Page images
PDF
EPUB

Natchitoches Parish, and for that matter, the whole Red River Valley, has been ravaged many times in the past century.

Gentlemen, we, if we survive and maintain a decent economy and standard of living, must have relief, and immediate relief.

Mr. BAILES. We of Natchitoches Parish wish to express our appreciation, and that is for the Corps of Engineers for their labors in the past, and thank them for what we know they will do in the future.

We also want to thank the senior Senator from Louisiana, Hon. John H. Overton, for his efforts and labors expended in flood control. Also we want to express our appreciation to the Honorable Overton Brooks, the Honorable A. Leonard Allen, and the Honorable Henry Larcade for their efforts, past, present, and future.

I thank you, sir.

Mr. ALLEN. Thank you very much.

Are there any other witnesses?

There are no other witnesses here from the Eighth District.

Mr. ALLEN. At this time, gentlemen of the committee, I want Mr. Broks, my colleague from the Fourth District, to present the gentlemen from his district.

STATEMENT OF HON. OVERTON BROOKS, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF LOUISIANA

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman, I want to thank you for this opportunity.

I want to say here for the record that the chairman, Mr. Allen, has coperated with me all the way through on every bit of this project, both day and night.

I heartily appreciate very much his desire to help, and I am sure that all of the people interested in the developing of the Red River appreciate, likewise, his interest and that of our good colleague, Mr. Larcade, also from Louisiana.

Mr. Chairman, in the order in which these names were presented to me, I would like to present Mr. V. V. Whittington, of Bossier City, La.

Mr. Whittington represents the Bossier levee district, as president, and also he is president of the Bosiser State Bank of Bossier City. In former years, Mr. Whittington represented the parishes of Bossier and Webster in the State senate at Baton Rouge.

STATEMENT OF V. V. WHITTINGTON, BOSSIER CITY, LA., PRESIDENT OF BOSSIER PARISH LEVEE BOARD, PRESIDENT OF BOSSIER STATE BANK, AND PRESIDENT, BANK OF BENTON, LA.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I am very happy to appear before this committee. I have heard a great deal of its distinguished chairman, and I know of some of the work that has been done for further relief in Louisiana.

I want to express my appreciation to the Corps of Engineers, and a little advertisement I saw along the road came to my mind when I heard what they had reported. However, it is analogy in reverse. I saw a sign gotten out by Burma-Shave that said:

Some people travel a mile a minute, but there ain't no future in it.

87116-46- -42

As I listened to General Crawford's report here, and let my mind revert to the times, many times that I have seen that valley flooded, I said there must be some future in it, and, General Crawford, to you and your Corps of Engineers, and our own State department of public works, and you gentlemen, who are serving so well here, I wish to express my complete gratitude to you.

I come from the parish of Bossier, and represent that levee board, together with my good friend, Edgar Fullilove, and if you will look at your map you will find that that area borders Red River on the east bank after it comes down from Arkansas for 60 miles. If you will look to the east side of that parish, you will see Bayou Bodcau, and Red Chute borders the other side, and with the two waters coming down, Bossier is inundated most every year for about from 10,000 to 30,000 acres.

It has become such a menace that the value of those valuable lands has decreased because of the jeopardy that we are continually in.

The Bossier Levee Board 40 years ago last October issued $50,000 worth of bonds, and 2 years later than that they issued another $62,500 worth of bonds, and they are 5-percent bonds, mind you, and we have been paying that interest since that time. We have levied a 5-mill tax, I think, nearly every year since that time. So let your arithmetic work a little, and you will see the vast amount of money that has been put up by the local people in that area.

We are very much gratified, and I am certainly pleased that Mr. Odom mentioned it, that the report did not take into consideration all that the local people had paid, and that this project had been delayed in comparison to other areas of like magnitude in the United States, and we are especially pleased that our Congress is becoming conscious of that vast area that needs attention.

I thank you very much for this opportunity to appear here, and I believe we are working in the right direction, and I think it is with a 100-percent approval in that valley, and I am sure it is in the particular area from which I come.

Thank you.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Whittington, do you have a prepared statement?
Mr. WHITTINGTON. Yes, sir.

(The statement is as follows:)

Mr. Chairman and gentlemen of the committee, I appear before you today in a dual capacity. First, I am president of the Bossier Levee Board whose duty it is to protect the land, homes, livestock, and other property in this area from being overflowed by Red River. My second reason for appearing before you is as a citizen and businessman of this area who desires my own land, home, livestock, and other property saved from floods of Red River.

Now this fear of flood is not a mythical possibility, but it is a real, tangible, muddy-water flood which destroys all that it covers, and it usually comes in the springtime when crops are young and growing, and when it is too late to plant again. Such a flood did occur in the Red River Valley in April 1945, and it did destroy a few lives and many millions of dollars' worth of property. I live in Bossier Parish which borders Red River on its east bank for a distance of 60 miles, south from the Arkansas State line to Loggy Bayou, and this parish's eastern boundary is Bayou Bodeau, which together with Red chute and Loggy Bayou, empty into Red River at our southern boundary, and this stream brings a great volume of water which cannot empty into the river when it is high. Therefore, it backs out over about one-half of Bossier. This, with direct overflow water did in April 1945, inundate about 40,000 acres of our land and did about $1,230,000 damage to this one parish. This amount of damage is the agricultural damage and does not include damages to railroads and to highways and other public property, and was furnished me by the county agent of my parish.

The above-mentioned figure does not include any value for land which caved into the river, and this was several hundred acres. The land and property in levee districts of this parish are assessed at approximately $11,000,000 and has a rate of 5 mills. This amount paid annually by local citizens is entirely inadequate to meet the needs in this matter, and were it not for the help given by the Federal Government, the situation would be hopeless. The Corps of Engineers have a plan, and are making certain recommendations in this interim report, which in their judgment is the best possible solution for the control of this river, considered as the whole valley one drainage unit.

The Bossier Levee Board, in cooperation with the Department of Public Works of the State of Louisiana, expects to spend more than $100,000 for drainage purposes in this parish within the next 2 years. This work, together with the plan of the Corps of Engineers, should free this parish from the annual heavy loss incurred by reason of flood, and I hereby respectfully request and urge you to accept this interim report and enact it into law.

The CHAIRMAN. What is your connection with the levee board, and what official position, if any, do you hold, either in the city or in the parish of Bossier, or the city of Shreveport? You look like a politician, and you have a good name.

What official positions have you held?

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I will admit the name is pretty good, I think. I am a member and president of the Bossier Levee Board. I have the responsibility of operating two small banks in that area, the Bank of Denison, one of the oldest and one of the best in Louisiana, I think. The CHAIRMAN. We are kin to one another. Go on.

Mr. WHITTINGTON. I am also president of the Bossier State Bank, which is not as old, about a $7,000,000 bank, and has a fast growth, which I am very proud of.

I have been president of the Bossier board for 6 or 7 years, and I know the finances. I know the finances and figure the taxes. I keep with that matter.

up

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Larcade.

Mr. LARCADE. Mr. Chairman, you were quite correct when you said. this man looks like a politician. He is. I served in the senate of the State of Louisiana with Mr. Whittington from 1928 to 1932.

The CHAIRMAN. About the same time I was a State senator around

my way.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman, we have here Mr. Edgar W. Fullilove, representing the Bossier levee district, and a planter in his own right. He wants to appear here speaking for the planters and farmers in his own area.

The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have your statement.

Mr. BROOKS. The Fullilove family, Mr. Chairman, are perhaps the largest cotton growers there.

STATEMENT OF EDGAR W. FULLILOVE, COTTON PLANTER, CHALK LEVEL PLANTATION, BOSSIER PARISH, LA., BOSSIER. LEVEE COMMISSION

Mr. FULLILOVE. Mr. Chairman, I have enjoyed all I have heard here this morning, and have agreed with every bit. We have heard from the Nation; we have heard from the State; we have heard from the parish; the levee board; and the districts.

I would like to draw you a picture of one plantation.

I come from one of the best cotton and pecan plantations in the United States. This plantation is made up of the best type of soil. God ever allowed to be compounded. I always have complimented

my grandfather for recognizing its quality and settling on land that would produce so well and so consistently. I love it.

Chalk Level Plantation is located in Bossier Parish on the Red River just south of Shreveport. It was the last steamboat landing before Shreveport coming upstream. Its name was taken from the level line of whitewashed Negro cabins on the river front, that could easily be seen by those on board these steamboats.

This plantation at one time extended from the south limits of Bossier City to Curtis and embodied enough land to utilize a halfdozen cotton gins. Upon such a spread I was born in 1898.

The present Upper Chalk Level had 1,600 acres of tillable soil when I was born. Since my childhood I have seen a complete section of land tumble into the muddy maw of Red River, and it is still unsatisfied with the destruction of our property.

I live in a house, a magnificent remnant of the original, which now is on its third foundation, which is 5,500 feet from where it was built. It is behind the levee, which is the fourteenth attempt to control floodwaters. This is only one instance of bank erosion.

There are very few men who live on the banks of Red River who have not had this same experience. If this is allowed to continue on our plantation, this erosion will eventually ruin the largest and finest pecan grove in the world, an investment beyond my ability to value.

Gen. Max C. Tyler, of the United States Engineer Corps, has often asked me the value of pecan acreage, to enable him to estimate rightof-way for the many levees he must construct. I have hesitated to answer, because it would be fantastic; besides, nobody wants to sell pecan groves. A man just keeps his pecans.

1

Gentlemen, if you will go with me to lower Louisiana and imagine a vast area flooded, with distress everywhere-what would you say? The thought would naturally enter your minds that something should be done about it. You would say that there was too much water allowed to descend on that area. The only answer, gentlemen, is a control system to prevent such a traffic jam of raindrops in their mad rush to the Gulf of Mexico.

We need reservoirs of such capacity and so geographically located as to stop this destruction of life and property. We will need the cooperation of all the best minds to effect this end.

We heartily endorse our United States Engineers as a source of the highly technical and professional advice and coordination between the various departments to avoid mistakes.

All the landowners in Louisiana, Arkansas, Texas, and Oklahoma, along the Red River, join me in this plea for controlling floodwaters and bank erosion.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman, the next witness on this list handed to me is Mr. L. R. Matthias. He is secretary of the Red River Valley Improvement Association, and the Red River Valley Improvement Association is organized to represent the people of four States: Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Mr. Matthias really knows the work of that association,

The CHAIRMAN. Do you have a prepared statement?
Mr. MATTHIAS. No: I do not.

Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Matthias.

STATEMENT OF L. R. MATTHIAS, SECRETARY OF THE RED RIVER VALLEY IMPROVEMENT ASSOCIATION

Mr. MATTHIAS. The association has members in the States of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana. We are primarily representing civic, State, industrial, and agricultural interests, and our work is to aid not only Louisiana, but Oklahoma, Texas, and Arkansas as well.

In an attempt to join our people together, we secured the aid of the State engineering groups of the United States, and we, I am glad to report, are in complete agreement on the flood-control plan as presented by the corps; that is, in general.

I think that the fact that the plan was formulated and returned back to the Flood Control Committee here within 1 year from the time that the disaster occurred is worth mentioning, so is the fact that $16,000,000 went out of the valley last year, including four lives, is worth the immediate consideration of this committee.

We cannot, as an association in the valley, express our appreciation to our Congressmen and to Senator Overton, and to the corps for the manner in which they got this information up here for consideration.

We hope you will give us the needed relief that is due this great valley, and we, as an association, stand ready to aid in our small way. Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Matthias, you have a number of members of the Red River Valley Association all up and down the valley of these United States.

Mr. MATTHIAS. Yes, sir.

Mr. ALLEN. In other words, you are not speaking for those alone; you are speaking for all of these States.

Mr. MATTHIAS. That is right.

Mr. BROOKS. And all the States are in agreement on this program; are they not?

Mr. MATTHIAS. The States are all in agreement, in general, to the plan.

Mr. BROOKS. And the governor of each State has approved it?
Mr. MATTHIAS. That is right.

Mr. BROOKS. Mr. Chairman, the next witness on the list is Mr. Fred Webb, Jr., of Shreveport, La.

I would like to say for the record, Mr. Chairman, that the last time I saw Mr. Webb he was down near his plantation below Shreveport, and had been up 3 nights straight, all night long, fighting the waves and the water of the Red River trying to save the levee there. He is president of the jury of Caddo Parish, and had charge locally of the work of fighting that flood down in 1945 in his area. Mr. ALLEN. Do you have a statement, Mr. Webb?

STATEMENT OF FRED WEBB, JR., SHREVEPORT, LA.

Mr. WEBB. I have no statement; no prepared statement, Mr. Chairman, for the reason that all the political bodies of Caddo Parish join hands in helping compile the data that has been presented to this committee and to the Army engineers in cooperation with the Public Works Department, and the Red River Valley Association. But there are some points I would like to bring out.

« PreviousContinue »