THE IRRIGATION AGE 



Montana alone there are over 30.00< ).()()() 

 acres of agricultural lands composed 

 principally of fertile valleys, lying so 

 that with enough capital they may all be 

 placed under irrigation ditches and reser- 

 voirs of water, that will be to the broad 

 acres of these arid lands a source of 

 fruitful fertilization. Some people have 

 been led to believe that only the 

 Government is capable of bringing the 

 arid lands under the influence and magic 

 touch of water, but there is quite enough 

 and to spare of idle capital in America 

 today, if invested in these enterprises to 

 accomplish untold good to suffering 

 humanity suffering quite as much for 

 something to do as for something to live 

 upon. And this happy state will soon 

 be realized, for the horizon is already 

 aglow with the results of the investment 

 of timid capital in these enterprises. 



There is at the present an idea on foot 

 to gather the headwaters of the Missouri 

 river and utilize them for irrigating 

 purposes. The Government has not 

 offered to do this for us as yet, but it 

 will be accomplished in part in time 

 without their aid. At Canyon Ferry, 

 some eighteen miles from Helena, an ob- 

 jective point on the Missouri river, a 

 vast water power is being created by 

 eastern capitalistic enterprise. The 

 great river has recently been spanned by 

 a dam thirty feet high to secure electric 

 power, a small portion of which will be 

 used in the Capitol city for lights, power 

 for the electric car system and East 

 Helena smelters. But that is not all. for 

 the company will utilize the balance 

 9,000 horse-power to develop the numer- 

 ous resources contigous to the plant. 

 One of these is the furthering of the 

 rapidly growing industry of agriculture, 

 and it will be able to handle some of 

 the billions of cubic feet of water going 

 to waste annually, applying it to the 

 desert which will respond at once to its 

 revivifying influence. 



There is a certain greatness about the 

 Montana valley, and they would all be 

 fruitful with irrigation, for the whole 

 state is well supplied w T ith rivers of large 



volume and mountain streams in great 

 profusion; but however productive it 

 might be without irrigation, it is certain- 

 ly vastly more so with it. This fact has 

 been well recognized since the earliest 

 settlers in the early T>0s in the Gallatin 

 valley sowed the first wheat and oats 

 raised in the territory near the banks 

 of the Gallatin river from which they 

 turned water into their growing fields. 

 In many sections of Montana today 

 there is a thorough system of irrigation. 

 Millions of dollars have been invested 

 in canals, and more attention is paid every 

 year to that important branch of agri- 

 culture. The smaller valleys are cut 

 through and through with canals from 

 which branch smaller ditches that spread 

 out over nearly every section of the till- 

 able land near the small streams. The 

 most progressive section of the state 

 along this line is to be found in the Yel- 

 lowstone valley, near Billings. At this 

 point, in Clark's Fork Bottom some forty 

 miles in length there are 180 miles of 

 irrigating ditches carrying from 1.000 to 

 ^0. 000 inches of water. There and in 

 Gallatin valley is to be found existing 

 the most thorough system of irrigation 

 to be found in the whole state, the Bit- 

 ter Root. Teton. Madison. Missouri and 

 Smith River come next it order in this 

 enterprise. And it is in these valleys 

 that the progressive farmers are paying 

 the most attention to diversified farming. 

 They do not depend entirely on grain as 

 a crop, as was the case several years ago. 

 More garden produce is being raised 

 from year to year. Montana vegetables 

 cannot be excelled anywhere. The far- 

 mers are paying some attention to hog 

 raising, dairying, etc., instead of depend- 

 ing upon the range entirely for a certain 

 part of their annual revenue. The mines 

 may give out, smelters close down, and 

 stock of all kinds perish by the tens of 

 thousands on the range, but Montana, in 

 the future as in the past, may be depended 

 on to raise wonderful crops of cereals, 

 vegetables and fruits enough to supply 

 ten times its present population. 



