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modification of the Corps of Engineers' flood control project on the Heart River at Mandan, N. Dak.

Mandan has long been promised flood protection by the Corps of Engineers, but in spite of disastrous floods of 1943, 1947 and 1948 there has been no construction of flood preventive works, although the Army has spent thousands of dollars each year in repairing, but not raising the dikes. Last year's flood came when a section of the dike that had been repaired the previous year was topped and then breached, allowing the river to cut a new channel through a residential section of the city, inundating a large area, with water remaining for a week until the Army got busy, erected a ring dike to plug the gap, and put the river back into its channel.

Floods in 1943, which cost the city over a million dollars resulted in plans being drawn by the Corps of Engineers which called for either a straight flood control program, including a dam at Heart Butte and dikes around the city, or a combination flood control and irrigation program.

I shall not bother the committee with a lengthy statement but I shall refer the committee to Senate Report No. 411 on this bill. I respectfully submit to your committee that this bill should be reported favorably and passed by the House.

The CHAIRMAN. And without objection, you may extend your further justification, unless members of the committee desire to ask you some questions, and that concludes the meeting until 2 o'clock this afternoon.

(The following statement was subsequently submitted:)

REMARKS OF THE HONORABLE JOHN A. CARROLL, A MEMBER OF CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF COLORADO

Mr. CARROLL. Mr. Chairman, I am happy to have this opportunity to discuss with you and the other members of the House Committee on Public Works the need for flood control on the South Platte River and its tributaries.

As I understand the proposal made by the Department of the Army, it would include construction of a large earth-filled dam at Chatfield, near Littleton, and a continuous levee system from the dam to Denver and below Denver to the confluence of St. Vrain Creek with South Platte. Channel improvements and levees also would be constructed on tributaries to the South Platte at Boulder and Erie, Colo. The ultimate cost of the project would be about $50,000,000. Of course, this committee is concerned with an authorization, and not appropriation. There is no question that this project is justified on an economic basis. Each dollar which would be spent would return more than a dollar in economic benefits. In addition, flood control on the South Platte and its tributaries would involve an incalculable return in terms of human life and welfare.

I am sure that some of you may be familiar with the area in Colorado which would be affected by this project. Congressman Marsalis, of course, is thoroughly familiar with it, since his own district is contiguous to the South Platte. However, I should like to call to your attention some of the principal economic and physical features of the area.

The project would directly affect not only Denver, but also one of the richest and most productive farming areas in Colorado. The population of the Denver metropolitan area as of April 1947, was estimated at 471,460, and further growth has occurred since then. The area is in the midst of a period of great growth, not only in population but in importance as an industrial and business center. Nearly 100,000 population has been added to the Denver metropolitan area since 1940. From the site of the proposed dam to Denver, and north from Denver to St. Vrain Creek, thousands of acres of rich land make important contributions to the agricultural wealth of Colorado. The continuing growth of the Denver area is creating an increased demand for truck garden and other produce from the South

Platte Basin. There is no doubt that many additional acres of land in this area will be put to productive use in the future, thereby increasing the potential benefits from flood control.

Flood protection for the city of Boulder and the town of Erie also is important. Boulder is the seat of the State university and also the center of a farming area, and Erie is one of thes State's most important coal-mining centers.

This entire area has been subject to damaging floods in the past, and the Army engineers believe that flood danger will increase in the future if control measures are not taken. Flood damage totaling more than $41,000,000 has been recorded, and the annual damage has averaged more than $1,000,000. More than 50 major floods have been recorded in the South Platte River Basin.

We have not had a major flood in the city of Denver for some time, but the danger always is present. Agricultural areas near Denver suffered considerable flood damage in 1941 and 1942. In 1942, a sustained flood inundated the bottom lands along the South Platte for about 300 miles.

Flood danger on Cherry Creek, which also runs through Denver, is in the process of being controlled by the Kenwood Dam, south of Denver. However, at present there is no protection against a major flood resulting from heavy storms over the South Platte Basin above Denver. A considerable portion of the railroad, stockyards, industrial and wholesale district of Denver, as well as a large residential district, would be affected by such a flood. It is no exaggeration to say that there now exists a danger of floods which could disrupt the entire business and industrial life of the city.

There are about 205,000 acres of agricultural land subject to floods along the South Platte River below Platte Canon. In addition, several hundred thousand acres of other land in the basin are subject to indirect flood losses because of the possible destruction of irrigation facilities serving them. Existing channel improvements provide very little protection. It is estimated that during the April 1942, flood, crop losses exceeded thhe value of all of the protective works which have been constructed to date.

In Boulder and Erie, large business and residential sections are subject to flood damage under present conditions.

This project includes no controversial features. It is considered economically justified by the Army engineers, and there is no objection to it among the people of Colorado. Local authorities have promised the Federal Government their full cooperation.

As you know, the project was approved by the Senate during the second session of the Eightieth Congress, but was removed in conference.

I recommend most strongly that the House Public Works Committee give favorable consideration to authorization of the project during the current session of Congress. In doing so, you will have made an invaluable contribution to the agricultural resources of the South Platte Valley and the safety and welfare of its residents.

(Whereupon at 12: 40 p. m., the committee recessed.)

AFTERNOON SESSION

(The committee reconvened at 2 p. m.)

The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order.

KANSAS (KAW) RIVER PROJECT

We now return to the Kansas, otherwise known as the Kaw. We have as the first witness, as I understand, Mr. William Beall, of Wakefield, Kans., with respect to the Milford Dam.

Mr. Beall, will you give the reporter your name and the interests that you represent?

Mr. BEALL. Mr. Chairman, I would rather you have Mr. Avery testify first. He is from Wakefield.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well; we will take him.

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM H. AVERY, FARMER AND STOCKMAN, WAKEFIELD, KANS.

Mr. AVERY. Mr. Chairman, my name is William H. Avery. I am a farmer and stockman. I represent three different interests.

The CHAIRMAN. You are a farmer and a doctor?

Mr. AVERY. Farmer and stockman. I have to doctor the stock, but that is as far as I go on the professional angle there.

The CHAIRMAN. You represent what interests there?

Mr. AVERY. I have a statement from the Clay County commissioners. I represent the Clay County Farm Bureau and Farmers' Union, and I also represent

The CHAIRMAN. You mean you represent those two organizations. You belong to each of them?

Mr. AVERY. I have a statement from one. I am a member of just -one of the organizations.

represent the Lower Republican Valley Development Association. That is an asociation of persons residing in the proposed Milford Reservoir area that extends from the site of the Milford Dam up the river to a location near Clay Center, Kans.

I would like also to bring to your attention that I am from Wakefield, the little town we brushed off this morning, that nobody knew anything about. Wakefield is a town that is definitely in this reser

voir area.

Around Wakefield, we are so confused about the Milford Dam it is a little hard to make any sense at the moment at all. After this famous flood of 1935 that has been mentioned so many times this morning, the valley was surveyed and there was a dam approved at Milford, Kans. We were not very happy about it, but it seemed to be the logical site at that time. So we were resigned to the fact that there was going to be a dam at Milford. Just shortly after that, interests on the river-up the river-thought that they would rather move the dam up the river so they could have some reclamation benefits; also would protect the lower Republican Valley.

The Army engineers were requested to review or resurvey the Republican Valley with that in mind to see if they could move the dam up the river so some reclamation benefits could be derived and also protect the Lower Republican Valley. That was accomplished. The engineers agreed that could be done and they in their recommendations that is incorporated into House Document 842-have made the following statement in their revised report. They say:

The Harlan County Dam would perfom every function of the Milford Dam and also furnish protection to the Republican Valley below Harlan.

They conclude in this report that the Harlan Dam be built as a substitute for Milford. This report was approved by Congress in 1941 as a part of the comprehensive Pick-Sloan plan.

Mr. JONES. What House Document?

Mr. AVERY. No. 842, pages 151 to 154.

Mr. JONES. Will you give the population of Wakefield?

Mr. AVERY. Five hundred and sixty.

W thought on the basis of the Army engineers' report that Harlan County Dam was supposed to control the Republican River as an integral part of the Pick-Sloan plan. About the time the ink was dry

on the final appropriation bill for the Harlan County Dam, zing! we come up with another Milford dam. That is where we find ourselves today. We have not discovered just exactly what was behind all that. It was out of the picture. Just as Harlan is secure, here we come with Milford again.

I do not want to bore you with a lot of figures. I am not going to. These details are all available to you, if you want to find them out. The CHAIRMAN. Without interrupting you, Mr. Avery, is Clay County the county in which the dam is located?

Mr. AVERY. The dam site itself is located in Geary City.

The CHAIRMAN. The reservoir site is largely located in Clay City? Mr. AVERY. Yes, sir.

The CHAIRMAN. Located in one county?

Mr. AVERY. Clay County and in the reservoir area.

The CHAIRMAN. So the dam proper is over in another county?
Mr. AVERY. Yes, sir; 4 miles down below the county line.

The CHAIRMAN. And you represent generally the interests above the dam?

Mr. AVERY. Above the dam, including Riley, Geary, and Clay City. There are 25,000 square miles in the Republican area and 21,000 of those square miles above this Harlan County Dam, over 85 percent, there is just a little segment down below Lovewell we are going to protect with the proposed Milford Dam. In 45 years of river history, there has only been one flood to originate below the site of the Harlan County Dam. It would have been 145 years, but since there was one before it could have been 245. Nobody knows. The 1903 flood did originate below Harlan. We have had a record of that. The records only go back far enough to show it has been at least 45 years since there has been a flood originating below the site of the Harlan County Dam. Therefore, this proposed dam is going to protect only one flood, up to present records, that occurs once in 45 years; we are going to displace 3,000 people just to accomplish the flood that might be 100 years before it reoccurs.

I will try and hurry along here and not inject a lot of things. I have a copy that I will leave with the committee for their consideration. I want to emphasize this point: In the original Pick-Sloan plan as it was approved by the Congress in 1944, the Milford Dam was not included. Therefore, by leaving the Milford Dam out at this time, we are not upsetting the balance, the coordination of the Pick-Sloan plan. This hearing we are having today--and we have had several Just like them before on the same project-is an extension to the PickSloan plan. It is not upsetting the logistics, the balance, and the coordination of these various projects on the Kaw River or in the Missouri Valley.

Now, to further confuse this thing a little, we have another side injected into the discussion. The Harlan County Dam is in the construction state. Colonel Potter said this morning it was 25 percent completed. Colonel Berrigan, the district engineer in Kansas City said last fall it was 52 percent completed. I suppose the answer lies some

where in between.

The CHAIRMAN. What is your judgment about it? Have you noticed it?

Mr. AVERY. Well, it is just such an immense construction project with a lot of concrete and a lot of dirt I would have no independent

STATEMENT OF WILLIAM H. AVERY, FARMER AND STOCKMAN,

WAKEFIELD, KANS.

Mr. AVERY. Mr. Chairman, my name is William H. Avery. I am a farmer and stockman. I represent three different interests.

The CHAIRMAN. You are a farmer and a doctor?

Mr. AVERY. Farmer and stockman. I have to doctor the stock, but that is as far as I go on the professional angle there.

The CHAIRMAN. You represent what interests there?

Mr. AVERY. I have a statement from the Clay County commissioners. I represent the Clay County Farm Bureau and Farmers' Union, and I also represent

The CHAIRMAN. You mean you represent those two organizations. You belong to each of them?

Mr. AVERY. I have a statement from one. I am a member of just one of the organizations.

I represent the Lower Republican Valley Development Association. That is an asociation of persons residing in the proposed Milford Reservoir area that extends from the site of the Milford Dam up the river to a location near Clay Center, Kans.

I would like also to bring to your attention that I am from Wakefield, the little town we brushed off this morning, that nobody knew anything about. Wakefield is a town that is definitely in this reser

voir area.

Around Wakefield, we are so confused about the Milford Dam it is a little hard to make any sense at the moment at all. After this famous flood of 1935 that has been mentioned so many times this morning, the valley was surveyed and there was a dam approved at Milford, Kans. We were not very happy about it, but it seemed to be the logical site at that time. So we were resigned to the fact that there was going to be a dam at Milford. Just shortly after that, interests on the river-up the river-thought that they would rather move the dam up the river so they could have some reclamation benefits; also would protect the lower Republican Valley.

The Army engineers were requested to review or resurvey the Republican Valley with that in mind to see if they could move the dam up the river so some reclamation benefits could be derived and also protect the Lower Republican Valley. That was accomplished. The engineers agreed that could be done and they in their recommendations that is incorporated into House Document 842-have made the following statement in their revised report. They say:

The Harlan County Dam would perfom every function of the Milford Dam and also furnish protection to the Republican Valley below Harlan.

They conclude in this report that the Harlan Dam be built as a substitute for Milford. This report was approved by Congress in 1941 as a part of the comprehensive Pick-Sloan plan.

Mr. JONES. What House Document?

Mr. AVERY. No. 842, pages 151 to 154.

Mr. JONES. Will you give the population of Wakefield?

Mr. AVERY. Five hundred and sixty.

W thought on the basis of the Army engineers' report that Harlan County Dam was supposed to control the Republican River as an integral part of the Pick-Sloan plan. About the time the ink was dry

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