THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



13 



there is still plenty of "elbow room" for the newcomer. 

 And yet it was only twenty-nine years ago that Sitting 

 Bull and his savage Sioux devastated this very valley 

 and met Ouster a few miles south on the banks of the 

 Little Big Horn and annihilated his brave band of fol- 

 lowers. The Ouster battlefield is one of the show spots 

 of the West and the government has turned it into a 

 great national cemetery, with a marble shaft marking 

 the spot where each dead hero was found. Surround- 

 ing the battlefield are the farms of the peaceful Orows, 

 many of whom took part in that memorable massacre. 

 They have buried the hatchet forever and are today 

 earning their living by honest 'toil. 



The Ouster battlefield marks the center of the great 

 Crow reservation, a portion of which is to be thrown 

 open to settlement soon. Uncle Sam has opened an of- 

 fice at Billings, where the work of reclamation of the 

 valley lands within the boundaries of the ceded strip is 

 being directed. A corps of engineers is now in the field 

 running the lines for the three great irrigating projects 

 that are to be completed before another year passes. 

 When the great canals and the laterals are completed 



Photo showing 41 Stacks of Hay on Hesper Farm, 

 owned by I. D. O'Donnell, near Billings, Mont. 



over 200,000 acres of the choicest land in the whole 

 Northwest will be ready for the plow. 



Uncle Sam is the greatest real estate dealer on 

 earth. He has been a long time in the business and he 

 clings to old methods with a hopeless tenacity, but he 

 has .learned a good deal from his experience in Okla- 

 homa. There will be no mad rush such as was experi- 

 enced when that stampede took place, no confusion, no 

 hardship. The homeseeker who wants a farm in the 

 Crow reservation will register at Billings when the gov- 

 ernment land office is opened, and await the result of 

 the lottery. If he is lucky enough to win a prize, he 

 can take his time at going in and making a home for 

 himself. The land will not be free, for he will, in addi- 

 tion to exercising his homestead right, have to pay the 

 government $4 an acre for his claim. He will pay $1 

 down and have three years in which to make final pay- 

 ment, and will then get his patent to the land. If he is 

 lucky enough to get a claim under the ditch he will have 

 to pay his share for the maintenance of the ditch, as 

 Uncle Sam is spending about a million dollars in build- 

 ing ditches and practically makes the settler a present 

 of land easily worth $50 an acre. 



But it has not been left to the government to take 



the initiative in the reclamation of the Northwest. 

 Private enterprise has accomplished much more and 

 that in the face of untold obstacles. Within a radius of 

 twenty-five miles of Billings there are seven great canals 

 aggregating over 200 miles in length that water over 

 100,000 acres of land. One of these has only recently 

 been completed and covers what is known as the Hunt- 

 ley flats. This great valley lies partially in Yellow- 



Cutting Oats in Yellowstone Valley, west of Billings, Mont., 

 on Ranch of Mr. Westbrook. 



stone County and extends into the Crow reservation. 

 The government is reclaiming that portion of the flats 

 that lies within the ceded strip and it will be open 

 for settlement soon. In this valley alfalfa grows to 

 a height of six feet and three crops can be cut each 

 year. Potatoes that rival the finest product of Colo- 

 rado, both for size and delicacy of flavor, run as high 

 as 500 bushels to the acre. Grains of every sort can 

 be successfully grown and fruits that are finer and 



Band of Sheep on Range near Billings, Mont. 

 [Property of Jos. Elliott.] 



larger than are shipped from the West flourish in 

 this valley. There are 75,000 acres in the valley, 

 30,000 acres of which are owned by privarte com- 

 panies and individuals ; all of this land, however, is 

 not under cultivation at the present time. The van- 

 guard of the homeseekers is already on the ground to 

 learn the country thoroughly before the great influx of 



