: THKTKEASURESTATE 181: 



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monly done before the rainy season, April, May and June, in wliicli months half 

 of the annual rainfall of over 15 inches falls. The long days of sunshine are 

 ideal for the growing and maturing and harvesting of crops. 



The rural industries are stock raising and farming. Yellowstone county has 

 long been noted for the number and excellence of its livestock, and great quantities 

 of wool and numerous cars of cattle and sheep are annually shipped. In addition 

 to raising livestock, another phase of the livestock industry has assumed large 

 importance, viz., the feeding and fattening of cattle and sheep for the market. 

 Hog raising is also being very profitably pursued. The conditions are ideal for 

 dairying. 



Farming is of irrigated and non-irrigated lands. The Yellowstone valley is 

 extensive and about 268,000 acres are under irrigation in the county. Irrigated 

 lands may be purchased at from $35 to $50 an acre on the newer projects, and 

 $75 to $150 under the older ditches. 



Average yields of land in the irrigated districts are uniformly high. Alfalfa 

 and sugar beets are the great crops in the valley, the yield of the former being 

 3 to 6 tons an acre and on the latter from 10 to 20 tons. Oots yield from 50 

 to 90 bushels per acre, wheat from 40 to 60 bushels, and corn from 30 to 50 bushels. 

 Barley of the first malting variety is grown. Potatoes yield from 200 to 400 bushels 

 to the acre, and the largest known yield from one acre, 1,213 bushels, was made 

 near Laurel in this county. Vegetables of various kinds do well and are grown 

 successfully for shipment to distant points. Berries are very profitable; apples do 

 splendidly and many orchards have been set out. Fruit growing is an increasing 

 industry and the products of the orchards sell for a large sum annually. 



The Yellowstone valley is the chief sugar beet growing district of the state. 

 Sugar beets yield enormously and have a high percent of saccharine sVrength. 

 At Billings is the only beet sugar factory in the state. 



Away from the valleys and the irrigated districts farming ia carried on 

 without irrigation and is called upland farming or dry land farming. 



The northwestern part of the county is the Lake Basin country, a very 

 extensive region in which many new settlers are growing successful crops by dry 

 farming methods. The Broadview district is another important dry framing section 

 which has made displays at the State Fair which have attracted much attention. 



The Northern Pacific railroad's main line follows the Yellowstone river 

 across the county and branch lines extend from Billings via Laurel to Red Lodge 

 and Bridger, Carbon county. The Billings and Northern division of the Great 

 Northern runs north to Great Falls. Communication with Omaha, Denver, points 

 on the Crow reservation, and northern Wyoming is offered by the Burlington 

 system. 



The chief towns are Billings and Laurel. Others are Huntley, Ballatine and 

 Hardin in the Huntley project; Broadway and Comanche on the Billings and 

 Northern division of the Great Northern railroad in a part of the county which 

 has been transformed in the past few years from a stock range to a farming 

 region. 



Laurel is an example of how towns grow in Montana. A few years ago the 

 population was about 200 and today it is about 1,500. It is surrounded by a 

 fertile and extensive district of irrigated lands and its trade extends back to 

 the bench lands that are being converted into farms. It is located opposite the 

 mouth of Clark's Fork river whose valley is one of the most productive in Mon- 

 tana. Laurel is a very important railroad point and is on the Northern Pacific, 

 the Burlington and the Great Northern railroads. New railroad -shops and round- 



