IRRIGATION 



83 



gated regions the greatest number of citizens can be given such opportun- 

 ities on the smallest area. Economic conditions also prevent any one man 

 or group of men from obtaining control, consolidating and operating suc- 

 cessfully the small irrigated holdings. With the high price of labor, it has 

 been found impracticable to produce crops wholesale on land of this char- 

 acter. The individual farmer, who has industry and intelligence, and espe- 

 cially if he has a family, the members of which can do their part, can make 

 a far better living and produce greater crop returns on a small farm than 

 is possible by the consolidation of the small farms into larger holdings. The 

 tendency in irrigation districts is to subdivide and thus reduce the size of 

 these irricrated farms. 



Two Medicine Canal Headivorks, Blackfeet Project. 



Under the Reclamation Act there have been constructed, or projected 

 for construction, in Montana the Huntley Project, the Lower Yellowstone 

 Project, the ]\Iilk River Project, including the Saint Mary Storage feature, 

 and the Sun River Projecit. All of these projects have been 

 completed to a certain degree, but all of them are incomplete 

 as regards ultimate development. V\'ater is being delivered to 

 irrigated land on each of these projects. At short intervals 

 additional areas are being made available. 



Before the passage of the Reclamation Act. irrigation in 

 r^Iontana was confined generally to individual enterprise ; then 

 irrigation farming folloAved the pioneer, who was usually a homesteader 



Irrigation 

 Projects 

 That Cover 

 a Wide 

 Area. 



— Montana is the best place to live. 



