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00lC'97 2 1 , 1. 3. The total drainage area of the Arkansas is 160.500 square miles. whioh is 12.8 peroent of the entire llississippi River watershed. The largest tributary. the Canadian River. drains 47.500 square Illiles. Other large tributaries are the Cimarron. the Grand. the Verdigris. and Salt Fork. The average annual rainfall is about 12 inches in the west- ern part of the basin, about 28 inches in the central part. and 50 inohes in the eastern part. The channel oapacity of the main etream md also of t he tributaries is o';enerally insuffioient to carry the storm run-off. Flood flows in the arid region are usually sharp orested and soon lost in river channel storage and absorption, so that the least flow of the main river is in the vioinity of Hutchinson. The run-off at Little Rock fluctuates from 1.100 to 830.000 second-feet snd avera~s about 41,000 seoond-feet. .. , .;', 4. The population of the basin is about 3.700.000. The largest cities are Oklahoma City. Okla.. 185.400; Tulsa, Okla.. 141.300; ;'ichUa. Kans.. 111.1001 Little Rook. Ark.. 81.700; Pueblo. Colo.. 59.100; ~rillo. Tex.. 43.100; Joplin. Mo.. 33.500; Muskogee. Okla..32.000; and Fort Smith. Ark., 31.400. Agrioulture is the chief industry. The basin has valuable mineral resources including petroleum and natural gas. Transportation is provided by nine railroad systems and numerous improved highways and secondary roads cover the watershed. :...- 5. In "eneral, improvement for navigation is advocated only on the main river below Tulsa; praetical power sites are found only in eastern Oklahoma: destructive floods occur in practically all the val- leys except those in the mountain section. the dama~ depending on the extent of development) and irrigation is needed only west of the ninety-ninth meridian. NAVIGATION ". 6. The bed and banks of the Arkansas River are generally unstable. end at low water the river channel is shifting and tortuous. and obstructed by sand and gravel bars, snags am wrack heaps. The controlling depth at low water ranges from 2 feet in the lower reaches to 6 inches or less in the upper reaches. The currents in flood are exceptionally swift. The annual fluctuations of flow are not sufficient- ly regular to afford dependable seasonal navigation. Before the con- struction of railroads through the basin. steamboats operated to Fort Gibson at the mouth of Grand (Neosho) River in eastern Oklahoma, 475 miles above the mouth, and some sporadic attempts were made to operate steamboats above that point. River traffic reached its maximum in 1871 and 1872. and subsequently fell off as railroad service was extended through the region. The Supreme Court. in a deoision rendered in 1922, has held the river is not a navigable stream above the mouth of Grand River. 7. Considerable sums have been appropriated by Congress and expended in an effort to improve the river for navigation by dredging and snag"ing and revetlll8nts to hold caving banks. In 1910 the oon- struetion and operation of two dredges ,vas authorized by Congress to determine the practicability o~ maintaining a low water channel 3-1/2 feet deep to Ozark in western Arkansas. It _s found, however. that the dredged channels were obliterated after each freshet and opera-