BABB — The reopening of the St. Mary diversion recently was more than a hundred years in the making. “It's big for the Milk River Project to have water back,” said Jennifer Patrick, Project Manager for the Milk River Joint Board of Control.
As water slowly crept along a parched canal bottom between the Diversion and the now repaired siphon, Patrick admitted to a little anxiety.
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"I'm nervous. Not for me. But these guys have put their heart and soul into this for the last year," said Patrick.
Fixing the St. Mary Siphon stretches far beyond the banks of Milk River.
“That's about 700 farms. And then from Fresno (Reservoir) down, you have about 18,000 people, which, are municipalities like have or Chinook Harlem, the (Fort Belknap) Agency,” said Patrick.
While the siphon was down, irrigation was a fraction of normal.
“We didn't know how we were going to pay for this in the in the beginning," said Patrick. "This is a $70 million project and on 120,000 acres, it really doesn't pencil out with our commodity prices right now.”
With state, federal and tribal interests working together, siphon repairs came together faster than anticipated.
“At the time, we expected the whole project to last until September," said Steven Darlinton, a Project Supervisor with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. "Due to the incredible work of the crews and all of our partnerships, we are almost three months ahead of schedule.”
Money for the fix came from federal and state funds. A job that wasn’t without obstacles.
“We fought through this winter. That was probably the biggest factor, just working through the cold, 20 below zero temperatures," said Brad Beaudry, Project Superintendent for NW Construction out of Bozeman, one of the contractors on the project. “All contractors did that and accelerated that schedule. Just being able to push through the cold temps.”
But the project isn’t fully finished. Just six miles away sits the Hall’s Coulee Siphon, another 100-year-old plus structure.
“We're trying to be proactive,” said Patrick.
Part of that fix will require shutting off the water August 15th, giving Fresno Reservoir a good 45 days to fill.
“All water will be shut off just because of the construction, the safety of the crews,” said Patrick. “We need to get into that area to, to work on construction. And so, we need we need that space.”
Although it’s hard to hide the nerves, Patrick remains confident in the crew.
“Once we get shut down we want to look at the structures. We want to look at where we're at, make sure everything is running fine. I know it will,” said Patrick.
Patrick said at any given time, up to 75 people have worked on the project. She expressed appreciation to all involved, including contractors NW Construction, Sletten Construction and Pro Pipe Company. She was also appreciative of the town of Baab, the Blackfeet Tribe, and the State of Montana, which helped bridge the funding gap while federal funding was paused.
Throughout the work on the project, it’s progress has been chronicled on social media. Patrick says transparency is important because of the scale of the project.
“We don't want to hide how huge this project is, how many people are on here and what these great people are doing as crews in the middle of the winter at 70 below. You've got the little houses on top that they're in there welding, so you just don't want to hide those things from people,” said Patrick.
To learn more about the Milk River Project and see some of our previous reporting, click here.
