I do not think the people of the lower basin would have supported the plan except with the understanding that the maximum practicable storage would be developed at the Garrison project. I think if they lose this 6,800,000 acre-feet at Garrison, they will demand that navigation retain the right to 6,800,000 acre-feet at Fort Peck, and this will cut down the amount of water that can be diverted out of the Missouri Basin into the Red River of the North.

The CHAIRMAN. General, have you about completed your statement?

(At this point, there was discussion off the record.)

General PICK. I have about completed my statement. I am unalterably opposed to wrecking the development in the Missouri Basin, and to lower the operating pool to 1,830, sir, would, in my opinion, wreck the entire development.

(The extension of remarks by General Pick is as follows:)

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY,
OFFICE OF THE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS,
Washington, June 15, 1949.

Hon. WILL M. WHITTINGTON,
Chairman, Committee on Public Works,

. House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR MR. WHITTINGTON: Reference is made to my statement before the Committee on Public Works on June 1, 1949, at which time I advised the committee that in drawing up the comprehensive plan for the Missouri River Basin I had set the normal operating pool for the Garrison Dam and Reservoir project at elevation 1,850 feet above mean sea level, and had estimated the capacity of the reservoir at 17,000,000 acre-feet from the limited topographic maps then available. In addition, I advised the committee that after a survey had been made and new topographic maps had been compiled it was found that a reservoir with pool at elevation 1,850 mean sea level had a capacity of 23,000,000 acre-feet.

In accordance with the permission of the chairman that I be allowed to extend my remarks and in further substantiation of my statement before the committee I am enclosing a photostatic copy of a data sheet which was prepared in 1943, at the time of the submission of my report, for use in explaining the various components of the comprehensive plan to the Chief of Engineers, to the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, and to your committee during the hearings in 1944 on the authorization of the comprehensive plan. This sheet contains a general description of the Garrison project. It was prepared as one of a set of 31 descriptive sheets, each covering one of the proposed reservoir or levee units in the comprehensive plan.

You will note on the enclosed sheet that the plan shows the Garrison Reservoir extending beyond the town of Williston, N. Dak., to the Great Northern Railroad bridge just above the mouth of the Yellowstone River. It may also be noted that the crest of the dam would be at elevation 1,875 mean sea level; that the capacity of the reservoir would be 17,000,000 acre-feet at elevation 1,858 mean sea level; and that the normal pool would be at elevation 1,850 mean sea level. At no time during my development of the plan as authorized in accordance with House Document No. 475, Seventy-eighth Congress, did I consider any other normal operating pool level for the Garrison Reservoir than elevation 1,850 mean sea level.

The minutes of the second meeting of the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency Committee held in Omaha on August 16, 1945, have been placed in the record and were discussed to some extent. Paragraph 9 of those minutes reads as follows: "After hearing further discussion on the height of the Garrison Dam in North Dakota by Lieutenant Colonel Freeman, of the Corps of Engineers; Governor Aandahl, of North Dakota; Mr. Comstock, of the Department of Interior: Mr. McClymonds, of the Department of Agriculture; and Mr. Greene, of the Federal Power Commission, it was agreed unanimously by the members and representatives of the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency Committee that the Garrison Dam be constructed to a height permitting operation at a maximum normal pool elevation of 1,850 feet. Mr. Comstock concurred in this agreement with the understanding that the elevation of the spillway sill and the plan of initial operation will be determined after further study and consideration."

The last sentence of paragraph 9 regarding Mr. Comstock's concurrence in the agreement was inserted in the minutes at Mr. Comstock's request after the meeting had adjourned. Since that time, no representative of the Bureau of Reclamation has indicated any objection to the operating pool at elevation 1,850. In fact in numerous meetings between the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers with regard to schedules for filling the Garrison Reservoir and with regard to the power output from the project, both agencies have always recognized that operation at the 1,850 elevation is necessary to obtain the power required to supply the market now indicated in North Dakota, and the discussions have been based on operation at 1,850 elevation.

Sincerely yours,

LEWIS A. PICK,

Major General,
Chief of Engineers.

GARRISON RESERVOIR, MISSOURI RIVER

GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF AREA AFFECTED

The dam would be located approximately 695 miles above Sioux City, Iowa (1,455 miles above the mouth). The drainage area at the dam site is approximately 180,850 square miles. This project would reduce floods on the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers, and assist, with the four reservoirs downstream, in reducing floods to the capacity of the levees proposed for the areas downstream from Sioux City. The reservoir would provide water for navigation, power production, irrigation and water supply. It would allow the development of multiple-purpose water uses from the reservoir system without detrimental effect downstream. Water releases for power generation would be regulated to produce the maximum firm power available to the multiple-purpose reservoir system. Power produced at this site would be utilized in the surrounding territory for irrigation pumping, and municipal ́and rural consumption. Diversion of water into the James and Devils Lake regions of the Dakotas would be accomplished in connection with the proposed project.

PURPOSE OF PROJECT

Flood control, navigation, power, irrigation and water supply.

The dam would be earth fill with crest length 11,400 feet at elevation 1,875 mean sea level, maximum height above streambed 195 feet. The spillway would be a chute type in right abutment. Conduits would be constructed in the right abutment. Provision would be made for an ultimate installation of a powerhouse of 10 units, 40,000 kilowatts each, which would be located on the right bank. The reservoir would have a capacity of 17,000,000 acre-feet, at maximum pool elevation of 1,858 mean sea level. Area submerged at normal pool elevation of 1,850, 320,000 acres.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, General, and you may extend your statement.

(Permission was granted for insertion at this point of letter and statements:)

Hon. WILLIAM LEMKE,

House of Representatives.

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,

OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY, Washington 25, D. C., June 9, 1949.

MY DEAR MR. LEMKE: In accordance with the request contained in your letter of June 2, I have asked Mr. W. G. Sloan to comment on the testimony given by Gen. Lewis A. Pick before the Public Works Committee in the House when the committee was considering the question of the pool level of the Garrison Reservoir.

Mr. Sloan's comments have been received and a copy is forwarded herewith. Sincerely yours,

WILLIAM E. WARNE,
Assistant Secretary.

STATEMENT OF W. G. SLOAN, CHAIRMAN, MISSOURI

BASIN INTER-AGENCY COMMITTEE

Mr. SLOAN. In his appearance before the committee, General Pick stated that it was his purpose to refute the statements which had been made by Mr. Sloan, Mr. Vernon, and Mr. Nelson. He stated that it would appear from the testimony that in 3 years nothing has been done out in the Missouri Basin to coordinate this work. He created the impression that the minutes of the second meeting of the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency Committee had settled the question of the elevation to which Garrison Reservoir should be operated and that if Interior had not agreed with this settlement they should have taken the matter up with the Inter-Agency Committee at later meetings.

I do not wish in any way to repudiate the statements which are made in the minutes of that meeting. I was present at that meeting. General Pick was not. Your attention is again called to the wording of the minutes which states:

It was agreed unanimously by the members and representatives of the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency Committee that the Garrison Dam be constructed to a height permitting operation at a maximum normal pool elevation of 1,850 feet.

The word "permitting" was inserted in that statement at the request of Interior agencies for the purpose of permitting construction of the dam to such a height as would enable operation at 1,850 if later studies and agreements had shown the necessity for operation at elevation 1,850. In this connection it should be noted that Mr. Comstock (the Interior representative) concurred in this agreement with the understanding that the elevation of the spillway sill and the plan of initial operation will be determined after further study and consideration. Also note that a statement appears as follows:

General Crawford explained that it was standard procedure with the Corps of Engineers to work in harmony with local interests affected by reservoirs in

the development of the plans and that meetings would be held with local engineers and authorities at Williston by the district engineer for the further detailed discussion of the plans for the protection of that area to insure that those plans were coordinated with local desires.

In quoting the above I wish to emphasize that Mr. Comstock, the representative of Interior, had specifically asked that the plan of operation would be determined after further study and consideration and that General Crawford, representing the Army engineers, had agreed that meetings would be held with the local people before final operations were determined. To date, no agreement has been reached with Interior concerning the operation or the pool level and no hearings have been held at Williston to obtain the local picture. General Pick states:

They (referring to the citizens of Williston) have never allowed us to come there and explain to the citizens what the real engineering problem was involved there in order to provide this protection which the citizens are asking for.

I believe that I am correctly informed that the Army engineers held no such hearings. Therefore, in the minds of Interior agencies and the people of Williston the question has never been settled. In the meantime there has been a provision inserted in each of the subsequent appropriation bills which definitely limited operations of the Corps of Engineers at Garrison Dam in their construction activities at the upper end of the reservon which would encroach on elevations above 1,830 feet. As long as this protection was afforded by Congress there was no purpose in bringing the question up again in inter-agency meetings. This year, for the first time, that protection has been withheld from the citizens in the upper end of the reservoir and it is only for that reason that it now becomes necessary to reach an understanding.

General Pick states that it was his original plan to build a dam with an operating level high enough to back the water up the river so that the water in the upper reaches of the reservoir would just reach the railroad bridge and not flood it. He creates the impression that the height of the dam was limited only by the railroad bridge above Williston. Apparently he gave little thought to the inundation of the 14,000 acres of irrigated land on the Buford-Trenton project in which the Federal Government has invested more than $1,000,000 within the past 10 years and the 4,600 acres of irrigated land which has been developed by the State of North Dakota on the Lewis and Clark unit. Both of these units are lower in elevation than the railroad bridge which he considered the important limit in elevation.

In all the computations of reservoir requirements in the Missouri Basin the capacities required to fulfill the various uses to which the waters are to be put have been a far more important consideration than the mere height of a dam. Chairman Whittington asked the general if the approximate gross capacity of Garrison Dam was not fixed at 17,000,000 acre-feet in Senate Document 247. General Pick stated that was the document which he signed, but he was quite mistaken, in that House Document 475 was the one which he signed and Senate Document 247, the compromise plan, was written and signed by other representatives of the Corps of Engineers, General Pick at the time being out of the United States. The General infers from his testimony that the elevation of 1,850 was the controlling feature rather

than the capacity required. It was known at the time Senate Document 247 was agreed upon that the 17,000,000 acre-feet capacity which the Corps of Engineers then stated was required, could be obtained at approximately the elevation of 1,830. I knew at the time that 1,830 represented approximately 17,000,000 acre-feet.

When Army engineers found that at elevation 1,850 they could obtain 23,000,000 acre-feet of storage capacity they then insisted that elevation 1,850 was the control point rather than the required capacity. To date no attempt has been made by the Army engineers to prove to anyone that the additional 6,000,000 acre-feet of storage is required to fulfill any of the purposes for which Garrison Reservoir was authorized and until such showing is made Interior has no basis on which to change its position on the agreed upon 17,000,000 acre-feet. In this connection, Senate Document 247 states in paragraph 9:

The final storage capacities to be selected for the above reservoirs will be jointly agreed upon after more detailed plans and cost estimates have been made.

Garrison Reservoir of 17.000 acre-feet was included in the listed reservoirs.

General Pick states that he thinks all of these dams in the Missouri Basin should be reviewed. He says that he thinks the question should be studied intensely. With this I agree and that such a study should be made before the operating elevation of Garrison Reservoir is finally determined.

The general feels that if the additional 6,000,000 acre-feet cannot be provided it will serve to wreck the entire Missouri Basin program: (with this I cannot agree). All studies of the storage requirements in all of the reservoirs in the basin should be coordinated so that each reservoir complements other reservoirs. Interior has made such studies and has found no necessity for the additional 6,000,000 acrefeet of capacity. It is my opinion that the plan will not be wrecked in any way by limiting the capacity of Garrison to 17,000,000 acrefeet until such time as it has been conclusively proven that a greater capacity is necessary.

In his testimony General Pick referred to the necessity for an 1,850 elevation to decrease the pumping lift required to serve some 750,000 acres of land adjacent to the reservoir in North Dakota, but in the copy of the transcript which I have seen his reference to the irrigation of this acreage has been deleted. The Missouri Basin project, as authorized, did not provide for the irrigation of any land by pumping from Garrison Reservoir. Such a project has been considered and is being investigated, but no findings have yet been made and such an irrigation development is not a part of any program now authorized. On the other hand, General Pick quotes from paragraphs in House Document 475 which provides for the diversion of water from Garrison Reservoir to the vicinity of Devils Lake and the James River Basin, for the purpose of restoration of Devils Lake to its original level and for domestic use and other purposes.

The compromise plan, Senate Document 247, makes no reference to this diversion, and the only reference in House Document 475 is in a footnote, but the restoration of Devils Lake, additional irrigation and domestic water supplies for municipalities, was included as a part of the Bureau of Reclamation plan for Missouri-Souris Unit of