Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-26

these gauges is sixty-nine feet. which has
occurred at Cincinnati since the time an
accurate gauge was first placed IN the
river there. The variation of single floods
averages from ten to fifteen feet in slow
rivers and anywhere up to thirty-hVe or
forty feet in fast streams.
The floods of the Mississippi river come
mostly out of its lower tributaries. A
great rise in its upper waters would en-
tirely lose itself before reaching New Or
leans, if fed by no other flood en- route.
! The father of waters is so vast that we
little realize what tremendous territory
is affected by it's floods what enor-
nous drainage basin contributes to those
inundations. Through a faulty nomencla-
| ture its length is put down in the school
books as 2,4S5 miles. In point of fact, the
Missouri river is the proper prolongation of
the main Mississippi. upper Mississippi be-
ing, in reality. only one of its less important
| tributaries. From the mouth of the Mis-
sissippi to the source of the Missouri the
river distance is about 4 100 miles
This constitutes probably the longest
waterway in the world Its only rivals in
length are the Nile and the Amazon, the
precise length of neither of which is known.
but is estimated for each at about 1000
miles. The region drained by the Mssis
sippi embraces about ,24O05O square miles,
or Il per cent of the total area of our ter
ritOry between Canada and the gulf. Each
year it carries to the about 159 cubic
miles of water. The navigable waters of
this great stream and its tributaries are
estimated at about $1,000 miles. Hence any
untoward condition affecting this vast ar
| terry of commerce strikes at the very vitals
of the nation
Fifty Dollars Saves a Million.
Fifty dollars expended By the flood serv-
ice of the weather bureau for extra tele-
graph tolls in seasons of foundations fire.
quently saves million dollars in property
! and hundreds of lives more precious than
he total upalth of tho world
During the great flood Of 1897 S15,00o,000
worth OF perishable property was moved at
| the instance of the official forecasts. Yet
! the total cost of the river and flood service
| Of the United States that year only
| 1900, or one-one- thousandth of this saw
| ing to the people. So this particular enter
| prise of the government certainly more
than pays for itself, to put it very feebly.
DR.. II. c. Frankenfield, in charge of the
| river and flood service, although in his early
| forties now, had charge of the Chicago and
| St. Louis offices OF the national weather
| bureau before coming to headquarters in
! 1899. He is a Lafayette graduate, and has
| taken a medical degree since finishing his
| university course.
| I'VE always aim to frame our forecasts
| at least within a foot of what the condi-
| lions will afterward prove said he yes
| terday, after explaining the workings of
| the service in great detail. I'VE always
| aim, moreover, to overestimate rather than
| underestimate conditions. In the rapid
| running rivers of the mountain regions we
| are rewarded with less accuracy than in
| the great slow streams of the middle west
| In the case of the Mississippi. Missouri and
| lower Ohio we can come within from one
| to three-tenths of foot of actual rises.
Floods Stored in Snow.
IAN important factor to be reckoned with
| just at this time of year is the water equiv
alent of the vast snow areas left over
from winter. Fortunately, this season the
for ba, orr
gradually.
I'VE now use a new snow gauge for this
| measurement. 1t consists of a forty-inch
tube OF about two and a half inches dame
ter open at both ends and sharp at the
extremity driven down into the snow. AS
this is taken up, the lower end is closed
and the snow is retained inside. Down the
hole thus left In the snow a measuring rod
| is thrust and the exact depth of the deposit
measured. The snow inside the tube is
then melted to water, and this water meas
ured and compared with the depth of the
snow on the ground. 1t is found that where
as ii sometimes requires thirteen to four
teen inches of snow to make inch of
water. the same amount of water will be
supplied by only two inches of snow. One
to ten is, however, the average. But when
snow has been lying for a long time and
has packed hard and solid It cannot be
reckoned with in the forecast of a thaw
and consequent food without making these
careful measurements. If you have a two
men rainfall on top or four inches OF snow
with two-inch water equivalent you have
a flood, whereas, If this four-inch crust OF
| snow only has a water equivalent of two
tenths of an inch, the matter is not so
| serious. The gaugers. now at work in the
| northern states, are sounding the snow
where they think Ii Is of mean depth, and
| at each spot of measurement are taking
| the average of several soundings. Thus we
I estimate the water we will have to deal
| with when all of that icy crust melts during
| the spring thaws.
Won't Obey Warnings.
DO you have much trouble persuading
| people to obey your warnings?"
Eyes, a great deal. In many cities people
fatty refuse to move even when assured
| that their houses will be submerged. The
| flood comes, carries away their houses,
| they being saved often at great risk to
| others. Then they return and rebuild in the
same danger spot. But the general public
| and the press have a growing confidence
4 in the official forecasts. Previous to the
| great flood of 1903 forecasts and warnings
| were in some instances issued three and
| four weeks in advance. But there was no
| repetition of the criticism of 1897, that the
/ weather bureau was needlessly alarming
/ the people The doubling Thomases learn
| ed their lesson In 1897.
| I'm early days when a flood came the in
| habitants in the bottoms simply moved
/ their stock and other portable property to
| higher ground and waited for the waters to
| recede. This frequently prevented the plant
| ing of crops. and it became necessary to put
| up something that would keep the water
4 out. Therefore earthworks, or levees,' were
constructed. A few enterprising landhold-
| ers first built private levees. Then levees
| were built by separate communities, and
| afterward by the states, the necessary
| funds having been raised by taxation of the
| affected persons. The general government
II n mi N "a re