estimated cost to the United States of $82,800 for construction subject to the provisions that prior to initial construction of the local protection project local interests provide without cost to the United States all lands, easements, and rights-of-way necessary for the construction of the project, and agree to hold and save the United States free from damages due to the construction works and to maintain and operate the project after completion in accordance with regulations prescribed by the Secretary of War. Lt. Gen. R. A. WHEELER, Chief of Engineers, War Department, R. A. WHEELER, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, Washington, D. C. DEAR GENERAL WHEELER: I am enclosing the report on the Leon River, tributary to the Brazos River, which has my approval and that of the State board of water engineers. With kindest regards, I remain Sincerely yours, COKE R. STEVENSON. SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BOARD OF WATER ENGINEERS TO THE INTERIM REPORT OF THE CORPS OF ENGINEERS ON THE BRAZOS RIVER COVERING LEON RIVER, TEX. In compliance with section 1, Public Law 531, Seventy-eighth Congress, the Chief of Engineers, by letter of April 1, 1946, transmitted to the board of water engineers a copy of his interim report on the Leon River. The report discusses two plans which contemplate the construction of reservoirs on the stream and tributaries and a small amount of flood control by channel straightening and levees. The recommended plan provides for the construction of a reservoir above the city of Belton for flood control, with a conservation pool and some channel straightening and levee work near Eastland, Tex. The second plan, which was not recommended, proposed the construction of a reservoir on the Leon River near Jonesboro and on Cowhouse Creek, a tributary from the west, at Elijah. The proposed reservoir will protect only a small part of the flooded area on the Leon River, but will afford considerable flood control to the Little River, and will have some effect on the floods of the Brazos River. From the estimated damages, as shown in the report, over 50 percent of the flood damage occurs between the Jonesboro Dam site and the Belton Dam site. About 15 percent to 17 percent of flood damage occurs below the Belton Dam site. From this it is apparent that the proposed Belton Reservoir will not afford flood control to any considerable part of the Leon River Basin. It is suggested that a plan be devised that will afford conservation and flood control to the entire river basin. There are a number of towns and communities in the upper basins where ground water of suitable quality is not available and they, of necessity, have to depend on surface water for their supply. During years of low rainfall they suffer acute water shortage. uses. Multipurpose project should be considered to relieve this condition. Streamflow records indicate that there is sufficient run-off to justify projects that would have for their purpose water supplies for municipal, industrial, and irrigation There are locations on the stream where a reservoir could be constructed that would supply a number of towns and communities. In all probability these towns and communities would make substantial contributions to any project that would insure them an adequate water supply for their present municipal and industrial needs and make reasonable allowance for future expansion. It is suggested that penstocks be provided in the Belton Dam in the event future development of the entire stream basin should make it advisable for this reservoir to be used as a multipurpose project. An over-all plan of development of the entire basin should be devised which would afford maximum benefits and would fit in with the Brazos River Conser vation and Reclamation District plan of development. The project should not be limited to a single purpose. It is suggested that before final plans are adopted further studies be made of the stream looking to the conservation and utilization of the waters and to flood control. We recommend approval of the report. BOARD OF WATER ENGINEERS, C. S. CLARK, Chairman. JOHN W. PRITCHETT, Members. DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, Lt. Gen. RAYMOND A. WHEELER, Chief of Engineers, War Department. MY DEAR GENERAL WHEELER: On April 3, 1946, I received a copy of your interim report on Brazos River covering Leon River, Tex., submitted for my comments and recommendations in compliance with the Flood Control Act of 1944. Your report develops two alternate plans for flood control and conservation. The district engineer concludes that plan I involving the construction of Belton Reservoir near the mouth of Leon River at an estimated cost of $11,733,000 is superior to the alternate plan II involving two reservoirs further upstream. You recommend for construction, however, a larger Belton Reservoir of unspecified capacity, estimated to cost $15,500,000, and which appears by a comparison of benefit-cost ratios to be inferior economically to both the smaller Belton Reservoir and to the alternate two-reservoir plan II. Our study of your report leaves me apprehensive that insufficient analysis has been made of related irrigation and other conservation possibilities. The reasons for my concern are as follows: 1. Although statements made at public hearings by residents of the Leon River Basin indicate there is a real interest in irrigation improvements and in conservation water for municipal water supply especially in the upper watershed, these possibilities are summarily dismissed in your report. Before construction is undertaken of the Belton Reservoir, in the interest of providing the best possible facilities for the development of the basin, the studies should be sufficiently complete to eliminate doubt that an upstream multiple-purpose reservoir system which would meet the flood control, irrigation, and conservation needs of the entire Leon River Basin is not a more feasible plan. 2. Studies now in progress by the Bureau of Reclamation indicate the possibility of irrigating some 15,000 acres of land in the Leon River Valley. This possible development is not mentioned in your report. 3. Further expansion of large acreages suitable for rice irrigation in the coastal prairie section of the lower Brazos River Basin must depend upon further streamflow regulation of the Brazos River which can be provided only by additional upstream reservoirs. Although you propose conservation storage in Belton Reservoir for regulating low stream flows, it is not clear from your report the extent to which the needs of or benefits to rice irrigators were considered in determining such storage. 4. Hydroelectric power possibilities, although recognized in your report, are dimissed by a brief statement as being not economically justified at this time. It is my understanding that the Rural Electrification Administration is considering construction of a steam plant near Temple, Tex. The relation between the proposed Belton project, this proposed power plant, and the needs for power appear to warrant careful consideration. 5. The Fish and Wildlife Service has not had opportunity for review of complete engineering and operational data for the proposed reservoir and thus is unable to present final conclusions on the effects of the project on fish and wildlife resources. On the basis of available information, the Department finds no objection to the project insofar as it relates to fish and wildlife, although further studies are necessary in order to ascertain what operational plans would produce maximum benefit to aquatic resources. While the district engineer recommends in paragraph 132 of his report that the Secretary of War be authorized to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the Brazos River conservation and reclamation district for the purpose of securing revenue from the proposed regulation of stream flow, this provision is not contained in the formal recommendations of the report. If such revenues, which are not identified in your report, accrue from waters utilized for irrigation purposes, section 8 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 is clear on the point that such contracts or agreements are the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior, under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation, is now preparing a report for the Congress on the conservation and use of the waters of the Brazos River. In this connection officials from the Bureau's offices at Amarillo and Austin, Tex., have cooperated with your district engineers in exchanging data with a view to mutual assistance in developing the best comprehensive plan for the entire basin. Due to the incomplete status of the Bureau's investigations, and the lack of opportunity to review the district engineer's report in the field, complete coordination of views and plans was not accomplished during the short period while the report was being prepared in the field. In view of these circumstances, and inasmuch as the completion of studies of irrigation and other conservation potentialities, both upstream and downstream from the proposed Belton Reservoir, is required to safeguard the best development of the valley and to ascertain whether or not the Belton Reservoir, as proposed, is a logical part of the total plan, I recommend that no action toward authorization of the Belton project be taken by the Congress until a coordinated plan of development is worked out to serve all of the needs of the basin. Sincerely yours, WARNER W. GARDNER, Acting Secretary of the Interior. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any suggestion that you gentlemen have to make in connection with this matter? STATEMENT OF J. W. DIXON, DIRECTOR OF BRANCH OF PROJECT PLANNING, BUREAU OF RECLAMATION Mr. DIXON. I would like, if I may be permitted to do so, to read the letter from the Seceretary of Interior. It may not be before your committee. I think there have been certain statements made here today on which this letter may throw some light. The CHAIRMAN. You emphasize the points. Mr. DIXON. During the hearings that were held by the Corps of Engineers in December on the Leon River, so-called interests upstream from Leon had made requests that some type of multiple-purpose program be developed so as to provide an opportunity for irrigation developments which the Bureau of Reclamation was then investigating. We find that the report does not contemplate any such possibility, because it proposes a reservoir downstream from that area. I think the statement has been made also this morning that there is no reclamation interest involved in this reservoir. We have a plan now under study which would utilize water for the irrigation of some 15,000 acres of land in the Leon River Valley, and an additional 15,000 acres downstream. Further than that, I would like to say that the reservoir, in contemplating conservation storage, as it does, contemplates an irrigation benefit all down through the lower Brazos River. A further expansion of large acreages suitable for rice irrigation in the lower river appears to be one of the justifications for the construction of the proposed reservoir. There are some hydroelectric power possibilities at that reservoir site. It is my understanding that the Rural Electrification Administration is considering construction of a steam plant near Temple, Tex., at an estimated cost of about 212 million dollars. The Fish and Wildlife Service has not had an opportunity to review the complete report. On the basis of available information the Department finds no objection to the project insofar as it relates to fish and wildlife, although further studies are necessary in order to ascertain whether operational plans would produce maximum benefit to aquatic resources. The district engineer recommends in paragraph 132 of his report that the Secretary of War be authorized to negotiate and enter into an agreement with the Brazos River conservation and reclamation district for the purpose of securing revenue from the proposed regulation of stream flow. This provision is not contained in the formal recommendation of the report. If such revenues, which are not identified in the report, accrue from waters utilized for irrigation purposes, section 8 of the Flood Control Act of 1944 is clear on the point that such contracts or agreements are the responsibility of the Secretary of the Interior. The Department of the Interior, under the sponsorship of the Bureau of Reclamation, is now preparing a report for the Congress on the conservation and use of the waters of the Brazos River. In this connection, officials from the Bureau's offices at Amarillo and Austin, Tex., have cooperated with the Army's district engineers in exchanging data with a view to mutual assistance in developing the best comprehensive plan for the entire basin. Due to the incomplete status of the Bureau's investigations and the lack of opportunity to review the district engineer's report in the field, complete coordination of views and plans was not accomplished during the short period while the report was being prepared in the field. The CHAIRMAN. When you submit your report is it accompanied by a statement that you submitted your report to the Chief of Engineers for his comments? Mr. DIXON. Our report has not reached the same stage. The CHAIRMAN. Do you submit the same thing that is required of the Chief of Engineers? Mr. DIXON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. The matters you mentioned are embraced in the report of the Department of the Interior? Mr. DIXON. Yes, sir. I thought this committee would be interested at this time in the interest of Reclamation and other agencies of the Department of Interior while you are receiving the testimony on the project. The CHAIRMAN. That is all set forth in your comments on this project? Mr. DIXON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. We are glad to have had your statement. Was there anything further you care to submit in connection with the matter? Mr. DIXON. I would like to emphasize that the opportunity to have a multiple-purpose project in that basin appears from the data we have available to us to be ample to justify a very thorough consideration of that possibility before a single-purpose flood-control project is undertaken. The CHAIRMAN. We will keep in mind your statement. That statement is contained in the comments of the Secretary of the Interior? Mr. DIXON. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Does he approve or disapprove at present the construction of this reservoir? Mr. DIXON. He recommends before the construction of this reservoir is undertaken that careful consideration be given to that possibility of multiple-purpose development. The CHAIRMAN. We ordinarily approve the project as recommended by the Chief of Engineers. Whatever he leaves out, recommended either by the district engineer or division engineer, is out of the project. So that particular project that you referred to, unless we specifically approved it, would not be approved. Any further statement you have to submit? Mr. DIXON. No, sir. I think we made it clear that we recommended that there be no action taken toward authorization until the Congress could have presented to it a comprehensive plan showing the possibilities of multiple-purpose developments. The CHAIRMAN. All right, Mr. Poage. STATEMENT OF HON. W. R. POAGE, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF TEXAS Mr. POAGE. Mr. Chairman, I have been before this committee on various occasions on the Leon Dam. I know you get tired of hearing me on the Leon Dam. This is a project we brought before this committee back in the late thirty's and had hoped to be able to proceed in 1941, when the war came along and all of this activity was stopped. Then, the committee will recall, we were back up here in 1944 in regard to the possibility of securing the interim report, which is now filed. I want to thank the Engineers for getting out this interim report before they could complete the entire study of the Brazos River Basin. That is a big undertaking. The drainage basin of the Brazos is larger than the drainage basin of the Tennessee. It hits the whole heart of Texas. Of course, it takes a long time to make a complete plan on that entire project. We have felt that if we did not proceed, if we waited until the entire thing was complete, we would be in the situation of people down on the lower part of the Mississippi who would have to wait until all the lands of Montana had been surveyed to determine what projects might go in up there before they could put in levees on the lower Mississippi. We feel much in that same situation. If we are required to wait until all is known about the entire river basin, we would, of course, wait many years before we could start on some of the things that seem so obviously needed. I speak particularly of the Leon River Dam at Belton, Tex. However, I am very familiar with the territory around Eastland. It is some 150 miles from my district. I do not represent Eastland. They have a different situation in the upper drainage basin. The CHAIRMAN. Who represents that? Mr. POAGE. Mr. Russell represents Eastland. In the lower part of the valley we, of course, are primarily interested in stopping floodwaters. We are disturbed by the water that rushes over us. We again want to call attention to the fact that we are so disturbed because all of this is one entity. By observing the map, you will see |