The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1912-06-16

tHaA river, anu us btutuNidi ShtNt
upon the commercial and manufac-
turing Industries in that section of
the country would alSne. justify the
construction of the hecsssary-res =
voir system.
Power Development.
Referring again to the question Of
Power Development, the possibility
of the creation of ,ralues by such dc
.velopment is shown by the plans
adopted by the Gig of Los Angeles
for bringing municipal water-sup-
ply from the Owens river, Inyo Coun-
ty to the City Of Los Aageles. The
value of the water supply would have
justified the cost o. constructing the
aqueduct which vii hrna pure
mountain water u distance of ESQ
miles in sufficient quanti,Y to supply
a city of 100000 Inhabitants.
The system viii sltver 25S,oo0, d.
900 gallons (neb e'sry twenty-four
hours into reser 1oi $ rocated nearly
1000 feet above The city 1t con-
sists of IS miles nj covered conduit,
40 miles uncoyesed q miles of opon
canal. Il miles If trvcr ed syphon5,
as miles of tunnels 10 to Is feet in
diameter and res 1voirs along the
line holding three months supply.
The total cost wi,l approximate
s25, 00o,000 and the water pow or
incidentally crear,d viii be utilized
in producing 10000 II. p. peak
load of electrical energy. the sale OF
which will provide a fund large
enough to cover the interest and
create a sinking fund that will
eventually pay all the bonds issued
to cover the cost c. both the aque-
duet and the electrical power.
The people of the City OF Los
Angeles will, therefore, eventually
become the absolute owners, with
out cost to them, of one Of the
largest municipal water systems +
the world, together with the elec-
trical power and the income from
the sale thereof, after the payment
of the bonds.
Every tributary of the Ohio river
should be separately studied and n
plan made for its complete develop
ment fer electrical power and u
regulate its flow. so as to prevent
foods and pour into the river in the
summer season at its low water
stage the excess food water which
now runs to waste, causing only dis
aster and destruction, retarding in
dustrial development, injuring prop
erty values, and interfering with and
interstate commerce.
Replenishing Summer Flow.
No figures are available as to the
animal food damage or possibilities
of power development on the upper
river above st, Louis, but
the same conditions and principles
that apply to the Ohio River Valley
are in the main applicable to the up
per Mississippi river. The necessity
for repIenishing the summer flow for
navigation is becoming more mani,
fest each year as the timber is clear.
ed and the swamps AIRED rained
the. wide extent Of terr
ritory on the watershed of the upper
which was once an un-
broken swamp. or forest constituting
a natural reservoir system that isI
now being destroyed to make way
for civilization and agriculture.
On the Missouri river and Its trib-
utaries the necessity for food pre-
vention is as great as in the Ohio
river drainage basin, and II the flow
of the Missouri river were regulated,
IL might again be made navigable
as in. the old days, all the way from
st. Louis to Fort Benton, the whole
year round.
In the territory drained by the
Missouri river, two additional eco
homie factors enter into the prob
lem az reasons that warrant the ,ex-
penditune of the large sum Of money
that would be required to build the
controlling. works necessary to uti-
lie and stanNerdize the flow of the
river through the year.
Making Hay.
One is the enormous area which
might be irrigated from food water
canals, so as to produce on all the
lands for which such irrigation
could be provided, crop of hay or
grain worth from $1,000 an acre up
wards each year.
The second benefit would be that,
II the. surplus, 'sood-How of all the
tributaries of the Missouri river were
distributed over the vast area OF dry
plains and bench lands in than rS-
gion, the water from canals, and the
water that was poured out over the
plains and soaked into the earth,