Report on the Gaging of Streams for 1910.

Hon. FRANK M. WILLIAMS, State Engineer and Surveyor:

Sir. I have the honor to submit the report of the Bureau of Hydraulics, Barge Canal Department, for the calendar year 1910. This report contains the results of observations of water-levels along the lines of the Barge canal, as well as at gaging stations maintained in coöperation with the United States Geological Survey, for the purpose of determining the discharge of streams throughout the state during the year 1910.

SCOPE OF WORK DONE.

The Bureau of Hydraulics, as a specific branch of the Barge Canal Department, was organized in 1907. The work carried on by this Bureau is chiefly in the following lines:

(1) Maintenance of gaging stations in connection with the Barge canal work.

(2) Investigations and reports on special hydraulic problems arising in connection with the Barge canal work.

(3) Preparation of defense for the State in hydraulic cases, including claims for backwater, damages to water power by diversion and appropriation and other similar cases before the State Court of Claims.

DEFENSE OF CASES IN COURT OF CLAIMS.

During the year 1910, in addition to routine office work in connection with the Barge canal, the technical defense of several important claims was prepared by the Bureau of Hydraulics, the following among others:

Claim of the New England Brick Company for damage by backwater from a culvert on the Champlain canal during a flood. The technical defense included precipitation records, estimates of flow, etc., and of the capacity of the culvert in question. The case was dismissed without award.

Claim of Melville W. Van Amber and others for damages alleged to have been due to the placing of flash-boards on dam in Black river at Carthage. A survey of the portion of the river in question was made. Elaborate calculations and gagings were also made to determine the extent, if any, to which the flashboards in question would raise the water level at the claimant's lands under the given conditions. The result of these hydraulic investigations indicated that the claimant was not materially injured by the placing of the flash-boards on the dam and that the State had not exceeded its right in connection with the matter. The claims were dismissed without award.

The claim of the Ontario Knitting Company of Oswego, N. Y., for appropriation of its mill and property, was tried in January, 1910, by the State Court of Claims. This claim involved the valuation of leases of water power rights on the Oswego Hydraulic canal, which were held by the claimant. Various other hydraulic questions entered into the matter of valuation of the property. Data were furnished by the Bureau of Hydraulics to the experts for the State, and extensive investigations and calculations were made in relation to the hydraulic features of the case. was dismissed by the State Court of Claims without award.

The claim

Preparation was made for the defense by the State in the claim of Veronica Jaescke, for appropriation of a rye flouring mill and water power located on Irondequoit creek near Pittsford, N. Y. This case was partially tried out before the State Court of Claims.

Preparation was also made for defense by the State in the claim of the Oswego Falls Pulp and Paper Company for appropriation of its water rights located at the upper, or Oswego Falls dam, on Oswego river at Fulton. This claim has been tried out before State Court of Claims on question of title, but the testimony has not yet been taken on matters of valuation of the water power.

Surveys were made and technical data accumulated and reports prepared for the use of the State in its defense in connection with claims arising from the flood of February 28 and following days in 1910, at Herkimer, N. Y.

Investigations relative to and preparation of data for use by the State in defense of various other hydraulic claims were in progress at the end of the year 1910.

DEVELOPMENT OF STREAM GAGING IN NEW YORK

STATE.

Preceding the year 1900 there had been comparatively little work done in connection with the gaging of streams in this state. In the original construction of the Erie canal the water supply available was usually greatly in excess of the amount required and comparatively few gagings of streams were made at that time, of which there is any record. Occasional gagings by private interests were made, which have been recorded, such for example as gagings of West Canada creek about 1820 by John B. Jervis. The earliest continuous records of the flow of a stream throughout any considerable time in this state, now on record, are those of Eaton and Madison brooks, made by Mr. Jervis as Chief Engineer of the Chenango canal in the 'forties. Systematic gagings of Croton river were begun by the city of New York in 1868 and have been continued down to date, forming an extensive and valuable series of data. Gagings of the west branch of Croton river and of small streams on Long Island were made by the city of New York at about the same time that the Croton gagings were begun. Gagings of Hemlock lake outlet were made by the city of Rochester in the 'seventies, under the direction of Mr. Emil Kuichling and Mr. Geo. W. Rafter. These engineers also obtained short gaging records on a number of small streams in central and western New York.

In 1888 systematic gagings of Hudson river at the dam of the Duncan Company at Mechanicville were instituted and have been continued down to the present time. In 1892 to 1894 gagings of several smaller streams in the vicinity of Albany and Troy were obtained by the Water Departments of those cities. In 1894 and 1895 Mr. Geo. W. Rafter undertook to establish permanent gaging stations on the upper Hudson and Genesee rivers, and these records have been continued with some interruptions down to the present time, but systematic gaging of streams for the purpose of obtaining continuous records generally throughout the state cannot be said to have been undertaken until 1898, when about 20 gaging stations were established by Geo. W. Rafter for the U. S. Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways. These sta

tions were taken over by the U. S. Geological Survey and the State of New York in 1900 and formed a nucleus of the coöperative stream gaging work since carried on.

Stream gaging work was systematically undertaken by the State Engineer's department in 1900, and an appropriation of $1,000 was obtained by the State Engineer to be expended in coöperation with the hydrographic branch of the U. S. Geological Survey. The Geological Survey was to expend an equal or greater amount on stream gaging work in the state during the same year. The work was placed under the general supervision of the Geological Survey, subject to advice and approval of the State Engineer. The writer was appointed by the U. S. Geological Survey to take charge of the coöperative stream gaging work in New York state and the work was continued under his direction as District Hydrographer until 1906, when Mr. H. K. Barrows became District Hydrographer, continuing in that position until the spring of 1909, when Mr. C. C. Covert was made District Hydrographer.

An appropriation for stream gaging by the State Engineer's Department in coöperation with the Geological Survey has been made in each year from 1900 to 1910, excepting in the year 1905. The records were maintained during that year by the Geological Survey and were furnished to the State Engineer's Department for publication in the usual manner. The present report is the eleventh annual report of stream gaging work conducted in conjunction with the State Engineer's Department.

The necessity of having extended and reliable records of the flow of streams became very evident at the inception of the great hydraulic works undertaken in the state of New York within the past few years, notably the Barge canal construction by the State and the Ashokan reservoir water supply of the city of New York. About 100 gages were established in connection with the Barge canal work, chiefly in the years 1904 and 1905. These were mainly for the purpose of determining the water level rather than the discharge, but inasmuch as it was found that the data regarding discharge could be obtained advantageously at a considerable number of these stations, that work was also undertaken and has been carried on by the Bureau of Hydraulies in conjunction with