Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1906-07-17
WISCONSIN RESERVOIRS.
May Mean Much to the Manufactur-
ing Interests of the Northern Part
of the State.

| OF tn6 state.
Since the meeting held in this city a
week ago by prominent men OF the
Wisconsin river valley, for the purpose
of formulating plans which are aimed
to secure legislation empowering them
to establish system of reservoirs IN
Northern Wisconsin, the matter has
been much discussed by business men
of Wausau and of other cities in the
northern section of the state. The
action taken by men representative OF
business interests of various cities in
the Wisconsin valley, at the above
referred to meeting, is an important
one. While no particular good or
harm might be felt in the immediate
future from the successful carrying out
of their plans, still in time there would
be great results.
When a bill giving the privilege OF
constructing dams for the storage OF
water in reservoirs along the Wiscon-
sin river was introduced into the legis-
lature at the last session it met with
some very sharp criticism from its
opponents, who, among other things,
claimed that if the bin were passed it
would be legslating the water power
rights of the people into the hands of
few individuals, and that manufac-
turers desiring to locate along the
river, who intended to use water as a
power, would be at the mercy of those
controlling the reservoirs. The advo-
Gates of the bill offered some incon-
trovertible proof of the fallacy of this
claim In support of the establishment
of such reservoirs the men behind
the movement are backed up by
Leonard d. Smith, photographer of the
United States geological survey, who
advocates the establishment of reser-
voies along the st. Croix, Chippewa,
Black and Wisconsin rivers.
The St. Croix, Chippewa, Black and
Wisconsin rivers drain 70 per cent. of
the northern half of Wisconsin The
Lake Superior rivers drain 93 per cent
and those flowing into Green Bay the
remaining 20.7 per cent. The general
use and control of these northern rivers
for logging purposes in the past has
tended to decrease the value of the
water powers by withholding the water
at times when most needed All log
ging on rivers is fast disappearing.
Indeed, on many of the rivers, like the
Wisconsin, it has practically given way
entirely to railroad transportation and
few logs have been driven into the
booms of Merrill and Wausau in recent
years. This leaves the rivers free for
the permanent development of their
water powers. The effect on the stage
of water which these dams have had in
the past suggests their enlargement,
extension, and systematic operation for
the sole purpose of increasing the low
water flow.
The United States engineers have
surveyed thirty-two large reservoirs in
Wisconsin and have constructed five
such reservoirs in Minnesota. The
total storage capacity of the proposed
Wisconsin reservoirs on the st. Croix,
Chippewa, and Wisconsin rivers
amounts to $780, 100000 cubic feet
The intelligent operation of even part
of these reservoirs would have a
marked effect on steadying the river
discharge. By providing numerous
swamps and upward of l 400 lakes for
this region, nature has accomplished,
unaided, decided regulation of the
water supply.
The availability of these water powers
varies greatly on the different rivers,
or even on parts of the same river.
Those on the Wisconsin river, for
example, are all reached by the Chica-
go, Milwaukee and St. Paul railway,
which parallels the river for 100 miles,
and by other railroads at certain
points.