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Show with provision of financial assistance in both phases of the work through the use of WPA labor. The cost of rebuilding the dam was calculated at $640,000, and that of developing the land on a proper basis $308,000. As a measure of relief, a repayment of $413,000 was proposed, $216,000 for the works by the Bureau of Reclamation, and $197,000 by the Department of Agriculture. An allocation of $393,000 was proposed for flood control and from other sources $111,000. A District was created to underwrite local costs on the new basis. The project was dropped. High costs made farmers reluctant to invest further in the enterprise. The farmers were primarily coal miners and with rising wages and employment, became less interested in the irrigation enter- prise. All this coupled with much public indifference led to the cancellation of the project. Work in the better lands is continuing, however, on an advice basis from the Soil Conservation Service. 44. Bartholomew-Boeuf-Tensas Basin drainage, Arkan- sas.-In the Bartholomew-Boeuf-Tensas Basin intensive drainage reclamations were begun by private interests shortly after 1900 and continued on a large scale until the flood of 1927. More than 1 million acres of the basin were brought into drainage districts, were assessed drain- age taxes, and were made the site of drainage construc- tions, ranging from large stream diversion ditches to simple farm laterals. Almost $6 million in bonded debt was assumed by local people through their officially created districts; and many other obligations, more diffi- cult to measure, were undertaken by individuals and in- formal groups. Since 1927 the attention of local people has centered on completing plans in progress at the time of the flood and on salvaging the established organizations from the financial ruin that followed the flood of 1927 and reached a crisis in the depression of the 1930's. The history of drainage development in the Mississippi Valley, particularly in Bartholomew-Boeuf-Tensas Basin, has too often been written in terms of floods and depres- sions rather than in terms of the more analytical concepts that embrace and describe the major interests, groups, institutions, and practices which gave form to the drainage movement as it developed and is practiced in this area. The major causes of past failures to achieve adequate drainage are: (a) Shortage of basic engineering data. (b) Inadequacy of district funds for carrying out complete plans. (c) Lack: of common interests among many of the groups sponsoring local projects leading in some cases to the construction of terminal drainage satisfying non- agricultural interests but giving little, if any, benefit to agricultural lands on which heavy drainage taxes ulti- mately fell. (d) Intensive localization of organization and man- agement which prevented the integration of work on a basin-wide scale. (e) Laclc of adequate maintenance. (/) Insufficient attention to sound business policies, particularly in regard to methods of financing and rec- ord-keeping^ brought about by inadequate revenue or lack of properly trained supervisory personnel. (g) A legal structure unsuited to situations in which drainage pi anning requires intercounty and interstate consideration. Tennessee Valley Authority 95. Wilson project, Alabama.-The Wilson Dam mul- tiple-purpose project, serving navigation and power, was started as a World War I project and was placed in op- eration in 1925. Located on the main Tennessee River in Alabama, about 259 miles above the mouth, this project became the keystone about which the remainder of the Tennessee Valley Authority multiple-purpose system was planned and constructed. The construction of numerous upstream projects, both on the main stream and tributaries, has provided the requisite storage to permit the optimum development of power at Wilson through the installation of additional power units. The project has fully accom- plished the purposes for which it was designed and is being operated efficiently and economically as a part of the Tennessee Valley Authority system. 46. Wheeler project, Alabama.-The Wheeler multiple- purpose project is located on the main Tennessee River in Alabama, next upstream from Wilson Dam, about 275 miles above the mouth of the river and only about 16 miles above Wilson. It was constructed by TVA, begin- ning in 1933, as a part of its system, the lock and one power unit being placed in operation late in 1936. As in the case of the Wilson project it has been feasible here, by reason of the provision of the large amount of upstream storage after this project was initially constructed, to ex- pand hydropower production at the site to the ultimate by the installation of additional units. The purposes of navigation, flood control, and power, for which the project was designed, have been fully realized, and the project has been used economically as a unit in the TVA system. 47. Norris project, Tennessee.-The Norris project was constructed at the same time as the Wheeler project, these being the first two projects built by TVA. It was also the first project built on a tributary stream. The dam, lo- cated on the Clinch River in eastern Tennessee about 80 miles above the mouth, forms a large reservoir which, upon completion and closure in 1936, became effective immediately for the purposes for which it was designed. Its large storage capacity was used for flood control in part during the flood in the spring of 1936, while the reservoir was being filled initially, and again to a large degree during the great flood in January and February 1937 when the Mississippi River reached the highest stage of record at Cairo. It has been so used many times since. In addition, the reservoir subsequently furnished water during low flow periods to augment flows for power and navigation. As a part of the TVA multiple-purpose reser- voir system this project has economically fulfilled the purposes for which it was designed. Public Health Service 48. Sealing abandoned coal mines.-Acid drainage from active and abandoned coal mines is an important water pollution problem particularly in the Ohio River Basin. One method of control which was tried on a large scale is the sealing of abandoned coal mines. The sealing program was started in 1933 under the auspices of various State health departments, Federal relief agencies and the Public Health Service. The work was placed on a regional basis in 1935 under the WPA and the Public Health Serv- ice. This activity continued until 1941. As of 1940 the WPA had spent roughly $7 million in nine States on this 40D |