The Wenatchee daily world. [volume] (Wenatchee, Wash.) 1905-1971, 1910-10-14
ENORMOUS E[EC-
TR|CA[ ENERGY
Northwest Couldn't Be De.
veloped to Use All it's
Power in 1000 Years.

Oregon. The Northwest could not
bedeveloped to a condition where it
would need all of this energy in 1000
years, and, under the circumstances,
talk of conservation is ridiculous"
This is the gist of a statement
made by Fred F. Henshaw, the noted
| photographer, who for the past two
years, with a crew of assistants, has
been measuring up waters in the
streams running through the North
west, for the United States geolOgi-
cal survey. Henshaw probably
knows more about the rivers OF the
United States than any other man
in the world.
The states of Washington and Or
egOn, Henshaw declares, contain one
third of the available water power
energy in the United States. Between
100000 and 100000 horsepower
can be generated
Figure Too Stupendous for Laity.
So stupendous is this amount of
power" said Henshaw, that it goes
beyond the point where figures mean
anything to the laity; and the esti-
mates l have given are based on &C
tual low water flow, without count
ing the possibilities of storage. BY
the installation of dams this power,
in many places, could be increased
! from so to 100 per cent.
The power in the state of Wash
ington, owing to the heavy drainage
from the Cascades and Olympic ran
ges, is so vast that it will be many
years before even a small portion of
! it is required. This is particularly
true of the Skagit, Cowlitz and Ces-
rus rivers.
| "A large portion of this water
power is held up under Withdrawals
made by the interior department,
pending legislation, and another por
ton of it is held up under the for
!
forest reserves can be segregated
| from the government domain, but
I the conditions are so stringent that
! very few would care to appropriate
| it. The Withdrawals made by the
interior department. however, are
only temporary, and if the Smoot
bill, which was presented at the last
session, should pass this winter these
streams will be thrown open to the
! public.
This bill provides that the water
| power shall be turned over to the
been measured and apportioned by
the United States geological survey.
! Ii also provides that the states shall
be allowed to dispose of the water
sites for power purposes only, under
a lease. Other disposition of the
sites will cause cOnfiscation by the
national government.
| For the past two years the Uni
ted States Geological Survey has
been gauging the streams for both
power and irrigation purposes. Pri-
or to that time the streams had been
measured for irrigation purposes on
| ly. We have installed gauging sta
| tiOns on the western slopes of the
| Cascades, in which work the forest
/ service is cooperating. For the past
two years we have had at work six
field engineers from the United
States Geological Survey and two en-
gineers from the forest service. In
this district there are in all 233
b, sauging stations, which includes
those on rivers, canals and lakes.
About so per cent of these have been
added during the past year
"On the western slopes of the Cas-
cades We have installed thirty-five
stations to determine the water pow
er on these streams. Last year we
measured up the klickitat, White
Salmon, Little White Salmon, Lewis
and Toutle rivers, accurate measure
ments being made from the lower
reaches to the upper points, as far
as the discharge would warrant in
stallation of a plant for development
of electricity. The results of these
measurements will be published by
the government about December 1 in
Water Supply Paper No. 253.
The field work this year for a
similar report has been completed on
the Cowlitz, Cespus, Nisqually, Pu-
yallup, White ana other rivers on
the western slopes, and on the Ma
ches, Tieton and Yakima rivers on
the Eastern watersheds.
This work has been done in con-
junction with the Washington State
Geological Survey on an appropria-
ton made by the legislature. A
continuance of the work is depend
ent on the state legislature. The
national government puts up one-half
the money. and the state the balance.
l. further state appropriations are
made, work on the Cascade ranges
will be completed in the next two
years, and the local government will
be furnished with accurate measure
ments, which will be of use in franz