Excerpt from A Forest Working Plan, for Township 40: Totten and Crossfield Purchase, Hamilton County, New York State Forest Preserve Particularly is this true of New York State, where the canals and waterways play so large a part in the domestic commerce. Furthermore, it is eminently desirable that a definite understanding be reached of the fluctuation of streams which furnish power to mills or for navigation. The prospective manufacturer must know what to expect of a given stream before he will invest his capital in an undertaking dependent on it. It is important to reduce these conclusions to a definite basis, expressed, if possible, in such form as to make it possible to estimate the actual value to the people or to the State of the better regulation of the stream. For instance, if it will cost a thousand dollars to preserve forest conditions upon a given tract, it is important to know whether the benefits thus derived will aggregate $2,000 or only $500. We can estimate the value of the timber, but the principal unknown factor is the valuation to be placed upon the improved condition of the streams. This valuation, as already said, can be reached only when a series of measurements have been made of the outflow from forest tracts and from similar areas which have been denuded. Raquette Lake is the only body of water of considerable size in Township 40, but it is equally important to collect similar data at other lakes and ponds within the Adirondacks. One of the first steps in preparing to formulate a scheme of forest protection for the benefit of the water-supply should be a study of the uses of the water, and of how the flow should be regulated to make the benefit the largest possible. This work should be undertaken wherever practicable on the streams of the Adirondacks, and especially at such locations as the proposed dam at the outlet of Raquette Lake. These examinations, together with a thorough knowledge of the fluctuation of the lower streams and of the utilization of the water by mills or municipalities, will lead to a definite understanding of a highly important subject. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.