Franklin F. Snyder
Q ..
Okay. What were the main issues facing you as a Corps hydrologist in the 195Os?
A ..
You mean technical?
Q ..
Technical, organizational--technical, first.
A
Well, we had procedures for routing floods in the rivers and for synthesizing the
hydrographs and what not, but the main thing that I was interested in,that you might
say concerned about, was developing relations, given the amount of rainfall, trying
to determine how much runoff there would be. That was the thing that intrigued me
more than anything else, and I did a lot of research. I've got files downstairs, if I
didn't give them away, I've got files on projects that I started investigating, some
river basin here or there which I never had time to finish. Collecting the rainfall
data and the stream flow data, and trying to relate the two. So that was my main
interest I would say outside of the routine.
Q ..
Beside the regular work you were doing. Now, you were still in the Reservoir
Regulations Section at that time?
A ..
Yes.
Q ..
So you did this as an additional.
A
Well, to regulate the reservoirs you have to know how much runoff you're going to
l
get and you get the rainfall reports, but you have to go from the rainfall to the runoff
and develop the flood before you can determine how to regulate it. Because that's
why, when I was at Pittsburgh, I developed, I never did quite understand why it
worked, I developed a relationship going directly from the rainfall to the river stage
without figuring out how much runoff there was going to be. It was a real empirical
thing, but on the few rivers I used it on, it worked pretty good. It was just a
coincidence, I guess.
Q ..
Now, how would you work that out? How would you develop that figure you would
use, or ratio, or whatever to figure that out?
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