Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1913-04-16
IOWA WATER POWERS
GREAT OPPORTUNITY
Wonderful Possibilities Offered in
Development of Latent Power.
IOWA HAS GREATEST WATER
POWER DAM IN THE WORLD
Greater Iowa" Publishes Interesting
Article Describing Great Bene-
fit to State of Its Water
Power Sites.

Water power for turning the old
mill wheels was one of the things
sought for by our Iowa pioneers when
they first came to this country, but
water power as it can be turned to
account today was never dreamed of
by our earliest citizens.
A new era has come in water pow
er development since a way has been
found to transform this power into
electricity, and thus carry it over
long distances. Progressive COM
monwealths are awakening to this
modern way of generating cheap pow
er, and every community which has
a river nearby with any considerable
flow of water has a natural resource
which might make that locality a
thriving manufacturing center.
Senator Eli c.. Perkins, of Delhi
Iowa, a member of the thirty-fifth
general assembly of Iowa, from the
thirty-third senatorial district, says
there is power enough in our Iowa
rivers to run electric cars all through
the state of Iowa, and to light and
heat every farm house and every
home in all of our cities, villages
and hamlets.
The United States Geological Sur
vey declares in one of its reports on
water supply that the development
of the water power of this country
is an economic necessity.
''Our stock of coal is being rapidly
depleted, and the cost of steam pow
er is increasing accordingly" says
the government experts. Indus
trial growth land, as a consequence
the progress of the United States as
nation, will cease If cheap power
affords the only avenue now open.
When the electric transmission of
power was accomplished the relation
of our water powers to national econ
omy changed entirely. Before the
day of electric transmission, water
power was important only at the To-
cality at which it was generated, but
it has now become public utility in
which the individual citizen is vital
I ly interested"
With the completion of the great
est power dam in the world on the
| Of cto 20 hn at
kuk, Iowa is beginning to wake up
on this water power development.
Davenport is undertaking a big wa
ter power project. Already a plant
of considerable proportions is op-
Grating at Decorah. Power companies
have been estimating the possibili-
ties of the Des Moines, the Cedar
the Upper Iowa, the Maquoketa and
the Wapsipinicon rivers.
i AS is we'll known, water power is
by far the cheapest power which can
be obtained. Gasoline Is going high
er in price all the time, and is becom-
ing more scarce, so that the gas eng
inc will not always be source of
decreases annually, which makes
steam power more expensive. Water
power costs about one-thirteenth as
much as steam power. The rivers
we have always with us, and once
harnessed up, the power is inexhaust-
ible.
Far-seeing business men have been
alive to this possibility for some time
An eastern company has secured op-
tions on many of the water power
sites along the Wapsipinicon, on the
Des Moines, and on some of our 9TH
er Iowa rivers. The present legisla-
ture is planning to incorporate into
the public utilities bill a provision
which will give the state some con-
troll over these power companies,
which will safeguard the interests of
the state. The attitude of our pub
lic-spirited men is to encourage wa
ter power development.
Water power development has been
the means of making the state of
Maine the great manufacturing cent
er it is. Although far from the base
of supplies or from the source of raw
material, Maine is the great textile
center of the United States. Many
other big manufacturing plants are
located in this manufacturing state.
New York and California also have
developed water power to great ad-
vantage. Other than these three
states, water power has been taken