ILLINOIS WATERWAY From Grafton, Ill. (junction with Mississippi River), to-- Grand Pass, Ill. Meredosia, Ill. Beardstown, Ill Pekin, Ill Project depth 9 feet, width 300 feet to Lockport, controlling width beyond, 150 feet. Project depth 6 feet, 4 to 6 feet during low water season, channel width 200 feet. Controlling depth 9 feet to mile 98, thence 7 feet to head of river, channel width varies from 125 feet up. Controlling depth 9 feet, minimum channel width 200 feet. Controlling depth 6 feet to Chattanooga, mile 464; 2 to 6 feet Chattanooga to Knoxville. Mileage shown in this column is via Okeechobee cross-Florida canal; controlling dimensions, 6 feet deep, 80 feet wide. 2 Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, controlling depth. 3 Controlling depth, Potomac River. Controlling depth from Miami on the west coast to Carrabelle on the east coast is 3 feet for the inside route. Mr. MILLER. I think that exhausts the witnesses representing Texas, and our presentation has probably exhausted the committee. I am going to ask permission, at the conclusion of the presentation of our case, to make a brief concluding statement. There are quite a number of witnesses here from Florida, Representative Sikes is here, and I will ask him if he will be kind enough to present these witnesses from his State. STATEMENT OF HON. ROBERT L. F. SIKES, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF FLORIDA Mr. SIKES. Mr. Chairman, I will be glad to present the witnesses from Florida. Before doing that, if I may, I would like to have the permission of the committee to insert a preliminary statement in the record. The CHAIRMAN. Without objection, it is so ordered. (There was no objection.) Mr. SIKES. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee: I urge in unqualified terms the construction of additional facilities to expedite the movement of oil and gasoline from the Gulf coast across Florida and to the north and east, and the greater utilization of facilities now existing for that purpose. In Florida we have long been convinced that the carrying power of the Intracoastal Waterway and of the dock and storage facilities of our State have been used for but a very small part of their potentialities. We believe that through barges, pipe lines, and railroads we can speedily and effectively diminish the present emergency in gasoline and oil shipments. We ask this committee to give us the opportunity to show how quickly we can put to work men and materials not now engaged in the war effort. In particular do I stress the importance of the proposal to extend an additional pipe line from northwest Florida's Gulf coast across the State to Jacksonville. A protected waterway plus ample harbor and dock facilities are available for the transportation of oil to a number of Gulf coast ports. Many available barges are not now in use. I can name a dozen yards which are ready to build additional barges and towing craft. Many of them are in my own district. Contrary to oft-repeated statements, there is no scarcity of material, for wooden barges and towing craft can be built to release the metal barges needed for gasoline shipments. It is only for gasoline shipments that metal barges are required. We people down South know how to make tractors and Ford automobiles run with baling wire. Long ago we learned how to make the most of whatever facilities we have at hand. We will deliver the goods if we are given a chance, and we will not argue about the materials we have to work with. The thing we resent is being told it cannot be done, when we know that we have the experience and the facilities to do this job. Do not forget that we have seen ships sunk and lives lost off our Florida coasts. We want those losses stopped. In some northwest Florida ports there are now existent termina, facilities for handling millions of gallons of oil and gasoline. It is being trucked, piped, or freighted out. By concentrating on these areas additional millions of gallons can be handled readily. But a new pipe line across the State, linking northwest Florida with the great terminal facilities at Jacksonville offers the greatest opportunity at the moment. Gasoline piped into Jacksonville can move swiftly into the traffic arteries of the eastern seaboard. It offers safe water transportation northward in the least possible time. It is convenient for rail or highway shipments, and it is highly important that pumping and storage facilties are already existent and ready for greater utilization. A pipe line from the northwest Florida Gulf Coast to Jacksonville can move three to five million gallons of gasoline daily. It can be built from materials already located. We know definitely that there are new and used materials to be had. Evidence has been presented here that there are existing pipe lines which can be pulled up and moved, if this is desired. Sound engineering principles have even shown the feasibility of constructing a wood stave pipe line. Sheathed in wire, this type of pipe line is well adapted to use in the generally level terrain to be traversed in northern Florida. Lower pressures must be used in pumping, but that is overcome by installing pumps at more frequent intervals. So this job need not be held back by shortage of critical materials. We need the pipe line and the country needs its services. If new material cannot be spared for its construction, we will take an old pipe line and put it to work. Or we will even use a wooden line. All we want is the go-ahead signal. Please remember that we are not making an all-out war effort until every available worker and every available piece of machinery is turning out material of war. Our waterway and port facilities were constructed at great cost. Let us use them. Let us use them to win this war-now. A pipe line joining these waterways to the eastern seaboard can be built in a few months. It is the shortest step to speeding up gasoline deliveries. Iet us build it, and help stop sinkings off our Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Mr. Chairman, the State of Florida is fully aware of the gravity of the situation and the extreme importance of the legislation now under consideration. For that reason a number of witnesses have come to Washington to testify. First, I am glad to have the privilege of presenting to you the Honorable J. L. Sharit, mayor of the city of Port St. Joe, one of the towns mentioned prominently in connection with the proposed legislation. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be glad to have a statement at this time from Mayor Sharit. STATEMENT OF HON. J. L. SHARIT, MAYOR, PORT ST. JOE, FLA. Mayor SHARIT. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, my name is J. L. Sharit; I am mayor of the city of Port St. Joe, located on St. Josephs Bay, in Gulf County, Fla. I am appearing here this afternoon in reference to H. R. 6999, introduced by Mr. Mansfield, the chairman of your committee. I would like to tell you and your committee the advantages that could and would accrue under this bill if passed and authorized by Congress by making Port St. Joe the western terminus of the proposed pipe line. Mr. CULKIN. Where is Port St. Joe? Mayor SHARIT. St. Joe is on St. Josephs Bay, in Gulf County, Fla. The CHAIRMAN. About how far is it west of Carrabelle? Mayor SHARIT. It is about 65 miles by water and by air line it is about 44 miles, I believe. The CHAIRMAN. Then it would require about 40 miles or more of additional piping than if the pipe line was installed from Carrabelle, would it not? Mr. SHARIT. No, sir; it would not. It would require approximately 20 or 22 miles additional piping. The CHAIRMAN. That is where you have the terminus of the new pipe line going north? Mayor SHARIT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. That is for gasoline only? Mayor SHARIT. Yes, sir; that is for gasoline only at this time. Mr. CULKIN. Where does the pipe line go from St. Joe? Mayor SHARIT. It goes from St. Joe to Chattanooga, Tenn., by way of Atlanta, Ga. The CHAIRMAN. Chattanooga is the western terminus? Mayor SHARIt. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. That is an 8-inch pipe line? Mayor SHARIT. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. And the oil comes by water-by tanker and by barge? Mayor SHARIT. Yes, sir. Port St. Joe, on St. Josephs Bay, Gulf County, is a landlocked harbor, and it has water of depth ranging from 30 feet to 50 feet. The entrance channel to St. Josephs Bay is 29 feet by 300 feet across the bar, and it has an exit and entrance channel to one of the finest docks or quays in the South, being about some 2,700 feet in length, with water in the channel of 27-feet depth and 30 feet in depth alongside the dock. There is also a 6-acre turning basin. I am submitting a map which I have marked "Exhibit A," showing the different features. At Port St. Joe there is at present a capacity between 600,000- and 700,000-barrel storage facilities, with some 8,000- to 10,000-horsepower Diesel engines. There is one 8-inch pipe line from Port St. Joe to Chattanooga, Tenn., by way of Atlanta, Ga. The best information obtainable is that there is storage capacity at Port St. Joe for from 25,000,000 to 30,000,000 gallons and that the maximum can be put through the present pipe line is 1,260,000, or 3,000 barrels each 24 hours. Mr. CULKIN. What is the diameter of that pipe? Mayor SHARIT. It is 8 inches in diameter. |