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An enterprise of so important a nature on the part of the State will require new legislation. All new conditions require new laws to meet them. The Legislature and the officers and experts in charge of the undertaking can be trusted however to work out a just and equitable law that will meet every requirement necessary to enable the State to enter upon the project.

THE SACANDAGA DEVELOPMENT.

The studies, surveys and investigations made upon the Sacandaga reveal the following facts:

The Sacandaga river rises in the Adirondack mountains, its western branch in the south central part of Hamilton county, its eastern in the western part of Warren county, and it drains Lakes Pleasant, Piseco, Spy, Oxbow, Fawn, Elm, Sacandaga and others. The upper part of its water-shed is largely covered with forests, a great part of which are already owned by the State. These forests and lakes constitute of themselves natural reservoirs, and are so situated that with minimum effort their flood waters can be still more largely stored and made of practical use.

The Sacandaga river from its source to Conklingville is sixtyfive miles long and has a drainage area of 1, 050 square miles. At Conklingville, the place selected for a dam site, the mountains come closely together and the river runs thence in a narrow valley to its confluence with the Hudson at Hadley.

Above the proposed dam, the valley to be flooded consists of farms and swamps. Thousands of acres are covered with a thick, brushy growth of alders of little value. A large part of the soil still farmed is not valuable for such purposes. Evidence of the poor quality of it is seen at a glance, and no amount of industry can turn these sterile flats into productive areas.

There are places where good farming lands are found, but in comparison with the great acreage of the valley these are few. Years ago when timber was abundant and tanneries flourished, prosperous villages grew and thrived. But of late the opportunities for manufacturing and farming are so few that, except in rare instances a general depopulation has taken place and this must continue. The mountains and hills forming the walls of the valley

are either rock or glacial sand drift; they are barren, steep, and contribute in no way to the thrift or prosperity of the occupants of the low lands. The river is subject to frequent spring and summer freshets which often flood large areas and destroy such crops as the land might otherwise have produced. It is a delightful country to ride through but a sterile one in which to make a living.

It is this valley that the Commission decided upon as one of the best in which to begin its investigations for the State. As soon as possible, therefore, after the bill authorizing these investigations became a law, the enterprise was organized under the direction of our engineer, and five surveying parties, including engineers, draughtsmen and drillers with boring outfits, properly equipped, took the field and began the work. They were directed to make careful and complete surveys, plot the area of the land to be overflowed,- take elevations to determine the flow line of the reservoir when full, and the point to which the water could be safely drawn down,- select a site for a dam and power house, make borings to ascertain the location of rock foundation, locate a suitable place for a spill way,-gauge the river and streams tributary to it,― measure the capacity of the dam proposed and the amount of available flood water it would store for power purposes, and gather sufficient data on which to base conclusions and recommendations.

The Commission requested the engineer to answer the following questions:

(1) Can a suitable site for a large storage dam be located? (2) How much water will such a dam store?

(3) How much water will the Sacandaga river at this point furnish for power purposes ?

(4) What kind of property would be flooded by such a dam?

(5) The value of the property in the flooded area.

(6) How many horse power can be produced at the dam?

(7) How much would the proposed dam increase the pres

ent horse power development of each power plant down the stream?

(8) A plan of such a dam worked out in detail.

(9) A plan of a proposed power house worked out in detail.

(10) The total cost of such a dam and power house, not including land damages.

(11) The time required to complete such an enterprise.

(12) An estimate of the lani damages.

On account of the short interval between the commencement of the work and the making of this progress report, the final answers to the 5th, 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th questions are not attempted at this date. These questions can be answered only after most careful estimates from accurate detailed plans that are yet to be made.

The answers to the 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th and 6th questions are such as to inspire confidence in the work contemplated and in the final results to be anticipated.

From the work already done it appears entirely probable that a safe and suitable site for a dam can be located at or near Conklingville, Saratoga county, that will cover an area of 40 square miles and store about 26 billion cubic feet of flood water; that the Sacandaga river thus dammed will furnish at this point a sufficient amount of water to produce 60,000 horse power of energy, which is greater than the aggregate water power of Lowell and Holyoke combined, or will increase the present available force at sites lower down the Hudson by 70,000 horse power for the six dry months of the year.

Such a dam will set the water back to the village of Northville, a distance of 30 miles, completely submerging the whole valley between these two points, including the villages of Munsonville and Huntsville, a part of the villages of Northville, Sacandaga Park, Northampton, Cranberry Creek, Vails Mills, Benedict, North Broadalbin, Batchellerville, Day Center and Mayville, and about 4 miles of the Fonda, Johnstown & Gloversville railroad. In building this dam the treatment of the shore line will be such as to make it an attractive sandy beach when the water is drawn down. This will be made possible by removing all timber, and by permitting the wave action in time to create conditions like those found on the margins of a natural lake, leaving nothing but clean sand or rock from the low to the high water line. Such a lake, extending from Conklingville up the river to the village of Northville, would add to the beauty and attractiveness of these

foot hills reaching up into the mountains. It would also furnish thousand of delightful camp sites upon a lake very much larger than most of those in the Adirondacks, and easier of access from large centers of population.

These facts have been derived from information carefully gathered by the Commission, and show that the increase of the available horse power for sites down the river, which can be obtained at this one storage dam by the broad and comprehensive plan of the Commission is 50 per cent. more than the total increase estimated by Mr. George W. Rafter in his "Hydrology of New York State," as possible for the entire Hudson river. It must be borne in mind, moreover, that the plan outlined contemplates building for the future. While seeking at this time to fully conserve the wasted energy of the Sacandaga river, at this point only, the Commission is not unmindful of the possibilities of additional storage dams on the head waters of the Hudson. As such energy has an actual value for power purposes, it is the design of the Commission in its final report on this subject, to respond in detail to all the requirements of chapter 569 of the Laws of 1907.

HADLEY RESERVOIR.

Surveys and test borings have been made at Hadley for the purpose of determining whether a storage dam can be built at this place across the Hudson which will economically increase the power development at each of the thirteen power sites lower down the river. The investigations have not proceeded far enough at this time to give the amount of flood waters that could be stored there for power development and flood protection. These investigations will be continued in the future work of the Commission.

GENESEE RIVER STUDIES.

The reports of our engineering corps and studies made therefrom and on the ground show what can be accomplished by storing the flood waters of the Genesee

The river takes its rise in the highlands of the Allegheny region in Pennsylvania, a few miles south of the New York State line. Entering New York, it runs across Allegany county, forms the boundary for some distance between Livingston

and Wyoming counties and flows in a general northeasterly direction through Livingston and Monroe counties, emptying at Charlotte into Lake Ontario. The total length of the river in New York is approximately 107 miles and its total fall from its entrance into this State to the surface of Lake Ontario is about 1,123 feet, giving an average fall in the State of 9.6 feet to the mile. The total catchment area of the river at Portage is 942 square miles.

From Portage, fifty miles above Rochester, down to Mount Morris the river flows for over twenty miles through a canyon in some places from 300 to 350 feet deep. At the head of this canyon are the Portage falls with a total descent, including rapids, of 330 feet in three miles. This fall is in three divisions known as the upper, middle and lower falls, with respective descents of 71, 107, and 70 feet, making an aggregate fall of 248 feet exclusive of intervening rapids.

From Mount Morris, at the foot of the canyon, the river passes through a broad level valley to Rochester, where there is another fall of 253 feet in 42 miles. This fall with its power resources gave the first industrial stimulus to the development of Rochester, now numbering 182,000 inhabitants, and the third largest city of the State. Although the Genesee has a number of tributary streams, there are no existing power developments of consequence except at Mount Morris and at Rochester, where the total fall is utilized. The unexampled site at Portage is as yet untouched.

It is then to this great natural power site at Portage that the Commission has given its careful attention. The outlines of the proposed development include the building of a storage dam near the present Pennsylvania railroad bridge at Portageville, threequarters of a mile above the upper falls and beyond the upper end of Letchworth Park. This dam, which would be of curved form, 1,200 feet long on the crest line, and 160 feet high above the foundation, would flood an area extending fifteen miles up the river and averaging a mile in width, forming a lake of fifteen square miles surface area, about as large as Canandaigua or Skaneateles lake. This reservoir would store 18,000,000,000 cubic feet of water, sufficient to provide a yearly average flow of

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