FLOOD-CONTROL PLANS AND NEW PROJECTS FRIDAY, JUNE 4, 1943 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, The committee met at 10 a. m., pursuant to adjournment on Thursday, June 3, 1943, Hon. Will M. Whittington (chairman) presiding. The CHAIRMAN. The committee will be in order. We have under consideration today the reports from the Chief of Engineers favorable to the projects along the Missouri River and tributaries, the upper Mississippi, and the Great Lakes region. I am wondering if there are any Senators or Representatives here this morning who are interested in the Missouri River and its tributaries. [There was no response.] Are there any here this morning who are interested in the upper Mississippi or the Lakes region? [There was no response.] We have already had in the first day of the hearings a statement with respect to the Missouri River and the recent flood out there, by Colonel Pick. General Robins, I will be glad to have your general statement covering the regions under consideration for today. General ROBINS. The basins under consideration today are the upper Mississippi, Missouri, and Great Lakes. In those two basins there are eight projects which have been recommended favorably to Congress and are before the committee to decide whether they will be authorized, and I would like to have them taken up and described to the committee, and then after that is done we will take up each basin as a whole and discuss what additional authorizations for expenditures are advantageous at this time. The CHAIRMAN. Well, in addition to the Missouri River and its tributaries and the upper Mississippi, are there any reports with respect to rivers in the Great Lakes region that have been submitted since the act of 1941? Do any of these cover the Great Lakes region? General ROBINS. There are three, Colonel Goethals tells me, that are tributaries of the Great Lakes. The CHAIRMAN. Now, then, I ask you, General, what authorizations, first with respect to the Missouri River, are covered in the previous acts? General ROBINS. Well, the 1936 act covered flood-control works at Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kans. The CHAIRMAN. That is all in the 1936 act? The CHAIRMAN. What was the amount of the authorization? General ROBINS. Authorization of $10,000,000. Construction costs not to exceed $10,000,000, with an estimated cost of $8,000,000 for lands and damages. That is in the 1936 act. The CHAIRMAN. In addition to that, in the 1936 act, I am wondering if there was not an authorization for some levees and flood works at Topeka, Kans., and Lawrence, Kans., on the tributaries of the Missouri? General ROBINS. That is correct. At Topeka on the Kansas River. The CHAIRMAN. Isn't that a tributary of the Missouri? General ROBINS. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. What others? General ROBINS. Also Lawrence, Kans. The CHAIRMAN. Those are generally the works along the Missouri River that were authorized in the act of 1936? General ROBINS. That is correct. Then in the act of 1938 a comprehensive plan for reservoirs in the Missouri River Basin was authorized in accordance with Committee Document No. 1. The CHAIRMAN. And the amount of the authorizations contained in the act of 1398 was what? General ROBINS. Nine million dollars for reservoirs. The CHAIRMAN. And what reservoirs generally were available for construction under that act? General ROBINS. The reservoirs that were considered at that time. were Milford, Tuttle Creek, Kanopolis, Osceola, Arlington, Richland, Chillicothe, one called Pomme de Terre, and another one named South Grand near Warsaw, Mo. The CHAIRMAN. Now then, under the act of 1941, what authorizations were there? General ROBINS. For 1941 there was a levee project from Kansas City to Sioux City authorized. The CHAIRMAN. There was a levee project there, and another one in the vicinity of Fall River in South Dakota; another for the protection of Indian Creek near Omaha, or Council Bluffs, and a project on the Cherry Creek; then an additional authorization of $7,000,000. General ROBINS. For reservoirs in the approved comprehensive plan for the Missouri River Basin. The CHAIRMAN. Yes. General ROBINS. The Harlan County Dam on the Republican River was authorized in the 1941 act. The CHAIRMAN. Now, so much for the Missouri River. What about the upper Mississippi River in those acts? General ROBINS. On the upper Mississippi in the 1936 act there was a large number of levee projects. If you like, I can name them all. There are a great many of them. The CHAIRMAN. I don't think it is necessary to enumerate them, but among others was a number of projects along the Illinois River. General ROBINS. Yes, sir; a list covering two or three pages, including the Mississippi and the Illinois. The CHAIRMAN. And they consisted primarily of improvements of levees in existing districts? General ROBINS. That is right, sir. All the way down the river to Cape Girardeau. The CHAIRMAN. And the Sangamon River? General ROBINS. The Sangamon River is included as a part of the Illinois Basin. The CHAIRMAN. There was a number of levee projects authorized along that river in the act of 1936, was there not? General ROBINS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Under the act of 1938, along the Illinois and upper Mississippi what projects were authorized? While you are looking that up, we authorized about $6,600,000 for reservoirs in the upper Mississippi region in the act of 1938, and $2,700,000 for local protection works: isn't that true? General ROBINS. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. In the act of 1941, what authorizations were there for that region? General ROBINS. One modification of the project for the Dry Run Reservoir near Decorah, Iowa, at an estimated cost of $400,000. That was all there was in the 1941 act. The CHAIRMAN. Now generally along the Missouri River and tributaries of the Missouri, what work has been done under those authorizations? General ROBINS. On the Missouri, taking that up first, the Kanopolis Dam is under construction, and considerable levee work has been done on the project at Kansas City. The CHAIRMAN. Those are the substantial projects? General ROBINS. Yes; and the project at Topeka, Kans., has been nearly completed. The CHAIRMAN. What about the projects along the Republican River? General ROBINS. Nothing has been done with them except preliminary work such as design. The CHAIRMAN. That was authorized? General ROBINS. The Harlan County Reservoir was authorized, but construction has been deferred on account of the war. A new comprehensive study of the Republican River is being made in cooperation with the State engineer and the Bureau of Reclamation. The CHAIRMAN. Now, along the upper Mississippi-by that term, what stretch of the river do you have in mind? General ROBINS. The upper Mississippi above the mouth of the Ohio River. There has been considerable work done there on the levee projects that were authorized in the 1936 act. The CHAIRMAN. They are in what States? Is this along the Mississippi River proper now? General ROBINS. Yes, sir. On both sides. They are in Illinois, Iowa, and Missouri. The CHAIRMAN. Local interests were required to furnish rights-ofway for those levees? General ROBINS. They were required to furnish the rights-of-way, and take over their maintenance after they were completed. The CHAIRMAN. And the work generally authorized along the Missouri River for flood control, so far as local interests are concerned, has been done? General ROBINS. It has been carried on as fast as it could where local cooperation was met, and no difficulties were encountered. Some of it was stopped on account of the war, but we have been working right along under those authorizations as fast as possible within our appropriations. The CHAIRMAN. In the recent floods in the upper Mississippi River, what damage, if any, was done to the levees in the upper Mississippi above the mouth of the Illinois River? General ROBINS. There were no failures at all in that stretch of the river. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, those levees held and protected? The CHAIRMAN. What happened to the Missouri River above its mouth in this flood; General ROBINS. There was quite a general overflow, and there was some water that flowed across the neck of land between the Missouri and the Mississippi. The CHAIRMAN. In other words, you have a new mouth of the Missouri River? General ROBINS. I wouldn't call it that. The CHAIRMAN. What would you call it? Indicate it on the map. General ROBINS. It would slop over from one river to the other across the country, but there were no great current velocities, or new permanent channel. There was no scour; just an inundation. The CHAIRMAN. Indicate the Missouri on the map. Mr. BEARD. At this point [indicating]. The CHAIRMAN. Where the water broke across, how far would it be from the mouth of the river? Mr. BEARD. At several points along the lower 25 miles of the Missouri River. The CHAIRMAN. What generally is the character of the land? Mr. BEARD. It is very flat alluvial land, developed largely in agriculture. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any levees by the local interests to protect them either from the Missouri or Mississippi waters in that area? Mr. BEARD. There are some low levees. The CHAIRMAN. By local interests? Mr. BEARD. None along the Missouri that have been maintained or constructed by the Federal Government. No Federal levees. The CHAIRMAN. At present, would you say the water is going through that place where the break-through occurred? Mr. BEARD. A report 2 days ago said the Missouri River has now returned to its normal channel. The CHAIRMAN. Now, above the mouth of the river on the Missouri side to a point opposite the mouth of the Illinois, which would be in the vicinity of Grafton Mr. BEARD. Yes, sir. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any levees that have been authorized or constructed by the Corps of Engineers, on the Missouri side? Mr. BEARD. There are a number of authorized levees, in Missouri above the mouth of the Missouri River, but none in the short reach up to the mouth of the Illinois River. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any that have been constructed? Mr. Beard. There are none on the Missouri side that have been constructed between the Missouri and Illinois Rivers. The CHAIRMAN. That is what I am asking you. Now, indicate on this other map you have there where the mouth of the Missouri River is. Mr. BEARD. The mouth of the Missouri River is at this point just south of Alton, Ill. [indicating]. The CHAIRMAN. Now, proceeding up the river on the left-hand side, according to that map, are there any levees on the Mississippi River that have been authorized up to and opposite Grafton and constructed? Mr. BEARD. There are none. The CHAIRMAN. Now, above the mouth of the Illinois River on the Missouri side, and up to the Missouri-Iowa line, are there any levees that have been authorized and constructed by the Corps of Engineers? Mr. BEARD. There are four projects; the South River drainage and levee district; the Gregory drainage district and the Fabius River drainage district have been completed. No failure or flooding occurred in this flood. The Union Township drainage district has been partially constructed but is now stopped because of the war. The CHAIRMAN. Now, while you are at the map there, with your permission, General Robins, what levees generally are there on the Missouri side south of St. Louis and above Cape Girardeau? Indicate Cape Girardeau on the map there. Mr. BEARD. Cape Girardeau is at this point [indicating]. The CHAIRMAN. It is on high land; is it not? Cape Girardeau ? Mr. BEARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. There should be a bridge across the Mississippi in that vicinity. From that point up the river are there any levee projects up to St. Louis? Mr. BEARD. There are several that have been authorized at a number of localities between Cape Girardeau and St. Louis. The CHAIRMAN. Have any been built by the Corps of Engineers? Mr. BEARD. The Kaskaskia Island project. It is now on the Missouri side of the river, but actualy it is in the State of Illinois. That project has been completed, and it held during this flood. The CHAIRMAN. That is a Federal project? Mr. BEARD. Yes. The CHAIRMAN. Any other project that was constructed by the Corps of Engineers that was subjected to the floods in the present year in that area? Mr. BEARD. The project for Perry County districts, right near Perrysville, has been partially completed. The back levees were completed and some of the front levees. No failure of the United States levees occurred, but some of the local flood walls failed, which flooded portions of the levee districts. The CHAIRMAN. Any other projects in that area under the supervision of the Corps of Engineers? Mr. BEARD. There are several other authorized projects but none which have been placed under construction. The CHAIRMAN. Indicate Cairo and the mouth of the Ohio River on the map with respect to Cape Girardeau ? Mr. BEARD. Cairo is at this point [indicating]. Cape Girardeau is a few miles upstream from Cairo and is on the Missouri side. The CHAIRMAN. Are there any levees generally under your supervision between Cape Girardeau on the Missouri side and Cairo on the opposite side, on the Illinois side? Mr. BEARD. There are no levees constructed. Some of the levees have been enlarged under the 1928 Mississippi River project. |