New Britain herald., 1929-11-14
INDIANS BATTLING
 WITH ELECTRIC co.
Power Concern Seeks S@,WO,- 900 Site Owned by FlatheadS

Washington, Nov. 14 - The latest phase of the never-cnding fight over electric power concerns the valu- able power site owned by the Flat head Indians in Montana. The issue IS whether the power trust" is go- .ng to get the site for developm cnt or whether someone else will get a chance at it.
 This site Is worth somewhere be- :ween s50.000,00O and s100,0O0, 900 md is sometimes called the Muscle Shoals of the Northwest"
 The government has been trying 70 hand it to the Electric Bond X Share Co. for the last couple of years. That is, it has sought to urn the Flathead over to the Rocky Mountain Power O., which
 a subsidiary of the Montana
 ower Co.,, which is a subsidiary of Electric Bond & Share.
 Power Trust May Lose
 But always there has been some one to step in and make holer at the critical moment and now in the end the power trust may lose out. There is not any thought of letting the government build and operate a power plant at the Flathcad as there was in the Boulder Dam and Muscle Shoals fights. The case does, however, involve the integrity Of the Federal Power Commission, which has been involved before
 Under the power companys offer the Flathead Indians would have had one-third of the payments on the site and white settlers two thirds. More than two years ago someone got President Coolidge to propose legislation which would allow former Secretary of the h. tcrior Work to divide the royalties with the whites. Senator Wheeler of Montana had this provision knocked out by the appropriation bill passed by the House. Then, when Wheeler was in China and Senator Tom Walsh in Europe, the power company came and got Work and the Indian Bureau and the Power Commission to agree to give it. preliminary permit which vir- tuany meant awarding a lease for the next 50 years. No one had bothered to consult the Indian owners.
 Presumably the thing would have gone through had not J. w. Ander- son, Whcelers secretary, got wind of it and gone rushing to Work with vigorous protests. Then Sena- tors Borah, Howell Frazier and Norris got in on the play and walsh cabled from Europe demand ing that nothing be done until all interested parties had been proper ly heard.
 Since then the Power Commis- sion hasn't awarded the site, but it tentatively turned down the only apolis engineer under whose bid the Indians would get $1.50 per horsepower a difference of many millions in the next 50 years. A. A. Grorud, counsel for the F'latheads, who has been here constantly fight ing to protect their interests. favors the Wheeler bid as fairer to the owners. The American Farm Bu reau Federation supports the bid because of Whceler's plans for mak- ing unusually cheap fertilizer.
 Walter Wheeler was recently granted hearing to protest the tentative rejection of his bid and Senator Walsh demanded that the hearings be held before the full power commission. comprising the secretaries of interior, war and az riculture. These hearing recently have been in progress and Senator Schall of Minnesota has introduced resolution to investigate some Of the activities of the Montana Power Go.
 Wheeler contends that the Rocky Mountain Power Co. is only dnm- my corporation. It's president is John D. Ryan. chairman Of the Anaconda Copper and president Of the Montana Power Co.,. and it's vice president and general man agcr is Frank M. Kerr Of the Mon | tana Power Its directors include Charles II Sabin and Percy Rocke- fcllcr.
 Tho most effective ammunition used against the Montana Rocky |