The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-06-09
WATER POWER IN
 NEW ENGLAND
Many Advantages Over Other Sections
 In Fall and Flow of Her Rivers.
Industrial Boom Should Follow Their Use For E1ydroelectrc Purposes-Fis1res Show
 She Already Leads.

The problem of harnessing our rivers and utilizing their power to move the wheels of commerce and industry is today a subject of ever increasing study, and it is one fraught with tre- nendous importance to the future of New England
 The increase in the price of coal the fact, as shown by geologists' reports, that our coal supply Is not inexhaust- fble, particularly the supply of anthra- cite, have turned our thoughts to the river, have bade us try to avail our selves of it's friendly flow and utilize the enormous energy which it repre- sentS.
 The increased attention given to this subject resulted few years ago in the geological survey making a careful ex- animation of the country's water pow CT, and a year ago the bureau of cor porations revised and extended the work so as to show the extent to which water power has up till now been util- ized. The report of the commissioner of corporations, for one thing, pointed out that the great bulk of the water power of the country was on it's edges in other words, that New England. New York and Pennsylvania and a few south Atlantic states, together with the Pacific, contained pretty much all that there was of it.
 The following are the principal riv-
 
 important to New England and which should make it pre- eininently the place for manufacturing opportunities: St: Croix River, Maine.
 Total fall 426 feet in so4z miles; drainage area, 1,s74 square miles; maximum rate of fall 50 feet per mile at spraGue Falls. Penebseot River, Maine
 Total fall 1,509 feet in 200 miles; drain age area, 5,934 square miles; maximum rate of fall, 1S.7 feet per mile at Chesun- cook lake.
 kennebec River, Maine.
 Total fall 1.O2s feet in 1ss miles; drain age area, 6,4Oo square miles; maximum rate of fall, 14.7 feet per mile near Moose head lake (source).
 Androecesein River, Maine.
 Total fall 2G6 feet in 199 miles; drain age area, 3,69S square miles; maximum rate of fall, 4S1 feet per mile near Magal- loway lake (souEce9.
 saoo River, Maine.
 Total fall 1880 feet in 1o4 miles; maxi mum rate of fall, 94.6 feet per mibe at or near source; drainage area, 1750 square miles. Merrimac River, New Hampshire and
 Massachusetts.
 Total fall 26e feet in no miles; maximum rate of fall, $40 feet per mile at Manches- ter, N. H.; drainage area 4S64 square miles. centoooek River Branch of the Mer-
 rimae).
 Total fan ss6 feet in 55 miles: maximum rate of faH, 7oo feet per mile at BennfNg ton, N. H. Drainage area included in MerTin1ac.)
 Connecticut River.
 Total fall 2oss feet in s75 miles; maxi mum rate of fall, 34.S feet per mile at Connecticut lake; drainage area, u,2Ss square miles
 Heusatonic River.
 Total fall sss feet in 123 miles; n1aximunn rate of fall, 1914 feet pei mile at Falls Village. Conn; drainage area. 1.953 square miles.
 Labor is generally more plentiful, particularly skilled labor, where the conditions of living are the best, where there is the best environment for the home, the best educational advantages. It is for reasons such as these that New England has such a large popu1a- ton of skilled mechanics. It is for these reasons that years ago it became an industrial region almost without equal in this country; hence it must be that with the development of the enormous power lodged in her streams and it's conversion into electrical energy pos sibIe of transmission over an extended area there should be no question but that this region is to be the scene of great industrial expansion through the superior advantages it will thus offer to manufacturers.
 Hydroelectric power-the power of the flowing stream converted into cleo trica1 energy through the use of tur- bines-may not be cheaper than steam in some places. for it's cost to the con- sumner varies with conditions. It sell dom runs higher than steam and in many instances much lower-aS, for in stance, at Rumford Falls, in Maine. where the power of the river thus con verted is supplied to nearby manufac- turing establishments at a cost of a