6 MONTANA FARM REVIEW 



territory. He lived under the walls of Fort Peck where the Poplar river empties into 

 the Missouri. The agricultural possibilities of the Gallatin were the first to be generally 

 appreciated, in 1870 that county leading in the number of farms — 178 — as well as in 

 the total value of farm products. Jefferson had 141 farms, Lewis and Clark 106, Deer 

 Lodge 105 and Madison 102. Deer Lodge led in improved acreage, closely followed by 

 Lewis and Clark and Meagher counties. Then came Jefferson, Missoula and Gallatin. 

 In the cash value of farms, I^ewis and Clark ranked first, followed by Deer Lodge and 

 then Gallatin. Nearly half the total wheat and oat production of the territory iu 1870 

 was from Gallatin county. There were three flour mills in that county, three in 

 Missoula and one in Madison county. 



During the next ten years the number of farms or more properly, ranches, in 

 the territory more than doubled, the principal increases being in Madison, Missoula, 

 Custer, Chouteau, Meagher and Lewis and Clark counties. The Fort Peck farmer 

 abandoned operations, there was a net decline of three farms in Gallatin county in this 

 decade and a pronounced decline in Jefferson county. The Meagher expansion was in 

 the Judith Basin and the Custer along the Yellowstone. The production of ranch butter 

 declined, probably because of the wane of the mining districts and the growth of 

 transportation facilities. Wheat, which was the chief crop in 1870, was superseded by 

 oats in 1880, the stage lines and military posts affording a home market for it. 



Railroads These ranch settlements were devoted chiefly to livestock raising, 



g ,. although the crop production of the territory was sufficient for the 



. needs of the sparse population. Reports of the territorial governors 



oc ising ^^^ ^^ ^^^ United States surveyor-generals mention the big agricul- 



tural possibilities of the territory but dwell upon the necessity of rail transportation 

 to provide a market outlet before these possibilities could be realized upon. Farming 

 remained at a standstill but stockraising developed. The building and operation of 

 the Utah Northern from Ogden, Utah to Garrison in 1880 gave stock growing an 

 impetus in the western part of the state, as did the construction in 1883 of the Northern 

 Pacific to the industry in the eastern part of the state. Prior to the building of the 

 Northern Pacific, marauding Indians made stock growing in eastern Montana a hazard- 

 ous undertaking. 



In the decade from 1880 to 1890 rural settlements spread out along the Yellowstone 

 as far east as Glendive, through the Big Horn and Powder River regions, in two districts 

 in the Milk River valley, and in the Flathead country around Kalispell. 



One of the material factors in the development of the eastern part of the territory 

 in this decade was the elimination of approximately 20,000,000 acres from Indian reser- 

 vations. This acreage — a little less than one-fourth of the total for Montana — was 

 added to the public domain. Stockmen seized the opportunity. Ranges were extensively 

 stocked with cattle, and later, with sheep. It was a period of inflation when eastern 

 and foreign capital was poured into the range herds. Bottom lands along the streams 

 were acquired by big cattle concerns. As early as 1883 registers and receivers of U. S. 

 Land offices in the state called attention to the practice by cattle companies of having 

 their riders and friends file upon such lands under the desert land act. The company 

 put the water upon the land, the entryman proved up, received his patent and then 

 transferred the tract to the company. The desert land act was passed in 1877 and in the 

 next four years there were 370 desert claim filings made in the territory of Montana, 

 covering 122,461 acres. In the same period there were 608 homestead entries but cover- 

 ing only 93,671 acres. By 1890 most of the romance and much of the capital invested 

 in the livestock business had been lost, and it was stabilized on a firm basis with fewer 

 persons engaged in it. In the decade from 1890 to 1900 there was a decline of population 

 in the livestock districts of eastern Montana, but the number of cattle marketed yearly 

 held fairly uniform. 



