264 DOCUMENTARY HISTORY OF THE FLORIDA CANAL

 The CHAIrAN. Very well. It is perfectly all right. I was in-
 terrupted.
 Mr. BucxMA. This is a letter dated February 13, 1936, from
 Senator Fletcher to the Secretary of the Interior in reference to the
 letter of Mr. Slattery.
 The CHrnmAx Who is he, Mr. Buckman
 Mr. BoU MAN. Mr. Slattery was the one who wrote the letter
 introduced into the record by Senator Vandenberg, which you had
 here.
 The CHAIRAN. Oh yes; I remember.
 Mr. BUCKXAN. Which was addressed to J. Hardin Peterson. The
letter is as follows:
 FmUAar 13, 1986
Hon. HAzoLo L. Icms,
 Bearetary of the Interior, Washin~ton, D. 0.
 MT DzAn Ms. Suaeunr: In reference to the letter of Mr. Slattery dated
August 26, 1985, addressed to Representative J. Hardin Peterson in which he
refers to an opinion of the Geological Survey to the effect that the construction
of a sea-level canal across Florida might seriously damage the underground
water supply of the State, the impression seems to obtain in the minds of some
people that the Geological Survey made a special survey and investigation of
this specific question and has issued a report giving its findings.
 So far as I am able to determine from an examination of the records of the
 Survey, no such specific survey was ever made by the Geological Survey nor was
any final or formal report ever made by it on this question and the opinion
referred to in Mr. Slattery's letter to Mr. Peterson was preliminary and in-
formal and based upon the general data on the geology and water supply of
Florida theretofore collected and cannot be considered as a final or formal report
of the Survey.
 I also understand that the Geological Survey has made available to the War
Department its applicable data on this subject, both published and unpublished.
 I shall appreciate it if you will advise me as to whether my understanding of
this matter, as set forth above, Is correct.
 Very respectfully and sincerely yours,
 D n AN U. FLECHEB.
 The Secretary of the Interior replied to that letter under date of
February 18, 1986, as follows:
 The CHAIRMAN. This February?
 Mr. BucxxAN. Yes, sir; it was just yesterday.
 MT DzA SmeATol FLWrcHE: I have your letter of February 13 in which in
effect you request an Interpretation of Mr. Slattery's letter of August 26, 1935,
to Representative J. Hardin Peterson.
 The Geological Survey's information on the geology and underground waters
of the peninsula of Florida is based on a series of studies made independently,
or in cooperation with the Florida State Geological Survey, over a period of a
quarter of a century. You have been supplied with copies of the later and more
signflcant reports resulting from these studies.
 It is entirely true that the Survey has not specifically studied the particular
question of the possible effects upon ground-water conditions of the trans-Florida
canaL It is equally true of course that detailed studies of the geology of the
State and of the relation of the ground waters to the geology throughout the
State, cannot fail to give a broad perspective on the whole problem which affords
a sound basis for at least certain general conclusions about the effects of any
proposed alteration of natural conditions. The quotation of the Survey's
opinion in Mr. Slattery's letter to Mr. Peterson had this basis and this basis only.
 It is also entirely true that the Survey has made freely available to the War
Department all Information it has, published and unpublished, bearing upon the
problem for the solution of which the War Department is responsible. This
material included a manuscript on the artesian water in the Florida Peninsula.
as yet unpublished. This manuscript constituted one of the reports in the series
of six reports recently sent you. It is also clear from a reading of the pre-