Historical Marker · No. 349
W. Glenn Sloan, Engineer Man of Vision
Beadle County · South Dakota
Erected by Millard G. Scott and State Highway Commission, 1962
The bronze praises a vision of Missouri River water on the James River valley, and Congress approved that idea in 1944 as the Oahe Unit of the Pick-Sloan Plan. Early plans called for 750,000 irrigated acres in northeastern South Dakota, offered in part as recompense for the half million acres the state's four mainstem dams flooded; later designs shrank it to 190,000 acres along the James. Opponents organized as the United Family Farmers, nearly 2,000 strong by 1976, took the conservancy sub-district board that November, and Congress stopped funding the unit in 1977. The water never came.
What the plaque says
W. Glenn Sloan Engineer Man of Vision While with the Bureau of Reclamation, Glenn Sloan saw the possibility of using mountain water from the Missouri River to develop irrigation in the James River Valley. His vision and determination made possible the broadened multi-purpose development of the Missouri River Basin by the Bureau of Reclamation and the Corps of Engineers, in what is known as the Pick-Sloan Plan of Basin Development, to provide water for irrigation and power as well as flood control, navigation, recreation, and municipal use. This Parkway is given his name as a token of our appreciation for his contribution to this community and State. Erected 1962 by Millard G. Scott and State Highway Commission
Where it stands
44.37001, -98.19898 · Directions