The Sidney herald., 1956-12-27

east of the divide people hav
been more apt to think of for
ests as a lot of trees, beautiful
to look at, but not substantial,
contributing to new wealth.
Now that concept is changing
During the last few years tim
Der resources in central Montan'
have become an important sourc'
of income. Lodgepole pine, former
ly considered chiefly a nuisanc'
and not as merchantable timber
now feeds an expanding sawmil
at Livingston, to mention only
one, and there is a steady flow
of lodgepole from the White Sui.
phur Springs area to midwes
pulp mills.
Next year a start is likely tt
be made on at least two pull
mills in western Montana. One
in the Missoula community, will
depend largely on residue from
numbering in that locality. The
other will be built in the Libby
area in Lincoln county, a project
of the st. Regis Paper company
which recently entered into an
agreement for purchase of the
controlling stock of the Neils
Lumber company, largest opera
tor in the state.
In mining there has been not
able progress too. There is a ten
dency to think only of the big
companies, which are, after all,
the mainstay of the industry. But
just about anywhere you might
look in the mineralized districts
of the state you would come
across relatively small operators
developing a variety of metals
required by today's industry.
No particularly noteworthy
uranium ore discoveries have yet
been reported in Montana, but
with the numbers of prospectors
securing the hills, it is entirely
probable that someone will find
a bonanza, as in the pioneer times
when the search, first, was for
gold and then for silver, copper,
lead and other minerals which
since have counted up to many
millions of dollars in production.
In a sense, the uranium prospec-
tor of the present is the counter
part of the prospector of long
ago = the same feverish zeal,
the same hope for fortune.
Development of hydroelectric
power is another field in which
Montana is making significant
progress. Now in the building are
another Montana Power company
generating plant on the Missouri
river below Great Falls and a
dam by the Washington Power
company at Noxon in Sanders
county. Other investor = owned
generating facilities are in pros
pect, giving assurance that the
power requirements of Montana
+ being met and anticipated in
keeping with the population and
industrial growth of the state.
Additional federal power de-
velopment projects are In pros
pect also, but a construction start
on any of these in 1856 is i'm
probable. Libby dam on the Koo-
tenai, one of the most important
in federal program, is being de-
layed until an agreement can be
reached with British Columbia
regarding the backing of water
into that province and the allo-
cation of power to be generated.
Several others are in the pro-
motional stage but have not yet
won congressional authorization.
The new year will see contin-
ued progress in irrigation devel-
opment. Particularly in the lime
light just now is the Prickly pear
valley irrigation project to be
supplied by the bureau of recla-
nation from its Canyon Ferry
storage on the Missouri east of
Helena. AS part of this project
an arrangement is being worked
out by the city of Helena and the
bureau whereby Helena's water
needs will be taken care of rath-
er far into the future. 1t remains
for the people of Helena to vote
a bond issue to bring the water
to the city.
In irrigation development, the
bureaus Tiber dam project in
the Chester area should be kept
mind. This realization of a
pioneer day dream is a tribute to
the faith that people had in the
of the land of that re-
5ion, even back in the days when
whitening drouth caused some TO
believe that this would soon be
an utterly hopeless desert.
TiDer dam is in the heart of
What once was despairingly cali
I'd the Triangle. A few years
the devastating drouth that
followed the first World War, l
had occasion to get into the area
often, and a little later to
ly over it, and if the mile after
nile of wheat fields l saw were
desert, then the valley of the
Vile was a desert. So it is today,
me of the greatest wheat pro-
areas anywhere.
Montana is growing steadily.
Ter industry and economy are
becoming more varied. Important
n this growth is oil, and oil,
long with natural gas, is particu-
arly important because it pro-
,ides an additional prop to the
economy of areas which had de-
ended solely on agriculture and
tockgrowing. !