Durango semi-weekly herald., 1905-04-06


ment-but I, rarely saves MS dollars
and cents. which after all. are the
prime Yankee requisite.
The United States is divided now
into forty-four river districts. each
In charge of weather bureau official
attached to a weather bureau station.
Assigned to each Of these river guar
dians is a number of sub-stations in
trusted with the practical work of
river observation and distribution OF
warnings. forecasts or other informa
ilon valuable to dwellersk property
owners. farmers. manufacturers. etc,
distributed along the river banks.
There are about 400 of these sub
stations which daily take reading OF
the depth of the water. the amount
of rainfall and the general state of
the weather. These data they tele-
graph every morning at O'Clock to
the central river station of their dis
trlct. where all of the information
is added to a map from wnich is made
n daily forecast of the flood probable
tiles for the next two. three or four
days.
The reports of the sub-stations
come into the central station in Pc
culiar cipher devised by the weather
bureau and used for economy in tele-
graph tolls rather than with any deep
laid design 10 tnwart wire tappers
Nude guy hugging ietty."
Such n startling piece of food news
tclteI into a central river station
does not appear to be of any great
national consequence. but this is
what II means when translated by
the central office:
"Twenty-ninth inst. l2 midnight.
Clear weather. Wind southeast. Pre-
cipitation since last report. .46. River
. feet below zero of gauge and ris-
ing"
Darn my humbug parson"
This, throbbing over the expectant
wires from another substation. means
simply this:
ther Wind south Precipitation since
last report. 10. River IS below zero
of gauge and falling.
And these are bona fde combina-
tons of the cipher code in official use.
Great rivers like the Mississippi or
Ohio, are divided into a number of
different districts, each with It's sub
stations The Mlssippi has no less
than ten such districts. each with a
station gathering daily reports from
its subdistricts. The station at Cairo,
H., is regarded as the key to the
great stream, for there is the mouth
of the Ohio aud near by is the mouth
whose measurements the forecasts
of conditions OF the entire river below
are principally based.
The official in charge of each river
district stands prepared to issue
flood warnings, giving in advance the
time of the inundation and its prob
able duration. The range of this
forecast depends largely upon loca-
tion, Along the great Missippi dwell
ers near the upper banks have very
little time to remove their property
OF themselves. whereSas those near
It's mouth are given ample warning.
In the upper Mississippi districts one
or two days warning can he given;
between Keokuk and st Louis, three
or four days, from Memphis to New
Orleans. n week TO ten days. But in
the mountain streams and rapid-run-
ming rivers in the Eastern and Pacific
states one or TWO days warning is
ali bnt Ia,
is very unfortunate in this respect,
as compared with lower Mississippi
cities Especially is this so when
we consider that it is the greatest
coal and steel center of the world
Eighteen hours is the longest range
of flood forecast that 1t can hope for
At all the substavions are river
gauges-great measuring rods. thrust
down TO the streams bottcm and
extending farther above the surface
than any flood is likely to reach. They
range from 10 to 200 feet In length,
depending upon the slope of the bank
against which their stone foundations
rest. There are thirty of these dis.
tributed along the Mississippi, and the
point on the scale where the waters
surface reaches is read. in normal
times. daily at S a, m. as is the rule
along all of the rivers of the country.
In flood times they are read every
hour, or even oftener.
The extreme variation on any one
OF these gauges is 80 feet. which has
occurred at Cincinnati, since the time
an accurate gauge was first placed
in the river there The variation of
single Hoods averages for 10 to Is
feet in slow rivers, and anywhere from
50 10 10 feet in fast streams,
The floods of the Mississippi river
come mostly out its lower tributaries.
A great rise in its upper waters would
entirely lose itself before reaching
New Orleans Ii fed by no other food
enroute. The Father OF Waters is so
vast that we can little realize what a
tremendous territory is affected by
It's floods or what an enormous drain
agr basin contributes to those inunda-
lions. Through faulty nomencla-
ture. its length is put down In the
school books as 2,4S5 miles. In point