The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1947-10-23
Speakers Discuss
Highway 8
And Yenowtai| Dam
CONTINUED from Page y

Fagg concluded by saying,
I'VE must do more than lust
talk about the construction of
this road, we must constantly
keep the problem before the
proper people land we must get
behind it and work SO that it
may soon become and actual
ity".
Myers, who is acting district
engineer for the Bureau of
Reclamation, told his listeners
that the Bureau is almost fin
ished with the preliminary
work on the YelloWtail dam
and that in a few more months
will have gathered all the data
needed for the final design of
the dam and the pumping
plant.
Information obtained to date
indicates that a suitable site
for one of the highest dams in
the world has been found. De-
signs for the structure are al
ready on the drawing boards of
engineers in the Denver office
of the Bureau and will be com
pleted by August.
Yellowtail dam, Myers stated,
Is high on the priority list of
dams to be built and will be
one of the first constructed.
Reconstruction work has
moved faster than originally
planned.
Myers called Robert Herd
man, construction engineer for
the Hardin project, one of the
best in the business. Herdman
will move his headquarters to
Hardin in about a month. His
assistant, Mr.. Sanford, was one
OF the top engineers on Bould .
er and Shasta dams. Both men
are familiar with all phases of
work on these big structures.
The Bureau will go before
the Grow tribe in about q
month with plans for acquisi-
ton of the right of way for
the dam and reservoir the gov
eminent camp and access road,
Myers said. AS soon as an
agreement can be reached, act
ual construction will begin.
The Big Horn river is now
the worst silt offender in the
Missouri basin, Myers pointed
out. The desilting feature OF
the Yellowtail dam and reser-
voir provides space for the de-
post of a great portion of that
silt, saving thousands of dol
lars each year in canal MAIN
tenance and making the Big
Horn a much clearer stream.
The National Park service is
vitality interested in Yellowtail
because it will be an import
ant tourist area and will Gre
ate a recreation SPOT for local
people. The retention of the
waters of the Big Horn as now
planned will create a lake with
an area of nearly 10000 acres
with 1872 miles of shoreline ex-
tending past the town of Kane,
Wyo.
The Fish and Wildlife SER
vice has also indicated a def
mite and sizeable increase in
fish and wildlife population
due to the dam.
Myers stated that the dam
will make possible the irriga-
ton of between as and IS
thousand acres of fertile land
mostly on the Hardin bench
along the west side of the riv-
er: Slightly more than half of
this land is on the Crow res
ervation and the remainder is
decided land off the reserva-
ton. The irrigation of this
area, he estimated, would pro-
duce a new farm income in
excess of a million dollars an
nually which would in turn
increase both the population
and business resources of Har-
din.
The power plant and the
transmission system will hook
up with all the dams in the
Northwest, extending from the
Pacific coast to the Mississippi
river. It will fill a power need
that is now critical in wyoming