Southern Appalachian Digital Collections

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Report of the Secretary of Agriculture in relation to the forests, rivers, and mountains of the southern Appalachian region

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  • 140 SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN REGION. importance of Water nower is universally recognized as the cheapest water-power i • » » • preservation. power to be secured for any species of manufacture, tor when once the constructional development is at an end the attendant expenses become very small, since, through the operation of the laws of nature, the water flows without cost by day and night, while every ton of coal that passes in at the furnace door represents a certain expenditure, and in plants requiring great power this fuel cost may come to represent a large proportion of the cost of manufacture. In the past the chief advantage of steam power over water power was the mobility of the former, for steam could be generated wherever fuel could be obtained and mills could be built and where the transportation facilities were such as to insure the quick disposal of the finished product. By reason of the great improvements in electrical transmission of power, steam has lost its advantage, for water power can now be brought to a mill for distances of man}' miles more cheaply than power can be obtained from coal at most points. The water powers, therefore, in the not far distant future, may become as valuable as coal mines, and as the local coal supply becomes more costly by reason of deeper mining, the water powers will increase in value. This wealth should not be wantonly wasted. Its present value can be conserved and its future value increased by the preservation of the forests about the headwaters of the streams; and this preservation would seem desirable, therefore, if for no other reason than this, entirely apart from the wealth-producing capabilities of the forests themselves. wa\frRPoewer" in ^ 's impossible at this time to give an accurate statement SehiiiT'regtoT'of tne total power available on all the streams rising in and flowing from this area, for the reason that the power on any stream can not be determined accurately without a survey of the entire course of the stream with this object in view, and any discussion of this, based on the total fall from source to mouth and the average quantity of water carried by the stream, would be worse than misleading; for the mere fact that there is on any stream a certain fall within a certain distance, over which flows a certain amount of water, does not mean that this locality constitutes an available water power. Theoretically the power is there, but practically it is nonexistent unless it can be developed and brought to use for a sum which is
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Object’s are ‘parent’ level descriptions to ‘children’ items, (e.g. a book with pages).