Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-10-28

IN CONNECTION with the great Co
lumbia basin irrigation project which
has been agitated in recent years py
the commercial and agricultural IN
terests of the state OF Washington N
which is being made a leading issue pc
fore congress-, the people OF Montana
and particularly OF the tlatheau Naliey,
are deeply concerned in view OF the TACT
that their inherent rights to the waters
of the head streams Of the
river are threatened and great damage
to the agricultural lands OF the rat
head valley are in danger should the
original plan for the damming OF FIAT
head lake at its outlet be carried mo
effect.
In the consideration OF the question:
~especially when IL is made apparent tnat
the erection Of q dam of any size at the
outlet of the lake for reserving the water
of the lake for irrigation or power pur-
nose would inundate great stretches OF
fertile farming lands OF the valley the
people OF Kalispell have advanced the
idea that these troubles could be opViat-
ed by providing a storage reservoir TO De
erected in a basin in the
through the erection Of a dam in what
ss known as the Hungry Horse canyon
ON the south fork of the Flathead river
at a point three or four miles above tne
junction Of that stream with the Middle
fork of the Flathead.
Several Surveys Are Made
Upon several occasions in recent years
surveys and investigations OF the Hungry
Horse site have been mad both by gov
eminent engineers and engineers en-
Moved by the business interests OF kalls-
peli. all of whom have reported the un-
dertaking as entirely feasible. Withln re-
oent weeks the site was again inspected
by government engineers and following
"a Ccntf IaQUlIf AS a
member of the house committee on n
rigation and reclamation, made a trip
over the dam n reservoir site after
which he attended a conference with va
rious commercial and civic organizations
at Kalispell.
The people of the Flathead valley,
while not protesting the development Oh
q hydro-electric power plant at the out
let of the Flathead lake, which would
conserve sufficient water in that lake
both for owe purposes and Tor the
regulation of the flow into the owe
Columbia river basin, have fought against
the erection there OF a dam OF such
height as these projects would require
were not other methods Of water con-
servation to be adopted.
They have taken the stand that the
raising of the water in tlatheau lake
to the height required for the two pur-
poses would submerge all the farm lands
OF the valley below the city OF Kalispen
and would destroy the valuation OF the
county by one-fourth.
Hungry Horse Selves Problem
They accordingly advance the idea that
sufficient storage for the purposes can be
provided by the construction Of q dam
In Hungry Horse canyon, thereby obviat-
ing the necessity for the raising OF the
waters Of Flathead a k to any great
extent. 1t Is argued that the Hungry
rT---- .-1 L. x~{ oply a flnnd rnnfrnI
and power proposition, but 1t Is the CHIEF
source of water for irrigation in the Flat
head valley. In 1908 the chamber OF
employed Paul S. A. Bickel,
consulting engineer, to make an examin-
alton and report on an irrigation system
for the entire Flathead valley, this re-
port showing that adam should be built
on the south fork of the Flathead river
at the outlet of the Hungry Horse can
yon, and it was found that an excellent
dam site could be obtained and an
abundance Of water. The amount OF al
that could be irrigated from this dam is
81, 900 acres. according to the report OF
Mr.. Bickel.
1t has been found since that a large
additional area may be covered from the
same dam making over 100000 acres al
together that could be irrigated from the
South fork and the Saltwater rivers. The
estimated cost at that time was only an
average of S13 per acre, or the lowest
price project that has yet been found
In the state. Irrigation has not been
accepted as a popular issue in Flathead
valley by a great many farmers for the
reason that during only two or three
years have they had short crops ON &C
count of dry weather, particularly 1918
and 1919.
Spotted Bear Storage
Another storage on the South fork OF
the Flathead almost as large as the
Hungry Horse is the Spotted Bear stor-
age at the head waters of the South
fork. This would probably be a far more
economical storage thar any heretofore
discovered, inasmuch as a chasm only
about seven feet wide with walls approx
mately 100 feet high forms the outlet
of Spotted Bear waters into the South
fork. This undoubtedly eventually will
be utilized, not only for power, but also
for storage supplementing Flathead lake
Report of Federal Engineer
In 1923 E. E. Jones was ordered BY
N. c.. Grover, chief hydraulic engineer
United States geological survey, to make
q reconnaissance OF a feasible dam site
on the South fork Of the Flathead river
A good dam site was found at a point
On the South fork of the Flathead river
about TOO feet up stream from the Devils
Elbow in the Hungry Horse canyon.
1t is believed that the reconnaissance
and report of the engineer grew out o.
q contention of the Kalispell Chamber o.
Commerce at q hearing before the Column
bia river board On the application Of thu
Rocky Mountain Power company for
preliminary permit on Flathead lake. Tit
Kalispell interests taking the position
that storage should obtain in the uppe
reaches Of Flathead valley. PARTICULAR.
in the canyons of the South fork in thu
Flathead forest and the North fork IL
Glacier National park. and the Kalispel
interests in their brief and also ora
arguments mace at this meeting intro
duced a copy Of the paper Of c. E. Leigh
ton, chief photographer United State
geological survey, in the "Preliminar,
Report of the Inland Waterways Commits
sion OF 1903" n In this report MI
Leighton said:
"First-That the logical way to contro
q river Is to control the source of it
water supply.
"Becond-That in nearly all Of tn
rivers of the United States such contro