86 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



BILLINGS, MONTANA. 



BY W. T. CLARK. 



(Read before the Commercial Club of Billings.) 

 For the benefit of our friends throughout the 

 country, I have been asked to prepare a paper on what 

 we have done at Billings during the past year and how 

 it was done. 



Billings, as a good many of you know, has done 

 a great work during the last twelve months. She has 

 become known not only to her own citizens and to the 

 people of Montana, but her fame has gone to the East 

 and t-" the West, reaching localities where even the 

 name of Montana was hardly known. In the minds of 

 the people of the East whom we have gone amongst to 

 spread the gospel of Billings and the Yellowstone Val- 

 ley, Montana, during at least half the year, is a frozen 



However, this, is not telling you what Billings has 

 done, or, rather, what has come to Billings by reason of 

 the efforts of the people of Billings. Being the man- 

 ager of the Billings Land & Irrigation Company, it is 

 perfectly natural for me to put that company and its 

 work first among the good things that have come to 

 Billings. As a matter of fact, it was the first good 

 thing to come to Billings for many a year and following 

 in its wake came next a creamery capable of working up 

 the milk of a thousand cows, and next along the line 

 of agriculture a beet sugar factory capable of slicing 

 a thousand tons of beets every twenty-four hours and 

 costing a million dollars. Other things have followed 

 but these three things are by far the greatest. 



Now, the question, I presume, that our visitors are 

 interested in is, How was it done? The most of them 

 know that we have these things, that Billings has be- 

 come known far and wide and is recognized today as 



Stacking Alfalfa Near Billings, Mont. 



zone and the occupation of the people consists entirely 

 of mining, stock raising and taking an occasional shot 

 at each other. 



Now, as a matter of fact, Montana has little more, 

 if any, colder weather than the great agricultural states 

 of the Middle West, the climate of the Yellowstone 

 Valley in particular excelling any portion of the great 

 Mississippi Valley; her agricultural possibilities, espe- 

 cially where water can be put on the land, greater than 

 any portion of the Mississippi Valley. 



The problem for us was to make them believe what 

 we had to say in regard to the Yellowstone Valley and 

 Montana and to make them believe the evidence of their 

 own eyes when shown the exhibits of grains and vege- 

 tables. In the language of the cowboy, so well known 

 in Montana, we had to corral them, lasso them and 

 brand them; in other words, by furnishing them free 

 transportation and bringing them out and showing 

 them the country we induced a number to locate with 

 us. As this process was continued it became easier 

 until now we have a large number stopping here with- 

 out solicitation. 



one of the brightest cities in all Montana, and they 

 want to know how they can go ahead and do likewise. 



The answer is very simple. Find out what you 

 want in your numerous localities, then put your shoulder 

 to the wheel and push and keep pushing, and then 

 push again, and you have my word for it, good results 

 will follow. 



Coming back to the first good thing : After it was 

 decided it was a good thing for us to put this canal 

 in and all arrangements made to finance and construct 

 it, it was found necessary to obtain a great deal larger 

 price for lands than had prevailed heretofore in this 

 country or the enterprise could not be made a financial 

 success. The problem of selling raw lauds in a country 

 where partly improved lands under old and tried canals 

 were selling for less money than the new lands could 

 possibly be sold for, was a hard one. It called for 

 something extraordinary and out of the regular line of 

 an irrigation company's work. It called for the lifting 

 of values over the entire district tributary to this 

 system. 



Much money had been spent in advertising Billings 



