STORAGE RESERVOIRS. 



SPEECH OF HON. FRANCIS G. NEWLANDS, OF 

 NEVADA, IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESEFTATIVES. 



Mr. Chairman, when the chairman of the Committee on Rivers 

 and Harbors was speaking I interrogated him regarding the following 

 item: "Reservoirs at the headwaters of the Mississippi River: For 

 continuing improvement, $300,000." I asked him what purpose those 

 reservoirs served. His answer was that they were supposed to serve 

 the interests of navigation; that they were on the headwaters of the 

 Mississippi and were intended to increase the flow of the water during 

 the summer season, but that in his judgment legislation with Defer- 

 ence to this matter had been unwise and inefficient to accomplish the 

 purpose intended. I have since inquired of the gentleman who repre- 

 sents Minnesota, and he informs me that for a distance of nearly 200 

 miles the flow of this river is materially increased by these reservoirs, 

 that the water is 8 inches higher than it otherwise would be, and you 

 all know what that means with flat-bottomed boats on the headwaters 

 of these great rivers. 



Now, Mr. Chairman, it is the view of the Committee on Rivers and 

 Harbors that the appropriations reported by that committee should 

 be confined entirely to navigation and that no items relating to irriga- 

 tion should be inserted in a river and harbor bill. I submit that this 

 is a narrow view of the jurisdiction enjoyed by this committee. The 

 rules of the House refer to that committee all bills relating to the im- 

 provement of rivers, and I submit that a public work on a river, 

 whether with a view to promoting navigation or irrigation, is an 

 improvement of a river, and that the committee has jurisdiction of the 

 subject-matter. This view has been taken by the Senate upon numer- 

 ous occasions, and two years ago the Senate conferees strenuously 

 though unsuccessfully insisted upon an amendment to the river and 

 harbor bill which was intended to provide for the construction of res- 

 ervoirs at the headwaters of the Missouri River, with a view of pro- 

 ducing a steadier flow of that river to the Mississippi, into which it 

 emptied. The interests of both navigation and irrigation can often- 

 times be met by the same improvement. 



What improvements are required in our rivers? In the first place 

 the navigable rivers are subject to floods, and we seek to prevent the 

 overflow by constructing levees. Immense sums have been expended 



