1946-47 was one of the most severe winters experienced
in recent times. Highways and railroads were both
blocked several times for a week at a time. The
P.F.R.A. staff was working on the diversion tunnel
and surveying for the dam. They lived in Cardston
until January 1947 when they moved into surplus
buildings which had been moved from the Lethbridge
airport to the dam site.

In 1948 the St. Mary's Dam was started and finished
in 1951. The irrigation tunnel was built between 1950
and 1951 as well as the main canal and syphon across
Pinepound Coulee to the Jensen Dam. There was a
flash flood in 1951 which partially washed out the newly
constructed Pinepound Coulee Syphon. This was repaired
immediately.

While the dam was being constructed there were between
450 - 500 people employed on the site.

During construction of the diversion tunnel there were two
fatal accidents and one during construction of the
irrigation tunnel.

The St. Mary's Dam and reservoir is the major storage
reservoir for the St. Maiy's irrigation project. The main
controls for the headworks section of the project are
located at the St. Mary's Dam.

The St. Mary project stretches from the Waterton Dam
at Hillspring (which was built between 1958-1964) to
Medicine Hat and now supplies water to irrigate
approximately 500,000 acres of land.

Since the construction of the Waterton and St.,Mary's
Dam we have had three major floods, 1953, 1964
and 1975. These irrigation dams helped control
the river flow at that time.

Spring Coulee and Its Big Dam

A foundation for much of Southern Alberta's future
development is being laid about four miles northwest
of the hamlet of Spring Coulee - the dry land farming
centre which has come into the limelight with construction
of the St. Mary River dam.

It was only a short distance from the community,
located about 25 air-miles Southwest of Lethbridge
that engineers found, what they considered the best
spot for damming up the St. Mary River, and the key
structure for the vast St. Mary-Milk Rivers irrigation
project now is being built there.

The construction project has greatly increased the
rail way traffic into Spring Coulee, the job requiring
much heavy machinery and enormous quantities of
structural steel and cement a well as provisions for
the large number of men who will be employed on
the project for the next few years.

Between 30 and 40 men are to be stationed at the
permanent maintenance camp during operating
seasons and about 15 during the winter months
after the dam is completed and is in operation.

While comparatively little land in the Spring Coulee
area will be brought under irrigation, through the huge
water development program, farmers of the area have
been doing well by themselves with mixed farming or
large-scale wheat growing. In recent years many of
the farmers have turned to raising commercial mustard
seed as an alternative crop.

Elevators at Spring Coulee generally handle the production
from 12,000 acres of wheat and their average shipment
run about 235,000 bushels. In the bumper crop year of
1942 Spring Coulee shipped 250,000 bushels of wheat.

Wheat production of the area is actually greater. Elevators
at nearby Bradshaw and Raley also ship wheat from the
area. These two points also ship some of the cattle,
sheep and horses marketed by the district.

Settlement of the area began in earnest in about 1903,
about half the farmers coming from the United States
and the other from Ontario and Saskatchewan. Before
the settlers poured into the district, it was linked to
Stirling by a narrow gauge railway that ended in Spring
Coulee - but this was changed into standard track after
the C.P.R. took over the old A.R. & 1.

While Spring Coulee itself has a population of only about
70, its several business establishments cater to about
500 people living on farms in the district. some 60
children are enrolled in the 11 grades taught by three
teachers in the community.

One of the outstanding features of the area is its artesian
wells. Despite the fact some of them are more than 200
feet deep, they give forth a strong flow of water.

FLASHBACK.-
A look back at Cardston and district in the year 1948
- June 9

St. Mary's River Dam Site - St. Mary's River water began
pouring through the diversion tunnel of the St. Mary dam
here at noon today, the opening of the dyke releasing water
into the channel leading to the portal of the tunnel was
slated for 11 o'clock but it was delayed by a broken cable.

Marks milestone - Workmen soon had this repaired and
the huge dragline was started eating into the dyke as
scores seated or standing on the side of the St. Mary
valley watched the operation that spelled another
milestone in the $20,000,000 St. Mary-Milk River water
development.

Everything proceeded smoothly once the dragline really
went into action. W.L. Foss, PFRA construction engineer
for the big water storage job, was in general charge of
operations and was a mighty happy man when water from
the river started to flow through the dyke and into the
portal of the concrete-lined tunnel - a structure 20 feet in
diameter and 2,119 feet long from portal to portal.

Dramatic Moment - While it was pretty much routine for
the engineers and workmen on the job it was a dramatic
moment for others on the scene as the murky river water -
the whole stream eventually will be diverted through the
tunnel to allow for construction of the huge storage dam -
began to trickle through the slowly deepening aperture in
the dyke. The trickle grew into a stream and the stream
into a mounting tide as the opening was enlarged.

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