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* TIU: TliKAStRE S T A T K 129 • 



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The elevation of the Big Horn valley is about 2,900 feet and the climate is excel- 

 lent. The growing season is long and the soil fertile. All the grains, grasses and 

 vegetables that grow anywhere in the state make excellent yields. Common yields are, 

 oats 50 to 100 bushels; wheat, 30 to 65 bushels; alfalfa, 5 to 7 tons; 60 bushels of 

 corn to the acre have been raised, 600 bushels of potatoes, and sugar beets of excel- 

 lent quality. The beet crop is a cash crop and the grower nets from $40 to $60 

 per acre. Parts of the county seem to possess advantages for the growing of apples 

 on a commercial scale similar to those enjoyed by the Clark's Pork and Yellowstone 

 valleys where the industry is well established and very profitable. 



The chief agricultural development is in the Big Horn valley. Hardin is the 

 center of 100,000 acres of irrigated land in the Big Horn and Little Big Horn 

 valleys. The Big Horn valley extends north 35 miles to the Yellowstone valley and 

 south 50 miles to the canyon of the river. West of Hardin is a high table land of 

 150,000 acres which it is proposed to irrigate. 



In the northern part of the county and in other parts are large areas of land 

 heretofore chiefly used as grazing lands that are suitable for dry farming, and 

 this industry is being rapidly developed. 



The only railroad is the Burlington, which runs along the banks of the Little 

 Big Horn river from a point near the Wyoming line to Hardin, where it turns to the 

 northwest and after a few miles enters the Yellowstone valley which it follows to 

 its terminus at Billings. From Billings, trains on the Burlington line continue to 

 the Pacific coast on the tracks of the Northern Pacific or of the Great Northern 

 either by way of Butte or Helena and Missoula, or by way of Great Falls and Shelby. 



Hardin, the county seat, is the most important town, having a population of 

 about 1,500. It is situated sixty miles east of Billings on the west bank of the Big 

 Horn river near where the Little Big Horn joins the larger stream. Hardin has made 

 a remarkable progress in the few years since it has been in existence. It has many 

 substantial business houses and residences, some built of brick made close to the 

 town. It possesses a water system, a telephone system extending down the valley, 

 has grain elevators, banks, a newspaper, churches, schools, and hopes for the estab- 

 lishment of a beet sugar factory. There are also openings for a creamery and canning 

 factory. The trading point for an extensive, rich and rapidly developing region, 

 Hardin is a busy and substantial town which is growing steadily in population, 

 wealth and in the amount of business transacted. 



Big Horn county has a population estimated at 3,670, and property of an assessed 

 valuation of $5,494,909. 



LAND AREA— Big Horn county, which is in the Billings land district, embraces 

 an area of 5,111 square miles, including 375,000 acres of unreserved and unap- 

 propriated public land available for entry under the homestead law, and 42,538 acres 

 of state land. Of the total area of the county, 247,192 acres are privately owned. 

 The remainder of the county is included in Indian reservations. 



CROP PRODUCTION— The following gives the estimated crop production for 

 1915: Wheat, 250,000 bushels; flax, 5,000 bushels; barley, 151,000 bushels: corn, 35,000 

 bushels; oats, 375,000 bushels; potatoes, 160,000 bushels; hay, 45,000 tons; sugar 

 beets, 10,000 tons. 



In 1915, the assessor's rolls showed the following livestock: Horses, 5,910 head; 

 milch cows, 703 head; other cattle, 47,976 head; sheep, 55,558 head; swine, 2,106 

 head. 



For further information regarding Big Horn county, address A. L. Mitchell, 

 secretary Hardin commercial club. 



