such as are proposed in this appropriation and getting ready for the future, it will be necessary to build the Government office, the laboratory, and maintenance shops.

Senator THYE. Is that going to include living quarters for the supervisor?

General POTTER. There are already 50 living quarters. We had proposed at one time to have about 200. The present proposal is not to increase those 50 by any appreciable amount. I do not believe there are any quarters in that $500,000. There are none, sir.

Senator THYE. How expensive are the quarters that the supervisor is going to occupy?

General POTTER. It is our cheapest town. This is the third one. It is being built as an extension of Pierre. The city has already taken over the water and light. It is our idea that, when we are done with these, they can become a part of Pierre and will be salable at a much greater price than will the isolated towns such as we have at Riverdale. They are cheaper houses. I believe their cost was in the neighborhood of $8,000.

PROJECTED COMPLETION DATE

Senator MUNDT. Provided Congress approves the $9 million figure this year without any increase which will have added to it in unexpended funds, $4,800,000 for a construction-year figure of $13,800,000, and provided henceforth you get from the Budget Bureau and from Congress the money that the engineers determine is required to move the project forward at maximum engineering efficiency, what would now be your projected date as to when Oahe would be completed and as to when Oahe might start assuming its silt-control function if those dates are different?

General POTTER. The date of first power is December 1961. The date of closure is 1958, at which time the silt would start to be trapped. The date of completion is 1963. That is based on a schedule that we have worked out. On any delayed schedule, of course, it would be later.

Senator MUNDT. That 1961 figure would be a comparable figure with March 15 at Randall?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator MUNDT. Total completion is 1963?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator MUNDT. Would there be any difference in any of those figures if Congress were to make available the $15 million which you requested instead of the $9 million which the budget suggested? Would any of those dates be changed?

General POTTER. No, sir. I do not believe radically, because we could always hope that next year's appropriation would make up for what we might not get this year. Every item that is under contract or proposed to be under contract this year would be completed before closure in any event.

Senator MUNDT. The difference between $9 million and $15 million would not advance the date of closure earlier than 1958, assuming henceforth you get your scheduled appropriation?

General POTTER. That is as I see it, approximately, in view of the large amount of money still to come.

Senator MUNDT. We struggled long and valiantly to get the $8,250,000 that the Army requested and which was made available for this year's construction. Why was it that so small a portion of that as $8,250,000, for which we fought and bled and nearly died, was spent so that we will have $4,800,000 of it left as of next July? What happened?

General POTTER. The earthwork has been going ahead pretty well. It was a $52 million contract. Of course, more had to be allocated against it than would be used up to the last penny on July 1, 1954. The most important reason for the carryover, sir, is the tunnel contract which demands the development and construction of equipment costing over $200,000 for excavation. The contractor is not going to be able to really get to work until spring. He does have an adequate amount to carry him over into the next year.

Senator MUNDT. Are we prepared now to really make the dirt fly out there so we can use up advantageously and effectively the $13,800,000 which seems to be the minimum which we hope to be made available this year?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator MUNDT. We had to do a lot of negotiating around to get a little extra money, and it is not spent.

General POTTER. The excavation contractor is working this winter on the uncompacted fill section of the dam.

Senator MUNDT. But that is contemplated in your figure that there will still be $4,800,000 unexpended.

General POTTER. Because of the size of the contracts and the neces

sary carryover.

Senator MUNDT. Would it be your plan, if we get this $13,800,000 made available, to get it all spent within reasonable margins of safety, to utilize that whole fund and have it reflect in the map which you bring back to us next year?

General POTTER. Yes, sir. If the Senator desires, I will bring the same map back with me to show progress.

Senator MUNDT. We want a very much altered map, I'might add. It will be all right to have that as a base.

General POTTER. I will bring a new one, also.

Senator MUNDT. Senator Case, will you take over.

SEVERANCE DAMAGES

Senator CASE (presiding). You referred to these reports on the negotiations of the Cheyenne and Standing Rock Tribes, but you said you were not able to come to any agreement on the land question with the Cheyenne Tribe, and only on the land with Standing Rock Tribe; that you had not felt the engineers should attempt to assess the intangibles. Do you allow severance damages when you buy land from individuals?

General POTTER. Yes, sir; and severance is included in the figure we have arrived at with the Standing Rocks.

Senator CASE. You mean severance as to individual tracts? General POTTER. Severance as to individual tracts; yes, sir. Senator CASE. The principle of severance is that you destroy a tract of land as en economic unit, is that correct?

General POTTER. Interfere with its economic purpose; you damage it.

Senator CASE. The lands of both the Standing Rock and Cheyenne Tribes, but more particularly of the Cheyenne Tribe, embrace some tribal operations, do they not?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator CASE. The point that the Cheyenne Indians make when they approached me on the matter is that they have been operating tribal cattle enterprises there and that the tribe as a whole has a damage that would be comparable to your severance damage with an individual in that the taking of these lands destroys the cattle land enterprise they had as an economic unit.

General POTTER. Yes, sir. That statement has been made.

Senator CASE. So that is why they ask for what you call intangibles. They ask for what would be a severance damage in the breaking up of their tribal cattle enterprise.

General POTTER. We would have been perfectly willing, and did make an estimate as to our feelings as to the intangible damages, but they did not approach anywhere near what the tribe felt were the intangible damages. Starting out with such a wide divergence, we felt it would be impossible to arrive at any solution, and both sides, mutually in the case of the Standing Rock Tribe, agreed we would not even go into the matter.

Senator CASE. In any event, you have tossed the whole problem back to Congress?

General POTTER. After arriving at the land figure, sir.

Senator CASE. What is the total work program that you contemplate for Fort Randall Dam for fiscal year 1955? That is, in dollars? General POTTER. $23,823,000.

Senator CASE. Of that, how much is new money and how much is carryover?

General POTTER. Seventeen million would be new money and $3,823,000 would be old money.

Senator CASE. With this $20,823,000, what would you accomplish? General POTTER. The project would be brought to 91 percent completion. Every major contract on this job is now under contract. There is only one job to be awarded this year, and that is for the regulating gate structure, $300,000. The $17 million would entirely be obligated against existing contract for earthwork to complete the closure section, for the spillway, for the powerhouse, surge tanks, turbines, generators, and transformers.

Senator CASE. The new contract for the regulating gate, is that essential now?

General POTTER. Yes, sir. The gate will complete the tunnel used to provide close regulation of the total amount released.

Senator CASE. So that it would be impractical to defer letting that additional contract?

General POTTER. Sir, we would have difficulty in operating the reservoir so as to avoid wasting water.

Senator CASE. It would simply be an inefficient operation?
General POTTER. Yes.

Senator CASE. With respect to the other contracts already let, the amounts that you expect to apply will be earned under the terms of the conracts already let?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator CASE. So you see no possibility of reducing the request here in any particular?

General POTTER. No, sir. I feel that the amounts requested are necessary to keep good faith with the contractors who have already entered into contracts with the Government.

Senator CASE. Has the overall estimate for Fort Randall Dam been revised?

General POTTER. The official overall estimate has not been revised, but there will be some savings which will be in my new presentation to the Chief of Engineers for the overall cost of the project.

ESTIMATED COST

Senator CASE. The total overall cost stands officially at $198 million?

General POTTER. Yes, sir.

Senator CASE. What do you anticipate that figure will be?

General POTTER. It will be in the neighborhood of $3 million, less. Senator CASE. So in spite of the revised index cost upward on many projects which are yet to be completed, here you are approaching completion and expect to be able to get under the original estimate by at least one-half percent?

General POTTER. Yes, sir. We have very good competition on the last contract-the last stage of the earthwork was awarded in 1953 at close to a $5 million figure.

Senator HAYDEN. I would like to inquire in that regard.

What is the cost per yard?

General POTTER. About 40 cents for earth excavation.

Senator HAYDEN. What has been the charge heretofore?

General POTTER. At Garrison we are paying about 45 cents, I believe, sir.

Senator Hayden, these dams like Garrison were really up in the north country as far as some of our contractors were concerned. They had not much experience in that area.

Senator HAYDEN. My information obtained from the United States Reclamation Service is that at the present time wherever they have any earthwork project they are having very keen competition.

General POTTER. Yes, sir. The Reclamation Bureau has had some remarkable bids in the last year and a half on complete earth structures.

Senator CASE. Although the overall cost has not been raised and you indicate there has been a saving, reference to the justifications and to last year's estimates indicates that the estimate for the powerhouse has been raised by $6,774,500 over last year to a present esti

mate of $18,250,500, and that the present estimate for the tailrace is less than half of last year's estimate. What is the basis for this adjustment?

General POTTER. The powerhouse was let a year and three-quarters ago. It was prior to that time that the estimate we referred to was made, and the new figures you see are based on a complete reevaluation of the project to bring all items into consonance with the bids we got. In our estimate we are dealing with experience rather than with prediction.

Senator CASE. That may be, although in this particular instance it would indicate a 50-percent revision.

NEW ACCOUNTING SYSTEM

General POTTER. Last year a new accounting system was put into effect in the office of the Chief of Engineers and it was worked out with the Bureau of the Budget and the General Accounting Office. Under the new division of work portions of the tailrace are included in the powerhouse, rather than as an entirely separate structure.

Senator CASE. So really the biggest factor in the expansion is the changing of the description as to a particular portion of the work? General POTTER. Yes, sir; and the assignment of pieces of the work to various features.

Senator CASE. What are the power benefits from Fort Randall estimated to be?

General POTTER. Power benefits, 67 percent.

Senator CASE. Do you have that in dollars?

General POTTER. In dollars, $10,284,000.

Senator CASE. How does that compare with the estimated power revenue that Fort Randall will bring in?

General POTTER. About $7,398,050.

Senator CASE. Over what period of time?

General POTTER. Annually, sir.

Senator CASE. And the benefits were estimated at the $10,284,000 figure per annum?

General POTTER. Yes. The figures I have quoted on the power revenue are Bureau of Reclamation figures. They are the ones to determine the rates and sell the power.

Senator CASE. Does that mean they are proposing a rate which is seven-tenths of the benefits that were estimated?

General POTTER. Not necessarily, sir. There are benefits due to greater abundance of power, greater use of power, and maybe some modification of existing rate structures.

Senator CASE. Does that $7 million figure take into consideration any power that will be used by the Government itself?

General POTTER. I believe so, sir. Mr. Johnson informs me these figures are actual cash revenue predicted.

Senator CASE. It does not include any payment by the engineers for power used in operation of your gates or anything of that sort? General POTTER. That is right, sir.

Senator CASE. Would the $10 million figure include that?

General POTTER. The $10 million figure is based on the power capacity which is available for sale. The figures are $26.53 per kilowatt of dependable capacity and 4.04 mills per kilowatt-hour of

energy.