e River reservoir, finished in 1950, has cut down flooding
notably in that area, and a dam at Bloomington above Westernport,
already authorized by Congress, will relieve it still more, as well as
fitting into the complex clean-up task along the North Branch and
furnishing water for local and Washington use.

The 1963 plan proposed similar protection for metropolitan Washington
and for Petersburg, West Virginia, in the form of major reservoirs at
Seneca and Royal Glen. Physically and culturally, there is very little
similarity between the two communities, but their flood situations and
the potential effects of the proposed protective structures have a
certain kinship.

At both places there has been development of the flood plain, with the
result that damages occur when the communities' respective rivers get
out of their banks. In relation to its size--around 2000
people--Petersburg is subject to much heavier trouble of this sort than
the metropolis. It sits near the head of the lovely narrow farming
valley through which the main downstream South Branch flows, a few miles
below the point where two principal forks of the river join after
rushing out of the mountains. In June of 1949, a flood there claimed
five lives around Petersburg and three at Moorefield downriver, where
still another main fork comes in, and wrought major destruction through
the neighborhood.

The 1963 Army _Report_ calculated Petersburg's average annual flood
damages at over $200,000, and advocated construction of a $30 million,
multipurpose reservoir at Royal Glen just upstream from Petersburg, to
do away with most of the damage and to permit further industrial
development of the flood plain, as well as to provide a great deal of
water for downstream use and for regional recreation. People and groups
in the area with interests standing to benefit from the reservoir were
naturally in favor of it. Under present Federal policy--which will be
mentioned again--its flood-protective function would cost them nothing,
whereas levees or other locally effective approaches would demand a good
deal of local effort and outlay, besides disrupting the town's aspect
and its relationship to the river.

[Illustration]

Opposition developed also. The very name of Royal Glen suggests the
scenic qualities of the country roundabout. As at Seneca, a dam here
would flood out some country with unique scenic and recreational values,
including the famous Smoke Hole Gorge d