The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1945-02-01
Engineers Start
Preparatory
Work On Dam

BOISE, iIdaho-The Bureau of
Reclamation will begin pre-con-
struction work within month on
the multiple-purpose Hungry Horse
Dam on the South Fork of the Flat
head river in northwestern Montana
to bring plans and specifications to
the point where bids can be issued
promptly after the close of the war
Paul A. Jones, project engineer, said
today
The dam is a key unit in a COM
prehensive, long-range program to
insure full utilization of the Column
bia River and tributaries for maxi
mum agricultural and industrial de-
velopment of the Pacific North
west. When completed, the dam
will provide a million and half
acre-feet of live storage for irriga-
ton, power development at the site,
increasing the firm output of down
stream plants. including Grand
Coulee Dam, flood control, and i'm
provement of navigation.
The project is one of the 236 in
the West included in the Bureau of
Reclamation's Inventory of Irriga-
ton and Multiple-purpose Projects
for Construction in the Postwar
period the detectives of which is
to indicate how the development of
potential water resources Of the
western half of the country could be
used most effectively to cushion the
transition from war to a peace
time economy by providing employ
ment and settlement opportunities
for qualified war veterans and de-
modified industrial workers.
The pre-construction operations
to be carried on at Hungry Horse
dam site will include construction
of a four-mile long access road
through heavily-timbered area.
The dam site is four miles from
the nearest improved road The
dam site and rersvoir area will be
core-drilled and surveyed, sites for
a permanent construction camp Sc
lected, and a poWerline survey un-
dertaken. Location of a deposit of
aggregate for the concrete of the
structure, and additional geological
Investigations are also scheduled
Project engineer Jones, who for
the past seven years has been con-
struction engineer on the Buffalo
Rapids Project in Eastern Montana,
will arrive in Kalispell, Mont, about
February | to establish headquar-
tiers and organize staff. Mr. Jones
has been with the Bureau of Rec
lamation for 81 years, serving as
resident engineer on the ella Prof.
ect, Arizona, and as chief Inspector
on Boulder Dam before going to
Buffalo Rapids
The Hungry Horse Project area
is situated about four miles above
the confluence of the South Fork
and the Flathead river, tributaries
of the Clark Fork, which empties
into the Columbia Mr.. Jones ex-
planned that the Bureau of Reclama-
ton has not yet selected the actual
site for the dam, although it has
chosen the general area in which
it will be constructed.
Preliminary studies, subject to
change, indicate the dam will be be-
tween $50 and 500 feet high and
will contain between two and three
mllll0n cuDlc yards oil concrete. 1T
would store approximately 100000
acre-feet Of water and support a
total power installation at the site
Of $4,000 kilowatts A reservoir 40
miles in length would be created
Water storage Of 100000 acre
feet would increase, By some $4,000
kiloWatts. the firm power capacities
of existing downstream power
plants at Poison and Thompson
Falls, Mont, and at Grand Coulee,
Rock Island, and Bonneville Dams,
on the main Columbia, it is estimat-
ed on the basis of preliminary stu
dies. 1t would add $4,000 kilowatts
to the firm power capacities of pow
erplants likely to be installed down
stream as part of the contemplated