Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1904-08-15
IRRIGATION BY THE MISSOURI
Interesting Sketch of the Irrigation Posi-
bilities of the Missouri River By One
Who Has Made Observations of the
Stream. ~*&::
by 81. H. Harrison, in the .'Talisman'')

~
should 60 hand in hand, each having
what the other needs. Sunshine and |
drouth need the surplus waters and
the floods need the sunshine and
drouth to check it's overgrowth. In
this way things would be equalized,
the sum total of all scientific engineer
ing.
The large dam have recommended
for the upper Missouri, which is four
and five fold in its possibilities and
results, will be realized some time;
but, as an eminent lecturer said:
Progress is like a steamboat going
up stream slowly, wrong end to-"
Building two-hundred foot dam on
the upper Missouri river is as practical
bic as the two hundred twenty-five
foot dam the government is now build
ing in Arizona. OF the two, the Mis-
souri, river dam is the most important
to the country at large.
With interlocking steel for sheet
pihng, concrete and earth embank-
mnets, and steel for waste weir, there
is no reason for not building a large
dam with modern engineering facil-
ties. There is no danger of earth
quakes in that vicinity, and, il there
we're, it would withstand it better than
q stonewall dam. AS an earthquake
likes resistance, so would it smash a
stone wall, as compared to an earthen
dam with tight core of steel, which
would have some elasticity.
Site for Large Dam on Upper Missouri.
All asked for, however, in my
original article, was to have scien-
tific survey made for large dam on
the upper Missouri river among the
Mandan bluffs, between Bismarck and
the mouth of the Little Missouri.
Lately have been looking over the
government survey of the Missouri
river from Sioux City to Fort Benton,
Montana; also over the Northern Pa
cific profile of elevations from Bis
marck on the Missouri river west to
Dickinson, North Dakota. The river
survey, which is a good one, made in
1891, shows the bluffs from Bismarck
to Fort Buford to be nearly two miles
apart from base to base: Vt is remark
able how even the distance is and how
level the country between the bluffs.
The river winds like serpent at will
between the bluffs on an average of
OnehaH miles apart from top to top
and average from two hundred to two
hundred and fifty feet above the river.
What appears to be q good dam site
is at Sandstone Bluffs, which is seven
miles east of Stanton and eleven
miles west of Washburn. Surveys
may show a better dam site, but rock
is; marked in the bottom of the river
here and sandstone bluffs on the north
side are also marked. What seems t.
be q coincidence, it is the exact spo,
where Lewis and Clark encamped dur
ing the winter of 1894 and 1895 or
their expedition to the Pacific. Tht
place is called Fort Clark
The water surface of the river here
is 1875 feet above sea level, the sand
stone bluffs 1915 feet, making thu
bluffs 210 feet high. A dam can b.
built here two hundred feet high with
out doing any damage at Wilhston o.
1 Fort Buford, as the. water level at tn,
latter place is 1894 feet above SCI
level. This level, after making twent.
feet allowance for friction head o,
fall In canal, crosses under the North
ern Pacific Railroad between swee
Briar Creek and small station callet
Judson, about eighteen miles west 30
Bismarck. "A small power station IN
der about one hundred and fifty foo
head, using Sweet Briar or Hear,
i river for q stailrace. would deliver a
the power and electricity Mandan an.
| Bismarck would need. Under such
!. head the water would not be misses
from the canal for this power. Pro
! ceeding On south the canal could b
u reinforced with the waters Of Chey
4 enne and other rivers. II need be, an,
/ 90 on through Nebraska TO western
4 Kansas. There may be some littl'
] trouble IN getting out Of KNIFE rive
across the small divide into swee
]. Brtar Creek; otherwise the canal ha
1 no great engine ertns dimcnltiss. bu