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<br /> <br />. .. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />. <br /> <br />BUREAU OF RECLAMATION PLANS FOR ST. FRANCIS UNIT IRRIGATION <br /> <br />rEVELOP~~NT FROM BONNY DAM AND RESERVOIR <br /> <br />Bonny Dam and Reservoir, the principal fe~ture of the st. Francis <br />Unit, was included in the Bureau's report of development for conservation, <br /> <br />control, and use of the water resources of the Missouri River Basin. <br /> <br />Subsequent legislative actiolls approved funds for early construction <br /> <br />of this dam, which was completed May 4, 1951, and now provides flood <br /> <br />protection for the valley, recreation, fish and wildlife development, <br />and at the present time has 25,000 acre-feet of storage waters available <br /> <br />for irrigation use. <br /> <br />The need for irrigation in this semiarid and windswept region was <br />established soon after the area was settled j.n the 1880' s. Recurrent <br /> <br />drouth and consequent crop loss soon turned pioneer settlers of the <br /> <br />valley to the consideration of irrigation. The problem of obtaining an <br />adequate water supply from an erratic stream that produced little or no <br /> <br />flow in the dry months to frequent raging torrents, restricted private <br />development from stream flow. '!he need 'r'or flood control was definitely <br />established in 1935, at which time a cloudburst produced a peak discharge <br /> <br />at Bonny Dam site of 103,000 second-feet, created material property damage, <br />and claimed 40 lives in this area. Damages from this flood exceeded <br /> <br />~9,OOO,OOO in the Republican Basin and took a total of 112 lives. <br /> <br />Congress heeded the critical needs for development in this area and <br /> <br />in 1936 authorhed surveys of the Republican River Basin by the Department <br />of Agriculture, Corps of Engineers, and Bureau of Reclamation. Compre- <br /> <br />hensive plans for the control and development of the Missouri River Basin <br /> <br />2502 <br />