Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1909-03-30
1O HARNESS POTOMAC
SENATOR STEPHENSON HAS A
SCHEME TO FURNISH WASH
INGToh WITH LIGHT
AN EARNEST ADVOCATE
OF WATER DEVELOPMENT
Stephenson Points Out That Streams
Afford Great observation-disclosures
Project Declared to Be Feasible
South Strong in Taft cabinet-other
Washington News.
Especial Correspondence. ]

Washington, March Ex-senator
Stephenson of Wisconsin. who has had
most remarkable business career
and is familiar With more phases of
business activity than most men even
of those who have made great sue
cesses, has a proposal to harness the
Potomac river and supply the city of
Washington with light, power and
heat, by transmitting the rivers power
into electricity and bringing it to the
city by wire.
Senator Stephenson knows all about
incident to his great numbering and
paper making interests in Wisconsin
he has been intimately identified with
a good deal of water power enterprise.
He has built no less than sixty seven
dams OF various sorts and sizes. in
GLIDING some very large and expensive
ones. Some have been constructed pri-
marily for logging purposes, others for
power and paper making.
'"The people of this country" said
the senator, talking of his scheme in
behalf of Washington. "have no con-
ception of the possibilities of the wa
ter power of rivers which are not used
for navigation. I will venture. on the
basis of general experience, that the
Potomac river, from Washington to
Cumberland, properly harnessed
would provide the power to light
Washington, run every street car. and
very likely to heat it In addition.
1.-The project would be simply for
engineers. l don't pretend to under
stand all the engineering details. but I
know enough about such matters from
my own experience to know it could
be done by very ordinary engineering
methods. The canal which parallels the
river would be ruined unless it were
considered of such Importance as to
warrant protecting 1t by wall. But /
suppose it is hardly worth while. in it's
present state of traffic. Its rights
could be condemned and bought.
up at the Great Falls there is an
immense power, only few miles from
the city. which could be developed at
very little cost. Between Great Falls
and the city Judge two or three dams
would be put in, all of them producing
great power. Then up above Great
Falls is a succession of locations for
stations. At Harper's Ferry splendid
power can be developed The Potomac
runs a good volume of wafer turnout
the entire year, and would lend it
self readily u such Improvement.
"There are come legal problems to
he s"lved, Of course, in carrying out
such project, The Potomac is
boundary river. and there might be
necessity of securing legislation by the
states Of Maryland and Virginia, by
which uniform charters could be
granted to carry on the work. The leg
al status of waters in so-called navi-
gable streams is also very vague UNI
der decisions to this time. The federal
government had power which seems to
be limited to control over navigation.
But as a matter of engineering the
project is easily feasible. AS matter
of business it would be highly profita-
BILE. The works being once put in, would
cost very little to maintain; and the
power capable of development would be
almost beyond belief The legal ques-
tions ought to he solved, because the
whole country is interested. and before
many years will be far more interested
than it is now, in the development of
water powers"
Never before since the adn1inistra-