70 



THE BIG DITCH OF VKLLOWSTONE COUNTY. 



Yellow.stono County, \y'n\g l)etween the Musselshell River on the 

 north and the Yellowstone River on the south, contains about 2,370,000 

 acres, a large part of which is arable. The Yellowstone River is the 

 chief source of water, but owing to the difference in elevation ])etween 

 the large part of the arable land and the stream, which has a somewhat 

 low grade for at least 100 miles above, only a portion of the arable 

 land can he reached. At the present time the reclaimed land is found 

 in the valleys bordering the river and separated from the higher bench 

 lands by high walls of stratified sand rock. 



The Big ditch is the largest one in the county and one of the lai'gest 

 in the State. Its capacity in liK)3, as compared with the principal 

 canals in this county, may be seen from the results of discharge 

 measurements made in 1903, and given below: 



Discharge of Yellowstone County ditches. 



Cubic feet 

 per second. 



Big ditch 383 



Canyon Greek ditch 60 



ItaHan ditch 56 



Yellowstone ditch 36 



Merril ditch 'JL 



Mill ditch 29 



Flaherty Flat ditch 22 



It was completed over twenty years ago at a cost of $110,000, but 

 the area irrigated was quite small for the first few 3^ears. It was 

 maintained and operated l)y an investment company until Ma\', 1900, 

 when it was purchased by the farmers who owned land under it, and 

 became a cooperative canal. It is managed by a board of trustees 

 annually elected by the stockholders from among their number. The 

 price paid was 164,000, which was divided into shares of the par value 

 of $10 each. In 1902 there were 132 stockholders wdiose shares varied 

 in number from 1 to 385 and averaged IT shares each. In Jul.y, 1901, 

 the number of stockholdei's had increased to 158, and the maximum 

 number of shares held by one man decreased to 377. 



Prior to 1900 little was known of the capacities of any of the Yel- 

 lowstone Count}^ ditches, or of the duty of water under them. The 

 flow was supposed to be divided among the water-right owners in 

 miner's inches, but the prevalent idea regarding a miner's inch was 

 one of about double the discharge of the statutory inch. In the spring 

 of that 3'ear three measuring stations were estal)lishcd on the Big ditch 

 and a daily record kept of the flow at each from May 25 to September 

 27. The first of these stations was at Tilden's ranch, about 5 miles 

 below the head gates on Yellowstone River, the second at Park City, 

 and the third at the Hesper farm, located IJ and 27 miles, respectivel}^, 



