THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



and the Yellowstone Valley with only moderate success. 

 One of the irrigation company's agents, having drifted 

 into Colorado in his efforts to induce settlers to come 

 here, saw the effects of the beet sugar factories on land 

 values and one the people themeslves and wrote us about 

 it. This country, being capable of producing all of 

 the products of the temperate zone, including sugar 

 beets, the idea suggested itself that a beet sugar factory 

 would very likely bring about the desired results. Sugar 

 beets having been grown here for a series of years, prin- 

 cipally through the efforts of United States Senator W. 

 A. Clark, sufficient evidence to satisfy beet sugar men 

 was easily procurable, but the problem of inducing out- 

 side capital to the extent of a million dollars to come 

 to Billings confronted us. 



This was put before the Commercial Club as was 

 also the other fact mentioned, that is, until better 

 prices could be secured our country must practically 

 remain at a standstill. The response was immediate 

 and strong and it was decided to make every effort to 

 secure the sugar factory and to that end a subscription 

 paper was immediately started for the purpose of secur- 

 ing the funds for the promotion of the work. Inside 

 of forty-eight hours $10,000 was subscribed for that 

 purpose. 



Correspondence had for some time been passing 

 between a successful promoter of sugar factories in 

 Colorado with the result that he was on the ground 

 at the time our decision was made and engaged to work 

 at once for Billings along those lines. The committee 

 appointed by the Commercial Club to handle this work 

 went at it with enthusiasm and was ready at all times 

 to stand back of the efforts of our agent. How success- 

 ful this effort has been you all know. 



The news having gone abroad that Billings was 

 doing things and had raised this large sum of money 

 for promotion purposes, had evidently created the im- 

 pression that we had money to burn. At any rate 

 about this time a creamery man appeared upon the 

 scene -with a proposition to put in a creamery. This 

 proposition was met and accepted with the same prompt- 

 ness and enthusiasm displayed in the work of securing 

 the beet sugar factory, and within fifteen days subscrip- 

 tions from farmers and business men to the amount 

 of $6,000 had been obtained and the machinery for the 

 creamery ordered. It is now in successful working order 

 and having no trouble in disposing of all the butter it 

 can produce and is having a splendid effect in inducing 

 farmers to purchase milch cows. In a short time we 

 anticipate the milk business will become one of the 

 greatest of our agricultural resources. 



The members of the Commercial Committee having 

 this work in hand had by this time acquired the habit 

 of doing things, and, better still, of seeking something 

 to do for the good of. the Valley. 



It was called to the attention of the Commercial 

 Committee that the Government proposed building 

 innumerable works in and around Billings, that the 

 headquarters of the Reclamation Service for the North- 

 west was at Denver; also that the great work the Gov- 

 ernment was undertaking at Big Horn basin and at 

 Glendive and on the Crow Reservation was more directly 

 tributary to Billings than to Denver, the idea of mak- 

 ing Billings the headquarters of the Reclamation Service 

 was presented and immediately followed by prompt ac- 

 tion. We not only took the matter up with the Reclama- 

 tion Service Department itself, but wrote our Congress- 



man, Joseph M. Dixon, soliciting his aid ; also to the 

 heads of the Northern Pacific and the Burlington 

 Railways, all of whom very promptly and kindly put 

 themselves on record in favor of Billings. The result : 

 Billings is the northwestern headquarters of the Recla- 

 mation Service and has already received immense bene- 

 fits from its location. 



Attention having been called to the Government 

 work, different ideas rapidly presented themselves, 

 amongst which was the subject of the area of a Govern- 

 ment homestead under irrigation. Our contention being 

 that eighty acres was sufficient, correspondence imme- 

 diately followed and I am glad to say that the Govern- 

 ment had adopted the eighty-acre basis on the Crow 

 Reservation instead of the 160 basis, thus doubling the 

 population tributary to Billings. In this work we also 

 asked the railroads to assist, which they did gladly. 

 Right here I wish to say the railroads are the greatest 

 factors in the upbuilding of any district. Good trans- 

 portation is absolutely essential to good results in fann- 

 ing, manufacturing or any other business, and, on the 

 other hand, the success of the railroads depends upon 

 the successful cultivation of the soil and the successful 

 carrying on of every other line of business. We should, 

 therefore, feel free to ask of the railroads their full 

 co-operation in any scheme for the benefit of the State 

 in the way of settlement. 



This is practically the sum total of the achieve- 

 ments of the city of Billings and the Billings people 

 during the last twelve months. 



Hav : ng done so much, the question naturally arises, 

 Has it paid? Dollars and cents being the basis upon, 

 which all things earthly seem to rest, we will venture 

 this statement, that the increase of values in this city 

 and in the country immediately tributary to it has 

 been not less than two millions of dollars in the last 

 twelve months. Nor is this the only benefit. The ma- 

 terial welfare of the people has been greatly increased, 

 each and every man in Billings feels the effect. We are 

 all boosters and all sanguine of the success of our city 

 and country. We have been born again and we believe 

 that we are in the possession of the finest agricultural 

 valley the sun shines on. 



We had by this time hit a pretty good pace; from 

 all directions were coming people with schemes of all 

 kinds, evidently having heard that Billings was easy. 

 It caused us to take a recast of what had been done 

 and the cost of doing it and we were all but dismayed 

 to find the large amount of money that we had actually 

 parted with. However, this did not determine us to 

 stop and rest or to quit paying out, but it did cause us 

 to look about for proper means of economizing our 

 expenditures. The different real estate and land firms 

 in the towns were doing lots of advertising; business 

 houses were doing considerable, and in the aggregate 

 a large sum of money was being spent, apparently with 

 little result. 



This suggested another idea; you will note that 

 Billings is full of ideas, and am glad to see that the 

 Billings idea has taken effect our new idea was a 

 centralization of all our expenditures into one man's 

 hands or into a bureau organized for that purpose. 

 Here was born the Boosters' Club, and because of the 

 Boosters' Club you are all here today to grasp the 

 Billings idea. 



I have not been asked to say anything about the 

 duties of this convention or to suggest any line of 



