2 BULLETIN 1244, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



The forage crops that seem to offer the greatest possibilities for the 

 region are also considered. The data and conclusions presented 

 are for the most part drawn from carefully planned experiments 

 conducted at various points in South Dakota, North Dakota, Mon- 

 tana, and northeastern Wyoming. 



THE REGION DEFINED. 



The region under consideration includes northwestern Nebraska, 

 the western two-thirds o£ South Dakota, that part of North Dakota 

 which lies south and west of a line extending approximately from 

 Minot to Jamestown, eastern Wyoming, and the greater part of 

 Montana (fig. 1). The points at which most of the experimental 

 data were collected are Sheridan, Wyo.; Ardmore, Newell, and Red- 

 field, S. Dak.; Edgeley, Mandan, Hettinger, Williston, and Dick- 

 inson, N. Dak.; and Moccasin and Havre, Mont. The conclusions 

 relative to specific forage crops are more directly applicable to the 



parts of the region 

 having conditions 

 similar to those which 

 obtain in the vicinity 

 of these points . R ed- 

 field, S. Dak., and 

 Edgeley, N. Dak., 

 are just outside the 

 area discussed; but 

 the data from these 

 stations have been 

 included because they 

 give an idea of the 

 climatic conditions 

 and of the results that 

 maybe expected from 

 foraere 



Fig. l. 



-Outline map, shoeing by shaded lines the region considered in iha 

 this bulletin. 



various 



crops in the eastern 

 part of the region. Generally speaking, the precipitation is some- 

 what higher along the eastern border of the area, and the forage-crop 

 problems are by no means so difficult as they are in the western part 

 of the region. 



HISTORY. 



The Territory of Dakota, designated as such in 18(31, originally 

 included Montana and Wyoming. Montana Territory was organ- 

 ized in 1864 and Wyoming in 1868. Early in their settlement these 

 Territories attracted stockmen because of the opportunities they af- 

 forded for cattle raising. The establishment of western frontier out- 

 posts by the Government, largely as a feature of its Indian admin- 

 istration, and the discovery of gold in the Black Hills in 1S74 aided 

 materially in making the region available to stockmen. The exten- 

 sion of the Northern Pacific Railway into western North Dakota in 

 i he early eighties and the Great Northern Railway a little later gave 

 a great impetus to stock raising. 



