THE GREAT LAKES REGION

REPORT OF THE REGIONAL TECHNICAL ADVISORY SUB-COMMITTEE

(Submitted by Capt. T. Dodson Stamps, Corps of Engineers, chairman)

SECTION I. GENERAL

1. Scope of report.-A comprehensive plan for the utilization of the water resources of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin does not lend itself to division into a number of separate projects, since but one large basin is included within the drainage area. Hence this report outlines the development of the basin as one large project, with a number of items of work. Numerous small valleys drain into the Great Lakes or the St. Lawrence River, but no valley is of sufficient importance to be considered as a separate project or to be included as such in a national plan. These valleys have, however, been carefully investigated and items of work therein which are justified are included in the plan.

2. Organization and procedure.-The membership of the subcommittee is as as follows:

Department of Agriculture.-W. N. Sparhawk, Forest Service; C. F. Clayton, Bureau of Agricultural Economics.

Interior Department.-N. C. Grover, chief hydraulic engineer, Geological Survey; A. W. Harrington, district engineer, Geological Survey.

War Department.-Max C. Tyler, lieutenant colonel, Corps of Engineers, United States Army; T. Dodson Stamps, captain, Corps of Engineers, United States Army.

Due to the limited time available in comparison with the breadth of the field to be covered, the work of the members of the subcommittee has been largely individual or by departmental groups, the members from each Department attempting to furnish the information needed from their Department and to reflect its views as accurately as possible, particularly in the fields of its primary interests. For this reason, the opinions, conclusions, and recommendations embodied herein do not necessarily represent the studied judgment of each individual member. They do represent in every instance the departmental viewpoint as conceived by the members from the Department which has the most information on the subject or the principal functional responsibilities thereunder.

The data presented herein, including estimates of cost, have been taken from the best available sources, but are not the work of the subcommittee itself.

3. Description.—The Great Lakes are the source of the St. Lawrence and form with it a water system extending from the interior of the continent to the sea. Lake Superior, the uppermost and largest of the Great Lakes, discharges into Lake Huron through the rapids of St. Marys Falls and the St. Marys River. Lake Michigan is connected with Lake Huron by the wide and deep Straits of Mackinac. Lake Huron discharges into Lake Erie through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, and the Detroit River. Lake Erie discharges into Lake Ontario through the Niagara River. From Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence flows 533 miles northeast to Father Point, which marks its transition into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The first 115 miles of the river is on the international boundary between Canada and the United States; the remainder of its course is through Canadian territory. The city of Montreal is 183 miles downstream from Lake Ontario. The drainage area of the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River contains about 157,000 square miles within the United States, and covers parts of 9 States. The Lakes provide a storage reservoir of 94,000 square miles. The average annual rainfall is about 32 inches. The accompanying map shows the principal features of the basin. (See accompanying map.)

4. Uses of water in the basin.-The dominating value of water in this basin relates to navigation as shown in detail below. The present navigational interests on the Great Lakes themselves are of major importance. There is in addition the future possibility of a channel of sufficient depth to permit ocean-going ships to pass from the Atlantic Ocean to Great Lake ports by way of the St. Lawrence River. Subsidiary outlets for navigation from the Great Lakes to the Mississippi and to the Hudson already exist and should assume greater importance as a result of proposed deepening and further improvements. These canals depend in part for their water supply, respectively, on Lake Michigan and Lake Erie.

It must be recognized that the problems of municipal water supply are controlling in this as in all regions of the country. The Great Lakes furnish supplies of water of first quality for municipal uses and already more than 10,000,000 people in the basin obtain their domestic water supplies from the lakes and rivers of the region through major municipal water supply systems. A serious consideration in connection with the surface water supplies of the region lies in the danger to such supplies from sewage pollution. The further watersupply development which is certain to take place in this basin will eventually require the abatement of sewage pollution through the construction of suitable disposal plants.

The recent loans of Federal funds by the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and the Public Works Administration for water-works projects in this division aggregate $12,519,500. The applications still pending aggregate $15,825,000.

Water-power development is of major importance, especially in connection with the improvement of the St. Lawrence for navigation and the further development of the power resources of Niagara River. The proximity of the Niagara-St. Lawrence region to one of the important industrial centers of the country and to New York, Boston,

and other large eastern cities offers a strong inducement for the further developments of the large potential water power.

Among the relatively minor though tremendously important uses of water in this area may be mentioned the hunting, fishing, and other recreational facilities which exist at many points on the Great Lakes, in the Thousand Islands section of St. Lawrence River and in the Adirondacks. Very few parts of the country offer recreational facilities comparable with those of this region and on account of their favorable location near the densely populated centers of the East their development is sure to assume constantly increasing importance. Mention should also be made of the importance of the commercial fisheries in the Great Lakes region. This industry has maintained its position and standing for many years and under proper encouragement and regulation should remain for all time an important activity.

The fact should not be overlooked that the development of all of these important activities, the solution of interstate and international problems and the administration of the lake and river system for all purposes through future years depend upon adequate, reliable, and continuant information with respect to the stages of the Lakes, the stages and quantities of water flowing in the rivers and the ground water in the tributary ground-storage basins. It is only through the adoption of such basic data that the broad development of the basin along hydraulic lines can proceed in the most orderly and efficient manner. The estimated cost of ground- and surface-water investigations is $150,000.

SECTION II. NAVIGATION

1. General. Since the construction of the first lock in the St. Marys River in 1855, there has developed on the Great Lakes a system of transportation unique in the world's history. The magnitude of the commerce alone shows that except for their paramount use as a source of domestic supply, the greatest value and highest use of the waters of the Great Lakes are for water transportation. The net commerce through all our ports of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts and of the Great Lakes in 1929 was about 520 million tons of which 162 million tons, or 31 percent, passed through the United States ports on the Great Lakes. Duluth-Superior ranked second among all the ports of the United States, while Buffalo was seventh. The development of the greatest steel centers in the United States has been brought about by the cheap transportation of raw materials provided by lake carriers. The annual savings to commerce are more than the total capital investment in navigation improvements. Attractive as are the possibilities of a seaway which can be navigated by ocean vessels, the commerce between lake ports is, and will be, of first magnitude and importance, and improvements for its benefit must not be given second place.

2. Navigation improvements. To meet the increasing needs of navigation, to provide further economies in water transportation, and to connect the Great Lakes ports with the ocean ports of the world, the works listed below are recommended.

(a) FOR THE BENEFIT OF NAVIGATION WITHIN THE INTERIOR OF THE UNITED

(b) TO PROVIDE FOR NAVIGATION BY OCEAN VESSELS

NOTE.-Detailed data and information on all navigation items are on file in the Office of the Chief of Engineers, United States Army.

SECTION III. POWER

1. General.-Falls adequate for substantial power development exist in the St. Marys River, in the Niagara River, and in the St. Lawrence River along the international boundary between the State of New York and the Province of Ontario. The first two falls have been privately developed to the capacity permitted by international agreements on the diversion of water, 81,000 horse-power in the St. Marys River and 1,137,000 horsepower in the Niagara River. Power on the St. Lawrence is considered below. Data on the development of power in connection with flood control are given in appendix III.

A plan has been proposed involving the construction of a power house at the lower end of the "Maid of the Mist" pool in which, by utilizing 19,500 second-feet, wheels of a total capacity of 250,000 horsepower would be installed. The operating head would be about 74.5 feet and discharge would be through a tailrace tunnel into the Lewiston pool. The cost of this project was estimated at $38,000,000. The application for license which was originally made on March 2, 1921, was finally dismissed without prejudice by the Federal Power Commission on August 25, 1930, principally, it is understood, on account of the already involved status of the power situation at Niagara.

In Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, and New York a number of small streams possess suitable heads which have been developed for power by private interests where existing market demands and reasonable cost of construction warrant. The remaining potential

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