1935:  A Type MC-39 Aermotor steel tower, 100 feet high, was erected by the CCC.

Valentine Migratory Waterfowl Refuge was established in 1935 by an Executive Order of President Franklin Roosevelt.  Some 70,000 acres of land in the Sand Hills of Cherry County, Nebraska were purchased by the Bureau of Biological Survey “as a breeding ground for migratory birds and other wildlife.”  The Nebraska Game Preserve and Fish Commission worked cooperatively with the Bureau of Biological Survey to bring the project to fruition. (The bureau morphed into the US Fish & Wildlife Service in 1940).

By October 1935, Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) workers had set up camp and started work under the direction of the Biological Survey. It was thought that they could keep CCC workers busy until 1940.  A system of canals and diversion works were planned to connect the lakes so that the Bureau could control the water level in each lake. (see historic plaque, below) 

In August 1936, 150 men from the Works Progress Administration (WPA) were also present in the refuge, building ninety miles of fence near Hackberry Lake.  The fence would keep cattle out of the reserve and have the added benefit of delineating the area in which hunting was prohibited. Source