All of us in North Dakota owe a big thank you to Joe O’Mahoney and Eugene Millikin. Never heard of them? Well, that’s not unusual. But if your water supply is from the Missouri River, or if you are an irrigator from that river, or use and enjoy its recreational benefits, or power benefits, or flood control benefits from its dams, then you should be aware of what these two gentlemen did to help all of us in North Dakota achieve those benefits.

Joe O’Mahoney and Eugene Milliken were both U.S. senators during the 1940s when the federal government began finalizing legislation and plans to build the great dams along the Missouri River. Those large dams, and a collection of minor dams on minor tributaries, are placed from Montana through the Dakotas, Nebraska, Kansas and culminating in the state of Missouri. They include the Garrison Dam in North Dakota and the Oahe Dam of South Dakota, which backs water up all the way to south Bismarck.

Plans to harness the Missouri River begin in earnest in the early 1940s. The plan was eventually dubbed the Pick Sloan Act; named after the primary architects of the Plan: Gen. Lewis Pick of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and District Engineer Glenn Sloan of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. Immediately from the start there were conflicts between the two federal agencies doing the planning, and also between the interests of the upstream states (the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and Colorado) and the interests of the downstream states (Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa, Missouri). The Corps, and downstream states, favored a management plan that would emphasize flood control, fish and wildlife protection, and navigation interests. The Bureau of Reclamation, along with the upstream states, placed emphasis on water supply, irrigation development, recreational opportunities, and power generation. Of course, all the interests and benefits were recognized by both federal entities and all the states as beneficial; but some were deemed a higher priority than others.

Enter Senators O’Mahoney and Millikin. Millikin was a senator from Colorado and O’Mahoney a senator from Wyoming. One a Republican, one a Democrat. Both of their respective states, Colorado and Wyoming, are contributors of water to the Missouri River system and therefore had a stake in how that river system was to be managed. However, admittedly their interests would have been of a lower level than the other states as mentioned; it was in these other states that most of the river reconstruction and most of the program benefits would be realized. But both such senators had an immediate and strong appreciation for the needs of the upstream states. It was the upstream states that would be asked to contribute essentially all the land needed to construct the major dams —- ultimately a contribution of over 1.7 million acres shared almost equally and exclusively by Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota. It was also these upstream states that would house the facilities that would provide the power generation facilities of the program; most of which power would eventually be shipped out for use by other states. And it was the downstream states that would realize most of the benefits of flood control, water supply, power supply and navigation.

Senators O’Mahoney and Millikin saw the disputes being formed between a program that favored the downstream states with flood control and water supply vs. a program that provided larger ensured benefits for the upstream states, particularly for irrigation development. As such the O’Mahoney Millikin Amendment to the 1944 Flood Control Act was presented and adopted, which says that “Navigation shall not conflict with the beneficial consumptive use of water for domestic, municipal, stock water, irrigation, mining or industrial purposes …” A win for North Dakota and for all the upstream states.

From the passage of the Flood Control Act in 1944, and even with the inclusion of the O’Mahoney Millikin Amendment, we have seen the downstream interests in the management of the Missouri River system continue to press for more favorable management and use of the system for their downstream navigation interests. That push for navigation water downstream leaves the upper states in a position of possible low water levels in our reservoirs and in the river at times when we may and do need such water.

That action by the downstream states would certainly be more aggressive and more effective had not the O’Mahoney Millikin Amendment not been included in that Act. Thank You, Senators Joe O’Mahoney and Eugene Millikin, for the efforts you took over 80 years ago that continue yet to this day to benefit our state of North Dakota.