STATEMENT OF HON. HENRY F. EPPS, MAYOR, CALION, ARK. Mr. Epps. Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am just a workingman out there at this sawmill and, of course, come before this body. I don't know just how to explain it as I should. But I have lived at this town some 30 years, and I have worked at this sawmill for 14 years, and nearly every year this water comes up and shuts the mill down. 1945 was the highest water we had. This past year, the water had the mill down some 6 weeks and everybody was laid off, were just unemployed. Mr. DAVIS. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. The very fact that you are here indicates a very deep interest. We thank you for your presence. Mr. PICKETT. How many million board feet does that mill produce a year? Mr. EPPs. Well, we will cut about 12,000,000 a year. Mr. PICKETT. Thank you. Mr. ANGELL. What kind of lumber is it? Mr. EPPS. Hardwood. We cut some pine, but mostly hardwood. Mr. ANGELL. The timber is grown in the vicinity? Mr. EPPS. Yes, sir. Mr. FORD. Is the lumber mill locally operated or owned by interests outside of Calion? Mr. EPPS. It is owned outside. Mr. DAVIS. Thank you very much. (Statement submitted by Mr. Epps follows:) STATEMENT OF HENRY F. EPPS, CALION, ARK. My name is Henry F. Epps and I live at Calion, Union County, Ark., and have lived there for the last 30 years. I have been mayor of the little town of Calion which has a population of approximately 1,000, for the last 3 years. I have worked for the Calion Lumber Co. as a day-laborer for the last 14 years. particular job with the Calion Lumber Co. at the present is that of sawyer, and I have been on that particular job for 14 years. My Our little town of Calion is located on the Ouachita River, a historic place, formerly known as the Champagnolle community, and has been well known as an historic spot in southern Arkansas for more than 100 years. I have made the trip to Washington to appear before this honorable committee in the hope that our little community may be saved from the devastating floods that have afflicted our people at least once a year from our existence as a community. Sometimes the floods cover our entire community as many as three times a year, and keeps the whole community in constant fear of complete destruction by the flood waters from the treacherous Ouachita River. We have been asking relief from this situation from the Congress for a great number of years and while the expense would not be great as compared to the entire flood-control program. I am quite sure that this little community has suffered more from floods than any community in the United States, and simply because we are small, I am hopeful that our great need of relief will not be overlooked by this honored body. Previously Congress appropriated $50,000 for levee that circled the east side of Calion but left the west side out. This levee has proved to be wholly inade quate and has not given us the relief intended and we are now asking that enough money be appropriated to give us sufficient relief to prevent any further flooding of the town of Calion. If the Congress will appropriate the sum of $430,000 which I understand the engineers will approve, the amount will be sufficient to protect the town of Calion and the surrounding community from floods and will save in time millions of dollars and protect the health of the people not only in Calion, but those who live in the larger communities that surround Calion. I might state that the Calion Lumber Co. employs about 150 laborers who are dependent on the company for a living and that each year the Ouachita River floods the mill plant and lumberyard and throws these people out of employment for considerable periods every year. I understand the engineers have the figures and details with reference to the damage done to the mill and town of Calion and they perhaps can give the figures better than I can. I do have some pictures of the town and mill while under flood which I would like to include in the record with whatever explanation the committee may want in further detail of the damage done to this community and the levee we are asking for in this appropriation. MISSISSIPPI RIVER AT CANTON, MO. (H. Doc. No. 107, Eighty-first Cong.) Mr. DAVIS. Does the Canton, Mo., have a document report, Colonel Gee? Colonel GEE. The Canton, Mo., does have a document number; it is House Document 107 of the Eighty-first Congress, first session. Mr. Chairman, is it your desire to go ahead with the Canton project? The CHAIRMAN. There have been no document numbers at the time this schedule was published. Colonel GEE. No, sir. The CHAIRMAN. All right, go ahead. Colonel GEE. Mr. Chairman, the survey report before you on the local protection project for the town of Canton, Mo. was authorized in the Flood Control Committee resolution of September 18, 1944. Canton, Mo., is located in Lewis County, Mo., on the west or right bank of the Mississippi River, 342 miles above the mouth of the Ohio and immediately below lock and dam No. 20, a unit in the navigation project authorized for the upper Mississippi River. The population of Canton, Mo., in 1940 was 2,125. The outstanding floods which have occurred in the near past were in 1929, 1937, 1938, 1939, 1944, 1945, and 1947. Of these, the 1944 and 1947 floods were the highest of record. On this map before you is indicated the proposed improvement for the local protection of the town of Canton. The project involves the construction of earth levee almost surrounding the town of Canton, the main river levee being replaced in a short reach of about 1,300 feet by concrete wall in the vicinity of the existing water plant and the existing power plant which supplies electric power to this area of northeast Missouri. Continuing southward along the right bank of the river, the earth levee is extended to a point opposite Jefferson Street in south Canton, at which point there is a closure structure to permit the passage of traffic on the railroad into the area protected. Continuing southward and on the landward side of the railroad, the levee surrounds the southern half of the town of Canton. Indicated also on this map and shaded in yellow is the area inundated by the high water of 1947. It can be seen from this that the entire eastern half of this community of 2,000 people was under water during the 1947 flood. The direct flood damages during the 1947 flood were $394,000 in this community, or an average of $197 per capita during that flood alone. The average annual damages for the period of record are $77,000. After the flood of 1944, the community of Canton undertook to employ a firm of engineers to design for them a local protection system adequate to protect against floods from the Mississippi. This plan was actually completed. The plan was never executed because the community was unable to finance its construction. The total estimated cost of the improvement recommended in the report is $1,160,000, of which local interests would pay $73,570 for rights-of-way. Local interests would be required to provide necessary modification of roads, bridges, and utilities, and in addition, local interests would be required to maintain and operate the local protective works after their completion. The CHAIRMAN. And the cost now to the Federal Government will do what works now? Colonel GEE. The cost to the Federal Government will build the levees and the short reach of concrete wall in front. The CHAIRMAN. What is the cost of that concrete wall? The CHAIRMAN. Make that in your extension. Estimates of first cost, flood-control project at Canton, Mo. Colonel GEE. And in addition, provide for the closure structures, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What are they, please, sir? Colonel GEE. Movable gates at two locations, which will permit the railroad to pass through, railroad trains to pass through the levee. The CHAIRMAN. What kind of movable gates? Colonel GEE. These would be gates with a concrete abutment. The individual members of the gates would be dismantled by hand, stored in a house at the site, and on most projects are now fabricated from aluminum in order that hand labor can be used in their erection. The CHAIRMAN. And in that situation, in normal times, without floods, why, you go through the gates and you put the floodgate up and they can't go through when you have the floods. Colonel GEE. That is correct, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What is the estimated cost of those things now? Put it in your extension, please, sir. Colonel GEE. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What else is the Federal cost now? You have given levees, those gates, what else? Colonel GEE. There are two diversion ditches required, one on the north perimeter of the city limits, which has been essentially completed by local interests, but will require some cleaning out in connection with this project. A second diversion ditch is required around the south Edge of the community to intercept overland drainage and divert it into the Mississippi River. The CHAIRMAN. Who furnishes the rights-of-way for that? The CHAIRMAN. And they maintain them? Colonel GEE. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman. Mr. FORD. How much would the locally proposed plan have cost the local people which they apparently couldn't finance? Colonel GEE. The plan proposed by local interests was essentially this plan [indicating on map], with a less costly treatment in this reach, where there is now proposed to be built concrete wall. They propose to encroach upon the lands in private ownership to extend the earth levee to the vicinity of the water plant and power plant, thus shorten the concrete wall by about a thousand feet. It would have been a less expensive plan, but it is essentially this plan, a diversion around the north, a diversion around the south, and a levee surrounding the community. Mr. FORD. Do you have any figures showing how much less the cost would have been under the local plan in comparison to the plan you are now proposing? Colonel GEE. I do not, sir. I will have to supply that for the record. The information requested is shown at the bottom of this page. Mr. FORD. How many people live in that community? Colonel GEE. Two thousand two hundred and fifty. Mr. FORD. Do you know the principal industries in the community? Colonel GEE. There is a glove factory there, in addition to this power plant which serves a number of counties in northeast Missouri. In addition, there are numerous small industries, such as hatcheries and grain and feed establishments. There is a large grain elevator there— businesses typical of a community which serves a rich agricultural area, the principal crop being corn in that portion of the State of Missouri. Mr. FORD. You said that the annual flood loss was $77,000. Colonel GEE. Yes, sir. Mr. FORD. Is that the average or is that the loss which occurs in the years where they have a normal flood? Colonel GEE. That is the average annual flood loss since records again in 1929. The loss in the 1947 flood alone, I indicated, was $394,000. Mr. FORD. To arrive at that annual figure, do you take the total loss over the period of years and divide it by the number of years? Colonel GEE. That is correct, sir. There are many years in which you have no flood. Mr. FORD. That is all. Mr. ANGELL. What is the over-all Federal cost? Colonel GEE. Total Federal cost will be $1,086,000. Colonel GEE. 1.37 to 1. The CHAIRMAN. Will you please include the cost of the plan originally recommended by the city in the extension of your remarks? Colonel GEE. Yes, sir. (The information requested is as follows:) A survey was completed by the engineering firm of Russell & Axon of St. Louis, Mo., in October 1944. The plan of improvement proposed was, in general, similar to the plan proposed by the Corps of Engineers. However, the levee elevation recommended by Russell & Axon was 491 feet, which would protect against floods of 15-year frequency. This is to be compared with a levee elevation of 496 feet recommended by the Corps of Engineers, which would provide protection floods of 100-year frequency. The estimated cost of the levee proposed by this firm was $335,000 based on 1944 price levels. Such an estimate based on late 1947 price levels, which is the basis for the Corps of Engineers estimate, would be $500,000. Thus, the cost of the levee proposed by Russell & Axon is $660,000 less than the plan of improvement proposed by the Corps of Engineers. The CHAIRMAN. You don't think that would be as effective if you put that much money in it as what you are recommending here, for that reason, you didn't approve it? Colonel GEE. We believe this to be a better plan, Mr. Chairman. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that Mr. Magee, Mr. Zenge, and Dr. McDonald be permitted, in connection with their statements, to insert their statements in the record and the clerk will advise them to insert their statements in the record at this point. Mr. DAVIS. Very well, it is so ordered. STATEMENT OF HON. CLARE MAGEE, M. C. Mr. MAGEE. Mr. Chairman, and members of the committee, I desire to go on record as favoring the report and recommendations of the Army engineers as it applies to proposed flood control work at Canton, Mo., which is in my district. Canton is the most important business center of Lewis County and it lies along the Mississippi River. I happened to be in Canton during the overflow in 1947, and the conditions were extremely bad. The entire business section of the city was covered with water and people were having to travel about in boats. The Federal highway which goes through Canton was several feet under water, and more than half of the residences in the city were affected. The main part of the city has been submerged every few years, and it is most impossible to estimate the damages that have accrued over the last 20 years. I feel that the matter is very urgent and that your Committee should give favorable consideration to the proposals which have been made by the engineers. GRAND PRAIRIE-BAYOU METO, ARK. Mr. DAVIS. General, you may proceed with the general statement on Grand Prairie. STATEMENT OF GEN. PETER A. FERINGA General FERINGA. Very good, Mr. Chairman. The Grand Prairie region and Bayou Meto Basin report was authorized by resolution of the Committee on Flood Control of the House of Representatives to the effect that the Chief of Engineers be requested to make a study. The review resolution was adopted December 18, 1945. It is an important resolution, and I would like to read it in its entirety: Resolved by the Committee on Flood Control of the House of Representatives of the United States, That the Chief of Engineers, United States Army, be and is hereby requested to review the report on the White River, Mo. and Ark., con |