The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-12-06

ice was installed. The result is that at
the very time the public is demanding
more rapid transit, the company finds it
self suddenly forced to resort to a re-
duced schedule greater than has been in
effect for years.
In addition to the great inconvenience
to which the public will be subjected, the
low stage of water will be so serious,
from a financial standpoint, as to cost
the strete railway company thousands Of
dollars.
Enough Power in the Future
To guard against any such possible fu-
ture emergency, the street railway COM
pany has already had consultation of
engineers. The situation has been thor
oughly gone over and plan agreed upon
which will prevent the slightest inter-
ference with street railway traffic here
after, no matter what the stage of water
in the river may be.
Vice President c. G. Goodrich this
morning outlined the unfortunate position
in which the company finds itself at the
very moment it was making strenuous
enortS to satisfy the public demand for
increased service. Said he:
The Mississippi river appears to be run
ing dry. 1t should not be inferred from this
that we are experiencing any permanent
slump in the supply Of water, but it is great
enough, however temporary it may be. to
materially reduce the power at the dam.
Without going into any figures it is sufficient
to say that the low water has cut into the
generating capacity of the power house at the
dam to such an extent as greatly to diminish
the power and force upon US the unpleasant
alternative of reducing the service on all lines
in Minneapolis and st. Paul.
l cannot remember when the river has been
so low before at this time of the year The
present stage is so entirely without precedent
that we have never even felt the necessity of
taking that item into consideration when the
utilization of the power dam was first en-
tertained. We had very little rain last fall,
and that may account to a considerable ex-
tent, for the present lack Of water. Engineer
De la Barre has advanced another reason. He
says that numbering operations on the upper
Mississippi river and in the reservoir region
may have materially affected the water sup
ply. 1t is the practice among the lumbermen
to dam up all the logging streams tributary
to the Mississippi in order to get a sufficient
head of water to facilitate logging operations
in the spring. AS soon as the water fills up
the reservoirs thus created it will begin to
flow over the dams. The water in the river
will then be restored to it's ordinary level
and the difficulty with which We are now
cOntending, will then have, been overcome.
If this is the true explanation, the short
age in the water supply should be a matter
of but few days. In the absence Of a more
plausible explanation Of the drop in the river
it would be folly to say that the present lack
Of power will continue but few days Per-
haps it will, but it may be that we will be
forced to do the best we can with steam
power houses, combined with what power
is still still generated below the falls, for
week more to come
In the mean time I have thought best to
acquaint the public with the unfortunate con-
dition Of affairs against which we find our
selves forced to contend, and to ask its in
diligence in the slower car service which must
necessarily ensue until such time as the
1ood-gates, now closed against us, may be
opened
1t should be understood that we will con-
tinue to operate as many cars in both cities
as we have been able to before installing the
new schedule within the last week. The
hardship lies in inability in face of this
unforeseen obstacle to our plans, to run the
same number of cars as often as the COM
pany or the public desires.