The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1500 MARINE REVIEW. 21 GREAT DAM AT NIAGARA. THE SUBJECT IS BEFORE OCONGRESS--A BILL PROVIDING FOR AN APPROPRIA- TION HAS BEEN INTRODUOED, BUT INTERNATIONAL QUESTIONS ARE INVOLVED AND IMMEDIATE AOTION IS NOT EXPEOTED. Congressman John B. Corliss of Michigan has succeeded in again creating interest in the scheme for regulating lake levels by the construc- tion of an immense dam in Niagara river. It will be remembered that this subject was very fully discussed in a paper recently prepared by En- gineer Geo. Y. Wisner of Detroit, which was read before the Cleveland chamber of commerce and printed in these columns. Mr. Wisner, who = '""HANDSOME DAN" ON THE AMERICAN LINER PARIS (YALE). has given attention to the subject for years, is a member of the United States Board of Engineers on Deep Waterways, and his connection with this board has had much to do with bringing the subject forward at this time. Congressman Corliss succeeded, through the war department, in having the deep waterways board make a special report on this score, and now he has introduced in congress a bill providing for an appropriation of $800,000 with which to begin the construction of the dam and provid- ing also for co-operation with Canada in the matter. As the project in- volves international questions and is in itself a very important undertak- ing, it is not probable that definite action of any kind will be taken by the present congress, but the discussion is very interesting. The prelim- inary report of the engineer commission which was probably prepared mainly by Mr. Wisner, consists of forty pages of typewritten matter, but the subject is covered in a brief way in a letter accompanying the report, which is addressed to the secretary of war and which is as follows: "Under the influence of varying relative supply, evaporation and dis- charge, the monthly mean level of Lake Erie has had an extreme varia- tion of 4.6 feet during the past 70 years. The low level generally occurs at a time of year when navigation is most active. If the level of the lake could be constantly maintained at or near a high stage, navigation would be greatly benefited by securing a maximum depth at the time when it is most needed, and by the practical deepening of the lake harbors. To maintain the level of a lake at or near some fixed stage, the discharge must be controlled so that it will always be approximately equal to the difference between the supply of water to the lake and the evap- oration from its surface. In the case of Lake Erie this can only be accomplished by establishing regulating works in or near the discharging waterway. These works must be so arranged that they will not only maintain the level of the lake at or near the fixed stage adopted, but also so that they will produce no inju- rious effects upon the lakes and waterways from which a part of the supply is derived, or upon those which receive the dis- charge. "This is the problem which the board has investigated. For the details of its investigation, the methods employed, the data aa and reasoning upon which they are based, and the results ob- > tained, the board refers to the paper on lake regulation by Mr. 4 George Y. Wisner, member of the board, which is appended to this report. This paper was prepared by Mr. Wisner in con- sultation with the other.members of the board, and it fully ex- presses their views. In this report, therefore, it is only necessary to give a brief statement of the conclusions at which the board has arrived. The board is of the opinion that the best location for works for regulating the level of Lake Erie is at the foot of the lake just below Buffalo harbor. The location in the Niagara river below Tonawanda has been advocated, but the board finds upon investigation that regulation by works at this point would be less effective and much more expensive than at the adopted location. The works projected by the board are designed to dis- tribute the discharge of the lake so as to reduce its variation of level to a small amount. This result cannot be attained by the use of submerged fixed weirs only, and a series of sluices is added to secure, in combination with fixed weirs, the control desired. The weirs will be constructed of concrete blocks and will have an aggregate length of 2,900 feet. The sluices, thirteen in num- ber, of the Stoney type, will each have an opening of 80 feet, making an aggregate of 1,040 feet. The piers separating the sluice openings will be of substantial first-class masonry. These sluices can be operated under rules easily formulated and, in the opinion of the board, amply provide for conditions more unfavorable than. any recorded. A canal with a lock is provided on the American side around the end of the dam and the rapids at the head of the river, afford- ing a much safer navigable channel than the present one through the rapids. The estimated cost is: For regulating works $796,923; for lock and canal, $2,325,967. This would be quite necessary to accommodate traffic below Buffalo along the Niagara river. "The extreme high water stage of Lake Erie is about 575 feet above tide water. The level adopted by the board for regulation is 574.5 feet, or about 0.5 foot below the level of extreme high water. This is the lowest elevation at which regulation can be effected without enlarging AMERICAN LINER NEW YORE (HARVARD) RESCUING THE CREWS OF THE DESTROYED SPANISH FLEET,