The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1915-05-27
WATER RESOURCES OF
NORTHWEST STATES
COMPREHENSIVE STUDY BEING
MADE BY THE u..S.,GEoLoG-
ICAL SURVEY.

The United States Geological Survey
has recently issued a valuable publca-
toon concerning the surface water re-
sources of the northwest portion of
the United States, the greater part of
which Is occupied by the basin of Col
lumbia river. This river has drainage
area of 259,000 square miles. It's source
is in British Columbia and its basin
occupies enormous areas in that Prov
ince and in Mexico, Wyoming, Idaho,
Washington, Oregon, and Nevada. The
region is one of great interest and
value Few river basins in the country
are so diverse. 1t contains some of the
highest peaks in America and some of
the most fertile valley in the world.
Naviqable Waters.
Some idea Of the resources of the
basin may be had from the statement
that the navigable waters of the CO.
lumbia and its tributaries aggregate
2126 miles. The climate exhibits all
the variations from the rigor of the
northern latitude to the mildness of
western Oregon and Washington. Ag-
rculturally the area ranges from the
extremely arid region, where irrigation
is essential, through the semiarid
country, where dry farming and ir-
rigation are practiced side by side, to
the humid country, which, strictly
is arid during the summer. The values
of the irrigated agricultural land range
from about $50 an acre for the poores'
10 $4,000 an acre for the intensvely
cultivated orchards Within the Co.
lumbia river drainage basin are
least one-third of the available water
powers in the United States, but de-
velopment Of this resource has scarcely
begun.
Rivers of Idaho.
The study of the water resources Of
the great region as carried on by the
United States Geological Survey be.
comes therefore a matter of impo"-
lance and interest. Water-supply
paper 312 of the survey which has re-
Gently been issued contains a large
amount of useful data resulting from
the investigation Of the streams of this
area, including the records of flow of
the numerous large tributaries as well
as the main rivers. Among these trih-
utaries are Clark Fork, which occu-
pies large areas in Idaho, Montana,
and British Columbia, and Snake
River, which has its origin in the
Yellowstone Park region of Wyomins,
traverses the southern portion of Idaho
and on its way drains large areas n
Nevada. For part of its course the
Snake forms the boundary between +
Idaho and oregon, and 1t traVerse~
long distances in the state of Greg m .
before 1t finally joins the parent stream /
In addition to stream-flow data con-
corning the Columbia, the report con-
tains information concerning the water t
resources of the coastal streams. such /
as the Rogue, Umpqua. and Silet1.
located in Oregon, and the Cedar, .
Skagit. and Cascade, which drain into "
Puget Sound. The observations y .
stream flow presented in this report /,
of records obtained at 80 I.
stations. About one-half of the ca I
pense of the work is borne by the /.
states of Oregon, Washington, laho
and Montana, which, under tn, au-
thority of laws enacted by the several
legislatures, cooperated with the
United States Geological Survey in
on the work.
A copy of water-supply paper 81
may be had free on application to the
director of the United States Geolog. I
cal Survey Washington, d. C. :