The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-12-14
GREAT WEALTH IN WATER.
Report Issued on Surface Waters of Mas.
sachusetts by Geological Survey.

| The water resources of Massachusetts,
have at all times played an important
| part in the industrial and commercial
development of the commonwealth. In
/ the settlement and growth of the Ameri-
can colonies the rivers were the principal
avenues of communication and commerce,
the means of transporting logs from
the forests to the mills, and the sources
| OF power for grinding grain to make flour
and meal, for carding wool, and for the
manufacture of lumber, But conditions
have changed. The heavy forests have
been destroyed in Massachusetts, and
only Merrimack and Connecticut rivers
still carry logs, which are brought from
distant forests in New Hampshire and
| Vermont Flour and meal are now man
Iufactured in relatively large local plants
! or imported from the still larger plants
| OF the west, and SO cheaply that there
! is no need for the small neighborhood
gristmll The sawmill, the gristmlll,
and the wool-carding mill have been re.
placed by the machine shop. the paper
mill, cotton mill and the scores OF other
manufacturing plants for which Massa-
! rhusetts has become noted. The small
1 Industrial towns of colonial time or Of
/ the early days OF the commonwealth
have become the great manufacturing
and commercial centers of to-day The
| factories of Lawrence, Lowell Holyoke,
and many smaller cities still utilize wat
er power as their principal source OF en-
ergy, although in some mills the power
obtained from the rivers is supplement-
ed by steam.
! In our days it is no longer necessary
to use the power at the place where it
/ is generated By electric transmission
/ the power developed on Connecticut riv-
or near Brattleboro, VT, and on Deertield
river in Massachusetts, and Vermont is
now utilized to supplement the steam
and water power in many cities and
towns of Massachusetts,, and many small
lhydroelectric plants supply nearby cities
and towns with power. Another impor
tant change in the use of power is seen
! in the electric light and the electric rail
road, which have revolutionized lighting
and transportation in the cities and
towns.
| The interest of the people in the power.
resources of the state and community,
great and intimate as it was in colonial
times, is still greater and more intimate
to- day, fact that is recognized in the
large measure of control of tht public
utilities exercised by the commonwealth
and by municipalities. As Director &.
| O. Smith, of the United States geologi-
cal survey, department of the interior,
has stated, THE most notable sign of
the times is the general acceptance of
the principle of public control
Still another phase of the public utili
tizaton of water resources that is of i'm
mediate interest to all the people is the
use of rivers as sources of public water
supplies for cities and towns and the
necessity for conserving the supply and
protecting the quality in order that the
individual may at all times have sufii-
cient potable water. The construction of
water supply system for the metropol-
itan district including Boston and the
nearby cities is reckoned among the en-
cheering triumphs of modern times, and
the protection afforded to the municipal
water supply by the Massachusetts board
of health has served as model for other
states.
In accordance with the tendency of the
times many uses of water are now de-
clared to be public uses and placed un
der public control In January, 1916, the
United States supreme court rendered
decision which defined public use in the
following words:
"But to gather the streams from waste
and to draw from them energy, labor
without brains. and so to save mankind
! from toll that it can be spared, is to
supply what, next to intellect, is the
very foundation of all our achievements
and all our welfare. If that purpose is
not public we should be at loss to say
what is"
| The public interest in this great nat
ural resource is therefore increasing.
Uses are changing with demands, and
as these changes take place a knowledge
Of the quantity OF water in the streams
and of the variations in flow from sea
SON to season and year TO year becomes
necessary. To meet this need and to
provide a basis for future studies Of the
water resources of the state, the United
States geological survey has issued az
water supply paper as a report that in
cludes all available records of flow OF
streams in Massachusetts,. The report in
cludes the classic longtime records col
lected on the Merrimack at lowell and
Lawrence. on the Connecticut al Hol-
woke. and on Lake C0chituate and Sud