1
John W. Morris
I wouldn't want to say that the civil program was any more demanding on the district engineer
than the military program. The district engineer would probably say the military program took
more of his time, which is not unusual because the civil is an internal operation and had its own
management.
Q .. I am interested in housing. What about Wherry housing? The Wherry program was in operation
at this time?
A ..
Yes.
Q .. Were they trying to build housing too cheaply? Was the program just too cheap in terms of each
house?
A .. That is true; cost per unit was the dominant factor. The other had something to do with standards.
Design factors were an area with which I wasn't intimate at that time so I can only surmise.
Q.. Then Wherry. Wherry was a sort
A .. Cracker box.
Q .. Well, on the civil side of the house, I think you mentioned
and Clark Hill. Was
recreation becoming more important?
A ..
Yes. It was not a project function at that time, but recreation was provided at Clark Hill. Clark
Hill was not quite finished when I left, but my recollection is that the reservoir area did include
boat ramps, camp sites, et cetera. It was just part of the operational setup. Boating was one of the
most attractive features to the local people. The reservoir itself was available for public use, of
course.
In those days, we had cabin sites. You could buy or lease land on which to build cabins. The
cabins became quite a problem later on. Criteria for these facilities were not very well
established, so many were built that probably shouldn't have been. These sites were supposedly
far enough from the reservoir area to not affect operations. It turned out some of the surveys were
not well done.
Q .. Savannah's now become a tourist area with a lot of restoration.
A .. Yes. When we were there they started to do the old cotton exchange over, and there were some
very nice restaurants in town.
Q .. Did you have much interactionwith the politicians? You mentioned them earlier as strong ones.
A .. The answer to your question is yes. A gentleman named Lester Moody in Augusta, Georgia, was
a principal political individual in that part of Georgia. He had the contacts and knew how to do
things. He and Senators [Richard] Russell and [Walter] George were very close associates,
Colonel Wilhoyt and Mr. Moody communicated often about political matters.
The political people were quite active. There was strong support for
Dam, now named
Richard B. Russell.
As for the local political people, I personally don't recall doing business with them.
Q .. Would you say that was a real training ground for you later?
A
It was. That's why I said earlier it was a landmark assignment. By the time I became a district
engineer I'd had several other assignments that were also foundation items, but Savannah was the
first.
31
Previous Page
