Evening star., 1925-10-15
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL y. COLLINS.

Lorne Campbell. Canadian en-
gineer, is not satisfied with five Great
Lakes and would add a sixth, twice
the size of Lake Ontario. His object
is the laudable one of catching the
water from the Albany River. which
empties into Hudson Bay and is
nearly as large as the ST. Lawrence.
and, after impounding it in a new
lake covering an area of $4,000
square miles, flowing the food
through canals into Lake Nipigon and
thence into Lake Superior. With an
inflow Of $1,000 cubic feet per second
he would offset the outflow of the
Chicago Drainage Canal and raise
the Great Lakes to the old level
some two feet above their present
level.
The project would require two
years for surveying, 10000 men to
work several years clearing the for
ests over the to-be-fiooded territory
following item, but American engi-
neers dot would take 80 years for
the new lake to I'LL to the proposed
depth of $50 feet before there would
be much of an overflow to arrive
over the divide and begin it's work Of
raising the level Of Lake Superior.
Other engineers are responsible for
the statement that for every rise of
one foot in the level Of the Great
Lakes there would be an increase Of
outflow at Niagara amounting to
what would be the effect of Mr.
CampbelIs inflow Of $1,000 cubic feet
with an increased outflow of 10000
cubic feet might prove an interesting
problem of hydraulic engineering.
X
Army engineers do not take the
Campbell project seriously, but are
inclined to class 1t with other fool
plans" which are preserved for curl
osity in a scrapbook for that pur-
pose. They say that the Chicago
Drainage Canal does not take 1900
cubic feet per second, as Mr.. Camp
bell states. but only $500, and, as
methods of condensing and utilizing
they now are following, they will re-
duce the lake water needed to not
more than 5000 feet per second. =
Even If Mr.. CampbelTs surplus of
Is 900 cubic feet per second did flow
into the Great Lakes, the result would
be merely an increased outflow at
Niagara and at the Drainage Canal,
and SO long as the capacity for the
outflow was not exceeded by the in
flow there would be no considerable
rise in the lake level. It is hardly
conceivable, they say, that Canada
would consent to divert water from
a vast watershed of her own, simply
to flow it over American or neutral
territory. Nobody knows what min
eral wealth lies in the Canadian ter
ritory which would be flooded. It is
filled with forests and probably con-
tains coal and other valuable re-
sources. Aside from the potential
value of natural resources to be COW
cred by the proposed new lake, it is
estimated that the labor cost of the
project would be not less than
5000. 100000.
X X 4
There is no question but that the
lowering Of the level of the Great
Lakes in recent years seriously affects
navigation. Weather Bureau statistics
show that there has been a shortage
of rainfall, amounting to about 80
inches total in a decade, which de-
crease is not likely to continue in
definitely. Climates do not greatly
change, but drought in one decade
will be Offset by increased rainfall In
the next. However, there is some de-
crease due to the cutting off of the
great forests of Michigan, Wisconsin
and northern Minnesota. The greater
area now in cultivation increases the
evaporation Of the soil, SO that the
moisture goes into the air, instead Of
flowing into the lakes. This condition