The Crow Tribe of Montana broke ground on the first phase of a major water project on the reservation.

The money for the project is coming from the tribe's $461 million water rights settlement. It was included in H.R.4782, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama, who has been adopted by a Crow family.

“This is the first of hundreds of millions of dollars to go to work for the Crow Nation,” Chairman Cedric Black Eagle, whose family adopted Obama, said at the groundbreaking, The Billings Gazette reported.

The tribe will be upgrading all 320 miles of the irrigation system on the reservation.

Get the Story:
'TURNING POINT IN CROW HISTORY' (The Billings Gazette 9/25)
Crow Tribe Celebrates Water Compact (KULR-TV 9/25)
Crow Agency Breaks Ground on New Water System (KFBB-TV 9/24)