complete in Germany and Belgium, but it also
exists in Russia, as well as in Austria-Hungary. In the latter countries
the Government is extending its control over the railways either by
ownership or by the lease and operation of private companies, so
that in recent years severe competition against the waterways has
been much less marked. In Holland there has been little opportunity
for competition between railways and waterways. There are only
two important railway systems in the country. One of these is
owned by the State but is leased and operated by a private_com-
pany, under strict control. The other is owned and operated by a
private company. In both cases the rates are fixed by the minister
of waterstaat, and they can not be changed except with the consent
of the Government.
In France five of the seven railway systems are still owned and
operated by private companies. This has made the problem of
protecting waterways against railway competition more difficult
than in Belgium or Germany. No special legislation for this purpose
has been enacted, but the strict control exercised over railway rates
has been successfully used to prevent direct competition against the
waterways. Before a railroad company can raise or lower its rates,
the proposed modification must be passed upon by the consultative
committee and confirmed by the minister of public works who
usually follows its recommendation. Where water competition
exists, the committee as a matter of principle usually requires a 20
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 535
per cent differential in favor of the waterways and includes in its
consideration any excessory charges with which water traffic may be
burdened.¹ In particular cases the protection allowed a waterway
may be much greater than 20 per cent and in other cases considerably
less. A good instance of the former occurred in the case of the
Western Railway in 1905 when it was still operated by a private
company. The railroad company proposed a reduction of the rate
on cement and this proposal was rejected by the committee, although
allowing the competing waterway a margin of 33 per cent. Occasion-
ally it happens that a water rate is higher than the competing rail
rate. For instance the rate on coal transported by the St. Quentin
Canal sometimes rises above the rail rate during periods of heavy
traffic. This is due to the fact that at such times there is more
traffic than the railways and the waterways combined can accommo-
date, and while the rail rate is fixed, the water rate is not, and rises
in response to the increased demand for shipping facilities.
Another deterrent to the cutting of railway rates to eliminate
water competition in France is the fact that a railway is usually
required, when reducing its rate at a particular point, to grant
similar reductions all along its lines in order to prevent local dis-
crimination. Furthermore when a railway has obtained permission
to put in force a lower rate, it can not raise it again without first
obtaining the sanction of the consultative committee and the minister
of public works. Under such circumstances the railways are very
cautious about proposing reductions in competition with the water
routes and the waterways have thus been assured of adequate pro-
tection from rate cutting. The efforts of the Government to compel
railways to establish physical connection with the waterways have
not been so successful.2
In England the Government owns neither the railways nor the
waterways, and for this reason the problem of protecting water
transportation has been especially difficult. Previous to 1845 the
maximum tolls, rates and charges of canal companies had been fixed
by law usually at a uniform rate per ton or per mile. The rapid
absorption of canal companies by the railways which took place
from 1840 to 1845, together with the marked decline of traffic on
almost all the canals due to railway competition, led to numerous
parliamentary inquiries and acts for the preservation of water trans-
portation. Parliament little understood the problem, and at first
proceeded on the theory that if the canals were granted the same
privileges which the railways enjoyed, they would be able to compete
successfully. Accordingly in the beginning the same regulations
were imposed upon canal companies as upon the railways, and that
policy has been followed in all subsequent legislation. In 1845 canal
companies were given the power to vary their tolls according to the
circumstances of the traffic, just as the railroads were allowed to do.
They could charge less on one section of the canal than on another,
or less for larger than for smaller quantities, providing they did not.
discriminate between shippers.3 During the same year another act
was passed which enabled canal companies to become carriers of
goods on their own canals and to make working arrangements with
other canal companies for the through passage of boats. The right
1 cf. Lindley, Appendix III, p. 117.
2 Vide, p. 552 infra.
3 8 and 9 Vict., c. 28
536 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
i
was also granted to canal companies to lease others if they so desired.¹
It was hoped by this means to bring about the amalgamation of the
disconnected and disunited canal companies so that they could more
effectively compete against the railways, which were rapidly amalga-
mating into systems. These laws, however, accomplished little.
The canal companies did not amalgamate; only a few became carriers,
and the rapid decline of water transportation continued.
The railway and canal traffic act of 1854 also followed the policy
of subjecting the canal companies to the same regulations imposed
upon the railways. They were required to afford all reasonable
facilities for receiving, delivering, or forwarding freight on through
routes, and undue discrimination or favoritism was prohibited.²
This act, however, contained no provision for the protection of water
transportation against the competition of railways.
Beginning in the seventies, the Government sought to prevent the
railways from securing further control over the canal companies.
After an extensive investigation of this subject in 1872, the railway
and canal traffic act of 1873 was passed.³
3
The canal companies and the railways were placed under the
jurisdiction of the railway commission which the act created, and
both were required to keep posted for public inspection all schedules
of rates and charges. Section 16 of the act prohibited the making
of any agreement which gave a railroad company control over the
traffic or the rates or tolls charged on any part of a canal without
the consent of the commission, and stated that the commission
should withhold its sanction from any agreement which in its opinion
was prejudicial to the interests of the public. This is the first pro-
vision in English law intended specifically to prevent the further
elimination of water competition.
Section 17 of this act provided that every railway company
owning or having the management of a canal or part of a canal
should at all times keep and maintain such canal and all appurtenances
in thorough repair and good working condition so that there should
be no unnecessary hindrance or interruption or delay to persons
desiring to use it. The purpose of this section was to prevent the
railways from allowing the canals which they had acquired to dete-
riorate and become useless for navigation, as they had in some
cases been guilty of doing.
4
The most important act regulating canal companies and also the
relations between canals and railways was the railway and canal
traffic act of 1888. Part 3 of this act applies exclusively to canals.
Section 36 states that all the provisions of part 2 of the act relating
to railway companies, so far as applicable, should apply also to
every canal company and to every railway and canal company.
The principal requirement of part 2 was that the railways should
file with the board of trade classifications and schedules of maximum
charges. In accordance with section 36 such schedules were also
drafted for 149 canal companies and confirmed by Parliament
during the years 1893-94.
Section 38 provides that where it is proved to the satisfaction of
the railway commissioners that the tolls, rates or charges on a canal
are such as are calculated to divert the traffic from the canal to a
1 8 and 9 Vict., c. 42.
2 17 and 18, Vict., c. 31, s. 2.
3 36 and 37 Vict., c. 48.
4 51 and 52 Vict., c. 25.
1
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
537
railway, they may, upon application, make an order requiring these
tolls or rates to be reduced so that they shall be reasonable, as com-
pared with the rates and charges for the conveyance of merchandise
on the railway. If the order of the commissioners to alter and
adjust these charges is not carried out, they may make such altera-
tions and adjustments as they shall think just and reasonable, and
these shall be binding upon the company or persons owning or con-
trolling the canal. If this provision were strictly enforced, it would
prevent railway companies owning competing canals from charging
such high rates on them as to divert traffic to the railways. Appar-
ently it has had little salutary effect; for instances were found by
the royal commission on canals and inland waterways where the
charges on the railway-owned section of a canal were four times as
high as those upon the other sections.
Section 39 of part 3 empowers the board of trade to require from
canal companies from time to time statements showing the capacity
of their waterways for traffic and the capital, revenue, expenditure,
and profits of the operating companies. The board of trade has only
called for such returns twice since the passage of this act, once in
1898 and again in 1908. Hence the aim of this provision to obtain
more intimate knowledge as to the exact condition of the canal com-
panies has not been realized.
Section 42 is intended to prevent railway companies from acquir-
ing control of the canal companies. It provides that no railway
company or officer of a railway company shall, without express
statutory authority, authorize or permit the use of the company's
funds for the purpose of acquiring any canal interest. In the event
of violation of this provision, the canal interest purchased is for-
feited to the Crown, and the officials responsible for such purchase
are liable for the payment of the amount spent for this purpose.
Section 43 permits canal companies to enter into contracts for the
through passage of boats and traffic, and permits lower tolls, rates,
and charges for through traffic than those fixed by law for each canal.
Section 44 permits canal companies to establish a canal clearing
system for the division of through rates. The aim of these two pro-
visions is to encourage the development of longer distance traffic
but no advantage has been taken of them except in one or two cases.
Under section 45 the board of trade is authorized, upon applica-
tion, to examine derelict canals and order their abandonment or
transfer to some body of persons or local authority who may agree
to reopen them for navigation. This applies only to independent
canals for the railways have been obliged even at a loss to maintain
their canals in good working condition since the act of 1873.
1
The railway and canal traffic act of 1894 contains a clause which
indirectly tends to prevent railways from cutting rates in competi-
tion with waterways. Section 1 provides that when complaint is
made that a rate which has been raised is unreasonable, the burden
must lie upon the railroad company to show that it is reasonable.
In cases where railways reduce their rates in competition with water-
ways, this provision would make it more difficult for them to raise
them again after the water competition was eliminated.
1 57 and 58 Vict., c. 54.
538 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
England is practically the only country which has attempted to
regulate the affairs of water carriers. In Belgium, Germany, and
France they have been left entirely free. In Russia it is stated that
maximum rates for most of the waterways are fixed by the Govern-
ment, and in Hungary the Government controls the charges of the
Royal Hungarian Steamship Co. on the Danube, a line which it
subsidizes.
The provisions in the railway and canal traffic acts of 1873 and
1888 intended to protect the canal companies against railway control
apparently have had little salutary effect. The explanation generally
given is that these laws came too late. One-third of the total canal
mileage fell into the hands of the railway companies as early as 1845.
Some 83 miles were converted into railways and about 425 miles
were abandoned; and practically all the remaining canal companies
were in a decadent and bankrupt condition before any important
legislation intended to afford them protection was secured. Another
reason is that the provisions of the law are not enforced. Notwith-
standing the prohibition, the railways continue to charge excessive
tolls on sections of canals which they own or control, and in other
ways discourage the use of waterways by shippers. The railways no
longer engage in severe rate cutting for the elimination of water
competition. But this is not necessary, inasmuch as the cost of
shipping by water on most of the canals in their present neglected
and decadent condition is so high that they are no longer active
competitors.
No serious attempt has yet been made in the United States to
regulate the relations between the railways and waterways. The
prevailing opinion at the time the interstate commerce act was
passed in 1887 was that the waterways were the great regulators and
cheapeners of railway rates, and for this reason should be hampered
as little as possible by Federal regulation. The Cullom committee,
appointed by Congress in 1885 to investigate the conditions of railroad
transportation, considered the benefits to be derived from development
and maintenance of the waterways, and reported as follows:¹
* *
*
The evidence before the committee accords with the experience of all
nations in recognizing the water routes as the most effective cheapeners and regulators
of railway charges. * * * Competition between railroads sooner or later leads to
combination or consolidation, but neither can prevail to secure unreasonable rates in
the face of direct competition with free natural or artificial water routes.
In accordance with this view, the act of 1887 imposed no restric-
tions upon water carriers except when they were operated in connec-
tion with some railroad for the continuous carriage of goods on joint.
rates. The only reason for subjecting them to this regulation was
to guard against a possibility of their being used by some railroad
as a means of discriminating or obtaining some undue advantage over
a competitor. This intention was very well set forth by Senator
Cullom in the course of the debate on this bill, when he said: 2
There is no provision in this bill that at all interferes with water transportation
unless it is operated under some arrangement with a railroad company or common
carrier by rail by which it can take advantage of any other railroad that has no water
connection at all.
The idea of doing anything to protect water carriers against railway
competition was little considered at that time. Although the railways
1 Report of Cullom committee, p. 170. 2 Cong. Record, 49th Cong., 1st sess., May 10, 1886, p. 4310.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
539
had already demonstrated their superiority over many of the canals
in the eastern part of the country and also over some of the smaller
streams, they had not as yet made serious inroads into the business
of the larger rivers. The Mississippi and its tributaries were still in
the heyday of their prosperity. The water route from Chicago to
New York by the Great Lakes and the Erie Canal carried its maximum
traffic during this period. In 1887 the Erie Canal carried 3,840,513
tons, a record which has never since been equalled. This water
route exercised a potent influence upon the rail rates in trunk-line
territory, and for a number of years had been continuously forcing
them down. As pointed out by Mr. Albert Fink in his statement to
the Windom committee in 1878, its influence upon railroad rates
extended over a much wider area. It was felt even as far as the
southeastern territory.
The only section in the law of 1887 which could have afforded any
protection to water carriers against the direct competition of railways
was section 4, generally known as the long and short haul clause, but
as finally passed this clause prohibited railways from charging less
for a longer than for a shorter haul only "under substantially similar
circumstances and conditions." This greatly narrowed its applica-
tion. In deciding what constituted a dissimilarity of circumstances
and conditions, the Interstate Commerce Commission declared in its
first important decision that actual water competition of controlling
force was a sufficient reason for exempting the railroads from the
meaning of this section. The result of this interpretation of the law
and subsequent court decisions was that where water competition
existed, railways were free to cut rates to any extent they chose,
regardless of their charges to intermediate points.
1
There were two changes made in section 4 by the act of 1910, which
it is expected will afford some protection to water carriers against
railway competition. The words "Under substantially similar cir-
cumstances and conditions" have been removed, and in their place
has been substituted the following provision:
That upon application to the Interstate Commerce Commission such common
carrier may in special cases, after investigation, be authorized by the commission to
charge less for longer than for shorter distances for the transportation of passengers or
property; and the commission may from time to time prescribe the extent to which
such designated common carrier may be relieved from the operation of this section.
The change was not made with the express intention of protecting
water transportation, but to prevent rate discriminations, particu-
larly in Rocky Mountain territory. The Interstate Commerce Com-
mission has contended that this provision authorizes it to determine
the amount of discrimination between the charges for longer and
shorter hauls where such discrimination is allowed. In its decision
in the intermountain rate case it divided the country into five districts.
and fixed the maximum rates which the railroads might make between
each of these districts and the Pacific coast terminals. The Com-
merce Court, however, overruled the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion, holding that where competition beyond the control of the rail-
roads existed it was the duty of the commission, upon investigation,
after complaint, to grant the railways exemption from this section to
any extent not in violation of the other sections of the law.
1 In re L. & N. R. R. Co., I. C. C. Rep., vol. I, p. 31.
The
540 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
•
Commerce Court further held that to fix the exact discrimination
which a railway could make in its rates for a longer haul would be to
exercise a legislative power, and therefore would be unconstitutional.
This case has been appealed to the Supreme Court, and its decision
will determine finally the power of the Interstate Commerce Commis-
sion under section 4. If the Supreme Court upholds the Interstate
Commerce Commission, it would doubtless have authority to prevent
railways from unduly cutting rates when competing with water car-
riers, if it chose to exercise it for this purpose.
The act of 1910 also added a new clause to section 4, which reads
as follows:
Whenever a carrier by railroad shall, in competition with a water route or routes,
reduce the rates on the carriage of any species of freight to or from competitive points,
it shall not be permitted to increase such rates unless, after hearing by the Interstate
Commerce Commission, it shall be found that such proposed increase rests upon
conditions other than the elimination of water competition.
This is the first piece of legislation intended especially for the pro-
tection of water transportation in the United States. It is hoped that
this provision will also tend to prevent railways from cutting rates in
competition with the waterways. If strictly enforced, it will doubt-
less prove of some benefit, but it can not accomplish much, for the
reason that the common practice of railways, now in competing with
inland waterways is to keep their rates constantly at such a low figure
that water transportation is not profitable. Cutting rates to drive out
water competition and then raising them again, except when naviga-
tion is closed, is no longer a common practice, for by raising rates an
inducement is offered to water carriers to reenter the field.
The tendency in the United States, as in England, has been to
increase the power of the Government over water transportation.
It was made necessary in England by the control which the railways
had secured over the canal companies. In this country it has been
due to the rapidly increasing control of railroads over boat lines,
especially on the Great Lakes and in the coastwise trade. Where the
railways and boat lines are operated under joint tariffs, the Interstate
Commerce Commission has found it practically impossible to judge
of the reasonableness of such rates without having a greater knowl-
edge of the affairs of the connecting boat lines. Accordingly, since
1887 it has recommended on numerous occasions that the law be
extended to apply to common carriers by water at least to the extent
of giving them power to collect statistics and demand reports.¹
During the spring of 1910, when it became evident to the Interstate
Commerce Commission that their power over water carriers was not
to be increased by the pending legislation, they apparently took the
position that under sections I and 20 of the law they already had
sufficient power to collect statistics and to require accounts from all
water carriers prorating with railroads. On the 31st of May the
commission entered an order prescribing a uniform method of
bookkeeping for all water carriers which were making joint rates with
railroads for the transportation of commodities in interstate com-
merce. On the 11th of June the commission entered another order,
directing all such water carriers in the United States prorating with
a railroad or railroads to make certain reports respecting their cor-
1 Cf. third annual report, p. 433; fifth annual report, p. 9; eighth annual report, p. 79; thirteenth
annual report, p. 63, fifteenth annual report, p. 59.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 541
porate organization, financial condition, and other internal affairs.
The Goodrich Transit Co. and the White Star Line, two independent
companies operating on the Great Lakes, appealed from these orders
of the commission, and in 1911 the Commerce Court enjoined their
execution on the ground that the commission's authority extended
only to the interstate business of water carriers which was exchanged
with railways on through rates, but over port-to-port or intrastate
traffic it had no authority. These cases were appealed to the Supreme
Court, which, on April, 1, 1911, decided that the commission had
authority to require from water carriers reports on all their business
in order to enable it the better to carry out the purpose of the act.
The court said:
Congress, in section 20, has authorized the commission to inquire as to the business
which the carrier does and to require the keeping of uniform accounts, in order
that the commission may know just how the business is carried on, with a view to
regulating that which is confessedly within its power.
In one other particular the power of the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission over water carriers has been increased. Section 15, as
amended in 1906, gave the commission authority, after hearing on a
complaint, to establish through routes and joint rates, "provided no
reasonable or satisfactory through route existed," even when one of
the connecting carriers was a water line. The commission in 1906,
in the case of the Enterprise Transportation Co., operating on Long
Island Sound, established a through route between that boat line
and the Pennsylvania Railroad Co. for the transportation of fish from
Jamestown, R. I., to Philadelphia.¹
In 1910 section 15 was amended by striking out the words "pro-
vided no reasonable or satisfactory through route exists" and insert-
ing the following:
Nor shall the commission have the right to establish any route, classification, rate,
fare, or charge when the transportation is wholly by water, and any transportation by
water affected by this act shall be subject to the laws and regulations applicable to
transportation by water.
The intention of this added clause was doubtless to make it clear
that the commission had no authority whatever over water carriers
which did not prorate with a railroad, but over those which did enter
into such arrangements the power of the commission was increased.
It is gradually coming to be realized in this country that the laissez-
faire policy regarding water transportation is hardly more successful
than when applied to other forms of business activity. The lack of
proper regulation has materially aided the railways in crushing out or
controlling water transportation and our rivers are no longer the
great cheapeners and regulators of railway rates that they once were.
Even on the Great Lakes the railways have secured such control over
the transportation of higher classes of freight between New York and
Chicago that they have been able to raise the rates, while on traffic
which they do not control the rates have continually declined. Also
in the coastwise traffic the railways have secured such complete con-
trol that there is no longer any active competition. Independent
companies can not successfully compete. This situation has led to
proposals for securing additional legislation. A provision which has
attracted a good deal of attention is contained in the so-called Panama
1 12 I. C. C., 373.
542 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
1
bill. It makes it unlawful for any railroad company to own, lease,
operate, control, or have any interest whatsoever in any common car-
rier by water with which it competes for traffic. A recommendation
of somewhat different tenor is made by the National Waterways
ways Commission in its final report. It proposes to extend the
power of the Interstate Commerce Commission over all water carriers
owned or controlled by the railways and also over all independent
companies operating on regular schedules between specified points
so that they may not be used in a manner prejudicial to the public
good. The merits of these two propositions will be discussed in the
last chapter. It may confidently be expected that in the near future
legislation of some kind will be adopted.
2
THE INFLUENCE OF RATE SYSTEMS UPON WATER TRANSPORTATION.
The general scheme of rate making in different countries exercises
an important influence upon the success of water transportation. The
basis upon which rate schedules are constructed depends largely upon
the extent to which railway activities are controlled. In most Euro-
pean countries the systems of railroad rates in vogue are much more
favorable to the development of water-borne traffic than those found
in the United States. In Germany and Belgium, where the railways.
are owned by the State, they are operated largely with a view to the
promotion of national interests. In both countries rates are made
upon a kilometric basis, tapering in most cases with the length of
haul, and there is no departure from the distance principle because
of water competition. Where railways and waterways compete,
the boat lines adjust their rates from day to day according to the
supply of traffic and demand for transportation, while the railway
rates are fixed and not easily changed. Thus the waterways are free
to cut rates to secure traffic, but the railways are not.
It is a well-known fact that the ton-mile cost of transportation by
water decreases greatly with the length of haul. After a boat is once
loaded, the expense of moving it where natural conditions are favor-
able does not increase in proportion to the distance traveled. Hence
boat lines competing with railways whose rates are fixed exactly
according to the length of haul or taper gradually have an advantage
which increases with distance. The waterways of Germany enjoy
a greater advantage in this respect than those of any other country,
and this has been an important factor in the growth of long-distance
water traffic. On the Prussian railways the freight is divided into
nine classes based on speed, carload lots, and the value of commodi-
ties. For the higher classes the railway rates taper moderately with
distance up to 500 kilometers, or 310 miles, after which they are on a
fixed kilometric basis, as shown by the table following.³
1 H. R. 21969, 62d Cong., 2d sess., sec. 11.
2 Vide, p 578 infra.
3 National Waterways Commission, Doc. No. 19, p. 11.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
543
Normal tariff rates for higher classes.
Not in carloads.
Fast freight.
General freight.
Distance.
Rate per
(metric)
ton-kilo-
ton-mile.
meter.
Rate per
(short)
Rate per
(metric)
ton-kilo-
Rate per
(short)
ton-mile.
meter.
Special tariff for
certain specified
goods.
Rate per
(metric)
Rate per
ton-kilo-
meter.
(short)
ton-mile.
Pfgs.
Cts.
Pfgs.
Cts.
Pfgs.
Cts.
22
7.6
11
3.8
20
6.9
10
3.5
18
6.2
9
3.1
16
5.5
8
2.8
·
14
4.8
7
2.4
12
4.2
6
2.1
8
2.8
Less than 50 kilometers (31 miles)
51-200 kilometers (124 miles).
201-300 kilometers (186 miles)
301-400 kilometers (249 miles)
401-500 kilometers (311 miles).
Over 500 kilometers (311 miles).
For all distances.
In five of the lower classes, which include the coarser freights best
adapted to go by water, the rates are uniform, while in the sixth
class, as shown in the following table, there is a slight reduction in
the rates after 100 kilometers:
Normal tariff rates for lower classes.
Distance.
For all distances
1-100 kilometers (62.1 miles).
Over 100 kilometers.
Carloads.
Special tariffs.
A1.
B.
A2.
I.
II.
III.
Pfgs. Cts. Pfgs. Cts. Pfgs. Cts. Pfgs. Cts. Pfgs. Cts. Pfgs. Cts.
6.7 2.3 6 2.1 5 1.7 4.5 1.6 3.5 1.2
2.6 0.9
2.2 .76
On the other hand, the terminal charges, which are distinct from
the charges for transportation, increase with the distance up to 100
kilometers, at which they remain fixed, regardless of the length of
haul. For example, the terminal charges for fast freight increases
from 20 to 38 pfennigs per one-tenth metric ton for distances from
1 to 100 kilometers, which is an increase of 2 pfennigs for each 10
kilometers. For all distances above 100 kilometers the charge is
40 pfennigs.
This advantage of the waterways in Germany is not so important
as it might at first seem, because of the fact that there are in force
a large number of exceptional rates, intended to enable German
industrial centers or seaports to compete successfully with their
rivals in foreign countries. These exceptional tariffs generally
apply to the coarser, bulky commodities, such as are especially
suited to go by water, and as a rule apply only to shipments in
specified quantities. In 1906, 64 per cent of the total tonnage of
the Prussian railroads was transported under exceptional rates, and
in some of the other German States the proportion was nearly as
great. There are in Prussia 27 classes of exceptional tariffs in force
within the State, the purpose of which is to enable industries to
544 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
obtain cheap raw materials and to equalize the advantages of com-
peting producers in a given market, and 31 classes of seaport excep-
tional tariffs intended especially to protect Hamburg and Bremen
against the competition of Rotterdam and Antwerp, and also to
enable home producers to reach the world's markets on favorable
terms with foreign competitors. A further purpose is to divert traffic
to the seaports which otherwise would be carried by the connecting
railways of foreign countries.
All exceptional rates in force on the German railways are made on
the same basis as the regular rates, the only difference being that
the rate per ton-kilometer is considerably less and more often gradu-
ated for longer distances. For example, the regular rail rate on coal
for distances from 1 to 100 kilometers is 2.6 pfennigs per ton, and for
all distances over 100 kilometers 2.2 pfennigs per ton, with terminal
charges in the first case varying from 60 to 90 pfennigs, and in the
latter case amounting to 120 pfennigs. The great bulk of German
coal traffic, however, is transported at exceptional rates in order to
enable industries in all parts of the Empire to obtain cheap raw ma-
terials. The rate on most of this coal traffic, if carried in carload
lots of not less than 10 tons, is 2.2 pfennigs per ton-kilometer for all
distances up to 350 kilometers, and 1.4 pfennigs for all distances above
this limit, with terminal charges of 70 pfennigs per ton.
As a rule the domestic exceptional rates are not detrimental to
water transportation. Some of them are made to river ports in order
to encourage the exchange of traffic between the waterways and
railways. This is especially true in Bavaria, Baden, and some of
the other German States, although there are a few instances of such
rates in force in Prussia. On imports which compete with domestic
products the regular rates are charged. These, as previously stated,
are favorable to the waterways. There are a few exceptional import
tariffs in force, but as a rule they do not apply to low-grade freights
which the waterways carry.
Some of the exceptional export tariffs in Germany have undoubt-
edly diverted to the railways a considerable amount of traffic that
would otherwise be transported by water. The low rates on coal.
from the Westphalian district, if intended for export through the port
of Hamburg, serve to reduce the amount of coal traffic which would
otherwise be exported to Holland and Belgium by means of the Rhine.
In the same manner the rates on Silesian coal intended for export at
Hamburg or Stettin are so low as to offer severe competition to the
joint rail and water route via Kosel and the Oder. On shipments
of 45 tons or more the rate is 5.1 mills per ton-mile plus a terminal
charge of 14.28 cents per ton. These low rail rates are made for the
purpose of enabling Silesian coal to reach these ports on equal terms
with the coal from the Westphalian district, and especially that im-
ported from England.
The rates in force on the State railway system of Belgium are con-
structed on a tapering kilometric basis, the rate per ton kilometer
decreasing with the length of haul, according to a sliding scale, which
usually changes with each 25 kilometers of distance.¹ For this reason
Belgian rates are much less favorable to the success of the waterways
than the German rates. This, however, is not so important in its
1 For a good description of the Belgian rate system see L. G. McPherson, Transportation in Europe, p. 98.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
545
effect upon waterway traffic as the fact that in many instances the
average rail haul in Belgium is so short that there is no economy in
shipping by water. This is particularly the case with the Belgian
coal traffic, when intended for use within the country. As the table
indicates, the great bulk of this coal is carried for a distance averaging
less than 35 miles.¹
1
Coal shipments on the Belgian State railways.
Kilo-
meters.
Metric
tons.
Kilo-
meters.
Metric
tons.
1- 10
2, 192, 306
141-150
83,664
11- 20
1,645, 459
151-160
86, 159
21-30
1,193,369
161-170
85,530
31- 40
1,037,099
171-180
93, 144
41-50
922,089
181-190
18, 025
51-60
1, 132, 068
191-200
11.334
61- 70
731,599
201-210
8,336
71-80
333, 721
211-220
54,542
81-90
283,272
221-230
8,976
91-100
354, 095
231-240
71, 622
101-110
559,997
241-250
113,769
111-120
211, 707
251-260
8,658
121-130
159,995
261-270
35
131-140
82, 769
270
0
As in Germany, there are some special and exceptional rates in
force on the Belgian State roads which affect unfavorably the traffic
of the waterways. These rates are mostly on export traffic to Ant-
werp in order to place home industries upon a more advantageous foot-
ing with their foreign competitors. There are fewer exceptional rates
on imported commodities. In general, import business is conveyed at
the regular rates so as to afford protection to home industries. For
this reason the waterways convey a larger import than export traffic.
This is especially true of coal. The rail rate on export coal to Antwerp
in some cases is so low as to be practically prohibitive for the water-
ways. This is particularly the case with the coal from Liege to pre-
vent it from going to Dutch or German ports. Hence most of the
coal exported from Belgium by water goes to France by the inland-
waterway system. The following table gives a comparison of the reg-
ular rates on coal and those contained in special export tariffs Nos. 1
and 2. In the case of special tariff No. 1 the minimum quantity ac-
cepted at the low rate is 11 tons, and in the case of tariff No. 2 it is 55
tons.2
1 Annales des Travaux Publics de Belgique, 1908, p. 936.
2 National Waterways Commission, Doc. No. 20, p. 15.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2——35
546 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Comparative table of charges of special tariffs for exportation and those of the regular
Distances.
tariffs.
[Charges per ton (2,204 pounds).]
Coal.
Special tariff No.
1 for exportation Regular tariff
fourth class of
tariff No. 3.
Coal, rough.
Special tariff No.
2 for exportation
(shipments per
50 tons).
Regular tariff
No 2 for exporta-
tion (shipments
per 50 tons).
(shipments per
10 tons).
United
United
Francs.
States
equiva-
States
United
States
United
States
Francs.
Francs.
lent.
equiva-
lent.
equiva-
Francs.
equiva-
lent.
lent.
50 kilometers (31 miles).....
75 kilometers (46.6 miles).
100 kilometers (62.1 miles).
125 kilometers (77.6 miles).
150 kilometers (93.2 miles).
2.20
$0.42
3.00
$0.58 2.00
$0.39
3.00
$0.58
2.20
.42 4.00
.72 2.00
.39
4.00
.72
2.60
.50
4.50
.87
2.00
.39
4.50
.87
3.25
.63
4.75
.92
2.50
.48
4.75
.92
3.90
.75 5.00
.96 3.00
.58
5.00
.96
175 kilometers (108.7 miles).
4.55
.88
5.25
1.01 3.50
.67
5.25
1.01
200 kilometers (124.2 miles)..
5.00
.96
5.50
1.06
4.00
.72
5.50
1.06
250 kilometers (155.3 miles).
5.50
1.06
6.00
1.16
5.00
.96
6.00
1.16
275 kilometers (170.8 miles)..
5.75
1.11
6.25
1.21
5.50
1.06 6.25
1.21
300 kilometers (186.4 miles).
6.00
1.16
6.50
1.25
6.00
1.16
6.50
1.25
325 kiolmeters (201.9 miles).
350 kilometers (217.4 miles)..
6.50
1.25
6.75
1.30
6.50
1.25
6.75
1.30
7.00
13.5
7.00
1.35
7.00
1.35
7.00
1.35
The French system of railway rates is also based upon the kilo-
metric principle, the ton kilometer rate decreasing with distance at
each 100 kilometers. The decrease is quite marked as the length of
haul increases, but this fact has no injurious effect upon water trans-
portation as long as the general principle of maintaining railway rates
20 per cent higher than competing water rates is enforced. The
waterways enjoy the same advantage on import traffic that they do
in Belgium and Germany, the control of the Government being suffi-
cient to keep up the railway rates for protective purposes. There
are a large number of special rates in force on the French railways,
some of which are detrimental to water transportation. These are
found mostly, as in Germany and Belgium, on export traffic to the
seaports, where national considerations outweigh the importance of
protecting the waterways. There are also some domestic tariffs in
force in France which are the same from a producing center to a
considerable number of different localities, regardless of the difference
in the length of haul. This is particularly true of domestic coal, to
enable it to compete with English coal in the home markets. These
special rates are only accorded to shippers who agree to ship certain
quantities and to comply with certain conditions favorable to the
railways.
The systems of railway rates that have developed in the United
States are all unfavorable to the growth of water transportation.
This is due to the fact that during their formative period they were
practically free from all regulation and based almost entirely upon
the principle of charging what the traffic will bear. The character-
istic feature of American railroad rates is that local rates are high,
while through rates are relatively low. The distance principle, which
is the basis of all foreign rate systems, is often violated in long-
distance traffic, while local or intrastate rates, which are usually
subject to the control of State railroad commissions, follow it more
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
547
closely. In almost all cases rates taper rapidly with the length
of haul. Wherever water, rail, or market competition exists,
railroad rates are adjusted to meet it, and on interstate busi-
ness the freedom of the railways in changing their rates has as
yet been little restricted. Consequently we often find rates de-
creasing instead of increasing with the length of haul. This
is especially true with rates which are in competition with coastwise
water competition. On transcontinental shipments, for instance, it
has been customary to charge the same rate from New York to San
Francisco as from Chicago, St. Louis, and other Mississippi River
ports, while the charges to Reno, Nev., to Denver, Colo, and other
intermediate Rocky Mountain points are higher than to the Pacific
coast terminals, although the haul may be several hundred miles
shorter. The New York-San Francisco rate is forced by water
competition, while St. Louis and Chicago are granted the same rates
as New York in order to allow them to reach the Pacific coast cities
on equal terms with New York.
Another good illustration of the effects of coastwise water com-
petition is found in the rate from New York and North Atlantic
ports to New Orleans or Mobile. The first-class rate from New York
to Atlanta is only 14 cents higher than to Charlotte, N. C., an inter-
mediate point 218 miles nearer, and the rate to Mobile and New
Orleans is almost the same as the rate to Atlanta. Thus in order to
meet water competition at the farther point, freight is hauled for
1,372 miles at a rate only a few cents higher than for 608 miles.
The basing point system of rate making in the southeastern terri-
tory is the direct outgrowth of conditions resulting largely from water
competition. This territory is surrounded on three sides by water
and penetrated by a number of navigable streams. Before the advent
of the railways these rivers furnished the only outlet from the
interior to the seacoast. The packet boats connected with the coast-
wise steamers and afforded communication with the North Atlantic
ports. A number of important towns grew up at the head of navi-
gation on these streams, and when the railroads from the North
reached them they received low rates because of water competition.
After railroads were built parallel to these rivers connecting the sea-
ports with the interior, river transportation declined, but these towns
continued to receive low rates. The combination water and rail
rates from the north to any point in this territory, whether located
on the river or not, determine the rates that the all-rail lines can
charge. In the adjustment that has resulted these favored cities have
been granted low rates, while the surrounding towns not so favored
usually pay a rate which is higher by an amount equal to the local
rate to the nearest basing point. In these rate adjustments which
have prevailed for many years the all-rail lines do not make their
charges equal to the rail-and-water rates, but usually a certain differ-
ential above, varying with the different classes and at different centers.
Along the navigable rivers, except where prohibited by State laws,
it has always been the custom of the railroads to charge lower rates
to river than to nonriver points. The preliminary report of the
Inland Waterways Commission gives a large number of examples of
such rates along the Ohio, Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. Rail-
way rates along the Mississippi Fiver appear to have been especially
548 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
devised to prevent the growth of water competition. The rate from
St. Louis to New Orleans, a distance of 700 miles, is the same as to
Greenville, an intermediate point 250 miles nearer.
All points
between Greenville and New Orleans are grouped together and given
the same rate. Likewise on the north-bound traffic the rail rates
from New Orleans to all places between Natchez (214 miles) and
Memphis (396 miles) are the same. The New Orleans rate is forced
by various circumstances, while the river competition holds down.
the rates of the cities above, which otherwise would be higher than
the New Orleans rate.
The first half of the table below shows the rail rates between St. Louis
and New Orleans on a number of commodities which would naturally
be transported by water. The second half shows the rates from New
Orleans to Memphis on the northbound traffic. As a rule the rail
rates on low-grade commodities are relatively lower than on the
higher classes of freight which are less inclined to go by water.¹
Distance
(miles).
Lumber
and
wood.
Sand and Building
stone.
gravel.
Pro-
Grain. Flour.
visions.
From St. Louis to-
Memphis.
311
$3.00
$1.60
$2.80
$2.40
$2.20
$4.00
Greenville, Miss.
448
4.00
3.00
5.00
2.40
3.60
6.00
Vicksburg, Miss.
531
4.00
3.00
5.00
2.40
3.60
6.00
Natchez, Miss.
614
4.00
3.00
5.00
2.40
3.60
6.00
Baton Rouge, La..
677
4.00
3.00
5.00
2.40
3.60
6.00
New Orleans, La.
699
4.00
3.00
5.00
2.40
3.60
6.00
From New Orleans to-
Baton Rouge, La.
89
1.40
1.60
1.60
1.60
2.40
Natchez, Miss
214
1.60
2.40
2.40
2.40
3.00
Vicksburg, Miss.
227
1.60
2.40
2.40
2.40
3.00
·
Greenville, Miss..
Memphis..
310
1.60
2.40
2.40
2.40
3.00
-
396
1.60
2.40
2.40
2.40
3.00
With such rates in force through shipments by river have become
unprofitable. They were discontinued between St. Louis and New
Orleans in 1903, but a company has recently been formed at St.
Louis which intends to reestablish this service. The entire distance
may still be covered by boat by making three or four transfers. But
in such a case the sum of the different water rates would be consider-
ably in excess of the through railroad rate. On the northbound trade
no packet line has been able to maintain a schedule between New
Orleans and Memphis for several years.
Several kinds of commodity rates have been developed by the rail-
roads which, because of their convenience to shippers, have been very
unfavorable to water transportation. The decline of grain shipments
on the Mississippi River has been due as much to the milling-in-transit
rates as to any other factor, especially in the case of the traffic not
originating directly on the river. A through rail rate and through
bill of lading to destination, with the privilege of stoppage at some
point for storage or for milling may be obtained at the point of origin.
If this traffic were intended for shipment by river, it would pay a high
local rate from the grain fields to St. Louis or some other river port.
At this point there would be a separate charge for milling or elevator
services. In addition there would be transfer, drayage, and insurance
1 H. Doc. No. 50, 61st Cong., 1st sess., p. 368.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
549
charges to pay, all of which reduce the advantages of shipping by
the water route. The cost and inconvenience of shipping grain in
this way compared with paying at one time all the charges and placing
the consignment in the hands of one responsible party for the whole
shipment has resulted in diverting practically the whole grain traffic
from the Mississippi River to the competing railroads. Another
factor in this connection is that a considerable share of the wheat
which formerly went to New Orleans for export is now milled and
distributed from St. Louis in various directions for domestic use.
In the same manner the through rates, including the privilege of
compressing cotton in transit, have greatly reduced the river traffic
in this commodity. A through bill of lading and a through rate from
the cotton fields to New England or Liverpool can be obtained by
the shipper, including all charges for compressing en route. Ordi-
narily this is much cheaper and more convenient than to send the
cotton down the river to some point where it must be unloaded and
hauled to a compress and back again to the river. Furthermore,
insurance rates on cotton shipped by river are very high, owing to its
great value. From Vicksburg to New Orleans the rate is 20 cents
per bale. Such freight is rarely insured when sent by rail, inasmuch
as the railroad is liable for damages.
As a result of railway competition scarcely any cotton has been
shipped from Memphis to New Orleans by river since the year 1895.
In a few cases, where plantations are located directly on a river and
not readily accessible to a railroad, it has been found cheaper and
more convenient to ship cotton by river to some center such as Mem-
phis or New Orleans where it is compressed and forwarded by rail.
This is true only where shipments are made for comparatively short
distances.
The commodity rates on grain from the West to North Atlantic
seaports are so constructed as to divert traffic from the Great Lakes
and Erie Canal. Wheat may be brought from Minnesota or the
Dakotas to Chicago and there stored or milled, and then sent on to
New York under the original bill of lading at a rate which is much
lower than the regular rate. If the traffic is intended for export,
the rate is still lower. Where grain is brought to a lake port for
transshipment to lake steamer, the rail charge for the shorter haul
is higher, relatively, and to it must be added transfer, insurance,
and other charges.
An important source of traffic for European waterways, as we have
seen, is the transportation of imports and exports between the inte-
rior and the different seaports. The development of such traffic in
the United States is practically impossible because of the railway
rates on this business. As a rule they are much lower than the domes-
tic rates for the same commodities. Since the decision of the Supreme
Court in the import rate case in 1895, the Interstate Commerce
Commission has exercised no control over the division of import and
export rates between the railways and the connecting ocean carriers
and they have been free to reduce their rates to any point necessary
to secure the traffic.¹
In Europe the import traffic forms a much larger proportion of the
business of the waterways than export traffic, one reason being that it
1 162 U. S., 197.
550 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
consists to a larger extent of raw products suited to be conveyed by
water. In the United States the situation is exactly the reverse. Ex-
ports greatly exceed imports and grain, cotton and other raw products.
still form a large proportion of the export business, although the
amount of manufactured products exported is rapidly increasing.
In former days the Mississippi, Hudson, and other rivers played an
important part in bringing these products from the interior to the
seaports for transshipment to ocean-going vessels, but the rail rates
now in force have diverted practically all this business to the rail-
ways. The export and import rates from New Orleans to points in
the Mississippi Valley are much lower than the domestic rates. These
rates have been forced by the competition of the trunk line railways
to the Atlantic seaports, and also by the competition of the railroads
terminating at Galveston and Mobile.
THE DEVELOPMENT OF TRANSFER TRAFFIC.
Under ordinary circumstances the development of a large commerce
on a waterway system is only possible where there is a ready exchange
of traffic between the railways and water lines. It rarely happens
that the sources of supply for the business of a waterway and the
cities or factories consuming the commodities it carries are both so
situated that an intermediate rail haul is not necessary. Usually
coal mines, quarries, ore beds, and other sources of traffic are not
located directly on navigable lakes or streams, but often can be con-
nected with them by a comparatively short rail haul so that their
products may be transported by water. A rail-and-water route is
most feasible where a short rail haul can be joined with a relatively
long water haul. The cost and inconvenience of transferring freight
can be greatly lessened where physical connection between the railway
and the waterway is established and tipples, cranes, or other devices
for accomplishing the transfer as economically and as rapidly as
possible are employed.
It is interesting to note that the waterways on which there exists
the largest commerce enjoy this exchange of traffic between boat lines
and railways. On the Rhine, in Germany, this is especially the case.
More than half of the total tonnage of this river is carried on combina-
tion rail and water routes. Practically all the enormous coal tonnage
shipped from Duisburg-Ruhrort, amounting in 1909 to 12,352,631
tons, is brought there by railways from the coal mines and trans-
shipped to river boats. Likewise a considerable portion of the grain
and iron ore received at Duisburg-Ruhrort is transshipped to the
railways for distribution through the Westphalian district. All along
the Rhine-are located important transfer stations, where terminals
have been especially constructed for exchanging freight between the
railways and boat lines. Of these, Mannheim is the most important.
For a long time this city was the head of navigation on the Rhine, and
is still the upper terminus for larger river boats. Mannheim has
always been a distributing center for a large hinterland. More than
a third of the coal received by Rhine boats is transshipped to the
railways and distributed in various directions. Mannheim also
receives by river petroleum brought in specially constructed tank
boats, and also grain in large quantities, a considerable share of which
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 551
is intended for distribution inland. The following table shows the
amount of coal and grain transshipped at a number of Rhine ports:¹
.1
Mannheim...
Ludwigshafen.
Rheinau..
Gustavsburg.
Ports.
Total re-
ceipts.
Coal re-
reived.
Coal trans-
shipped
to rail.
Grain re-
ceived.
Grain
trans-
shipped.
Tons.
Tons.
4,758,917
2,090,011
Tons.
876, 472
Tons.
947,085
Tons.
131, 072
1,724, 191
769,709
188, 029
385, 615
103, 648
1,569, 144
1,414, 602
459,560
1,057, 004
932, 364
802, 401
The two most important transfer ports on the Oder are Kosel and
Breslau. At these ports large quantities of Silesian coal are brought
by rail and transferred to river barges. In fact, the transfer harbor
at Kosel was construced only a few years ago by Prussia especially
to facilitate this coal traffic. The local traffic at this port amounts
to very little. In 1909 the total shipments by the Oder at Kosel
were 1,477,312 tons, of which 1,350,051 tons consisted of coal. All
but 5,000 tons of this amount was brought by rail and transshipped.
On the upper Elbe, in Austria, there is a large exchange of traffic
between the river boats and the State railways, which have built
transfer terminals at their own expense. More than 1,000,000 tons
of Bohemian lignite are brought to the river ports and transshipped
to barges for distribution to German cities each year. At Magdeburg,
on the Elbe, in 1909, 156,318 tons of grain were transshipped from
boat to rail and 203,767 tons of potash from rail to boat. At Schöne-
beck, on the Elbe, 283,616 tons of potash were also transshipped
from rail to boat.
There are several reasons for this cooperation of railways and water-
ways in the development of transfer traffic in Germany. In the first
place, each of the German States has its own system of railways, among
which there has always existed considerable rivalry. The competi-
tion between the Prussian State railways and those of Saxony and
Baden has often been quite severe. It is stated that Saxony has at
times resorted to the practice of giving rebates to shippers in order
to divert traffic from the Prussian railways. This rivalry between
the State railways is shown especially by the construction of transfer
ports along the Rhine. Mannheim is the terminus of the Baden State
railways, and across the river the Bavarian State lines have con-
structed a rival port at Ludwigshafen. After the Rhine was deep-
ened from Mannheim to Strassburg, the latter city also became an
important transfer port between the boat lines and the State railways
of Alsace-Lorraine, but the railways of Baden at once constructed a
rival transfer port at Kehl just across the river. In order to make
their respective ports the equal of others, the different Rhine States
have often contributed large sums for their improvement and equipped
them with the best loading and unloading appliances.
A second reason for the growth of transfer traffic in Germany is
due to the Government's policy in the management of the state rail-
ways. Since the time of Bismarck the Prussian roads have been an
important source of revenue for the State. In recent years they have
¹ Statistik des Deutschen Reichs, Band 235 I, 1909, Teil II, p. VIII.
552 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
yielded a return of approximately 7 per cent on the investment. In
order to preserve this revenue, the State encourages the shipment by
water of coarse, bulky freights, such as coal, whenever the waterway
affords the cheaper route. This leaves the railways free to devote
their equipment to the transportation of more profitable business.
Furthermore, Prussia is the only State whose railways compete exten-
sively with the Rhine. In most of the other Rhine States the railways
form extensions of the river and it is to their interest to promote the
development of transfer traffic. In order to do this the different State
railways have in some cases put in force to the river ports special
transship tariffs (Umschlagstariffs). These were granted by the Baden
railways to Mannheim in 1903, and exist at a number of ports along
the Rhine, Elbe, and Oder.
There are some cases in Germany where two or more transshipments
between rail or water lines occur, especially on international traffic.
A consignment may be sent down the Elbe by river barge, transferred
to a railroad, and brought to some Rhine port, and there transferred
again to river barge for shipment to Rotterdam or Antwerp. More
frequently there are two short rail hauls with a long river haul inter-
mediate. This happens on all the coal transshipped to river barges
at Duisburg-Ruhrort, and again transshipped to rail at Mannheim
or some of the upper Rhine transfer ports for distribution inland.
In small countries, such as Holland or Belgium, where the water-
way systems are quite complete in themselves and the length of haul
is comparatively short, there is little opportunity or necessity for the
development of transfer traffic between railways and waterways. To
make such transfer profitable it is usually necessary to join a long
water haul with a short rail haul and the former does not exist.
the coal brought into Belgium by Rhine boats from Duisburg-Ruhrort
is used by factories and other consumers directly along the waterways.
Practically none of it is transferred to the railways.
Even
There exists a large amount of transfer traffic in Russia, especially
along the Volga. This is due to the fact that the railways do not
parallel the river throughout its length, and hence find it to their
advantage to use it as a feeder to their lines. A very interesting
case of cooperation between railways and waterways is also found on
the Danube in Hungary between the State railways and a Govern-
ment subsidized boat line. In 1894 the State created the Royal
Hungarian Company of River and Maritime Navigation, for a period
of 20 years, with a capitalization of $400,000. During the life of the
contract the State grants the company an annual subvention of
$160,000, and in case the revenue should not suffice to pay the share-
holders a dividend of 5 per cent the subvention is increased by $20,000.
The company, on its part, agrees to furnish a prescribed passenger and
freight service, with regular schedules and at rates which are under
the control of the Government, and may be reduced, if the occasion
demands, to the actual cost of service rendered. The company is
required to make agreements with the State railway system for the
ready exchange of traffic. This is practically the only case in Europe
where prorating arrangements exist between the railways and inland
waterways. In all other cases the rail and water rates are distinct.
While France has been able to protect her waterways against the
direct competition of the railways, she has never succeeded in com-
pelling the railways to establish physical connection with water lines
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 553
and to cooperate with them in the development of exchange traffic.
For this reason the business of the waterways, aside from that
exchanged with the seaports, has been limited largely to such traffic
as is accessible to them. In 1900 only 750,000 metric tons were
transshipped from railways to waterways, or vice versa. More than
half of this exchange traffic was transshipped at four ports and the
remaining half was divided among 26 different ports. During recent
years there has been little increase in the amount of exchange traffic.
At present it averages about 800,000 tons, or less than one-fortieth
of the total tonnage of the inland waterways. Of this amount more
than 50 per cent is transshipped at Roanne and much of the remainder
is carried on private industrial roads owned by large manufacturing
or mining interests.
The amalgamation of the railways into a few systems, each having
a complete monopoly in its part of the country, has removed the
self-interest which the railways might otherwise have for encouraging
transfer traffic, and the lack of proper legislation makes it very
difficult to compel them to connect with the water terminals. Article
No. 62 of the Cahier des Charges provides that a railroad company
must make connections with any proprietor of a mine or factory
who is willing to submit to prescribed conditions and shall demand
a branch line. In case of failure to connect, the Government shall
decide upon the justice of the demand. No provision is made for
establishing branch lines to waterway terminals. This is left optional
with the railways.
When the Cahier des Charges was enacted during the years 1857-
59, the necessity of safeguarding the waterways was not thought of.
It was a common practice at that time for the railways to connect
with waterways and to use them as feeders to their lines. They
often established transshipment ports and in other ways sought to
facilitate the growth of exchange traffic. After amalgamation had
proceeded further this cooperation with the waterways for the
transfer of traffic was no longer to the advantage of the railways
and they proceeded by various practices to discourage it. Until
prohibited, they charged high rates on freight destined to or received
from water terminals and exacted exorbitant charges for the use of
terminal facilities. They also refused to make adequate connections,
and the Government has been unable to compel them to do so.
Concessions granted to new railroad companies in recent years
impose upon them the obligation of making suitable connections
with river and canal ports, but the problem of forcing the older lines
to establish such connections has not been satisfactorily solved.
1
Some interesting examples are given by M. Leon of the struggle
which different cities have had with the railways to obtain proper
connection with the waterway terminals. It was 18 years before
the P. L. M. road was compelled to connect with the waterway at
Dôle. At the port of Pouilly-en-Auxois the connection decided
upon in 1882 has been indefinitely postponed. The city of Roanne
struggled with the P. L. M. railroad for 31 years. It took 9 years
to get a sidetrack built connecting the waterway with the main
station. Then the railroad charges for hauling freight from this
branch line were twice what it would cost by truck. It took a
1 Paul Leon, Fleuves, Canaux, Chemins de Fer, p. 106.
554 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
number of years to get this rate reduced. Then the traffic increased
so rapidly that a new terminal was necessary and the construction
of this took a long time. The railroad company failed to provide a
switch engine to get the cars alongside the boats, although it delivered
them at the terminal. This forced the shippers to incur the expense
of getting their cars into place as best they could. Furthermore,
the railroad company imposed a demurrage tax of 50 centimes an
hour if the cars were not loaded or unloaded within four hours.
Adequate facilities for transferring the freight were not obtained
until 1897. Since then the city has become the most important
transfer point in France.
An attempt to remedy this defect in the existing laws relating to
terminal connections was made in 1908. An act was passed imposing
upon the railways the obligation of establishing proper physical con-
nections with the transfer ports established by the State, but granting
them as compensation a right of indemnity as regards charges and
loss of receipts which they might incur. This act has not succeeded
in remedying the difficulties which resulted from the weakness of the
original law. The indemnity which the railroads could claim if they
were forced to establish connections at a port would in most cases
be so considerable that the Government is reluctant to enforce the law.
In the United States the exchange of traffic between the railways
and water carriers is especially noticeable along the Great Lakes and
in the coastwise trade. Formerly it was also a common practice
along the Ohio, Mississippi, and other rivers. Shipments could be
made from the Pittsburgh territory by river and rail to Atlanta,
Chattanooga, Birmingham, Selma, and a large number of southern
and western points.1 These prorating arrangements were withdrawn
about 1900, owing to the expansion of the railway net and the greater
community of interest which has prevailed among the railways in
recent years.
On the Great Lakes by far the greater part of the traffic has two
short rail hauls with one long intermediate water haul. Practically
all of the 41,000,000 tons of iron ore shipped annually from the five
Lake Superior ports is brought from the ore beds to the lake front by rail
and all but a few million tons is transshipped to rail at the lake Erie
ports for distribution in the Mahoning Valley and Pittsburgh districts.
Likewise the coal transported on the Great Lakes is brought from
the mines in Pennsylvania and West Virginia by rail to the Lake Erie
ports and transshipped to lake vessels. A considerable proportion of
this traffic is again transshipped to rail at the ports where it is re-
ceived. Most of the grain traffic on the Great Lakes also has a rail
haul from the grain fields to the lake front, and another haul from
Buffalo and other Lake Erie ports to New York City or other point
of destination.
The Great Lake ports where the largest tonnage is handled have
been equipped with loading and unloading machinery superior to
anything found in European ports. The record for loading coal in
1911 was 10,057 tons in 6 hours and 35 minutes, or an average of
1,530 tons per hour.2 As a rule iron ore is loaded much more rapidly
than coal. On September 8, 1911, 9,457 tons of iron ore were loaded
at Superior in 25 minutes, or at the rate of 378 tons per minute. The
1 Preliminary Report of the Inland Waterways Commission, p. 331.
2 Annual Report Lake Carriers' Association, 1911, pp. 163, 164.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
555
process of unloading from lake steamers requires somewhat more
time, but with the installations now being used the time has been
much shortened. The record for unloading iron ore in 1911 was
made at Ashtabula, when a cargo of 10,324 gross tons was unloaded
in 4 hours 6 minutes by four 15-ton Hulett electric machines. This
was at the rate of 637 tons per hour for each machine.
The enormous iron ore and coal traffic exchanged between the
railways and lake vessels is not as a rule carried on prorating ar-
rangements. Much of it is carried by steamship lines owned by indus-
trial corporations which are not common carriers. Except where
contracts are in force, the lake rate varies from day to day, accord-
ing to the demand for shipping facilities. On grain from Chicago
and other lake ports to New York a rail-and-water rate is generally
quoted which is a few cents lower than the all-rail rate. Almost
all the package freight business on the Great Lakes is carried by
railway-owned steamship lines operating in connection with the
railways on through rates. Some of the independent companies also
prorate with the railways on a small proportion of their business.
Along the Atlantic coast there is a large amount of transfer traffic
between the railways and coastwise vessels, especially between the
steamship lines plying between New York and southern ports and the
railways connecting these points with the interior. Most of this traffic
is carried on through rates and the division of the rate between the
carriers is made according to a plan which has long been in force.
Three nautical miles are considered equivalent to one mile by rail.
The experience of all countries seems to indicate that railways will
cooperate with waterways for the development of transfer traffic only
where there is an advantage in doing so. Where railways are owned
and operated by private companies, and the different companies are
working in harmony, traffic will be transferred from one rail line to
another in preference to being turned over to a water route. In
Europe the railways do not own or attempt to control the water car-
riers with which they exchange traffic, but in the United States coop-
eration between the two agencies of transportation is most successful
where the railways own or control the connecting water carriers.
Where a boat line is owned by a railroad it is very difficult, as a rule,
for independent companies to compete with it, inasmuch as the railway-
owned boat line enjoying prorating arrangements generally has a mo-
nopoly of all the transfer traffic and is also able to compete on equal
terms for the local, or port-to-port, traffic. There are many instances
in the United States where independent companies not enjoying pro-
rating arrangements with railways have been driven out of business.
This has led to the proposal to clothe the Interstate Commerce Com-
mission with greater powers over the activities of water carriers, so
that the advantage which a railway has by reason of its ownership
of a boat line may not be used to eliminate water competition and
to raise water rates.
VI.
COMPARATIVE RAIL AND WATER RATES.
Under normal conditions the charges of boat lines in competition
with railways must be considerably less than rail rates in order
to offset the natural disadvantages of the waterways and to induce
556 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
traffic to move by the water route. As a rule the railway offers
superior service and greater speed, for which shippers are willing to
pay a somewhat higher rate. In addition to the mere charge for
transportation, water shipments must also pay transfer charges,
insurance rates, and sometimes drayage charges. The amount of
difference between rail and water rates necessary to give the water-
ways a fair share of the traffic varies in each case according to the cir-
cumstances. Ordinarily a difference of at least 20 per cent is neces-
sary. In some cases on the Mississippi hull and cargo insurance alone
would require a difference of 333 per cent. There are instances, how-
ever, both in the United States and abroad, where the waterways secure
a large traffic at rates as high or even higher than those charged by the
competing railway. Such a situation usually occurs during periods
of congestion or around large cities, when the waterway is more cer-
tain to afford prompt delivery than the railway.
!
The flourishing condition of the more important foreign waterways
may be readily understood if the rail and water rates between different
points are compared. The wider the margin, the greater is the
advantage of the water route. Where, as in Germany, the rail rates
are fixed with little regard to water competition, and the waterways
are, for the most part, toll-free rivers, accommodating boats of from
400 to 2,000 tons capacity, the difference between rail and water rates
often becomes very considerable. In Belgium, although the rail
rates are fixed in the same manner as in Germany, the margin in favor
of the waterways is somewhat less, owing to the fact that they are not
so large, and on all except tidal streams tolls are charged, the returns
from which defray a large part of the annual cost of maintenance. In
France, although waterways are for the most part toll free, the differ-
ence between rail and water rates is usually not far from 20
per cent,
the average differential fixed by the Government for the protection
of the waterways. This is due to the fact that with the exception of
the Seine the waterway system consists of canals or of small canalized
rivers which accommodate boats of only 300 tons capacity. In coun-
tries like the United States, where no general policy for the protection
of waterways has been adopted, there is ordinarily little difference
between the rail and water charges. The railway rates are adjusted
with a view to meeting water competition and sufficient reduction
in rates is made to get the business. The differential in favor of the
waterway is usually larger for the higher classes of freight than for
the lower classes on which competition is most severe.
The greatest difference between rail and water rates in Europe is
found on the Rhine and Elbe in Germany, especially on such com-
modities as coal, cereals, iron ore and sugar. The average charge
for the transportation of coal on the Rhine from Ruhrort to Mann-
heim, a distance of about 220 miles by water, for the nine-year period
1901-1909, was 27.6 cents per metric ton. The lowest charge recorded
during this period was 13.1 cents, which was made on a few consign-
ments in 1908, and the highest charge was 58.8 cents, which was
reached in the same year. The average yearly rate on this coal
traffic was lowest in 1909, when it reached 18.3 cents per metric ton.
This was due to a large increase in the number of boats competing
for the traffic, which more than offset the considerable increase in the
traffic itself.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
557
The following table shows the average rates recorded for carrying
coal during the last decade from the mouth of the Ruhr to Mannheim: 1
Year.
Marks.
Cents.
Year.
Marks.
Cents.
Per ton.
Per ton.
Per ton.
Per ton.
1901
1.05
24.9
1906
1.45
34.5
1902
1.00
23.8
1907
1.61
38.3
1903
1. 18
28. 1
1908
1. 10
26. 1
1904
1.23
29.2
1909
.77
18. 3
1905
1.08
25.7
Under the exceptional tariffs in force, the rail charge for coal in
carload lots of not less than 10 tons from the Westphalian district
to all parts of the German Empire is 8.4 mills per metric ton-mile
for all distances up to 350 kilometers (217.5 miles), plus a terminal
charge of 163 cents per ton. This would make the rail charge from
Gelsenkirchen, where the traffic originates, to Mannheim, a distance
of 220 miles, about $2.02 per metric ton. But since the coal shipped
by river at Duisburg is brought by rail from the mines, the rail
charge and transfer charges should be added to the water rate in
order to make the comparison correct. These extra charges amount
to about 43 cents per ton. But even after they are added, the total
charge by the rail and water route averages about 70 cents, as com-
pared with $2.02 by rail.
The following table gives a comparison of rail and water rates for
coal on the Rhine. Since on this traffic, as just explained, the all-
rail route directly from the mines competes with the rail-and-water
route, the actual differential in favor of the river can be more correctly
ascertained if the rail rates are increased by about 14 cents per ton
to offset the greater distance that the mines are from the points of
destination, and the water rates by 43 cents to cover the rail haul
from the mines to Duisburg and transfer charges.2
Terminals.
Ruhrort to Mannheim
Ruhrort to Strassburg
•
Ruhrort to Frankfort on the Main..
Distances.
Ratc.
Rail. Water.
Rail.
Water.
Miles.
Miles.
Per ton.
Per ton.
202.45
220.45
$1.88
$0.409
267.65
301.81
2.26
.726
176.34
195.62
1.64
.474
The difference between water and rail rates on imported cereals from
the Rhine or Elbe seaports to the inland cities of Germany is also
very considerable, due to the reasons already given-that the transship-
ment from ocean-going vessel to river barge is much cheaper than to
freight cars; and also to the Government's policy of maintaining the
regular rates on imported grains for the protection of domestic agra-
rians. On the Rhine the average grain rate from Rotterdam to Mann-
heim, a distance of 298 miles by rail and 354 miles by water, for the
period from 1901 to 1905, was 72 cents per metric ton, while the rail
1 Annual Report of the Central Rhine Commission, 1909.
2 Compiled from data collected by the National Waterways Commission.
558 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
charge was more than $4. The following table gives a comparison
between rail and water rates for the shipment of grain from Rotter-
dam to Mannheim, Strassburg, and Frankfort.
Rotterdam to Mannheim
Rotterdam to Strassburg..
Terminals.
Rotterdam to Frankfort on the Main.
Distances.
Rate.
Rail. Water.
Rail.
Water.
Miles. Miles.
Per ton.
Per ton.
298.08
353.97
$5.81
$0.626
362.66
435.32
5.71
282.56
330.37
4.36
1.102
.764
On the Elbe the differential in favor of the water route for imported
commodities is also very large. From Hamburg to Magdeburg, a dis-
tance of 156 miles by rail and 181 miles by water, the water rate in 1909
for imported cereals was 67 cents per metric ton, while the rail charge
was $2.97. The following tables give the high, low and average
water rates from Hamburg to Berlin on imported coal and grain for
the period 1903-1907. The rail rates on these commodities are
anywhere from two to four times as high.
1
I.-Coal rates from Hamburg to Berlin by water.
Year.
High.
Low.
Average.
Per ton.
Per ton.
Per ton.
1903
$0.95
$0.48
$0.64
1904
1.85
.48
.93
1905
.95
.57
.73
1906
1.19
.48
.72
1907
1.19
.57
.79
Where coal is sent from Hamburg to Berlin by rail special tariff
No. III applies and the rail rate, including terminal charges, is $1.69
per ton, or more than twice the average water rate.
II.-Grain rates from Hamburg to Berlin by water.
Year.
High.
Low.
Average.
Per ton. Per ton.
Per ton.
1903
$0.95
$0.52
$0.67
1904
2.26
.48
1.23
1905
1.00
.59
.79
1906
1.43
.55
.81
1907
1.48
.67
.91
On rail shipments of grain from Hamburg to Berlin special tariff
No. I applies, and the rail rate, including terminal charges, is $3.28
per ton, or nearly four times the average water rate.
The following tables give a comparison of rail and water rates for
different commodities transported between Hamburg and several
1 Paul Goehts,, Berlin als Binnenschiffahrtsplatz in Staats- und Social-Wissenschaftliche Forschungen,
Hft. 147, pp. 147, 167.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 559
interior cities. They were submitted to the National Waterways
Commission by the consul at Hamburg in the summer of 1909.
Since the distance by water is always somewhat greater than the
distance by rail, a comparison of rail and water ton-mile statistics is
misleading. Accordingly, in the last column, the ton-mile water
rates are computed for rail distances. This plan is followed wherever
in this paper ton-mile statistics are compared:
Article.
HAMBURG-MAGDEBURG.
Rail (252 kilometers, or 156 Water (292 kilometers, or 181
miles).
miles).
Per
ton-mile,
rail dis-
tance.
Per ton.
Per
ton-mile.
Per ton.
Per
ton-mile.
Marks.
Cents.
Marks.
Sugar.
Salt.
Cents.
Cents.
16.30
$3.88
2.49
2.80
$0.67
0.37
0.43
6.70
1.59
1.02
2.80
.67
Grain.
.37
.43
12.50
2.97
.80
2.80
.67
Coal..
.37
.43
6.30
1.50
.96
2.70
.64
Iron..
.35
.41
10.00
2.38
1.53
3.00
Zinc and lead..
.71
.39
.45
12.50
2.97
80
•
3.00
.71
Phosphate.
.39
.45
6.20
1.48
.95
2.80
.67
Mineral oils...
.37
.43
12.50
2.97
.80
3.00
.71
General merchandise.
.39
.45
27.20
6.47
4. 13
4.00
.95
.53
.61
HAMBURG-BERLIN.
Rail (280 kilometers, or 174
miles).
Articles.
Water (375 kilometers, or 233
miles).
Per ton-
mile, rail
distance.
Per tou.
Per ton-
mile.
Per ton.
Per ton-
mile.
Marks.
Cents.
Marks.
Cents.
Cents.
Sugar
Salt.
Grain.
18.00
$4.28
2.46
3.20
$0.76
0.33
0.44
7.40
1.76
1.01
3.20
.76
.33
.44
13.80
3.28
1.88
3.30
.79
.34
.45
Coal..
7.10
1.69
.97
3.00
.71
.30
.41
Iron
11.00
2.62
1.51
4.30
1.02
.44
.59
Zinc and lead.
13.80
3.28
1.88
4.50
1.07
Phosphate...
· 46
7.10
1.69
.97
3.20
.76
.33
Mineral oils..
13.80
3.28
1.88
4.50
1.07
.46
General merchandise
29.70
7.07
4.06
5.50
1.31
.56
GAWA
.61
.44
.61
.75
HAMBURG-DRESDEN.
Rail (460 kilometers, or 286
miles).
Water (565 kilometers, or 351
miles).
Articles.
Per ton-
mile, rail
distance.
Per ton.
Per ton-
mile.
Per ton.
Per ton-
mile.
Marks.
Cents.
Marks.
Sugar.
Cents.
28.80
$6.85
Salt.
2.39
5.30
$1.26
11.30
2.69
.93
Grain.
5.30
1.26
0.36
.36
Cents.
0.44
•
21.90
5.21
Coal..
1.82
5.30
1.26
.36
44
.44
9.90
2.36
Iron..
.83
5.20
1.24
.35
.43
17.30
4. 12
1.44
Zinc and lead..
5.50
1.31
.37
.45
21.90
5.21
1.82
5.50
Phosphate...
1.31
.37
.45
9.90
2.36
.83
Mineral oils...
5.50
1.31
.37
.45
21.90
5.21
1.82
General merchandise.
5.50
1.31
.37
•
43.70
10.40
3.46
7.50
1.78
.51
45
.62
560 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
HAMBURG-BRESLAU.
Sugar.
Salt.
Grain.
Coal..
Iron...
Rail (610 kilometers, or 379
miles).
Water (793 kilometers, or 493
miles).
Per ton-
Article.
mile, rail
distance.
Per ton.
Per ton-
mile.
Per ton.
Per ton-
mile.
Zinc and lead.
Phosphate..
Mineral oils...
General merchandise.
Marks.
Cents.
Marks.
Cents.
Cents.
37.70
$8.97
2.37
6.00
$1.43
0.29
0.38
14.60
3.47
.91
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
28.60
6.81
1.80
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
12.00
2.86
.75
6.20
1.48
.30
.39
22.50
5.35
1.41
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
28.60
6. 81
1.80
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
12.00
2.86
.75
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
28.60
6.81
1.80
6.50
1.55
.31
.41
53.00
12.61
3.33
9.00
2.14
.43
.56
For the 10-year period 1897-1906 the average rail rate from
Breslau to Hamburg for export sugar was $3.47 per ton, and if
intended for domestic use, $6.81 in 10-ton lots, while the water rate
on sugar regardless of where used was $1.35. Hence it appears that
both the rail and water rates on this commodity given in the preced-
ing table are considerably above the average.
The principal commodities shipped downstream on the Oder are
sugar destined for Hamburg and coal for Berlin. The average water
rate during the period 1903-1907 on coal from Breslau to Berlin was
$0.766 per ton. From Kosel to Berlin it was $1.28. The following
tables show the high, low and average water rates for the coal ship-
ments on the Oder from Breslau and Kosel to Berlin. This traffic
passes through the Spree-Oder Canal and pays a small toll. The traffic
from Kosel, where the Oder is canalized, pays two tolls, which are
included in the rates given. The rail rates on this coal traffic are some-
what lower than those on English coal from Hamburg, in order to per-
mit the Silesian coal to compete on equal terms with the foreign
product. In spite of this fact, as will be seen, the rail rates are
considerably above the water rates.¹
I.-Coal rates from Breslau to Berlin via the Oder and connecting waterways.
Year.
High. Low.
Average.
Per ton. Per ton.
Per ton.
1903
$0.86
$0.59
$0.71
1904
1.30
.57
.90
1905
.98
.62
.76
1906
.88
.59
.71
1907
1. 12
.59
.72
The exceptional rail rate on this coal if shipped in carload lots of
not less than 10 tons is 0.745 cent per ton-mile with a terminal
charge of 17 cents which for a distance of 205 miles amounts to
$1.69 per ton.²
1 Paul Goehts, op. cit., p. 148.
2 Ibid., p. 149.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
561
II.-Coal rates from Kosel to Berlin via the Oder and connecting waterways.
Year.
High.
Low.
Average.
Per ton.
Per ton.
Per ton.
1903
$1.38
$1.17
$1.27
1904
1.57
1.14
1.36
1905
1.45
1. 14
1.27
1906
1.36
1. 12
1.24
1907
1.36
1. 17
1.24
On this traffic the all rail route is in competition with the rail and
water route via Kosel.
The exceptional rate on coal from the mines at Königshütte directly
to Berlin, a distance of 309 miles, including terminal charges of 17
cents, is $2.37 per ton. To the water rate there must be added
about 42 cents per ton to cover a rail haul of 40 miles from Königs-
hütte to Kosel and charges for transshipment from rail to river
barges.
The marked difference between rail and water rates on the three
large German rivers has led to the formation of a number of large
shipping combinations for the purpose of raising water rates which
the competition of boatmen forces down to the no-profit level. The
coal Kontor on the Rhine has been partially successful in its efforts to
this end. On the Elbe there are several large combinations which
own their own towing steamers and barges. An interesting combina-
tion was formed in 1904, known as the Privatschiffer-Transport-
Genossenschaft, with headquarters at Magdeburg. It is an associa-
tion composed of individual boatmen who have united in order to
prevent the cutting of rates. It has a membership of more than one
thousand, and controls some 1,200 vessels, with an aggregate capacity
of 700,000 tons, and valued at about $6,000,000. In 1907 this
association entered into a combination with two other leading shipping
companies for the purpose of preventing competition. Thus far they
have only been partially successful in raising water rates. One
obstacle undoubtedly is the existence of strict municipal supervision
over terminals so that new companies can enter the field at any
time without fear of unfair competition.
Some of these large shipping corporations, especially on the Rhine,
operate passenger as well as freight boats, and also because of the
large differential between rail and water rates have been able to
operate express steamers. The Berliner Lloyd, with headquarters at
Berlin, maintains a daily express service between Hamburg, Breslau,
Magdeburg, and a number of other ports. The United Elbe Naviga-
tion Company also operates an extensive express service between
Hamburg and a large number of river ports.¹
The wide margin which exists between rail and water rates has
furnished one of the strongest arguments in the campaign which
Prussia has waged for the levying of tolls on the free rivers.2 The
1 Cf. Edwin J. Clapp, The Port of Hamburg, p. 148.
2 Cf. Peter's Schiffahrtsabgaben in Schriften des Vereins für Social-Politik, vol. 115-116.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62–2————36
47
562 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
amount of the toll proposed to be collected, it is stated, would be
only a very small proportion of the existing differentials.
A comparison of the rail and water rates for different commodities
in Belgium shows that the margin in favor of the waterways is not
so great as is the case in Germany. The rail rate is rarely ever more
than 40 per cent higher than the water rate, while on the German
rivers it is often from 200 to 300 per cent higher. Except for the
three ship canals, the waterways only accommodate 300-ton barges,
and on all, except the two free rivers, tolls are charged which are
sufficient to cover most of the maintenance charges.
The following table gives a comparison of freight rates by rail and
by water between Antwerp and other centers:¹
Railway.
Route.
Miles.
Rate per Rate per
ton. ton-mile.
Miles.
Waterway.
Rate per
Rate per Rate per ton-mile,
ton. ton-mile. rail
distance.
Mills.
Mills.
Mills.
Antwerp to Ghent ¹
32
54
[
Coal and minerals.
$0.59
18.4
$0.385
7.2
12.3
Cement..
.745
23.2
.385
7.2
12.3
Antwerp to Courtrai ¹.
60
99
Coal and minerals.
.85
14.2
.385
3.8
6. 4
Cement..
1. 115
18. 6
.385
3.8
6.4
Antwerp to Tournai ¹.
79
108
Coal and minerals.
.915
11.6
.625
5.9
7.9
Cement.
1.25
15.8
.625
5.9
7.9
Antwerp to Ath ¹..
60
69
Coal and minerals..
.85
14.2
.575
8.4
9.6
Cement.
1. 115
18.6
.575
8.4
9.6
Antwerp to Brussels 1
30
37
•
Coal..
.555
18.6
.43
11.6
14.3
Cement.
.44
22.8
.735
20
24.5
Antwerp to Charleroi 2.
67
81
Coal and minerals.
.875
13
.96
11.8
14.3
Cement..
1. 18
17.6
.96
11.8
14.3
Antwerp to Liege 2.
74
95
Coal and minerals.
.90
12.2
.575
6
7.7
Cement...
1.225
16.6
.575
6
7.7
1 On rivers, free and canalized, upstream.
* On canals.
In the table which follows, a list of 20 rates for coal transported by
rail and by water between the same points in France is given. The
average rate per ton-mile by rail is 9.3 mills and by water 4.5 mills,
or about half. But the distance by water in France is generally
very much longer than the rail distance, and hence the ton-mile rates
are unduly low. If the rail distances are taken in computing these
rates, as is done in the last column, the average rate per ton-mile
by water for these 20 examples is 6.5 mills, or about 70 per cent of
the average ton-mile rail rate.
1 Lindley, p. 178.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
563
Relative cost of the transportation of coal by rail and by water.¹
Coal.
Distance-
Carriage cost
of 1 ton-
Cost per
ton-mile-
Coming from-
Bound to-
By
rail.
By
water.
By
rail.
By
water.
By rail.
By
water.
Per ton-
mile,
rail
distance.
Miles.
Miles.
Antwerp..
Douai.
112
137
$1.235
$0.613
$0.0110
$0.0045
$0.0055
Paris..
230
351
1.940
1.664
.0084
.0047
.0072
Corbeil...
255
373
2.290
1.751
.0090
.0047
.0070
Lyon
478
621
4.226
2.977
0088
.0048
.0062
Charleroi....
Reims.
115
177
1. 191
1.095
.0104 .0062
.0095
Nancy
208
342
1.668
1.314
.0080
.0038
.0063
Paris..
168
236
1.480 1.314
.0088
.0056
.0079
Rouen
208
298
1.524 1.314
.0073
.0044
.0063
Dijon.
292
534
2.505
1.795
.0086 .0033
.0061
Lens....
St. Quentin
68
68
.815
.394
.0120
.0058
Nancy..
242
252
1.515
1.226
.0063
.0048
.0050
Paris..
130
227
1. 174
.964
.0080
.0042
.0074
Corbeil..
158
249
1.629
1.051
.0103
.0042
.0066
Elbeuf.
140
273
1. 121
.946 .0080
.0035
.0068
Rouen.
127
289
1.051
•
.964 .0083
.0033
.0076
Lille.
25
25
.332
.193
.0133
.0077
Nevers.
295
398
2.180
1.314
.0074
0033
.0045
Rouen...
Paris.
87
149
.894
.569
.0103
.0038
.0065
Corbeil.
Lyon....
Averages..
112
171
1.393
.613
.0124
.0036
.0055
413
547
3.485 1.664 .0084
.0030
.0040
.0093
.0045
.00647
¹ Collected for the National Waterways Commission by Maj. F. A. Mahan in 1911.
The following table shows the comparative rates for various articles
transported between Havre and Paris, both by rail and via the
Seine: 1
Freight rates, Havre-Paris, rail and water.
Articles.
By rail.
By water.
Rate.
Per
ton-mile.
Rate.
Per
Per ton-mile,
ton-mile. rail
distance.
Cents.
Cents.
Cents.
Bacon.
Beer, in casks.
$4.41
3.10
$2.895
1.21
2.04
4.41
3.10
1.93
.83
1.36
Butter.
7.35
5.11
2.895
1.21
2.04
Cement.
1.64
1.15
1.64
.71
1.15
Cheese.
2.895
2.03
2.509
1.08
1.77
Coal...
1.35
.95
1.35
.58
.95
Dry goods.
4.23
2.98
4. 825
2.09
3.40
Fertilizers, in bags.
1.93
1.35
1.93
.83
1.36
Flour..
1.93
1.35
1.93
.83
1.36
Furniture, in cases or crates..
8.86
6.24
4.246
1.83
3.00
Glassware, common..
2.895
2.03
2.316
1.002
1.63
Grain.
1.93
1.35
1.93
.83
1.36
Iron, bar.
2.123
1.49
1.64
.71
1.15
Lumber.
1.64
1.15
1.544
.66
1.09
Machinery, farm, in parts
2.316
1.63
2.123
.91
1.50
Machinery, other, cased
2.895
2.03
2.316
1.002
1.63
Molasses
1.93
1.35
1.93
.83
1.36
Potatoes.
Shoes..
2.123
1.49
2.316
1.002
1.63
5.98
4.21
4.246
1.83
3.00
Spades and shovels.
2.895
2.03
2.316
1.002
1.63
Sugar.
1.93
1.35
2.509
1.08
1.77
Window glass..
1.93
1.35
2.123
.91
1.50
Wine, in casks.
4.05
2.84
3.474
1.50
2.45
NOTE.-Distance by rail, 142 miles; by water, 231 miles. Upstream rates are given only. Weight is
metric ton.
¹ National Waterways Commission Doc. No. 16, p. 71.
}
564 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Slightly lower rates than these are given for carload lots by rail,
and by water for 4 tons and over. Downstream rates differ only
slightly from upstream and for a few articles only.
In the United States the only water routes which enjoy a consid-
erable margin over competing rail routes are found on the Great
Lakes and in the coastwise trade. On the inland rivers rail rates
are usually somewhat above the water rates on the higher classes of
freight, while on the lower classes in which competition is more severe
the waterways, as a rule, are scarcely able to compete at all. The
following table shows the average ton-mile rate on the traffic which
passes through the canals at St. Marys Falls. In recent years this
rate has been about one-tenth of the average ton-mile freight rate
for all the railways of the United States and is less than one-third
the ton-mile rates on coal shipments from the West Virginia and
Kentucky mines to the Lake Erie ports, which are among the lowest
coal rates found anywhere in the United States. In recent years
the rate from most of these mines to the lake front has been 97
cents per ton for distances varying from 325 to 456 miles, or at an
average rate of less than 3 mills per ton per mile.
Traffic statistics at St. Marys Falls Canals, including ton-miles and cost per ton-mile.
[Monthly Summary of Commerce and Finance, Dec., 1910 and 1911.]
Amount paid for trans-
porting freight.
1890.
1895.
1898.
1900.
1903..
1905.
1907.
1909.
1910.
Year.
Total freight Average
carried
(tons).
distance Total ton-miles.
carried.
Total.
Per ton-
mile
(mills).
9,041, 213
797.2
15,062, 580
830.0
21, 234, 665
842.6
25, 643, 073
825.9
34, 674, 437
835.6
44, 270, 680
833.3
58,217, 214
828.3
57,895, 149
809.0
62, 363, 218
840.0
7, 207, 299, 415
12, 502, 548, 892
17,891, 597, 030
21, 179, 229, 014
28, 974, 660, 408
36,892, 797, 973
48, 221, 465, 547
46,812, 929, 345
52, 405, 535, 136
$9,472, 215
14, 238, 758
14, 125, 896
24, 953, 314
1.3
1.14
.79
1.18
26,727, 735
.92
31, 420, 585
.85
38,457, 345
.80
36, 291, 948
.78
38, 710, 904
.74
The great predominance of iron ore in this lake traffic on which
rates have been continually declining is responsible in a large measure
for the unusually low ton-mile rate given above. In the table fol-
lowing the rates on iron ore transported from the Lake Superior to
the Lake Erie ports are given separately. Estimating the average
length of haul at from 800 to 850 miles, it will be seen that in 1900
this traffic was carried at about 1 mill per ton per mile, while in
1911 the average rate was less than 0.6 mill per ton per mile.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
565
Lake freight rates on iron ore from ports named to Lake Erie ports.
[From annual report of Lake Carriers' Association, 1911, p. 170.]
1900....
1901...
1902...
1903...
1904..
1905.
1906..
1907.
1908...
1909...
1910...
1911...
Years.
Ashland
and other
Escanaba, Marquette,
per ton.
per ton.
ports at
head of
Lake
Superior,
per ton.
$0.85
$0.94
$1.05
.62
.74
.84
.59
.68
.76
.63
.73
.83
.54
.61
.70
.60
.70
.76
.60
.70
.75
.60
.70
.75
.50
.60
.65
.50
.60
.65
.55
.65
.70
.45
.55
.60
Water transportation is in such a decadent condition on most of
our rivers that there are few boat lines operating on regular schedules
with published rates. The cheapest river transportation known in
this country is found on the coal shipments from the Monongahela
down the Ohio and Mississippi to New Orleans. The actual cost of
transporting this coal is not known since these shipments are made
by the mining companies themselves. Furthermore, this coal is not
shipped down the river at regular intervals, but is collected in the
upper Ohio and sent down in a large number of barges at one time,
when the stage of the river is most favorable. Thus many of the
lockages usually necessary are avoided and the labor cost is reduced
to the minimum.
On the Mississippi River there are a few packet lines which publish
their rates, but in general water rates are difficult to obtain. It
appears that the steamboat lines on the Mississippi are able to com-
pete with the railways only on the higher classes of freight. Aside
from the Ohio River coal, sand and gravel taken from the river itself,
and rafts of lumber, there is very little bulky freight conveyed by
boat on the Mississippi. The table following gives a comparison of
rail and water rates from St. Louis to the different points on the upper
Mississippi for the four highest classes. The water rates are those
charged by the Streckfus Steamboat Co., successors to the Diamond
Jo Line. As will be seen, the differential is very small in comparison
with that which the waterways enjoy in European countries.
fact it does not even measure the difference in the quality of service
between the railways and boat lines to say nothing of the loading
and unloading, insurance, and other charges with which the river
traffic is burdened.
In
566 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
A comparison of rail and water rates on the Mississippi.
From St. Louis.
Class rates.
1.
2.
ཉ་
4.
To Hannibal, Mo.....
33
Boat line..
Rail....
Differential.
Cents per Cents per Cents per Cents per
hundred- hundred- hundred- hundred-
weight. weight. weight. weight.
26.5
6.5
To Quincy, Ill……………
Boat line..
Rail....
28
35
28
Differential.
7
To Clinton, Iowa..
To Keokuk, Iowa...
To Burlington, Iowa.....
To Davenport, Iowa.....
To Dubuque, Iowa..
To La Crosse, Wis...
To Winona, Minn.
Differential..
Boat line..
Rail……..
Differential.
Boat line.
Rail....
Differential.
Boat line..
Rail....
Differential
Boat line...
Rail...
Differential
Boat line...
Rail....
Boat line..
30
25
Rail....
37
31
Differential.
7
Boat line..
Rail...
30
25
39.6
32
9.6
33
26
41.5
8.5
33
26
42.8
2720HORNTONTOH
21.5
17
12.5
21
15.5
5.5
4
3
22.5
17.5
12.5
22
15.5
5.5
4.5
3
18
13
23
16.5
5
3.5
18
13.5
24.8
18
6.8
4.5
20
15
33.4
25.9
20.8
7.4
5.9
5.8
20
15
34.7
27.1
21.7
9.8
8.7
7.1
6.7
33
26
20
15
45.9
37.6
29.7
23
12.9
11.6
9.7
8
·
34
28
22
16
49
42
33
23
15
14
11
7
34
28
22
16
50
42
33
23
Differential.
16
14
11
7
To St. Paul, Minn.
Boat line...
40
34
27
17
Rail……….
63
52.5
42
26
Differential..
23
18.5
15
9
The Annual Report of the Chief of Engineers for 1910 published a
considerable number of rates charged by the Diamond Jo Line
steamers operating from St. Louis to various river points. From
these schedules of rates the ton-mile rates were computed for five
numbered and five lettered classes. These are given in the tables fol-
lowing. It would not be difficult to find in the United States a large
number of rail rates for similar distances lower than any given in
these lists. When the greater length of the water route, the additional
transfer and insurance, and the other disadvantages are considered, it
is not surprising that the railways have little difficulty in practically
eliminating water transportation.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 567
Ton-mile rates on the Mississippi River.¹
RATES PER TON-MILE TO TYPICAL POINTS ABOVE ST. LOUIS BY DIAMOND JO LINE
STEAMERS.
Merchandise.
In carloads.
Between St. Louis Dis-
and-
tance.
Class Class Class Class Class Class
1.
2. 3. 4.
5. A.
Class Class Class Class
B. C. D.
E.
Miles.
Alton, Ill.
Louisiana, Mo.
108
.044i .037
.028
.022 .018
Hannibal, Mo
136
.039
.032
.025
.018 .014
25 $0.192 $0.160 $0.120 $0.088 $0.076 $0.072 $0.064 $0.064 $0.052 $0.044
.017 .015 .015 .012 .010
Quincy, Ill.
.013
.012 .011 .010 .008
155
.036
.035
.023
.016
.013
.012
Canton, Mo...
.012 .010
170
.015
.009 .008
.029
.021
.015
.012
Fort Madison, Iowa.
.012
•
012 .009
213
.008 .007
.028
.023
.017
.012
.009
.009
Burlington, Iowa..
.009.0070|
.0066| .0056
234
.026
.021
.015
.012 .009
.010
Keithsburg, Ill..
.009 .0077
.0064 .0056
259
•
.025 .020
.015
.012
.009
Rock Island, Ill., and
009
•
.007 .0061
.0058 .0054
Davenport, Iowa.
313
•
.021 .017
.013
.010
.008
Clinton, Iowa...
.008
.006
.0051 .0048
.0045
349
.019 .015
.011
.009 .007
Dubuque, Iowa.
.007
.006
412
.016
Cassville, Wis.
.013 .010
.0051 .0046
.0046
.007 .006
.006
.005
.0044.0039
.0039
439
015 .013
•
.010 .007 .005
Winona, Minn...
.007
.005
.0045.0045
.0045
560
.012 .010
.008 .006
.004
.006
Wabasha, Minn.
.004
.0036 .0036
.0036
596
.013 .011
.009 .006 .005
.006
St. Paul, Minn.
.005
676
.012
.0040 .0033 .0033
.010 .008 .005 .004 .005
.004
.0035
.0030 .0030
RATES PER TON-MILE TO TYPICAL POINTS BELOW ST. LOUIS BY LEE LINE STEAMERS.
Cairo, Ill.
Miles.
Columbus, Ky
Hickman, Ky
New Madrid, Mo.
Tiptonville, Tenn
•
.034
176 $0.028 $0.023 $0.020 $0.016 $0.011 $0.011 $0.010
197 .030 .023 .018 .014
214 .028 .023 .021 .017
252 .032
.023 .021
268 .045 .037
.014 .012
$0.010
.014
013
•
.009
.017
.014
.015
.030
.024
.018
Gayoso, Mo..
·
.017
291
.033 .026
.023 .019
.016
Barfield, Ark.
.017
318
Luxora and Osceola,
.030 .024
.021
.017
.014
.015
Ark.
341
Memphis, Tenn
421
Helena, Ark..
.024 .018
.031 .024)
.022 .018
.014
.014
511 .023 .020
830 .014 .012
.016 .013 .011 .009
.018 .014 .011 .010
.011 .008 .007 .006
006
$0.0052 $0.0048
.008
-
.005
508 .023 .020 .016
.012 .009
Vicksburg, Miss.
On Arkansas River:
Pine Bluff, Ark.
Little Rock, Ark.
575 .021 .017 .014 .010 .008
1 Annual Report of Chief of Engineers, 1910, vol. 2, p. 1769.
.010
.009
COMPARISON OF UNITED STATES RAIL AND GERMAN WATER RATES.
The statement has sometimes been made that the waterways of
Europe could not withstand the competition of our railways or that
the rates frequently charged on our railways are lower than the
rates found on those waterways of Europe which carry the largest
traffic. If foreign railways were allowed the same freedom in
making their rates that our railways enjoy, they would undoubtedly
be able to take from the waterways a considerable portion of their
present traffic. In fact, during the period of active competition they
demonstrated their ability to do it. There are instances in France
to-day where a railroad company, in return for some consideration,
has secured from the Government the right to make rates low enough
to prevent the competing waterways from increasing their traffic to
any considerable extent. Our railways would doubtless be able to
offer more severe competition than the foreign railways, because they
are built to carry heavier loads; but with the same restrictions forced
upon them they could accomplish little.
If the railways of the United States are carrying traffic at lower
rates than the principal waterways of Europe, a comparison of their
1 Report of the Chicago Harbor Commission, 1909, p. 234; also Samuel O. Dunn, The American Trans-
portation Question, p. 197.
568 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
respective rates will disclose this fact. Such a comparison is some-
what difficult to make, inasmuch as the length of haul in European
countries is much less than in the United States. Accordingly, in the
following tables the maximum rates fixed by the Iowa and the Illinois
State commissions have been used. These are about the normal rates
for such distances, and considerable quantities of coal and grain are
being shipped under these tariffs. In each comparison an inter-
state rate is also given. In some cases these are higher and in other
cases lower than the rates fixed by the State commissions. The
water rates used are only for coal and grain transported on the
Rhine and Elbe in Germany. These are the cheapest water rates
found in Europe, with the possible exception of the grain rates on
the Volga in Russia. It will be seen by examining the tables that our
railroad rates are considerably lower than the German rail rates which
compete with the Rhine and Elbe, but in the majority of cases are at
least double their water rates. If the comparison were extended to
water rates in Belgium or France, it would doubtless be found that
in many instances our rail rates were less than their water rates.
But this certainly is not true for the Rhine, Elbe, and other large
rivers of Europe.
Comparison of United States rail and European water rates.¹
1.-COAL.
Per cent
Rail
distance.
Rail
rate.
Water
rate.
water of
rail rate.
RHINE.
Ruhrort to Mannheim..
Iowa State rates.
Illinois State rates..
Miles.
Per ton.2 Per ton. 2
202.45
$1.88
$0.409
21.8
200-210
1.32
30.9
200-210
1.11
36.8
Hocking coal district to lake front.
Ruhrort to Strassburg.
3 220
.85
48.1
267.65
2.26
726
32.1
·
Iowa State rates...
260-270
1.44
50.4
Illinois State rates……..
260-270
1.21
60
Fairmount coal district to Lorain
3 274
.97
74.8
Ruhrort to Frankfort on the Main……
176.14
1.64
.474
28.9
Iowa State rates...
175-180
1.24
38.2
Illinois State rates.
175-180
1.06
44.7
California, Pa., to Coshocton, Ohio (Pennsylvania R. R)
173
.95
50
ELBE.
Hamburg to Magdeburg.
156
1.50
.64
42.7
Iowa State rates..
150-160
1.18
54.2
Illinois State rates.
150-160
1.02
62.7
Pittsburgh No. 8 district to lake front.
3 150
.88
72.7
Hamburg to Berlin.
174
•
1.69
.71
42
Iowa State rates..
170-175
1.225
57.9
Illinois State rates.
170-175
1.05
67.6
West Newton, Pa., to Cleveland, Ohio (Baltimore & Ohio)
190
1.00
71
Hamburg to Breslau.
370
2.86
1.48
51.8
Iowa State rates...
370-380
1.66
89.1
Illinois State rates..
360-380
1.37
108.0
Thacker coal district to Sandusky
3 365
.97
152.6
Hamburg to Dresden..
286
2.36
1.24
52.5
Iowa State rates..
280-290
1.48
83.8
Illinois State rates..
Kanawha district to Toledo..
280-290
3 325
1.24
.97
100
127.8
1 The United States rail rates were obtained from the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Bureau
of Railway Economics. They are all commodity rates in carload lots. The German rail and water rates
are taken from the tables given above.
2 The foreign rates are for the metric ton of 2,204 pounds, the American rates are for the short ton of
2,000 pounds, and hence should be increased by 10 per cent in order to be strictly comparable.
3 Estimated.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
569
Comparison of United States rail and European water rates.
RHINE.
2.-GRAIN.
Rail
distance.
Rail
rate.
Water
rate.
Per cent
water of
rail rate.
Miles.
Per ton.
Per ton.
Rotterdam to Mannheim.
Iowa State rates....
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed
Corn, oats, barley..
Illinois State rates...
Wheat..
Other grains.
R. R.) Wheat...
Rotterdam to Strasburg...
Iowa State rates...
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed.
Corn, oats, barley.
Illinois State rates.
Wheat...
Other grains.
298
$5.81
$0.626
10.8
290-300
2.70
23.2
2.24
27.9
290-300
2.42
25.9
2.18
28.7
Fremont, Iowa, to Chicago (Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
296.6
2.60
24.1
362.66
5.71
1. 102
19.3
360-370
3.08
35.8
2.56
43
360-380
2.60
42.4
2.36
46.7
Rochester, N. Y., to Harrisburg, Pa. (Pennsylvania R. R.)—
Wheat.
356
2.00
55.1
Rotterdam to Frankfort on the Main.
Iowa State rates..
Wheat, flour, millet.
282.56
4.36
.764
17.5
280-290
2.66
28.7
Corn, oats, barley.
Illinois State rates...
Wheat...
2.20
34.7
280-290
2.38
32.1
Other grains.
2.16
35.4
•
Burnham, Pa., to New York City (Pennsylvania R. R.)—
Wheat.
267
2.00
38.2
ELBE.
Hamburg to Magdeburg.
156
2.97
.67
22.5
Iowa State rates..
155-160
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed
1.96
34.2
· •
Corn, oats, barley.
1.62
41.3
Illinois State rates...
155-160
Wheat...
1.90
35.3
Other grains.
1.72
39
Neal, Kans., to Kansas City, Mo. (Missouri Pacific)—Wheat…..
150
2.00
33.5.
Hamburg to Breslau.
379
6.81
1.55
22.8
Iowa State rates..
370-380
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed
3.14
49.4
Common barley.
2.62
59.1
Illinois State rates.
360-380
Iowa State rates..
Wheat...
Other grain.
Oakley, Kans., to Kansas City, Mo. (Union Pacific)-Wheat..
Hamburg to Dresden.
Iowa State rates..
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed
Corn, oats, barley.
Illinois State rates..
Wheat..
Other grain.
Rutledge, Mo., to Chicago (Atchison)—Wheat
Hamburg to Breslau.
2.60
59.6
2.37
65.4
•
377
2.90
53.5
286
5.21
1.26
24.2
280-290
2.66
47.4
• •
2.20
57.3
280-290
2.38
53
2.16
58.3
287
2.40
52.5
174
3.28
.79
24.1
170-175
Wheat, flour, millet, and flaxseed
2.02
39.1
•
Corn, oats, barley
1.68
47
Illinois State rates..
170-175
Wheat.
1.96
40.3
Other grain.
Lewisburg, Pa., to Wilmington, Del. (Pennsylvania R. R.)—
Wheat.
1.78
44. 4
185
2.00
39.5
570 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
The purpose of presenting the comparisons of rail and water rates
of different countries given in this chapter has been to show that a wide
margin in favor of the waterways has been an important reason for the
phenomenal growth of water transportation. These comparisons
should not be interpreted as showing the relative cost of transportation
by rail and by water. This is an altogether different problem, and in-
volves the consideration of a large number of factors which make exact
conclusions difficult. The differential in favor of a waterway might
be very considerable, and yet the actual cost of transportation, if all
the elements are considered, might be greater than on a competing
railway. Where, as in France, a differential of 20 per cent is fre-
quently enforced for the protection of the waterway, it is readily
seen that a comparison of rail and water rates affords no criterion
as to the actual cost of transportation by rail and by water. The
same is true for Germany and Belgium, where the rail rates are fixed
by the State while the water lines are free to cut rates as they choose.
The rail rates may cover all costs of maintenance and operation
and yield a profit on the capital invested in right of way, road bed,
terminals, and rolling stock, while the water rates, especially where
the improvement and maintenance is carried on by the Government and
no tolls are charged, may yield the boatmen little above their labor
costs and a fair return upon the capital invested in equipment.
THE RELATIVE COST OF TRANSPORTATION BY RAIL AND BY WATER.
It is accepted as almost axiomatic that water transportation is
cheaper than transportation by rail. The common assertion is that
it is from five to six times as cheap. Although this is one of the most
important questions relating to water transportation, it is the one that
has been least investigated. And yet on this theory the improvement
of inland waterways in all countries has been undertaken, and the
United States is annually spending $30,000,000. If inland waterways
can not afford cheaper transportation than railroads, then the sums
spent for promoting navigation could be more profitably utilized for
increasing the railway mileage and efficiency.
The belief that water transportation is cheaper than rail is some-
times based on three theoretical arguments: (1) The equipment nec-
essary to carry a given load on the water is much less expensive than
on rail; (2) the same amount of motive power can move five or six
times the tonnage on water that it can on rails, because it encounters
less resistance, and the tare or dead weight by water is much less;
(3) the cost of maintenance of a waterway is much less than that of a
railway. The comparative cost of roadbed and channel depends upon
the physical characteristics in each case. Oceans, lakes, and large
rivers need little improvement to accommodate a large traffic, while
the cost per mile of improving small rivers or constructing canals may
far exceed that of building a railway. For example, the cost of con-
structing the Dortmund-Ems Canal in Germany was $105,000 per
mile. The cost of enlarging the Erie Canal is estimated at about
$300,000 per mile. The estimated cost of the proposed 14-foot canal
connecting the Ohio River near Pittsburgh with Lake Erie is about
$600,000 per mile. In contrast, the average capitalization per mile of
railway in this country is $62,657.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
571
1
There are a number of considerations which affect the importance
of these factors. The initial resistance on a waterway varies consid-
erably with different circumstances, such as the physical characteris-
tics of the waterway and the type and draft of boat. On the ocean or
Great Lakes the freedom of the water displaced to dissipate itself
from the path of the boat makes the initial resistance much less than
in a narrow channel where the water must roll up in front. As regards
the effect of the type of boat, the greater its capacity for carrying
freight with a given draft, the greater will be the initial resistance. A
canal barge of the usual type is much more difficult to tow than an-
other boat of the same draft but with sharp prow and curved bottom.
The question of speed is rarely given sufficient consideration in a
discussion of the relative value and cost of transportation by rail and
by water. But it affects the comparison in at least three ways. In
the first place, the greater speed possible by rail increases the value of
service to the shipper, for which added value he is generally willing to
pay a somewhat higher charge. A more rapid delivery of consign-
ments is usually more valuable for the higher grades of freight than
for the coarse, bulky commodities. The importance of speed to the
shipper is shown by the fact that where, as sometimes happens, boat
lines afford a quicker and more reliable means of transportation they
are able to charge higher rates than the competing railways.
In the second place, the greater speed possible on a railroad results
in the much greater utilization of a given equipment. It has been
estimated, for instance, that a railroad car makes in a year eight
times as many trips of a given length as a canal barge. This is due
both to greater speed and to less delay during cold weather. The
physical characteristics of a waterway are important in this connec-
tion. On larger bodies of water a speed approaching that possible
on rails is obtainable, while on small streams and on canals the speed
possible is far less than that by rail, not only because of the greater
resistance but because of the damage which the wash would cause to
the banks. Where locks must be passed the speed attainable on a
canal or canalized river is further reduced. Thus it is apparent that
where a given equipment may be used only at a rate of 3 or 4 miles.
an hour, it will return a much less income upon the investment than
an equipment which may be moved from 12 to 15 miles an hour.
Ordinarily this fact largely offsets the greater cost of rail equipment.
In periods of congested traffic or where the railways are crowded
with passenger traffic, as in some parts of Europe, the waterway is
often the quicker means of transportation. In such cases the advan-
tage of the railway as regards speed is nullified.
In the third place, speed affects the relative cost of propulsion.
On a railroad an increase in speed results in no increase in resist-
ance, except that of the air. The friction offered by the rails is
fairly constant. On water an increase of speed results in a rapidly
increasing resistance. According to the physical law of momentum,
to double the speed it is necessary to quadruple the propelling or
tractive power. Thus the saving in motive power of water trans-
portation over rail diminishes as speed increases. Where, as on an
artificial waterway, the initial resistance encountered by a boat is
very large, a small increase of speed makes the motive power soon
equal to that necessary for moving the same load by rail.
572 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
Another factor of special importance is the capacity which a given
waterway will accommodate. It is a well-known fact that in water
transportation a small increase in depth will result in a large increase
in the capacity of a boat. Where a 6-foot depth will accommodate
300 to 600 ton barges, a 12-foot depth might accommodate boats with
a capacity as large as 1,500 tons or even 2,000 tons. The larger the
tonnage of a boat the less the cost of transportation per ton becomes.
This is due mainly to saving in labor costs and in the duplication of
propelling machinery. There is probably little saving in the actual
fuel costs, because the resistance is approximately doubled by dou-
bling the draft. This advantage of deeper-draft boats may be largely
overcome by using barges in a tow. It has been estimated that the
equipment necessary to move a given tonnage by this means costs
little if any more than to move it in one boat carrying its own pro-
pelling power. The fuel cost would be no greater, while the labor cost
might be somewhat increased. The extent to which the cost of
transportation by water is less than by rail depends again upon the
physical characteristics of the waterway considered. On the ocean
and the Great Lakes the cost of transportation is undoubtedly con-
siderably below that possible by rail. On the large rivers, such as the
Rhine, which can accommodate boats of 1,800 tons capacity, it is
probable that the cost is somewhat lower than is possible by rail, but
on the smaller rivers and on canals the cost of transportation by water
may often prove to be higher than by rail.
The amount of traffic available for transportation with a given
equipment affects the cost of transportation by water in much the
same way that it does by rail. In both cases there are certain fixed
costs upon which interest should be paid, regardless of the amount
of traffic moved, so that an increase of business with the same equip-
ment results in a rapid decrease in cost per unit. When the water-
way is a canal and intended to be self-supporting, the analogy is
perfect, but the same principle should also apply to expenditures for
the improvement of rivers. In determining the cost of transporta-
tion by water each ton should be charged with its proportion of the
cost of improvement, even though in actual practice this expense
is borne by the Government.
Although the equipment in water transportation costs less for a
given amount of traffic than that necessary for transportation by rail,
the adaptability of the equipment is much less, so that it is more
difficult for it to earn as large a return upon the investment. In
water transportation the unit of carriage is far greater than by rail.
The average freight cars do not carry more than 30 or 40 tons, while
in water transportation, since the cost becomes less as the unit of
carriage increases, the tendency is to increase the capacity of the
boats to the maximum permitted by the waterway. The larger the
capacity of the boat the less adaptable it is to the varying quantities
of traffic demanding transportation. The whole boat must be moved
even if it is not fully loaded. In rail transportation the smaller unit
makes it easier to adjust the equipment to the amount of traffic.
While the idle cars represent an investment on which there must be
a return, yet their maintenance is less when not in use, and the expense
of hauling them is also eliminated.
In obtaining traffic a railroad has an advantage over a waterway,
because its traffic is more diversified and can be obtained from many
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 573
sources. As already pointed out, the traffic of the waterway is
necessarily confined to a comparatively few commodities. If these
are not obtainable in large quantities so that boats can be loaded
full without unnecessary delay, the cost per unit of moving the
traffic that it does obtain will greatly increase. Because of the larger
units of carriage on a waterway, it must necessarily transport most
of its freight to large factories or other consumers. It would be
unprofitable to deliver freight in small quantities among a lot of
small consumers. On the Aire and Calder Navigation in England this
difficulty has been obviated to some extent by hauling coal in com-
partment boats, sometimes called Tom Puddings. Each boat carries
about 40 tons, and a large number are towed together in trains.
Their adaptability is nearly as great as that of a railroad car.
It happens more often in water than in rail transportation that
the equipment is carried empty in one direction. This is due to the
smaller number of commodities which furnish the main business of
the waterway. Where the great bulk of traffic is coal, the boats
generally return empty or only partly loaded. Furthermore, a
waterway can only be used for transportation for a portion of the
year. Dry weather on the one hand and winter weather on the
other prevent its use for navigation. On artificial waterways also the
delays, due to breaks in the locks and other reasons, are much greater
per year than the delays on a railway.
A frequent method of demonstrating that waterway transporta-
tion is cheaper than rail is by comparing the average cost per ton-mile
on some waterway with that for all the railways in the United States.
For instance, the average cost per ton-mile on the Great Lakes is
about 0.8 mill, while for all the railways of the country it is about
7.6 mills. So it is often stated that transportation on the Great
Lakes is 10 times as cheap as by rail. The average rate per ton-mile
on the Erie Canal is about 2.45 mills. Comparing this with the aver-
age freight rate it is frequently stated that the cost of transportation
on this canal is only about one-third of that by rail. But no such
exact comparisons as these can be made for the reason that the rates
compared do not include the same elements of cost. The average
ton-mile rate on the Great Lakes only covers the bare cost of convey-
ing the traffic, together with some return upon the equipment used.
It contributes nothing to the large expenditures made by the Federal
Government for improving the harbors and the connecting channels
of the Great Lakes, which aggregate more than $60,000,000. Fur-
thermore, the lake rate is based on an average haul of more than
800 miles for a few bulky commodities, such as iron ore, coal, and
grain, which constitute more than 80 per cent of the total tonnage.
The average railroad freight rate includes high-grade as well as low-
grade freights, and also all local as well as long-distance traffic. If
the average rail rate on a few bulky commodities for a haul of 800
miles could be obtained, it would doubtless be much less than the
average rail rate for all the freight transported in the country. While
there is no doubt that transportation on the Great Lakes, including
all additional expenses with which the traffic should be charged, is
much cheaper than by rail, an exact ratio between the two is prac-
tically impossible to determine.
The average cost of transportation on the Erie Canal includes only
the bare cost of conveying this traffic, plus a small return on the
574 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
1
equipment used; it contributes nothing for maintenance, nor does it
make any return upon the capital expended for the construction and
enlargement of the canal. Both of these expenses are paid by the
State of New York. It has been conservatively estimated that if
the canal traffic were charged with a toll sufficient to cover these
additional expenses the rate per ton per mile would amount to about
8.61 mills. The average ton-mile rate for similar commodities,
especially on the railways in New York State, is probably not more
than 5 or 6 mills per ton per mile. In the case of the Erie Canal,
however, it is a question whether in estimating the actual cost the
traffic should be charged with anything more than the cost of main-
tenance and operation, since the tolls collected on the canal up to
1882 were sufficient to amortize the cost of construction and enlarge-
ment and in addition to return a considerable profit to the State.
The purpose of using these two familiar illustrations, the Great Lakes
and the Erie Canal, is only to point out the difficulty of making any
exact comparison between the cost of transportation by rail and by
water. Whether water traffic should actually be charged with all
the expenses incurred for aiding navigation or whether these should
be met in whole or in part by taxation is a question of public policy.
Any comparison between the cost of transportation by rail and by
water will be of value only when the two rates include similar ele-
ments of cost. Few such comparisons have ever been made. Fur-
thermore, the cost of transportation on large bodies of water, such
as the Great Lakes, where an enormous traffic in bulky freights is
being transported, is no criterion of what the cost of transportation
is on some other waterway. The problem is different in each case
and is affected by a number of factors, of which the depth of channel
is only one.
2
The cost of water transportation, even on the smaller rivers or
canals, might in many instances be considerably less than by rail
if ideal conditions prevailed, but in actual practice there are so many
offsetting influences that the greater apparent economy is only occa-
sionally realized. The committee on canals in New York State in
1899 estimated that freight could be conveyed on the Erie Canal for
1.75 mills per ton-mile even after making allowance for the fact that
a boat could only make seven trips during the season of navigation,
and traveled one way with only a third of a load. As a matter of
practice, the cost has averaged more than 2.45 mills, or an increase
of 40 per cent, due to the lack of ideal conditions. The cost of
transporting coal down the Ohio and Mississippi as it is now being
carried on is considerably less than is possible on a railroad, but there
are not many instances in the United States where conditions so
favorable for cheap river transportation prevail. It is quite probable
that on most of our rivers the actual cost of transportation is higher
than by rail, because there is only a small amount of miscellaneous
freight available for transportation. To realize the economy which
might be attained a large tonnage of some bulky commodity such as
coal is necessary, the movement of which depends upon favorable
economic conditions.
1 Bulletin No. 21, Bureau of Railway Economics.
2 P. 57.
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 575
VII.
A WATERWAY POLICY.
Some of the economic factors which heretofore have been unfav-
orable to the development of water transportation in the United
States are gradually changing. Population is increasing rapidly.
The average increase for the past decade has been more than 1,590,000
a year. The industrial development of the country is also making
rapid strides. During the last decade the value of agricultural prod-
ucts has doubled, and the quantity of a number of manufactured
commodities has also increased more than twofold.
The movement of traffic has increased entirely out of proportion
to the increase in transportation facilities. During the period 1900
to 1910 the railway mileage increased 35.9 per cent, the number of loco-
motives increased 56.5 per cent, the number of freight cars 56.4 per
cent, while the increase in the freight ton mileage was 80.1 per cent.
Previous to this period the development of transportation facilities
had increased more rapidly than the demand for them, and the rail-
ways made special effort to secure traffic of any kind for their idle
equipment, even at very low rates. But with the rapid expansion
which took place between the years 1904 and 1907 all the surplus
capacity of the railways was soon exhausted, and a congestion of
traffic ensued. During the succeeding four years of quieter business
the capacity of the railways has not been so severely taxed, but with
the next period of expansion there is strong probability of a worse
congestion of traffic than occurred before. The knowledge of this
fact has made some of the leading railway officials more favorably
disposed toward competing waterways, which offer a means of relief
from the heavier and less profitable traffic, and it would not be surpris-
ing if in time considerable use of the rivers was made by the railways
for the transportation of their low-grade freight. The rapid develop-
ment of the country and the great increase in land values make the
construction of new railway lines enormously expensive, and the lack
of available space often makes it absolutely impossible to enlarge
terminal facilities at any cost.
Another factor favorable to the waterways is that the tendency of
rail rates in recent years has been upward rather than downward.
It is not probable that rail rates will ever be much lower than at pres-
ent. The steady decline in rates, which culminated in 1900, was
brought about by cutting down grades, straightening roadbeds, and
using heavier rails. The improvements made possible the use of
more powerful locomotives and longer trains. On many roads these
improvements have been largely completed, and further economies
of this nature can only be secured by widening the gauge of the track.
If this were done for all the railways of the country it would mean
an expenditure of many billions of dollars, and it would be very
doubtful if the saving to be effected by such an improvement would
be commensurate with the cost. Some further economies may be
secured by perfecting the organization and adopting more scientific
methods in railway operation, but these will not be sufficient to per-
mit of much reduction in rates. Furthermore, the elimination of
competition between railways and the more harmonious relations
which now exist have removed the main incentive for effecting econ-
576 FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
omies and reducing rates. The increasing power of the Federal Gov-
ernment over railway rates also has a tendency, as in England and
France, to reduce their elasticity. Railways naturally hesitate to
lower their rates when they know that it will be difficult to raise
them again.
These factors indicate that in the course of time those waterways
which are favorably situated will undoubtedly have a large increase
in traffic, provided the Government adopts a definite policy for their
improvement and protection, but unless such a policy is adopted, a
marked improvement in water-borne commerce can hardly be
expected.
Much emphasis has been laid in recent years upon the neces-
sity of adopting a comprehensive waterway policy. The Inland
Waterways Commission, in its preliminary report, recommended
that the improvement of waterways for the promotion of naviga-
tion should also take account of the purification of the waters, the
development of power, the control of floods, the reclamation of
lands by irrigation and drainage, and all other uses of the waters, or
benefits to be derived from their control.
Thus far in this country rivers have been improved almost exclu-
sively for aiding navigation, because the constitutional power of the
Federal Government to undertake improvements for this purpose
is much more certain than for the other purposes which benefit, to
a greater extent, local or private interests. Another reason is that
where a country is sparsely settled the property adjacent to a river
is usually of little value, and the losses from floods or bank erosion
are accordingly small. But as a country becomes more thickly
settled, the losses due to the lack of proper control of streams mount
up with great rapidity.
In the preceding sections it has been pointed out that the traffic
possibilities of streams vary greatly. Only those which combine in
largest degree all the favorable factors will develop a large traffic. In
every country there are a few waterways with exceptional advantages
whose commerce far exceeds that of the other streams less favorably
situated. A sound policy of improving waterways should take this
fact into consideration as well as the relative importance of the differ-
ent uses of a stream, and carry out its improvement accordingly.
There are numerous instances in the United States where costly im-
provements have been carried out for the purpose of promoting navi-
gation in streams, which in time, if not already, will have a far greater
value for the development of water power or some other use. Often
the improvements made for navigation have rendered the river less
useful for these other purposes. In canalizing a stream for aiding navi-
gation it is usually more economical to build a number of dams of less
height, while for power development fewer dams with greater height
are desirable. Every stream should therefore be studied with a view
to all its possibilities, and improved accordingly. One use should not
be developed to the exclusion of all others, but the combination of
uses which will result in the greatest benefits should be promoted.
Appropriations made for promoting navigation should bear some
relation to the benefits to be derived. It is unwise to make a
$1,000,000 improvement where only a few thousand tons of traffic are
in sight. To ascertain the proper relation a much more careful
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
577
examination of the traffic possibilities of every stream should be made
before its improvement is undertaken. A classification of all existing
projects is also necessary, so that those whose improvement is most
needed and which will most certainly result in a prompt increase in
traffic should be undertaken and completed first. There is little justi-
fication for making improvements to aid navigation when they are
not needed. Instead of digging rivers deeper, it would be more advis-
able in most cases to secure a uniform depth and dependable channel
over as long a distance as possible and to adapt the type of boat to the
depth obtained. This has been the practice in European countries,
where most of the inland water-borne traffic is carried on a depth of 6
feet or less. Furthermore, as already stated, cheap water transporta-
tion depends upon a number of factors aside from the depth of channel.
Various plans have been suggested for securing the better adminis-
tration and coordination of waterway improvements in this country.
The Inland Waterways Commission recommended that a permanent
commission be established for this purpose, and there is now a bill
in Congress, introduced by Senator Newlands, of Nevada, a member
of the Inland Waterways Commission, which, among other things,
provides for the creation of such a board, its membership consisting
of the Chief of Engineers of the United States Army, the Director of
the United States Geological Survey, the Chief Forester, the Director
of the Reclamation Service, the Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry
of the Department of Agriculture, the Secretary of the Smithsonian
Institution, one civil engineer, one sanitary engineer, and one hydro-
electric engineer.¹
Another plan which is suggested by German practice is that there
should be established a number of waterway boards, such as the
Mississippi River Commission, each of which shall have full super-
vision over a particular stream. The membership of these boards.
should be varied, in accordance with the different uses which are to
be developed in the improvement of the stream, and, if necessary, the
work of these different river commissions might be coordinated by a
central body. But, after all, the particular administrative machinery
by which the work is to be carried on is not so important as that
sound principles be adopted for future waterway improvements.
One of the worst difficulties that will be encountered in carrying
out a comprehensive policy of waterway improvements is to secure
the cooperation of States and localities in providing adequate termi-
nals and in bearing their share of the cost of improvements that
are largely for local benefit. There appears to be no way by which
the Federal Government can legally compel localities and private
interests to contribute their share of the expense. Such participation
must necessarily be voluntary. But the plan might be adopted by
the Federal Government of making river and harbor improvements
only where the States and localities agree to provide terminals and
contribute their share of the cost.
The United States must also adopt a definite policy regarding the
relations between railways and waterways before any marked im-
provement in river transportation can be looked for. Such a policy
must be based upon the idea that the purpose of improving water-
ways is to secure additional means of transportation and not to
1 S. 122, 62d Cong., 1st sess.
36135°-S. Doc. 469, 62-2-37
578 FINAL {T OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION.
reduce or regulate railway rates. Experience has demonstrated that
waterways can not be relied upon as the great cheapeners and regu-
lators of railway rates which they once were supposed to be. The
railways have demonstrated their ability to control or crush out
water competition, unless prevented by proper legislation. The
reduction of railway rates at river points results in a maladjustment
which is not beneficial to the country as a whole. No European
country uses its waterways to control railway rates. That is ac-
complished by the proper administrative bureau of the govern-
ment, and the waterways are improved with the idea of securing
additional means of transportation. Until we adopt the same policy
in this country the money expended for the promotion of navigation
will result in little benefit. The waterways can not be used at the
same time as means of transportation and as a regulator of railway
rates. One use necessarily eliminates the other. If railway rates
are reduced, the waterways lose their traffic, the capital invested in
shipping is withdrawn, the equipment is allowed to deteriorate, and
the additional means of transportation is lost to the public when a
congestion of traffic occurs and the rivers are especially needed for
the movement of freight.
A constructive policy for the protection of the waterways against
railway competition must prevent the cutting of rates by railways,
must remove any undue advantage which the railways may secure
from the ownership or control of boat lines and terminal facilities,
and, in the third place, must facilitate in every way possible the ready
transfer of traffic from one to the other. Where, as in several Euro-
pean countries, the railways are owned by the government, the prob-
lem of affording such protection is not very difficult, but in the United
States, where the railways are owned and operated by private corpo-
rations, the carrying out of this policy is a most difficult problem. It
can only be done by increasing the power of the Interstate Commerce
Commission over the making of railway rates and over the affairs
of water carriers, and by greater activity on the part of States and
municipalities in providing and controlling terminal facilities. The
success of water transportation, as has been demonstrated, depends
upon the differential which it enjoys over railroad rates. If the Gov-
ernment were to guarantee boat lines a certain differential, as is done
in France, an increase in water-borne traffic would be certain to result.
The main problem in this connection is whether the cost of transpor-
tation by a water route is enough cheaper than that by rail to warrant
the granting of a certain differential in its favor. If such is not the
case, the cost of transportation both by rail and water would be
increased by such a policy. Evidently it would be unwise to lay
down a fast rule for the protection of waterways, but a discretion-
ary power might be exercised, as in France, in the case of certain
waterways which are especially needed for transportation.
The rapid increase in the ownership and control of railways over
boat lines calls for immediate regulation, so that the advantage
derived may not be used to eliminate competitors and to raise water
rates. As has already been stated, two widely different policies for
the control of this situation are now before Congress. One would
absolutely prevent railways from owning or controlling any boat
line with which they were in competition; the other would give the
Interstate Commerce Commission such control over the activities of
FINAL REPORT OF THE NATIONAL WATERWAYS COMMISSION. 579
railway-owned boat lines that the public would be protected against
the abuses which might arise. The latter policy is constructive,
while the former is destructive and overlooks the benefit which we are
striving to secure, namely, cheaper transportation. The main ques-
tion with the public should be not so much who furnishes the trans-
portation as that it should be adequate and cheap. If the latter
policy is pursued, it will mean an increase of transfer traffic between
the railways and waterways which otherwise could not be developed.
The railways have the capital to invest in water transportation, and
they have the traffic to exchange with water carriers. To prevent
their participation in water transportation would be to force more
of the traffic to go by rail.
It is desirable in the interest of the public that joint rail and water
routes should be established wherever possible. To secure them it
is necessary to establish physical connection between the railways
and waterways and to remove all obstacles to the exchange of freight.
As has been pointed out, the transfer of freight between the two
agencies of transportation will be largest where self-interest is in-
volved. Hence if railways are allowed to own or control boat lines,
the exchange of freight will preferably be with their own lines, but
it would often be of benefit to the public if railways could be forced
to exchange freight with independent companies. To accomplish
this the Interstate Commerce Commission should be empowered to
establish such joint routes where they would be of benefit to the
public and should be given such control over the rates that the rail-
ways could not impose obstacles to the development of transfer
freight. Shippers could then choose the cheaper rail and water route
if they desired; but the establishment of such combination rail and
water routes should be discretionary with the Interstate Commerce
Commission, for it obviously would be unfair to make railroads pro-
rate with every boat line that desired such a privilege. Unless the
boat line was a responsible company the railroad would have no
assurance of being able to collect from it the division of through rates
which might be agreed upon or of holding it liable for damages that
might result to the freight exchanged.
The problem of protecting the waterways against railroad compe-
tition is a most difficult one and European experience helps little to a
correct solution. But manifestly a definite policy must be deter-
mined upon before the extensive improvement of waterways is under-
taken, for it is unsound economically to expend public funds without
reasonable assurance of a commensurate return.
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