The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-01-21
ALApAMA wArER rowER.

One of the most interesting of the re- cent publications of the United States Geological Survey has just been issued by the Government. It is entitled Water Powers of Alabama" and gives in detail the measurements and power of the .Tallapoosa, Coosa. Alabama, Ca haba, Black Warrior. Tombigbee and Tennessee Rivers, with their tribu- taries. It shows the possibilities of all these streams, and also gives a de- tailed statement of the power that Is now being utilized in each county through which any of these streams flow.
 Most of these utilized water powers are in the shape. of small mills. both grist and saw mills. and though they are numerous they are using only a small fraction of the power that could be obtained. Even @ well-informed Aiabamian can but be astonished if he will go through shis publication and note the almost unmeasurable water power that is contained in the streams of the State, most of which has never been put to use. A careful study of the report will open the eyes of the uninformed as well as of those who think they have a knowledge of what Alabama has within her limits.
 Up to comparatively recent period these water powers could only be put to local use. dam was built on a stream, a mill. shop or factory erected alongside. and that was all. The pow CT, or so much of it as was needed. was controlled. but none of 1t was con- veyed away from the site. The power to do the work and the work to be done were always together. No one had thought or dreamed of developing the power in one place and using 1t miles away If desired.
 All this has been changed. or is un- dergoing the change, With the discov- cries of the wonderful possibilities of electricity, and what, for want of q better term, we may call its portabii- ity, came the knowledge that the wa neighbors. If 1t is not convenient or desirable to build the mill by the stream it can be built somewhere else and the power carried to 1t with almost as much certainty as the sun can send a ray of light.
 The modern utilization of power de- stroys much of the romance Of the old mill, just as many other romances are destroyed by the march of improve ment and the substitution of utility for sentiment. When we think of a mill the mind pictures a running stream, a revolving mill-wheel with its glitter and dash of tumbling water and the rattle of the machinery. all of them in sight and hearing of each other. but that is not now a necessity. The driving wheel may be at the creek or river and the mill in the town or city miles away.
 One who will study this report will be convinced of two things: One, that our State has power to run thousand times as much machinery as Is now at work and not burn a pound of coal or stick of wood, and another that we have only made a beginning at us- ing the available power. Shakespeare tells us that more water glideth by the mill than wots the miller of." and we may say that there is more power going unused than the wisest of us know of. Electricity is superceding steam and water Is superceding fuel, and thus a double purpose is accom- plished. We can save our fast dimin- ishing supply of coal and wood for other purposes and we can put the water to use without injury to any one. We confess to feeling of aston ishment as a result of going over this report, and all others who read it will | feel the same.