Mr. WRIGHT. And his estimate of the cost was $20,000,000?
Major COINER. Yes.

Mr. WRIGHT. What I want to know is, the explanation as to why this short period of time should have increased it to nearly $38,000,000?

Major COINER. There has been made available in the interim lots of data that Major Fiske did not have at his command at that time. His examination at Cove Creek at the time this first partial report was submitted, as I endeavored to explain yesterday, was based on nothing like sufficient data for a real engineering estimate of what construction would cost at Cove Creek. In order to get some figures an examination of the site was made, and from what could be determined by a hurried examination of the country about to get some idea what the flowage would be and what the cost of that would be, he arrived at that figure.

The further studies we have made have been accompanied with core borings on that site. We have gotten down to see what underlay the dam site, and we have made detailed surveys of the entire country to determine what the flowage is. We have had time to make a study and to find out just exactly what that flowage was going to cost us, and the figures now are based on exact information, whereas before it was an approximation based on inexact information; the best data available, but not sufficiently good to be really considered an estimate that you could place a great deal of dependence upon in construction. It was a tentative estimate.

Mr. WRIGHT. But it occurs to me that there is a very wide difference in the total cost. I can understand how there might be a difference of a million or two of dollars, but this practically doubles the cost of the Cove Creek Dam. I do not know, of course, which is right, but there is quite a wide difference.

Mr. GARRETT. As you developed there, what would be the difference in the construction of the dam as they recommend, and the same dam irrespective of all those other things?

Mr. WRIGHT. It is the same height. The cost has not changed very much since 1926, has it, of material and labor? Major COINER. I think not greatly.

Mr. WRIGHT. Or for the installation of machinery? Mr. HUGHES. The cost has changed downward instead of upward. Mr. WRIGHT. It seems it ought to have. You say there is not a great deal of difference in the cost of machinery and the installation thereof, or in the work or material that enters into this construction at Cove Creek, since 1926, at the time Major Fiske made his report. Mr. GARRETT. 1926 was nearly the high-water mark on costs. Mr. WRIGHT. Yes. Will you please tell the committee, if you have the data here, the various elements that enter into the cost of this Cove Creek dam, and the estimate you put on each one? For instance, what would the dam itself cost; what does the installation cost; what does the land cost that you are going to submerge; what estimates have you put on the land?

Mr. JAMES. Have you got there a detailed estimate of the $20,000,000, or do you just say $20,000,000?

Mr. HILL. I think he said $20,000,000.

Mr. MCSWAIN. He said $18,000,000, with $2,000,000 allowed for good luck.

Mr. JAMES. You have down at your office a detailed estimate of that $20,000,000, have you not?

Major COINER. If a detailed estimate was made by Major Fiske, we should have it in the office.

Mr. JAMES. Will you put that in the record? Put in the $20,000,000 in one column, and then right next to it the $38,500,000, so that we can see what is raised. Will you make a note of that, Major? Major COINER. I will do that.

Mr. MCSWAIN. The items of cost in the new estimate is what we want, in parallel columns.

Mr. HILL. I think you will find that in House Document 119, Sixty-ninth Congress, first session, page 96, Major.

Mr. WRIGHT. All right. Now, let me add this.

Major COINER. This is Major Watkins's estimate, based on his detailed examination of the entire matter. You do not want the item of earth excavation, and so on?

Mr. WRIGHT. I want it all to go in the record, the details of the accounts.

Estimate of cost, Cove Creek Dam and initial transmission line to Wilson Dam

Estimate of cost, Cove Creek Dam and initial transmission line to Wilson Dam—

Continued

COMPARISON OF MAJOR FISKE'S TENTATIVE ESTIMATE FOR COVE CREEK DAM WITH LATEST FIGURES

No detailed figures of Major Fiske's tentative estimate are on file. By analogy from a rough breakdown of the total which Major Fiske made for another purpose it is possible to arrive at an approximation of the main features he considered. To compare these figures with those contained in the detailed estimate prepared by Major Watkins it is necessary to prorate the general and contingent expenses of the latter among the main construction items. Based on such methods the comparison is as follows:

Major COINER. I may say that this is all being published in House Document No. 185. This is the report of Major Watkins, which is the second partial report on the Tennessee River survey, and it is considerably more comprehensive than the partial report of Major Fiske.

Mr. WRIGHT. You say this is a partial report?

Major COINER. Yes.

Mr. WRIGHT. And the Fiske report was partial?
Major COINER. Yes.

Mr. WRIGHT. This is partial?

Major COINER. Yes.

Mr. WRIGHT. When are we to know what it is going to cost? Major COINER. The endeavor has been to transmit to Congress, as rapidly as it was available the information developed by the survey, so that you might know what was going on and how much more we had to do.

Mr. WRIGHT. You can appreciate, this has been going on for years and we have reached the point where we want to legislate, and we want to legislate intelligently, and we want to know the cost of this. Major COINER. On Cove Creek, this is final. This is the final report on Cove Creek.

Mr. WRIGHT. That is all.

Major COINER. There are some other elements of the survey of the Tennessee River as a whole that have not been finished, but it is only a matter of a few months.

Mr. HILL. Is the estimate at Dam No. 3 final? Is your report on Dam No. 3 final?

Major COINER. As far as the costs are concerned, yes. Those are the final costs on Dam No. 3. Now, you want these figures of cost for Cove Creek?

Mr. WRIGHT. Yes.

Major COINER. The main dam is $7,141,131.

The spillway is $1,861,875.

The power house, including the building and the machinery, is $4.903,457.

The navigation facilities are $2,634,516.

The reservoir, including the flowage rights, the land and the clearing of the land where necessary, and the buildings, structures, and moving of railways, and bridges and highways, is $11,318,745.

Mr. WRIGHT. What price did you estimate you would have to pay for the land?

Major COINER. The average price is $38.91 per acre.

Mr. WRIGHT. Very well.

Major COINER. That is for 54,525.7 acres.

Mr. MCSWAIN. You did not find what it was assessed for taxes on the books?

Major WATKINS. Yes; every plot of land was carefully gone over. Mr. MCSWAIN. What was it assessed for taxes, a dollar an acre? Major WATKINS. I do not remember. Part of this is wood land. Mr. MCSWAIN. In some places they do not tax wood land at all. Major COINER. In some places you would find it necessary to change the location of railroads and highways. There are 9.46 miles of relocation of railroad involved. That item is $2,734,149.

Mr. WRIGHT. What is the mileage of highways?

Major COINER. The mileage of highways is not given here. The cost for bridges and highways is $2,311,815.

Mr. FISHER. Is the figure as an average from Cove Creek or from Clinton, in the fixing of the railroads that would have to be built, and things of that kind, close to the dam-is that figured from Clinton or Cove Creek.

Major COINER. This is the relocation of existing railroad lines. Mr. FISHER. Oh, yes.

Major COINER. Now, the necessary construction track to build. the dam, that is figured into the cost of the dam.

The construction railroad seems to be figured at $125,000. In addition to the amounts stated above, Major Watkins' estimate includes $6,268,131 for general construction costs, administration and engineering, and $3,412,785 for contingencies. The grand total in $37,540,643.

Mr. WRIGHT. Does that change in any way the installation at Cove Creek Dam from the installation suggested by Major Fiske?

Major COINER. It is slightly less, indicating that the economic installation would not be quite as great as shown by Major Fiske's figures.

Mr. WRIGHT. Dam No. 2 is completed?

Major COINER. Completed.

Mr. WRIGHT. In view of this comprehensive study which has been made of the Tennessee River system, if Dam No. 2 had not been built, would you at this time change the height of No. 2? Would it be built just as it is, if it was to be built now?

Major COINER. That is a rather difficult question to answer, because the whole study has been based upon the assumption that Dam No. 2 was in there.