THE NEW MONTANA 



Tremendous Agricultural Development Possible 

 By Means of Government Reclamation Work 



IWIONTANA'S contributions to the 

 ^'^ wealth of the nation have come 

 mainly from the hearts of her moun- 

 tains or the sands of her countless 

 streams. While these storehouses of 

 riches show little sign of exhaustion, 

 a greater resource, and one which will 

 in future yield even larger values, is 

 just beginning to be developed. This 

 resource is a soil so deep, black, and 

 fertile that industrious husbandry can 

 never exhaust its productivity. Sena- 

 tor Paris Gibson, an authority on ag- 

 riculture, who for thirty years has 

 studied the resources of his State, 

 says : "Montana has potentialities in 

 agriculture awaiting the scientific 

 farmer which are destined, when de- 

 veloped, to place the State in the fore- 

 front as a producer of farm products." 



With its vast area, its varied topo- 

 graphy, its countless streams which 

 head in regions of everlasting snow, 

 or spring full grown from the largest 

 glaciers in the world, its sheltered val- 

 leys and broad level mesas, Montana 

 offers the most alluring field to which 

 the engineers of the Reclamation Ser- 

 vice have given their attention. 



Deep in the hearts of its mountains 

 the miner's pick is breaking down the 

 precious metals which contribute mil- 

 lions annually to the world's wealth. 

 In the solitudes of its vast forests the 

 woodman's axe is hewing down the 

 giant timbers, and now the silence of 

 centuries is being broken in the des- 

 ert and desolate valleys are soon to 

 become the centers of populous and 

 prosperous communities. 



The man with the plow follows the 

 ditch engineer, and ere the mind can 

 grasp the thought the desert begins 

 to fade and green fields and blos- 

 soming orchards spring into view. 



Irrigation has its limits, but they 

 are not yet apparent in Montana. 

 While in most of the arid inter-moun- 



tain States the limits of irrigation 

 mark the limits of agricultural devel- 

 opment, in Montana this is not true, 

 for agriculture in many sections of 

 that State does not depend upon irri- 

 gation. In fact, the largest yields of 

 wheat, oats, and rye are produced on 

 unirrigated land. Senator Gibson's 

 ranch affords a most striking illustra- 

 tion of what can be done in parts of 

 Montana without irrigation. This 

 ranch is situated only a few miles 

 from Great Falls, and is in a section 

 which the Land Office was very loath 

 to regard as anything but desert and 

 worthless, yet the Senator secures 40 

 bushels of wheat per acre, 5 tons of 

 alfalfa, and 60 bushels of heavy oats, 

 and he has no ditches or artificial wa- 

 ter supply. Yields of 60 bushels of 

 wheat and 105 bushels of-oats per acre 

 are reported from adjoining ranches. 



Montana's claims to recognition as 

 one of the future great farming States 

 are easily shown when comparisons 

 are made between its average yields 

 of various products and those of well 

 known agricultural States. The De- 

 partment of Agriculture furnishes the 

 following table : 



State. 



Wheat. Rye. 

 Bu. Bu. 



Bar- 

 ley. Oats. 

 Bu. Bu. 



Pota- 



Hay. toes. Flax. 

 Tons. Bu. Bu. 



In average yields of wheat, rye, bar- 

 ley and flax, Montana leads every 

 State in the Union ; in oats and pota- 

 toes, only one State is ahead of it, 

 and in hay the yields are heavier than 

 those of any Eastern State. The aver- 



