26 MONTANA : INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES 



paratively, only recently established. Larse bodies of choice irrig:ated land are 

 awaiting settlement in Flathead, Missoula. Lake, Lincoln and Sanders counties. 

 In Ravalli county large irrigated holdings are being sub-divided. 



The cut-over lands of western Montana, offered at a low price and on 

 long terms, afford an opportunity to a man of limited means to develop a farm 

 home. Clover thrives in these districts which, at lea.st in the early stages of de- 

 velopment, are best adapted to dairying. Work in the lumber camps at good 

 wages is always available during the winter. 



All the cereals, together with alfalfa, timothy and clover, are among the 

 staple crops grown in western Montana. The staple vegetables and berries and 

 bush fruits are also raised, many of them finding ready markets in the industrial 

 districts. Big acreages of see<l peas are annually contracted, particularly in the 

 Bitter Root and Missoula valleys. A considerable acreage is devoted to com- 

 mercial potatoes. The non-irrigated districts in the Flathead have developed a 

 potato and alfalfa seed bu.siness of considerable magnitude. 



The special opportunity open to farmers of we.stern ^Montana is sheep-raising. 

 Thousands of acres of national forest range, adapted to sheep but not cattle, has 

 not been utilized by residents of the region, so it has been leased to sheepmen 

 from Washington and from eastern Montana. Resident farm owners, however, 

 are always given preference by the Forest Service. 



Winter temperatures of western ^lontana are milder, and the maximum as 

 well as the average summer temperatures lower at the same elevations, than in 

 the remainder of the state. While the average annual precipitation in the 

 agricultural districts is less than in the eastern slope region but higher than in 

 the plains region, the mean relative humidit.v is considerabl.v higher than east 

 of the mountains. Vegetation is more verdant. Of the annual rainfall. 40 per 

 cent, occurs during the growing season, and. therefore, in the non-irrigated dis- 

 tricts special efforts to conserve the fall and winter moisture are made. 



The average winter temperature of this region is 24 degrees, of spring 41 

 degrees, of summer 61 degrees and of autumn 44 degrees. Winter minimum tem- 

 peratures of 20 below zero are seldom recordetl in the agricultural areas and the 

 region is comparatively free from sudden and marke<l changes in temperature. 

 The frost free period in the agricultural districts ranges from 92 days to 150 

 days, with an average of about 120 days. 



Many fine agricultural districts are foimd in the valleys of the eastern 



slope of the mountains and in the higher plains region at the base of the main 



range. The elevation of these agricultural areas is seldom 



The Eastern above o.OOO feet and is as low as 3.500 feet. Included within this 



Slope and Higher region, for purposes of classification, are those isolated moun- 



Plaiiis Region tainous districts by which the eastern plain is broken here 



and there in the north portion, and also included are spurs from 



the main range near the southern boundary. The drainage of this region is into 



the Gulf of Mexico through the Missouri and its tributaries, the Yellowstone, 



Milk and Musselshell rivers which are the largest and most important streams. 



The annual rainfall over most of this district averages in the agricultural 

 areas, slightly more than it does over most of the agricultural areas of western 

 Montana. The growing season is about the same — 78 to 142 days. The extremes 

 of temperature, both in winter and summer, are greater than in western Montana. 

 There is less snowfall and less cloudiness. Vegetation is not so verdant. A char- 

 acteristic of the precipitation peculiarly favorable to agriculture is that more than 

 one-half of the annual amount is deposited in light rains during the growing 

 season. 



