The empty foundations pictured in the foreground tell a tale of a project which never came to fruition - the Moorhead Dam. The foundations were poured for structures in anticipation of a dam across the Powder River, which if approved would have spanned the river between the plateau on which the foundations are pictured across to the timbered bluffs on the far bank, approximately in the center of the photo.
The map pictured above depicts the location and extent of the reservoir created by the Moorhead Dam, originally planned in the late 1940s to dam the Powder River in Southern Powder River County; much of the reservoir would be in Wyoming. The project never came to fruition. As a frame of reference, Broadus lies approximately 36 miles northeast of the proposed dam site. (Map prepared by Missouri Valley Project, River Basin Surveys, Smithsonian Institution. We modified the map layout somewhat to better fit the page)
For good or ill, the Powder River has always been regarded as different from the other tributaries of the Yellowstone. The river's very name originates from the sediment that flows in its water. "A mile wide and an inch deep," with water "too thick to drink and too thin to plow," contrasted with its cousins, the Bighorn River and the Tongue River, both of which are dammed in Montana. These dams allowed their respective rivers to run clear and cold for a portion of their length in Montana, allowing for a trout fishery, standing in stark contrast to the murky, catfish strewn waters of the Powder. In the 20th century, these tributaries were the subjects of reclamation projects. The Tongue River was dammed with an earthenware dam in 1937. The Yellowtail Dam on the Bighorn had a much longer and more difficult path to construction, with the concrete arch facility completed in 1967. The Yellowtail Dam's political struggles pale compared to the back-and-forth effort to dam the Powder River at Moorhead between 1947 and 1956. That effort was ultimately unsuccessful, and its supporters have been casting blame for the failure ever since.
Talk of damming the Powder River at Moorhead had been the subject of speculation in the area many years before it first received serious attention from the Federal Government. One local politician even used the issue for his campaign slogan, "Kelsey for senator by a dam site."
In 1947, Congress appropriated $900,000 to study and begin preliminary development of the Moorhead Project. The dam's site was located south of Moorhead, approximately three miles north of the Wyoming-Montana border. A camp for project workers, engineers, and support staff was constructed at the site, consisting of several buildings and a mess hall. In her book My Moorhead, Mary Martha Lawrence Eckhart recalled the dramatic rise in activity near her home.
But not until 1948 did Moorhead hit the headlines. A proposed landfill dam across the Powder River, reportedly the biggest dam of its kind in the country, was to be built not many miles upstream from our place. Engineers, surveyors, government experts, construction crews, and laborers descended on our rural community that, up to now, almost no one in the larger world had heard of. This was good news for my Dad as the store went into full gear to support the families living in the newly-built government homes on the mesa and for workers housed in the pre-fab quarters of the "Camp" thrown up just across the river from the Moorhead Bridge.
Numerous preliminary studies were conducted to determine the project's impact on the local area, with mixed results. The Smithsonian Institution appraised the potential archeological effects of the Moorhead Reservoir. It identified four minor sites "that do not merit excavation, but they furnish definite evidence that the reservoir area was inhabited by aboriginal peoples" and recommended a complete study before the project began. The National Park Service evaluated potential recreational uses of the reservoir, concluding that "due to its isolation, inaccessibility, and the sparse population in the vicinity, no planned recreational development other than minor sanitary facilities, access road, and small parking area appears justified at this time."
The Fish and Wildlife Service concluded the project "would be detrimental to wildlife and beneficial to fish." Even so, it stated, "the future annual fishery value of the proposed reservoir is placed at a low figure because of excessive siltation and light fish pressure anticipated. There is no method for elimination of the silt problem, but it may be possible to encourage greater utilization of the reservoir fishery."
The Federal Government's lead agency was the Bureau of Reclamation (later called the Bureau of Land Reclamation). It originally planned a multi-purpose earthenware dam sized at 300,000 acre-feet. The dam's design was to accomplish four primary objectives: flood control, irrigation, storage, and silt control. The proposed dam location near the Wyoming-Montana border meant that two-thirds of the Moorhead Reservoir would be located in the Cowboy State.
Flood and silt control was the primary driver of most efforts to get Moorhead underway. The Reclamation Department had a particular (i.e., Congressionally directed) interest in controlling flooding in the entire Missouri-Mississippi River ecosystem from Montana to Louisiana. Locally, Broadus had experienced a devastating flood in 1923 and numerous smaller ones caused by ice jams or fierce spring runoff. Broadus Mayor Ashton Jones testified before the US Senate:
The great flood of 1923 is the gage by which known damage can be extended to estimate what damage is to be anticipated in future floods. According to the Army engineers, there were 70,000 acre-feet of water being discharged at the Moorhead dam site at the time of this flood which occurred in the fall of the year, not the usual time for floods in the Powder River Valley. A flood of the same magnitude today would cause damage running into millions of dollars in the Powder River Valley.
Mayor Jones also testified to the recurring drought conditions and the devastating impact of the Powder River's propensity to leave its banks.
Many of the other ranchers showed me where the river was cutting into their hay meadows, showed wastes of river bed that were formerly hay meadows. In several cases, notably the Dean Keil ranch on the west side of Powder River, near Powderville, the river has cut into his alfalfa fields. It is only a question of time until his meadow is a sand waste.
During this period, the primary method of irrigation was flood irrigation which is still in regular use along the Powder today. Sprinkler irrigation systems now standard on the Montana plains were not then in heavy use. In fact, pressure from the Moorhead Project was a key driver prompting the creation of the Greater Yellowstone River Compact between Montana, Wyoming, and North Dakota. This compact governs the distribution of water rights along all the tributaries of the Yellowstone (including the Powder River) to this day. In 2018 the US Supreme Court decided Montana vs. Wyoming, a case about whether the Yellowstone Compact had adequately anticipated the impact of technological advances like sprinkler irrigation.
Opposition to the Moorhead Dam was substantial in both Montana and Wyoming. Some Lower Powder River ranchers were unconvinced the project was worth its cost. Others feared the government would impose irrigation districts, limiting them to 160 acres. However, the political dynamic of a dam located in Montana with its associated reservoir located (primarily) in Wyoming caused opposition to the Moorhead Project to have considerably more sway in decision-making.
Ultimately, the perceived lack of popular support doomed the Moorhead Project. The Reclamation Bureau's plans were constantly adjusted as they tried to find a political constituency that could overcome the opposition. The size of the proposed reservoir almost tripled, and projected costs skyrocketed to the alarm of the senators on the Appropriations Committee.
In my next column, I will detail the fierce political infighting that eventually resulted in the demise of the Moorhead Dam project in 1956. In 1957, the mess hall constructed for the dam workers was moved to Broadus for the Lutheran Church. The foundations of the abandoned camp still exist and can be seen from the air. Numerous attempts to resurrect the Moorhead Dam have been made. In the 1970s, a coal gasification company proposed building a smaller Moorhead Dam for industrial purposes. It was the final serious attempt at a dam on the Powder River.
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