Riv. Bas. Sur. Sa 
Pap. No. 31]: TIBER RESERVOIR BASIN——MILLER YA 
tional kilowatts of electricity by two power-generating plants, and 
the furnishing of recreation facilities for central Montana. 
Connecting the Tiber Reservoir with the sections to be irrigated 
will be a lined canal known as the Marias Canal. This main canal 
will be 77 miles long with an initial capacity of 2,200 cubic feet per 
second at its head, which is equivalent to about 990,000 gallons per 
minute, or 1,425,600,000 gallons every 24 hours. Other side canals 
will have a combined total length of about 140 miles. Drainage and 
waste waters from a portion of the project will be re-collected in 
Lonesome Lake Reservoir, which will in turn provide additional 
water for a part of the project lands. 
The terrain surrounding the dam and basin is made up of a flat 
plateau cut through by a number of small gullies. This plateau, 
composed of unconsolidated glacial sediments, is of varying heights 
and in places drops abruptly into the flood plains and river terraces of 
the Marias River. Wherever the Marias River meandered close to 
the plateau, it undermined these sediments, developing steeply cut 
banks. 
Sporadic groves of cottonwoods and willows occur along the river 
flood plain, and only in a few favorable areas is agriculture practiced. 
The usual prairie grasses and other vegetation cover most of the area 
and are utilized for cattle grazing. 
This area is abundantly stocked with native game animals. Deer, 
antelope, and occasional elk are among the larger of the animals. 
Pheasants, partridges, owls, hawks of many varieties, song birds, 
herons, rabbits, prairie dogs, field mice, coyotes, and rattlesnakes are 
year-round occupants. One morning a flock of Canadian geese was 
seen feeding on a sandbank not far from site 24TL26. From the 
skeletal bones present in the sites it appears that bison must have been 
rather numerous in the area at one time. 
ARCHEOLOGY 
A former field party, consisting of Wesley L. Bliss and Jack T. 
Hughes, spent 10 days in September 1946 looking over the reservoir 
area. During this time they were able to map 18 archeological sites. 
Full reservoir coverage was not completed then, so an additional 
survey covering a period of 14 days, from August 26 through Sep- 
tember 8, 1948, was made by another field party of four, consisting 
of Wesley L. Bliss, Jack T. Hughes, J. M. Shippee, and H. G. Pierce, 
during which they located 35 additional sites, bringing the total up 
to 53. Of these sites, 31 were located in Toole County and 22 in 
Liberty County. Not all were confined to the reservoir area; a num- 
ber lay well outside of the sphere of the reservoir and so would not be 
affected by the construction of the dam or suffer destruction from the 
