Docket 20 Rainy Lake..

RAINY LAKE REFERENCE 19
men’s Associatioll of Ranier, Minn., the Shevlin-Clarke Lumber Company and
other lumber conlpanies in the district, and various individuals interested in the
subject matter of the Reference.
Tllcrc were liled with the Commission at this hearing and embodied in the
record, letters and documents from the Assistant Attorney-Genera.( of Minnesota,
the (;enera1 Land Office of the United States, the United States Department of
Agriculture, the TJnited :States Department, of the Interior, the Shevlin-’Clarke and
Virginia and Rainy Lake Lumber Companies, the Department of Drainage and
Waters of Minnesota, the Canadian National Railways, the 13epartment of
Marine and Fisheries of C,anada, the Department of Public Works of Canada,
the Ilcpartment of the Interior of Canada, the Department of Indian Affairs of
Canada, thc Government of ,Ontario, the Attorney ‘General of Manitoba, the
Winnipeg Electric Company, the City of Winnipeg, the Lake of the Woods
Milling Company, the Keewatin Power Company, American Game Protective
and Propagat,ion Association, Conservat,ion Council of Chicago, Izaak Walton
League of America, Superior National Forest Recreation Associa-tion, Civic and
Commerce Division of the St. Louis ‘County Club, International Convention of
Citizens of Fort Frances, Hennepin ‘County Sportsmen’s Club, the Towns of
International Falls, Kenora and Fort Frances, and various individuals.
Testimony was presented at this hearing both for and against the proposed
increase in level:, of R,ainy Lake and the waters above that lake, and as to the
effect of various lcvels upon the interests of water power, lum.bering, mining,
fisheries, navigation, sanitation and recreation. It came out in thle course of the
hearing that some interests favoured a higher level, some preferred a lower
level, and some held the view that there should be no interference with existing
levels.
Mr. Backus in the course of his testimony filed with the ‘Corn-
Backus Interests
rnission the following statement as representing the views of his
water-power and other interests:-
“For the pa,st several years our engineers have been engaged in making
extensive exploration, investigation and survey of the various lakes and rivers
on the watershed tributary to Rainy River on both sides of the international
boundary, in gathering statistics relating to the run-off from these waters, and in
reviewing and studying the whole subject of providing additional storage on
the upper Lake of the Woods watershed, including the cost thereof and the
effects which it will produce in controlling the levels of Rainy lake and Lake of
the Woods, and the flow therefrom.
“The data a,nd information accruing from these investigations have served
emphatically to second the conclusions of your Commission in its report of June
12, 1917, as to the desirability of storage reservoirs on t.he boundary waters in
question for the benefit of all interests involved. The same recommendation, as
affecting the power resources of the Winnipeg river in Manitoba, had been
independently made by J. T. Johnston, B.A.Sc., Chief Hydraulic Engineer,
Dominion Water Power Branch, Department of the Interior of the Dominion
of Canada, in his report of July 16, 1915, on the Winnipeg River Power and
Storage Investigations. These two reports are matters of public record and
clearly present tthe conclusions drawn from the exhaustive investigations conducted.
“The necessity for additional storage on the boundary watere; for the benefit
of all interests, private and public, is so fully recognized that but little reference
thereto is demanded. Conditions naturally exiding have beeln substantially
improved by the prezent storage on Rainy Lake and the Namakan chain of
lakes which has, of necessity, been heretofore used as the sole regulating medium
for the waters above along the entire boundary. Its inadequacy for this pur-
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