Legislation to add Moccasin Bend to the Chickamauga
and Chattanooga National Military Park 1950

Calendar No. 2147
81ST CONGRESS SENATE REPORT
2d Session No. 2146
AUTHORIZING THE ADDITION OF CERTAIN LAND TO CHICKAMAUGA
AND CHATTANOOGA NATIONAL MILITARY PARK, TENN.

JULY 24 (legislative day, JULY 20), 1950 --Ordered to be printed
MR. O'MAHONEY, from the Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, submitted the following

REPORT

[To accompany H. R. 7675]

The Committee on Interior and Insular Affairs, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 7675) to authorize the addition of certain land to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in the State of Tennessee, having considered the same, report favorably thereon and with the recommendation that the bill do pass.

This bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to accept donations of not to exceed 1,400 acres of land and interests in land within the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River, lying west of the city of Chattanooga, Tenn., as an addition to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park.

The city of Chattanooga, the county of Hamilton, and the State of Tennessee intend to acquire and donate this tract of land to the Government for park purposes in order that it may be protected and administered in keeping with its historical significance.

Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park is one of the oldest and largest of the national historical areas. It was established in commemoration of two battles fought there by soldiers of the North and South for control of Chattanooga, Tenn. The park is composed of separate areas, the more important of which are: Chickamauga Battlefield, in Georgia; Point Park, and the Battlefield of Lookout Mountain, Orchard Knob, and the national cemetery in Chattanooga, containing more than 15,000 interments, nearly all of which are soldiers of the War Between the States, also small reservations located on Missionary Ridge.

In speaking at the dedication of the park a veteran of the battles there said:
Here * * * we and they, the living and the dead, Confederate and Federal, fought for the right as each understood it, for the Constitution as each construed it, and for the liberty as each interpreted it.


2 AUTHORIZE ADDITION OF CERTAIN LAND TO A PARK

No appropriation of Federal funds is necessary for this addition to the park.
Expense of administering this additional area will be nominal.

The favorable report from the Department of the Interior to the chairman of the House Committee on Public Lands is hereinbelow set forth in full and made a part of this report.


UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR,
OFFICE OF THE SECRETARY.

Washington, June 16, 1950.

HON. J. HARDIN PETERSON,
Chairman, Committee on Public Lands,
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

MY DEAR MR. PETERSON: Your committee has requested a report on H. R. 7675, entitled "A bill to authorize the addition of certain land to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, in the State of Tennessee."

I recommend that H. R. 7675 be enacted.

This bill would authorize the Secretary of the Interior to accept donation of not to exceed 1,400 acres of land and interests in land within the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River for addition to the military park. The Moccasin Bend area lies within the immediate foreground of the view from certain vantage points in the park, Lookout Mountain and Signal Point. Because of the imminent commercial expansion into Moccasin Bend by industries of the Chattanooga area, it is desirable that the Moccasin Bend lands, which are now chiefly used for agricultural purposes, should be added to the park for administration and protection in keeping with general objectives of national park administration.

A great deal of local interest has been shown in this proposal to acquire and donate this tract of land for the park and we understand that a suitable plan of financing the project will be developed by the city of Chattanooga by Hamilton County and by the State of Tennessee. The Federal expense in administering this additional area probably will be nominal.

The Bureau of the Budget has advised that there is no objection to the submission of this report to your committee.

Sincerely yours,

OSCAR L. CHAPMAN,
Secretary of the Interior.


242 IV. NAT. MIL. PKS.--CHICKAMAUGA AND CHATTANOOGA

When the boundaries of the aforesaid are have been agreed upon, the War Assets Administration shall furnish to the National Park Service a legal description of the lands to be added to the park, together with a map showing the boundaries and the acreage of the area.

Upon the receipt by the National Park Service of such legal description and map of the area, public notice that such lands are to become a part of the Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, effective on the date of publication of such notice, shall be given in the Federal Register. (16 U.S.C. [[section]] 424a--3.)


An Act To authorize the addition of certain land to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park in the State of Tennessee, approved August 3, 1950
(64 Stat. 405)

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized to accept, as an addition to Chickamauga and Chattanooga National Military Park, donations of not to exceed one thousand and four hundred acres of land and interests in land situated generally within the Moccasin Bend of the Tennessee River lying west of the city of Chattanooga.

Sec. 2. All property acquired pursuant to this Act shall become a part of the national military park upon the issuance of an appropriate order, or orders, by the Secretary of the Interior setting forth the revised boundaries of the park, such order or orders to be effective upon publication in the Federal Register. Lands so added to the park shall thereafter be subject to all laws and regulations applicable to the park.

(16 U.S.C. [[section]] 424a--4.)