THE IKRIQATION AGE. 



segregated under the terms of the Carey Act and will 

 be thrown open to settlement as soon as construction 

 work is completed and the formalities of law complied 

 with. Probably in the early spring of 1906. 



E. D. Metcalf is president and W. J. Thorn, secre- 

 tary of the company, both of Buffalo, Wyo. 



THE CROW INDIAN RESERVATION. 



BY A. BUCHANAN, BILLINGS, MONT. 



FROM COWBOY TO CAPITALIST. 



Mr. I. D. O'Donnell, to whom the Bismarck irriga- 

 tion crowd owe much of the knowledge acquired dur- 

 ing their visit to Billings, came to the Yellowstone 

 valley twenty-three years ago, beginning life there as 

 a cow-boy. He is the pioneer in the new system of 

 irrigation, and owes much of his success to the water 

 which his efforts were largely instrumental in turning 

 upon the land he had gradually acquired. Water ap- 

 plied scientifically to tfie soil has made him a rich man 

 and it -is not to be wondered at that he is an enthusiastic 

 irrigationist. Mr. O'Donnell delivered an address at 

 the State irrigation congress in Bismarck last winter, 



Inside View of Flume over Powder River near Sussux, Wyo. 



and is acquainted with the conditions that exist in the 

 Bismarck irrigation belt. In conversation with the 

 writer Mr. O'Donnell said: "There are no grounds 

 whatever for the theory advanced by some of your people 

 that the soil in the vicinity of Bismarck will not hold 

 water. The top soil of your North Dakota lands is as 

 good or better than that of the bench lands of Mon- 

 tana, and a good, -porous subsoil is all the better for 

 irrigation purposes, as it will do away with the danger 

 of the soil becoming waterlogged. 



"If the soil is properly worked on the surface there 

 will be no trouble about getting water over it. Your 

 ditches will hold water without a question, as the silt 

 from the river will soon form a coating on canals and 

 laterals and make them water-tight. Our new canal is 

 carrying water through four miles of loose, open gravel, 

 made water-tight by the natural process, and the Mis- 

 souri Eiver is much more certain to form a water-tight 

 coating than is the Yellowstone. The silt from the river 

 is also a great fertilizer. The fact that thousands of 

 people are passing through the cheap lands of North 

 Dakota every year and settling on the irrigated lands of 

 Montana should be all the argument necessary to con- 

 vince your people that irrigation is just what is needed." 

 The Palladium, Bismarck. N. P. 



The engineers for the northwest division of the 

 United States Eeclamation Service have opened their 

 offices at Billings and aje now in the field engaged 

 in making the preliminary surveys of the seven great 

 irrigating projects that will be directed from this point. 

 For the next year or so over one hundred and fifty 

 men will be engaged in the field in laying out the im- 

 mense projects that are being undertaken by the na- 

 tional government and millions of dollars will be spent 

 by Uncle Sam in reclaiming land that under the present 

 condition is valuable only for grazing purposes. Three 

 of these great canals will be dug on the Crow Indian - 

 reservation and the contract for the first of these which 

 is destined to make the Big Horn valley one of the most 

 fertile farming regions in the Northwest will be let soon. 

 The government land office for this district is receiving 

 Hundreds of inquiries from Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, 

 and in lesser degree from other Mississippi valley States 

 in regard to the opening of this great reservation and 

 asking for information of every sort in regard to the 

 requirements of settlers, the condition of the country, 

 climate, etc. But Uncle Sam pays little heed to these 

 letters; he is too busy with his irrigating enterprises to 

 advertise the land, and those who want to learn more 

 about the reservation must depend upon the newspapers 

 for information. The land is here and will go to those 

 who are first on the ground. 



A word as to the State in which this magnificent 

 domain is located. Montana is sometimes called the 

 Mountain State, but the mountains are confined to the 

 western portion. Montana has an area of 145,000 square 

 miles, or a little less than the empire of Japan, and 

 under a complete development of irrigation and intensi- 

 fied, diversified farming will suport a population fully 

 as large. Considering the natural resources and size of 

 the State, it has the smallest population and conse- 

 quently offers the greatest opportunities for the home- 

 seeker and investor of any State in the Union. In all 

 this vast area, no more favored locality is found than 

 that of the Yellowstone valley that meanders across the 

 southern and eastern portion of the State. Protected 

 on all sides by mountain ranges and enjoying the ben- 

 efits of the warm winds from the Japan current, its 

 winters are remarkably short and mild for this latitude. 

 The snowfall is less than that of the southern parts of 

 New York or Ohio. Plowing is not an uncommon sight 

 in December, and building operations often continue 

 through the winter, with only temporary interruptions. 

 The ceded strip of the Crow reservation takes in a wide 

 belt of this beautiful valley and it is here that the largest 

 of the canals is to be built. 



The Custer battlefield lies in about the center of 

 the Crow reservation and on the south line of the ceded 

 strip. It was here that Sitting Bull and his savage 

 Sioux exterminated Ouster's division twenty-nine years 

 ago. The agency is near by and in the pretty valleys sur- 

 rounding it many of the old warriors who helped the 

 Sioux and Cheyennes in -their bloody work are follow- 

 ing the peaceful pursuit of farming. Today the larger 

 portion of the Crows are earning their livelihood by 

 honest toil, although they still work under the direction 

 of farming experts employed by the government. The 



