of 1902 were actually standing in
slack water by the time the mountain torrents appeared in force. These
streams caused much destruction higher up in the mountains, but in the
Central Basin their energy became potential--a gathering of forces to be
loosed upon the lower valley. A discussion of the effects of this will
be taken up under the heading "Damages."

In Water-Supply Paper No. 88 is given the proportion of flood waters
contributed to the Central Basin by each of the tributaries. These
figures were computed from the results of gagings maintained for a
period sufficient to afford this information within a reasonable
approximation. In the case of the storm which resulted in the flood of
1903 it is probable that data referred to can not be safely applied.

The flood of 1902 was the result of abundant rains following upon and
melting a heavy snow. Weather Bureau records show that neither the depth
of the snow nor the amount of subsequent rainfall was uniform, or even
approximately so, over the Passaic drainage area. Indeed, so marked was
the variation that it was believed that the mean rainfall for all the
observation stations on the basin did not bear sufficient relation to
observed run-off to allow of any reliable deductions. In the case of the
October storm, however, the distribution of rainfall was more nearly
uniform, and the run-off from the highland tributaries into the Central
Basin must have been proportionately different in amount from that
indicated in the upland tributary tables in the report of the previous
flood. The data given for the 1902 flood can not, therefore, in the case
of the highland tributaries, be applied to the conditions which obtained
in the flood of 1903.

FLOOD AT MACOPIN DAM.

Mr. Morris R. Sherrerd, engineer of the Newark city water board, has
furnished flow computations over Macopin intake dam, which is the head
of the Newark pipe line. As about 73 per cent of the Pequanac drainage
area lies above this intake, the table on page 16 shows roughly an
equivalent percentage of the flow contributed by Pequanac River to the
Central Basin of the Passaic. In consulting this table it should be
borne in mind that the entire run-off of the drainage area above Macopin
is about 25,000,000 gallons per day more than the amounts presented in
this table. All reservoirs and ponds connected with the conservancy
system of the Newark water supply were filled except that at Oakridge,
which was about