Excerpt from Water Resources of the State of New York, Vol. 1: Part I

The preeminent position of the State of New York is due almost entirely to her great natural water resources. Reaching from the ocean on the east to the Great Lakes on the west, she has gathered to herself the treasures of the foreign world as well as those of half the Western Continent. Her inland rivers, with their great water powers, have been in the past and will continue to be in the future a perpetual source of wealth. Taking into account the commercial supremacy guaranteed by the Erie Canal, it may be said that the his tory of the State's progress during the nineteenth century is largely a history of the development of her water resources. It is the pur pose Of the author in this report to relate briefly not only in what manner these resources have been employed, but to indicate the recent lines of development and the probable future of the State if her water' is utilized to the fullest degree. It is proposed to describe m a general way the river systems, giving brief descriptions of several of the more important utilizations of water in New York, together with a discussion of some of the economic problems con fronting the people of the State.

As regards the water power of New York, it may be noted that the Tenth Census of the United States, 1880, vols-xvi and XVII, gives in great detail the statistics of the main water powers as they existed in 1882. Many of these Show considerable increase at the present time, although the new works are for the most part Similar to those described in the census report, and hence present few additional fea tures of interest. Several of the recent plants, however, are on quite different lines both as to their scope and as to the method Of develop ment adopted. It has therefore seemed more important to describe a few of the new plants and to give the main facts of the great storage projects of the Hudson and Genesee rivers than to spend time on small and relatively unimportant powers.

The peculiar relation of the State to water-power development on the main rivers of New York should be here mentioned. Owing to the circumstances of the early settlements and the development of the canal system, the State has assumed ownership of the inland waters, or, at any rate, of all streams used as feeders of the canals. This assumption has worked injustice to riparian owners, and is at present a bar in the way of the full development of important streams by private enterprise.

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