large industries already well established, or could be immediately sold in large blocks to large users like street railways or public lighting companies, and the great source of immediate profit in nearly all recent water power enterprises has been thus found in taking the power to some large city and stopping the steam engines. THE INDIAN LAKE RESERVOIR. This appears to have resulted from the surveys of 1895-6. It is the largest and most recent storage reservoir in the Adirondacks and one in which the State has acquired an important part. It adds materially to the water power of the Hudson in time of drought and therefore it merits at least a brief mention in connection with the present studies. The following description is condensed mainly from a description by Mr. G. W. Rafter in the report of the N. Y. Commissioners of Fisheries, Game and Forests for the year 1899. A more complete description was published in Engineering News May 18, 1899. In 1897, the Indian River Co., a corporation composed of owners and users of water power on the Hudson river, was organized to develop the storage of Indian Lake to full capacity in order to help out the low water flow of the Hudson river. A masonry dam was constructed havings its stone spillway crest at elevation 1,650 above sea, twenty-three feet higher than the crest of the old lumbermen's dam at this point, which had fallen into de cay, and which old dam flowed the water ten feet above its natural level. Thus the new construction raises the water about thirtythree feet above the surface of the original lake, which was about two miles in length and about one-third of a mile in width at the broadest portion. The reservoir thus enlarged has an area of about 5,000 acres at the spillway level and is about thirteen miles long. It is of interest to note that when the first lumberman's dam six feet in height was built here in 1845, the timber was left standing upon the areas flooded, as was also done when later the original dam was rebuilt and raised to a total height of ten feet, for log driving purposes. This flooded timber died and remained standing for many years a serious blot on the landscape. After about forty years from the original flooding, the great bulk of it had fallen down, and since that time and aside from the few scattering stubs here and there, the old reservoir when full is said to have presented the appearance of a fine natural lake. The storage of the ten foot timber dam was estimated at 800 million cubic feet, and that of the new masonry dam up to the spillway level is estimated at 4,468 million cubic feet, or if flash boards two feet in height are admitted, a storage may be expected of roundly five billion cubic feet. The State acting through the Forest Preserve Board took a strong interest in the construction of this new dam, which with the clearing of the trees from the flowed land, is stated to have cost about $100,000, and at an expense of $164,000 the State acquired, largely from parties interested in the building of the dam, about 42,000 acres of land from which the merchantable lumber had been cut, adjacent to and including Indian Lake, to form a portion of the Adirondack Park, provided for under legislative acts of 1893, 1897 and 1898. A statement of the conditions leading to this purchase is presented in the report of the Forest Preserve Board, made to the Governor on January 29, 1898. It was stated that if the old wooden dam was allowed to decay, "the water would be drawn to its former level, reducing the lake to one-third its present size and leaving miles of devastated flats," and the action of the State in this purchase "was based upon a consideration of the advantages gained in thus not only preventing the destruction of Indian Lake in its beauty, but also in preserving it as a vast reservoir for supplying the Champlain canal and improving the navigation of the Hudson river. It is to be noted in this connection that the control of the waters has been thus secured to the State rather than left in the hands of private parties." The State has from time immemorial retained ownership in the flow of the Hudson sufficient for the needs of the canal. The real benefits of the enlarged Indian Lake have accrued so far as I can see, solely to the water powers and in such very slight and almost inappreciable extra depth of water for navigation near Albany as may occur, while the release of this storage is going on. While the nominal control rests in the State, the actual regulation of the sluices is understood to be done by an employee of the water power owners. The specifications for clearing the reservoir margin provided that "all timber and brush of every sort, kind and description now standing on the banks of Indian river or Indian lake above the site of the proposed dam and between the present margins of the said river and a line above the proposed flow line, should be cut to within two or three feet of the ground and thoroughly burned," etc. It is of interest to note that Mr. Rafter had recommended in the report of 1895 that all standing timber, undergrowth and brush be "cut down to the ground and burned." It was found extremely difficult to burn the bodies of the trees and so it is said it was concluded not to attempt to burn the heavy logs, but so far as possible to float them out after the reservoir had become full. It is stated afterward by Mr. Rafter that "no such extended clearing of reservoir margin in the forest area had previously been carried out in the State, and that every attempt had been made to have the clearing at Indian Lake well done, and that the noncompletion of the burning during 1898 was due entirely to constant rains during the months of October and November." It is stated p. 398, the contract price for cutting and burning was $13.50 per acre, which was rather low. The soft wood of commercial sizes had long ago been closely cut and rafted out, and the larger trees left were chiefly hardwood, which does not float or cannot be rafted downstream. The method finally adopted was, as described by Mr. R. E. Horton, Asst. Engr., that "after cutting into proper lengths for burning the brush, etc., the large trunks are to be left until after the reservoir is completed and filled, after which the hardwood and softwood logs will separate, the former remaining at the bottom and out of the way, while the floating softwood will be rafted down the lake and sluiced through the dam in the same. manner as logs intended for lumber, after which it may be allowed to take care of itself as driftwood in the stream," to later be caught in the log boom above Glens Falls and cut into fire wood for the market. Much difficulty was found in the burning on the narrow margins without permitting the fire to work up the slope and back into the forest, particularly in cases where the spruce duff covered the ground sometimes to a depth of several feet. The plowing of furrows as specified for fire guards outside the limits was in many places inapplicable because of boulders and rough ground, and where the duff and vegetable mold was thick, a space had to be cleared by means of grub hoes for a width of at least thirtythree feet back from the standing timber and the brush piled for burning, back of this line. I have quoted thus extensively from the reports of the engineers under whom the Indian Lake reservoir was constructed, because of having myself inspected the margins of this reservoir during the past summer in company with the members of your board, when I found the presence of stumps left by this cutting at two or three feet above the suface of the ground so unsightly and so dangerous to pleasure boating when the lake is partially drawn (as it naturally would be during August and September) that it appears important to emphasize as strongly as possible that a more exacting specification should be made, and lived up to, in the case of other storage reservoirs permitted within the Adirondack Park, or wherever constructed subject to State control. STORAGE DRAFT FROM INDIAN LAKE. The records of the daily height in Indian Lake above the bottom of the sluice ways, have been presented from year to year in the reports of the State Engineer and in the Water Supply papers of the U. S. Geological Survey, but no record of outflow has been published. In a published description of the dam and sluices, it is stated that the preliminary estimate of discharge for the two gates from a full reservoir was 1,400 cubic feet per second, but that it was not expected to draw more than 1,000 cubic feet per second. In analyzing the yield of the several portions of the Hudson drainage, it is important to know what portion of the flow is from time to time coming from this Indian Lake storage. We find by methods as described later, that the actual rate of draft seldom exceeds 750 and probably averages about 600 feet for a total of somewhat more than 100 days per year, and that it is drawn on nearly as often in midwinter as in midsummer, and the record of what has actually happened here is of interest as indicating the probable time and extent of drawing future reservoirs built solely for storage purposes and for showing to what extent they would serve in flood control. I have, therefore, attempted approximate preliminary computation from such data as were available, and finding that the data on file were contradictory and incomplete, have had Mr. Geo. G. Shedd, C. E., visit the lake to take such measurements of the parts affecting the discharge as could be made in midwinter, with the lake full. The published statements of storage capacity of Indian, Lake at various heights are incomplete and perhaps rest on crude measurements. An accurate contour map of the bed on large scale should be made and a table of capacity at various depths prepared. A survey on the ice with soundings at frequent intervals could be,cheaply made. We did not have time to attempt this, but have relied on the few statements of capacity at various levels found scattered in various reports and have drawn a diagram from them for present purposes. Mr. Shedd finds that the elevations of bottom of discharge openings, corresponding to the elevations marked on the upper portion of the gage staff now in use, are as follows: Stone crest of spillway (total net length 88.5 ft.) Average crest of flashboards 6 inches wide four bays. Crest of large logway 15.7 ft. wide.. Top of main masonry dam.... 33.23 0.15 33.75 0.15 ± 34.20 0.15 31.76 23.41 40.55 No record of height of flashboards is kept. These are changed occasionally. Those now on are of irregular width. The spillway contains two bays less length than shown on plans on file. The bays are of length averaging 17.70 feet each. The two iron sluice gates, set new last year, have their center at zero of the upper portion of the gage staff, as nearly as could be determined under the full reservoirs and inability to close one of the guard gates found at the time of Mr. Shedd's visit, so the published lake level gives the static head on center of main sluice gate very nearly. The top portion of present staff is legible and has metal foot figures and metal staples for the inch marks. These are said to have been' set several years ago by Mr. R. E. Horton. The middle and lower portions of the staff are said to have become illegible so that when lake level is below thirtythree feet, measurements are now made with fragments of cloth tape, measuring down from top of gage, in a way liable to introduce occasional error. The recorded rise of about seven feet in one day on September 30, 1904, is plainly a mistake, which from the daily course of the records must have continued over a long period. The metal figures are understood to have not been attached to gage below thirty-three, because of height of water at the time, and there are grounds for thinking there may have been some change made from the original heights, at date unknown, because it is stated repeatedly in the State |