if mf\^, *-M#i» 1551.48 J551.43 Ador^ jD-S Adler US1^54551 \'l» Rivers AdSr J551.48 Adler US1254551 Rivers UJ I ^ 5 •= O LU 2 CO s PUBLIC LIBRARY FORT WAYNE AND ALLENCOUNTY, IND m STOJ RIVERS Irving and Ruth Adler T- *^-kt^4-^U iy,^1^--^-:^ff^XM _. ^^ -^ii>' *-i.tAr The John Day Company — New York : Books by Irving and Ruth Adler NUMBERS OLD AND NEW THINGS THAT SPIN: FROM TOPS TO ATOMS SHADOWS THE STORY OF A NAIL WHY? RIVERS Books by Irving Adler SEEING THE EARTH FROM SPACE HOT AND COLD WEATHER IN YOUR LIFE DUST THE TOOLS OF SCIENCE THE SUN AND ITS FAMILY MAN-MADE MOONS MONKEY-BUSINESS HOAXES IN THE NAME OF SCIENCE HOW LIFE BEGAN MAGIC HOUSE OF NUMBERS THE STARS: STEPPING STONES INTO SPACE TOOLS IN YOUR LIFE FIRE IN YOUR LIFE TIME IN YOUR LIFE THE SECRET OF LIGHT © 1961 byIrvingandRuthAdler All rights reser\ed. This book, orparts thereof, must notbe repro- duced in any form without permission. Published by The John Day Company, 62 W^est 45th Street, New York 36, N.Y., and on thesamedayinCanadabyLongmansGreen&Company,Toronto. LibraryofCongressCatalogueCardNumber: 61-12714 ManufacturedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica U. SL 1254553 Contents Rivers 4 HowRiversAreBom 6 Currents 8 Weathering 9 WearingAway Mountains 10 VaUeys 12 TheGrandCanyon oftheColorado 14 Waterfalls 16 WaterGaps 18 NaturalBridges 20 Potholes 21 TreasureHunting 22 Watersheds and Divides 24 Rivers ThatArePirates 26 TheLowerRiver 28 Meandering 30 ARiverChanges Its Bed 32 ARiverChanges Its Face 33 TamingaWild River 34 MakingElectricity 36 Rivers andTravel 38 WherePeopleLive 40 . WaterforPlants .>* 42 WaterforPeople 42 KeepingWater Clean 43 Deltas 44 TheJourney ofa Drop ofWater 46 WordList 48 Rivers ^ This is a book about rivers. Rivers are important for people. Rivers are important forplants and animals, too. Rivers help livingthings in many ways. The water that people and animals drink often comes from rivers. Some of the fish that people eat are taken from rivers. Manyplantsareusedbypeopleasfood Growing plants need water. In some places rivers help bring water to the land where the plants grow. Rivers are natural roads. People use boats, barges and rafts to carry things from one place to another along a river. Rivers help people in other ways, too. .^^ Rivers turn waterwheels, making the ma- chines in mills and factories work. Rivers turn the machines that make electricity. Rivers can help people enjoy their free time. Some people like to go fishing or boating. Many people like to swim. Al- most everyone likes to look at the pretty X scenery along a river. Rivers can also do harm. When rivers flood their banks, they can carry away people's homes and belongings. Inthisbookweshallfindouthowrivers areborn. Weshallseehowrivers go down to the sea and what they do to the land as they go there. We shall see how people work to change rivers so that rivers will Pi^^ always be helpful friends. \ Ground ^ water ^ — ^ \ i Spring \ ^^V/ Springwaterflowsdownhill uiut intothe stream .. , , , \ . . I •:.::•>/ Ground^:^^ : '•^-:^^V:^^:'•:•^:-:^•:v^ntothe^sti^ai^t/^•^^ vr^. Hoti; Rivers Are Born Rivers are born high up in the mountains, from rain and melted snow. Much of the rain that falls sinks into the earth. This is called ground water. Some of this water flows out of the ground again through openings in the rocks. When ground water comes out again like this it is called a spring. The spring water then flows downhill and joins other springs to make streams. The streams also get ground waterthat goes into them right from the ground. Some rain flows downhill right away. The rain water flows along gullies and ditches into the streams. When thereisalotofrain, thestreamsbecomefull. Whenthere is no rain for a long time, some streams dry up. Ground water keeps other streams flowing even in dry weather. 6