The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1892-01-30
w. E. RALEIGH co.

wherever this is deposited, AS estimated
by the farmers. is % cents per acre, the
averages from the different counties
ranging from 43 cents to s:}O1. Deduct
ing the average annual expense tor
water, % cents per acre, from the aver
age annual value of productions, which
Vas Sl2.9G per acre, it appears that the
average annual return per acre is Sl2Ol.
SIZE OF FARMS.
Montana approaches Wyoming in re-
gard to the average size of its farms, hut
it does not reach so great an extreme,
the farms averaging % acres, against ll9
in Wyoming. This contrast is still better
brought out by examination of the irri-
gated farms of 100 acres and upward,
these larger areas forming, in the case Of
Wyoming, 90 per cent Of the total area
IN which crops were cut, while in Mon
tana they form 10 per cent and III Utah
only 10 per cent. Separating the irri-
gated crop areas under 100 acres in ex-
tent from the larger areas, it is found
that in Montana the average size of
these smaller farms is 50 acres, AS
against % acres in Wyoming, showing
that as a whole the patches of land that
can be irrigated 10y "a single farmer are
larger in Montana than Wyoming, and,
since this area is largely devoted to
forage and requires comparatively little
personal attention, these small farms are
over twice as large rs the small farms in
Utah and New Mexico, where more fruit
and vegetables are cultivated.
The first cost Of water and likewise it's
annual cost were also higher in Mon'ana
thu, "a, hFxya,,,. ,,,I,lN H. 49,. "A -.
pairing the land for cultivation was prac-
tically the same. The greater first cost
of water and smaller size Of farms are ac-
companied also by higher average value
of land and Of products in Montana than
in Wyoming, they being approximately
the same ~ in Arizona and New Mexico,
though much below those of Utah. The
advantages Of good markets in the min
ing regions and an ample water supply
on the bottom lands of the lower valleys
in Montana thus apparently counter
balance any difference in climate that
might be to the disadvantage of the
state.
BENCH LANDS.
One Of the most important factors in
the agricultural development Of the state
10 Duuu III thc SColpSiCdl StIuttuIO VI
the valleys lying among the mountains
on both sides of the main range In
nearly every instance these ancient val
leys have in a remote past been eroded
to depths greater than at present, and
then, through the result OF movements
of the mountain masses, they were con
verted into lakes, the sediment from
whose waters has deeply buried their
former bottoms. The waters Of the
lakes have in the lapse of geologic time
cut gorges OF canyons at the outlets, and
thus not only have the lakes been
drained, but the waters, continuing their
down-cuttIng in the canyons, have also
worn steep-sided channels in the sedi-
ments Of the ancient valley bottoms.
The result is that now in each OF these
broad mountain valleys the river occu-
pies comparatively narrow, steep-walled
depression in the old valley bottom from
forty to a hundred feet in depth. Not
only has the main river cut for itself a
narrow valley in the ancient deposits,
but also each minor tributary has carved
it's own channel deep into these beds.
These almost level lands, stretching from