The evening herald. (Klamath Falls, Or.) 1906-1942, 1911-11-18
WHAT our R,vHl,s CARRY
NoLoRApo RIVER discharges

~ during an cveraGc year into tnc
Gulf OF California SIS. 200. 900 tons
OF mud and silt As suspended matter,
In addition TO this the dissolved sub
stances In the water include 1850
900 tons Of sodium chloride. or cont
mon salt: a.7&O.000 tons OF Glaubcr's
sal,s; 1000. 900 tons Of limo: s.%oo.-
oeOtons Of gypsum. and %.Soo.ooo
tons OF EPSON salts. In spite OF all
this dissolved material the Colorado
At its mouth is not considered to be a
stream OF unusually high mincraiisa-
ton for that region OF the country.
The reason 10 that the river carries 80
enormous an amount Of water that
the dissolved salts constitute . com.
parativciy smail proportion OF the
total discharge. Other streams In the
country contain dissolved salts In
greater oucentratiou--for example.
the Elm rork Of Red River. In OKLA
homa. discharges nearly 100000
tons Of common salt annually. A.
though this amount 10 not % great ~
that discharged by the Colorado. u
10 much greater In proportion TO the
sire Of the area drained. Tho dis
charge OF salt from the Colorado 70
equal to twenty tons annually to each
square mile drained by the river. but
the salt In Elm Fork OF Red River 10
equal to 1850 tons per square mile OF
area drained. The same river dis
charges annually i77.ooo tons OF
magnesium chloride. iss.ooo tons OF
Epson salts. $50 900 tons OF gypsum,
and 81 900 tons Of lime. These guam
tides, too. are considerably greater
thsn those carried In the Colorado In
proportion to tho sirc Of the drain
age area.
Belle Fourchc River. at Belle
Fourche, q D.. discharges $4,000
tons OF gypsum. 10000 tons OF Giau'
ber's salts and .3s. 900 tons OF Epson
salts. Tho mud anil silt carried In sus-
pension by this river amount to L.
100 900 tons. MIX River Mt HAvrc,
Mont. discharges annually $1,000
tons Of soda: Payette River. In Idaho
dlschargcs 1000 tons: Salt River NJ
Roosevelt, Aris.. discharges 3ss,ooo
tons Of salt and i70. 200 tons Of Ep
com salts. and the Rio 0rande dts
charges sls.o0o tons OF lime and
3ss. 900 tons OF Olauber's salts.
i The foregoing are n few OF th'
figures OF Incidental Interest present
cd by Water Supply paper s7% OF TN
United States geological survey. en-
J titled Some Stream Waters OF tn
Western United States" The wor'
} reported by this volume IL. however
Of higher practical Importance thai
the above statement would indicate
II Is the result Of an investigation o
the quality Of western stream water
made for the purpose Of determinint
their availability for use for irriga
tIon and other purposes. For vate
supply system the quality Of the waite
available determines its ussfulnss
quite % much - the quantity. Som'
waters contain ingredients that max
Il impossible otuse them for irrisa
tion unless certain precautions sr'
taken in applying the INTO the lsn'
and In draining them Oh. Certain In
gredients In water make II unavail
able or destructive II used In boiler
and the quality Of water used In
manufacturing plant may very largel.
determine the quality Of the pFoduc
of manufacture. The report Just pub
Iished. therefore. cannot fall TO be o
material value to the manufacturini
laad agricultural interests of the West
and the proper consideration OF tn
Information that II contains will pre-
vent many costly mistakes In connec
tion with the industrial developmen
Of that part Of the country.