O.P. Balgord Papers, 1944-1962

Oscar Peter Balgord was born on January 16, 1885. He homesteaded north of Lavina (Golden Valley County) Montana and married Emily Lang in 1911. Balgord eventually became a sales clerk and automobile dealer in Lavina and was elected to the Montana legislature as a representative from 1933 to 1939 and a senator from 1941 to 1966. He also served on the State Water Board and was a primary backer of the Deadman's Basin Water Project. The project consists of a diversion canal from the Musselshell River into a natural basin where an earthen dam forms a reservoir and two outlet canals provide irrigation water to users in Wheatland, Golden Valley, and Musselshell counties. The project was begun in 1934 by the federal government and completed in 1941 with the active involvement of the Montana State Water Conservation Board and other state agencies. Balgord considered his work on the project and statewide water policy to be his main legislative achievements before his death in Billings, Montana on October 30, 1974.