The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-12-02

The News
BY JAMES D. wu,rr
ASSOCIATED Press St,t. -

olaff Writ.u
SAN FRANCISCO, De- ''s''
Through es, China flow two ., H.. 8,
worlds largest and most r vi a'
rivers, the Yantze and tbs Wv. I,'''
Both rise in the remote esr rsS,
Asian uplands and flow a Ill;
miles across china's scarras WV w
troubled land before tbeu '''
theid load Of silt wearjIy a ounp
Yellow sea. ' IN lie
Their whoms affect ~,
OF tens OF millions Of c1; Nv
often fatally. and their N1 ust'
largely are uncontrolled "'u'a
China has a plan 10 do
thing about the Yantze ~ Nv sOMs
parently hadn't decided wha. ~ ~
be done about the Yellow rir 'sa
which has changed its c ,ms'
dozens of times in recorded 'I y
tory tor =, flooding vast areas and 81, n,
ting the stage for famine, ''''
Planning Dam
For the Yantze, Arneric.,
Chinese engineers are workin, ', ~
plans for a dam. to be 4bs ~. v,
IN a series which the Chinese + ~
ready refer to as the Yangtzs rs'
ley administration. Wy
The long-range goal is IN hull,
a system of flood.contro WI, NM
power dams around Ichans vb r.
the Yangtze roars down ont NJ ''. y.
szechuan Shelf through its fsmmr'
FORCES, just before it spreads r Nv.
through the flat land of the Yant,r
area. Special locks and caraI'
would enable steamers as bis =,
liberty ships to 60 all the waS ~, y,
to Chunghng, nearly 1900 mi ~
from the coast. The project Womb
produce the biggest concentrsaos
of hydroelectric power in III.
world, irrigate $4,000, 900 acre, ~.
land, and regulate water flow n
reduce floods through the ,Oo.
mile lower valley that leads 10 ss
sea.
This project has been outlined
by John L. Savage Of the U. s
Bureau of Reclamation, who drew
plans for Grand Coulee, Boulder
and Shasta dams in this country
Latest reports from Chungking
say that the first big dam TO be
started has been scaled down be.
cause of cost and the length Of
time it would take to built i.
From a $1,300,0O0, 900 dam TAX.
ing ten years to build the plans
have been slashed to a $3OO,OOO,OO0
dam which can be finished in six
years. Within radius Of 800
miles live more people than The
entire population Of the United
States.
The Yantze is also a great trade
artery, which the Yellow river
is not. But the Yellow is even
more of a flood problem. After
it wanders through the inner Nor.
golian Plateau and cuts down
through the Shansi-Shensi Mas
sif, it has 10 find its way across
a flat plain some 500 miles 10
the sea.
Slowed down, it dumps its silt
and thus builds up its own beo,
whereupon it breaks out through
man-made dykes and finds new
course periodically.
The Chinese recognize the dire
need of reforestation Of the up
lands where this river gougeS out
its silt. They know that if they
could cover the bare brown hills
of northwest China with trees and
grass the Yellow river woud
gather less silt and would be less
subject to spring flooding.
They have considered various
ideas about how to harness This
violent river just before it reacit'
the plain, to lessen floods and %
irrigate the great fertile flalIaNa
which it now devastates from 'ln'
to time.
Right now they are faced with a
more immediate problem. IoD
| is whether to keep the YeAos
river in its present channel, wnl!a
partially flows into the YansN
through the Grand canal Or lT
store it to its pre-193s chan1a
farther north. The river LEFT u, y.
old channel in 1898 when us
Chinese blew up the dykes 10 wy
a Japanese advance: 49,,
The "old channel wasn't vsl!
old-only about IS years bs Gs,,
that "China's sorrow" had i''''
ed somewhere else.