Montana State University Library, Merrill G. Burlingame
Special Collections
P.O. Box 173320
Bozeman, MT 59717-3320
United States
Phone (406) 994-4242
Fax (406) 994-2851
http://www.lib.montana.edu/archives/
University Archivist
spcoll@www.lib.montana.edu
Collection 1131, MtBC, us
Balgord, O. P. (Oscar Peter),
1885-1974
O.P. Balgord Papers
1944-1962
.2 linear feet
The Balgord Papers consist of letters, speeches, press
releases, clippings, and legislative memoranda mostly dealing with Montana water policy and
Balgord's involvement with related legislation. Particularly prominent are documents
discussing the Deadman's Basin Project, the Montana legislature's hearing on water
conservation, and three telegrams from United States Senator Burton K. Wheeler.
Collection materials are in English
Biographical Note
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.
The Balgord Papers consist of letters, speeches, press releases, clippings, and legislative
memoranda mostly dealing with Montana water policy and Balgord's involvement with related
legislation. Particularly prominent are documents discussing the Deadman's Basin Project,
the Montana legislature's hearing on water conservation, and three telegrams from United
States Senator Burton K. Wheeler. The documents have been arbitrarily arranged in subject
folders created either by Balgord or Robert Dunbar, the person to whom Balgord gave the
material before its donation to Montana State University. Sometime in the 1970s MSU library
personnel calendared the contents of the folders and that listing has been preserved as
written.
This collection is open for research.
The O.P. Balgord papers were donated to Montana State University by Robert Dunbar of
Bozeman, Montana in 1976. In 1979 this collection was reported to the National Union Catalog
of Manuscript Collections and assigned control number 79-624.
This collection was processed 2013 July 3
Wheeler, Burton K. (Burton
Kendall), 1882-1975 -- Correspondence
Buck, Fred E., 1884-1980 --
Correspondence
Deadman's Basin Project,
Montana (U.S.)
Montana State Water
Conservation Board
Montana. Legislature.
Senate
Wheatland County
(Mont.)
Golden Valley County
(Mont.)
Musselshell County
(Mont.)
Conservation of natural resources -- Law and
legislation -- Montana
Water conservation -- Law and legislation --
Montana
Water-supply -- Government policy --
Montana
Civic
Activism
Environmental
Activism
Water and Water
Rights
Montana
Legislative records -- Montana
1/1
Montana Water Conservation Board
A public hearing about requests for funds
1949
O. P. Balgord press release
January 20, 1951
Joint meeting of the Senate and House Committees on
Water Conservation
1951
O.P. Balgord speech
February 12, 1953
Clipping: Water Conservation Program Praised by
Balgord in Reclamation Publication
1954
O.P. Balgord speech
January 1955
Letter from Fred E. Buck, State Engineer, to Senator
Balgord
February 4, 1953
(page two missing)
Senate Committee hearing on Irrigation and Water
Conservation
January 24, 1959
January 28, 1959
Fragments: Senate seating chart, page from another
undated Balgord speech
1/2
Ground Water policy
Supply installations, by A. G. Fiedler and G. L.
McGuinness
1948
(Ground water problems and their relation to army water supply)
Three early drafts of the Ground Water Codes discussed
by the Montana Legislature in the
1950s
Letter from S. L. Groff, Ground Water and Fuels
Branches of the Montana Bureau of Mines and Geology, to Senator Gordon
McGowan
January 11, 1961
Letter from Fred E. Buck, State Engineer, to 0. P.
Balgord
February 5, 1953
Blank form dated
1961
"Declaration of Vested Ground Water Rights"
Clipping: State Water Needs Under Study. Billings
Gazette
December 18, 1968
1/3
Deadmans Basin Project
Roundup Record Tribune
May 8, 1958
(feature story about the project)
Chart, amount per acre foot of payments on irrigation
projects
1944-1950
Three telegrams from Senator Burton K. Wheeler about
application and allotment of funds for the Deadman's Basin Project under Works
Progress Administration
Reconstruction Finance Corporation Resolution; Docket
n. Ref. 1071
1940
Funding for the Deadman's Basin Project
1/4
Water Conservation Board
Montana Legislature
1963
Senate Bill n. 176: "An Act Creating a Dept. of Resource Development," sponsored by
Gerard, Balgord, McGowan, Brenner, Shaw, Huntley, Hilling and McElwain
1/5
Montana Reclamation Association
"The Future of our State Reclamation Program", speech
by D. P. Fabrick at annual meeting
October 4, 1962
Letter from W. J. Hagen, about organization
dues
June 29, 1962
1/6
Senate Committee on Water Conservation
Minutes of the Senate Committee on Water Conservation,
and Flood Control
1951
session of the State Legislature of Montana. The minutes were in the possession of
Senator O. P. Balgord, Chairman of the Committee. This is a copy of the original made
in the MSC Registrar's Office by Martha Hawksworth.