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Show 28 BOULDER CANYON PROJECT COST ESTIMATES HAVE BEEN CAREFULLY MADE The cost estimates given by the Secretary of the Interior are the result of long and painstaking studies of that department. Mr. F. E. Weymouth, then chief engineer of the Reclamation Service, under whose personal supervision the major part of the studies were made, testified before the House committee as follows: We have on our consulting staff Mr. A. J. Wiley and Mr. Louis Hill, and we have consulted them regularly in reference to this whole problem. We have had several engineering board meetings to consider the various phases of the problem, especially in reference to types of dams and methods of construction and cost of all that sort of thing. They were outside of our regular engineering force.. Asked about the engineers in his organization, he stated: Mr. Walker Young, who is present to-day, has had charge of the investigations in Boulder Canyon for about three and a half years. Mr. Young had more to do than anybody else in the actual working out of the detailed designs and estimates, but he at all times had the advice of our chief designing engineer, Mr. J. L. Savage, whose headquarters are now in Denver, and also of the whole designing force of that office. ****** := Mr. Savage has under his charge about 25 or 30 engineers of all kinds. * * * In addition to that, we have had the assistance of Mr. Gaylord, who was until very recently our chief electrical engineer, and his assistants, and Mr. Dibble and his assistants. In the study of the water supply, the irrigable areas, and the control of the river for flood or for power purposes, Mr. Debbler, who is here to-day, has made most of those studies. ******* We had Mr. Ransome, a geologist of the Geological Survey, make a very exhaustive geologic examination and report on the Boulder Canyon reservoir and dam site, and Mr. Jenison, of the Geological Survey, also assisted him. The Bureau of Standards has done a lot of work for the service testing materials for construction. There is another man that I forgot to mention, a very valuable engineer and geologist, Mr. Homer Hamlin. The most work that has been done perhaps was done by Mr. Arthur P. Davis while he was the director of the service. ******* Well, we have utilized our regular forces a great deal; Mr. James Munn, who was formerly a contractor and is, perhaps, one of the best construction men in the country. We have had his advice, especially in reference to unit costs that we have used in the estimates. Concerning the advisory board, composed of Mr. Wiley and Mr. Hill, he said: We have considered with them each step that we have taken as it came up and it has had their approval. (Hearings on H. R. 2903, 68th Cong., 1st sess., pp. 741-743.) RETURN OF ADVANCES FULLY ASSURED The provisions of the bill and the character and solvency of the organizations with which the Secretary will contract assures to the Government full return of the money advanced, with interest. It will be no experiment. The Secretary will not be contracting with organizations of doubtful solvency: As to domestic water, as well as power and pumping purposes, his contracts will be with cities or an association of cities with an assessed wealth of well over a billion dollars; irrigation water will be delivered under enforcible contracts to proven and established districts that have been in successful operation for many years; and power, which is the great financial asset of the |
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Original book: [State of Arizona, complainant v. State of California, Palo Verde Irrigation District, Coachella Valley County Water District, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, City of Los Angeles, California, City of San Diego, California, and County of San Diego, California, defendants, United States of America, State of Nevada, State of New Mexico, State of Utah, interveners] : California exhibits. |