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Growing Sugar Beets in the irrigated Districts. 



In addition to tlie work of tlie United States reclamation service, the develop- 

 ment of irrigation enterprises under the Carey Land Act has been undertaken in Mon- 

 tana, with the result that there are now three very successful Carey projects in 

 Montana already or practically completed and receiving settlers, while two other 

 projects, it is expected, will be completed within the year. 



The largest of the Carey projects in this state and one of the largest irrigation 

 enterprises ever undertaken in the west is the Valier project, surrounding the town 

 of Valier in the northern part of Teton county. This project is now the home of 

 one of the most prosperous and successful farming communities in the entire north- 

 west. For the benefit of settlers on the project, the company constructed a rail- 

 road, which connects at Conrad with the Great Northern, and which furnishes ade- 

 quate facilities for marketing the livestock and produce raised on the project. The 

 Valier project embraces almost 195,000 acres, of which over 100,000 acres will actually 

 be irrigated. Within this project there are now available for entry under the Carey 

 act and susceptible of irrigation some 38,000 acres of land. Under the Carey Act, the 

 entryman pays the state $1.50 per acre for the land, and also pays the irrigation com- 

 pany $40.00 per acre for perpetual water right. The annual maintenance on this pro- 

 ject is 50c per acre. Land in the Valier project may be entered on easy terms, $5.00 

 per acre being required at the time of purchase and the balance being payable in 

 fourteen annual installments, with interest at six per cent per annum. 



Rapid development has marked this project and a fine spirit of co-operation 

 exists between tlie settlers and the irrigation company. During the year 1914 the 

 acreage farmed on this project increased by 6,050 acres, while the number of hogs on 

 the project increased from 1,884 to 5,135. The Valier-Montana Land & Water Com- 

 pany, which developed this project, does everything possible to insure the success of 

 the settlers on the project. The company's engineer runs the farmer's ditches, often 



