The Kalispell bee. [volume] (Kalispell, Mont.) 1900-192?, 1901-01-15
Prof. NJ. J. E1rod Discusses the
the Problem.
THOUSANDS OF ACRES
Of Valuable Land Will Be Secure
Against the Possibility of lnunda-
ton During High Water.

ter Mountain says:
The readers of the inter Mountain
are familiar with the location of this
lake. 1t is in western Montana,
south of the famous Flathead valley,
in which is the prosperous city of Kali
ispell, and north of the beautiful Mis-
sion valley, in the Flathead Indian
reservation. It's eastern shores are
f1anked by the Mission range, whose
lofty peaks tower above the surface Of
the water thousands of feet, in the
beautiful summer days making a pic
ture not to be equalled in many places
in the country. The northern end
receives two rivers, which carry most
of the water received by the lake.
Flathead river takes the drainage
from large section Of country, en-
tering at the northern end with a
sluggish stream, and carrying great
quantities of mud and silt. This river
has made delta in the lake, and is
building up the bottom at this end Of
the lake very fast. The amount of
filling is not great. as may be seen
by examination of any map. Swan or
Big Fork river enters at the north
eastern corner about three miles
from the Flathead river. This river
drains the eastern side of Mission
range and the western side of the
Swan range, and is much smaller than
the Flathead. The water is much
clearer, and the amount of deposit is
not large The amount of water car
ried by these two rivers has not been
determined, as there has, so far, been
but one measurement made of Swan
river, and none ON the FIathead.
There has been much talk about
the water of this lake, and the posi-
bility of widening the outlet at the
southern end so as TO PERM, the wa
tiers of the lake to run out faster
There is a large amount of land that
is annually made worthless by the
high water in the river anu the lake
for the river is so sluggish that when
the lake rises the river rises with it
AS a result this land is often useless
and much of it cannot be used until
some plan is devised to prevent the
lake and river from overlooking. The
citizens of Kalispell have been inter
ested in this problem for some time
and have made efforts to get congress IS
ional aid in taking care of the water
OF the lake so as to make use of this
land. Appropriation of some $50, 900
was made for clearing out the chan
mel of the river SO as to make it nayi
gable, and an attempt was made to Sc
cure appropriation for widening tn,
outlet of the lake SO as to prevent thu
overflow. and thus reclaim the lane
that is now worthless. This is n,
chimerical story, but is a problem tina
is worthy of being taken hold of Sc
iously and pushed to an issue, etha
successfully, or to show it to be i'm
possible.
couple of years ago work in ny
biography was started in the wester
part of the state. Those having tn
work in charge were prevailed upo
to give the matter attention. and tn
result was that the matter was pre-
sented to the chief of the bureau c
photography, Mr.. +. II. Newell. Whe
the National Irrigation congress me
in Missoula this matter was gone owe
carefully and looked at from all poss
BILE phases. The result was that wor
was ordered begun on the lake an
for the past year has been continue,
The guages We're established, to |
read daily. One is placed at the mout
OF Swan river, the other at the TO,
OF the lake. The former is in chars
of E. L. Sitter, the latter il charge
Henry Therriault
Owing to the difficulties in the VIZ
OF establishing a guage at the upp,
end the guage there is not under Il
water all of the time and has bee
dry since early in August. The guas
on the lower end is on one of the O
piers of the former landing of Il
large boat that piled the lake and
under water all of the time.
In order to get at the problem S;
isfactorily two things are necessal
To know how much water comes in
the lake through the streams, and
know how much current there
across the lake, and consequently t
time necessary to permit the wa,
to go from the upper to the low
end.
The large portion of the water ,
tering the lake comes from the t,
rivers mentioned. Only few cree
enter from the sides of the lake a
these carry only small portion of t
drainage. 1t becomes necessary