EP 1165-2-1
30 Jul 99
public funds on lands purchased for "public buildings of any kind
whatever" until the Attorney General certified the validity of Federal
title and the relevant state legislature consented to its purchase.
This resolution would ultimately be applied to the sites of structures
designed to improve navigation (5 Stat. 468).
B-9. 30 September 1850, Mississippi River Survey. Appropriated
,000 for a "topographical and hydrographical survey of the Delta of
the Mississippi". The Corps' eventual product was the Report Upon the
Physics and Hydraulics of the Mississippi River, a massive study by
Captain Andrew A. Humphreys and Lieutenant Henry L. Abbot of the Corps
of Topographical Engineers, which in its insistence upon "levees only"
substantially influenced the Corps' approach to flood problems on the
lower Mississippi and other alluvial rivers.
B-10. 31 August 1852, Lighthouse Act of 1852. Created a nine-member
Lighthouse Board, headed by the Secretary of the Treasury, to oversee
the construction, operation, and repair of Federal lighthouses, light-
vessels, beacons, and buoys. Three seats on this board were to be
held by Army engineers (10 Stat. 119-20).
B-11. 3 March 1875, River and Harbor Act of 1875. Work by Contract.
Section 1 directed that Secretary of the Army apply funds as far as
may be advantageous by contract, after public advertisement, with the
lowest responsible bidders.
B-12. 14 August 1876, River and Harbor Act. Protection of
Navigational Improvements. Section 3 first imposed Federal criminal
sanctions for wilfully injuring any federal navigational improvement
(19 Stat. 139).
B-13. 28 June 1879, Mississippi River Commission. Federal flood
control activity took definite form by the establishment of the
Mississippi River Commission with jurisdiction over navigation work
and flood control related thereto on the lower Mississippi River (21
Stat. 37, U.S.C. 641-647).
B-14. 14 June 1880, River and Harbor Act of 1880. Authorized a dam
at Lake Winnibigoshish on the headwaters of the Mississippi River for
navigation purposes. This was the first reservoir built by the Corps
of Engineers.
B-15. 24 April 1888, Land Acquisition and Condemnation Proceedings
for River and Harbor Improvements. Authorized the Secretary of the
Army to initiate condemnation proceedings for or to purchase at a
mutually agreed price any lands, rights-of-way, or material needed to
maintain, operate, or prosecute authorized works for the improvement
of rivers and harbors and to accept donations of lands or materials
required for the maintenance or prosecution of such works (24 Stat.
94, 33 U.S.C. 591)
B-16. 11 August 1888, River and Harbor Act. Fishway Construction.
Section 11 authorized construction of fishways whenever Federal river
and harbor improvements obstruct passage of fish (26 Stat. 426, 33
U.S.C. 608).
B-17. 19 September 1890, River and Harbor Act of 1890. Mississippi
River Levees. Congress replaced language in earlier river and harbor
appropriation acts allowing the Mississippi River Commission to build
or repair levees only for navigation purposes and not to prevent flood
damages (22 Stat. 208, 23 Stat. 146, 24 Stat. 329, and 25 Stat. 421)
B-2
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