Docket 20 Rainy Lake..

8 FINAL REPORT INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION
JOINT
what similar in character to that which had already been completed in connection
wi'th the Lake of the Woods watershed, and at the same time that their plenipotentiaries
signed the Convention and Protocol jn the matter of the regulation
of the Lake of the Woods, they also addressed to the Commission identical
lett,ers of refermce concerning the levels of boundary waters within the Rainy
Lake watershed.
It will be noted that in the letter of reference provision was made
Engineers
for the appointment of engineering and other technical assistance
from t,he public services of the two countries. The Canadian Government
appointed Mr. Stuart 'S. Scovil, at that time of the Dominion Water Power and
Reclamation Service, who has remained on this work throughout and has had
charge of all Canadian operations. The United St.ates Government appointed the
District Engineer, Duluth District, Dulut,h, Minnesota. This latter office has been
held in turn by several officers of the Corps of Engineers, Uni,i:ed States Army.
Major E. H. Marks, from April, 1925, to June, 1925, and Major C. F. Williams,
from July, 1925, to September, 1925, made preliminary arrangements, including
the provision of funds and the laying out of field work. Major R. W. Crawford
from Septem'ber, 1925, to July, 1928, carried out the field work and initbated the
hydraulic computations. Major P. C. Bullard acted from July 18, 1928, to
October, 1982, and Major (now Lieut.-Colonel) A. K. B. Lyman served from
that date up to the close of the investigation.
A public hearing was held at International Falls, Minnesota, Sep-
Hearing, 1925
tember 28 to 30, 1925. At the outset of the hearing there were put
into the record numerous written protests from towns, municipal organizations,
conservation and other societies and individuals, against any change in the water
levels of Rainy lake or the other lakes embraced in t,he investigation. Oral
statements were also made on behalf of the State of Minnesota,, the Arrowhead
A'ssociation, the Izaak Walton League, and other organizations and individuals
on the United States side, as well as on behalf of the Government of Manitoba,
the City of Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Elect,ric and Manitoba Power Companies,
the Canadian National Railways, the Town of Fort Frances, the Shevlin-,Clarke
Company and various lumber companies on the Ontario side of the boundary.
Mr. E. W. Backus set forth the views of the companies represented by him as
to the additional storage on Rainy, Namalran and other lakes.
In January, 1926, the Commission had a conference in New York
Conferences
with the engineers, who supplied an est.imate of the time and
funds necessary for the collection of the engineering dat,a needed for the formulation
of answers to the questions of the reference. The engineers were instructed
to proceed with these invesltigations.
The Comrrlission held an executive meeting in Ottawa in October, 1998,
when the engineers reported that the field investigations had been practically
completed, but that studies necessary to an engineering report which could
embody conclusions were of such a complex and involved nature that much time
would still be nceded to complete such R report. The engineers were instructed
to prepare for publication, for the information of interested pxrties, basic physical
data pertaining to the watershed resulting from their observations and field
investigations.
This Preliminary Report was prepared and published in 1930 and copies
were sent to all interested parties. It consists of four volumes, Text, Tables,
Plates, and Atlas.
At the October, 1929, meeting in Ottawa, after conferring with the
engineers, it was decided by the Commission to hold a public hearing as soon as
interested parties had had an opportunity of studying the Pre:liminary Report
of the Engineers.