The Portland daily press., 1866-11-22
n1.iss ana sraxaf.,r,arina.

the SGaue OF DIdlue, pidlnly luulCdte thdo INC
leading employment of its inhabitants should
be manufacturing, and in particular, manufac-
turing by water-power. The conditions refer
red to are as follows.
LIST. AMOUNT of Rain. The anA'lal rainfall
in this State is nearly 40 inches. So lar SCUM
as Washington only al inches of mois'"io "io
yearly deposited; SO that we receive no"S Us
much rain as districts hundreds OF hiies iuI'n-
er eouator-ward, and considerably hiore 'ilah
il due to the latitude This large precipitation
is referabIe first. to the indraft of vapors from
the Gulf Stream by east and southeast winds,
and secondly, to the singularly low tempera-
ture prevalent in all this region, by which the
atmospheric vapors are condensed in unusual
abundance. We have, therefore, the material
furnished in more than usual copiousness, to
make rivers and water-power out of.
3D. It's uniform, distribution. Our rain-falls
are evenly distributed throughout the year,
varying but little from 10 inches for each quar-
ter whereas in Minnesota, for example, nearly
six times as much rain falls in summer as IN
winter, and in San Francisco thirty-seven
times as much in winter as in summer In
these and such localities, the streams are OBJ
viously of comparatively little value for man
ufacturing purposes, being overwhelming TOR
rents at one season, and almost obliterated nv
ulets at another. Our rivers on the contrary,
especially the larger, are of very nearly equal
volume and therefore very nearly equally avail
able at all seasons.
Sd. Lq,nited evaporation. Out of the water
received upon our territorial domain compare
lively little is removed by evaporation, and the
large proportion therefore, remains to be car
ried off by rivers Evaporation is thus small
by reason of our low annual temperature, and
by reason of the prevalence during what is us
ually and elsewhere the most drying part of
the year, the dog days, of clouds and fog drawn
in from about Newfoundland by easterly winds,
during the continuance of which vaporizatlon
is quite insignificant or absolutely nil. Our
proximity to Newfoundland, indeed, affects our
climate with anunusual amount OF fog or cloud
throughout the year, and diminishes evapora-
ton in proportion of course. Consequently
the surplus of moisture is great relatively to
| the amount precipitated, and our rivers, there
| fore, are numerous and large in proportion to
their area OF basin.
4th. Watersheds. Two of our manufactur-
| ing rivers, the Saco and the Androscoggin,
draw their supplies mainly FROM the mountains
of New Hampshire, and would naturally be-
long to that political division, but fortunately
for us are by the trend of the watershed ridges
debou he'd from her mountain ravines into
Maine, by the time they are swollen to dimen-
sions available for manutact uring. Further,
the crests of our watershed slopes are far
enough removed from the sea to admit Of the
| formation of rivers respectable in length, and
| therefore comparatively constant in volume.
Their closer proximity to the ocean would, it
| is obvious, give rise to streams like those of
Patagonia OF of Norway and Sweden, tor
genital in character, and therefore compare
| lively Unavailable for manufacturing If the
slopes were wider, the streams would be more
navigable but less prolific of water-power.
| 5th Surface Conditions. The surface of
| Maine is uneven, its surface material hard and
rocky. BY consequence the surplus waters are
thrown off into drainage channels, and are un-
able to make subterranean escape by infiltra-
| ton and percolation through the mass Of the
ground; a form of water removal which pre-
walls in alluvial districts So that, again, our
rivers tend to be large and numerous
9Th. Lake Reservoirs There are but two or
three regions in the world, of equal area, where
lacustrine systems are developed in equal de-
gree with that of Maine, as regards the num-
Der and volume of its component members,
which, large and small, occupy about one tenth
of the whole area Of the State Minnesota,
Sweden and Finland, are nearest on par in
this regard. But the lakes OF Maine to an UNI
usual extent communicate with rivers, and the
large rivers, to which they serve with their
overlooking volumes as immense reservoirs and
practically inexhaustible fountains, whose con-
tributions are made available at trihing ex-
pense, and easily controlled when brought in
to USE The little Presumpscot, for example,
though a mere rivulet in size by its connec-
ton with Sebago Lake and its outlying APP
pendages, furnishes an unfuctuating power,
sufficient at its mouth alone, taking no other
available points into account, to sustain man
ufaeturing population of $4,000 souls, all of it,
as no one need be told, running off into the
sea as if it were worth nothing. Let any one
attempt to count on our new State map all the
lakes and ponds that contribute to the Penob-
scot, Kennebec, Androscoggin and St. Croix,
and before he is done he will find the use of
numbers. Our rivers, therefore, are singular
ly constant at all seasons of the year, and fur
nish very nearly uniform amounts ofpower.
7th. Forests. The heavy forests with
which so large a portion of our terri
tory is covered, check evaporation, and
so add very materially to the constancy
and volume of our streams. The rivers ofour re-
mote Western country in the summer are re-
duced to mere threads of water in part from
| the absence of forests and the consequent dry
| ing off of the surface moisture. Our forests
are indeed liable to removal, but so long as
they remain they exercise powerful infiu-
ence upon the constancy and availability of our
fuviatile waters.
| The foregoing conditions combined, result in
the establishment within our borders of sys-
tenn of rivers unrivalled in volume, constancy
and availability for manufacturing purposes,
unrivalled, mean, of course, within any equal
area.
Take in connection with the above facts the
following circumstances, a, the prevailing in
fertility of our soil; b, the shortness of the pro-
dueing season; C, the length and severity Of
| the winters during which ordinary out-of-door
| industries cannot be conducted; d. our want of
L
the impossibility of supporting great popula-
ton here by commerce, navigation, ship-build-
ing, OF numbering, and the following conclu-
| sion seems justified
That in no other line of labor open to us can
we work to SO great advantage, advantage alb
solute and comparative, and with so we'll
grounded hope of building up great State,
an opulent and powerful community, as in
setting at work the ten thousands of horse pow
ers of water that now are yearly dissipating
upon the ocean the working capacity of mil
lions of able-bodied men. We can have fifty
cities like Lowell and Lawrence, if we will on
| ly put water wheels upon our great rapids and
falls, and set them at work. Look at Bruins.
wick, with water power enough to build Low
ell on her sands, with only one third-rate cot
ton mill representing her manufacturing ac-
complishments! Look atAugusta, Waterville,