**************REPORT************
AVAILABLE POWER AND COST OF DEVELOPMENT
Green River, Henderson-Polk Counties, North Carolina
Spartanburg, S.C.
Dec. 12th, 1906.
To
Mr. Willett Bronson,
Superintending Agent, No. 18 Exchange Place,
New York City, N.Y.
and
Mr. C.B. Justice,
State Agent for Trustees,
Rutherfordton, N.C.
Dear Sirs:
In accordance with your
instructions, embodied in contract dated June, 19th. 1906, and
specifications of same date, I visited Green River during Nov. 1906, and
examined the river from the railroad bridge near Zirconia to Green river
cove, at the W.A. Henderson property Fish Stop shoal, with a view to
hydraulic power development, including Laurel creek, and instituted surveys
of said reach of this river; the results of which are described in the
following report and shown on the accompanying maps. Sheets 1,2,
** ** ** **DESCRIPTION** ** ** **
The sources
of Green river are in the Blue Ridge mountains, extending fro Turkey
Mt., south west corner of Henderson Co., N.C., U.S. Geo. Sur. Topo.
Sheet, Saluda Quad., a distance of 26 miles as the crow flies. The
character of the drainage basin is mountainous and the valley narrow
with a few acres of low flat land.
The stream is gorged at a few
places only; the slopes of the valley being generally about 45
[degrees]. See Topo. Sheets above named.
** ** ** ** POSITION ** ** ** **
The part of
the stream covered by surveys, from Green river bridge, Howard Gap road,
about 3 1/2 miles north east of Zirconia, U.S. Gauging Station, as
follows:-
From Hendersonville, N.C.....................7 miles
" Asheville, N.C..............................26
".
" Rutherfordton N.C.......................26
".
" Greenville, S.C.............................28
".
" Spartanburg, S.C..........................32
".
All as the crow flies.
The general direction of the river fro
the railroad bridge, near Zirconia, to the mouth of Big Hungry creek, is
north east, 4 1/2 miles in an air line; and from Big Hungry creek to the
upper end of Green River Cove, south east by east, 1 3/4 miles.
** ** ** ** FLOW ** ** ** **
The flow of
Green river at the Howard Gap road bridge (U.S. Gauging Station) 3 1/2
miles east of flat rock railroad Station. (Saluda Quad.) was determined
by the U.S.G. survey, Nov. 13th, 1905, Water Supply and Irrigation Paper
No. 168, - Pg. 30.
I examined this gauging
Station critically and considered it an ideal location for meter work,
such as executed by the U.S. Engineers. All the water passes
through parallel walls in a smooth unbroken sheet and the bottom is
practically smooth and nearly level. The flow was 72 sec. feet.
The reliability of this
measurement seems to be well supported by the rainfall in that section.
The Annual Summary-1905,
Weather Bureau, Raleigh, N.C. Pg. 9, shows that the rainfall was
deficient in the is section and over nearly all of the western part of
the State during the months of Sept., Oct., and Nov. The rainfall
at Hendersonville-nearest station-was; Sept., 1.83 inches; Oct., 3.42
inches, and Nov., 0.38 inches, showing a deficiency of 6.14 inches for
the said 3 months. It seems that the stream would have been discharging
a normal flow with a 2 1/2 months deficient rainfall immediately
preceding the measurement of flow, which agrees wit my own observations
on stream flow in this section. In connection with the fact that
Green river may very well be "robbing" the water shed of the
French Broad river and its tributaries which is several hundred feet
higher than the Green river, and which water shed is a comparatively
narrow one, may very well account for the difference of the Government
calculation of 72 sec. feet, and my calculation of 59.57 sec.
feet. As I informed you verbally by method of calculation is to
ascertain from the U.S.G. reports of the annual rainfall, from a
calculation of the drainage area and an examination of the geological
structure of the basin thereof, the annual amount of the water flowing
into the river. The above facts might well account for the
difference of the results arrived at between the two methods of
computation. I estimate the normal discharge of Green river at the
point above stated, to be 59,57 sec. ft., or 17 1/4 [percent] less than
the Government record. The normal flow of a stream is the greatest
discharge for the greatest length of time during a year: i.e. the
potential Dynamic flow, which lies between the minimum flow, which is
all the year, and the maximum flow, which is for a short period, and
which, from practical experience, we determine to be 11 8/10 months, and
which normal flow is the greatest continuous flow.