I have noted with pleasure the recent establishment by the Corps of Engineers within my district at Walla Walla of a new district office for design, construction, and operation of flood-control works which should facilitate the ready handling of problems and projects in the vicinity.

In conclusion, I am very much interested in two projects on the Columbia for which you already have reports. The Albeni Falls project, Idaho, and the Green-Duwamish River, Wash. It is my hope that the committee will give these projects every consideration with a view to favorable action along with these very important projects in the fourth district.

The CHAIRMAN. Is Representative Tollefson here?

STATEMENT OF HON. THOR C. TOLLEFSON, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF WASHINGTON

Mr. TOLLEFSON. Yes, Mr. Chairman. I have a statement which I would like to file with the clerk. But in addition to that statement I should like to emphasize a point which perhaps has not been brought out in connection with the Eagle Gorge Dam on the Green and Ďuwamish Rivers.

Colonel Gee testified that the ratio of benefits to cost was about 1.07 to 1. One thing perhaps should be taken into consideration that may possibly have changed that figure if it were not for the threat of recurring floods. Simply this, in the lower part of the Duwamish River there are choice industrial sites affecting the city of Seattle and the city of Seattle is much concerned about that area. Other witnesses have testified that the industrial sites are pretty well used up in Seattle. No one can say definitely, of course, just how many people may have constructed factories on the Duwamish site, had it not been for the threat of the flood occurring.

So that the ratio might be considered to be greater than that.

The people of the area, of course, are tremendously concerned, as are other people in flood areas in this particular project. We have had a number of very serious and bad floods, and the possibility of recurrence is always there in the minds of the people.

I trust that this committee will give favorable and early action not only on the Green River,of course, but on the other project as well. I thank you, very much, Mr. Chairman, for the privilege of appearing before the committee at this time.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Tollefson. Your statement will be filed with the record.

(The statement follows:)

STATEMENT OF THOR C. TOLLEFSON, MEMBER OF CONGRESS, SIXTH DISTRICT, WASHINGTON, ON EAGLE GORGE DAM, GREEN-DUWAMISH RIVER FLOOD CNOTROL PROJECT

Mr. chairman and members of the committee. I appreciate this opportunity of appearing before your committee to testify in behalf of the Green-Duwamish River flood control project which is situated in my congressional district. The Green River rises in the Cascades at an elevation of approximately 5,000 feet and flows in a northwesterly direction for about 60 or 70 miles where it empties into the Puget Sound at Seattle, Wash. The flood plain begins just above the city of Auburn which has a population of approximately 6,000. The river flows through a fertile valley which is about 2 or 3 miles in width. The river joins with

the Black River and from the junction to the Sound, about 12 miles away, the river is known then as the Duwamish River. The property on the lower Duwamish is prospective industrial site property for the city of Seattle.

The two most recent floods occurred in 1933 and in 1946 inundating approximately 13,000 acres and 12,000 acres, respectively. The estimated damages from the 1933 and 1946 floods are estimated at about $1,750,000 and $1,350,000, respectively, on the basis of 1947 prices. These damages include both damage to valuable agricultural and to urban areas, floodwaters actually coming into the city of Kent.

This proposed project has been carefully surveyed and approved by the District and Division Engineers of the United States Army, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and the Chief of Engineers. It also has the approval of the Bureau of the Budget. The total estimated cost of the dam is $18,300,000, of which $2,000,000 will be contributed by the State and local governments. The 1949 legislature of the State of Washington has appropriated $1,500,000 to be made available when the project is authorized by Congress, and funds appropriated. The Board of King County Commissioners has set aside $500,000 to be made available as soon as the project is authorized. I am in receipt of a telegram from the Board of County Commissioners as of this date which reads as follows: "County and State are ready financially to proceed with Eagle Gorge Dam work. Urgent need that this project receive all possible attention at tomorrow's hearing."

The estimated benefits are $893,000 annually and include abatement of floods, pollution control and benefit to fish life. More particularly, this item is broken down in the following manner: $429,000 from benefits of tangible flood damage; $214,000 from increased return from protected agricultural lands; $191,000 from increased returns from industrial lands; $59,000 from benefit to fish life.

The annual carrying charge is estimated at $823,139. With $2,000,000 of the cost being borne by the State and county, the total carrying charges would be $831,628, due to the interest rate of 3.5 percent applied to non-Federal cost. Maintenance and operation are estimated at $80,000 annually.

I urge favorable and early action upon this project which is of tremendous concern and importance to the people in the area affected.

The CHAIRMAN. Are there any other representatives?

STATEMENT OF HON. HARRIS ELLSWORTH, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF OREGON

Mr. ELLSWORTH. I would be glad to put in a statement at the pleasure of the committee.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Ellsworth, we are very glad to have you, sir. Mr. ELLSWORTH. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my statement on this subject will be very brief, because I realize that you have had considerable testimony.

I do want to add my voice to the voice of others approving in general the Army engineers' over-all basic report on the Columbia Basin. It provides for a program of development that means a great deal to the Nation. Without the electrical energy of the Columbia River, and in the future without the productive capacity of the farm lands which those projects will bring in, and without the navigation which will be provided by those projects, I am sure that this country would suffer shortages in the field of food and power which we could ill afford.

With the chairman's permission, I would like to turn to the Willamette section of the survey, since most of the Willamette flood-control project lies within my district. Nearly all of the major dams are within my congressional district.

As I believe the committee may know, that project has been going forward under an authorization.

The CHAIRMAN. I have been responsible, I guess; I had it inserted. in the Flood Control Act. I am familiar with it.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. That is fine, Mr. Chairman, I appreciate that. What we are faced with now, as I believe the committee may have been told earlier today, is this.

The CHAIRMAN. We went into the details of the amount that has been authorized, the appropriation, the names of the dams, the amount that is available and the amount needed.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. Was the point brought up that the current work will just about exhaust the existing authorization, and that it will be necessary to have an interim authorization of about 55,000,000 so that planning may go forward for 1951? Was that point brought before the committee?

The CHAIRMAN. The necessity for additional appropriations was brought before us, and they gave us the over-all financial picture.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. The sole point then that I want to add is that regardless of whether or not congressional action is had on the whole subject of the basic report

The CHAIRMAN. Your point is that there should be an increase in the amount of authorization for the Willamette River project.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. It should be a simple increase of about $55,000,000 in the Willamette Basin authorization now, and the remainder of it can be covered under the complete study and authorization.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. I live at Roseburg, Oreg. My home is south of the Willamette Basin, itself. There are three river basins in the district I serve, the Willamette on the north, the next is the Umpqua, and then the Rogue River.

The CHAIRMAN. Salem is in your district?

Mr. ELLSWORTH. That is just north of my district.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, very much, sir.

Mr. ELLSWORTH. My district begins just north of Albany.

The CHAIRMAN. If you want to make an additional statement, that is quite agreeable with the committee. As I say, we went pretty carefully into appropriations this morning.

Mr. MACK. I would like to ask the permission of the committee to insert in the record at this point telegrams from Abe Moawad, manager of the port of Kalama, from N. H. Jacobson, manager of a large plywood plant, telling about the closing of four industries due to the high water on the Columbia at this time, and a third telegram from the Fruit Valley Home Owners Association, Harry Worthington, president, from Vancouver, Wash., telling about the damage that is being done at the present time to 330 homes in the Fruit Valley section of Vancouver.

The CHAIRMAN. Those telegrams will be inserted. (The telegrams referred to follow :)

Hon. RUSSELL V. MACK,

Member of Congress,

KALAMA, WASH., May 20, 1949.

House Office Building, Washington, D. C.:

The Columbia River flood waters are again damaging our industries and flooding port properties on which they are located. Four industries are flooded out, putting over 175 men out of employment and damaging mill installations. This is a serious blow to our community at present and discouraging for future development. Could something be done to hasten proposed projects to prevent these losses and protect jobs and property investments?

ABE MOAWAD, Manager, Port of Kalama.

Hon. RUSSELL V. MACK,

VANCOUVER, WASH., May 20, 1949.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.:

Last year you will recall the great damage caused by the flood to 330 Fruit Valley homes, formerly a Federal housing project in Vancouver, Wash. Again the water is at our doorsteps. The city of Vancouver has pledged their facilities to construct a dike but are stymied by lack of funds. It is estimated $20,000 will give us immediate protection in the form of a dike. Since this was once a Government project we feel justified in soliciting Government aid and your personal effort for immediate funds to prevent another disaster will be appreciated.

FRUIT VALLEY HOME OWNERS ASSOCIATION,
HARRY WORTHINGTON, President.

KALAMA, WASH., May 19, 1949.

Representative RUSSELL MACK,

Washington, D. C.:

Columbia again on the rise, plant entirely surrounded by water, operations suspended indefinitely, 125 men jobless.

N. H. JACOBSON.

The CHAIRMAN. Colonel Weaver, will you come up again, please. Mr. Angell wants to ask you one or two questions.

Mr. ANGELL. Colonel Weaver, what I would like, if it is possible, is to have justification for these three items that I mentioned that are in the 308 report, of an emergency nature, and to be covered by the three bills that I introduced. Is it possible for the Army engineers to insert that in the record?

Colonel WEAVER. We will be glad to give the insertion, Mr. Angell. That was for peninsula districts 1 and 2?

Mr. ANGELL. And Johnson Creek.

Colonel WEAVER. I think we have given you a correction on that bill for the money on Johnson Creek. But we will see that the Chief Engineer's office supplies you with the additional information.

Mr. ANGELL. I would like, Mr. Chairman, for the record, for the Corps of Engineers to supply the justification which is in their report, being the projects in my bills, H. R. 3774, H. R. 3968, and H. R. 3969.

The CHAIRMAN. I think that is a reasonable request, and it occurred to me that since previously today they were asked about those projects that the committee request that the colonel extend his remarks and justify those three projects at that point. I believe that would be the appropriate thing to do.

Mr. MACK. Does that include Longview?

Mr. ANGELL. That would include lower Columbuia in H. R. 3969. Colonel WEAVER. I would like to ask Colonel Gee of the Engineer's office to do that.

(The information requested is as follows:)

JOHNSON CREEK, OREG.

(H. R. 3774)

DESCRIPTION

Johnson, Creek, a minor east side tributary of Willamette River, rises near Cottrell in the low hills south of Sandy River and flows in a westerly direction to a confluence with Willamette River about 18 miles from the mouth of the

Willamette River. Johnson Creek drains an area of approximately 54 square miles lying in a long, relatively narrow strip between Clackamas and Columbia Rivers. The generally meandering channel has a natural capacity varying from a minimum of 700 second-feet in critical locations to a maximum of 3,860 secondfeet in a short reach near the mouth. Channel capacity is quite generally impaired by accumulations of debris and by the encroachment of trees and brush from both banks. Numerous bridges span the creek and one industrial establishment, the southeast Portland Lumber Co. mill, is built athwart the water course. Certain of the bridges are so constructed that the supporting bents are within the channel, and together with the accumulation of drift on the upstream sides, tend to further impair the channel capacity.

The flood plain is highly developed and quite populous. The town of Gresham is situated at mile 15 while the villages of Cotton, Linnemann, and Jenne lie between Gresham and mile 9.5. Between mile 9.5 and the mouth the stream passes through the environs of southeast Portland and at a number of points lies within the city limits.

FLOOD PROBLEM

Flooding by Johnson Creek, which occurs almost annually, results in heavy damage to the adjoining residential and business properties, interrupts transportation, damages bridges, floods septic tanks and cesspools, contaminates wells, and reduces the value of real estate.

PLAN OF IMPROVEMENT

Improvements recommended for Johnson Creek include channel enlargement and rectification, cut-offs, in several localities, riprapping of curves and an auxiliary channel to provide for increased flood capacity. The proposed plan would give protection in the Gresham area against floods with expected îrequency of once in 7 years, which is equivalent to the 1943 flood. In the area between mile 5.19 and 7.79 the proposed project would provide protection against a flood with the expected frequency of once in 25 years; and in the remaining part of the channel floods with frequencies ranging from 5 to 100 years would be controlled.

COSTS AND ECONOMIC JUSTIFICATION

The total first cost of the project is estimated at $544,000, of which the local interests would assume $212,000. The over-all benefit cost ratio of this project would be about 2.66 to 1. It is, therefore, considered that this plan is amply justified economically and, because of the serious flood problem, should be considered for construction at an early date.

PENINSULA DRAINAGE DISTRICT No. 1

(H. R. 3968)

DESCRIPTION

The peninsula drainage district No. 1 is located on the left bank of the lower Columbia River at river mile 105, northerly of Portland, and on the peninsula between the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. The district contains 901 acres including farm land, industrial developments, and transportation improvements. A railroad fill, which formed part of the protective works for this area, failed during the 1948 flood, causing inundation of this district and destruction of Vanport City, Oreg.

PLAN AND COST OF IMPROVEMENT

The proposed project for peninsula drainage district No. 1 would provide a new levee inside and parallel to the railroad. The project would be designed to protect against 1894 flood levels, and would include toe drainage and pumping facilities. The estimated cost of the work, at January 1, 1948, prices is $1,580,000, of which $1,437,000 would be Federal, and $143,000 would be nonFederal.