Dam Interesting

Continued from page 6 honor of local United States Representative Francis E. Walter in 1963. (I must confess that as a kid I thought it was the Francis E. Water Dam.) For many years I wondered who this person was, so I decided to do a little research.

Francis Eugene Walter was born in Easton, Pennsylvania in 1894. He was elected to Congress in 1932 and served 16 terms until his death from leukemia in 1963. At the time of his passing, he was the House’s longest-serving Democrat from Pennsylvania. A veteran of both World Wars I and II, Walter gained notoriety when he presented President Roosevelt with a letter-opener made from a Japanese soldier’s arm bone in 1944. FDR initially accepted the gift before reportedly returning it due to public pressure.

Walter is also remembered for the passage of the McCarran-Walter bill, known as the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, overriding a veto by President Truman. Although this bill allowed for people from Asia to immigrate and become citizens of the United States, it also enforced quotas and other restrictions considered racist and exclusionary by more progressive people. During the height of the Cold War, Walter was chairman of the House Un-American Activities Committee.

The dam itself was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers, Philadelphia District and is part of a system in the Delaware River Basin that includes the Beltzville Dam in Lehighton. Historically, the Lehigh has been prone to flooding along its 103-mile-long journey to the Delaware River. The most devasting flood on record was in 1861. The primary purpose of the F. E. Walter Dam is flood control, but in 1988 Congress authorized recreation as a secondary use, paving the way for necessary upgrades. Since its construction, it is estimated that the dam prevented nearly $250 million in flood damage.

Releases for whitewater rafting have been taking place since 1968. This year whitewater releases will take place periodically over the course of

See DAM INTERESTING, page 8