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"ARTICLE III

"The Commission shall constitute a body, both corporate and politic, with full power and authority

"(1) To acquire by lease and to hold lands, easements, and rights of way for reservoirs herein contemplated, including such reservoirs, when and as completed, and any and all lands, easements, and rights of way which may be necessary for the use and enjoyment of said reservoirs;

“(2) To hold, maintain, and operate reservoirs, including appurtenances, for the purposes of flood control;

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'(3) To receive funds and moneys from the signatory states or other sources, for the purpose of acquiring, operating, and maintaining such reservoirs as may hereafter be constructed within the basin of the Merrimack River under the terms of this compact, including, without limiting the same, funds for the acquisition of lands, easements, and rights of way, for the payment of damages and for the maintenance and operation of said reservoirs, and the expenses incidental thereto and to the functions of the Commission;

"(4) To sue and be sued;

"(5) To have a seal and alter the same at pleasure;

"(6) To appoint, employ, or contract with such agents and employees, including the New Hampshire Water Resources Board, as may be required in the proper performance of the duties hereby committed to the Commission, and to fix and determine the qualifications, duties, and compensations of such agents and employees;

"(7) To enter into such contracts and agreements, and to do and perform any and all such acts, matters, and things as may be necessary and essential to the full and complete performance of the powers and duties hereby committed to and imposed upon it in connection with the construction, operation, and maintenance of the system of reservoirs hereby or hereafter authorized and as may be incidental thereto; and

"(8) To have such additional powers and duties as may hereafter be delegated to or imposed upon it from time to time by the action of the legislature of either of said states, concurred in by the legislature of the other state.

"The Commission shall be charged with the duty, and it is hereby authorized and empowered, to give such assurances, satisfactory to the Secretary of War, as are required by Section 3 of the Act of Congress hereinbefore referred to. "The Commission may make, or cause to be made, such studies as it may deem necessary, in co-operation with the War Department, for the develop ment of a comprehensive plan of flood control, as herein defined, and for the efficient management and regulation of said flood control system, and from time to time shall make reports and recommendations in respect thereto to the Governors of the signatory states.

"The Commission shall not pledge the credit of the signatory states, or either of them, nor shall it convey, encumber, or in any way undertake to alienate the lands, easements and rights of way leased to it, as hereinafter provided, or any part thereof, or any interest therein, except by and with the consent of the signatory states.

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"There shall be established in the Merrimack River Basin as an initial plan of flood control the following two-proposed reservoirs, to wit:

"(1) At Franklin on the Pemigewasset River controlling a drainage area of approximately one thousand (1,000) square miles, and providing for flood control storage for approximately three and nineteen hundredths (3.19) inches of runoff over said drainage area, the dam at said reservoir to be constructed in such manner as to provide for flood control and in addition thereto to be so designed and constructed as to make it available for conservation or recreational purposes up to fifty per cent of the volume during such portions of the year as may be approved by the Secretary of War.

"(2) At Swetts Mills on the Blackwater River controlling a drainage area of one hundred and twenty-five (125) square miles and providing for approximately six and nine-tenths inches of runoff over said drainage area, the dam of said reservoir to be constructed in such a manner as to provide for flood control, and in addition thereto, at the option of the State of New Hampshire, to be so designed and constructed as to provide for further development by increasing storage capacity, the added storage to be used for water conservation or power development.

"The type and general plans for the construction of the two reservoirs herein provided to be constructed as an initial plan of flood control on the Merrimack River Basin are to be approved by the Merrimack Rivery Valley Flood Control Commission, hereinbefore created, before any construction work thereon is begun or prosecuted.

"In so far as any of the foregoing reservoirs may be constructed for the combined purpose of flood control and conservation or recreational purposes, neither of the signatory states wherein such reservoirs are located shall be obligated to pay any additional cost of construction.

"ARTICLE V

"To the end that the Merrimack River Valley Flood Control Commission may give to the Secretary of War the assurances required under Section 3 of the Act of Congress hereinbefore referred to, and that the lands, easements and rights of way necessary for the construction by the United States of the reservoirs and structures thereon, herein contemplated, may be provided, each state at the request of the Commission shall proceed forthwith to acquire title to and possession of the lands, easements and rights of way within its territorial limits, which are determined and designated by the Commission for the construction of such reservoir or reservoirs.

"Such acquisition shall be by purchase or by the exercise of the right of eminent domain, as said Commission may direct, and in the manner now or hereafter provided for by the law of the state wherein such lands, easements and rights of way are located. Title to such lands, easements and rights of way shall be taken in the name of the state wherein the same are located. The cost of acquisition, as hereinafter defined, shall be borne by said Commission and paid from and out of the funds contributed by the signatory states for such purposes, as hereinafter provided.

"Each state, upon notice from and at the sole expense of said Commission, shall forthwith proceed to make, or cause to be made, such highway relocations, including the acquisition of all necessary rights of way therefor, and the construction of such relocated highway, as may become necessary therein because of the construction, operation, and maintenance of any reservoir or reservoirs for flood control purposes; provided, however, that due allowance shall be made on account of any improved type of construction of such relocated highway. The character, location, route, and construction of such relocated highways shall be determined by the state wherein such relocated highways are situated.

"Any new or relocated highway shall, after construction, be and become a public way in the town in which located, or, if built as a relocation of a state highway, shall become a state highway, and when the Commission shall have notified the town or the state, as the case may be, of the completion of said highway, the jurisdiction and responsibility of the Commission over same shall cease and shall devolve upon the town or state in which the way is located. "In like manner, such state, at the expense of the Commission and upon its request shall procure the relocation of any railroad, electric transmission, telephone or telegraph lines, or other public utility structures, including new rights of way therefor as may be essential on account of the construction, operation, and maintenance of such reservoir for flood control purposes.

"ARTICLE VI

"The Commission shall save the states in which such reservoirs are located, free and harmless from all loss, cost, damage, or expense in connection with the flood control, operation, and maintenance of such reservoir or reservoirs except as hereinafter provided in Articles X and XII.

"In the construction and maintenance of such reservoir or reservoirs the Commission shall cause the area which may be flowed thereby when full, to be cleared of buildings and all such trees, brush, and underbrush as from time to time may be damaged or killed by such flowage; shall cause borrow pits or banks, other excavations or unused accumulations of material and débris, to be leveled, graded, masked, removed, or otherwise disposed of in such a way as to leave no holes or other unsightly conditions therein; and shall cause all water pockets to be properly drained and the premises affected by such flowage to be landscaped in such manner as may reasonably preserve the natural condition of such premises before such construction, except as the same necessarily may be changed thereby.

"The lands, easements, and rights of way hereby leased shall be exempt from all taxation, but the said commission shall make payments on or before the first day of October of each year to each town in which such lands, easements, and rights of way, respectively, are located, of a sum equal to the taxes which would have been assessed against the said lands, easements, and rights of way in such town if the same had been included in the list of taxable property for such year, at the assessed valuation of the same as determined for the tax year 1936. Provided, however, that no payment shall be made or required hereunder on account of reimbursement for loss of taxes on any structure which may be erected on such premises in connection with the construction or use of said project, or on account of any railroad or other public utility which may be relocated under the terms of this compact, and which thereafter is included in the list of taxable property in said town when relocated.

"ARTICLE VII

"When said lands, easements, and rights of way essential to the construction of any dam or reservoir shall have been acquired as hereinbefore provided, the state wherein the same are located shall make, execute, and deliver to said Commission a good and sufficient lease of the same, to include the structures thereon when completed and accepted by the state, except as hereinafter provided, upon the terms and conditions following, to wit:

"(a) The said Commission shall save the state in which said reservoirs are respectively located, free and harmless from all loss, cost, damage, or expense in connection with the control, operation, and maintenance of said reservoir or reservoirs except as hereinafter provided in Articles X and XII.

"(b) In the construction and maintenance of such reservoir or reservoirs, the area which may be flowed thereby, when full, shall be cleared of buildings and of such trees, brush, and underbrush as from time to time may be damaged or killed by such flowage; borrow pits or banks, other excavations or unused accumulations of material and débris, shall be leveled, graded, masked, removed, or otherwise disposed of in such a way as to leave no holes or other unsightly conditions therein; all water pockets shall be properly drained; and the premises affected by such flowage shall be landscaped in such manner as may reasonably preserve the natural condition of such premises before such construction, except as the same necessarily may be changed thereby.

"(c) The lands, easements, and rights of way hereby leased shall be exempt from all taxation; but the said Commission shall make payments on or before the first day of October of each year to each town in which such lands, easements and rights of way, respectively, are located, of a sum equal to the taxes which would have been assessed against the said lands, easements, and rights of way in such town if the same had been included in the list of taxable property for such year, at the assessed valuation of the same as determined for the tax year 1936. Provided, however, that no payment shall be made or required hereunder on account of reimbursement for loss of taxes on any structure which may be erected on such premises in connection with the construction or use of said project; or on account of any railroad or other public utility which may be relocated under the terms of this compact and which thereafter is included in the list of taxable property in said town when relocated.

"(d) The lands, easements, and rights of way herein described are leased and demised solely for the purpose of flood control, and for no other purpose, and the said lessor hereby excepts from this lease and reserves unto itself all benefit or advantage of water conservation, power storage, or power development that may be inherent in such reservoir site, with the right, at such time as it may determine and upon compliance with the requirements of the United States respecting the adjustment and payment of any added construction cost by reason of the type of construction adapted for that purpose, and the assumption and payment of the cost of acquiring any additional lands, easements, and rights of way necessitated by such additional development, and the full preservation of the principal purpose of flood control, to develop the same in such manner and for such purpose as may be essential to the full beneficial use thereof.

"(e) The term of said lease shall be for the period of nine hundred and ninety-nine years, subject only to be defeated by a breach of the terms or the conditions in this article set forth.

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"ARTICLE VIII

"The cost of acquisition of lands, easements and rights of way, as used or referred to herein, shall be deemed to include the cost of:

"(1) The purchasing or condemning of lands, easements and rights of way of every kind and nature required or essential in the construction, development, operation and maintenance of such reservoirs as an effective agency for flood control, and including, among other things, camp sites, borrow banks or pits, rock ledges, gravel deposits and rights of way thereto in the vicinity of the dam necessary for the construction and maintenance thereof.

“(2) The reconstruction, relocation or elevation of public highways, including bridges or other structures;

“(3) The reconstruction or relocation of public service utilities, including railroads and the alteration of bridges and structures thereon, whether publicly or privately owned;

"(4) The reconstruction or relocation of telegraph, telephone or electric distribution and transmission lines, pipe lines, aqueducts, water or gas mains;

"(5) And any and all other damages, expenses or costs that may be necessitated or incurred in procuring and providing the sites necessary for the construction of the reservoirs herein contemplated, including the cost and expense of acquiring such lands, easements, and rights of way and procuring the reconstruction or relocation of the highways, bridges, railroads, telephone, telegraph, and electric lines, pipes, aqueducts, and mains above mentioned, or the rights of way for the same, or any other similar expenditures.

"ARTICLE IX

"The rights to be acquired and exercised by the Commission are solely for flood control purposes, and each of the respective signatory states, wherein any reservoir may be situated, reserves respectively unto itself all benefits or advantage of water conservation, power storage or power development that may be inherent in such reservoir site.

"In the event either signatory state may wish to preserve to itself the value of such site for the purposes aforesaid, it may, through an appropriate agency of the state, so notify the United States, through the War Department, before any construction work is commenced hereunder for flood control purposes, so that the design and construction of the dam at such site may be developed in such manner as to provide for further development as a storage reservoir for the conservation of water, enhancement of stream flow or power development. "Provided, however, That nothing herein contained shall be deemed to prevent either state, at its option, at any time hereafter, by itself or through such agency as it may designate, from developing any such reservoir or reservoirs for use for water conservation, power storage or power development, in order that it may await itself of the full beneficial use and enjoyment of the rights herein reserved. In such event, such state shall pay or provide for the payment of all costs or expenses necessary for such further development, including adaptation of any existing dam and works to such purpose, in accordance with plans approved by the Secretary of War, and at all times fully preserve the primary purpose of flood control.

"The terms and conditions under which any such signatory state shall make available the rights of water conservation, power storage or power development herein reserved shall be determined by separate agreement or arrangement between such state and the United States; and the type and general plans for the construction of such of the reservoirs as are herein contemplated to provide for such further development shall be approved by some agency of such state, for that purpose duly authorized, before any construction thereon is begun or prosecuted.

"ARTICLE X

"In order that an adequate fund may be established and created from which payments for the acquisition of lands, easements and rights of way may be made, the signatory states become bound and each hereby obligates itself to pay to the Commission the proportion of the cost of acquisition of lands, easements and rights of way respectively set forth below, and subject to the limitations hereinafter provided as follows:

"(1) The Commonwealth of Massachusetts fifty per cent thereof. "(2) The State of New Hampshire fifty per cent thereof.

"Provided, however, That it is the understanding, intent and purpose of the parties hereto that the cost of acquisition of lands, easements and rights of way for two reservoirs, provided for herein, shall not exceed the sum of Two Million Two Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand Dollars ($2,285,000), and that the drainage area of the Merrimack River Basin to be controlled thereby shall be approximately twenty-two and one-half (22.5) per cent thereof; and it is expressly provided that the maximum amount for the cost of acquisition of lands, easements, and rights of way to which each of the signatory states shall be bound or obligated on account of said two reservoirs shall not exceed the respective properties hereinbefore set forth of said sum of Two Million Two Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand Dollars ($2,285,000).

"The fiscal year shall be deemed to begin on July 1st and end on June 30th. Payment by the signatory states of the cost of acquisition shall be made as and when requested by the Commission on or after July 1, 1937; provided that not more than one-half of said sum of Two Million Two Hundred and Eighty-five Thousand Dollars ($2,285,000) shall be required to be paid in any fiscal year after said date.

"ARTICLE XI

"In the execution of the initial plan of two reservoirs herein contemplated said Commission, with the approval of the Secretary of War, shall determine the order in which the construction work of the same shall be commenced and prosecuted.

"The initial plan for the construction of two reservoirs herein mentioned and provided for is part of a long range comprehensive program for flood control on the Merrimack River and its tributaries, the object and purpose of the signatory states being to enlarge and expand such flood control projects to an ultimate control.

"In the further development of such comprehensive program, said Commission shall determine from time to time the site, character, location, and extent of such additional reservoirs, subject to the approval of the legislature of the state in which the same may be located.

"ARTICLE XII

"Each of the signatory states shall annually contribute and pay to the Commission the respective proportions of the expense of operation and maintenance of the flood control reservoirs hereafter constructed under the terms of this agreement as follows:

"The Commonwealth of Massachusetts fifty per cent thereof,

"The State of New Hampshire fifty per cent thereof, and each state shall make adequate provision for compliance on its part with the provisions of this Article, and funds shall be made available as and when required upon the requisition of the Commission.

"As a part of the expense of operation and maintenance of said reservoirs the Commission shall assume and pay to the respective towns entitled thereto the cost of reimbursement for loss of taxes, as set forth and required in the third paragraph of Article VI hereof, and shall pay all costs incident to or damages resulting from the operation and maintenance of such flood control reservoirs, and shall save the United States free and harmless on account thereof, and shall pay all other costs or expenses which may be necessary in the operation and maintenance thereof, including the expenses of the members of said Commission herein before provided to be paid out of the funds of said Commission.

"ARTICLE XIII

"Each of the signatory states hereby releases and discharges the other and the Commission of and from all damages, which may be claimed to result from the obstruction, detention, impounding, storage, release or diversion of the waters of said Merrimack River and its tributaries, in so far as the same may be in any way affected by the construction, operation or maintenance of the reservoirs herein contemplated.

"ARTICLE XIV

"This compact shall become operative and effective when approved by the legislatures of each of the signatory states and by the Congress of the United States. Notice of approval shall be given by the Governor of each state to the

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