Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1901-01-07
TG REDEEM FLATHEAD LAKE
THOUSANDS OF ACRES OF VALUABLE LAND NUNDATEDT0 GET
RID OF Tie URPLUS WATER.

NIissoula. Jan. 1.-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 kalispell, ANA north of the beautiful
Mission valley. in the Flathead Indian
reservation. Its eastern shores are
fianked 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 re-
Ceives two rivers, which carry most of
the water received by the lake. Flat
head river takes the drainage from
large section Of country, entering "a the
northern end with a sluggish stream.
and carrying great quantities of mud
and silt. This river has made a delta
in the lake, and is building up the bot
tom at this end very fast. The amount
of filing is not great. may be seen
by examination of any map. Swan or
Bisfork river enters at the northeastern
corner. about three miles from the Flat
head river. This river drains the east
ern side of the Mission range and the
western side of the Swan range. and
is much smaller than the EIathead.
The water is much clearer, and amount
of deposit is not large. The amount of
water carried in 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 Flathead.
There has been much talk about the
water of this lake and the possibility
of widening the outlet AT the southern
end n n norti1it IA tpp of 10
lake to run out faster. There is a large
amount of land that is annually made
worthless by the high water in the river
and the lake, for the river is so slug
eish 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 pre-
vent the lake and river from overflow
ing. The citizens Of Kalispell have been
interested in this problem for some
time, and have made efforts to get con-
Eressional aid in taking care of The wa
ter of the lake so as to make use of
this land. Appropriation of some $50. 900
was made for clearing out the thannel
of the river so as to make it naviga ble
and an attempt WAS made to secure APP
preparation for widening the outlet of
the lake so as to prevent the overflow
and thus reclaim the land that is now
worthless. This is no chimerical story.
but is problem that is worthy of being
taken hold of seriously and pushed to
an issue, either successfully, or to show
1t to be impossible
couple of Years ago work in HYDRO
eraphy was started in the western part
of the state. Those having the work
in charge We're prevailed upon to give
ton
was that the matter was presented to
the chief of the bureau of hy,lrography.
Mr.. F. II. Newell. When the National
Irrigation congress met in Missoula this
matter was gone over carefully. and
looked at from all possible phases. The
result was that work was ordered begun
on the lake and for the past year has
been continued
Two guaSes We're established, to be
read daily. One is placed at the mouth
or Swan river. the other at the foot of
the lake. The former is in charge of
L. l.. Sitter. the latter in charge of
Henry Therriault.
Owing to the difficulties in the way of
Establishing a gage at the upper end the
gauge there is not under water all of the
time and has been dry sine early Aug
ust. The gauge on the lower end is on one
OF the old piers for the former landing
OF the large boat that piled the lake, and
Is under water all Of the time.
In order 70 get at this problem salts
1actorily two things are necessary To
know how much water comes into the
lake through the streams, and to know
Now mu>h current there is across the
lake, and consequently the time necessa-
~ to permit the water to go from the
upper to the lower end
The large portion of The water entering
the lake comes from the two rivers men,
toned. Only few creeks enter from
the sides of the lake and these carr,
only small, portion of the drainage
1t becomes necessary to determine the
low OF water through these two rivers