under which it committed itself to the expenditure of its full share of the expense involved as soon as Congress should call for such expenditure or should indicate its willingness to have the work done.

The physical and legal conditions are therefore such that this work at the mouth of the river and the weirs may go on at once and independent of any work done under the supervision of the reclamation board in connection with the balance of the project, and independently of any suit or contest that may be instituted involving the authority of the board under present acts. The project is therefore ready for the approval of the United States Congress and the appropriation by it of as large an amount as it deems can be profitably expended from year to year.

The work to be undertaken jointly by the United States and the State of California-that is to say, the widening and deepening of the outlet at the mouth of the river and the construction of the four weirs, is only interdependent on the work to be undertaken under the jurisdiction of the State reclamation board to this extent: The reclamation work to be undertaken by the reclamation board would only be made effective upon the completion of the joint work of the United States and the State of California in the interests of navigation. On the other hand, the joint work to be undertaken by the United States and the State of California jointly is not dependent for success upon the reclamation board's work, but can be, and ought to be, undertaken independently. There are no physical or legal obstacles to the initiation and completion of the joint work to be undertaken by the United States and California jointly.

The plan for the work in the interests of navigation to be undertaken by the United States and California jointly are embodied in two reports-one House Document No. 81, Sixty-first Congress, second session, and a supplemental report printed in Rivers and Harbors Committee Document No. 5, Sixty-third Congress, first session.

If the fear should be expressed that the Reclamation Board should not proceed with the plans for flood control and reclamation, as authorized by the several acts creating this board, it might be answered that such a fear is entirely groundless. So much work in the construction of levees and otherwise has already been undertaken and completed, and so much of the land embraced in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys have already been improved and subjected to cultivation, and the sentiment of the landowners in these valleys, and of the people of the State, is so nearly unanimous in favor of the completion of the project, that it is safe to state there is not the slightest danger of this work not being carried to ultimate completion.

The California Reclamation Board was created by the Legislature of California by act approved December 24, 1911, as amended and reenacted by act approved May 27, 1913, and further amendment. by act approved June 9, 1915. The first two acts are printed in the hearing before the Committee on Rivers and Harbors of December 8, 1913, and January 12, 1914. A copy of the last act will be furnished later to the committee.

While the matter of rights of way for the lands necessary in opening the mouth of the river has not been cared for by the Reclamation Board, it is within its knowledge that such rights of way have already

been secured and (with the exception of one small piece) paid for, and either transferred to the Government, or the property is now in process of transfer. So far as concerns the sites for the weirs, the reclamation board has itself secured the rights of way necessary for the opening of the Yolo by-pass and the construction of Fremont Weir, and holds it under control, which can be available upon collection of assessments and payment therefor. In the matter of the Sacramento by-pass the rights of way therefor, including those for the weir site, have been bought by the city of Sacramento, but can be transferred to the Government at any time necessary. The right of way for the Tisdale Weir already rests in the State of California. The site for the Moulton Weir is owned by private parties, and no steps have been taken as yet to secure it for the reason that the engineers have not yet fully determined upon the detail of the by-pass system in the Butte Basin, nor upon the exact location of this weir.

Let it be clearly understood that the rights of way already secured would permit the Government to carry on work in the mouth of the river to almost its full completion and to construct three of the four

weirs.

Attention was called to the improvement in the channel of the river below Sacramento City, and from that point down to the bay, which is due undoubtedly to the fact that for five years passed there has been no break in the levee on either side of this stretch of the river, and in consequence the channel has been scoured. This is true to such an extent that while the level of the water at the low stage is lower than at any time in the past 40 years, the depth of the water is greater than it has been in many years passed.

Capt. A. E. ANDERSON. During the season of 1914 the steamer Grace Dollar, loaded with a cargo of between 600,000 and 1,000,000 feet of lumber from Puget Sound points on three occasions carried her cargo up the Sacramento River and delivered it at the wharf in Sacramento. The last trip was made, I think, in August. The steamer Dollar draws 13 feet of water. This was the first time in 50 years when an ocean-going steamer had ascended the river and delivered a cargo at Sacramento. This year another trip has been made by a companion boat, the Melville Dollar. Those trips were made at higher stages. Prior to the time the river bed was damaged by hydraulic mining, and up to 1865, seagoing ships drawing from 94 to 13 feet made regular trips to Sacramento at all seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter. One steamboat, the Senator, drew 13 feet of water. At the present time the greatest draft steamer on the river is 6 feet, loaded to capacity. During low water that steamer can not load to capacity. These boats are the Fort Sutter and the Capital City.

To the RIVERS AND HARBORS COMMITTEE,

STATE RECLAMATION BOARD,
Sacramento, December 1, 1915.

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. GENTLEMEN: Your committee, while in California, had a hearing July 25, 1915, in connection with the Sacramento River flood-control project. At that hearing the president of the State reclamation board was requested to furnish in time for the opening of the session of Congress such documents and statements, supplementing the facts drawn out at the hearing, as would give a comprehensive idea of the progress

times as wide (about 3.000 feet), which is to be dredged ultimately so as to give a depth at extreme flood of 35 feet. This cut utilizes, so far as practicable, the present river channel but, notably on one long stretch, departs entirely from it. This stretch of low land, extending from above the mouth of Three Mile Slough down to Bakers Point, has been thrown open to the river's flow by building a retaining levee along its west line and depositing dredged material behind that levee, and removing the levee on the west side of the river at the upper end of the cut, and also a cross levee on the Dozier and Pressley lands farther down.

Above this cut and extending up to Rio Vista the levee of the Joseph district has been removed by dredging to a width of 135 feet, and to the depth of 35 feet below extreme flood, the material being deposited on spoil banks to the west.

Below this cut, Bakers Point on the east side of the river has been cut off by a levee a mile long running across it, and the outer levee is now being removed.

The three operations above referred to give for the floods of this winter, for 5 miles or more downstream from Rio Vista, where the flood waters choke, a channel width of 3.000 feet-in some places, including the present river channel. in others supplementing it; and while this enlarged channel will need much dredging to conform to the specifications of the major project, it will prove a measure of great partial relief in the interests of navigation and in safety to property.

In addition, the point at the lower end of Sherman Island, where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers join, has been cut off by a levee, and the outside levee is now being cut down so that the choke at this point will be lessened.

WEIR SITES.

In the matter of weirs, rights of way have been secured already for three of the sites as called for in the plans. The site for Tisdale Weir has been owned for some years by the State of California. The site for Fremont Weir, 8,000 feet long, near the mouth of the Feather River, has been secured by the State Reclamation Board and an assessment levied to pay for it. The site for the Sacramento Weir has been purchased by the city of Sacramento and she will be reimbursed out of an assessment already levied by the Reclamation Board. There remains only the site for the Moulton Weir and there is still question as to the proper location for this weir.

SACRAMENTO WEIR CONSTRUCTION.

It is designed that actual construction of the Sacramento Weir and by-pass shall be completed during the year 1916. This has been made possible because this by-pass, designed as an easement for the floods of the American River, is necessary for the safety of Sacramento city as well as for the preservation of the river channel below her. Sacramento city has in consequence issued $500,000 bonds to pay for construction of the weir, hoping for reimbursement therefor in case the project is approved: while the Reclamation Board has provided by assessment for construction of the lateral levees of the by-pass and the cost of rights of way, already secured by the city. The plans for this weir are now in the hands of the Chief of Engineers at Washington and when approved by him contracts for the construction thereof will be immediately let.

BY-PASS CONSTRUCTION.

The progress in carrying out that portion of the work placed under direction of the State (the Government Engineers acting in effect as consulting engineers in connection therewith) has been marked. The authority given the State reclamation board has enabled it not only to prevent any private reclamation that would in any way interfere with successful prosecution of the Sacramento River flood control project as approved by the War Department, but also to force private reclamation to assist in constructing units of the project. Thus reclamation districts, in building their own protective levees, have built sections of river and by-pass levees as called for by the project plans, the lines of the two systems of levee being made identical.

In the Yolo by-pass there has been no actual progress in levee construction since the hearing of January, 1914. Twenty miles of the forty included in the eastern levee of this by-pass is finished, however, and the balance is provided for in the plans of two reclamation districts-the Netherlands, No. 999, and the Mull, No. 1600. Fourteen miles of this levee is included in the line of the Netherlands district, which is now endeavoring to condemn the necessary right of way so as to proceed with construction.

The entire Sacramento by-pass, including rights of way, levees, and weir, is practically provided for, as indicated above.

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of the project since hearings had before the committee December 8, 1913, and January 12, 1914, and of the present situation. This statement with its accompanying exhibits is made in accordance with that request.

PROJECT APPROVED BY STATE, BUT NOT BY CONGRESS.

It will be recalled that the project as outlined in the reports of the Chief of Engineers of 1910 and 1913 (H. Doc. No. 81, 62d Cong., 1st sess., and H. Doc. No. 5, 63d Cong., 1st sess.) has met the approval of your committee, as indicated by its action on the rivers and harbors bill of 1914, which measure passed the House and was approved by the Senate Committee on Commerce, but failed in the Senate. The Sacramento project, therefore, in the congressional sense, is not an approved project.

This project, however, as thus recommended by the Board of Engineers and by your committee was formally adopted by the State of California and elaborate provisions made for carrying out the State's portion of the project by legislative enactments of December, 1911, May, 1913, and May, 1915. (Copies of these acts of 1911 and 1913 have already been filed with your committee. Copy of the act of 1915 is hereto attached.)

Under the project as thus formulated certain portions of the work are to be done by the United States Government and paid for half and half by Congress and the State of California. These portions embrace the widening and deepening the mouth of the river from Rio Vista to Collinsville, and the construction of four weirs over which the excess flood waters may emerge from the river channel into the by-passes. The other portions of the project, including the securing of all rights of way, the construction or standardization of 500 miles of river levees, and the construction of 180 miles of by-pass levees, were imposed upon the State of California, to be paid for by interested landowners. The estimate of the Board of Engineers as to the amount to be shared by Congress and the State for weirs and future work at the mouth of the river was $11,600,000. Under the original estimates in the 1910 report this would have left about $21,000,000 as the amount to be paid by the landowners. That amount, however, will probably run up to $30,000,000, because of the increased costs for rights of way and the apparent necessity for larger levees and more elaborate revetment than called for in the original estimate. The details as to these two elements of the project are fully explained in the statement of the president of the reclamation board made at this hearing July 24, 1915.

PROGRESS MADE IN ABSENCE OF FORMAL APPROVAL.

Notwithstanding the fact that the project has not yet received congressional approval, there has been made very material progress both in the elements to be placed under United States Government direction and in those assigned to the State.

This has been possible in regard to by passes and river levees because the State promptly adopted the plan as recommended by the War Department and your committee, and provided legislation and machinery for carrying out its share thereof.

It has been possible with regard to opening the mouth of the river because Congress in 1910 approved a project recommended by the Board of Fngineers in its 1907 report for relieving the Sacramento River of some of its mining débris deposits, and the work being done under this project (locally referred to as the "minor project") is in effect a part of the work necessitated under the comprehensive project for flood control, not yet an approved project, and which is locally referred to as the "major project." A large part of the work done under the minor project has been in dredging at the mouth of the river, the plans calling for 56 months' work of 2 large dredges and the removal of an amount of material estimated at 15.000.000 cubic yards. By cooperation on the part of the State, through its reclamation board and river advisory board and landowners, the expenditure of $275.000 for rights of way, the construction of retaining levees, and other works at State and private expense, the work on this minor project at the mouth of the river under direction of the California Débris Commission has been made to fit in and become a part of work on the major projects. Progress is even being made toward construction of the four weirs, notwithstanding the fact that there is as yet no congressional appropriation therefor. The exact progress made in these matters up to date is indicated by the following statement:

OPENING THE RIVER'S MOUTH.

A glance at the proper map attached to Document 81 of the report of 1910 shows that the plans provide for substituting for the winding river channel of 16 miles between Rio Vista and Collinsville, a nearly straight cut from three to four