Mr. PAGE. NO. That $7,250,000 will not even carry the project through the fiscal year 1938. In other words, if Congress makes no more money available, then that work at Grand Coulee Dam must be discontinued next year within 6 or 8 months. Mr. LEAVY. Before we reach the middle of the fiscal year 1938? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. And that $7,250,000 will make how much that has been spent on the project? Mr. PAGE. $63,000,000. EFFECT OF DISCONTINUANCE OF WORK ON PROJECT Mr. LEAVY. If that work is discontinued there, even temporarily, would there be a substantial loss? Mr. PAGE. If the work is discontinued there at all, all of the organization, and all of the people who have come into that territory to work on that project must disappear because there are no other sources of employment in that region. Further than that, if the work is discontinued, its later resumption would entail the reorganization of a new crew, and the bringing in of new equipment under new contract, an expensive and wasteful business. The present appropriation, with this request, will complete the present contract for the foundation of the dam. It will not go beyond the foundation of the dam, and the foundation will be of no use or value if the work is discontinued at the present time. The interest alone on the cost of the foundation would represent quite a serious loss. Mr. LEAVY. And thus have no practical value whatever? Mr. PAGE. That is right. The foundation will create only a ripple in the river. To be of practical value, the foundation must be incorporated into the high dam. Mr. LEAVY. It will be just merely a great block of concrete across the Columbia River? Mr. PAGE. Yes; about 4,000,000 yards of concrete. AMOUNT REQUIRED TO CARRY WORK THROUGH FISCAL YEAR 1938 Mr. LEAVY. Now, Mr. Page, did your department ask for a sum greater than this? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. What sum would be required to carry you through the fiscal year 1938, and to keep that work moving without interruption? Mr. PAGE. I think our program called for $16,000,000. Mr. LEAVY. That would permit you to move right along without interruption of any kind? Mr. PAGE. That would permit us to carry on with probably no interruption of any kind. The present contract would be terminated, and a new one would be let covering construction of the rest of the dam. This new contract would be arranged to take care of our present plant and equipment, and there would probably be no time lost in the construction program. Mr. LEAVY. Is that highly desirable from the point of economics, a highly desirable situation? Mr. PAGE. It is desirable both from the standpoint of economics and also from the standpoint of engineering. To continue imme diately would save millions. The engineering would be facilitated by immediate continuation of the work. If the foundation is left for any length of time there will be a serious engineering problem in protection of the concrete surface and in making the bond between the top of the foundation and the new material eventually to be placed upon it in constructing the remainder of the dam. Therefore from both the economic and engineering standpoints it is highly desirable that the work be continued without a shutdown and delay. AMOUNT REQUIRED TO COMPLETE PROJECT Mr. O'NEAL. How much more money would be needed to bring it finally to completion? Mr. PAGE. The dam costs approximately $118,000,000. Mr. O'NEAL. That is for the dam? Mr. PAGE. Yes; and the power plant $68,000,000 additional. Mr. PAGE. $63,000,000. This estimate will bring the total to $63,000,000. Mr. O'NEAL. $63,000,000, and this $16,000,000 would be $79,000,000? Mr. PAGE. No; it is $63,000,000, including the $7,250,000 estimate. Mr. O'NEAL. Making about $71,000,000, if you get $16,000,000, which would leave another $100,000,000 to appropriate before it would be put into operation? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir; I probably should correct that statement a little, by saying that power would be developed there long before we would need the total amount you mentioned, in that the first units would be installed as the demand for the power arose. first power could probably be generated there in about 1940. The Mr. O'NEAL. Is there any place where it could be stopped today without being a real loss, or would we have to carry it to full completion or suffer the loss of what we have put into it? Mr. PAGE. It practically amounts to carrying it to completion to get any benefit from the project. AID TO NAVIGATION Mr. LEAVY. Now, Mr. Page, when completed, will it be a factor on the Columbia River in aiding navigation? Mr. PAGE. It will aid in navigation and will have some value in flood control. It will be a very large factor in the development of power, both at the site and down stream at Bonneville and Rock Island, by limiting the flow of water at times when it is not needed; saving the surplus and releasing it in the low-water season the power generated in down-stream plants is increased approximately 50 percent. Mr. LEAVY. Below the mouth of the Snake River? Mr. PAGE. Below the mouth of the Snake River the water depth is increased about 3 feet. Mr. LEAVY. The Government has just built a power plant at Bonneville down near Portland? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. The completion of Grand Coulee Dam, some four or five hundred miles away, will increase the power development at Bonneville, according to your engineer in charge, Mr. Banks, 50 percent? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. And also that of the private power companies having the dam across the river at Rock Island? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. The power development there upon the completion of the Grand Coulee Dam would be increased almost 100 percent? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. POWER SITES ON COLUMBIA RIVER Mr. LEAVY. How many other power sites are there on the Columbia River? Mr. PAGE. Ten have been surveyed and planned by the Army engineers. Grand Coulee is the uppermost and the key dam of this series. It will increase the potential firm power at all of the sites about equally. Mr. LEAVY. Does this river lend itself to power development? Mr. PAGE. It is almost perfect for that purpose. Mr. LEAVY. The water is clear? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. Sediment is no problem there at all? Mr. PAGE. No; it practically runs clear all the year round. The canyon of the Columbia provides good dam sites. The territory is developing and the demand for power is increasing more rapidly than it is in most sections of the country. Besides that, there is a vast area containing a tremendous amount of mineral resources which are wholly undeveloped. The Columbia is among our very best power streams. TOTAL AMOUNT OF POWER DEVELOPED Mr. LEAVY. This project, when completed, would develop how much power? Mr. PAGE. The total installed horsepower would be 2,520,000, and it will probably produce about 8,000,100,000 kilowatt-hours per year. COST OF POWER Mr. LEAVY. Do you have the figures on the cost of it? Mr. PAGE. The cost of the power? Mr. LEAVY. Yes. Mr. PAGE. NO; I do not have those definitely, but the approximate cost for firm power will be about 2 mills. Mr. LEAVY. Now, Mr. O'Neal asked you if we should not complete the project, would it be a loss. Would the dam and power plants have to be completed before it would begin to return revenue? What are the facts in that regard, Mr. Page? Mr. PAGE. The dam must be completed, and the initial installation made in the power plant before we could get any revenue. Mr. PAGE. That must be done before any revenue would be obtained from it. Mr. LEAVY. There are how many penstocks that will be laid out in this foundation? Mr. PAGE. Eighteen. Mr. LEAVY. Nine on either side of the river? Mr. PAGE. Yes, sir. Mr. LEAVY. They are of what diameter? Mr. PAGE. Eighteen feet in diameter. Mr. LEAVY. Now, could they be brought in by units? Mr. PAGE. Oh, yes; and they would be brought in by units, as the demand for power developed. Each unit would probably cost installed in the neighborhood of $4,000,000. DEMAND FOR POWER IN NORTHWEST Mr. LEAVY. Do you know right now what the situation is in reference to power, Mr. Page, in the Northwest, as to whether they are using steam plants to supplement hydroelectric power? Mr. PAGE. Yes; there are a large number of power plants in the Northwest at the present time. Steam plants are being used which, to a certain extent, are obsolete. They are using them because of the increased demand, which, as I remember it, is increasing at the rate of about 132 percent a year compounded. RECLAMATION FEATURE OF PROJECT Mr. LEAVY. Now, in addition to the power feature of the project, is there a reclamation feature likewise attached to it? Mr. PAGE. Yes; the primary purpose of the project is the irrigation of 1,200,000 acres of land in the Big Bend region of the Columbia Basin. Water will be stored in a regulating reservoir in Grand Coulee, above the Grand Coulee high dam. It will be pumped to the reservoir will secondary power developed at the Grand Coulee Dam plant. It will be distributed through gravity canals leading from the reservoir in Grand Coulee to 1,200,000 acres of very fine, fertile land, the same type of land which is in the adjacent Wenatchee and Yakima Valley. This land now is dry and unused. It is the finest and largest undeveloped area remaining to us; probably the finest in the world now undeveloped. Mr. LEAVY. And would this development be a long-range development? Mr. PAGE. We cannot forecast exactly as to the rate at which this development should be made, but probably it would be at least 25 years before the last unit of the 1,200,000 acres of land could be put under cultivation. It might be much longer. The land would be developed in comparatively small blocks of about 150,000 acres. NUMBER OF HOMES FOR FAMILIES Mr. LEAVY. Can you estimate how many families would come and make their homes on that land? Mr. PAGE. It is variously estimated. I would say, judging from the type of agriculture which is likely to be developed, the project would support from 750,000 to a million people. Mr. LEAVY. Are the soil and climate conducive to intensive agricultural development? Mr. PAGE. Yes, indeed. Orchards and small farms will dominate, I think. The soil and climate are favorable for growing various garden truck and crops of that kind, which result in very thickly settled communities. It is a territory where living conditions are very fine. Mr. O'NEAL. You do not mean a million people in the farming business would be brought into that area. Mr. PAGE. No; that many people brought into the area. They would not all live on the farms, but they would all be dependent upon the project. The community will be created by the project. Mr. O'NEAL. That would be about one to the acre. Mr. PAGE. Yes; but I meant also to include the urban population which would come in there and settle. MINERAL DEPOSITS IN THE VICINITY OF GRAND COULEE Mr. LEAVY. Is there another factor there, Mr. Page, in the matter of minerals? Do you know anything about the minerals of that entire region to the north of the Grand Coulee Dam? Mr. PAGE. No; I know only in a very general way. I know that there are vast areas up there containing great mineral resources. Mr. LEAVY. At Coeur d'Alene, Wallace, and Kellogg? Mr. PAGE. That whole territory is very heavily mineralized, and it is almost wholly undeveloped at the present time. There is an urgent demand for a complete mineral survey up there. ELECTRICITY IN THE FIELD OF MINERAL DEVELOPMENT Mr. LEAVY. Is electricity becoming a more important factor in the field of mineral development? Mr. PAGE. There are many minerals up there which could not be developed except by the use of electricity. In other words, the use of electricity has made possible the utilization of many minerals which could not heretofore have been considered feasible of development. Mr. LEAVY. You know that in Idaho the largest single deposit of phosphate on the North American Continent is found. Mr. PAGE. No; I did not know that. I am not personally acquainted with the details of mineral deposits. PROJECT WOULD REPAY THE GOVERNMENT Mr. LEAVY. Now, taking this project as a whole, and over the long range that you have testified about, is it a project that is feasible, and one that would repay the United States Treasury for any advances made to it? Mr. PAGE. We are firmly convinced that it will return the full amount and with interest on the power investment. Mr. LEAVY. At what rate do you figure the interest? Mr. LEAVY. And what time would it take to amortize that? Mr. PAGE. Fifty years. In 50 years it would be entirely paid off under the present financial set-up, if we could market the power and get a reasonable contribution from the irrigated lands, in 50 years. Mr. LEAVY. Do you base this answer upon the hypothesis that we will proceed with that work during the fiscal year without interrup tion? |