plant here at Jones Mills, 12 miles from here, for this aluminum plant gets its : power from the hydroelectric development of the Ouachita, which includes Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine. I would like to say that, when and if Blakely Mountain Dam is built, it will be of inestimable value in the maintenance of Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine. Gentlemen, we trust we may have your favorable consideration." D. H. Dalton, for the Arkadelphia Chamber of Commerce: "For a number of years we have been interested in anything in the way of a flood-control program that might contribute to the solution of our problems. We have felt all the time, and still feel, that ultimately Blakely Mountain Dam will be built. It is an economic necessity from the standpoint of flood control." H. B. Means, for the Malvern Chamber of Commerce: "There are between 40,000 and 50,000 acres of high-grade, tillable land between Malvern and Arkadelphia. Unless some relief is granted in some manner, the time is near at hand when all that rich alluvial land from Malvern to Camden will be absolutely worthless. For that reason we feel like if Blakely Dam is built we have no doubt it would control the floods and keep the land from washing away.” Chase G. Stephens, merchant from Gurdon: "Gurdon is 14 miles from the Ouachita River Valley. Many of our farmers live in Gurdon and farm the valley. As you know, the Ouachita River Valley is our richest territory and we have been hurt repeatedly by the numerous floods that are occurring each year. Many times each year it has happened that we have had three or four floods, making it necessary to replant cotton and corn that many times." L. A. Henry, State planning board: "The point I want to make is that we should get an authorization now and details worked out so we will have this fine project ready for a post-war program." Gov. Homer M. Adkins: "May and June 1943 floods demonstrated the importance of storage reservoirs in the control of floods. The hazard of floods exists and will exist until reservoirs are installed and operated first for flood control. The dam should be authorized now. Engineering detail, acquisition of lands, etc., require much time. I am convinced that the industrial development which is potential in Arkansas and the electrification of our farms will absorb all the power which can be generated at this dam. I wish to say very emphatically that I hope this dam is built and operated by the Army engineers." Carl E. Bailey, Governor of Arkansas, in 1939, made a report to the War Department on the development of Ouachita River. The following excerpts are taken from that report: By the highway commission (p. 4): "Damage to highways by floods is generally the result of inundation and the destructive effect of flood velocities. It is not uncommon for highway embankments in the Ouachita River valley to be inundated for periods of several months. Direct flood losses to highways from the 1927 overflow in the Ouachita and tributaries were $566,885. There was an average annual direct loss in 1927 to 1938 of $63,Ɛ0).” By the State health officer (p. 17): "Loss due to diseases caused by floods. The State Board of Health, through cooperation of the American Red Cross, submits a summary of the amounts spent for medical and nursing service, drugs, etc.. to aid in care of sick in refugee camps: In six counties in the Ouachita Valley a total of $58,682.11 was spent for the years 1927, 1930, 1935, and 1938.” The State veterinarian says: "This area (Ouachita Valley) would care for many thousands of head of cattle and hogs through the winter months if there were some way to protect it from flood waters." The Lion Oil Co., one of 30 operating in the Ouachita Basin, submitted a summary of losses due to floods, for the years 1927 to 1938 inclusive, totaling $205 000. They add: "It is hoped that the proper authorities deem flood control in this area justifiable and feasible." The State agricultural and industrial commission says this: "The complete development of the water resources of this (Ouachita) basin, including flood control, power development, recreational advantages, and water transportation are paramount, and such development should be begun at once." The testimony given as quoted above and the facts ascertained by the Army engineers in their various studies, leave no doubt that once protected from floods, the alluvial agricultural lands of the valley will be a source of much new wealth coming into existence. The office of the State geologist furnishes the following information on the value of the various minerals produced from the Ouachita Basin in Arkansas: Mining and processing calls for much power, for which electricity is ideal. Once this is available in quantity the State's mining and industrial development will begin. Not until then will we come into our own. IN CONCLUSION This commission requests immediate authorization for the initiation of early construction of a dual- u'pose dam at the Blakeley Mountain site on the upper Ouachita River near Hot Springs, Ark., because in our opinion it is highly essential to the morale of the people of the Ouachita Basin. They have throughout the years suffered immense losses caused by floods and have in recent years been kept in suspense, expecting the construction of Blakeley Mountain, and have patiently waited for the protection and the benefits to be afforded by its construction and operation. We state, without tear of successful contradiction, that the development of the Ouachita Basin, located as it is in the Mississippi Valley within a short distance by water transportation from the Gulf of Mexico, will contribute to this generation and generations to come, enduring benefits of incalculable value and will permit this partially developed empire of latent resources to successfully compete with other publicly developed areas which are no more centrally located. Respectfully submitted. STATE FLOOD CONTROL COMMISSION OF ARKANSAS, By M. W. G E SON, Commissioner, Seventh Congressional District, The CHAIRMAN. Who is the next speaker? Mr. NORRELL. Mr. W. C. McClure. I believe, Mr. Chairman, you have met him before. The CHAIRMAN. Mr. McClure, you have testified previously during these hearings? Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir. STATEMENT OF W. C. McCLURE, OUACHITA VALLEY ASSOCIATION The CHAIRMAN. Will you please state your full name and association to the reporter, please? Mr. MCCLURE. My name is W. C. McClure. I am representing here the Ouachita Valley Association, with head offices in Camden. The CHAIRMAN. Is there any statement with respect to Blakeley Mountain that you would like to make at this time, any high point that you would like to emphasize? Mr. McCLURE. I have prepared, Mr. Chairman, a statement on the Blakeley Mountain Dam that is rather conversational, but it may have points in it that you would like to ask some questions about. The CHAIRMAN. Do you favor or oppose the project? Mr. McCLURE. I am wholeheartedly in favor of it. The CHAIRMAN. Generally, will it be of benefit to the interests that you represent? Mr. McCLURE. Indeed it will. The CHAIRMAN. Will it protect the agricultural and populous area below the dam? Mr. McCLURE. It will, sir. The CHAIRMAN. What about the people owning the lands that will be condemned for the reservoir site? Mr. McCLURE. Those lands have been bought up about 80 percent, I think, by the Arkansas Power & Light Co., who, as you know, held a franchise for the construction of this dam for several years. The CHAIRMAN. Will there be any conflict with the rights of that utility company? Mr. McCLURE. None whatever. The CHAIRMAN. And you favor this dam? Mr. MCCLURE. I do. The CHAIRMAN. That is the only conversation I would be interested in. If you have a statement you would like to file in connection with your remarks, why I will be glad to pass it to the clerk and the clerk will incorporate it in the record. Mr. McCLURE. Would you not care to have me read it? It will take about 5 minutes. The CHAIRMAN. Just emphasize the particular points you have in mind. Mr. McCLURE. The high points of this dam are The CHAIRMAN (interposing). The high points of your argument, you mean. Mr. McCLURE. Well, the high points of my argument in favor of it are that the cost per acre-foot to the Federal Government is only $5.74. I have been unable in all of the sources to find a dam that carries that element of economy with it. The CHAIRMAN. That is point No. 1. That is a good one. Next? Mr. MCCI URE. Next is that it will give 100 percent protection to the land of the Ouachita Valley down to the mouth of the Little Missouri. The CHAIRMAN. Will it increase the head at the power plant or the dams of the Arkansas? Mr. MCCLURE. That is point No. 3 that I wanted to bring out. Mr. MCCLURE. The mouth of the Little Missouri is located at mile 378 of the Ouachita. The Blakely Dam is located at mile 490. There are two dams owned and operated by the Arkansas Power & Light Co. immediately below Blakely Dam. This year, a year of very small rainfall in that area, the upper dam of the Arkansas Power & Light Co. is about 35 feet low, and I passed it about a week ago and it has not even gotten up to the spillway. Now, the Blakely Mountain Dam will firm up the crest holdings of these two reservoirs below them, and I am of the opinion; in fact, I have seen a statement from the Federal Power Commission that it will increase the generating capacity of the two Arkansas Power & Light Co. dams by 15,000 kilowatts; the storage of this Blakeley Dam above. The CHAIRMAN. That is why I asked you about that. Mr. MCCLURE. Now, the next point is that everybody, for 15 years or more, in the whole valley, has been looking for the dam to. start under construction. You well know that this act of 1938 has an amendment made, I believe, by which the Arkansas Power & Light Co. was to be paid by the Government $2,000,000 for the top 26 feet, which was the flood-control statement feature, and I would merely remind the committee of that fact, that that law is still on the statute books, but the Arkansas Power & Light Co. is out of it. It does not expect to build that dam and has so stated in the press within the last 2 months. Now, the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors held a hearing on this project in Hot Springs on December 12. I was present with about 32 farmer witnesses, and a number of others were present. There was not a single solitary speaker, and not one voice of opposition was registered against it. Now, we are quite familiar with the status of the Army engineers' report. They undoubtedly are favorable to the project, and the Federal Power Commission has had for several days this report in process for the amount of power that they want generated there. Well, now, that report, we understand, reached the Chief's office yesterday. The CHAIRMAN. We have that statement. Mr. MCCLURE. And I will say this, the Ouachita River of Arkansas has never had a single dollar spent on it for any kind of flood protection yet. The CHAIRMAN. Have you spent anything out there to protect yourselves? Mr. McCLURE. Yes, sir: considerable. The CHAIRMAN. Where? Mr. McCLURE. In the upper reaches of the Ouachita, below these two dams. The CHAIRMAN. Below these two dams? Mr. McCLURE. We have spent considerable money filing lawsuits against the Arkansas Power & Light Co. for the manipulation of their doings. The CHAIRMAN. Go ahead. Mr. MCCLURE. That is true. And I think everyone of those lawsuits were lost in the manner in which they manipulated those floodgates in times of high water. Now, the Blakeley Dam will hold at least four times as much water as both of those valley dams have. The total volume of that dam is 1,195,000 acre-feet. The CHAIRMAN. Any other point that you wish to bring out? Mr. McCLURE. No. I believe that is all. I would like to state this: There is no river in the South, with a single project in prospect, that means as much to that river as the Blakeley Dam means to the entire Ouachita River Valley. The CHAIRMAN. There is not a more beautiful or interesting stream on the face of the earth than the Ouachita down in Arkansas. Mr. McCLURE. That is right. The CHAIRMAN. You may pass your statement to the clerk and it will be incorporated in the record as a part of your statement. I am inserting for the record a resolution of the Morrilton, Ark., Senior and Junior Chambers of Commerce and of the Conway County Flood Control Association. (The statements referred to are as follows:) Subject: The Blakely Mountain Dam. Mr. WILL M. WHITTINGTON, OUACHITA VALLEY ASSOCIATION, Chairman, Committee on Flood Control, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR MR. WHITTINGTON: We most earnestly appeal to you to endorse the Blakely Mountain Dam on the Ouachita River, near Hot Springs, Ark.; and to include this project in whatever bill is brought out by your committee as a result of the present hearing. Your special attention is asked to the high points of argument supporting the construction of this great project. It is the key to the control of floods on the Ouachita River. There are 485,000 acres of land between Malvern, Ark., and Monroe, La., in the Ouachita overflow bottoms. There is something over 200,000 acres subject to overflow from Camden upstream to Blakely Mountain. There is no other substitute that will take the place of this great project. Economical cost.-The cost of this dam is about $11,080,000. From good authority we get it that the reservoir will hold 1,915,000 acre-feet of water. Of this the storage is as follows: This figures an extremely low cost of only $5.74 per acre-foot of water held. This is outstanding, very economical, and not equalled by any other dam and reservoir in all of the Southwest-so far as we are able to find. The general cost of such projects will run from $10 to $35 per acre-foot. We ask special attention to this exceptional feature. Engineers' surveys and history.-The Arkansas Power & Light Co. for several years held a franchise to build this dam. People of the valley have been hoping for it and looking for it for 15 years or more. In 1939 or 1940 the Federal Power Commission canceled this franchise. Efforts to get it reinstated have failed. Since the cancelation of the franchise, the Vicksburg district engineer has made a complete survey of the project. He endorses it highly as worthy of the Government building it. The division engineer comes along with his report endorsing the findings of the district engineer. The report reached the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors in Washington. They sent out letters last November that they were not satisfied, etc.-they did not endorse it nor condemn. Responding to several appeals, this Board held a hearing at Hot Springs, Ark., on December 12, last. I attended the hearing with several witnesses. Not one of the various speakers voiced any opposition. At the conclusion the Board called for the Arkansas Power & Light Co. There was no response. I got up and stated that |