The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1903-04-04
WATER POWER QUESTION
Engineer E. E. Banks Who Has Been m
vestigating Water Power of Douglas
County Makes His Report.

The st Louis water power il the
. only one from which superior can
hope to see developed an electric pow
/ eg sufficient to furnish cheap power To
/ industries here such as viii be de
/ mgudei.
That is the conclusion osawn by
/ Former CITY Engineer r.. Il. Banks
] who has just made an investigation of
I the subject as chairman of the Cham
/ her of Commerce committee appointed
to act with the council committee in
I looking up Douglas county water
powers.
Practical calculations made 10y Mr..
Banks go to show that the Nemadji or
any other rivers in the county could
not furnish more than one nftirth the
power that the st Louis can, He rec
ommruds that the city direct its ef-
forts toward encouraging the develop
ment of the ST Louis proposition
The report OF MIR. Banks which was
read at the meeting of the Caamh"r
is as follows.
As chairman of the committee APP
pointed 10y you to look up the matte.
OF water power in Douglas county. |
take the liberty OF making the follow
ing report. showing my estimate OF
same
Requirements for Power.
There are two requisites to Tho pro-
ductiun of water power, water
ANA head. The amount of water OBJ
tainahle from any given stream de-
ponds principally on the drainage and
the amount of precipitation.
The drainage area can be estimated
approximately from the government
township plats. The average prccip-
tatiun IN this vicinity for the past 35
years as shown by the records of the
weather bureau il aOout 30 inches
The amount of run off of drainage
basin is the resultant not only of the
area ana amount of precipitation, but
of the rate of precipitation, its dstri-
button as to seasons the inCluat on Of
the water shed, poroslty of the soil
amount OF evaporation ana many
other things, each mOditics the Othe,
=" some extent and it is not poss bl,
| knowing only the drainage area and
the precipitation to make an accurate
estimate OF same. This can only be
done by a careful gaugng of the
streams draining the basin under con
| sIderation.
In the absence of such gaugInEs II
will be necessary and proper to assume
certain per cent of the precipitation
as a probable run off available for a
water power.
In order that | might be aJle to
arrive at the proper per cent to use
Us a basis in my calculations, I have
carefully read all of the papers relat-
ing TO the run off of water sheds IN
he published proceedings of the A
merican Society Of Civil Engineers foI
he past 20 years. The report of III.
engineer Of the state of New York
the Government reports of the gaug
ugs of the upper Mississippi. anG
numerous other papers by ny yirauIi.
engineers ON the same subject From
the Information derived from thes,
sources | have concluded that 40 per
cent OF the prrc lpitatiou Uhat is -
.leplh of T. inches over the severa
water sneds) is the maximum amouu.
If water available for power in tn.
streams of Douglas county.
i is understood that my estimate O'
drainage area ana available head on
approximate only, and az near as cut.
be Iscertaied without actual surveys
Two Water Powers In Douglas
know OF but two places In this
county where there is any consi Ter
able natural hrni VIZ. At Black River
Fails ana in the Aminicou River IN
Sec. ~. 4-S-12. BY the construction
pf a tam TN the Black River above tho