endanger our transcontinental railroads. We have two of the most important transcontinental railroads crossing that section, the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, and also the Canadian Pacific. The CHAIRMAN. Do you oppose their development of that project? Mr. WHITE. We want a constructive program of flood control and storage on this river and a'utilization of the waters of this great arm of the Snake River. I have been living there some 50 years and been engaged in doing a little share of the reclamation of the lands in that country, and I think I am competent to discuss the matter. The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have your statement. But, frankly, if the Committee on Rivers and Harbors is to have jurisdiction of the Columbia River, they would probably have jurisdiction of this, and I would not want to mislead you in thinking Mr. WHITE. What committee? The CHAIRMAN. The Committee on Rivers and Harbors have jurisdiction over the Columbia River dams. Mr. WHITE. In the Flood Control Committee do you interpret conditions as they are? That is, is the Flood Control Committee excluded from having anything to say? The CHAIRMAN. I would say, with all due deference, that we would be glad to have your statement; but frankly I would not want you to rely upon this committee here in any modification of the Columbia River project, because those projects are under the jurisdiction now of another committee. Mr. WHITE. There is pending legislation to create a Bonneville Power Authority on the Columbia River? The CHAIRMAN. My recollection is that it is before another commit tee, not before this committee. Mr. WHITE. The question is that this is vitally interesting to the people of Idaho whether their lands are to be inundated. I wanted to get that into the record at the proper place. I assumed that this was the proper place. The CHAIRMAN. That has not been referred to this committee. Mr. WHITE. Then there is no pending legislation? You are not interested in this? The CHAIRMAN. We have no bill here relating to any authority. You haven't made any report on it to this committee, have you? General ROBINS. No, sir. We are getting ready to report on the Clark Fork and the other tributaries of the Columbia River in that section, which, of course, will include consideration of flood control; and the proposition that Mr. White is talking about does have a bearing on flood control in that region. The CHAIRMAN. Unquestionably. General ROBINS. But the report in which it is involved is not yet before Congress. The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad if you will make a statement and put it in the record so that you may be heard on this, and we will keep it in mind when we have the report and ask you to make any further statement that you wish. Mr. WHITE. Yes. Forewarned is forearmed. The CHAIRMAN. We would be glad to have your statement. Mr. WHITE. This is going to be a very large issue with us. We are simply going to-I might say for the record, Mr. Chairman, at this point, if the chairman will bear with me, that in this section of Idaho the people of that country have endeavored to get a flood-control project through for a great many years. They have organized the Pend O'Reille drainage project to lower the flood level of Lake Pend O'Reille. There is a bottleneck on that lake at the shallows and rapids at the Priest River. Actually those things, I might explain to the chairman, are part of your Columbia Basin gravity irrigation project. The CHAIRMAN. I recall that. Mr. WHITE. And the people of Idaho through their investigations believe that this area would be seriously damaged if the water was stored in Lake Pend O'Reille and nothing was done to remove the bottleneck at these shallows. We want this matter considered. We want it all-inclusively considered. We want the matter of removing this so-called bottleneck at those shallows considered. If we can have perfect control, if we can get a guarantee from the Army engineers that they will hold the level of the lake at a certain point and not damage us, we will go along with it. But until we know definitely that this lake will be controlled and that they won't let this act as a barrier that will raise the water to an unheard-of level and put our railroads out of commission or flood our lands, we want to proceed very carefully with the matter. (The following letters were submitted for the record by Congressman White:) CONGRESSMAN COMPTON I. WHITE, OFFICE OF ADA COUNTY COMMISSIONERS, House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN WHITE: It is my understanding that you have had some correspondence with Mr. W. E. Welsh, watermaster of the Boise River, relative to the recent flood here in Boise Valley. I would like to confirm Mr. Welsh's report that there are several farms that were badly damaged during the recent flood and in some instances, the people are without sufficient funds to correct this damage, and at the present time, there are several places that the water is still running through agricultural property. And unless some permanent repairing of dikes and cleaning of the river channel, adjacent to this property until the river goes below its present stage, they will be unable to put this land back into production. I know this condition exists from personal observation, as during the recent flood, I served as floodcontrol chairman. Anything you can do to interest the Federal Government to participate along the lines being done in other parts of the country, particularly the Missouri and Mississippi watersheds, will be greatly appreciated not only by us as county commissioners of Ada County, but also the people at large particularly along the Boise River. With kind personal regards, I am W. L. HENDRIX, Chairman, Board of County Commissioners. Hon. COMPTON WHITE, STATE OF IDAHO, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS, House Office Building, Washington, D. C. DEAR REPRESENTATIVE WHITE: I was assigned by Gov. C. A. Bottolfsen to make a survey of the flood damage of the Boise River, this work being done in connection with the Army engineers of Portland. In talking with Mr. Welsh, the watermaster, it was thought that if we gave you all information possible as to the extent of the damages, it would be of aid to you in your work in an endeavor to secure some relief. The loss runs considerably heavier than I had anticipated until I made a thorough check of some 90 families living between Barber Dam and the mouth of the Boise River. I obtained by personal interview reports from these families, the enclosed copy being the form used and showing the information obtained. I might say that this report is below the average damage sustained by those I interviewed. You will note that this report under item 3 of production losses shows no loss. Most of the reports under this heading showed considerable loss from each person interviewed in milk and cream production caused by removing milk cows from green pastures and placing them upon dry feed. Also in this report under paragraph 7, permanent land damage, the figure shown is away under the average of permanent land damage which was brought to my attention. The remarks on the back of the report are actual statements in the party's own words showing his experience in moving, etc., from the flooded area. As I have stated, I was surprised at the enormous loss encountered during this survey, and while it is too late for any improvement on the river to increase crop productions this year, greater loss will be sustained another year unless considerable work is done on the river. This is due to levees being washed away, new channels cut by the river, and a much lower head of flood water another year will do greater damage than was done this year due to no embankment now to withhold the river and, as stated before, new channels being cut by the flood. I might further add that considerable extra expense was caused milk trucks, etc., through additional travel which they had to endure due to bridge and road conditions. This added considerable mileage for several weeks to their travel. I interviewed milk-truck drivers at Meridian, Nampa, and Caldwell, and those, including Swift & Co. and the Idaho Egg Producers, made a total of $2,000 lost, which estimate is very conservative. I spent a month at this work, and the amounts and information obtained and shown on these reports in my opinion are very conservative and in many cases the damage will be far greater. I hope that this information may be of service to you, and if I can gather you any further information, please feel free to call on me. With kindest personal regards. Boise: River Basin. Flood of Boise River. Nearest community: Notus. County: Canyon. Date of interview: June 22, 1943. Person interviewed: Mrs. H. R. Kerfoot. Address: Caldwell, Idaho R. F. D. Owner's name: H. R. Kerfoot. Address: Caldwell, Idaho R. F. D. No. 2. Range--- Section Township--- Acreage in flood plain, bare, brush, and wasteland: 30. Pasture: 40. Field crops: 40. Truck and special crops--‒‒‒‒‒▬• Orchards and small fruits_-_Assessed valuation :_ Improvements. Estimated cash value. Land. Land. Improvements. Depth of inundation in feet (also give actual elevations if determinable): Duration of damaging flows: 45 days. Ponding of tillable lands: 15 acres ponded: 60 days. Extent and character of flood damages including cost of replacement 8. TOTAL DIRECT FLOOD DAMAGE: Summation-Items 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7. 9. INDIRECT FLOOD LOSSES: Reduction in net profits from farm operations: $1,500.00. Loss of other income $.. 2, 315.00 1,500.00 10. ESTIMATE OF INCREASE IN ACREAGE VALUATIONS WITH FLOOD CONTROL PROTECTIVE WORKS: Moved all livestock and household goods out for 3 weeks. Chicken house was a complete loss, also lost some chickens. Well has been condemned. Cellar is full of water. Worked on the river levee for 6 weeks day and night almost. Had two teams working for 2 weeks. County and neighbors helped me move out, but moved back at my own expense. Levee on place above me broke and caused flood on my land. Seven of us own a community ditch and it will cost us $100 each to repair it. COOPERATIVE EXTENSION WORK IN Hon. COMPTON I. WHITE, Member of Congress, Washington, D. C. DEAR CONGRESSMAN WHITE: I have recently been in consultation with Mr. William Welsh, watermaster of the Boise River, regarding some of the problems that developed as a result of the flood this spring. As he has explained, situations have developed at a number of places along the river which will need considerable work before another crop year approaches. There are a few cases where production has been materially affected this year, but we realize that it is too late to do very much about this now. The flood we had this spring broke levees in a good many places. It washed new channels and built up sand bars across the old channel to the extent that the course of the river has been changed. In most cases each one of these breaks affects land operated by several farmers, and if we should have another season of heavy run-off such as we experienced this year, the accumulative effect of this damage to the river banks, dikes, etc., would result in much heavier loss to farm land and crops than was experienced this year. We realize that during such a period as this it is difficult to get any agency to undertake such a job and to attempt to do the work necessary to permanently correct the situation, but it is felt that if some assistance could be given groups of farmers whose land is affected in the way of use of heavy equipment and engineering counsel, that it might be possible to effect temporary repairs which would minimize the possible damage that might be done by the high water from an ordinary spring run-off. I would, therefore, like to support the statements that Mr. Welsh has made and to urge that you use your influence in securing the assistance of some agency such as the Army engineers to the end that some of the most serious danger spots along the river are corrected before the beginning of another season. I can assure you that your assistance will be greatly appreciated. Very truly yours, B. E. KUHNS, County Extension Agent. STATEMENT BY REPRESENTATIVE FRANK CARLSON, KANSAS, BEFORE THE FLOOD CONTROL COMMITTEE OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ON JUNE 11, 1943 Mr. Chairman, first, I want to state that it is a real privilege for me to appear before this committee on which I had the pleasure of serving for several years in behalf of flood-control and water run-off problems. I have previously stated, and want to state again, that our Nation is fortunate to have at the head of this committee the distinguished chairman, Hon. William M. Whittington, of Mississippi. No individual in the Nation is more familiar with flood control and its related problems than Mr. Whittington. Personally, I am very much interested in the problems affecting the Missouri River Valley. This river and its tributaries serve a large portion of the northcentral section of the United States. Its rainfall varies according to various sections of the area and all of it is subject to flash floods. This makes the Missouri River and its tributaries a difficult stream to control, Flood control is but one step in the further development of agriculture in the Missouri River Valley where we have some of the most fertile lands in the world. It is my opinion that we can secure a full development of the water resources of the basin in order that we can use the flood-controlled waters in connection with land use. Previous congressional authorizations have permitted the Army engineers to make surveys and studies of reservoirs in Nebraska. Missouri, and Kansas, three of which would reduce the major flood crest at Kansas City |