Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-08-08

aud he WAS smissed with q sense on
the part of those present that he ht d
given some valusbe information.
EP.H. HARRISON, COUNTY SURVEYOR,
was then put on thp stand. He stated
thst the bench lands were better than
the lands lying or the river bottoms,
that the.y were heavier, more fertiIs
and appeared to hold moisture bettlf.
He said that he thought it prsctitkble
for plan Of irrigation aud reservoir
storage II water to exist even on a
more extended scale than that sug-
gested in his report.
George r. Milburn, Of the Stock
Growers Journal, was then called. He
said that the results obtained from
land where irrigation was applied
were extraordinary and astonishing to
one who had lived iD aud seen farm
ing in the esst. He was born, in
Washington City and had seen farm
ing in Maryland aud Virginia and he
believed that the best acre of irrigated
land In Custer county would In ten
years produce five times as much o,
the best acre of land In either OF the
above named ststes. He though,
there Wis no doubt that II the land
was irrigated It would be rapidly set.
tied up.
Abrau, Hall was next called. He
stated that he was the receiver Of the
land office at Miles City and that bis
district embraced Custer aud Dawson
and the eastern part Of Yellowstone
counties. There had been 56l entrie,
made since the Office was established
in 'sl and since which time there hal
been 42O pre-emptions flied. There Il
but very small per cent Of the land
In bis district taken up, and the rail,
road mas disposed Of comparatively 1T
tie. The land is in the main not III
for agriculture without irrigation. the
facilities for which are good. The
streams afford abun dance Of water ai
the very time II is needed. Men could
not make . living by farming tn,
land. Agricultural pursuits withou
irrigation are impracticable.
VIM. Courtensy. the live stock ant
real estate broker, was then put on th'
stand. HA stated that the rssults o
irrigation as seen by himself were
SIMPLY ASTOUNDING.
He was born in England but he hat
lived In New York sufficiently long Il
understand how farming was pc.
formed in that state. He believed
that ten years Of irrigation Of an scr
OF land in Custer county would resul
In five times the crops that could b
raised on the finest acre Of land In New
York. He had an artesian well So
fee, deep. which ran 100 barrels In 2
hours. There were Ia srtesian we'll
I'm town but the flow was not effected
On the north side Of the Yellowston,
a rancher had sunk n well 50 feet y
an elevation Of 600 feet above the bot
tom lands and had struck good water
The county supports about 10000
head OF cattle: they fatten much earle
here than elsewhere even in Wyoming
Speaking Of the coal fields he state'
that the county was underlaid wit
coal in many places, where frequeutl
the veins cropped above the surfac'
that fuel was very plentiful, whic
wss n great consideration TO settlers.
County Commissioner L. A. HUFF
man was next examined. He state
that he was from Iowa. There coul
be no comparison between the amour
Of crops which could be produced o
irrigat ed land in Custer Co. aud tho
raised In Iowa except in corn. tn
farmer could rely upon dry barvei
here for his small gram. that the
could not do iu Iowa. The soil W,
better 10 every respect; II would wes
longer aud would produce donble Oh
cIops, and double was a small estl
mate. He knew no place whers th
water could be so readily stored. l
the bad land basins. snow water, ,whic
runs only ct certain times of the yea
could be stored, while when raj
comes, all the streams are heavy as
Tongue river, which overfiows I
banks nearly every sprine.
8. Gordon, OF the JOURNAL. vi
next examined. He stated that
had lived twenty-five years in MINI
sofa and had observed farming tber
He thought farming here, II on In
J gated land, could be conducted 10
much greater advantage than In tn
} state. There, 10 or l2 bushels
wheat 70 an acre was considered a
, crop; here II IL from 40 to 60 bushs
per acre. When asked II what hs
been stated to the committee abo'
} the necessity OF irrigation 20 produ
crops In the county was the gensr
, feeling among the people on The sul
! iect he replied. THAT is the way ,
J talk ell the tims.r The climate is d
: nnsss he ever ssw. There is . u