Water Makes Wealth 



The Irrigation Systems of the Federal, State and Private 



Enterprises, Will When Completed, Supply Water 



For Nearly 3,500,000 Acres of Rich 



and Productive Montana Land 



IRRIGATED agriculture lies at the foundation of much of the 

 material prosperity of the west. Through the agency of water, 

 wisely used, deserts are converted into productive fields and 

 orchards, and flocks and herds and prosperous communities 

 come to occupy the places which were formerly the haunts of 

 wild animals. "While "dry farming" is the principal method 

 used in farming throughout Montana, yet there are many acres 

 under the irrigation ditch, which has increased the produc- 

 tivity of the land and added much to the wealth of the nation. 



The United States Census for 1910 placed the total cost of irrigation enter- 

 prises, of all kinds, in Montana at $22,970,000, which furnished water for 2,205,- 

 155 acres of land. Since that time the projects under the Federal Reclama- 

 tion Service and the State Carey Land Act Board have added a large acreage. 

 When all enterprises that are now planned are completed there will be nearly 

 3,500,000 acres in Montana under the ditch. This is an area nearly equal to that 

 of the states of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. 



Seven Kinds of Enterprises. 



There are seven kinds of irrigation enterprises in the state. The latest available 

 statistics give the number of acres supplied with water under each as follows: 



Individual and partnership enterprises 1,495,513 



Cooperative enterprises 500,000 



United States Reclamation 150,934 



United States Indian Service 149,160 



Carey Act enterprises 183,800 



Commercial enterprises 80,895 



Irrigation districts 11,140 



2,571,442 



In addition to this acreage there are 575,796 acres under the Federal Reclama- 

 tion Service not yet completed and a large acreage under the other enterprises. 



Individual Work Greatest. 



The greatest number of acres are watered by the individual and partnership 

 enterprises. This is where the individual irrigator has built a ditch himself or 

 called in one or two neighbors to help him. The total acreage watered in this way 

 is 1,495,513 with 5,534 separate enterprises and a total of 18,934 miles of ditches. 

 Most of these enterprises are small, in which the farmers in the different valleys 



have tapped the mountain streams from the nearby foothills. 



A second method widely used and one of increasing popularity is the 

 cooperative enterprise, in which larger groups of farmers, acting together, have 



