OCR Text |
Show owners in managing woodlands and in marketing forest products. Of 500,000 woodland operators in the basin, about 3,000 receive assistance annually through this program. Under the Clarke-McNary Act,4 the Forest Service gives financial aid to the States for forest fire protection. With the excep- tion of 6 to 7 million acres of woodland in Kentucky, all private woodlands in need of organized fire pro- tection are now covered by State fire control organi- zations. Under this same act, financial aid is extended to States for the production and distri- bution of tree seedlings for forest planting. Under this program approximately 21,000 acres are planted each year. The area of potential forest land which needs planting is estimated to exceed 5 million acres. Agricultural and forest research is carried on by several agencies in the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with State or other institutions. Basic investigations and surveys related to land treatment measures associated with water resources development include certain economic, hydrologic, irrigation, drainage, erosion control, water conser- vation, sedimentation, forest resource, and forest management investigations. In addition to these programs, the Department of Agriculture has completed field work for flood control surveys covering the Green River watershed in Kentucky, the Scioto watershed in Ohio, the East Fork of the White and Patoka watersheds in Indiana, and the Allegheny watershed in Penn- sylvania and New York. Field investigations are now being made in connection with surveys of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny watersheds in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Maryland. Credit to farmers is available through the Farmers Home Administration for farm operating expenses, and for purchase, enlargement, or im- provement of family-sized farms; and the Farm Credit Administration and the institutions asso- ciated with it to provide both short- and long-term loans to any qualified applicant and to farmer cooperatives. The Rural Electrification Administration has loaned approximately 175 million dollars to 95 borrowers that operate partly or wholly within the basin. Through this program, funds have been advanced to construct 97,000 miles of rural distri- bution lines to more than 400,000 farm homes and other rural consumers. During 1949 about 820 4 Act of June 7, 1924, 43 Stat. 653, 16 U. S. G. 564 et seq. (Supp. III). million kilowatt-hours of energy were used by these farm cooperatives. Practically all of the energy utilized by REA borrowers is purchased from private utilities. Navigation Existing Improvements The existing navigation system on the Ohio River and tributaries comprises 46 locks and dams on the main stream and 92 locks and 91 dams on the Alle- gheny, Monongahela, Muskingum, Little Kanawha, Kanawha, Big Sandy, Kentucky, Green, Cumber- land and Tennessee Rivers. A dependable mini- mum navigable depth of 9 feet is provided on the Ohio, Allegheny, most of the Monongahela, Kanawha, and Tennessee Rivers, and lesser depths are provided on the other streams. The system has a total of 2,984 miles of canalized waterways, 981 miles on the main stream and 2,003 on tributary streams. The system serves the principal indus- trial centers of the basin and connects with the Mississippi River Inland Waterway system, the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, and the Great Lakes system. Towboats operate throughout the year with tows which, on the main stem, may be more than 100 feet wide and 1,100 feet long and carry cargoes up to 20,000 tons or more. These cargoes consist of coal and coke, oil, gasoline, iron and steel, sul- phur, stone, sand and gravel, chemical products, and many other commodities. In 1948, traffic on the Ohio River system was more than 63 million tons, which were moved 9 billion ton-miles. About 85 percent of the total tonnage was coal and coke, stone, sand, gravel, oil, and gasoline. During World War II, 580 LST's and 494 other war ves- sels, constructed at shipyards along the Ohio River and some of its tributaries, were moved to ocean ports by way of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Facilities under Construction or Authorized Navigation projects under construction in the Ohio River Basin are being built to replace existing outworn or obsolete structures on the Monongahela and Cumberland Rivers. The two projects on the Monongahela River include the Morgantown Lock and Dam to replace locks and dams Nos. 10 and 11 and new and larger locks at dam No. 2 to replace two smaller locks. On the Cumberland River, the Cheatham Lock and Dam is being constructed to 645 |