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Show Federal Plan to Tame Missouri River After War Will Benefit 11 Million People Living in Its Basin Dams Curb Erosion, Provide Irrigation, Electric Service By WALTER SIIEAD ffNU Washington Correspondent Harnessing the nation's second sec-ond mightiest river, the turbulent, tur-bulent, muddy Missouri, which annually roars its flood crests along its twisting course for 2,460 miles through seven states, will become one of the major postwar projects. More than 11 million people live in this great basin of a half billion acres, comprising compris-ing one-sixth of the area of the United States. For more than 30 years feeble attempts at-tempts have been made to shackle the destructive power of the Mis- ONE OF MANX dams and reservoirs already constructed In the Missouri Valley basin is the Gibson dam on the Sun river in Montana. The top of the great wall is about 200 feet above the river bed. Eighty-nine Eighty-nine more such projects are planned. souri. Millions of dollars have been expended in levees and dams in attempts at-tempts to prevent the costly floods which annually destroy vast sums in crops and property. Damage of the 1943 floods alone was placed at $35,000,000. Army engineers and the bureau of reclamation of the interior department depart-ment have been for some time at cross-purposes in trie development of a comprehensive plan. The army approached the job from the standpoint stand-point of navigation and flood control. con-trol. The reclamation engineers were Interested also in irrigation, erosion control and power projects. On November 27, 1944, a reconciliation recon-ciliation report was filed in which the two agencies were in complete accord and the congress in its flood control bill accepted the entire program pro-gram and also authorized $200,000,-000 $200,000,-000 each to the army and the possible benefit and the ultimate goal should be the greatest procurable procura-ble economic returns and human benefits for the entire region." Arguments on Rule. Even agricultural interests are divided di-vided on the pros and cons of regional re-gional authorities as opposed to operation op-eration by established federal agencies. agen-cies. For instance, in agricultural sections where there is plentiful rainfall along the lower Missouri and water resources are adequate, opposition is voiced as "subsidized competition" by the extension of irrigation. ir-rigation. Public opinion is joined in industrial areas with the railroads in opposing the development of new competing waterways. One basic objection to operation by the reclamation bureau has come from large land owners and ranchers of the west and northwest. north-west. Under the law governing the bureau of reclamation, this agency cannot propose irrigation for more than 160 acres of land for any one person. Another objection is that all reclamation projects must be self-liquidating over a period of approximately ap-proximately 40 years. In contrast, the statutes governing TVA give 60 years or more for liquidation and a regional authority likely would not be hamstrung by the limitation of acreage proviso. In a recent pronouncement however, how-ever, Harry W. Bashore, commissioner commis-sioner of the reclamation bureau said: "We continue to stand on the basic policy that the bureau will support the principle of relatively small family farms as one of the foundations of American agriculture and rural social life. On new land which is brought under irrigation for the first time, we shall insist that the undeveloped property be parcelled in lots of not more than 160 acres." Forms Shrink in Size. -tfi&i Ik ' (A . . new land and furnishing supplemental supple-mental water to 547,000 additional acres to Increase crop values approximately ap-proximately $130,000,000 annually on 53,000 farms of about 90 acres each. 4 To Increase the population of the Basin by about 636,000 from irrigation irri-gation development alone. 5 To increase the assessed valuation valu-ation of properties approximately approximate-ly $600,000,000. 6 To furnish adeqnate and sare water supply and sewage facilities for 19 cities and towns along the river. , 7 To construct 17 hydroelectric plants which will provide 3,800.000,-000 3,800.000,-000 kilowatt hours of electricity to be sold at an annual value of $17,-141,000. $17,-141,000. & To create additional recreational recre-ational facilities through formation of new lakes and parks and the protection pro-tection of fish and wild life. 9 To introduce proper land use, soil erosion conservation, contour treatment and reforestation. States in the Missouri Basin watershed water-shed include approximately two-thirds 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 a line bisecting the state from the northwest to the southeast corner; cor-ner; approximately the northeast quarter of Colorado; the north half of Kansas; a tip of the southwest corner of Minnesota; a strip along the west boundary of Iowa and the northern part of Missouri from a line reaching from the Ozarks in the southwest in a northeasterly direction to St. Louis. Needs of the people in these widely wide-ly scattered areas of long distances are divergent. Those living along the lower river want flood protection at one season, and supplemental water wa-ter for navigation at others. In the western and northwestern section the people want protection from local lo-cal floods, water for irrigation, water wa-ter for sSnitary 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 destructive destruc-tive power. Will Pay for itself. Construction cost of the plan is estimated at approximately $1,325,-000,000 $1,325,-000,000 which is to be self-liquidating from the sale of water and power over a period to be determined. deter-mined. Only $400,000,000 of this cost has been authorized. The entire nation has a stake in maintaining the agricultural productivity prod-uctivity of the plains states, for even in the drought period of 1930-1939 these seven states Montana, the Dakotas, Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas Kan-sas and Nebraska, produced 41.5 per cent of the nation's wheat; 43.4 per cent of the rye; 43.8 per cent of our barley; 15.3 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 permitted per-mitted wheat yields to reach 2C bushels to the acre only 5 times 1879, 1882. 1883, 1895 and not again until 1942. In many of those intervening inter-vening years the yield has been below 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 agricultural 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. i TOO MUCH WATER The ram- j paging Missouri river is eroding j millions of tons of good soil away every year. Here the flood waters carved Into the bank, washing out road, and leaving a pillar of earth to indicate the earlier line. . bureau of reclamation to get the program underway. President Roosevelt signed the bill j on December 23, but put a hiatus , In the proceedings by recommend- I ing the creation of a Missouri Val ley authority to handle the project and asserting that his approval of the bill was with the distinct understanding under-standing that it would in no way jeopardize the creation of such an agency. He appealed for early consideration con-sideration of the new authority by the 79th congress. The President .further asserted: "I consider the projects authorized by the bill to be primarily for postwar post-war construction." Only Blue-Print Now. Hence, the project is now merely In the blue-print stage and it is possible pos-sible that a fight may develop in the new congress over whether there shall be divided responsibility as to the army and the reclamation bureau, or whether a new Missouri valley authority shall be created. Proponents of single regional control con-trol point to the Tennessee Valley authority and its successful operation opera-tion as a yardstick for future federal fed-eral policy in developing and controlling con-trolling all the nation's waterways. However, there are. powerful interests inter-ests which oppose the creation of these regional authorities, such as the power utility interests, the railroads, rail-roads, the national rivers and harbors har-bors congress, the Mississippi Valley Val-ley association, and even divided public opinion along the waterway. The rule of thumb, for instance, of the TVA is that regional authority will produce the largest possible benefits at the least possible costs, and "each task must be carried out in such a way as to contribute to the total result to salvage every During the past 20 years the average aver-age size farm or ranch in the states of the Missouri basin have increased, in-creased, rather than diminished in size, due largely to the decrease in population. For instance, in 1920, the average size farm in Montana was 480 acres, in Wyoming was 749 acres and in Nebraska it was 339 acres. By 1940 the farms had increased to 821 acres, 1,866 acres and 391 acres, respectively. Dust bowls, droughts, floods have driven farmers and ranchers from the plains states during the past decade. Net loss of population in the period from 1930 to 1940 in the seven plains states was 302,314. In the Missouri-Souris area of North Dakota, a strictly rural farm area, 28.7 per cent of the population moved out, equal to 1,000 families of five each. The financial loss entailed en-tailed by this shift of population in at least four of these states is reflected in abandoned farms, abandoned aban-doned towns and unused properties. proper-ties. It is further reflected in increase in-crease of size and congestion in the three larger cities of the basin, Denver, Den-ver, Omaha and Kansas City. These Benefits Expected. The agreed plan of the reclamation reclama-tion bureau and the army engineers is intended to do these things: 1 Provide navigation and flood control on the river from its mouth to Sioux City, a distance of about 760 miles, by construction of levees and revetments to provide a channel chan-nel 6 feet deep and 300 feet wide. 2 Construct 89 reservoirs and dams with a combined capacity of 45,700,000 acre feet of water. (An acre-foot is water a foot deep ever one acre.) This Is more than the annual average Mow of the river at its mouth. These reservoirs are to be constructed to withhold water along the main tributaries including the Yellowstone, the Big Horn, the Belle Fourche, the Cheyenne, the North Platte, the Republican, the Smoky Hill and along the main stream. 3 Irrigation of 4,760,490 acres of p . ' ' "7 " ' -' " - SS " - ' . 'A"t ?, : A i GOOD L4.ND now la.m, waste ru.v. ; - " ' ' x s: ' ' - "h? an overgrown with sagebrosh can fy .':..z..:':' :., ".''i " 'f& .. ' be brought into productivity by ade- N 1 V-VC V-v . .-..-v qoate Irrigation. This picture shows ! ; v t- , 4J tract a few thousand feet away H 'vmmU.'j, lfJSi. 'tZ 3 tram productive Irrigated land. GOOD LAM) now laving waste i and overgrown with sagebrosh can be brought into productivity by adequate ade-quate Irrigation. This picture shows a tract a few thousand feet away from productive Irrigated land. |
