The Harlem News

Wheeler Appeals for Funds Proposed Big Horn Dam

Hardin, Dec. 27-(U.P.)--Impetus was given to the proposed construction of the $16,000,000 Big Horn dam near here by Senator B. K. Wheeler, Democrat, Montana.

Appearing before President Roosevelt in Washington, Senator Wheeler appealed to the president to approve an allocation from the Public Works fund for the project, which he said would aid flood control in the Missouri river.

Accompanying Wheeler was Senator Norris of Nebraska, who advanced his proposal for creation of a Missouri Valley authority along the lines of the Tennessee Valley authority.

Several organizations, including the Missouri River Navigation Association which has the support of a number of senators, have endorsed the Big Horn project.

Silt control is said to be the primary object of the dam's proposed construction. The Big Horn river carries about 400,000 tons of earth into the Missouri each year, engineers tests have shown. This total comprises nearly one-third of the silt the Missouri dumps into the Mississippi and its removal would assist control projects tremendously in the lower Missouri and Mississippi valleys, according to proponents of the dam.

Both irrigation and power features are included in Sen. Wheeler's proposal for a $16,000,000 grant. The dam alone would cost about $7,500,000, it is estimated. That sum has been requested from the PWA.

Dry land farms would be placed under irrigation if the dam were constructed. About 60,000 acres of such land is included in the first unit of the Big Horn reclamation project and its potential irrigation capacity is placed at about 300,000 acres.