OCR Text |
Show Water Power of Cascades Report Distributed by United States Geological Survey Show Great Undeveloped Un-developed Water Power Well to tho west of the great rock barrier which in tho early days of tho Republic was nsBiimed to bo the natural western boundary of tho United Uni-ted States lies nnothcr great belt of elevated land surmounted by n chaos of rugged peaks and pyramids the Cnscado. ltango of Washington and Oregon, in theso mountains thero Is an lnoxhnustlblu Btoro of potential wealth, much of tt lio'onglng to tho Nation not precious or useful mot-nls, mot-nls, for mines, howover rich, must eventually beconio exhausted, but n wealth of running water, nn endless chain rovolvltig with tho seasons. Tho streams of tho Cascades possess In high degreo tho requisite characteristics charac-teristics for tho successful develop, ment of water power, namely, steep gradient, nbundnnt water, and com-pnrntlvo'y com-pnrntlvo'y uniform flow. Add to theso tho enormous resources or timber, tim-ber, metallic and other minerals nnd Innds ns yet developed only in n Biiinll part but promising nn oxtcn-slvo oxtcn-slvo future innnket for water power, and It becomes apparent thnt tho largo nrens of country surrounding tho Cnscade Plateau have In tho nn-1 developed power of their streams ' very great potential wealth. Federal and State Cooperation Tho United States OeologlcnV Survey Sur-vey in cooperation with tho Washing-ton Washing-ton State Hoard of Cieologlcnl Survey, has mado a comprehensive survey of tho water resources of this nrea in that Stntc Water Supply Paper 313, Issued by tho Federal Survey, entitled Wntcr Powers of tho Cascade Cas-cade Range, Part II, Is tho second of n series of reports resulting from this work, tho first hnvlng been Issued M Water Supply Paper 2fi3. This second report deals principally with tho dralnago basins of Cowlitz, NnB-qunliy, NnB-qunliy, Puyallup, White, Clrecn, nnd Cedar rivers. It includos nil monthly month-ly estimates of rlvor dlschnrgo do-rived do-rived from data collected by tho water wa-ter resourcos branch of tho Oeologl. cal Survey in cooperation with tho State Hoard of Geological Survey nnd by private persons. Tho summaries of tho avallablo power in each baBln aro computed from tho nvorago flow for tho lowost weok on record nnd from tho flow that could be realized from poBBlblo Btorngo. The flow with storago Is computed on tho basis of tho continuous contin-uous dlschargo that can ho maintained main-tained by tho relenso of tho stored water during tho most extreme-drought extreme-drought on record, considering tho length nnd sovorlty of low water periods. Copies of both Wnter Supply Pa-pors Pa-pors 253 and 313 may bo obtained freo of charge on application to tho Director of tho Geological Survoy, Washington, D. C. |