engineers up if one were authorized and they did get some money for it from the Appropriations Committee, because I do have this feeling after discussing the matter with the House committee and others; that if we authorize too much, it is now a little over $50,000,000, I think, coming over from the House, and if we add too much to it and it were all turned down, or vetoed, or something, we would lose even the emergency authorization.

I am only getting this information for discussion with the committee, and Senator Myers, you are perfectly welcome to sit in with the committee to discuss the evidence and decide, as far as I am concerned, as one member of the committee.

Senator MYERS. Thank you, Senator.

Senator MALONE. Senator Martin will probably have a statement to be included in the record at this point.

Senator MYERS. I would like permission, Senator, to include a statement on this project at this point in the record.

Senator MALONE. You are perfectly welcome to do that.

That is all, General Wheeler.

(The statements referred to are to be furnished at this point in the record.)

Mr. ORREN JONES,

UNITED STATES SENATE. Washington, D. C., May 18, 1948.

Public Works Committee, Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. JONES: I am enclosing letter from Mr. Robert J. Demer, county solicitor for Wayne County Commissioners, together with a statement concerning the Lackawaxen flood control project.

Kindly file this as a part of the testimony taken on Monday, May 10.
Very sincerely,

EDWARD MARTIN.

COMMISSIONERS OF WAYNE COUNTY,
Honesdale, Pa., May 14, 1948.

The Honorable EDWARD MARTIN,

Senate Office Building, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR SENATOR MARTIN: Enclosed to you herewith is a brief on behalf of the county of Wayne in connection with the hearing held on Monday, May 10, before the Senate subcommittee. I am enclosing to you an additional carbon copy of the brief which may be used at your convenience either to be added to the record or for your own information.

While the matters covered in this brief are merely a repetition of the testimony which I gave before the Senate committee, it is believed that a short summary of the position of the county might be helpful instead of requiring the members of the committee to peruse a lengthy record.

This brief carries the endorsement of all three of the present county commissioners and is submitted with their approval.

I take this opportunity to thank you for the courteous and considerate hearing which was offered me as the representative of Wayne County and I would add my word of praise to the conduct of the committee as a whole to commend them for the extremely fair, highly courteous and thoroughly considerate hearing which they offered all sides and interests concerned.

I trust that this brief will be helpful to the committee and if there is any way in which the county of Wayne can cooperate in this matter, please let me know and I will be glad to present such matters before the county commissioners.

Very truly yours,

ROBERT J. DEMER, Wayne County Solicitor.

To the Honorable Members of the Senate Subcommittee:

In response to the direction of the chairman of the subcommittee, the county of Wayne, through its county commissioners, submits the following brief of its position with respect to the question under consideration:

1. It is the opinion of the county commissioners that a program of flood control is of vital necessity to the safety and physical welfare of more than onequarter of the total population of the county as a whole.

2. Secondary only to the consideration of human life noted above is the necessity of protection to districts in the county which constitute more than one-third of the total assessed valuation of real estate in he county upon which the county of Wayne is dependent for the taxes necessary to maintain the county of Wayne as a governmental unit and to carry out its functions as such. 3. The county commissioners, by statute, are charged with the responsibility of maintaining and preserving the physical property of the county which includes the county court house, county prison and the lands upon which the same are located. The county court house includes the offices and vaults of the various offices of the county which contain the records of land titles, all court records, all private documents which are entered of record, all records and data concerning assessment and taxation, voting and elections and innumerable other documents which have a historical, statistical and informative value which cannot be estimated due to their unique character as records. Without adequate flood protection the continued existence of these documents and the buildings in which they are kept and maintained is seriously endangered. The constant use of such records, the sudden character of recent floods and the impracticability of their removal renders them most susceptible to damage and

loss.

It is submitted that even now, 6 years after the disastrous flood of May, 1942, no one can determine the actual loss of court records as a result of that flood. The nearest estimate ever made by the prothonotary and clerk of courts, for example, was that more than 50 dockets of court records were lost and records of at least fifty-eight hundred marriages. An inestimable number of other papers and records of equally important character were lost.

4. The county of Wayne, as such, could not possibly undertake a program of flood control since it lacks jurisdiction so to do, it is without sufficient funds which would be required and without capacity to raise the same by taxation or bond issue.

5. The question of what plan should be adopted for flood control is a matter beyond the judgment of the county commissioners since they do not have the necessary technical knowledge to pass judgment upon the findings of engineers nor does the county have authority or funds to conduct an investigation by engineers in its behalf.

6. The county commissioners do urge the adoption of the plan that is most secure in the protection of lives and property and which is most economical as to original construction and maintenance; further than this the county cannot express itself.

7. The county commissioners repeat that the need for flood control is vital to the safety of lives and property and add that whatever plan be found best be adopted and carried into execution as soon as possible. Each day continues the burden of fear of death or loss of property to a large number of our people. This fear has resulted in a wide popular viewpoint that reflects seriously upon the plans and progress of our people as individuals and upon the county as such. It is submitted that without flood protection one-fourth of our people are deprived of the fundamental right to live safely in homes of their choice from which they cannot remove without extreme hardship and to pursue lawful occupations which they cannot forsake without great financial loss. Either of these alternatives, if forced upon the people would have most serious consequences upon the continued existence of the county of Wayne as a unit of government. All of which is respectfully submitted.

MAY 14, 1948.

THE COUNTY COMMISSIONERS OF THE COUNTY OF WAYNE, By ROBERT J. DEMER, County Solicitor.

Senator MALONE. Colonel Gee, do you have anything further to offer on this particular project?

Colonel GEE. Would you like to hear a general statement concerning the project, Senator?

Senator MALONE. I think we would either like to have a general statement or if you had a written explanation, you might submit it for the record.

Colonel GEE. Perhaps if I explained the project to you from the map, it would be more helpful.

Senator MALONE. Yes, Colonel, go ahead and do that. That would be very helpful. Then following your explanation, if you had a short written factual statement in regard to it, it might be helpful to submit it for the record.

(Factual information concerning the report on Lackawaxen River, Pa., appears on p. 85 following the testimony of Colonel Gee.) Colonel GEE. I can do that.

The plan proposed is for the purpose of providing flood control through that reach of the Lackawaxen River, where we find the villages of Prompton, Seelyville, Honesdale, and East Honesdale.

All of the work proposed in the recommended plan is located in Wayne County, Pa., and consists of the building of two small flood control reservoirs, one on the main stem of the Lackawaxen River above the village of Prompton, the other a tributary of the Lackawaxen above Honesdale, near the village of Dyberry.

The capacity of the two reservoirs, Prompton will store 19,200 acrefeet, and Dyberry will store 20,800 acre-feet. Both dams would be provided with gated outlets.

The storage capacity of the two reservoirs is sufficient to hold 6 inches of run-off in the basin above the location on Dyberry Creek and or Lackawaxen River. We are thus controlling about 76 percent of the area which contributes to flooding at the village of Honesdale, which was the center of damage in 1942.

Senator MALONE. What is the area covered by the water shed above the dams?

Colonel GEE. One hundred and twenty-five square miles of watershed is above these reservoirs. The total area outlined in green for the entire Lackawaxen is 588 square miles. The major tributary, the Wallenpaupack, which flows generally east and follows this alinement passing through a large lake called Lake Wallenpaupack then enters the main stream below Hawley, is controlled by an existing hydro electric power development at the outlet end of the large lake. The storage here is of sufficient capacity to contain any flood which has ever occurred, including the flood of 1942.

No flood waters were contributed in 1942 by this tributary to the main stream below Hawley.

For that reason, this plan provides no treatment in this tributary which is the major tributary from the standpoint of area in the entire basin.

The principal problem is in the northwestern corner of the basin where slopes are very precipitous, many of the tributaries falling as much as 175 feet in the first mile.

Senator MALONE. What is the area back of each one of these proposed dams? What contributes to the floods back of these dams, approximately?

Colonel GEE. About 125 square miles for the combined drainage areas of the two tributaries.

Senator MALONE. And then divide them roughly.

Colonel GEE. I should say that you will find about 48 percent of that area on the main stem of the Lackawaxen above Prompton and about 52 percent of that figure on the tributory Dyberry Creek above the proposed Dyberry Reservoir.

Senator MALONE. What makes the Prompton Reservoir, then, more important?

Colonel GEE. The Prompton Reservoir is the one which affects immediately two of the three villages in which the bulk of the damage occurred during the 1942 flood.

Senator MYERS. Colonel, I think the people here from Honesdale will object to you calling Honesdale a village.

Colonel GEE. That may well be, sir.

Senator MALONE. You have not said otherwise, and I understand the water shed is probably all about alike; that is, there is not enough difference in elevatioin or difference in any other factor that would make any in the coordination under different conditions there?

Colonel GEE. No, sir. The only reason for selecting the Prompton Reservoir to be built first would be that you would afford immediate protection to two of the communities, Prompton and Seelyville, which were invloved most heavily in the flood damage in 1942, whereas if the Dyberry Reservoir were to be built first, you would provide protection to Honesdale only and ignore completely these two communities.

Senator MALONE. Then those two reservoirs, as you have them projected, would furnish sufficient flood control to completely protect the property of the area?

Colonel GEE. To protect against the flood of record with a fair factor of safety; yes, sir.

Senator MALONE. In addition to the villages being flooded, are there farm lands in the area or other property that suffers at the present time?

Colonel GEE. Yes, sir; these valleys are generally quite narrow. However, there is considerable agriculture throughout the area, and particularly in the bottom of all the valleys.

Senator MALONE. Is it generally a mountainous area?

Colonel GEE. Quite precipitous, particularly in the northwest

corner.

Senator MALONE. And there is not much agriculture in that area? Colonel GEE. Some grazing, sir, and considerable dairy business. Senator MALONE. Go right ahead, Colonel.

Colonel GEE. The total cost of the two reservoirs, with cost figures revised as of December 1947, is $12,150,000, which is divided almost equally between the two reservoirs.

Senator MALONE. That total amount includes all of these miscellaneous amounts, $200,000 appropriation for detailed plans on the project, and the estimated cost of $5,000 for removing low dams on the river?

Colonel GEE. Yes, sir, it includes the preparation of detailed plans for construction of the project. However, the removal of the low dams is an item of local cooperation.

Senator MALONE. And does it include any maintenance at all?
Colonel GEE. No, sir.

Senator MALONE. Who would maintain the reservoirs?

Colonel GEE. The Federal Government would maintain and operate those reservoirs.

And the low dams which you mentioned, just below the confluence of Dyberry Creek and Lackawaxen River, have already been removed by local interest as a channel improvement measure.

The annual charges for the proposed work are $503,000, with annual benefits of $400,000, showing a benefit-cost ratio of 0.80 to 1. For each dollar spent on the project there is a return of 80 cents.

However, in view of the large intangible benefit involved in this particular project, the prevention of loss of life such as occurred in the flood of 1942, the report carries a recommendation from the Chief of Engineers and from the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors for the authorization of this work on the Lackawaxen River. Senator MALONE. What is the customary proportion of benefits to expenditure when you recommend a certain project, when there are no extenuating circumstances?

Colonel GEE. Where there are no extenuating circumstances, projects are not recommended where the benefit cost ratio is less than 1.0. In other words, if it cannot be shown that the United States will get back its entire investment, the project is not recommended.

Senator MALONE. When you say the United States will get back its investment, what you really mean is the improvement and safeguarding of property and other factors add up for the community and the State to as much as expenditures?

Colonel GEE. The return on the project is described in the flood. control law as being benefits to whomsoever they may accrue. And all of those summed together are the return on the investment I just mentioned.

Senator MALONE. What is the annual rainfall, and in what seasons does most of its occur?

Colonel GEE. The rainfall is distributed quite evenly throughout the year. I will have to check the report for the total annual and insert that in the record.

(The information referred to is as follows:)

Based on available records, the average annual precipitation is 43.12 inches: the maximum is 57.33 inches, recorded on the gage at Honesdale in 1942; and the minimum is 30.48 inches, recorded on the Hawley gage in 1931. The average monthly mean amounts of precipitation over the area range from a maximum of 4.58 inches in July to a minimum of 2.74 inches in February.

Senator MALONE. Just approximately.

Colonel GEE. About 42 inches, sir, in this area.

Senator MALONE. Does it come in the form of real heavy rains, precipitous rains, like cloudbursts?

Colonel GEE. The series of storms which produced the flood of 1942 in this watershed are compared by the United States Weather Bureau to the series of storms which produced the Johnstown flood. Senator MALONE. What is the recurrence period supposed to be of these heavy rains?

Colonel GEE. The report cites a design flood for which this project is designed with a frequency of occurrence of once in 500 years. Senator MALONE. That is your factor of safety?

Colonel GEE. Yes, sir.

Senator MALONE. Go ahead, Colonel.