Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1945-02-09

new land and furnishing supple
mental water to SAT 900 additional
acres to increase crop values ap-
proximately S130,000,000 annually
on So, 900 farms of about 80 acres
each.
ITO increase the population Of
the Basin by about 636, 900 from irri-
cation development alone.
5To increase the assessed valu-
alton of properties approximate
ly 5000, 0OO, 900.
6-To furnish adequate and safe
water supply and sewage facilities
for 10 cities and towns along the
river.
ITO construct II hydroelectric
plants which will provide $500, 0OO,-
900 kilowatt hours Of electricity to
be sold at an annual value Of ST.
al 900.
$40 create additional recre-
ational facilities through formation
of new lakes and parks and the pro-
lection of fish and wild life.
$40 introduce proper land use,
soil erosion conservation, contour
treatment and reforestation.
States in the Missouri Basin water
shed include approximately two
thirds of Montana, from the source
of the Missouri in the southwest
corner of the state; North Dakota,
South Dakota, Nebraska, Wyoming,
including roughly the northeast half
from line bisecting the state from
the northwest to the southeast cor
ner; approximately the northeast
quarter of Colorado; the north half
of Kansas; a tip of the southwest
corner of Minnesota; strip along
the west boundary of Iowa and
the northern part of Missouri from
line reaching from the Ozarks in
the southwest in a northeasterly
direction to St. Louis.
Needs of the people in these wide
ly scattered areas of long distances
are divergent. Those living along
the lower river want flood protection
at one season, and supplemental wa
ter for navigation at others. In the
western and northwestern section
the people want protection from To-
cal floods, water for irrigation, wa
ter for sanitary and domestic uses
and power for various purposes.
The comprehensive plan which has
been agreed upon is intended to
store water to prevent floods and
water the land in time of drought.
The great river will be made to
serve the people to live within its
basin and thus decrease its destruc-
tive power.
Will Pay for Itself.
Construction cost of the plan is
estimated at approximately $685.
100000 which is to be self-liquidat-
ing from the sale of water and
power over a period to be deter
mined. Only $500, 100000 of this cost
has been authorized.
The entire nation has a stake in
maintaining the agricultural prod
uctivity of the plains states, for even
in the drought period of l930-1939
these seven states-Montana, the
Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Kan
sas and Nebraska, produced Ais
per cent of the nations wheat; 43.4
per cent of the rye; 1873 per cent
of our barley; 1873 per cent of our
oats and 10 per cent of our corn.
Droughts, the dustbowls and the
lowering of the ground water level
by the rampaging river has per-
mitted wheat yields to reach 20
bushels to the acre only times
1879, 1882, 1888, 1895 and not again
until 1912. In many of those inter-
vening years the yield has been be-
low 10 bushels to the acre, and
thousands of acres of seeded land
have been abandoned year in and
year out.
But at last the government has
developed a comprehensive plan
aimed at the relief of this agricul-
tural arsenal of the nation. From
Cut Bank, Mont, in the northwest
to St. Louis in the southeast; from
Denver in the southwest to Devils
Lake, N. D., in the northeast-the
harnessed Missouri will extend its
benefits-but not until after the war.