The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1950-11-16
Meet at Billings
To Boost
YelloWfaiI Dam

IChAVWIQu VQIII
"I will do everything I can to
aid in getting construction au-
thorized," Governor John W.
Bonner said at a meeting in
Billings last Friday sponsored by
the Billings Commercial club to
promote Yellowtail dam.
After the governors talk, club
members and guests heard a
technical discussion of the dam
project by Robert F. Herdman,
engineer in charge of Yellowtail
for the reclamation bureau.
Guests included delegations
from the Hardin and Miles City
Chambers of Commerce.
Representing the Big Horn
County Chamber of Commerce
were George Daniels, Kendall
Wolcott, H. w. Bunston and j.
A. Putnam.
The governor declared that
construction of Yellewtail dam,
at the mouth of the Big Horn
canyon near st. Xavier, is vital
to the nations security and the
economic welfare of Montana.
Without Bonneville and Grand
Coulee dams on the Columbia
river, he said, the United States
would have faced a serious lack
OF power for production during
World War II.
To-day we face a graver Sc
curity situation than ever. We
literally have our backs to the
wall in a struggle for survival.
YelloWtail dam will be a great
factor in national security.
II need hardly mention what
a benefit YelloWtail will be to
the economy of eastern Mon
tana. It will cost 100 million
dollars, which is a staggering
sum. But this money will not be
a gift from the federal govern
ment. Yellowtail is an invest
ment, and it will pay for itself
within so years.
1.-THE only way to get it built
is to work together as we are
doing today" Bonner said.
r. I. DiedeSel, president of the
Billings Commercial club, intro
duced the governor and Herd.
man and remided members that
"Yellowtail, or the Big Horn
dam as we used to call it, has
been a pet project of the Bill
ingS Commercial club since
1915"
Herdman described engineer
ing features and economic ben
efits of Yellowtail.
"The Commercial club" he
said, worked hard for legiSla-
ton which created the Missouri
basin project, of which Yellow
tail dam is an integral part. You
people know the value of recla-
nation, because irrigated land
is a big factor in the prosper
ity of Billings. You are all in
tereSted in new frontiers of
economic opportunity in the
Midland Empire.
"YeIlowtail," he explained. els
one of more than 100 dams
planned or under construction
in the Missouri basin. It is an
important part of the basin de-
velopment. AS a multiple-pur-
pose project, it will conserve,
control and stabilize water Of
the Big Horn river for irriga-
ton, power generation, flood
and silt control and recreation"
The proposed dam, fifth larg-
est in the United States, will be
as high as a 50-story building,
he said. Both abutementS will
rest in solid rock for their en-
tire height. Most of the 27
square miles to be flooded lie
within the inaccessible Big Horn
river gorge.
Cost of the dam will include
a pay roll of about six million
dollars a year for 5Ha years, and
100000 tons of materials. Pop
ulation of the construction camp
near the damSite is expected to
be between $500 and 5000.
The dam will provide water
for irrigation of $4,000 acres in
Hardin unit, zone of the best
and largest areas remaining to
be developed in the Missouri
BASIN" Herdman said. This is
equal to half a currently irri-
gated acreage in Yellowstone
county, he pointed out.
Cheap power provided by Vel
loWtail would be used to operate
20. downstream irrigation pump
ing units, and units on the
Tongue and Powder rivers, and
would be available for domestic
and industrial use in an area
of acute power shortage, he
said.
availability of large blocs of
low cost power can revoluntion-
ize the economy of an area, as
residents Of the Pacific north
west have learned.
"The people must express
their wishes in the matter of
building Yellowtail dam. The
president has said there can be
no new starts in project con-
struction, but Yellowtail can be
one of the first considered when
this policy is changed if the
people make themselves heard"