Water-Power Development On the National Forests and Proposed New Legislation

• Author: O.C. Merrill
• Published date: 01 January 1916
• DOI: 10.1177/000271621606300122
• Date: 01 January 1916
• Subject Matter: Articles

WATER-POWER DEVELOPMENT ON THE NATIONAL
FORESTS AND PROPOSED NEW LEGISLATION
1
BY O. C. MERRILL,
Chief Engineer, United States Department of Agriculture, Forest Service.
This convention has been called for the purpose of discussing
ways and means for promoting water-power development in the
western states and particularly for considering the extent and form
of federal legislation which would be best adapted to that end.
This question has been much discussed in recent years and
different men and groups of men have reached radically different
conclusions, partly because they had different theories of economics
and of government, partly because the discussion has been allowed
to center around certain academic questions having no essential
bearing on a practical constructive program, but largely because
there has been a surprising lack of agreement upon the main facts
that affect the problem, a lack of agreement that can be due to
nothing else than a failure to make that careful and open-minded
investigation which ought to precede the discussion of any question
of public policy.
It is obvious that widely varying conclusions can be reached by
equally valid argument if the discussions start upon a different
assumption of fact. For this reason it is often the practice in the
trial of cases at law for the opposing attorneys to agree upon a
statement of fact in order that the discussion may be confined
entirely to a question of law. The work of this convention would
have far more value could a similar procedure have been followed
here. The subject under discussion involves questions of public
policy upon which there would be a sufficient diversity of conclu-
sion were there full accord upon the facts. It ought no longer to be
necessary to challenge conclusions, the only foundation for which
is a misapprehension of fact, particularly when the truth can be
learned by anyone who takes the time and has the inclination to
discover it.
Eight years of close association with the water-power
questions of the western states have convinced me that, if we elimi-
1
Read before the Western States Water Power Conference, September, 1915.
244

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nate from consideration those who will cling to preconceived opin-
ions under any circumstances, the most fruitful cause of difference
of opinion on a proper public policy toward water-power develop-
ment is misunderstanding of the actual conditions that exist.
The statement is frequently made that while there are 60,000,-
000 of water horse-power in the United States, but 6,000,000 have
yet been developed, and that, while millions of tons of coal, an
expendable resource, are being annually consumed in the produc-
tion of steam-power, 90 per cent of our water-power, chiefly in the
western states, is running unused to the sea, while all that would
be necessary to bring about the substitution of water-power for
steam-power and to check the appalling waste of coal, is adequate
federal legislation.
Whether there are, in fact, 60,000,000 water horse-power in the
United States, no man knows. The estimate quoted was made
some years ago on admittedly inaccurate data, on an assumption of
mechanical efficiency not yet attained, and for a distant future
when the cost of coal would make steam-power prohibitive. How-
ever this may be, there is no doubt that there are, particularly in
the West, large amounts of undeveloped water-power. The esti-
mated development of 6,000,000 horse-power is correct if the pre-
vious rate of increase has been maintained since the last census.
Of this amount about one third is used directly in manufacturing;
the remaining 4,000,000 horse-power are used in the generation of
electric power. The steam-power development of the United
States is about 28,000,000 horse-power, of which 18,000,000 is
used directly in manufacture and 10,000,000 in the generation of
electric power. But it by no means follows that if the public do-
main and the navigable rivers were thrown wide open to private
exploitation that water-power would or could entirely displace
steam power. Direct water-power could not be substituted for
direct steam-power in manufacturing because the great manufac-
turing cities have no water-powers. In so far as substitution takes
place it must come through the medium of electric transmission.
Under prevailing practice in hydro-electric systems, the steam
installation required for reserve and for peak load service is 50 per
cent or more of the water installation.
Hence, even if abundant
water-power were available within economical transmission dis-
tance from all our markets, and all our industries could be served

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with electric power, not less than 12,000,000 steam-power would
still be required. But the water-power is not so available. It is
absurd to assume that the millions of undeveloped water-power
in Oregon and Washington can displace other millions of steam-
power in New York and Pennsylvania, at least until the time when
the shadowy dream of a nation-wide transmission network shall
have become a practical reality. Nor can much nearer sources be
utilized under present-day conditions.
Although possessing hun-
dreds of thousands of horse-power of undeveloped water resources,
entirely free from any possibility of federal interference, the states
of New York and Pennsylvania have an aggregate steam installa-
tion of 7,000,000 horse-power, one fourth of the total in the United
States. The water-powers of western Pennsylvania and of northern
New
York cannot, under present conditions, be developed and trans-
mitted to...