HEARINGS BEFORE THE SENATE SUBCOMMITTEE ON COMMERCE IN 1916, TOGETHER WITH CERTAIN OTHER PAPERS RELATING THERETO. 283 [Senate Document No. 550, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.] TC423 1917 A5 сору 3 APPENDIX A. RIVER REGULATION, FLOOD CONTROL, AND WATER CON- TUESDAY, JUNE 27, 1916. UNITED STATES SENATE, Washington, D. C. The subcommittee met in the committee room, Capitol, at 11 o'clock a. m. pursuant to call, Senator Joseph E. Ransdell presiding. Present: Senators Ransdell (chairman), Vardaman, and Kenyon. Also present: Senator Francis G. Newlands, Mr. Arthur P. Davis, Mr. George Otis Smith, Dr. F. H. Newell, Mr. Henry S. Graves, Mr. Charles S. Marvin, Mr. George R. Putnam, Mr. William Bowie, and Dr. William A. Taylor. The subcommittee proceeded to consider the bill introduced by Mr. Newlands (S. 5736), to promote interstate commerce, agriculture, and the general welfare by providing for the development and control of waterways and water resources, for water conservation, for flood control, prevention, and protection; for the application of flood waters to beneficial uses; and for cooperation in such work with States and other agencies, and for other purposes, which is here printed in full as follows: [S. 5736, Sixty-fourth Congress, first session.] Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the sum of $60,000,000, to be apportioned as hereinafter provided, is hereby reserved, set aside, appropriated, and made available until expended, out of any moneys not otherwise appropriated, as a special fund in the Treasury, to be known as the "river-regulation fund," to be used to promote interstate commerce by the development and improvement of the rivers and waterways of the United States and their connections with the Great Lakes and with each other, and by the coordination of and cooperation between rail and water routes and transportation, and the establishment and maintenance of adequate terminal and transfer facilities and systems, and their maintenance, improvement, and protection, and by the making of examinations and surveys and by the construction of engineering and other works and projects for the regulation and control of the flow of rivers and their tributaries and source streams, and the standardization of such flow, and by the maintenance of navigable stages of water at all seasons of the year in the waterways of the United States, and by preventing silt and sedimentary material from being carried into and deposited in waterways, channels, and harbors, and by the conservation, development, and utilization of the water resources of the United States, and by flood prevention and protection, through the establishment, construction, and maintenance of natural and artificial reservoirs and detention basins for water storage and control, and levees, revetments and other bank-protective works, spillways, wasteweirs, wasteways, by-passes, controlled outlets, and flood-control works of every nature and kind, and the protection of watersheds from denudation, erosion, and surface wash, and from forest fires, and the maintenance and extension of woodland and other protective cover thereon, and the reclamation of swamp and overflow lands and arid lands, and the building of drainage and irrigation works in order that the flow of rivers shall be regulated and controlled not only through the use of flood 285 75439-17-19 waters for irrigation on the upper tributaries, but also through controlling them in fixed and established channels in the lower valleys and plains and by doing all things necessary to provide for any and all beneficial uses of water that will contribute to its conservation or storage in the ground or in surface reservoirs as an aid to the regulation or control of the flow of rivers, and by acquiring, by purchase, condemnaiton, or otherwise, holding, using, leasing, hiring, and transferring by appropriate deed lands and any other property that may be needed for the aforesaid purposes, or which it may be deemed advisable to dispose of, and by doing such other things as may be specified in this act or necessary to the accomplishment of the purposes thereof, and by securing the cooperation therein of States, municipalities, and other local agencies, as hereinafter set forth, and for the payment of all expenditures provided for in this act. The aforesaid sum of $60,000,000, appropriated as hereinbefore provided, shall be apportioned for expenditure under this act as follows: (a) $25,000,000 to the Illinois River and its watershed and to the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Illinois to the Head of the Passes, including the Atchafalaya River as one of the mouths of the Mississippi River, to be expended for the improvement of the Illinois River and for continuing the improvement of the Mississippi River from the Head of the Passes to the mouth of the Illinois River, for the control of floods thereon, and the establishment of a waterway from the Lakes to the Gulf; (b) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of the Ohio River and its tributaries, for the control of floods thereon, and the consequent improvement of navigation; (c) $5,000,000 to the watershed of the Mississippi River above the mouth of the Illinois River; (d) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of the Missouri River and all other tributaries of the Mississippi River, except the Ohio, from the mouth of the Illinois River to the Gulf and all rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico west of the Mississippi River; (e) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of the rivers draining into Canada, the Great Lakes, and the Atlantic Ocean and rivers draining into the Gulf of Mexico east of the Mississippi River; (f) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of all the rivers draining into the Pacific Ocean in Oregon and Washington, including the Columbia River watershed; (g) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of the rivers draining into the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and into the Pacific Ocean north of Santa Barbara, in California; (h) $5,000,000 to the watersheds of all other rivers in California and the Great Inland Basin and the Colorado River. NATIONAL WATERWAYS COUNCIL. SEC. 2. That a national waterways council, hereinafter called the council, is hereby created, consisting of the President of the United States as chairman, the Secretary of War, the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Commerce, and the chairman of the water control board, to be appointed as hereinafter provided. The council shall have authority to direct and control all proceedings and operations and all things done or to be done under this act, and to establish all rules and regulations which may, in their judgment, be necessary to carry into effect such direc tion and control consistent with the provisions of this act and with existing law and with any provisions which Congress may from time to time enact. All plans and estimates prepared by the water control board, as hereinafter provided, which contemplate or provide for expenditures from the river regulation fund shall be submitted to the council for final approval before any of the expenditures therein provided for or contemplated are authorized or made or any construction work undertaken or contracts let under or in pursuance of such plans: Provided, That in case of an emergency the chairman of the water control board shall have full power to act, and shall report in detail his action in every case to the council at its next meeting after his action. WATER CONTROL BOARD. SEC. 3. That to assist in carrying out the purposes aforesaid the council may utilize the various agencies of the Government, and there is hereby created a water control board, hereinafter called the board, which shall consist of a chairman, to be appointed by the council, and four assistant secretaries, to be appointed as hereinafter provided, and such additional members as the council may from time to time appoint. The chairman of the board shall receive a salary of $12,000 per annum, each assistant secretary aforesaid shall receive a salary of $10,000 per annum, and said additional members of the board such salaries as the council may from time to time fix. Subject to the direction and control of the council as to general policy and procedure, it shall be the duty of the board to ascertain in detail the work in progress and obtain plans, rec |