Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1907-02-28
MAKE VALLEY GREAT
FACTORY HIVE

NJ IOili HILL
The Men Interested in the Wis
consin Valley Improvement
Co., See a Great Future for
the Valley if the Flow of
Water Can be Made Uniform.
According to the statement of the
men interested in the Wisconsin
Valley improvement Co. the installa-
tion of a system of reservoirs will
mean the first step in the develop
ment of the Wisconsin river valley as
one of the principal manufacturing
centers of the United States, as uni
form flow of water would insure water
enough at all seasons of the year to
operate every existing water power
and make possible the establishing OF
Vulnerable other water powers for the
operation of paper mills, cotton mills,
wooden mills, electrical power plants
and the transmission of current to
other cities, and provide cheap power
for any line of manufacturing which
can be located in any part of the
Wisconsin valley.
But this bill, which is before the
present legislature, differs materially
from that which failed of passage at
the session two years ago. Under the
terms of this bill, the Wisconsin
Valley improvement Company is not
a water power company and cannot
become such. 1t is to be purely an
improvement company, and its chief
purpose is to conserve the hundreds
of thousands of horse power which
runs wild and is wasted in the floods
of the spring and fall.
This bill gives to the Wisconsin
Valley Improvement Company the
right to establish and maintain a
system of reservoirs for this purpose,
but it places certain restrictions upon
the company. While the company is
given the right of eminent domain, it
cannot use this right without first
having obtained the consent and ap-
prevail of the state board of forestry
commissioners. While the company
Is noG TO engage In the operation OF
water powers, it is given the power to
collect uniform tolls from water
power users along the river in pro-
portion to the benefits conferred, but
these tolls must not exceed the cost OF
maintaining the uniform flow OF
water and profit amounting to 6 per
cent upon the investment. In addi-
tion to this, any water power user,
if not satisfied with the tolls charged,
may have the tolls reviewed by a
board of review created by the bill,
which shall have power to say what
is a reasonable toll.
In addition to all this, the bill pro-
videS that the state shall have the
right to take over the property of the
company at any time it has the
power, for what is the real and actual
value of the physical property. Under
this provision the state, after an
amendment to the constitution per-
Knitting the state to engage in internal
improvement shall have been adopted,
can take over the property and operate
or lease 1t under whatever form of
contract the legislature may at some
future time provide.
Without the reservoir system, it is
urged by the men who favor it, that
much of the water power of the Wis
consin river is wasted, as it is i'm
possible to equip water power to run
the year through, except for the
lowest stage of water. They say that
in the early days the lakes, forests
and swamps at the head waters of the
Wisconsin river prevented the low
stages of water which come now every
year as the result of the floods in the
spring. But the hand of man, they
say, has swept away the forest and
has drained the swamps, SO that the
conditions are now more like those
prevailing in prairie country, where
the streams at flood time are out of
their banks doing untold damage to
property crops, and which few
months later may be SO low that they
are of no use for water power purposes
or for navigation.
'What we want to do" said Mr..
Ried, of Merrill, sis to restore the
conditions which prevailed before SO
much Of the forests was denuded and
the swamps were drained. In addition
to making uniform flow of water
possible and thus conserving the in
terests of every water power user.
and saving hundreds or thousands of
horsepower which are now wasted
every year, the reservoir system will
prevent floods, it will improve naviga-
tion for small boats and launches,
and will prevent the low stages OF
water which come in the dry seasons.
The plan should go hand in hand with
the plans of the state for reforestra-
tion. Of course, the big thing is the
development of the water power pos.
sibilities of the Wisconsin river and
the developing of great manufacture
ing district which may equal, if not
excel, any other in the United States
Every user of water power along the
river favors the plan"