23 



Dakota vetch {Lotus amtricanus), wild rye {Elymns canadensis), and 

 Carex fiUfoJia. The hist is of special value early iu the season. 



Dakota vetch {Lotas amcricanus) is very abundant along the river 

 bottoms. There are often large patches of it which are almost pure. 

 If this proves valuable under cultivation it will be easily propagated, 

 for it produces an abundance of seed. It has, however, the disadvan- 

 tage of ripening its seed unevenly. Usually the older pods have burst 

 open before the later ones have ripened. 



BUTTE POST-OFFICE TO DEVILS TOWER. 



The change that takes place as one proceeds along the Owl Butte 

 road from Dead Horse Creek toward the foothills of the Black Hills is 

 something wonderful. One passes from a region where the ranches are 

 5 to 40 miles apart, where there is practically no cultivation, and where 

 there is nothing to break the monotony of the scene but bunches of 

 cattle feeding in the "draws" and an occasional patch of scrubby box 

 elder and ash on the creek bottoms, to a thickly settled region, where 

 thei c are good buildings, excellent crops of grain and hay, and where 

 everything iu the shape of vegetation makes a thrifty growth. The 

 greater part of the land along the Belle Fourche from Butte to the 

 Tower is fenced, either for growing cultivated crops or for winter feed. 

 For about half the distance from Butte to Belle Fourche the route was 

 through a narrow lane left for a road and in which there was no feed 

 whatever — everything being pastured closely. The farmers fence their 

 crops, pastures, and hay land, and turn their cattle out into the roads 

 which lead into the Black Hills on one side and into the open range on 

 the other. The party, at times, experienced some trouble in finding 

 feed for their horses. 



Nearly everything depends on irrigation here, the water being car- 

 ried from tributaries of the Belle Fourche by a system of ditches 

 and sluices onto the land. Nowhere is water taken from the Belle 

 Fourche itself, the reason being that the river has not sufficient fall to 

 enable farmers to get the water onto the land without too great an 

 expense. It was learned also that the volume of water in the river 

 fluctuates greatly, a rise of many feet occurring in a few hours at times 

 when heavy rains fall in portions of its drainage basin. Damming has 

 been tried in several localities without success. As the tributaries from 

 the hills are quite numerous, the farmers are usually able, by judicious 

 management, to get a sufficient volume of water for their crops from 

 them. Usually the water is exhausted before the middle of July, but 

 by an intelligent use of their supply during May and June they are 

 able to raise fine crops. In many instances the farmers get along by 

 building a dam across a gully and holding the water derived from 

 melting snows and spring rains until it is needed later iu the season. 

 In the immediate vicinity of Belle Fourche opportunity was afforded 

 to study the effect of an abundant supply of water the entire season. 

 It is here obtained from one of the tributaries of the Bed Water. 



