1104 FIFTY-NINTH CONGRESS. Sess. II. Ch. 2509. 1907. mission, upon approval by the Chief of Engineers, receive allotments for improvements now under way or hereafter to be undertaken, to be paid for from the amounts herein appropriated or authorized._ _ Mississippi ami. Improving the Mississippi River from the mouth of the Chic Riyer tobgggigolfgf °"’° to an including the mouth of the Missouri R1 ver: Continuing 1m- P . provement, two hundred and fifty thousand dollars: Promded, That Coutmcis. the Secretary of War may enter into a contract or contracts for such materials and work as may be necessary to prosecute the improvement, to be paid for as appropriations may from time to time be made , by law, not to exceed in the aggregate seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars, exclusive of the amounts herein and heretofore applro- Annual ·=11¤¤¤¤¤¤- riated: Provided further, That the authorized sum last named s all be used in rosecuting the improvement for not less than three years, · beginning guly first, nineteen hundred and eight, the work thus done each year to cost a proximately two hundred and fifty thousand nmagingpiamem. dollars: And ovidgd fm·the1·, That the sums herein appropriated and authorizefghall be expended in the o ration and maintenance of the dredging plant already constructed andiiiuthorized for the improvement, and in temporary expedients of channel regulation connected with such operation, and in the maintenance and re ir of the permanent works already constructed, except that sucllii portion of the authorized annual expenditure as shall not be necessary for the accomplishment of the above-named purposes may be expended in the construction of permanent works of c annel regulation. Bond to examine The Secretary of War may appoint a board of five members, to be iiiiiinriigirsiiiiiicliptiiiii com sed of three members of the Mississippi River Commission, one '*°*°°“*" °* '*'“’· of whbm shall be the president of such commission, and two engineer oflicers of the United States Army, to examine the Mississippi River below Saint Louis and report to Congress, at the earliest date by which a thorough examination can be made. upon the practicability and desirability of constructing and maintainin a navigable channel fourteen feet deep and of suitable width from Saint Louis to the mouth of the river, either by the improvement of said river or by a canal or canals Scope- for partof said route. In its report the board shall cover the probable cost of such improvement, the probable cost of maintenance, and the present and prospective commerce of said waterway, both local and general, upstream as well as downstream, and the said board may consider in connection with the examination herein provided for, the survey of a proposed waterway from Chicago to Saint Louis, heretofore reported; it shall also report whether other plans of improvement can be devised bynwhich the probable demands of traffic, present and prospective, can . adequately met, and the sum of one hundred and ninety ` thousand dollars, or so much thereof as may be necessary, is hereby appropriated for the making of such survey. of which amount only one hundred thousand dollars shall be available, unless in presenting a plan for such waterway it shall be necessary, in the judgment of said board. to make a survey for a lateral canal or canals; and the force, plant. and records of the Mississippi River Commission shall be available for the use of said board in making said examination; and said board shall also at the earliest date plmcticable report upon the following: S¤¤i<+¤¥¤ <>fr¤r><>¤- First. \Vhat dept of channel is it practicable to produce between Saint Louis and Cairo at low water by means of regulation works. Second. What depth will obtain in such regulated channel at the average stage of water for the year. Third. Forwhat average number of days annually will fourteen feet of water obtain in such regulated channel. Fourth. What increase of de th will be obtained over the natural flow of water in such regulatedp channel by an added volume of ten thousgnd cubic feet per second; also fourteen thousand cubic feet per secon .
