412 



THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



of the West. The drive over the high- 

 way constructed by the Service is one 

 never to be forgotten. As the future 

 route to a new entrance to Yellowstone 

 Park, it will doubtless attract thousands 

 of tourists. The great dam is for storage 

 and for power development. It will hold 

 Dack flood waters heretofore wasted until 

 needed for irrigation in the summer. 



Down the river another dam, a low 

 structure of concrete, diverts the stream 

 into a tunnel 2> J A miles long. This tun- 

 nel, passing through the bluffs on the 

 river's edge, emerges at the head of the 

 valley and the waters are carried into a 

 broad canal and thence to the farm lands, 

 l^st spring an. opening occurred here and 

 17,000 acres were offered to settlers. 

 Practically all of the farms are taken 

 and many of the newcomers have har- 

 vested a crop already. In all my ex- 

 perience in the West I do not recall a 

 more rapid transformation from brown 

 desert to green fields than I saw here last 

 summer. The swiftness with which 

 things grew on this desert soil was posi- 

 tively startling. More than 100 families 

 are now established here and, as on the 

 Huntley, there are no complaints. A sec- 

 ond unit of this project, consisting of 

 13,000 acres, will be made ready for set- 

 tlers in time for spring planting. At the 

 same time a portion of the lots in the gov- 

 ernment townsite of Powell, will be sold 

 at auction, affording many opportunities 

 for merchants, mechanics, and men of 

 other professions. "The best country I 

 ever lived in" is a common expression on 

 this project. 



SUN RIVER PROJECT, MONTANA 



To the man who is accustomed to the 

 climate of New England or our Northern 

 States, the attractions and advantages of 

 the Sun River country, near Great Falls, 

 Montana, should appeal strongly. Es- 

 pecially is this true if he be inclined to 

 engage in general farming and raising 

 live stock. The farms on this project art 

 So acres of irrigable land, for which the 

 settler must pay for water at the rate 

 of $30 per acre, payable in annual install- 

 ments, not to exceed ten, without inter- 



est. He is also allowed to file on 80 acres 

 of non-irrigable land, for which he pays 

 only the usual filing fee — about $16. The 

 unirrigated land can be utilized for pas- 

 ture, corrals, and buildings. Back of 

 the irrigated lands is a vast area of free 

 range covered with nutritious grass in 

 the summer and furnishing forage for 

 vast flocks and herds which in the winter 

 consume the crops grown by irrigation. 

 Owing to the fact that the project is at 

 present some miles from a railroad, set- 

 tlement has been slower here than else- 

 where. The time is not far distant when 

 a new railroad will be extended into the 

 valley, and it is expected that settlement 

 will then be more rapid. 



LOWER YEEEOWSTONE PROJECT, MONTANA- 

 NORTH DAKOTA 



A short time ago the Lower Yellow- 

 stone project, embracing 66,000 acres in 

 Montana-North Dakota, was formally 

 opened. A large part of the land is al- 

 ready filed upon. Owing to the very 

 favorable season, many settlers raised 

 good crops of grain last year without 

 irrigation. As a rule they have all pros- 

 pered, and the outlook for this section 

 of the Yellowstone Valley may be re- 

 garded as propitious. 



Among the first settlers on the govern- 

 ment land on this project was a tall, raw- 

 boned young man, a wood-polisher from 

 Buffalo, New York, who filed on 160 

 acres near Sidney. He landed with 

 exactly $50 in his pocket. Securing em- 

 ployment as a teamster, he saved his 

 salary until he bought a team and wagon 

 of his own, and then secured a contract 

 for hauling supplies. He has now nine 

 good horses and two wagons. On his 

 farm he has erected a good house, has 

 fenced his land, and will henceforth de- 

 vote his time to harvesting bountiful 

 crops. He has done all this within three 

 years. 



OTHER MONTANA PROJECTS 



Montana, owing to its very large areas 

 of public domain and its splendid water 

 supply, is a most inviting field for the 

 engineer. The early opening of three 



