improvement. A considerable time may be required for this proce dure, but it is evident that such a course will develop useful plans, weed out unworthy proposals, and place meritorious projects in line for adoption by Congress..

I wish to refer specifically to the interagency agreement of cooperation signed in December 1943 by the Commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation, the Chairman of the Federal Power Commission, the Land Use Coordinator of the Department of Agriculture, and the Chief of Engineers. This agreement is an extension of a similar agreement which has been in effect since 1939. Among other things, it provides for monthly meetings in Washington of these officials and their staffs. Free and open discussions take place on all subjects of mutual interest and on all sources of potential friction. Criteria for analyzing projects on comparable bases are being developed. Close cooperation in the field and elimination of duplication of effort in the field have already been attained. I believe that this interagency river basin committee, as the group is called, can and will work out in an efficient manner the multitude of problems arising as our river basins are developed.

In the matter of correlating the views of State and local interests and in cooperating with other Federal agencies, I am confident that the administration of rivers and harbors and flood-control improvements as established by the Congress and practiced by the War Department has been generally satisfactory to the Congress and to the people.

Mr. Chairman, if I may pause for a moment, it may be of interest to the members of the committee to know that since the passage of the Flood Control Act in 1941 we have been called upon and have reported back to the Congress on 203 proposals; that of those 203, 78 or 38 percent have been favorable, and 125 or 62 percent have been unfavorable. As you probably know, the pending bill contains authorizations for future investigations in the number of about 30.

Since enactment by Congress of a national flood-control policy in 1936, many dams and a large number of local protection projects have been completed. The completed works are affording a high degree of flood protection at the localities for which they were constructed. In addition, many other projects begun, but now suspended during the war, are in partial operation and are furnishing substantial protection. However, there is much more to be done. Each spring, and sometimes throughout the year, we hear of floods in one or more parts of the country. Many may wonder, with the millions appropriated for flood protection, why large flood damages are still a perennial occurrence. The simple fact is that such flood damages occur where Federal works have not yet been authorized, or if authorized, have not been completed.

Looking back over the last 22 years I am impressed with the fact that the Nation has suffered a series of widespread and severe floods. The floods that have occurred during the war emergency have emphasized more than ever before that the devastation and economic loss from such disasters can hardly be exaggerated. In my statement before the Committee on Flood Control of the House of Representatives in June of 1943, a full summary was given of what was called the year of floods. It will suffice to say here that the period May 1942

to May 1943 brought record-breaking floods to nearly all sections of the country, with successive flood peaks on the Missouri, Arkansas, and Willamette Rivers in particular. When I stated to the House committee on February 1 of this year that the absence of serious flood trouble subsequent to the June 1943 hearings must not lull us into a feeling of false security, I did not intend to be a prophet. But since that time, as you all know, the lower Missouri and the upper Mississippi Rivers have again experienced floods approaching the all-time record.

Beginning before Pearl Harbor, the construction of flood-control projects has been progressively curtailed until at the present time only a very few projects of recognized war essentiality are under way. The Denison Reservoir in Texas and Oklahoma and the Norfolk Reservoir in Arkansas are practically completed. These projects will provide flood protection on the Red and White Rivers, respectively, and each will be delivering hydroelectric power to important war activities within the very near future. The Berlin and Mosquito Creek Reservoirs in the Mahoning River Basin, Ohio, have been completed on expedited schedules and are now in operation, providing flood protection and industrial water supply for the steel industry in the Youngstown area. The recently completed Prattville, Ala., local protection project was undertaken at the request of the Navy Department because of the urgent need for flood protection to manufacturing plants producing items for the Navy. Its successful operation during a severe but localized flood last month saved part of the town from inundation and the war plants from prolonged interruption and probable damage.

There are numerous other projects completed or partially completed which are safeguarding the operation of important industrial establishments and transportation facilities. Equally important, though less spectacular perhaps, is the protection which flood-control projects afford to thousands of acres of agricultural land producing food and fiber for the war effort. It is easy to remember the phenomenal industrial accomplishments of the Nation since Pearl Harbor, but these would have been ineffective if we had not also had a stable and expanding agriculture to supply food and basic raw materials for the armed forces, for industry, and for the home front.

While it is a satisfaction to all of us that the flood-control works constructed by the War Department for certain localities have proven adequate in recent floods, this satisfaction does not diminish the desire to go forward as rapidly as possible with worth-while and beneficial projects that are needed elsewhere.

The flood-control bill as passed by the House of Representatives authorizes a number of projects for inclusion in the Federal flood-control program. Additional projects on which reports have been submitted by the Department since the hearings of the House Flood Control Committee are now before this committee for consideration.

I have spoken in general terms about the existing and proposed flood-control programs of the country. In closing, I wish to emphasize that the works that have been completed under the Federal flood-control program are affording extensive benefits to the Nation in today's war emergency. In tomorrow's peace we should go forward

boldly and rapidly to extend these benefits. An important step in this direction is the enactment of the pending flood-control bill.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Senator OVERON (chairman of the subcommittee). Any questions, Senator Burton?

Senator BURTON. No.

Senator OVERTON. Any questions, Senator Cordon?

Senator CORDON. No.

Senator OVERTON .Any questions, Senator Caraway?
Senator CARAWAY. NO.

Senator OVERTON. General Reybold, we are indeed very much obliged to you for the splendid statement you have made. I think in the House hearings you gave recently a history of floods, and brought that history up to date, did you not?

General REYBOLD. Yes, sir. I appeared before the Flood Control Committee of the House last June during its hearings, and again early this year in its final consideration of the pending bill.

Senator OVGERTON. Is there any additional data you would like to insert in this record in refernce to floods that might have occurred since the hearings in the House?

General REYBOLD. Nothing further other than the recent flood that took place as referred to in my statement, in the lower Missouri River, from Kansas City to the mouth; and also on the Upper Mississippi River from the mouth of the Missouri River down to Cairo. I might say that I took occasion to observe those flood waters a short distance up from the mouth of the Missouri River and throughout the damaged sections below St. Louis. That particular flood approximated the maximum flood of record at St. Louis, which occurred 100 years ago, and several levee districts opposite St. Louis and on down on the Illinois side had become inundated, just as had occurred in 1943.

I think under war conditions, one of the worst aspects of that water was the interruption of the Missouri Pacific Railroad, which, as you probably know, is the main line for freight from St. Louis south, crossing the river down below St. Louis. I was told during my inspection that 70 to 75 freight trains a day passed over that particular line, and it was interrupted for several days during this flood. Of course, agricultural lands, wheat fields, and what other crops that might have been planted at that time, were badly damaged. Whether they can recover or not, I am not sure. Certainly the Missouri River bottom in and around Jefferson City and down to the mouth of the river was inundated, and agricultural lands were badly damaged, as well as some highways and the railroads.

Senator OVERTON. In the last day or two I noticed in the papers that there seems to be another rise on the Illinois.

General REYBOLD. It is on the upper Mississippi and Des Moines Rivers. I might make it clear to the subcommittee and others here that we speak of the Mississippi River as the lower Mississippi, which you know, Mr. Chairman, from Cairo to its mouth, and the upper Mississippi from Cairo on up to where navigation ends; and the flood to which you refer is on the upper Mississippi, and I think it is largely the result of a heavy flood on the Des Moines River. Senator OVERTON. Do you apprehend any flood disaster in the lower reaches of the Mississippi River on account of this flood? General REYBOLD. No, sir.

Senator OVERTON. General Reybold, flood control as a national obligation covering all of the United States was not undertaken until 1936, was it?

General REYBOLD. That is correct.

Senator OVERTON. And there has been tremendous progress made in flood protection since that time, has there not?

General REYBOLD. Yes, sir.

Senator OVERTON. Of course, the war emergency has to a very large extent interrupted the prosecution of this work.

General REYBOLD. Very much so.

Senator OVERTON. Just one question about the Denison Dam: Is the Denison Dam now in operation so as to control floods on the Red River in any way?

General REYBOLD. Yes, sir. That dam will be officially dedicated on or about July 1.

Senator OVERTON. Does it have any effect on the recent high stages of water in the Red River below the Denison Dam?

General REYBOLD. We have had no severe precipitation there in recent months, but if such a thing had occurred the dam was in operation and would have prevented floods below that dam.

Senator OVERTON. The most of the precipitation was below that dam?

General REYBOLD. Yes, sir.

Senator OVERTON. That is all. I thank you.

General REYBOLD. And I thank you for hearing me.

Statement of preliminary estimate of flood damages in spring floods of 1944

Senator OVERTON. General Reybold, before you leave, in respect to the new projects to which you referred in your statement, do you wish to discuss them all, or shall I have Colonel Goethals do that?

General REYBOLD. Colonel Goethals is prepared, Mr. Chairman, to discuss those in detail.

Senator OVERTON. All right. Colonel Goethals.

STATEMENT OF COL. GEORGE R. GOETHALS, CORPS OF ENGINEERS; CHIEF, CIVIL WORKS DIVISION; OFFICE, CHIEF OF ENGINEERS

Senator OVERTON. Colonel, will you give to the committee a statement as to the present office that you hold and the experience that you have had as a United States Army engineer, briefly?

Colonel GOETHALS. Name, George R. Goethals; colonel, Corps of Engineers; presently, Chief, Civil Works Division; Office, Chief of

Engineers; graduated from U. S. M. A. 1908; assigned to Corps of Engineers on graduation; 51⁄2 years service on construction of the Panama Canal, 4 years as an instructor at the United States Military Academy in civil engineering and for 1 of these professor of practical military engineering; and with the American Expeditionary Forces in World War I; placed on the retired list on conclusion of World War I, August 4, 1919; recalled to active duty October 15, 1940, as district engineer, Buffalo, N. Y.; ordered to Washington to assume present duties on December 14, 1942.

Senator OVERTON. May I ask you, Your father was an engineer before you?

Colonel GOETHALS. Yes, sir.

Senator OVERTON. Who was he?

Colonel GOETHALS. Maj. Gen. George W. Goethals, class of 1880, U. S. M. A.

Senator OVERTON. We all know of him, if we did not know him personally. He had quite an international reputation.

Now, Colonel, let us take up these projects. By "these projects," I mean the projects that have been submitted to the Congress since the passage of the flood-control bill by the House. Probably we had better follow the order contained in the House bill, and take up these projects by geographical areas.

THE ATLANTIC COASTAL AREA

BLACKSTONE RIVER, MASS. AND R. I.

We begin with the Atlantic coastal area, and the first project is the Blackstone River, Mass., and R. I. In making your statements I wish that you would give us a description of the project and state the Federal cost and local contribution, and also the ratio of cost to benefits, or of benefits to cost, and then follow that by the economic justification of the project, with such additional comments as you think would be of interest to the committee.

Colonel GOETHALS. The first report, on Blackstone River, Mass., and R. I., is prepared under the Flood Control Act of June 22, 1936. My assistant, Mr. Bousquet, at the map, will indicate important points mentioned in the course of my description.

The Blackstone River is formed by the junction of minor tributaries in the vicinity of Worcester, Mass., and flows generally southeasterly about 49 miles, finally to enter Narragansett Bay just above Providence, R. I. There is a normal precipitation over the basin annually of about 45 inches. It contains a very important industrial section of the country, of which the principal industries are textiles, jewelry, electrical goods, machinery, tools, leather goods, optical goods, bakelite products, automotive parts, and rail cars. Agriculture is also of importance. There is no existing Federal flood-control project in this basin. There is an existing navigation project on the lower 5-mile tidal section of the river, providing for a channel 16 to 18 feet deep, adopted in 1905, and now completed.

First, as to floods; destructive floods have occurred in this basin at various times. Those of 1927, 1936, and 1938 were the worst floods for which reliable records are available, and of those three, the 1936 4ood was the greatest of record. It caused damages of $2,306,000,