The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1891-08-13
AB0UY IRRIGATION
Wonderful Possibilities for
the West.
MONTANA'S DORMANT WEALTH
Thousands of Acres of Productive Lands
Laying Idle for the Want of Water
What Benefit Storage
Reservoirs Will Do.

What Benefit Storage
Reservoirs Will Do.
After one has put in three or four
months travelling through this north
western country and noticed the vast
tracts of good land lying ready for some
one to settle on, you begin to think more
seriously of the governments storage
reservoir system for irrigation, which is
undoubtedly of as vital Importance to
the western people as the silver question.
You, who have not had the opportunity
to see these vast tracts of rich land, can
not form the slightest idea of how impor-
tant this irrigation question is. Land
that to-day appears worthless, will inside
OF five years be producing the biggest
crops of grain; providing the people pay
more attention to this great subject, and
let up on booming real estate.
In riding through the section of coun-
try from Susanville, Lassen county,
Cala., to Reno, Nevada, you can see a
tract of country that irrigation will
revolutionize, as we'll as astonish the
whole country. Some wears ago the
Honey Lake Go. built large dam for
storage purposes, but before they finished
it a water spout came, and the dam gave
away, thereby entailing loss to the
company of several thousand dollars.
Not in the least discouraged by this back
set, another company was formed and
now preparations are beng made for
work to be resumed on another reservoir,
which, when finished, will water one of
the greatest bodies of land in the west,
and you will doubtless be surprised when
you are informed that this land is sage
brush and alkali land.
A great many contended that nothing
would grow on salty, alkali ground; but
! where water is gotten to this land. the
largest crops of alfalfa and timothy hay
are grown, and oats, wheat, barley and
other hardy grams flourish.
But best of all is the discovery that
this peculiar soil is adapted to the sugar
beet. If this be true, what's the matter
with Montana? She has in her northern
and eastern portions thousands of acres
of this kind of soil, which to-day is called
worthless. But it is not, just the same,
and if some OF our Montana capitalists
don't give the subject some thought
they'll be left.
It takes money to do these things,
you say-that is, to get water. Keep the
coming session of congress awake to the
fact that you want an appropriation, and
you will no doubt get it. 1t takes money
to mine, don't It? and many thousands
of dollars are spent yearly in mines with
out any return on the Investment. If
farming and stock raising are more of
speculation than mining, then mule
teams are cheaper mode of transporta-
tion than railroads.
Montana is an agricultural state beyond
a doubt, and there is more capital tied
up in her banks in proportion to the
population than there is in any other
country in the world, unless the figures
lie in the bank statements.
Get your heads and pocketboohs to-
gether, you capitalists, and give this arid
land question more thought. A little less
town and city real estate booming and
building OF factories and places Ct en-
ployment on paper, would help the coun-
try to get On it's feet.
Some tune past the San Francisco
Chronicle gave to the country vast
amount Of information on this irrigation
subject, and one needs ouly to glance at
the work of irrigation in California and
Nevada to convince him that the money
was we'll spent when put into storage
reservoirs.
This subject has it's abuses as we'll as
all other subjects, where spectators can
get their claws on the people. But the
time is ripe to chop few OF these sharks
off at the pockets, and thereby give those
of limited means show to get home in
the country, and not have to be gulied
by those flying advertisements of "a 1000
per cent on your investment in a year,
People living south of US, in Utah
are aw akening to the fact that |
less of these brilliant and attractive real |
estate booms will do, and are now think
ing more OF building places of employ
men, for the unfortunates who were
drawn out west by the magnetic words of
those fellows who give away city lots on
easy svpayments.-Communication.
Chas. H. Scott, after several months
visit to relatives and friends in California,
to the burg Friday, to remain
among US for awhile. Scotty reports