88 GEOLOGICAL SUEVEY OF THE TEREITOEIES. 



The climate of these valleys is very dry, no rain of any consequence 

 falling during the summer months, but this want is supplied by a 

 cheap and simple process of irrigation, under which, from the fact that 

 water can be supplied in abundance whenever it is needed, crops thrive 

 much better, are much larger, and more perfect than when the}" are de- 

 pending upon the uncertain, capricious, and often untimely visits of rain. 

 Ditches for irrigating purposes are either connected with the river or 

 some of the mountain-streams that feed it, and are extended through 

 contiguous ranches by farmers, who make of them a joint-stock pro- 

 perty. The two enemies which have been most dreaded by the farmer 

 thu.s far are the grasshopper and early frost. The first of these has now 

 disappeared; the latter is overcome by early sowing and planting; and 

 the wheat-crop is now regarded as more certain in these valleys than in 

 any of the States. It is also, as a general thing, from twice to three 

 times more abundant. But few experiments have yet been made in fruit- 

 raising, but the prospect for the successful culture of the hardy varie- 

 ties of apples and pears is very good. 



What 1 have here said of the valley of the Gallatin is true of all the 

 valleys embraced within the limits of the summer's explorations. 



At the agricultural fair held in Helena in September last, the exhi- 

 bition of farm-products from these valleys would h;ive been creditable 

 to a much older community, and the stock, mostly of our own native 

 variety, would have put to shame many similar exhibitions in the best 

 of our stock-raising States. There is not one-tenth part of the arable 

 lands of these valleys yet occupied, though the development of their 

 productive qualities during the past two years has turned the attention 

 of many of the inhabitants engaged in other pursuits to that of agricul- 

 ture. 



There is another resource to which I have barely alluded, which, for 

 years to come, must render this region a desirable locality for a large 

 class of producers. I mean its facilities for stock-raising. It is covered 

 with the richest pasturage in the world. The bunch and buffalo grasses 

 of the plains and mountain-regions, unlike the tame grasses of the 

 States, are perennial. At the earliest approach of spring, and before 

 the snow has left the hills, they begin to appear fresh and green. The 

 spring rains, which, though of brief duration, are inmany localities pro- 

 fuse, give them strength and expansion and they retain their verdure 

 through the heat of midsummer. The dryness of the season prevents 

 their decay, and the heat of the sun gradually cures them in the blade, 

 so that they retain all the nourishment in the dried stalk and leaf of 

 the best-preserved hay. They continue in this condition throughout 

 the winter, and, at all times, except when storms are excessive or snows 

 are very deep — not common occurrences in the valleys — the cattle teed 

 upon them and grow fat through all the cold mouths. Farmers and 

 owners of large herds of cattle, who put up hay as a precautionary 

 measure, seldom have occasion to use it at all, and never unless an exi- 

 gency like that I have just mentioned occurs. In the spring the green 

 blade shoots out from the root of the previous year, imparting renewed 

 life to the entire herbage of the valleys and adjacent foot-hills. With, 

 the exception of the mountain -ranges, which are either bare rocks or 

 covered with pines, the surface is one entire pasture. No country in 

 the world aifords superior facilities, uniting convenience with economy, 

 to stock-raisers. The meats perfected on these grasses are extremely 

 fat and succulent and of rich flavor. The products of the dairy are 

 l^roportiouably larger, and the ranchman who owns a dozen good cows in 

 the vicinity of any of the larger towns has in his i^ossession the 



