The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1914-06-11
Reservoir to be Completed.

tlle ~. MARY Storage feature VI tHc
Milk river irrigation project, was or
dered Sunday by Hon. F. H. Newell,
director Of the United States reclama-
tion service, the authorization being
received in the form of a telegram at
the local reclamation headquarters by
Supervising Engineer H. n. Savage.
The order calls for the start of the
work as soon as it can be begun, and
that it be pushed with all possible
speed to completion. 1t involves an
expenditure of no less than S4OO 900,
and makes certain beyond even the
shadow of doubt that the Milk river
irrigation project will now 60 forward
to completion in it's entirety from the
storage in the Rocky mountains to the
end Of the Glasgow division, more
than $50 miles east. 1t is the most
welcome news which the settlers of
the Milk river valley have received in
many months and it is news that will
be received with much qualification
all over the state of Montana.
With the authorization for the con-
struction of the Sherburne dam there
also came an order to prepare for the
construction of the Nelson reservoir
dam, which will be located 25 miles
east of Malta and which reservoir will
get it's supply from the Dodson south
canal. Water stored in the Nelson
! reservoir will, in part, be conducted
down Milk river and diverted to the
| Vandalia south canal to supply $4,000
acres of land in the vicinity of the city
of Glasgow and the balance will be
used to supply the Nelson north canal
and the Nelson south canal when they
shall have been constructed. The
water will supply lands on both sides
of Milk river as far east as the Van
dalia diversion dam.
The Nelson reservoir will have
storage capacity of 100, ,4s0 acre feet of
| water and will be one of the most i'm
portant features of the Milk river pro-
ject. Its authorization, as has that of
the Sherbure lake dam, has been some
what in doubt for several months and
lthe telegraEa 4ich finally decided the
matter was the source of general sat
isfaction on the part of the local rec
lamation officials as we'll as business
men here who heard of the news.
There will be no time lost in COM
plying with the order for starting work
on the Sherburne dam. A large
amount of construction material is
already at hand for the work, includ-
ing a steam shovel, dragline scraper,
SO mules owned by the government,
and sawmill. 1t is tribute to the
foresight of Supervising Engineer
Savage that he has the outfit at hand
and once more shows tact on his part,
such as was exemplitied in getting
busy on the Sun river diversion dam
a few months ago. Then he had saved
several weeks delay by having a flume
put in and the work of preparing for
starting the dam well in hand when
the final order was issued, a thing
which meant no small saving to the
government. His action in the Sher-
burne dam will mean several days.
time in getting actual operations
started there.
Drawings and specifications for the
Nelson reservoir are being designed at
the local reclamation offices, and as
soon as they can be completed will be
forwarped to Washington to go to ad-
yertisement for proposals for the
work. The work of building the Mel
son reservoir will be done by contract
as it is work that can be economically
handled in that manner.
The Sherburne reservoir is the
principal feature of the Milk river
project. The work of building this
dam will be done by government
forces because of it's extra hazardous
nature and the heavy annual floods
which must be controlled and will
naturally interfere with the work at
some time during the construction.
Three things have happened recent
ly that leave no grounds for doubt |
about the completion of the entire
Milk river project just as rapidly as
the work can be economically accom-
plished. n little less than a month
ago there came an order from the rec
lamation department to complete the
survey of the Chinook unit at once.
There had been delay in the survey
of land about Chiuook which original
ly was intended to be included in the
big project and there was getting to
be an uneasy feeling on the part of
the people there because, as they
viewed it, the work had not been Or
dered as quickly as it might have been.