Daily Kennebec journal., 1914-02-28
CYRUS c. Rabb.

| SJTdS ~ baDp.
Cyrus C. Babb, chief engineer of Maine
State Water Storage Commission, spoke
on "The Development of Maine" as fol-
! lows:
I'm this Develop Maine Movement we =
might well adopt for our watchwords.
| Organization, Cooperation and Publica-
ton. The movement has an enormous
! potentiality if undertaken in the proper
/ spirit, and carried out with a continuity /,
of purpose. Our natural resources are
magnificent Let US find out what We
! have through central federation of the ,
clubs societies and associations through
out the State as has been started in this
movement. Let us put the information :
In an attractive form, and advertise it
/ throughout the country, in our own State
as well as in other states. l speak ad-
/ visedly when l say our own State. We
should show our people that it is profit
able TO place their money at home. and
not sink It in the mines Of California.
the irrigation works of Colorado or the /.
everglades of Florida.
Let us consider for a moment our
water powers, in the opinion of your
/ speaker, the greatest natural resource of
the State. not even excepting its forests:
Maine now has $4,000 horsepower de- .
veIoped by 1900 plants under a total head
| of about 7s00 feet. 1t ranks third of, the
states of the Union in this particular.
| For water power used in manufacturing.
it ranks second. New York leading. but
| In the proportion of water power TO total
power, Maine has first rank. This last
! statement has a peculiar significance /,
/ First rank In proportion of water power
/ to total power is due in part at least. to
our magnificent lake systems and storage
| reservoirs developed on them.
One or two OF the Rocky Mountain or
+ Pacific Coast states may have a some
what larger total undeveloped power but
! they will not have the dependable power
at low stages of the rivers. when water
power Is the most valuable.
THE Investigations of the State Water
| Storage Commission have brought out
/ the following facts regarding our lake
systems:
The total area of the State is 500
| square miles of which f4s4 square miles
| are the lake areas. This is equivalent to
| one square mile of the lake area for
/ every 22.s square miles of total area.
/ There are PISS bodies of water in the
/ State over about six acres in extent, not
| including the numerous ponds of an acre
or two IN area. This is one lake for every
Isl square miles of land area. The aver
age size Of all the lakes is o6s square
mile or s35 acres
The total present reservoir storage in
! the state is 204. .Oo0. 10000 cubic feet. in
Guiding such projects as the 3.ooo.eoo
storage on the Twin-Chesuncook Lake
| system OF the Penobscot; A,ou,V00 cubic
| feet in Moosehead on the Kennebec H.
/ Oo0, coo cubic feet in the Umbagog Range
| ley-Magalloway system at the headwatr
/ ers of the Androscoggin and II, 10000 Gu
| bic feet storage in Sebago Lake. It is
estimated that the potential storage ca
pacity is Just about double the present
storage.
For the purpose of collecting informa-
ton, and the exploitation of the resources
| OF the State, the Develop Maine Move
ment should organize into permanent
and effective association. The constitu-
ton might provide for the creation OF de-
partments of activities with vice presi-
dent at the head of each. The following
eight departments are suggested: Nat
ural resources, agriculture. transporta-
ton, industry. finance. education, civies
and morals. summer resorts.
Permanent headquarters should be es.
tablished at some convenient place and
resourcefuI and energetic secretary en-
pfoyed A campaign of education should
! be continuously agitated. and the people
of the entire state interested in the move
ment Politics should be barred and sec
/ tionai ieaIousies laid aside. Especially
/ the movement should not lend itself TO
| the exploitation of any one city or sec
/ ton TO the detriment of any other. In
| this way only can best results be OBJ
tanned for our State and we are again
placed on the map OF the Union as a re-
soureeful commonwealth.
Submits Chart.
"A tentative chart of organization and
| investigation is submitted herewith:
! Agricultural Resources-Climate. soil.
products, manufactures. dairying, beef
/ industry. animal and plant diseases, pre-
ventabIe losses in agriculture, abandoned
/ farms, social conditions.
Water ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS powers,
undeveloped powers, public water supply.
underground waters. water transporta-
| tion, reclamation of swamps.
Forest Resources-Fire prevention,
| numbering. operations and wasteful meth
DDS manufactures.
! Mineral Resources-Granite, lime. field
! spar, slate, road materials. mineral wat
ers, peat. precious stone, including tour
malines, etc.
Observation-Disclosures lobster industry,
the herring industry, the clam industry,
the ground fish industry.
Miscellaneous Industries, plant outfit.
inland game preservation, public health
| and scenery.