John
Morris
days, and I told General Cassidy, "It'sgoing to be tough." His reaction was for me to get a report
to OCE somehow by 20 December to meet the authorization process schedule.
So we went to the regional office of the Bureau of Reclamation in Oklahoma City. Fortunately,
Mr.
the head of that office, knew what had happened, and when I asked to start with his
survey report, he reached in the file drawer and he gave it to me.
Myron DeGeer was the number two man in the engineering division at that time. The chief of
engineering was Mel Parse, who was preparing to retire. So Myron DeGeer was the real engineer
on Waurika. DeGeer and I took that report back to Tulsa. He ripped the Bureau cover off of it and
began to study it. I mentioned the need of a public hearing. He said, "You've got to have a public
hearing."
So right away we put out a two-week notice for a public hearing in Waurika High School, advised
Senator Kerr's office and Don McBride, and asked for their help. I remember mentioning to
Senator Kerr one day that we are going to have a problem in Waurika because I didn't know any
of those people and they didn't know the Corps; they knew the Bureau.
He said, "Colonel, when I get through with this, they'll love you like a brother."
On the day of the hearing, the schoolhouse was full of people. I couldn't believe it. Senator Kerr
had had the schools let out; all the townspeople had come to see "Democracy in Action." We
started off about o'clock in the morning. I went through the normal presentations and showed
pictures of the floods and the damage the dam would control plus land requirements and other
things. About 12 noon things had gone rather well, so we decided to take a break for lunch.
As I was looking at the maps, thinking through the next session to begin after lunch, somebody
put his arm around my shoulder. I looked up and it was Senator Kerr. He wanted to know if I
wanted to build this dam or let the Bureau of Reclamation build it.
My response was easy. "Sir, after all the trouble I've gone through in the last
weeks, if we
get this thing authorized, I sure want to build it."
He said, "Okay, it's yours."
That's what happened. It's unbelievable, but it happened. I was gone from Tulsa when the dam
was finished, but I did go back for the dedication. Congressman Carl Albert was there. He was
the Speaker of the House at the time. He told some of these stories about the Waurika project.
I went to Wichita, Kansas, during the first six months I was the district engineer. Senator Kerr
was to make a speech on the Arkansas River project being built by Tulsa. The river goes on to
Wichita, and the gleam in the eye of people at Wichita was to get navigation extended up there.
Senator [Frank]
a Republican and the senior senator from Kansas, introduced Senator
Kerr as a great "Republican" from the state of Oklahoma. Democrat Kerr, a 110 percent
Democrat, brushed that off and then made this speech about a third of Kansas, including Wichita,
being in the Tulsa District and the importance of water resource development. He closed by
admonishing the group to, "Be careful what you dream because it might come true." I thought that
was a great statement. Finally, he had them stand and sing "Shall We Gather by the River." You
learn about and feel inspiring leadership by being associated with someone of that stature.
Gerry and I were having an open house the 1 st of January 1963 for the district people. We were
stunned when we learned that Robert S. Kerr had died the same day. at the reception knew
that with Kerr gone, there was to be a different day ahead. In the Tulsa region he was the leader
of a group of the most powerful water resource people of our time: Senator [John] McClellan,
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