This statement, delivered February 15, 1954, by attorney Walter O. Burk before the Subcommittee on Civil Functions and Military Construction of the United States (US) House Appropriations Committee during hearings on the pool level of the Garrison Dam in North Dakota, expresses Burk\u27s opposition to an immediate pool level of 1850 feet for the Garrison Dam Reservoir.
Burk explains that he is the president of the Upper Missouri Development Association, an organization opposed to a pool level of 1,850. He describes the three principal arguments put forward by advocates of an 1,850-foot pool level, which focus on power generation, irrigation, and flood control and navigation.
He then explains that the small sacrifice in power generation posed by a 1840-foot pool level put forward by the city of Williston as a compromise, combined with low demand for additional power and plentiful coal to be used for cheap steam generation, render the power-generation argument irrelevant.
Similarly, he provides background on previous irrigation projects and proposals that demonstrate that there is little desire among farmers in western North Dakota to convert from dry-land farming to irrigated farming.
Burk mentions in closing that the compromise level of 1840 feet was rejected by the Army Engineers.https://commons.und.edu/burdick-papers/1374/thumbnail.jp
