What the National Forests Mean to Montana 



11 



in the search for new grazing areas. Meanwhile intensive study is 

 being given to ways of increasing the forage yield and the effective- 

 ness of its utilization. 



WATER POWER 



Lewis and Clark, journeying up the Missouri River in 1805, en- 

 countered the cataract which has since been known as C^q Great 

 Falls of the Missouri. These falls, which were to the explorers a 

 barrier against progress, are now harnessed and drive the turbines 

 of a great power plant. Going upstream, in the space of a few miles 

 one finds Rainbow and Black Eagle Falls developed in the same 

 manner; and where the explorers saw only semiarid bench lands 

 the prosperous city of Great Falls stands, with its immense elec- 



Fig. 8. — An undeveloped power site at the falls of the Kootenai River 



trically operated smelter and zinc plant. These instances of the 

 development of water power resources, great as they seem, only indi- 

 cate the possibilities the future may hold. The State has about 

 1,000,000 primary horsepower in power sites, which have been or can 

 be developed at a reasonable expense. (Fig. 8.) Montana now has 

 an interconnected power system supplying one of the largest terri- 

 tories of any single system in the world. 



The greatest power development is on the Missouri River. From 

 the large Hebgen Reservoir near the head of the Madison River, 

 an important tributary of the Missouri, to the Sheep Creek Rapids 

 below Great Falls, there are a succession of 14 power sites, 8 of 

 which are developed. If all 14 were developed to full capacity, 

 engineers estimate that 313,000 horsepower could be produced. The 



