Water Resources People and Issues
involvement. Was the report advocating a multi-purpose approach to river
development?
A: Very clearly so.
Q: And since Markham was a member of the committee, did he sign off on this
report as had the other committee members?
A: Yes. They all signed off. This took a great deal of skillful drafting, but it
was not so much a problem of the Corps versus other agencies or individuals,
I think, as it was a matter of stress within the Corps. The Corps had been
going through this process in preparing the 308 reports, and while we were
doing this, the TVA was picking up the Corps' report on the Tennessee,
revising it, dismissing the Corps as the engineering agency for the Tennessee
Valley Authority, and establishing its own engineering staff. TVA was using
Sherman Woodward as a principal engineering consultant in doing so.
So, people were very sensitive to the challenge of multi-purpose development.
It was evident that Markham and Edgerton were not fighting this. They were
trying to draw the best they could out of what the Corps had invested in
works and experience and material from their 308 reports in meeting the new
view. But when one visited in Arkansas or Louisiana or Tennessee or
Mississippi, one realized that there were many, many people in the Corps who
had not accepted this view.
Q: It seems almost unbelievable to me that the TVA, then headed by Arthur
Morgan, would have ever seriously considered using the Corps of Engineers
as an engineering agent for their projects, considering Morgan's long
animosity toward the Corps.
A: Yes, but under the TVA legislation they had the authority to do so if they
wished.
Q: But do you recollect any serious consideration of that proposal?
A: I never heard of there having been any serious consideration but one would
need to consult the TVA records. Arthur Morgan had to sell H. A. Morgan
and Lilienthal on the notion that TVA would set up its own engineering
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