The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1943-06-24
MISTAKES FEELING ON FLATHEAD

Sometimes people can't see the forest for the trees. Iht
statement can be applied to Rufus Woods, pioneer publisher
of the Wenatchee, Wash, World, who is nationally known a.
the father" of the Grand Couee project.
MIR. Woods attended the hearing in Kalispel recently al
which the people of Montana registered their strong protest
to a plan for raising Flathead lake for making it a storage
reservoir to assure power production at Grand Coulee. 1t is
natural that Mr.. Woods should stick by his guns for his be-
loved project. 1t might be expected that, in writing for his
paper, he would minimize the true feelings of the people of
Montana. But when his statements are placed in the Congress
sional Record, as they were by Rep. Walt Koran of Washing
ton, we feel our legislators in Washington are being misinformed
as to the Montana situation.
In short, threaded through the Woods article is the state
ment and inference that the Flathead uprising was solely spon-
sored and whipped up by Montana private power interests. :"
Nothing could be farther from the whole truth. The Bonneville
administrations proposal to raise the Flathead lake level, which
would flood some 10000 acres of farm lands, render thousands
of Montanans homeless and make a ghost city out of Kaispell,
as well as other sizeable cities, was not, in the minds of most
people, the question of a battle between public and private
power interests. Montanans felt, and the facts showed it to be
true, that they were being unnecessarily penalized for the
benefit of a downstream area far out of proportion to the power
development that would result.
The "Flathead trouble" was common talk wherever one
went - hundreds of miles from the Flathead, in communities
far out of the area served by the Montana Power company. Lo-
caly, we never saw or heard any official of the Montana Power
company make any statement about the Kalispell hearing. But
we did hear comments, and strong ones, from many people,
regardless of politics or their beliefs on the public VS.. private
power controversy. 1t is correct to state that a dam owned by
the Montana Power company would have been affected by the
proposed project. But the feelings of Montanans transcended
that one single factor. They saw the makings of a powerful
blow against western Montana that would affect it adversely
and have a detrimental effect on the entire state.
Montanans also felt that, first, every other possible source
OF storage should be investigated thoroughly to provide storage
water to develop power at Grand Coulee. Mr. Woods touches
on this point very lightly, barely mentioning the alternate
storage plan for the Hungry Horse canyon dam in the noun
tains above Kalispell
Montana has won the first round in its fight to preserve
one OF its most fertile and scenic areas. We may be sure that
the fight is not over. There is clear proof of this in the fact
that Mr.. Woods article has been read into the Congressional
Record. 1t is also clear to us in Montana that the article is not
an accurate representation of the feelings or the issues in Mon
tana. 1t is clear to us that the article is an attempt to influence
the opinions of our national legsatorsLets keep the record
straight. This is an issue on which the whole state is united
on which the feeling is unmistakabe and clear and it was not
feeling whipped up by artificial means. We hope our con-
gressmen and Mr.. Woods will understand.