As I stated earlier, we have with us our colleague Congressman Kilburn, the Representative from this district, who is very much interested in this project. We are very happy to hear you at this time and have you present your witnesses.

STATEMENT OF HON. CLARENCE E. KILBURN, A REPRESENTATIVE IN CONGRESS FROM THE STATE OF NEW YORK

Mr. KILBURN. Mr. Chairman, we have one witness, Mr. Mizen, the chairman of the Harbor and Dock Commission of the City of Oswego. With him is Mr. George W. Allen, who is commissioner of public works for the city of Oswego, but Mr. Mizen is the only one who will testify. I might say just briefly, if the committee will indulge me, that there were bills introduced for the improvement of Oswego Harbor totaling $11 million. They found through experience up there that this breakwater that the engineer just spoke about is the one that is badly needed now. So I have introduced a bill; and the estimate, when I introduced it, was for $1,800,000, which they want to have done now and are willing to forego the others for the present in view of the financial situation of the country.

Mr. Mizen has a statement which will take him about 5 minutes to read, and also a map which I think the committee members have been furnished with.

Mr. ANGELL. Very well, sir. You may state your full name and position for the purpose of the record. You may be seated, if you desire.

STATEMENT OF HARRY C. MIZEN, PRESIDENT OF THE HARBOR

AND DOCK COMMISSION, CITY OF OSWEGO, N. Y.

Mr. MIZEN. My name is Harry C. Mizen. I am the president of the Harbor and Dock Commission of the City of Oswego, N. Y., which is the commission authorized by the charter of the city to handle, direct, and supervise the operation of the harbor. That commission dates back to 1923.

There is very little that I can add to what the engineer has already informed this committee except to say that our commission and the shippers in and out of the port of Oswego and the industries which have brought to it bulk material by their freighters and the railways which ship both anthracite and bituminous coal out of that port and the Marathon Co., which brings wood for making paper and pulpwood from the northern shore of Lake Superior to Oswego, to be manufactured into paper-they have their own line of boats. The Huron Portland Cement Co. has a distributing basing plant at Oswego and ships there a great, great many tons of cement which is then delivered from that point throughout the State to the users of cement. They are all thoroughly convinced that for the continued safe operation of Oswego Harbor the detached breakwater which the engineer now told you will cost approximately $2 million is almost a must. It is not a new project but is to make a harbor which the Federal Government developed for us a safe, secure, and efficient harbor. It is not asking for any new area of the harbor.

As Congressman Kilburn said to you, we are willing to forego for the present until this detached breakwater can be built, any further internal improvements in the harbor proper.

There is not much more that can be said. If you will read the Engineers' report as I have studied it very carefully, House Document 487, you will see it is almost a self-evident proposition. It is almost as if we had a house and the house was falling down and we said, "We must repair it." Obviously if we are going to continue living in the house it must be repaired. That is about our situation in Oswego. We must have and should have this detached breakwater, which will then prevent the destruction of piers, and docks, which has occurred.

The State of New York has a large million bushel grain elevator there. The damage to that has been very severe at times by reason of this undue wave action which sweeps through these open piers. The Lackawanna Railroad pier has been damaged by it and ships have been forced to lie idle, and the unloading entirely stops until the storm has abated and the turbulence in the inner harbor has abated so that the ships can go on with their work.

I might say that Oswego has been a port for better than 150 years. It was one of the first ports on the lake where the United States Government established a customhouse office.

Since the bringing of the large lake vessels down through Lake Ontario by the construction of the Welland Canal, the commerce steadily increased there to the point where it is almost the lifeblood of the city and of the port.

The bill which Congressman Kilburn has introduced is H. R. 6902, and the commission feels it is justified in joining hands with the Engineers and representing to this committee that it is our concerted judgment, based upon complaints and experiences which are absolutely known to us and which are not figments of imagination, but are actual experiences, that it would be in the interest of the Federal Government and all of the people of the lake system to have this detached breakwater built immediately so that we will have a harbor which I think under the original plan by the Engineers we thought would be adequate; but is not adequate now for this reason.

There is no use in my taking up any more of your time. I have filed a brief with you here and you know as much about it now as we do. Mr. ANGELL. Mr. Mizen, we certainly thank you for your very fine statement. Your written testimony will be inserted in the record at this particular point, if there is no objection.

(The prepared statement of Mr. Mizen is as follows:)

STATEMENT OF HARRY C. MIZEN, PRESIDENT, HARBOR AND DOCK COMMISSION CITY OF OSWEGO, N. Y.

My name is Harry C. Mizen, and I am president of the harbor and dock commission of the city of Oswego, N. Y. I appear here at the direction of the commission to urge the enactment of the proposed bill into law.

The reasons which the commission respectfully submit to justify the modification of the existing Oswego Harbor project may be briefly summarized as follows: The city of Oswego, N. Y., is situated on the southerly shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of the Oswego River. It is the county seat of Oswego County and has a population of 22,100. It is served by three railroads and it is the Lake Ontario terminus of the New York State Barge Canal system. It has been the port of entry and departure for lake shipping for more than 150 years. Its prin

cipal industries and facilities which are served by the port are the New York Central, Lackawanna and Ontario and Western Railways; the New York State Barge Canal system, a grain elevator and two terminals maintained and operated by the State of New York; the Niagara Mohawk Power System which operates a steam station of 400,000 horsepower capacity and consumes upward of 900,000 tons of coal a year; a distributing center of the Huron Portland Cement Co.; the Marathon Corp. which operates a paper mill and manufactures paper products and frozen food containers and other products.

In 1952 the net tonnage at the port of Oswego was 1,865,506, and in 1953, 1,917,500 tons. The approximate number of bottoms which brought this tonnage to and from Oswego is considerably in excess of 300, the exact number not being ascertainable at this time. The principal products flowing to and from the port are anthracite and bituminous coal, grain, pig iron, pulp wood, cement, gasoline and fuel oil, and other miscellaneous products.

The existing Oswego Harbor is formed in part at the mouth of the Oswego River and a breakwater system extending northerly into the lake. Annexed to this statement is a rough sketch of the Oswego Harbor area and its breakwater protection shown in black. The proposed modification of the existing harbor with which we are here concerned is a detached breakwater indicated on the rough sketch in red.

The reasons which, in the opinion of the commission, justify the modification of the existing project to include the proposed detached breakwater briefly summarized are as follows:

Following the enlargement of the harbor facilities by deepening to 21 feet and the extension of the harbor northerly by the arrowhead pier system, it was found that when northerly and northeast winds prevailed, vessels encountered serious difficulty in entering and leaving the harbor through the 650-foot outer opening at the end of the 2 arrowhead piers; that at times vessels were forced to seek shelter elsewhere and vessels in the harbor were prevented from departign therefrom; also that lake wave action passed through the 650-foot opening into the harbor and set up such a turbulence and wave action therein that at times vessels were prevented from loading and unloading. Such turbulence and wave action also seriously undermined and damaged the dock and terminal facilities of the New York State elevator and West Side Terminal, as well as other dock properties.

The commission formally called this deficiency to the attention of the United States Corps of Engineers with the result that a study thereof was undertaken, and on July 6, 1945, a public hearing was held in the city of Oswego under the direction of Lt. Col. Norman J. Riebe, then United States district engineer, officed at Buffalo, N. Y. Attending this hearing were 59 representatives of shipping, transportation, and manufacturing interests. Following this hearing, the Corps of Engineers conducted further study and examination into the conditions prevailing at the Oswego Harbor and on February 21, 1950, transmitted to the Speaker of the House of Representatives Document No. 487 of the 81st Congress, 2d session.

The information contained in this document is most informative and fully justifies the opinion of the commission that a modification of the existing harbor project as proposed by the pending bill now under consideration by this committee should prevail.

Time does not permit even a brief summary of the information and facts set forth in the Engineers' data found in Document No. 487. However, we do feel justified in calling attention to the fact that the report of the Chief Engineers of the United States Army dated August 29, 1949, and the report of the Board of Engineers for Rivers and Harbors, dated June 3, 1949, both approved the recommendations of the district engineer regarding the necessity for the modification of the existing harbor project by the construction of the detached breakwater at an estimated cost of $1,811,000 for construction and $5,000 annually for maintenance.

The foregoing brief summary, we believe, covers the factual situation involved in the proposed modification. Mr. Allen, the superintendent of public works and a civil engineer, who is also a member of the commission, and myself will gladly answer any question which the committee may care to propound.

In conclusion, we respectfully submit, on behalf of the commission and the city of Oswego, that the existing facts merit favorable action on the proposed bill now being considered by the committee.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there any questions from members of the committee of Mr. Mizen?

Mr. MACHROWICZ. I should probably ask Colonel Milne this question, but I will ask you since you are on the stand. Is there any local participation in this project?

Mr. MIZEN. Not in the detached breakwater, as I understand it. No. There is in that addition on the right-hand side.

I am not an engineer. I am a lawyer. But that is not being pressed. That requires local cooperation of the Marathon Corp., which operates a great system of plants throughout the area.

Mr. MACHROWICZ. There will be considerable dock improvements, I suppose, that will be taken care of by the local interests?

Mr. MIZEN. If that project is ever undertaken by Congress they will have to. Yes.

Mr. MACHROWICZ. Do you foresee that the St. Lawrence Waterway will increase the traffic to your port considerably?

Mr. MIZEN. I am one who thinks it will. I have sailed from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to Duluth twice. I think the St. Lawrence seaway is going to be very beneficial and it will be beneficial to Lake Ontario and the commerce on it. Yes. That is the way I feel about it. And I might say our Commission has passed resolutions approving it. The Common Council of the City of Oswego has passed resolutions approving the St. Lawrence seaway, and that entire area is in favor of it.

Does that answer your question?

Mr. MACHROWICZ. It certainly does.

Mr. ANGELL. Are there any further questions to the witness? (No response.)

Mr. ANGELL. Thank you for your statement.

Mr. MIZEN. Thank you.

Mr. ANGELL. Congressman Kilburn, does the other gentleman desire to be heard?

Mr. KILBURN. No, sir. I think that covers it. Thank you very much.

Mr. ANGELL. Thank you very much. That will conclude the testimony on this project at this time, and we will proceed to the next

one.

CROOKED AND INDIAN RIVERS, MICH.

Mr. ANGELL. We will now proceed with the next project, which is the Crooked and Indian Rivers in Michigan, House Document 142. Colonel Milne, you may proceed with your presentation of this project.

Colonel MILNE. The report on the Crooked and Indian Rivers, Mich., is contained in House Document No. 142 of the 82d Congress, 1st session, as authorized by resolution of the House Rivers and Harbors Committee dated October 19, 1945.

The Crooked and Indian Rivers form the very famous inland waterway, which is a series of interconnecting streams and lakes that extends some 35 miles across the northern tip of the lower peninsula of Michigan and enters into Lake Huron at the town of Cheboygan. The area surrounding this inland waterway is one predominantly devoted to the tourist trade. In the summer the population of that area increases tremendously due to the influx of tourists from all over the country.