Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890, 1886-12-18
OUR Arabic LANDS.
Montana An Agricultural as Well as
a Stock Growing Countrywide
Bench Lands the Coming
Wheat Fields ofthe West

PARIS Gibson sa Tribune, May II. 1885.
So much has been written of the live
stock interests of Montana, and SO little
has hitherto been known of its best agri
cultural lands, that it is generally under
stood in the East that Montana has no re.
sources worth mentioning as a farming
country. The valleys of the upper Mis-.
souri,, the Gailatin, the jefferson, the
Madison and also the Dear Lodge, have
been known for a number of years as fer
tile agricultural sections, bnt it is only
within a short time that the immense
agricultural capacity Of Northern Mon
has begun to be appreciated. In fact it
has just ceased to be an Indian and buff
falo country, Four years ago, five or six
different tribes of Indians were chasing
buffalo in the Judith Basin, where today,
are the homes of hundreds of prosperous
farmers and stocknen.
That part of Montana. bounded on the
west by the Rocky and Belt mountains,
and extending as far east as the 1000 of
longitude, and lying between the Missou-
ri and Marias rivers on the north.
and the Musselshell river on the
south, possesses more and better a%gricul-
tural lands than can be found elsewhere
in Montana. This area embraces about
10000 square miles of territory, and is
but little traversed or broken by mount
ain ranges. 1t divided into valleys and
bench lands. The valleys though rich
and fertile, like the other valleys of Mon
tana, cannot generally be successfully
cultivated without irrigation. This terri
tory, however, more than any other, is
favored with large streams and an abund-
ant supply of water.
The important feature of this part of
Montana, is its extensive table lands
which have been found within the past
two or three years to be excellent wheat
lands without the aid of irrigating canals
and bitches, when cultivated the
same as the wheat lands Of Dakota and
Minnesota. The old timers of this Sec
ton, like the old settlers of California and
Washington territory, have been slow to
believe that any land in Montana can be
cultivated successfully without irrigation.
1t is now, however, a settled fact that
vast stretches of bench or table land
in this part of Montana, will, one wear
with another, produce wheat averaging
from twenty-five to fifty bushels to the
acre.
The Highwood farmers On the benches
twenty miles from this place, has grown
large crops of wheat during the past two 9
Or three years. Last year, which was not +
particularly favorable, gave them a yield !
Of about forty bushels to the acre. A !
farmer of large experience from that sec ;
ion told me last fall that he considered the ;
of this part of Montana the best q
wheat land he had ever seen in any coun- r
ry, and that his experience had demon :
trated that they would produce large :
ields of wheat and oats with only the :,
latural supply Of moisture. Let any man q
from Great Falls to Fort Benton,
n either side of the Missouri river, note .
verywhere the rich soil and abundant u
rasses. He will see no sage bush and no i,
kali land. If he examines the soil he
ill find it mellow and we'll mixed with r.
ilica, the ''grist of the mountains,"-so E.
to the rapid growth Of grain and 4;
the retention of moisture. These are al
of the fine wheat lands of Northern n,
[ontana. Because you see no cultivated
rms or fields of grain, do not condemn 60
lands the same as we condemned the IN
oh prairies Of Northern Minnesota and "a
akota, a few years ago. Remember that 70
le wave of immigration is still moving he
estward, and will soon cover this coun- hi
Y, and that these unoccupied lands will r.
come the homes of thousands of indus or
lous people. / am aware that my state IN
are contrary to the traditions of this on
untry at the base of the Rockies, and at m,
WITH n accounts given ce
cq1EfeEaA141 but those who have no
IT, 12a1 4a8resources know little tn.
notf7#4 of Montana whose co,
undaH zen. tic
The ~ stretch from Sand OF.