This report is a memorandum sent on January 27, 1943 concerning the quality of the water of Columbia River. Topics included: ph value, water temperatures, hardness, and dissolved carbon dioxide contents.

The turnings have proved to be highly inflammable and subject to spontaneous ignition. Several experiments have been conducted at Herring-Hall-Marvin Safe Company, Hamilton, Ohio, and Baker Brothers, Inc., Toledo, Ohio, and in addition there have been a number of accidental fires, of which at least three were spontaneous. Fires of quantities ranging from several pounds to several hundred pounds have been experienced and a number of extinguishers have been tried. Records of this work are available in our files. While the work to date does not constitute an exhaustive survey of the problem, we believe that it is now safe to outline precautionary and protective measures.