Excerpt from Water Powers of the Cascade Range: Part I Southern Washington

Perhaps no area in the United States presents more favorable opportunities for water-power development than that traversed by the Cascade Range. The general elevation of the summit of the range is from 6, 000 to 8, 000 feet, and many of its peaks extend into the region of eternal snow. Among these peaks are Mount Baker(10, 827 feet). Mount Rainier(14, 363 feet), Mount St. Helens(9, 750 feet), Mount Adams(12, 307 feet). Mount Hood(11, 225 feet). Mount Jefferson(10, 300 feet). Mount McLaughlin or Pitt(9, 760 feet), and Mount Shasta(14, 380 feet). The streams draining this range have steep slopes and are fed during the low-water period by the many snow banks and glaciers that mantle the high peaks or by the liberal supplies of ground water. The precipitation on the area is abundant, although its distribution is by no means uniform. The streams possess the requisite properties of water-power development - rapid fall, abundant water, and comparative uniformity of flow, and the almost unlimited resources of timber, mines, and soil, as yet hardly touched, afford a promising market for these water powers and fixes for them a high potential value.

The primary source of rainfall in the Pacific States is evaporation from the Pacific Ocean, the water vapor being carried over the land by prevailing westerly winds. Whenever the moisture-laden air is cooled below the point of saturation, rain falls, and no precipitation can occur unless the air is thus cooled. The temperatures over the ocean are not nearly so variable as those over the land. In summer the land is relatively much warmer than the ocean, while in winter the reverse is true.

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