The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-11-05

annual ~rainfali equal 70 ten Missis-
slppi Rivers. We have measured the
quantity and know that IT falls. Where
does II go? l shall ask these high
browed scientists TO tell you the story.
Here again MCGEE Is the best authority.
His mind is so sharp that II can split
a raindrop. and his vision so clear tina
he can follow the drop to the skies or
10 the bowels of old Mother Earth. He
divids the rainfall into three-sthe run
off, the hy-off and the cutoff. One
third of all the water that falls, says
he. flows into the sea through the riv-
ers and the smaller streams. This is
the run-of. X smaller amount soaks
into the soil and satuates the rocks
and finds It's way into the sea by leak
ing out into the streams. This is the
cutoff. The remainder, which is by
far the most of the supply, evaporates
and goes into the air to fall again as
rain. This is the fy-off. This is the
water which. in connection with that
from the oceans, loads the clouds and
drops again upon the land.
The iy-off IS so largo that If you
could freeze Il into cubes a mile square
II would suffice to build an Ice wall a
mile high and n mile wide al the way
from New York TO Detroit The run
off. is SO frozen. would make such n
wall 500 miles long. and the cut-of, or
N"N nabti "ii1 iilh iuiO III "
would make one long enough to reach
from Philadelphia to Boston.
our Underground Waters.
In addition to the water which falls
every year, we have another great sup
ply underground. which has accumu-
later and Is fed by rain and snow
which fall from time to time. This
water is always moving. but the
amount is SO great that II is equal to
1 tina Entira rainfall nf the TTnttai
States for seven years, or to the run-
off for twenty years. There is so much
of IL under the surface of the earth
that IL has been timated that If 1t
were equally distributed 1t would wrap
around our globe al envelope of water
ninety-siN feet In thickness. McGse
estimates that the amount of water
which lies under the United States to
a depth OF 100 feet would, II 1t could
be raised to the surface and held
there, cover our whole country to q
depth of seventeen feet. He estimates
that it contains 1900 cubic miles of
water, or enough to build a %raInpart
of Ice two miles wide and FIVE miles
J high through the Mississippi Valley
from st. Paul to st. Louis ard on to
New Orleans.
This underground water runs from
the surface. as in the case OF swamps
and marshes. to hundreds of feet. and
even a thousand feet, below the sur
face. All the cracks and openings of
the rocks are filled with water, and
there are porous rocks which take up
water like a sponge. In these about
one nth OF the whole volume is sup
posed to he stored. 1t Is this water
which feeds our artesian wells and
other wells. 1t is this that feeds the
plants In great degree, and tbs that
furnishes the larger part of our table
:'pply In some places this water is
pumped up and used for irrigation and
in others 1T flows on being tapped, and
altogether 1T is very valuable. Con-
gress will be asked not only to con-
serve the forests that thcy may act
as a sponge to ret. in this underground
water, but TO hold 1t back In other
ways.
Regulating the Rivers.
These schemes of Uncle Sam for con-
trolling the water supply embrace the
whole United States. They provide for
the regulation of the flow Of the rivers
and of standardizing them. They pro-
vid for great reservoirs along the
Mississippi. Ohio and Missouri. They
treat OF drainage n irrigation and OF
the development of our water power.
They also clude the making. by
means OF canals. of a great system OF
interior water transportation. which
shall supplement our railways and re-
duce freight rates to the merchant and
the consumer. According to DR.. Nc
Gee, the scheme means an annual saw
Ing in transportation charges alone of
more than th~ree-quarters Re a million
dollars for every day of the year, an
annual saving in flood damages OF
s150,00o,00o per annum, and q savinS
In the washing away of our soils W