Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1887-1890, 1888-01-04
RANCHERO TALKS.
A FUTURE RIVAL OF DAKOTA IN
WHEAT PRODUCTION.
The Bench Lands of Northern Montana
Unexcel1ed for Grain, Which
VIII Have Good Home
Market.

the country that l particularly wish t,
speak. They are illimitable. 1t won
take much of prophet to name northern
Montana as the future rival of Dakota i,
grain production On this continent. Anf
you will be surprised to learn that thi:
VIII be without irrigation. No greater
mistake was ever made than that of think
ing that crops cannot be raised withou
irrigation in this pau of Montana. Per
| maps 90 farms around Great Falls are
raising ~ to % bushels of wheat pc,
acre, year after year, without drop OF
| moisture to perfect them other than thai
derived from the heavens above. The
yield of wheat and oats this year is i'm,
mense. Stacks of wheat and oats on the
high, smooth bench lands are. consider
| ing the smaller amount of land cultivated
as thick as in the best wheat country in
Dakota, and the surprising thing is to
learn that in 1886, the dryest year ever
known in Montana, as we'll as in the east.
very fair crops were produced on these
non-irrigated fields, and no failures were
reported. Paris Gibson informs me
that on field of volunteer spring wheat
two smiles east of town the yield was 40
bushels per acre. A peculiarly of wheat
growing in this country is these big yields
of volunteer wheat. With the land once
Inv ct1lf
ural to the climate that it perpetuates it
self, year after year, from the grains scat
tered in harvesting. Even spring wheat
that comes up in the fall does not winter
Kill, and the ground can be sown in per-
feet safety anytime during October or
November. 1t seeding is DELAYED until
spring, the work is done in February or
March.
EARLY SEEDING COMMON.
This extreme earliness in seeding will
be surprise to your Minnesota and Da
kota readers, but they must remember
that this country is well within the great
heat belt derived from the Pacific ocean
and open weather is common to all the
winter months, while spring comes on in
March, so that farm work is possible
early.
The yields of wheat, oats and vegeta
bles that farmers tell me they get
strongly tax my powers of belief. still |
know that they are actual facts Twenty
bushels of wheat and fifty bushels of
oats are considered light crops, while
fifty to sixty-five of wheat, and seventy
five to one hundred and five of oats are
considered reasonably satisfactory yields.
Iurnips weighing twenty to fifty pounds
each, and potatoes three to six pounds
were grown all around here this year
The mining camps surrounding this
valley give market for everything that
is raised, and high prices are easily
secured. In the Great Falls maaket No.
hard wheat is IS cents per bushel. oats
4s cents, potatoes rs cents, onions are
81 30 per bushel, and hay is $12.59 per
ton.
For forty miles around nearly every
acre is rich and can be cultivated; no |
broken lands, stony grounds OF deep cou-
lees cutting up the country. The land is |
all surveyed and can be taken either by |
,ree-claim, homestead or preemption !
entry. Thousands of acres of land of the
inest quality right near the tracks of the
1ew railroads, and within sight of Great
Falls, are still unsettled. Claim shanties
Ire beginning to dot these rich bench |
ands, and next spring is bound to see
'uch scramble for these valuable lands
Is the country has never seen.-Ranchero
n the SAINT Paul Farmer.