Mr. MEANS. Of that I know nothing. I know this: That if I were in Imperial Valley, I would not want that matter left to them. I would want a hand in taking care of those levees myself. Now, I was just about to talk about the all-American canal; and I would like to do so, if there are no other questions on this flood situation. Mr. HAYDEN. I should like to hear what you have to say as to the feasibility of the all-American canal. Mr. RAKER. Before you pass to that, have you given any attention to analyzing the matter yourself, to see whether the people in Lower California are paying in proportion to the amount of benefit they are getting? Mr. MEANS. No, sir; I have not. The only financial statement that I have at all is the budget for the Imperial irrigation district for this year; and I have not had an opportunity to go into that at all. Mr. RAKER. Who do you understand represents the company, or the American interests, in the territory south of the boundary linethe greater bulk of it? Mr. MEANS. What we would call the Chandler-Otis interests. Mr. RAKER. Then Mr. Chandler, who is coming here, will be able to give us a full explanation of the matter? Mr. MEANS. I think he can tell you everything. They own a large tract of 500,000 or 600,000 acres, which was bought many years ago. The reason for the all-American canal is to by-pass the Mexican lands and void the contract for division of water by the construction of a canal north of the boundary line. An old contract is in existence, which provides that the Mexican lands shall use water up to not exceeding one-half of the quantity of the water in the canal. This all-American canal in addition to carrying the water owned by the Imperial district will permit other lands to be brought under cultivation. The urge for the completion of the all-American aqueduct then arises from three sources: First, The fear of interruption of service by some overt act on the part of the Mexican officials and the desire to avoid the petty annoyances which arise from dealing with Mexican officials; and second, a desire to keep a larger share of water in the United States and avoid the necessity of a division with Mexican lands; and third, the desire to extend irrigation to areas of new land now arid. The all-American canal idea has been discussed many times. In fact, while I was in the Reclamation Service in 1904, we made some preliminary investigations in some discussion of the matter, while Mr. Lippincott was supervising engineer of the reclamation project of Yuma. Now, I am going to give just a brief description of the all-American canal, so that you can have my ideas before you. The all-American canal is to be built from the Laguna Dam to the present canal system in the Imperial Valley. Laguna Dam has been selected as the headworks because the dam has rock abutments (the lowest opportunity for rock abutments on the Colorado River) and facilities for handling the troublesome silt. A contract on which payments have been made has already been entered into with the Reclamation Service, whereby the Imperial district acquires an interest in this dam and right to connect with it for the sum of $1,600,000. The canal follows the location of the Yuma project's main canal for a distance of 10 miles and then continues around the toe of the mesa lands to Pilot Knob, crossing the main-line Southern Pacific tracks near Araz. It follows around just about the foot of the mesa to this point [indicating], where the Yuma project main takes off, then continues on around the mesa, around to Pilot Knob, where it cuts straight west through the mesa-cuts 50 or 60 feet deep; then through bout 12 miles of sand hills; then continues close to the boundary line until it gets out into the open; gets where it can travel on an economic cut; the reason it keeps close to the boundary line is to avoid as much cut as possible; the mesa slopes to the south. From that point on, it follows an economic cut, to the lands of the eastern district. Now, it is proposed to dig laterals in here [indicating] and, carrying some of the water by gravity and some by pumping. irrigate the east mesa to Caachella Valley, some 75 or 80 miles farther away. From Pilot Knob the canal cuts into the mesa along the boundary line to a depth of from 50 to 75 feet deep for a distance of about 2 miles; then for a distance of 10 miles it runs through drifting sand hills with cuts of from 50 to 150 feet deep. Now, the upper portions of this canal are designed for 11,000 second-feet out of Laguana Dam and something over 9,000 secondfeet through the mesa section. As far as I know, that is the largest canal undertaken in America. I know of only one of two larger in the world. It will be a canal, as designed, carrying water 15 feet deep, approximately 150 feet wide at its bed, and 200 feet wide at the water surface; where it runs from the maximum cut to the sand hills, it will have a cut of from 1,000 to 1,200 feet wide at the top. The detailed estimate of cost of the all-American canal is given in the report by Mead, Schlect, and Grunsky, published in 1919. That is the all-American canal report. The estimate has been revised by the Reclamation Service, on page 86 of the report on Problems of the Imperial Valley (S. Doc. No. 142, 67th Cong., 2d sess.). The cost totals $30,773,000. I will not read the details, which are in the report which you undoubtedly have. In addition, there are two power plants proposed as drops on the canal, with 32,000 horsepower. They are somewhere in this lower section of the canal. Mr. SWING. The power plants are how much? Mr. MEANS. 32,000 horsepower. Mr. SWING. Is that the aggregate? Mr. MEANS. Yes; the sum of them; and that does not include the power up on the Yuma project. In order to distribute this water to the new lands laterals will be required. These are estimated separately, and there is included a distribution of the cost between the lands benefited. The total cost of the all-American canal development, as shown in this Reclamation Service report, including the power plants, is $49,191,000. The Swing-Johnson bill provides for the distribution of cost of the all-American canal according to benefits. Now, we have no way of telling what the Secretary of the Interior will do in that. But this report distributes the costs, I presume, upon the basis upon which these engineers thought the benefits were distributed, at the rate of $40.50 per acre to the Imperial irrigation district. That is based upon the irrigable acreage; and at the rate of $90.90 per acre for the new lands in the United States; and they have included an area of 30,000 acres of Mexican landsthe area of this mesa [indicating], I am told-which they estimated at a cost of $62.10 an acre. Mr. RAKER. Well, they do not intend to give them the benefit of that by supplying those lands, do they? Mr. MEANS. Well, there is no other mention of that that I know of; but that is one of the possibilities of that. Mr. RAKER. In other words, that land would be irrigable? Mr. RAKER. By the all-American canal? Mr. MEANS. Yes, sir; irrigable by gravity, I believe. An analysis of the unit prices on which this estimate is based shows the figures to be below the probable cost. And I say this. even though I have the greatest respect for the engineers who made the estimate; but my own experience would lead me to make a much higher estimate. I have the greatest respect for the opinions of those men; but I must give you my own opinion in this case. For example: First. The cost of earthwork in the section along the foot of the mesa from Laguna Dam to Pilot Knob is estimated at 20 cents per cubic yard. This work involves deep cuts, some overhaul, many fill banks where earth must be compacted and sections of gravel where earth or other impervious material should be placed. The experiences of the writer in recent construction work leads to the opinion that this work will cost 30 cents or more per cubic yard. Second. The cost of earthwork through the mesa and sand hill section is estimated at 30 cents per cubic yard. The section involves heavy work, nearly 50,000,000 cubic yards. Nearly all of it will have to be handled with cars and moved great distances. This work will certainly cost in excess of 50 cents per cubic yard. Third. Rock work is estimated at 75 cents per cubic yard. In my opinion this price should be doubled. There is good reason to believe the estimate of quantity of rock work may be too low. The test pits are long distances apart. The engineers themselves admit that there is that possibility. Fourth. Other items of cost are not sufficiently itemized to afford a comparison; they seem high enough. It is so common for irrigation costs to exceed the estimate because of the scattered and isolated nature of many of the items that a large contingency should always be provided. Fifth. There is in the estimate no provision for interest during construction, insurance, cost of bond, contractor's profit, overhead, such as superintendence and inspection. These items will add large sums to the cost. Interest at 5 per cent will amount to 10 per cent of the cost. Taking these elements into consideration, it is my opinion that the all-American canal will cost one-third more than the estimate, or $40,000,000. Now as to the cost of Imperial district lands. The Swing-Johnson bill provides for the distribution of the cost of the all-American canal according to benefits. There is no assurance of what this distribution will be, but for the purposes of this report we will assume it to be the same as given above (taken from page 87 Problems of Imperial Valley) or $40.50 per acre for Imperial Valley lands. This price increased by my estimate of a one-third increase in construction cost brings the cost to $54 per acre. Other lands in the United States are assessed $90.90, or, according to my estimate, $121.20 per acre. Next, as to the operating costs. No estimate is presented of the the cost of operation of the all-American canal. It will certainly be costly to operate. The canal runs along the base of a mesa for 20 miles. This entire distance [indicating on map] is along the base of the mesa, where it will be subject to cut by cloudbursts, as the Yuma Canal has been sometimes cut. Mr. HAYDEN. You are referring to the Picacho wash? Mr. MEANS. Yes, sir; but all of those cause trouble; they are difficulties that you meet and have to deal with in a desert country. From Pilot Knob through the mesa and sand hills it will be deep in the ground and every wind and every rainstorm will tend to put material in the canal. Continuous dredging will be required to maintain a waterway, all of which will be done under adverse conditions and at a great expense. As a matter of fact, the engineers themselves estimated that during the period of construction 500,000 cubic yards of material would be blown into the cut. They have presented no definite solution of how to handle the canal through this sand hill area. They have suggested several methods, but in the Grunsky report they admit that they have not definitely solved it, but believe that the problem can be solved at the time it comes up. I have operated canals in a sand hill region; and I know it is a very difficult matter. Mr. RAKER. Well; is the difficulty such that there will be a large quantity of sand blown into the canal? Mr. MEANS. The difficulty is such that I would never recommend an open canal. I would recommend a covered canal; and that would be very costly. Mr. RAKER. Is it such that it could cut off the canal entirely? Mr. MEANS. It could, unless part is washed out. Dredging could be done to keep it out. It is not an insurmountable problem: but it is an expense to the district. I believe that it will cost more to take water out that way than in the present system. The all-American canal is the greatest single piece of irrigation engineering seriously proposed by the Reclamation Service. The project has been investigated by many engineers of prominence and bears the stamp of their approval. In view of the prominence which has been given this subject, the writer has been very reluctant to condemn the idea; and it is only after mature deliberation that the conclusions which follow have been reached. The CHAIRMAN. When you speak of "the writer" there, you mean yourself? Mr. MEANS. I mean myself; yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. I think you had better say "I". Mr. MEANS. I am of the opinion that the all-American canal is a project not worth what it will cost and at present I would not recommend its construction, for the following reasons: First. It is not needed. The main reason for its construction is to avoid the carriage of water through Mexico. So far as I can learn, there has never been any serious difficulty in handling water through Mexico. At the most the troubles were trivial and regarded as annoying. During the disorganizations which accompanied the Mexican revolution and the period when the California Development Co. was in the hands of a receiver, there was lack of efficiency and opportunities for serious trouble-partly to be blamed on the American company and partly on the Mexican officials. Since the organization of the Imperial irrigation district these troubles have not been serious. And one thing that should be remembered is that the lands in Mexico which are receiving water from the Colorado are almost entirely in American ownership; and it would be a very different problem if they were in Mexican ownership. Mr. SWING. Your statement of those operating difficulties in Mexico is based upon what you do not know about. What I mean by that is not as it sounds at first, but it means that you do not know of anything except what you would call trivial; there may be exceedingly difficult controversies, of which you do not know anything. Mr. MEANS. That is true. I am giving you the impression that I gathered from men Mr. SWING (interposing). An impression gathered in San Fran cisco? The CHAIRMAN. Well, you evidently have not read the testimony before the committee from people representing the valley and the Imperial irrigation district, have you? Mr. MEANS. I think I have read it all; I have read a great deal of it; I have read Mr. Rose's testimony, and so on. Mr. SWING. But you do not attach much credence to it? Mr. MEANS. But those are not, so far as I know, insurmountable obstacles. Mr. SWING. Do you not think there is difficulty in running out a train with 15 or 20 carloads of rock, and having to drop it at different points; and doing that right along four or five days at a time? That is not a trivial matter, is it? Mr. MEANS. Well, under the present conditions, there is no difficulty. In fact, I have myself gone down on a rock train. Mr. SWING. Do you think it is a trivial matter that the governor down there has issued an order that every person from this country must stop at the boundary line and answer a series of 50 to 100 questions every morning when he is going down there to work? Mr. MEANS. He would have to get up a little earlier in the morning. Mr. SWING. You do not think that would interfere with opera tions? 92265-24 PT 4-10 |