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The Governor's announcement followed a conference with State Conservation Director Earl McGowin, Sydney S. Pfleger, representing the Mobile County Board of Revenue, road commissioners, and the Mobile Chamber of Commerce.

Maj. Gen. Frederick R. Dent, commanding general of the Brookley Air Force Base, Mobile, suggested the base, and it was approved by United States Air Force Headquarters.

Persons said that the base would constitute an important safety factor for plane traffic in and out of Brookley, as well as for swimmers, yachtsmen, and other pleasure-seekers in the Dauphin Island area. Recreation facilities will also

be provided airmen as a part of the proposed facility.

Spokesmen for the Dauphin Island group said the helicopter and crashboat base would be a valuable additional service to the island, and would also be an important contributing factor in the development of additional bridge traffic.

Officials of Brookley, the Mobile Chamber of Commerce, and the Alabama deep sea fishing rodeo recently discussed the establishment of the operation. It was brought out that less than one-fourth of the Fort Gaines area will be affected. The balance of the reservation is to be developed as a public park, golf course and general recreation area.

MOBILE, ALA., February 9, 1954.

Hon. FRANK W. BOYKIN,

Member of Congress, Washington, D. C.:

Will you please convey the request from me as chairman of the Mobile County Park and Beach Board to the Public Works Committee that they authorize the proposed Dauphin Island channel? This board has been recently appointed by the County of Mobile to develop the parks and beaches on Dauphin Island and one of the most important problems confronting the adequate development of Dauphin Island is a navigable channel. Although Dauphin Island is one of the most important islands on the Gulf of Mexico and was the original port of entry for this entire area there is no adequate year around channel to the island whereby boats drawing as much as 2 feet of water can reach the island in many seasons. The proposed channel would be of great value to operators of both commercial and pleasure craft. The earnest consideration of this request by the public works committee will be appreciated.

E. ROY ALBRIGHT.

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS,

DAUPHIN ISLAND LAND SALES CORP.,
Mobile, Ala., February 8, 1954.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C'.

GENTLEMEN: We have read an announcement in the Mobile newspapers that a hearing will be held before your committee this week to consider improvement in a channel to Dauphin Island Bay. We strongly urge a favorable consideration of this project and cite you herewith some of the many reasons that this project is desirable.

Dauphin Island is being developed as one of the important new recreational and resort areas of the South. The State of Alabama is preparing to call for bids on a bridge which will connect the mainland with the island, to cost more than $3,000,000. Two thousand residential lots have been sold by a local nonprofit organization, and plans are now proceeding for the building during 1954 of public casinos and recreation areas along the miles of surf beaches on the island. Approximately $1,000,000 will be spent in these developments.

This organization has had a part in making the above plans a full realization and we, perhaps better than others, realize the necessity of having a water outlet for the island. Some of the buildings to be constructed on the island will require steel and it is our understanding that this material could best be shipped directly from Birmingham to Dauphin Island on barges. Also we are planning to develop a commercial area on the island which will handle such rough materials as lumber, cement, shells, etc. They can be more economically transported by barges than by trucks. This organization feels that an early completion of such a facility would add materially to the prospects of an early development on Dauphin Island.

It is also in our plans to develop an outstanding harbor in Dauphin Bay, using the spoilage to build up additional recreational and residential areas around the bay and channel such as the one proposed would bring such a project much nearer realization.

The entire Dauphin Island area has for years been the focal point for commercial shrimping and oystering in Mobile Bay and there has been no adequate harbor or refuge for small craft so engaged. Absence of such facilities has also tended to discourage full enjoyment by the public of the excellent boating and fishing in that area.

Provision of a channel would provide small fishing boats with opportunity to transfer heavy catches of seafood to larger boats in protected waters, and commercial fishing craft would not be required to travel to distant harbors for protection during the frequent unexpected squalls so familiar to this area if such channel and harbor were available.

It is the understanding of this organization that this project has the approval of the Corps of Engineers as well as having been approved by other committees of Congress. This organization has gone on the record unanimously as urging your committee to give this project your favorable consideration and if there is any action that you can take to speed this matter it will be greatly appreciated by many citizens in this entire area.

Yours sincerely,

JULIUS E. MARX,

President.

COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS,

MOBILE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE,
Mobile, Ala., February 8, 1954.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: It is the understanding of the Mobile Chamber of Commerce that the Dauphin Island Bay project is to be discussed in hearings before your committee this week. We urge favorable consideration of improvements which this project would provide.

Dauphin Island historically has been important to the development of this part of the country, having been the original port of entry to French Louisiana more than 250 years ago. Actually, the island is just now coming into its own. The island is being developed as one of the important new recreational and resort areas of the South. The State of Alabama is preparing to call for bids on a bridge which will connect the mainland with the island, to cost more than $3,000,000. Two thousand residential lots have been sold by a local nonprofit organization, and plans are now proceeding for the building during 1954 of public casinos and recreation areas along the miles of surf beaches on the island. Approximately $1,000,000 will be spent in these developments.

This means that the importance of Dauphin Island will be stepped up tremendously and Dauphin Island Bay will become even more important as a yachting harbor and for commercial fishing. Access to the island by trucks and automobiles is only a year or so away, and with this connection to the mainland and the buildup of the island which will follow, plans are underway for hotels, motor courts, some industrial and commercial operations, and a community of 2,000 homes, some permanent, some resort, with another thousand or so being planned.

It is unthinkable that with all this activity on Dauphin Island there is no adequate channel into the island.

The entire Dauphin Island area has for years been the focal point for commercial shrimping and oystering in Mobile Bay and there has been no adequate harbor or refuge for small craft so engaged.

Absence of such harbor facilities has also tended to discourage full enjoyment by the public of the excellent boating and fishing in that area.

Provision of a channel would provide small fishing boats with opportunity to transfer heavy catches of seafood to larger boats in protected waters, and commercial fishing craft would not be required to travel to distant harbors for protection during the frequent unexpected squalls so familiar to this area if such channel and harbor were available.

While this project has heretofore been deemed necessary and needed in the public interest, with all of this additional activity both on and around Dauphin

Island, it appears more needed than ever. We therefore urge your favorable consideration.

Yours very truly,

O. H. DELCHAMPS,

President.

Mr. ANGELL. I believe that concludes the hearings for today and we stand adjourned.

(Whereupon, at 12:25 p. m. the committee adjourned until 10 a. m. the following day, Thursday, February 11, 1954.)

RIVERS AND HARBORS OMNIBUS BILL

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 1954

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES,
COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC WORKS,
SUBCOMMITTEE ON RIVERS AND HARBORS,

Washington, D. C.

The subcommittee met, pursuant to adjournment, at 10 a. m., in room 1302, New House Office Building, Hon. Homer D. Angell, chairman of the subcommittee, presiding.

Mr. ANGELL. The committee will come to order.

I am advised about seven members of our committee are out of town, and others, I understand, will be here soon. In order to make the record, which all of the committee will have an opportunity to see later, we will begin the proceedings at this time.

The first project listed on today's agenda is the Little River at Cayuga Island, Niagara Falls, N. Y., House Document 246 of the 83d Congress.

LITTLE RIVER AT CAYUGA ISLAND, NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y.

Colonel Milne, we would be very happy to have you make your presentation at this time on that project.

STATEMENT OF COL. W. D. MILNE, CORPS OF ENGINEERS,
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY-Resumed

Colonel MILNE. Mr. Chairman, the report on Little River at Cayuga Island, Niagara Falls, N. Y., is contained in House Document 246 of the 83d Congress, 2d session, as authorized by the River and Harbor Act of March 2, 1945.

The Little River is a tributary of the Niagara River and lies wholly within the city of Niagara Falls, N. Y., in the north and western part of the State. The area is predominantly one of heavy manufacturing. There is no Federal project for the Little River at this time.

Commerce on the Little River consists entirely of recreational craft. Local interests have indicated difficulties with their craft on the Little River due to the shoal depth at the mouth. They have requested that consideration be given to providing entrance channels at both entrances of the Little River. They have requested further that consideration be given to dredging the Cayuga Creek to a depth of 6 feet.

The Chief of Engineers has investigated the area very thoroughly and has come to the conclusion that certain improvements are justified. He does not believe that dredging of the Cayuga Creek to a depth of 6 feet is required. Nor does he recommend that any Federal project be

undertaken at Cayuga Creek. He also feels that the provision of an entrance at both ends of Little River is unnecessary and finds that the benefits from such a provision would be only slightly in excess of those benefits that might accrue from providing only one entrance channel. Accordingly he has confined his recommendation to an improvement for the entrance at Little Rover to provide a channel 8 feet in depth and 200 feet wide at the entrance, gradually tapering down to 50 feet in width.

The report of the Chief of Engineers was furnished to the State of New York, and they replied that they had no comment or recommendations at this time. The report was also furnished to the Bureau of the Budget, and the Bureau indicated that they had no objection to transmittal of the report to the Congress.

Based on the project document, the original cost was $29,100 of Federal cost and $57,000 non-Federal, for a total of $86,100. That report, revised to the fall of 1953, shows a Federal cost of $36,900 and a non-Federal cost of $70,100, for a total of $107,000.

Based on that revised cost, the annual charges are $5,900. The benefit-cost ratio, again based on the revised cost, is 4.71 to 1.

Local cooperation required is to contribute in cash 55 percent of the cost of constructing the channel, estimated to be $35,600 at the time the report was prepared. Today that estimate of local contribution would be $45,100.

Additional items of local cooperation are to furnish lands, easements, right-of-ways, and spoil-disposal area; hold and save the United States free from damages; provide necessary mooring facilities and utilities, including a public landing open to all on equal terms; establish a public body to regulate the use, growth, and development of the improvement facilities; and prevent the discharge of any sewage into Cayuga Creek detrimental to the use and the development of the harbor.

Local interests have indicated a willingness to comply with those items of local cooperation.

At Little River there are over 200 recreational craft permanently moored, and something in excess of 300 additional recreational craft utilize the facilities. Due to the controlling depth of 3 feet at the mouth of Little River, it is extremely difficult for the recreational craft to enter and get out. As a result they are suffering rather extensive damage to the craft and also are not able to realize the full use of the recreational fleet.

The improvements that the Chief of Engineers recommends would eliminate a great deal of the difficulties that are now being experienced by the navigation interests.

In transmitting this report to the Congress, the Chief of Engineers had these comments, which I would like to read into the record at this point:

Navigation in Little River and Cayuga Creek consists entirely of recreational boating and the proposed improvements are designed to meet these needs and are not significant from the standpoint of commercial navigation. Benefits accruing to local interests as compared with general benefits of the type which warrant Federal participation is reflected in the fact that local interests expenditures for the proposed harbor facilities will be nearly twice the proposed Federal cost. The proportion of Federal and non-Federal participation recommended by the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors is considered appropriate if it is the intent of Congress to provide Federal assistance in the development of harbors

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