The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-01-24
TIE STATE OF MONTANA.

The census bulletin en- the new State q
Montana is If interest TO Gaiifornans be-
cause Montana is nearly The same SIZE as
California. the one having an area Of 14i.g0)
square miles while the area Of the other is
15s,o50 square miles; and likewise because
the great problem Of irrigation is being
worked ont in the northern State with a
vIGor born Of necessity. F.ur-fiths If
Montana IS at the present time q sert-
chiefly from TIE want OF water. and Of the
1864 cultivated farms 800 are dependent ~
Irrigation for the POOR cr0ps-cliefy forage
which hey raise.
The whole State contains about as many
people as there are in Alameda and Santa
Clara counties; and these are mainly
punched in the mountain counties Of the
sCuthweSt-Silv B ". MiSs0ula, Lewis
and Clarke, Deer Lodge, Cascade Beaver
head-which are trayersed by the Rocky
Mountains or some Of their spurs. In these
counties streams flow down the mountain
sides and the farmers have conducted the
water 10y bitches upon their fields Beaver
head gets its water from the river Of the
same name and a number Of creeks which
enter into il; the amount Of water con-
sumed is TeckOned at = miners inch per
acre. In Cascade County there are two
rivers, the Missouri and the Sun River;
bitches have been dug from these, and the
supply is so large that the annual charge
for water is only . cents per acre. II Deer
Lodge County, in which the famous Ana
cOnda mines are situated, there are streams
from which considerable water is taken.
but the farmers and miners are at constant
war over its control Gallatin County lies
along the Missouri River. and from &c and
lis tributaries numbers Of tches have been
dug. Another county which is fairly well
supplied with water from af1luents Of the
Missouri. flowing down from The mountains,
is LsWis and Clarke County; here water is
worth 81 an acre per year. Madison County,
which contains some excellent land, is also
intersected with mountain streams, from
which bitches have been dug. The trouble
with this and other counties is that the
great rivers, such as the Missouri and the
Yellowstone, have cut channels for them
selves below the level Of the bench land
adjacent, SO that their waters cannot be
used without expensive lifting works.
The great counties of Northumberland,
Dawson and CUster-are prairie counties,
insHficently supplied with streams, and
consequently for the most part in A state Of
flow through Choteau County, but their
beds are sunk at the bottom Of canyons.
The Yellowstone intersecls Custer County
in the opposite corner Of the State, and
some bitches have been dug from its tribu-
taTies; but the latter dry up in summer.
Both the Yellowstone and the Missouri run
through Dawson County, in the northeastern
corner Of the STATE, but the people have
never had capital enough TO dig bitches, and
the country is a barren prairie. These
three counties embrace about two-thirds Of
the entire area Of the State.
As general proposition it may be said
that agriculture on a broad scale is impos-
5ible in Montana without irrigation, and
that owing to the physical confgu ration of
the State, the river-beds being generally be-
low the level of the land, irrigation systems
would be expensive. At the present day
the average cost Of irrigating lands in Mon
taBa is reported to have been 81 81 per
acre, which is less than il is in Arizona or
New Mexico, and less than half what it is
in Utah; but these irrigation works depend
on streams which are apt 10 run dry in
summer and TO fail the farmer when he
needs them the most. Montana is the most
nOrtheTlv State in the arid region; its aver
age rainfall is fifteen inches But, unlike
California. it has no dry season in summer
and wet season in winter. The wet months
are May and June, the dryest months No
vember. December. January and February.
Up to the end Of June the melting SHOWS
furnish the fields with moisture enough to
give grains a good start; but July and hu-
gust are dry months, and plants then re-
quire irrigation to protect them against the
parching winds.
Or the whole there does not appear to be
much inducement for an agricultural settler
to prefer Montana to California Oregon or
Washington. 1t is communities Of farmers,
men who take from the earth its regular
yearly dole of food, who build up great
communities in the long run.