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turn that away? Would it increase the value of the property that is within the two levees at the present time?

Mr. JACOBS. In the State of Louisiana we started building levees in 1717. For a long number of years we had flumes or gates in our levee systems. We had so many crevasses as a result of those flumes that the State passed a law whereby it is a penitentiary offense for any such gates to be placed by anyone in a levee. It is prohibited by the State law and also by the Government.

Mr. RICH. If the Army engineers would do that work, couldn't they meet that situation?

Mr. JACOBS. No. If they did, we would not accept it as a maintenance job. The Flood Control Act calls for levees, after their completion, to be turned over to the State for maintenance. To put those gates in there is impractical. If a gate was built in there and it was built as it should be, it would be very expensive. If they put them in there, such as the one in the Bayou des Glaises levee that cost $300,000, that would be different, but they won't do that. This water that is impounded between these areas deprives these people of the opportunity for the cultivation of their land. If the United States Government had through their district engineers knowing that this main channel here, shown in gray [indicating], which is some 12 or 15 miles from that levee-if they were to go in there themselves and enlarge this levee, which existed in 1928, and in one or two cases set it back, build it, then they would eliminate payment, and the State of Louisiana then would agree to put a gate in there in that case, but we would not accept it as long as we have an inferior line of levee along the front.

There are a number of such cases along the river that were brought up in that way as a result of the policy of the Mississippi River Commission from 1928 down to 1932. The first 4 years the engineers made allocations that went extremely far back, and as a result of these back bends tremendous blocks of land have been thrown out there and the levee boards are broke. They cannot pay up. In some cases they are issuing certificates of indebtedness in business, but in others they are not issuing them. In the fifth Louisiana district, where this levee is located, they do not believe that they should pay for the lands thrown out, although we have had some 10 or 12 cases in the Supreme Court based on that situation, which makes the responsibility for payment for it rest on the levee board.

Now, for the information of your committee, I have prepared a statement of the levee districts on the Mississippi River, divided up into parishes, with the parishes broken down into the actual project jobs, showing the actual cost of construction, the actual area involved, the assessed valuation, the amount that has been paid by the levee district, the amount still to be paid by the levee district, and the total obligation of the levee district under the State law. A question was raised the other day, I think, by you, Mr. Rich, as to what would be the amount of indebtedness for all of Louisiana on all levee set-backs. If you will check up the Government reports, you will find that they used the same percentage we used over the entire State. That is, the assessment is about 40 percent of the actual value of the land. So we use a figure of two and one-half times that to arrive at it. It is about as close as can be gotten for the stretch of the river over all of those parishes.

Mr. RICH. You are going to make that a part of the record?

Mr. JACOBS. Yes; I am going to make that a part of the record, and I have a recapitulation of the entire river for about 600 miles, showing each levee district, and that levee district broken down, even to the showing of the name of each individual project therein.

Mr. RICH. That takes in all of the State of Louisiana insofar as it is under your jurisdiction?

Mr. JACOBS. Yes; and also the district in southeast Arkansas under the supervision of the Board of Engineers of Louisiana, which was authorized under the act of the Arkansas Legislature.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Jacobs will be given permission to file that with the committee, and we will be glad to have it.

(The data referred to by Mr. Jacobs is as follows:)

Tabulation of right-of-way acquired by the several levee districts of Louisiana and the southeast Arkansas levee district for construction of the levees built under Flood Control Act of 1928

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1 Assessed value of land and improvements, $18,795.16 (Chicot County omitted), for which $59,482.40 was actually paid. Under the laws of Louisiana payments for land and improvements are made based on the assessed value, while payments for lands and improvements in Arkansas are made at a price determined by the laws of the State.

2 Includes $21,000 paid for land and improvements on the United States Good Hope new levee. 3 Included in improvements.

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Tabulation of right-of-way acquired by Southeastern Arkansas Levee District for construction of United States levees built under Flood Control

Act of 1928

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LINCOLN COUNTY, ARK.

• Indicates acreage and/or assessed valuation not complete.

! Not assessed,

Tabulation of right-of-way acquired by Southeastern Arkansas Levee District for construction of United States levees built under Flood Control

Act of 1928-Continued

LINCOLN COUNTY, ARK.-Continued

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United States, Goatshed, new levee and enlargement (1933) (at Jefferson-Lincoln County

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United States, Goatshed, new levee and enlargement (1928-29) (2 miles below county line),

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United States, below Jefferson-Lincoln County line, new and enlargement (1929-30) 3 miles below county line), owner:

H. C. Smith.

5.58

.73

4.85

11. 16

279.50

M. H. Bitley and wife..

19.45

2.30

17.15

155. 60

286.50

E. F. McDill.

19.64

3.55

16.09

157.12

339.40

H. R. Wood.

8.06

1.56

6. 50

72.54

143.00

Eugenia Wood.

5.69

1.24

4.45

59. 18

106.50

S. A. Wood.

33.71

12.71

21.00

303.39

710. 10

Total.

United States, Round Lake to Old River, new and enlargement (1930) (beginning 1.0 mile

92. 13

22.09

70.04

758.97

1,864.00

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United States, Kimbrough, new levee (1931) (3.0 miles below Simpson Point) owner:

DESHA COUNTY, ARK.

United States:

Upper Silver Lake, new levee (1929-30); Mud Lake new levee (1929-30); Lower Silver
Lake, new levee (1929-30); above Pendleton, new levee (1929-30) (from county line to
Lake Lenox).

197.41

Pendleton to Medford, new levee (1932) (at Lake Lenox).

458.57

2 197.41 157.40

Davis Lake, new levee (1931-32); Medford, new levee (1931-32) (at Medford)
Medford, enlargement (1931-32).

243.10

128.50 121.71

107.30 2 121.39

65. 37

37.78

4.92

Medford enlargement (1931-32); McKennon,.enlargement (1931-32) (1 mile below Bedford.

164.94

13. 10

Lake Belcoe, new levee (1931-32) (about 3 miles below Medford).

37.39

33.82

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Redford, new levee (1931-32) (at Redford).

226. 72

226.72

Hopedale, new levee (1928-29) (2 miles below Redfork).

65.38

44.90

20.48

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