Daily Yellowstone journal. [volume] (Miles City, Mont.) 1882-1893, 1888-03-08
IRRIGATION.
How It will Develop the Vast
Resources of Custer
County.
Its Relation to the Stock Crow
ing Industry of the
Future.
A Vast Area of the Most Fertile
Land Imaginable Waiting
to be Reclaimed.
A Practical and Common Sense
Review of the Subject by
A Cattle Man
THE NECESSITY OF IRRIGATION.

THE NECESSITY OF IRRIGATION.
Some Facts and Figure. on he subject.
The theory and practice Of lrrlg'-
rinn IL Ms old ~ the iilling of the soll
In all age. 1t has been found necessar,
IA some localities 10 exc out the scsntN
deposit Of moisture from the clouds,
with what was running to waste ib
the streams and rivers, aud probably
In no civilized country on the face oi
the globe is there larger area depend.
-nt entirely on this aid to successful
cultivation OF the soil than In the Uri !,
ed Ststes. IL may be broadly saten
thst for agricultural purposes nearly
all OF the land in the United 5 ates
Wing west Of the l22nd meridian, !.
worthless without irrigation. This
fact is well known to the residents Of
this vast tract and beginning 10 be-
fully realized here In Custer c"unty.
Montana. but il does not follow that
because this region is arid through b
lack OF moisture from natural source
that IL IL an irreclaimable desert. Con.
finiDg the treat ment Of the subject t.
our own locality and county. lt can
be said without fear Of contradiction
that the soil contains all those ele-
ments that respond most generously
TO the efforts Of the farmer Il only aided
at the proper season by water; aud !
do not hesitate 10 assert that with this
one adjunct we have all the requisites
with which to build up a stable ana
prosperous community. The vast re-
sources Of Custer county are under.
stood or appreciated by very few even
OF iis inhabitants, aud OF course, al.
most unknown 10 the outside world.
The ability OF our soil when irrigated
to produce, in greater abundance and
OF better quality, all grasses, ropts and
cereals rsir.d on the arabic lands OF
the states east Of Us In the same lati
tude is known to be fact. There IL
no s.otion 80 well watered between
the Rocky mountsiEs and the Mis-
souri silver as our own county of Gus
ter. Take any good map and examine
IL with reference to this assertion aud
you will find that through II for over
one hundred miles the broad yell
lOwstoDe, one of the great arteries OF
the continent, has its course. Into
this conduit, on the north side, al in
tervsls Of tn miles, flow n number Of
large creeks ranging from twenty-five
10 sixty miles in length from source TO
mouth and fed by countless tributaries,
while on the extreme north western
corner the Musselsbell river develops
another water system; but IL is on the
south ride Of the Yellowstone, and
covering the greatest bulk OF Custer
county, that the facilities for irrigation
are most noticeable. In this stretch
OF country from the Crow reservation
line on the west, to the Dakota line on
the east, distance Cf one hundred aud
forty miles, five rivers have their
course, rraversing the country from
Wyoming on the south to the Vel
lowstone on the north, an average dis
tance OF one hundred miles; these
principal streams have each one or
more forks or branches scarcely infer
ior 10 the parent stream, while creeks
almost without number branch from
the main streams and tributaries in
every possible direction, resembling
more than anything else the descrip-
tive chart used 10 the study of physi-
ology 10 demonstrate the circulation
Of the blood. Here then we have in
the area OF that portion of Custer
county lying south Of the Yellowstone
river, and comprising some 1900
square miles, tract of country that
seems to be especially ordained by
Providence for irrigation; water every
where, and with sufficient fall In
every stream to make the irrigation OF
the bench lands Ms practicable M The
bottom lands; but while a majority
portion Of this area must await the
construction OF large and costly canals,
such Rs have been constructed and
found more profitable than any other
class Of Investment In California, New
Mexico and Colorado, q careful esii.
mate by competent authority shows
that upwards Of 100000 acrs can be
economically irrigated by the waters
Of the Yellowstone, Little Missouri,