THE DRY FARMING CONGRESS. 



17 



prevail in our western country. These methods involve the well known 

 principles that are advocated by Prof. Campibell and practiced by suc- 

 cessful farmers throughout the semi-arid states. 



"In the extreme western part of south Dakota irrigation is largely 

 practiced, especially in the territory adjacent to the Black Hills. In 

 that region flowing streams, fed by mountain snows, are numerous and 

 conditions are favorable for great development in irrigation work. 

 The general government has recognized this fact and has undertaken the 

 great Belle Fourche Irrigation Project for reclaiming a large tract of 

 irrigable land, and has under consideration the Grand River project. 

 Other irrigation projects, mostly under private ownership, are in oper- 

 ation and still others are under construction in western South Dakota 

 and the prospects are good for a large increase in the area of irrigated 

 lands in the state. The large Indian reservations in the west central 

 part of the state will soon be opened to settlement and there will be 

 many fine openings therein for irrigation projects, especially those 

 constructed under the provisions of the Carey Act. 



Transformed the Range. 



"It is in the newly settled part of the state, however, that the 

 greatest progress in dry farming has taken place. In Stanley and Lyman 

 counties, lying just west of the Missouri River, many thousands of set- 

 tlers have taken homesteads within the last few years. There are 

 thriving towns and villages now where formerly range cattle roamed at 

 will, and flourishing crops grow on the prairies that were carpeted with 

 native grasses before the advent of the settler. 



"This section of the state has comparatively few running streams 

 and the rainfall is somewhat less than in the country east of the Mis- 

 souri river. For many years after the sections to the east and to the 

 west were settled this territory was given over to the undisputed sway 

 of the cattlemen, who enjoyed the privileges of free grazing for their 

 herds that fed upon the succulent grasses covering the vast prairies. 



Education Necessary. 



"A new order of things has come to pass, however, and thousands 

 of homes have been made on these lands and excellent crops are raised 

 where once was thought no vegetation other than the native grasses 

 would grow. Many of the settlers have evidently started in with the 

 Mea of meeting existing conditions in a rational manner. Thanks to 

 the wide spread dissemination of information concerning the principles 

 of dry farming and improved methods of soil culture, they came pre- 

 pared to put in practice these methods as far as practicable. The results 

 have been gratifying in the extreme. A trip of inspection through this 

 region disclosed remarkable crops of corn, vegetables and other pro- 

 ducts growing upon sod breakings. Reports have been made of yields 

 that are truly astonishing when existing conditions are taken into ac- 

 count. The season just passed has been unusually dry and for that 



