The Baraboo news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1884-1911, 1908-07-15
LATENT POWER
At BARABOO
UNIVERSITY ENGINEERS MAKE
AN INVESTIGATION INTO POS
SIBlLITIES OF BARA6OO
THE HIGH BRIDGE SITE BEST
Comparisons Were Made With Four
Other Rivers-Upper Narrows
Act as Reservoir

Much has been said at one time
another concerning the water powt
at Baraboo and the strange conditions
which permit of so much power going
to waste. Two engineers of the class
of '0S of the University of Wisconsin
made an investigation concerning this
river and while every detail has not
been worked out to definite conclu-
sion yet the general conditions have
been very we'll ascertained.
Following is their report:
The power Investigated is offered by
the Baraboo river, small stream of
the south central portion of Wiscon-
sin. From its head in the east Onion
roe county the river runs southeast
through Juneau and Sauk counties
and empties into the Wisconsin at
Portage.
The town of Baraboo is II miles
west of Portage and above here the
river has drainage area of apprOxi-
mately $50 square miles, The country
is very hilly and rough, and with geo.
logical conditions tending to give a
high percentage of tho rainfall as rum
off. The same conditions would Or
dSuarliy mean a high tiuctUStiOn in
d0w, but this is more than counter
balanced by che storage effect Of the
Upper Narruws and large swamp
iust sbbvc thern, These NaEEows are
about IS miles above Barah0o. They
are au important consideration for the
reason mentioned asad t}leiT .eifect will
be discussed later In the report.
Ihe n1aiia oQiecS- Of this inVestig&-
ian was 10 determine average condi-
ti0ns of discharge throughout the year
aS>wali ~ approximate maximum and
nlyHla4unl conditions 10 Ja expected
The pt0D.enl Tss9 taken, up and work
cd to . conclusion by two e'ttireiy in
dena1fi9i4t n,ethNts. Due 20 LACK Of
digcaL litxcYl Qrge data for the BAraboo,
both %e,e comparative Tgtethods based
on of1aervc(t d&ca For f0uE neighhOring
stseases. Earsa were tho Wisconsin,
above N.cet.ah, tie Eau Claire above
tsau G4atEe. the ;fi4u1oeau above lady
smith :ul'i ttie Bia03f above NciilSville.
The Tr0laage S&eyss " these rivers are
respectively, 800. $40, 2ltaE and 100
square railc&. ~
Starting Win Autographs OF the
four FiYers f0E the years 1858, 1904, and
1905, iil The 0n,. scheme, we found the
mean dtae5.aI:e ler ,squaie mile OF
e;cII river dusiHg esssii mouth period
a.Id year. 'rltc average oE all the riv-
crs fog Ill. The years was then taken
and multiplied by tile aros of the BaTa-
Zoo, ,tt4uS giving The monthly mean dis
cilaggc. Maximum and minimum
were gotten by selecting
from al the years add ali the rivers fot
each month.
la tiie second method we started
from INC same hydrogrGpa# and re-
ducctI .s.oa1 to tota' ,inches OF rIn-eh
for each w;tlod. The rainfall over
cash ,.eo was Gaen found from wealth
o. i,u.eAu re],osts And curves plotted
beb wecn rainfall ana yun.off EsE the
different pertott.. Nata w&s then col
9esysee and arranged, showing. rainfall
on The Barab00 over period OF Is
ysafe, { tSg2-19e6 J and SVerage maxi-
zaum and minimum values found for
each month. Using these values ,AAd
the curves, the mean and extreme
values of run-oR were obtained and
plotted.
The first method is the more ac-
curate except in that the data was col
lected for only a short interval Of
time. The second method gives prob
ably the more accurate results, due
mainly to the long period of years COW
cred by the data. This is especially
true for maximum conditions. The
average conditions as found by this
method are fairly well checked by the
corresponding values of the other
method when we consider the fact
that 1903 to 1905 were above the aver
age in rainfall.
The average run-of for the year is
found to be 730 GU. #. per second from
the first method ami rr15.- ctR-- Is. per
second from second aaetat.~- 'E;,Ss l.ItaP~
81 .-s..a.,.1a 2 .,s t,1t,-52 a. FOR
s4t.aa a:,o,.e,ls Is 4tl1 -, T. pas second