metal ore. Shaft coal mines in eastern Montana 
likewise used considerable wood. For each ton of 
coal taken from Montana’s shaft mines 0.92 linear 
foot of round timber and 0.23 board foot of lumber 
were consumed. Each year the entire mining indus- 
try in Montana used 43 million board feet of sawed 
material and 3 million cubic feet of round and 
hewed products (20) . 
Montana farmers are also heavy consumers of 
wood. It is estimated that they use about 6 million 
fence posts annually. The average western Mon- 
tana farmer uses 1,700 board feet of lumber, 
shingles, and building logs annually as compared 
to about 1,100 board feet in eastern Montana. 
West of the Continental Divide, where timber is 
abundant and coal is scarce, many homes are heated 
with wood. The average wood-burning home in 
that area consumes about 13 cords a year. 
Water Values in the Forest 
It has been said that the greatest treasure of 
the West is water. While such enthusiastic state- 
ments tend to overlook the fact that the usefulness 
of water is almost wholly in servicing the land and 
its products, it is nevertheless true that continuous 
availability of usuable water is a key factor in the 
future development and prosperity of the region. 
A national news magazine (J) summed up the 
situation well when it pointed out “In the West, 
water resources are to determine which regions 
can grow, which will be held back. Water dictates 
the location of new industries, such as atomic in- 
stallations, chemical works, steel and aluminum 
plants.” Water to drink, water for power, water 
for irrigation, water for navigation, and so on— 
there is hardly a facet of living in this region that 
does not depend upon water. 
In the past two decades we have had amazing 
evidence of what harnessing water power can start 
in the way of industrial development. At one time 
it appeared to some that the region might be 
headed toward power surpluses. Yet, industries are 
using all of the available electricity and are ask- 
ing for more. Today it is apparent that, though 
the four Northwestern States use twice as much 
electricity per capita as the rest of the Nation, much 
of their hope for the future rests upon new hydro- 
electric developments. The streams of Montana 
can support hydroelectric plants with a capacity 
of some 4,070,000 kilowatts which is more than 11] 
times the capacity of existing water power plants. 
Moreover, this potential is equal to one-fourth of 
all the developed hydroelectric power capacity in 
the United States today. 
In this semiarid region water for irrigation adds 
a great deal to agricultural income and stability. 
In the absence of irrigation, many areas with fertile 
soils are of low productivity. Irrigated lands pro- 
duce from 80 to 100 percent of the cultivated and 
hay crop values in many sections of the 11 Western 
States. Figure 4 shows the proportion of crop in- 
come of Montana counties from irrigated lands in 
1959; 
Roughly 1.8 million acres in Montana are irri- 
gated. Four-fifths of that acreage is in the Missouri 
River basin. According to an estimate by the 
National Resources Board in 1936, the total area 
which could ultimately be irrigated in Montana is 
3.9 million acres. Only California, Colorado, and 
Wyoming have greater potentialities for irrigation 
from the standpoint of area. Between 1929 and 
1947 an average of 23 percent of the total cultivated 
and hay-land area in Montana was irrigated and 
produced about 33 percent of total crop value (8) . 
The importance of irrigation is more than one 
of comparative yields. In the Great Plains part of 
Montana, dry-land farming involves gambling on 
the weather. Some areas have received as little as 
5 inches of precipitation a year. The frequency of 
such years when the snow and rainfall are too 
light for good dry-land crops is the Achilles’ heel 
of Montana’s agriculture. During one drought 
year (1936) 63 percent of the crop value was pro- 
Dercent Bam IN | 
MM 60-100 VALUE OF IRRIGATED CROPS 
ESE2 40- 79 AS PERCENT OF VALUE OF ALL 
5- 39 CULTIVATED AND HAY CROPS, 
a) Gea EXCLUDING FORESTRY &NURSERY 
PRODUCTS. : 
FIGURE 4. 
6 Forest Resource Report No. 5 U.S. Department of Agriculture 
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