In the course of its general investigations of the water powers
of the State, the Water Supply Commission has heretofore confined
its attention to the possibilities for large developments, and the
regulation of the flow of rivers and large creeks. No previous or
general investigation of small creeks and brooks and their power
possibilities has been made, not because they were considered
unimportant, but because the Commission believes that if the State
decides to take an active part in the regulation of the flow of streams
and the development and conservation of water powers, it should
confine its first activities to the larger units, leaving the smaller
opportunities for later examination and for private and individual
development. However, no comprehensive system of conservation can meet
with universal favor unless it contemplates the prevention of waste,
great or small, and wherever found.
Accordingly, the Commission desires to call attention to the
valuable power which is now running to waste in thousands of small
creeks and brooks in all sections of the State. Many of these minor
streams present possibilities for small individual developments of
power sufficient to supply all the requirements of the owner at a
comparatively small cost. Numerous farms in the State have on them
brooks or creeks capable of supplying power sufficient to furnish
electric light for all the buildings. Others would also furnish power
enough to drive a feed grinder, a churn or cream separator, or to run a
wood saw, sewing machine or other machines and implements requiring a
small amount of power for their operation. In short, there are numerous
small streams now tumbling over ledges in barnyards or pastures whose
wasted energy might readily be transformed and applied to useful work
by the installation of small and inexpensive water-power plants. If the
power of more of these were developed and substituted for manual labor,
a great saving of time and energy would be accomplished, and financial
profit would result.
[Illustration: Modern Application of Hydro-electric Power Vacuum
Milking Machines]
After the initial expense of installing the plant is paid, the cost
of a small water power is inconsiderable, the plant requiring little
personal attention and small expense for supplies and repairs. However,
while the power of some streams may be developed at an amazingly
small cost, in other instances the cost may be prohibitive. In this
connection, one fact that is perhaps not fully appreciated is that
the power of a waterfall is comparatively permanent, only its rate of
availability being limited. While the stream may shrink in the dry
summer and fall, it is quite certain to swell again in the spring and
to continue the process, year after year, as the source of supply is
continually renewed. But the power which might have been, but was not
developed in the year 1910, cannot be reclaimed in 1911 or ever after.
Much of the power that is wasted by inequality of the flow of the
stream may be saved by conservation through water storage; but this
sometimes involves a large outlay and therefore, generally speaking,
the fullest use of the power of a small stream can best be obtained by
using the stream as it runs, or at best after temporary storage behind
inexpensive dams.
[Illustration: “Luminous” Electric Radiator]
The Water Supply Commission believes that the possibilities for small
water powers should be pointed out to the people of the State in order
that there may be a better realization of the usefulness and value of
this remarkable natural resource and that the farmers and residents of
rural districts may take advantage of the opportunities to conserve and
utilize them. It is believed that some facts relating to the utility
of power in general and small water powers in particular, together
with descriptions of some typical small water-power developments
that are now in actual operation, and brief notes as to how such a
power may be developed and applied, will suffice to bring the subject
forcibly to the attention of those most interested, and furnish at
least a beginning for observations in this comparatively new field,
and stimulate a tendency to a more general utilization of this source
of power, and a consequent saving of much energy now secured from
coal, wood and other exhaustible producers of power. Accordingly, the
following discussion of the many and varied uses for power on the
modern farm, together with descriptions of developments now in use, and
notes on developing a small water power, are submitted in the hope that
they may be of interest and service to those who have chosen farming
for their livelihood or pleasure, especially by assisting them in the
consideration as to whether or not it may be worth while to develop the
power of any particular stream. These discussions and descriptions are
not intended to suffice as a practical handbook for laying out a power
plant, but merely to point the way to an intelligent consideration of
the possibilities, by showing what others have done and laying down
a few fundamental principles, which should properly be taken into
consideration in determining upon the development of a small water
power.