A STATE POLICY OF WATER POWER DEVELOPMENT. In the year 1885 the State of New York originated a policy of forest preservation, since which time interest in this subject has been steadily growing. Up to 1894, in addition to the aoquisition of lands purchased by tax sale, in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains, only $25,000 had been expended by the State in purchasing forest lands, yet the acreage under State ownership had increased from 685,259 in 1885 to 713,806 in 1894. So great was the interest in forest preservation and water conservation, and so audacious the greed of private individuals and corporations to get control of these natural resources, that the Constitutional Convention of 1894 unanimously adopted the overture amending the Constitution of the State so as to preserve the lands purchased by the State in their wild condition. Since the adoption of the Constitutional provision prohibiting the cutting of timber and the destruction of the forests on State lands, the Legislature, by liberal appropriations amounting to $3,850,000, has made large additions to the State holdings in the Adirondack and Catskill mountains, increasing the total acreage to 1,518,450 on January 1, 1908. These large sums have been appropriated for the benefit of the people of the State. Had this policy been adopted before private interest had acquired vast tracts of land in the mountains and devastated them by cutting and destroying the growing timber, millions of dollars would have been saved to the people. There are at this time opportunities for the State to acquire at a minimum cost the necessary lands and rights for the construction of large storage dams for the control of flood waters, and for the development of water powers, which can be made to yield generous returns to the people, if built, developed and controlled by the State; but these same lands and rights will in a short time; like our forests, rapidly increase in price in the hands of private and corporate ownership. These valuable sites, like all natural resources, where nature has stored up immense treasure, grow more valuable each year as population becomes. denser and the demand for their use increases. We have only to look across our northern border to the Dominion of Canada to see how our mistakes in allowing private interests to acquire natural resources have been avoided by the statesmanship of the dominion government. Another lesson may be learned from the policy of the Federal government in obtaining a revenue from the national forests. A series of reports by the Hydro-Electric Power Commission of the Province of Ontario, show that a large saving to the users of heat, light and power can be obtained by utilizing water power instead of coal for these purposes. These reports to the dominion government were followed by the creation of a commission given authority among other things to expropriate the lands and water rights of power companies when in its opinion it would be for the interest of the people or of any community to do so. This statute of our neighbor is an evidence of its determination to preserve for the Canadian government these natural resources which will increase its annual income. The increase in the revenue of the national government from the national forests was more than 2,000 per cent. in the past two years, and one and one-half million dollars above the cost of administration." While we cannot hope that by the storage of flood waters the income of our State will increase with such rapid strides, it surely will be augmented at a rate that will astonish the average person and justify the estimates of economists who have given thoughtful attention to the subject. We are a growing people the stream of water that will furnish a safe horse power of energy at a minimum cost has a definite value, and that value in a few years will increase. Shall we permit such sources of public profit to pass entirely from the control of the State? Single interests which have studied the subject and become familiar with the value of water rights and the economy of water over steam, and who look only to private gain, may and probably will raise objections to any action on the part of the State toward the ownership of water power rights. It is clear, however, that individuals cannot economically develop the water power within this State and the opportunity for the State to do so should not be defeated by the determination of a few intent upon amassing fortunes and creating monopolies. Such purposes must yield to that broad policy which will most evenly and justly distribute the wealth of the State. To acquire the dam sites and flowage rights on the large streams and begin the systematic building of storage dams at such places as will most quickly earn a revenue that will repay to the State the cost of acquiring such rights and of the necessary construction seems to the Commission to be the plain duty of the State. There are obstacles to such an enterprise, but they are not insurmountable. In the area proposed to be flooded above the Sacandaga dam at Conklingville, there are about one hundred acres of forest preserve land. The execution of this project will therefore require an amendment to the State Constitution respecting the flooding of State lands. The same is true of other available locations for storage dam sites in the Adirondack mountains. In each instance the area of State land that would be flooded is small. An amendment to the Constitution that will permit the State to clear and flood Ştate lands only where it shall be necessary to build storage dams in the interests of the people of the State and for a State revenue, these dams and reservoirs to be owned and controlled by the State, would be required to meet the exigencies of the situation. It is for the people of the State to decide, in view of all the facts, as to the expediency of such action. Finally, the studies and investigations of this Commission have already been carried far enough to make it appear probable that it can, with the aid of the Legislature, construct a dam upon the Sacandaga river at or near Conklingville in Saratoga county and enter into contracts with reliable property owners on the Hudson river that will pay the interest on the bonds to cover cost of construction, create a sinking fund that will in a reasonable time retire such bonds and return a handsome annual income to the State. The revenue from this new source, it is confidently predicted, will steadily increase to an amount that will lead the people to regret the early policy of the State in allowing its great natural water power advantages to be acquired by private interests. The report of our consulting engineer, John R. Freeman, and his assistants, accompanied with maps, plans and data, follows. Respectfully submitted, February 1, 1908. HENRY H. PERSONS, President. CHARLES DAVIS, JOHN A. SLEICHER, ERNST J. LEDERLE, MILO M. ACKER, State Water Supply Commission. APPENDICES. REPORTS OF ENGINEERS. STUDIES OF CERTAIN OPPORTUNITIES FOR PREVENTION AND POWER IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK UNDER PUBLIC OWNERSHIP AND CONTROL. I. 2. On the Sacandaga River near Its Confluence with the Hudson. On the Genesee River near the Portage Falls. BY JOHN R. FREEMAN, HYDRAULIC ENGIneer. HORACE ROPES, C. E., IN CHARGE SACANDAGA SURVEYS. WALTER McCULLOH, C. E., IN CHARGE GENESEE SURVEYS. [29] |