Highland recorder. (Monterey, Highland County, Va.) 1877-1972, 1908-05-01
Would Prevent Spring Floods

|
ter power that has ever taken place
! in the United States has been &C.
complished duking the last few
years on the rivers which drain the
southern Appalachian Mountains,
according to an official report on
the water resources of<this region.
! It is estimated that there is at least
2,80O,000 indicated horsepower de-
| veIoped by the streams which have
their headwaters on this watershed,
and more than half Of this indicat-
ed power is available for economic
development.
Only comparatively small part
of this has been made use of vet,
but the portion that has been utl-
lied has been one Of the most i'm
portant factors in the recent indus
trial Development of the South. In
the future the use Of this power
AID it's values are bound to increase
tremendously. Manufacturing
plants are constantly increasing in
number in the region, and it is rea-
sonable to expect that in time the
center Of the cotton weaving In.
dustrv in the United States may be
moved from the streams of New
England where it has remained for
so long, nearer to the source of
supply for the raw material.
Moreover, waterpower, or power
originating in the streams, will be
more and more in demand, as eve
ny thing else in the country, on ac-
count Of the increasing cost OF
fuel, power through dwindling fuel
resources Of the country. Already
the water power costs much less
than the fuel, and the difference
will inevitably grow greater. One
great difficulty of the users OF wa.
ter power, not only in the South,
but along the New England
streams as well, though possibly to
less degree, is the fact that it
cannot be depended upon the year
around, but must be supplemented
and replaced for some weeks or
months every summer by costly
fuel power, because the streams
run too low to be of service.
More than this, as the years so
on, mill owners are painfully aware
that the low-water periods are
growing l,nger aud longer. This
lis because the forests at the head
waters of the streams are being cut
off, with the result that the melt
| ing winter SHOWS and the spring
rains pour off the denuded and har-
dened land in devastating floods.
sending down for few weeks far
more water than they can use and
moreover, reducing the capacity
and usefulness of their mllponds
by filling them with hundreds of
tons of sand and soil which the
foods scour off the unprotected up
per slopes.
Nowhere are business men wider
awake 10 the danger than in the
| South. II indiscriminate cutting
| oe the forests on The crests OF the
watershed can be stopped, there Is
a possibility, according to recent
report of experts, of increasing tn
| development of power up to any
where from 3 70 30 times the l.,
100000 horsepower at. present
available. Without it, almos
nothing can be done. The metho'
proposed to develop the Appaiach
ian river resources to the total 0
100000 horsepower is by storag
reservoirs, which would catch tn
surplus water Of the spring an
retain them until the summe
months when the mills now hav
to fall back on fuel.
The United States Geologica
Survey has kept records of strear
flow in the Appalachians for
number Of years and recently the
made a careful study of the posi-
biIities of storage reservoirs in tina
region. The Forest Service ha
published their report under tn
title The Relation of the Southern
Appalachian Mountains to the DE
velopmenL of Water Power" a
Forest Service Circular IA, an