joined by the connecting channels, provide a low-cost transport arter that permits the movement of bulk materials and products of ever description in huge quantities to advantageously located manufa‹ turing areas. Controlling depths in the connecting channels ar generally 21 feet in upbound and 25 feet in downbound channels.

This important transportation system is connected with the Gulf o Mexico by means of 9-foot barge navigation on the improved Illinoi: and Mississippi Rivers, and with the Atlantic Ocean by means of the New York, State Barge Canal and the Hudson River, and by the 14foot Canadian St. Lawrence Canals. The St. Lawrence Seaway, when completed in 1959, will give the Lake ports access to the sea lanes of the world via channels having a minimum depth of 27 feet.

The Federal Government has constructed 37 major harbors on the Great Lakes for use by large modern vessels engaged in the movement of basic commodities. In addition to the harbors improved by the Federal Government, there are also seven harbors serving deep-draft navigation which have either been improved by non-Federal interests or which in their natural state adequately serve as harbors. There are also numerous other harbors improved by the Federal Government which are of lesser importance. Among the 10 leading ports of the United States, including coastal ports, Duluth-Superior ranked second only to New York, and Chicago and Toledo were 8th and 9th, respectively, based on 1954 tonnage. A recent analysis of certain major Great Lakes ports is given in table 17.

Table 17. Traffic and Annual Costs-Major Great Lakes Ports*

*From data presented to Senate Public Works Committee in April 1955, based on 1953 costs and traffic.

Inland and Intracoastal Waterways. Inland and Intracoastal Waterways, the third element of the navigation program, are one of the most important parts of the national transportation structure. They have proved their worth, both in peace and war, as routes for low-cost movement of bulk commodities to supplement the major forms of overland transport.

The Federal Government has improved in varying degrees some 22,600 miles of waterways in this country to provide the most extensive inland navigation system in the world. The major inland and intracoastal system, however, consists generally of those waterways having a total length of about 8,300 miles which afford the 9- to 12-foot depths needed by modern barge navigation. Traffic on the inland waterway system has grown tremendously during the past 26 years, from 8.6 billion ton-miles in 1929 to 82.5 billion ton-miles in 1954, an increase of about 860 percent during that period. It has been conservatively estimated that the entire inland system in 1953 had an over-all benefit-cost ratio of 3.17. A recent economic evaluation of 12 major waterways is given in table 18.

Table 18. Current Use and Economic Status of Twelve Major Active Waterways 1

1

First
cost

1 From data presented to Senate Public Works Committee in April 1955, based on 1953 costs and traffic. * First cost is exclusive of old work superseded and not part of current project, * Average.

2. Flood control. Federal interest in flood control began in the Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi when the Corps of Engineers first became involved in navigation improvements on that river early in the 19th century, and when the interrelationship of flood control and navigation became apparent. The Federal interest and active Federal participation took definite form with establishment of the Missis

sippi River Commission in 1879. The first expansion of the Feder interest in flood control outside of the Alluvial Valley of the Missi sippi occurred in 1893, when Congress authorized work for control floods and mining debris on the Sacramento River in California. Th first major Federal participation in flood control began in 1928, how ever, when Congress adopted the present project for flood contr and navigation in the Alluvial Valley of the Mississippi River.

In the decade following 1927, the Corps of Engineers carried ou the so-called "308 surveys" which provided for the first time a rela tively complete inventory of the problems and potentialities of mos of the major rivers of the country. These studies and reports included flood control as a major feature but did not recommend flood-contro improvements as there was at that time no Federal participation on a nationwide basis. The general plans developed, however, proved of great use during the work relief programs of the depression years of the 1930's and numerous flood-control improvements were undertaken by the Federal Government under these emergency programs. In 1936 Congress adopted the first general Flood Control Act which expanded the Federal interest in flood control on a nationwide basis. As a result of that act and of the earlier 1928 Mississippi River Act, Congress has authorized over 700 projects with a total estimated cost of about $9 billion which comprise the present active flood-control program.

Substantial progress has been made on that program, but the flood problem is still an urgent matter. It is estimated that Federal projects complete or in partial operation prevent annual flood damages of about $500 million, based on the degree of river-basin development generally prevailing in 1954. Additional damages of over $200 million would be prevented by the remainder of the authorized flood-control program when completed, but about $200 million in flood damages will still remain after completion of the authorized flood-control program. The flood damage figures cited apply only to the main river and major tributary valleys of the country, and do not include the losses that occur in the smaller upstream tributaries, estimated by the Department of Agriculture to aggregate about $300 million annually; nor do they include the impact of major floods of 1954 and 1955. The regional distribution of the flood problem and the estimated effect of the Federal flood-control program are given in table 19 and chart IV.

Evaluation of flood control projects in full or partial operation. As of 30 June 1954, 391 projects had been placed in full or partial operation for flood control. Those projects, which have been in operation on the average for a period of 11 years, have prevented flood damages totaling about $7.3 billion, already over twice the total Federal appropriations for their construction.

Table 19.

Estimated Effect of Federal Flood-Control Program1 (July 1954 price levels and conditions of development)

1 From data presented to Senate Public Works Committee in April 1955.

* Do not include impact of major floods in 1954 and 1955.

* Flood damages and benefits being reevaluated for entire central and southern Florida project. ♦ Flood damages and benefits being reevaluated to include data obtained during 1951 and 1952 floods.

The value of this program, however, may best be established by relating its economic cost, including interest and amortization of the total investment, both Federal and local, and the annual cost of maintenance and operation, to the estimated average annual benefits for the assumed economic life. For an assumed economic life of 50 years, it is estimated that this group of projects will produce annual benefits of over three times the total annual charge for amortization, interest and maintenance and operation.

Detailed information is given in tables 20 and 21.

3. Other benefits. The aforementioned flood-control and navigation benefits alone do not represent the total benefits realized from the civil works program. Large additional benefits also accrue through conservation and use of our water resources by multiple-purpose development. These include development of hydroelectric power, storage of water for industrial, municipal and agricultural use, and the numerous benefits which result from improvement of low river flows. In many cases the projects also provide large public recre

NOTE: EXCLUSIVE OF FLOOD DAMAGES IN SMALL UPSTREAM
TRIBUTARIES ESTIMATED BY DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE
AT $300 MILLION ANNUALLY.

Chart IV

ational values and opportunities for preservation of fish and wildlife

resources.

a. Hydroelectric power. The position of hydroelectric power development in the civil works program has grown with the increasing needs of the Nation for electric energy, with the greater knowledge accumulated in recent years of the ability of rivers to supply that power, and as a result of the expanding Federal interest in its regulation development and use.