The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1909-08-04
TO HARNESS RIVER POWER.
Special Bulletin of L. :. Government
Makes Report on Washington
Rivers.


streams in the state of Washington.
according to a special bulletin Just is
sued by the United States department
of agriculture. The report. prepared
by o. L. Waller, professor of civil en-
cheering in the State College of
Washington, under the direction of
Samuel Fortier, chief of irrigation
Investigations, says in part:
with the Olympic mountains west
of the sound, the Cascades extending
from north to south across the state,
the Blue mountains in the southeast
ern part of the state, and the Bitter
Root and Rocky mountains on the
east furnishing lofty watersheds COW
cred with perpetual SHOWS, the pow
er of streams of the state is destined
to add very considerable to its ma
terial growth.
The Columbia river, with its MANY
large tributaries from Montana, Ida
no and British Columbia, draining an
area of 250,000 square miles, and
drawing its supply from the snow
/ fields of great mountain ranges. af-
fords large possibilities for power de
velopm ents The annual minimum
flow above Kettle Falls is reported as
ranging from 10000 to 10000 cubic
feet per second. This is a run off
from a drainage area of SO, 100 square
miles, of which 10000 to $4,000
square miles is lake surface. At Ket-
tie Falls the drop is 37.5 feet over IA
dixie of rock, making dam and pow
er development extremely simple.
With some storage the energy of these
! falls may be safely rated at 100, 900
! horsepower.
"At Rock island there is a fall of
1875 feet in 5000 feet, and a mini
mum discharge ranging from $4,000
to $4,000 cubic feet per second. The
energy now wasted at this point
amounts to 100000 horsepower.
AT Cabinet Rapids the fall is 10
feet in 5000 cubic feet, and the en-
ergy equals $4,000 horsepower. At
Priest Rapids the fall is ~ feet in 10
miles, and the energy of the stream is
1SS,0O0 horsepower.
I'm the section known as the Grand
at Gallo, Ten Miles Rapids, The Dali
los, Three Mile Rapids and Two Mile
apids. The fall is so feet, 20 feet of
which is a sheer fall at Cello. The
minimum flow is rated at 10000 to
$1,000 cubic feet second and the
minimum energy of the stream is
236,000 horsepower, of which the fall
&c in, fan
mum energy of the stream is 1000
horsepower.
Besides the large falls and cas-
cades referred to, Their are many
others from Kettle Falls on down to
Rock Island. While the Snake river
has much swift water, the removal
of dangerous rocks would make it
lance above Lewiston, Idaho, and
consequently it does not afford many
promising power sites.
1.-The power in the Spokane river
has already been developed in sew
eral places, namely, Post Falls. the
city pumping station at the series of
rapids and falls at Spokane, and at a
at point opposite Reardan. In all
100000 horsepower has been develop
ed. Some of this acts directly on the
turbines of the city pumping plants or
of -four feed and sawmills. The great
err part, however, is converted into
electricity at high voltage and trans
mitted long distances for light
N r.
all the light and power used
in the state, with the exception
of the power developed by the
lumber industries, which burn slabs
edgings sawdust, etc, is supplied
from hydro-electric developments.
Most of the towns and cities in the
Inland Empire are supplied with light
and power from the Spokane river
while interurban railways supplied
with power from the same source are
rapidly threading the rich wheat and
produce belt of Washington and
Idaho.
1.-The fall of the Methow river is
about 25 feet per mile, with a mini
mum discharge of 400 cubic feet a
second. Along it's course from Twisp
to its mouth there are many fine
power sites where dams could be
thrown across the river and economi-
cal development be made.
"The minimum of flow from Lake
Chelan is about S12 cubic feet sec
ond, the fall $50 feet and the energy
about $4,000 horsepower. The de-
velopment here will be simple and
quite inexpensive. If the lake storage
were used to equalize the flow the
above could be greatly increased.
THE minimum flow of the Wenat-
chez river is about $50 cubic feet a
second, only about 25 per cent of
which is used for irrigation purposes
and that only in the lower valley. For
fourteen miles through the Tumwater
canyon and before emerging into the
agricultural valleys this stream is a
raging torrent. The Great Northern
Railroad company has almost COM
pleted a power plant at Chiwaukum
in the Tumwater canyon, where it will
develop 10 600 horsepower with which
to operate trains through the Cascade
tunnel. There are yet great undevel-
Oped power possibilities along the
river, probably more than can be uti-
or 70,