W. S. MERRILL Member M. E. S. The head of Rogue River is a small lake in Croton township, Newaygo county. At that point the Rogue is only a small stream, and within three miles of its source the channel is lost in the Rice Lake marshes. These marshes, intermingled with tamarack swamps, cover five or six thousand acres, from which the stream emerges with definite banks and flows southward through a rather flat country, much of which needs draining. A large area of the marshes was covered with water twentyfive years ago, and it was called Rice Lake. The township Drain Commissioner constructed a drain, by straightening and deepening the outlet about one and one-half miles. This was successful in lowering the so-called lake about three feet and reclaiming quite an amount of land. Rice Lake does not appear on the plat of the government survey. It is described as a marsh in the field notes, the section corners and quarter posts indicated thus: "Stake in marsh, no witness." There is some doubt that many of these stakes were ever placed. They could not have run the lines in the summer, and it is not likely they were there in winter. As more land was taken up by actual settlers on the rich muck lands adjacent to Rice Lake, there arose a demand for a more complete drainage system, and County Drain Commissioner Alexander Burril proceeded to act on a petition to extend, widen, and deepen the Rogue River Drain. A survey was made by engineer Pettee, the job was let; but the contractor failed to appear, and nothing farther was done. Later commissioner Brown, acting on another petition, employed Mr. McCrary to survey again, an extension of the river drain, and advertised for letting. Opposition became quite active, the matter was taken into court and an injunction prevented letting the job. After considerable litigation the proceedings after the petition were declared illegal. While the matter rested at this point, the Legislature amended the drain law. The property owners who were in favor of the drain then presented a new petition. Drain Commissioners Rhodes and Schaffer of Newaygo and Kent counties, examined the conditions, declared the drain a necessity, and it is under their supervision that we, County Surveyor Shepard of Newaygo County and the author have surveyed and laid out the present Rogue River Drain. The engineering features in this case are typical of many in the lower peninsula of Michigan. Where engineering jurisprudence was concerned we worked along the lines of least resistance. No property owner is disturbed in his riparian rights. Wherever the property lines have not been surveyed, we surveyed them and established the corners with great care. There has for some time been a contention, that about a third of the territory in the western part of the drainage district, really belonged to the Hess Lake system and the water should be allowed to go that way. In order to decide this question we ran a line of levels along what is known as the Chesebro Creek to Hess Lake and found a very good fall. Simultaneously a drain was laid that way, which will relieve the Rogue River system of nearly one third of the surface, the rainfall and runoff of which it might otherwise have been obliged to take care of. Incidentally it may be mentioned that this new drain has a Chesebro cut which somewhat resembles another famous cut of similar name. However, as the former opponents of the river improvement are residents of the Hess Lake district, everybody is satisfied and the work goes on. The new Rogue River Drain will have a twenty foot bottom, and will be a floating dredge job. As the channel will need to be quite deep to properly distribute the grade, it can be shown that the width will be ample for taking care of the water. From our surveys we obtain the following data: Number of miles in drainage district, 30. Average slope, .0004 or 2.112 ft. pr. mile. Assuming a depth of 5 feet of water in the channel gives area of cross section 112.5 sq. ft., and hydraulic radius 3.6. Applying the value .0275 for n in Kutter's formula, which is generally admitted for channel left by dredging, the resulting velocity is 2.57 ft. pr. sec. Continuing our calculations by allowing for a rainfall of one inch in twenty-four hours, one third of which reaches the drain, and dividing the quantity of effluent by the rainfall from one square mile, we get a result of 32, which is slightly more than the area of our drainage district. Had I not desired to be original I might have entitled this paper "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" because Rice Lake was a paradise for the lumbermen and sportsmen. "Before our fields were shorn and tilled" the lumbermen rafted their logs across the marshes, flooded by a dam at the outlet, and the sportsmen, in their frail boats chased the wild ducks and speared eels and pickerel by starlight and by torchlight. But their paradise is now lost, to be regained by the farmers who will soon be turning over the rich black muck with their steel or chilled plows, and the long rows of celery and onions, broad fields of alsike and red top, abundant pastures, dotted with herds of cattle and horses, will make a picture of happiness and thrift, such as is becoming more and more common in this beautiful peninsula. President Teed: I will now proceed to the next topic which is "Hydro-Electric Engineering." The chairman, Mr. Ayres is not present but the Secretary will read a letter. Mr. Hoexter: Reads letter. Hydro-Electric Engineering SOUTH BEND, IND., January 10, 1916. MR. L. E. AYRES, Chairman, Hydro-Electric Committee, Engineering Society of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. DEAR SIR: I beg to acknowledge receipt of yours of the 8th. inst., relative to paper on "Stream Flow." Some of our organization would have been very glad to work with you on this matter but for the fact that we are engaged in a rate case, and almost our entire force is working on same. Mr. Wihtred Cook, who is now working for Professor Riggs, might be able to give you a paper on this subject, he having done considerable work for us on the St. Joseph River, looking into the possibilities of building storage reservoirs. Apropos this subject, I feel that a great benefit could be derived by the state, as well as the power company, by working out some system of storage reservoirs-the expense to be borne by one or both, and the regulation to be by the state. For example, in the St. Joseph River we have a minimum flow of 1,000 cubic feet and a maximum of 20,000. This maximum occurs three or four years, and naturally a considerable damage is done. According to Mr. Cook's preliminary investigation, there is no doubt but what this maximum flow could be reduced to ten to eleven thousand, which amount does absolutely no damage, it |