ee eee 
62 
In Idaho there are sixty-five land and water companies reported and there are many 
hundred miles of canals and ditches, but particulars are not published. © 
In Montana there is a considerable but iadefinite amount of irrigation by means of 
the smaller mountain streams. One company in Yellowstone County has constructed 
a main canal 40 miles long and ditches capable of irrigating 60,000 acres, and any 
other has a main canal 75 miles in length. 
The intimate relation of the forests to the water supply necessary for irrigation 
will soon force itself upon the consideration of those living in the Rocky Mountain 
region, and it is well set forthin a recent statement of Mr. Nettleton, State engineer 
of Colorado, who says: ie, 
“Tt is estimated that 60 inches of water fail annually on the eastern slope of the 
Rocky Mountains in the form of snow and rain; 80 per cent. of this falls during 
the winter and spring months. Tiat which falls late in the autumn and early in 
winter is most available for irrigation, as it becomes solid, almost like ice, and melts 
slowly under the summer’s sun, affording a steady flow through the irrigating season. 
Snows falling in late spring melt rapidly, and the watersrun down therivers unused. © 
Although about fifty mountain peaks in Colorado reach an elevation of over 14,000 
feet, yet the snow nearly all disappears every season, small quantities only remaining 
in small patches here and there. On this account there are at present no glaciers in 
the Rocky Mountains. The cold mountains condense the moisture in the country ad- 
jacent, thereby robbing the plains of their quota of moisture. 
‘Hence the necessity for irrigation. It is quite easy to foretell the probable 
amount of water for irrigation purposes for the coming season by watching the 
amount of snow-fail in the mountains. 
‘“‘ Farmers living from 20 to 3) miles from the mountains, or where they can watch 
the snow-fall on the main range of the mountains, have learned to gauge their crops 
by the time the snow falls and the quantity. If the snow falls early, they expect 
water for late crops. If the snow falls principally in the spring months, they fear 
short water in summer and fall, and plant or sow accordingly. 
“There can be no doubt about the influence that cutting or burning the timber on 
the mountains has on the flow of our streams. They will on this account become 
more intermittent in their fow, which is a drawback to the irrigation interests of the 
State. The preservation of the mountain forests should be encouraged.” 
INDUSTRIES. 
AGRICULTURE. 
Agriculture is making rapid progress in this region, and is likely to 
have greater proportionate development than other industries. Utah 
was the first of the mountain Territories to show adequately what could 
be done in the way of systematic farming, and the first to adopt proper 
methods of irrigation. Her example has been extensively followed, 
whenever practicable, throughout the region of the mountain and the 
plains. During the last year or two western Kansas and Nebraska 
and eastern Colorado have received large accessions of settlers who 
have opened new farms and grown crops without the aid of irrigation. 
Except upon the plains, broad areas adapted to a single crop are not 
found. Great diversity of production exists by reason of differences in 
soil, elevation, and climate. Colorado Springs, the home of the writer, 
has an elevation of 6,000 fect above the sea. The spring seasons of the 
year are backward, and early vegetables, small fruits, and other sup- 
plies of a like nature are obtained in part from the warm valleys only 

Pecans cry ofiiys = 
