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Mr. PRESTON. They have found, after some experiments with the waters of the Colorado River, that it still remains slightly milky, but a very small proportion.

Senator JOHNSON. Do you agree with Colonel Kelley that by holding the river down to 20,000 second-feet maximum the river can be made safe from floods?

Mr. PRESTON. Any time that the river can not be controlled to 40,000 30,000 to 40,000-second-feet, our organization must be ready to fight the river at all times. If it can not be controlled to 20,000, we would leave the river as it is to-day.

Senator JOHNSON. You don't agree with him, then?

Mr. PRESTON. I do not agree with him.

Senator JOHNSON. Your experience on this river is how great?
Mr. PRESTON. I have been here five years on the river.

Senator JOHNSON. And during that period, of course, you have made an intensive study of it?

Mr. PRESTON. Yes.

Senator JOHNSON. And you are thoroughly familiar with it? Mr. PRESTON. I was studying the Colorado River before that; I was here in 1898 and 1899.

Senator JOHNSON. That is all, sir; thank you.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Preston.

STATEMENT OF RAY M. PRIEST, SUPERINTENDENT OF CONSTRUCTION, YUMA PROJECT

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Priest, you are superintendent of construction of Yuma project?

Mr. PRIEST. I am.

The CHAIRMAN. You desire to discuss the levee and flood control. What has been your experience in that line?

Mr. PRIEST. Some 16 years on the Yuma project.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well, you may speak up, so the committee can hear you.

Mr. PRIEST. We have on the project some 44 miles of levee; it comprises some 3,000,000 cubic yards of earthwork, and upon 39 miles of it there is a standard-gauge railroad. We use this is the same way that the Imperial irrigation district uses it; it is for defending the levee, principally.

The CHAIRMAN. Who constructed this levee?

Mr. PRIEST. The United States Reclamation Service.

The CHAIRMAN. What was the cost to the Government?

Mr. PRIEST. The levee construction, in the neighborhood of probably $350,000.

The CHAIRMAN. Did the Yuma project contribute to the cost of the construction of these levees?

Mr. PRIEST. They are paying for it now in the 20-year period allowed by the reclamation act.

The CHAIRMAN. Who maintains the levees?

Mr. PRIEST. The Reclamation Service, although it is charged to the water users; there is an operation and maintenance charge payable annually.

The CHAIRMAN. For the purpose of the record, describe these levees, how high they are and how they have been constructed.

Mr. PRIEST. They vary in height from some 4 feet to about 12 or 13 feet in height. We have a standard-gauge railroad track on it. The CHAIRMAN. Of what material are they constructed?

Mr. PRIEST. Earth; entirely with earth, revetted with rock. The rock revetment we place only during flood periods where the river has attacked us. There is a small portion of the levee system that slopes away planked with rock, but that is not very great.

The CHAIRMAN. Have these slopes withstood the strong current of the stream?

Mr. PRIEST. NO; they have not; we have had serious trouble annually defending them against the encroaching river. The banks are of sand and light silt. They erode very rapidly, and we have taken about something like one and three-quarters million cubic yards of rock on it defending our levee, and it has cost us about that many dollars. It amounts up to in the neighborhood of a dollar and a half or two dollars an acre a year as operation and maintenance charge.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you fear destructive inundation of your lands? Mr. PRIEST. Always.

The CHAIRMAN. It is always a possibility?

Mr. PRIEST. It is always a possibility.

The CHAIRMAN. How does it compare with the situation in the Imperial Valley?

Mr. PRIEST. Our condition is about the same as there, except that if our levee breaks

The CHAIRMAN. How many people reside on the Yuma project? Mr. PRIEST. In the neighborhood of five or six thousand.

The CHAIRMAN. You are interested in flood control?

Mr. PRIEST. Very much.

The CHAIRMAN. What do you want the Government to do?
Mr. PRIEST. Storage in the lower river.

The CHAIRMAN. Whereabouts?

Mr. PRIEST. I would say Boulder Canyon, at least the lowest down on the river that you can create large storage.

The CHAIRMAN. Is it your opinion that if water was stored at Boulder or Black Canyon that you would not live in fear of floods? Mr. PRIEST. If the dam was high enough so it would store sufficient water we would not.

The CHAIRMAN. Has the river ever broken through the levee?
Mr. PRIEST. It has.

The CHAIRMAN. Destroyed property?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

The CHAIRMAN. With loss of life?

Mr. PRIEST. Not loss of life.

The CHAIRMAN. When was the last inundation?

Mr. PRIEST. 1921, during the summer flood.

The CHAIRMAN. Has this menace had any effect on the security or credit of those who desire to borrow money?

Mr. PRIEST. Very marked, at that time particularly.

The CHAIRMAN. How is it at the present time?

Mr. PRIEST. Well, I think it is always so; I believe that people who loan money have that in mind at all times.

The CHAIRMAN. What crops are raised principally on the Yuma project?

Mr. PRIEST. Cotton, alfalfa, maize, some trucking.

The CHAIRMAN. What is the annual production on the project? Mr. PRIEST. About four and one-half million dollars.

The CHAIRMAN. Go on and make your statement if you have anything further to say.

Mr. PRIEST. I was going to state that our annual expense on our levee there is in the neighborhood of $94,000; that is put against 64,000 acres. That is the average for the last seven years. A year and a half ago it was $112,000 average for a five-and-a-half-year period. As I stated before, it runs the cost up to about a dollar and a half or two dollars an acre for operation and maintenance charge that must be paid annually.

The CHAIRMAN. Do you desire to say anything further, are you through with your statement?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. How many acres are under irrigation in your district?

Mr. PRIEST. About 64,000.

Senator JOHNSON. How long have you been fighting the river here?

Mr. PRIEST. Sixteen years.

Senator JOHNSON. You and the gentleman who preceded you are the experts on the Colorado River, particularly in this position, are you not?

Mr. PRIEST. Well, I never claim that distinction, but I have had a great deal of experience with it.

Senator JOHNSON. We will give it to you anyway. Do you agree with Colonel Kelley that by holding the river down to 20,000 secondfeet the river can be made safe from floods?

Mr. PRIEST. Absolutely not.

Senator JOHNSON. Absolutely not; do you agree with the statement which was made by the preceding witness in that regard? Mr. PRIEST. I do.

Senator JOHNSON. Will you state why, if you please?

Mr. PRIEST. If you allow 80,000 second-feet to come down the river you would just as well have one flood every year. We have to maintain an organization, we have to be ever alert. Eighty thousand second-feet of water would submerge portions of our valley should our levee system break. There have been occasions on the river where some of our most difficult efforts were expended to control 80,000 second-feet of water. Reduce it to thirty or forty thousand second-feet and we have no difficulties, the water surface is always below the banks of the river.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. Some phrases are vague in the minds of some people. Now, just for the record, what does that phrase mean, 80.000 second-feet of water?

Mr. PRIEST. Eighty thousand second-feet of water means 80,000 cubic feet of water passing any given point in one second.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. That might be so because of swiftness, but how high does the water get or how deep?

Mr. PRIEST. Well, that would depend altogether upon your veloc ity and your width of channel.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. Precisely. How high at that rate-80,000 second-feet of water, that is 80,000 cubic feet of water per second, rushing along by this levee-how high would the water come up?

Mr. PRIEST. Three or four feet in some places on our project.
Senator SHORTRIDGE. Above the levee?

Mr. PRIEST. No; not above the levee; above the ground surface; 80,000 feet will never top our levee.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. The levee would protect it, would it?

Mr. PRIEST. It would prevent overflow, provided the levee was not eroded away. Our danger is from erosion and not from topping our levee. That is our greatest danger. We have been topped once, but as a rule we don't fear topping; it is the irresistible action of the stream that gives us our great concern.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. I understand your answer to be that the water should not be permitted to flow at a rate greater thanMr. PRIEST. Thirty or forty thousand second-feet.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. Cubic feet of water passing every second? Mr. PRIEST. Yes, sir.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. Which less quantity would naturally result in a lower level of water?

Mr. PRIEST. Lower level, and you would have less velocity.

Senator ODDIE. Are you familiar with the various streams that run into the Colorado River?

Mr. PRIEST. With a few of them, with the San Juan. I have had some experience and made studies there in 1914. I have never seen it in real flood height, though.

Senator ODDIE. Are you familiar with the amount of water that flows into the Colorado River in flood times from the Little Colorado and the Virgin Rivers?

Mr. PRIEST. Not absolutely, except for the fact that I know that we get rather high floods from them, as high as 100,000 second-feet, we have had out of the Little Colorado and Virgin Rivers, to my knowledge.

Senator ODDIE. Does sufficient flood water come from those rivers alone to do damage in this neighborhood at times?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator ODDIE. Should a dam be low enough down the river to control the flood waters of those two rivers?

Mr. PRIEST. Absolutely.

Senator ODDIE. Will the Boulder Canyon Dam do that?
Mr. PRIEST. It will.

Senator ODDIE. Would a dam above those two rivers be adequate to protect this section of the country from the dangers of flood? Mr. PRIEST. It would not.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. It certainly would not protect it from the silt, would it?

Mr. PRIEST. No; we get a large amount of silt out of the Little Colorado.

Senator SHORTRIDGE. That is a vital element in this problem, isn't it?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator PHIPPS. What is the greatest flow you have measured coming from the Gila River at any one time during the past 16 years?

Mr. PRIEST. About 200,000 second-feet.

Senator PHIPPS. That is then considerably above the estimate of a safe flow that you have given us of 40,000!

Mr. PRIEST. Yes; that is true.

Senator PHIPPS. Now, about what length of time does that excessive run-off continue when it comes down?

Mr. PRIEST. Oh, it is up and down generally in five or six days; raises very rapidly and goes down rapidly.

Senator PHIPPS. Then, assuming there was no water coming from the upper reaches of the Colorado and the dam was constructed at Boulder Canyon or Black Canyon, you might still be endangered by floods coming out of the Gila alone?

Mr. PRIEST. We would, but that possibility is gradually being

overcome.

Senator PHIPPS. You are familiar with the works that have been authorized on the Gila River, are you not, for reclamation?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes; you refer to the San Carlos tract?

Senator PHIPPS. I refer to the San Carlos tract and the other tract that is not so far advanced perhaps.

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator PHIPPS. Now, in your knowledge of that situation are you of the opinion that the San Carlos Dam will alone control or equate the flow of the Gila so as to remove that danger?

Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator PHIPPS. In your opinion the one dam alone would give you protection against possible floods out of the Gila?

Mr. PRIEST. I would not say absolutely; no.

Senator PHIPPS. Would the second holding back of the water, the second project there, make you any safer?

Mr. PRIEST. Oh, it undoubtedly would; yes.

Senator PHIPPS. Do you think it would make you absolutely safe! Mr. PRIEST. Well, I am not familiar enough with the storage capacity of the other dam site to really know, and I couldn't get the figures now of the run-off for the Gila for any given period, either.

Senator PHIPPS. What I am trying to develop, to shorten it as much as possible, my question is this: Would you in all probability be relieved from the expense of maintaining your levees in the Gila if these two dams and the Boulder Canyon Dam were constructed? Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

Senator PHIPPS. That is what I wanted.

The CHAIRMAN. Senator Cameron, do you desire to ask a question?

Senator CAMERON. Yes; I desire to ask one or two questions. The Colorado River is supposed to be navigable as far up as Yuma, is it not?

Mr. PRIEST. It is supposed to be, but it is not.
Senator CAMERON. It is so termed, is it not?
Mr. PRIEST. I believe so; yes.

Senator CAMERON. It has been used-
Mr. PRIEST. Yes.

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