a depth of 30 feet, a width of 700 feet, and a length of 1,200 feet. There would also be other substantial improvements in the harbor.

Now, Mr. Chairman, you have already been advised that Tampa is a city of about 125,000 population and rapidly growing; that it is a commercial center of a population of 800,000, and is one of the great manufacturing areas in Florida.

Not only is Tampa one of Florida's largest ports, but the region is served by the largest railroads in the South, the major air lines, and trunk highways.

Mr. Chairman, as the Congressman and my colleague have told you, this is an improvement too long delayed. As a matter of fact, it is just an unhappy combination of circumstances, principally growing out of the war, that keeps Tampa Harbor at 30 feet, when it is really one of the big commercial centers of the country, and has one of the great natural harbors of the Nation.

In other words, all of the cities which have had a harbor depth of 30 feet have found out that that was an inadequate depth, and they have had to deepen the facilites to at least 34 feet.

I thought I was correct. I just asked the colonel here, from the Corps of Engineers, and his staff, about the main channels in Jacksonville, and they are 34 feet, which is another one of our great commercial cities or ports, and the Hollywood Harbor-that is, at Fort Lauderdale, just above Miami-and that has 35 feet, and you will find that that pattern exists now throughout the country.

You cannot accommodate the modern ships with a 30-foot depth, and yet Tampa, which serves this vast area of nearly a million people and is one of the great natural water outlets of our State commerce, and one of the great ports of entry for our State, and to a certain extent for some of the other Southern States, has been held back to a depth of 30 feet.

Now, this is primarily to correct that deficiency and to give at the entrance of Egmont Channel a depth of 36 feet which they feel is necessary there, and then in other parts of the bay a depth of 34 feet, and then to enlarge some of those channels appropriately.

Anything else I might say is a repetition, Mr. Chairamn, of what has been said already by my colleague and the Congressman.

This project not only serves this vast great manufacturing center but the large agricultural and mining area that is adjacent thereto, and those are the citrus industries, and the phosphate industry, and those respective categories are two of the important commercial enterprises of our State-I mean of our Nation as well as of our State.

Now, Mr. Chairman, you well know this has been already approved by the Bureau of the Budget, and has been favorably recommended, of course, by the Corps of Engineers, and had been presented to the House Public Works Committee after it had already acted upon the River and Harbor Act of 1949, and Congressman Peterson explained the delay and the reason why it was not included in the House bill that came over here this year. So, I very earnestly urge this committee to approve the authorization so wisely recommended by the Corps of Engineers, approved by the Bureau of the Budget, and having such meritorious background for coming here before this committee.

Now, while I am speaking, if I may, Mr. Chairman, just let me say a word—I am sure it is not necessary to urge this committee, with my

distinguished colleague a member of the committee, to approve the other Florida projects which have already been included in the bill in the House of Representatives-but I would like to mention Fernandina Harbor, an approved project of $242,000; St. Augustine Harbor and vicinity, $1,892,200; Palm Beach-it is a big erosion program, coming within the scope of the present law, they being public beaches where there has been very serious erosion, which has endangered what posterity as well as this generation should be permitted to enjoy, our beaches there; Lake Worth Inlet, $305,000; Charlotte Harbor, $214,000; St. Petersburg Harbor, $208,300; Horseshoe Cove, $194,000; and La Grange Bayou, $99,000.

All those are projects approved by the Corps of Engineers, approved by the Bureau of the Budget, and included in the House bill, and I am sure they will receive the approval of this very able committee.

I am sure it is not necessary for me to add my request to that which I am sure will come from my colleague on the Senate committee to also increase the authorization for the long-range flood-control program in central and southern Florida approved by the House committee from $16,300,000 to $26,300,000. This is, of course, in aid of the comprehensive flood-control program which has previously been approved by the committee and the Congress.

This is simply an increase in the authorization for the appropriation to carry out that very, very meritorious work. This means a lot to our State, Mr. Chairman, and I am sure that these public improvements, needed as they are, are in good hands with this committee. Senator SPARKMAN. Thank you, Senator Pepper.

Senator HOLLAND. I appreciate very much the able presentation by my senior colleague, and I may say that I have confined my own presentation to the Tampa Harbor project simply because these other items are already in the House bill, but I join him in completely and wholly supporting them as having been not only approved by the Engineers but having been approved by the House committee and included in the House bill.

Mr. Chairman, there are two gentlemen here from among the Tampa citizens, Mr. Gunby Gibbons and Mr. William Balkcom. I asked them if they cared to testify, and they said they probably would only encumber the record; but, in the event something comes up during the engineers' presentation that calls for any local clarification, you may wish to call them at a later date.

I simply wanted the record to show that they are here ready to testify, and that the whole community there is strongly supporting this matter, and there have been required and will in the future be required many expenditures by the people themselves, both publie and private, in the building of the estuary and the building of the docks; that there is being built now by private capital, a grain elevator, to unload the grain from the ships, which is an additional expenditure. The Alafia River channel was dug by the United States Phosphoric Products Corp. about the year 1930, at a depth of 23 feet, and has since that time been maintained by said corporation at its own expense. In other words, with full cooperation from the Tampa public and from private business, the port is rapidly becoming one of our great ports in reference to its facilities, and with reference to the many purposes for which it is serving. So, unless the chair

man has some question to address to them now, I will ask them to simply stand by while the engineers make the technical presentation. Senator SPARKMAN. We are very glad to have them here, and to have the interest manifested by the people of Tampa in that vicinity, and we appreciate their standing by in the event we would need to ask them some questions later.

Colonel Moore, are you going to make a presentation of the engineers' report?

Colonel MOORE. Yes.

Mr. Chairman, the report on Tampa Harbor, Fla., as published in House Document No. 258, Eighty-first Congress, is in response to a resolution adopted March 21, 1945, by the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of the House of Representatives.

Tampa Harbor is on the west coast of Florida about midway of the peninsula, approximately 330 miles southeast of Pensacola. It is a Y-shaped indentation in the coastline of which Tampa Bay proper forms the main stem with Old Tampa and Hillsboro Bays forming the upper branches at the inner end with Interbay Peninsula between. Hillsboro River flows into the head of Hillsboro Bay. The city of Tampa is located on both sides of the river at the head of the bay, 41 miles from the Gulf of Mexico. Port Tampa is located on the west side of Interbay Peninsula, at the entrance of Old Tampa Bay, 34 miles from the Gulf. St. Petersburg is located on the west shore of Tampa Bay. The main entrance from the Gulf of Mexico is known as Egmont Channel.

The area commercially tributary to Tampa Harbor consists of all or parts of 21 counties in central and southwestern Florida, having a total population of 767,129 in 1945. The city of Tampa has a population of 124,476. It is an important commercial and industrial center. Ten other cities within the tributary area have populations of 10,000 or more. Six hundred and seventy-two manufacturing plants were within the area in 1939, devoted mainly to shipbuilding and manufacturing fertilizer and other chemicals, furniture, tobacco products, forest products, machinery, and concrete, and processing citrus fruit, vegetables, and sea foods. Recreational boating, commercial and sport fishing, oystering, crabbing, and sponge fishing are also major activities.

The existing Federal project for Tampa Harbor provides for: (a) channels from the Gulf of Mexico through Tampa and Hillsboro Bays and upper Tampa Harbor to Tampa and in Old Tampa Bay to Port Tampa as follows: 32 feet deep and 600 feet wide through Egmont Bar, thence 30 feet deep to Tampa and Port Tampa with widths of 400 feet in Mullet Key Cut, 300 feet in Tampa and Hillsboro Bays and in Seddon and Garrison Channels, 400 feet in Sparkman Channel and 500 feet in Ybor Channel, with widening at the bend between Sparkman Channel and cut D of Hillsboro Bay Channel; (b) a turning basin 30 feet deep at the mouth of Hillsboro River; (c) a turning basin 30 feet deep at the entrance to Ybor Channel with widening at the bend between Sparkman and Garrison Channels; (d) a turning basin 30 feet deep, 2,000 feet long, and 550 feet in maximum width at the entrance to the Port Tampa terminals; (e) maintenance of a channel, dredged in Hillsboro River under a previous project, 12 feet deep, 200 feet wide, and 2,400 feet long from the turning basin at the mouth to a point 100 feet south of the Lafayette

Street Bridge, and provision of a channel 9 feet deep and 100 feet wide thence to a point 2,000 feet upstream from Columbus Drive Bridge, with removal of snags, wrecks, and piling thence to Florida Avenue Bridge; (f) a channel in Alafia River 25 feet deep and 150 feet wide from the Hillsboro Bay Channel to and including a turning basin 600 feet wide and 1,025 feet long in Alafia River; and (g) a breakwater of dredged material about 2,000 feet long at Peter O. Knight Airport to partially inclose a landing basin for seaplanes; all subject to certain conditions of local cooperation among which are requirements that: (1) the municipal terminals on Ybor Channel be operated under a schedule of reasonable wharfage charges and a set of regulations to be approved by the Secretary of the Army; (2) local interests construct a beltline railroad on the north and east sides of Ybor Channel; and (3) local interests construct and maintain a wharf with adequate depths alongside and a precooling plant in Alafia River, open to all on equal terms. The combined length of all the channels is about 63.5 miles, including about 7.7 miles in Hillsboro River and about 3 miles in the Alafia River Channel. The project as a whole is about 88 percent complete. The total Federal cost of the existing project to June 30, 1948, was $11,384,676 of which, $9,192,455 was for new work and $2,192,221 was for maintenance. The latest approved estimate of annual cost of maintenance, exclusive of the breakwater, is $141,000. A municipal belt-line railroad has been constructed along the west side of Ybor Channel. The cost to local interests for all measures of local cooperation is estimated at $2,500,000 to $3,000,000. In addition to several million dollars invested in piers, wharves, warehouses, and other terminal facilities, local interests have expended an estimated $2,000,000 for dredging in Tampa Harbor.

The existing Federal project for St. Petersburg Harbor provides for a channel 250 feet wide, 19 feet deep, leading westward from that depth in Tampa Bay to the basin at the port of St. Petersburg, a distance of about 1 mile, and for a depth of 21 feet, 1,400 to 1,700 feet long and 900 feet wide, in the port of St. Petersburg, and for a straight channel 20 feet deep and 200 feet wide extending southward from the easterly end of the above entrance channel to deep water in Tampa Bay.

During the prewar years 1935 through 1941, freight traffic ranged from a minimum of 3,446,259 tons in 1935 to a maximum of 4,162,400 tons in 1941 and averaged 3,817,000 annually, exclusive of cargoes in transit which averaged 469,500 tons annually during the period. The commerce in 1947 totaled 4,942,836 tons.

Seagoing vessel traffic in Tampa Harbor during the 8-year period 1939 through 1946, ranged from a minimum of 1,450 round trips in 1946 to a maximum of 2,093 in 1939 and averaged 1,791 round trips annually by vessels with drafts ranging up to 30 feet.

Terminal and transfer facilities in Tampa Harbor consist of 50 piers and wharves with transit sheds, warehouses, tank farms, and other appurtenances, and drydock facilities for vessels up to 25-foot draft, as well as two yacht basins for small craft. Service for the principal terminals is furnished by the municipal belt line, the Atlantic Coast Line and the Seaboard Air Line Railroads. The Seaboard Air Line Railroad owns most of Seddon Island and has two wharves thereon. The Tampa Municipal Terminal is located at the

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upper end of Ybor Channel. Terminal facilities at Port Tampa are all owned by a subsidiary of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad and include a dredged slip, 27 to 30 feet deep and 150 to 200 feet wide, which provides berthing space for 14 deep-draft vessels.

Local interests in general desire modification of the existing project for Tampa Harbor to provide for deepening Egmont Channel to 36 or 40 feet and widening to 600 or 1,000 feet; deepening of Mullet Key Cut, Tampa Bay, Port Tampa, Hillsboro Bay, Seddon, Sparkman, Garrison, and Ybor Channels to 34 or 35 feet and widening to 600 feet; and deepening the channel to Alafia River to 30 feet with a like depth in the turning basin, widening the channel to 200 feet, and enlarging the turning basin to 700 feet by 1,200 feet. They also request the elimination of the conditions of local cooperation for the existing project requiring local interests to: (1) adopt wharfage charges and regulations subject to the approval of the Secretary of War (Secretary of the Army); (2) construct and put into operation a municipal belt-line railroad; and (3) construct a precooling plant in Alafia River.

They claim that Tampa Harbor is a first-class port but has the facilities of a second-class port which are inadequate for 80 percent of the postwar tankers and the larger dry-cargo vessels; that navigation is dangerous; and that much time is lost and damage suffered from groundings and awaiting favorable conditions. They also claim that developments along Ybor Channel have reached a stage whereby it is no longer necessary that the city of Tampa adopt wharfage charges and regulations or complete the construction of the municipal belt-line railroad.

The existing project depths in Egmont Channel, Sparkman Channel, and Ybor turning basin, and depths and widths in Mullet Key Cut, Tampa Bay Channel, Port Tampa Channel and turning basin, and Hillsboro Bay Channel, are inadequate for modern tankers and drycargo vessels frequently using them; the depth and width of the Alafia River Channel and the depth, width, and length of the turning basin are inadequate for the vessels using them most frequently; and the estimated prospective commerce and the benefits from deepening and widening those channels and basins warrant modification of the existing project at this time to provide dimensions more nearly suited to the needs of modern shipping. The interests of the Federal Government and general commerce would best be served by modifying the requirements of local cooperation previously imposed for the existing project as follows: (1) eliminate all requirements for approval of wharfage charges by the Secretary of War (Secretary of the Army); and (2) modify the requirements for the municipal belt-line railroad so as to require no further extension of trackage, the obligation of the city of Tampa to remain in force for the completed part of the belt line until an arrangement satisfactory to the Secretary of the Army is made with the railroads performing the switching services over the trackage.

The district engineer accordingly recommends that the existing project for Tampa Harbor, Fla., be modified to provide for deepening Egmont Channel to 36 feet; enlarging Mullet Key Cut to a depth of 34 feet and a width of 500 feet; enlarging Tampa Bay, Hillsboro Bay, and Port Tampa Channels to a depth of 34 feet and a width of 400 feet; enlarging Port Tampa turning basin to a depth of