The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1892-08-11
A STATE FOR FARM ERS.

Agriculture in Montana has been
heretofore an industry neglected, if not
despised. This is not unnatural when
circumstances are reviewed.
When a man could wash out in a day
gold to the value of from fifty to one
hundred dollars, or raise q steer worth
fifty dollars at a total expense of ten, he
would not stop to dig potatoes even
when marketable at two dollars a
bushel. The few who came out intend
ing to farm were dazzled by the success
OF the fortunate miners who struck it
rich, and the farmer in turn quickly &C
CURED mining properties as the basis
OF a future million. T~henceforth, while
dreaming Of the fortune awaiting him
at the bottom Of his shaft, his crops
languished, his fields were neglected,
and soon lapsed into former u%nproduct-
iveness.
Exceptions in this rule are noted and
invariably their success has been marked.
The faithful ranchmen exhibit their
pecuniary independence not only in the
we'll stocked farms, comfortable and,
even elegant homes, but also in the role
of depositors in the banks, having in the
aggregate millions to their credit in
Helena, Bozeman and other Montana
cities.
This state is the theater of a peren-
ala mining boom. The yield Of gold
and silver, copper, lead and iron has not
begun to be developed. The mountains
are as yet not scratched, but despite
their richness of deposit the time is
at hand when agriculture will be-
gin to assert a pre-eminenoe. 1t is not
the fashion to speak of Montana as an
agricultural state, but this is due solely
to a lack of appreciation from over
sight. The more humble but lasting at
fractions of the field are obscured bv
the sparkle Of the precious metals. Let
us consider the possibilities in that line.
Montana is said to have available val
leys which. if attached end to end, would
for four thousand miles. Many
OF them are in all respects the superior
the famous Shenandoah Of Virginia,
and the Connecticut of New England.
They have a soil so rich in the elements
Of plant nutrition that it would manure
the richest prairie loan in Illinois or
Iowa.
They have a season for seeding,
growth and harvest as perfect az nature
could make or man conceive Of. The
farmer can tap the clouds at the pre-
moment needed by lifting the gate
Of an %irrigatlng canal and withdraw
moisture by dropping it. He knows to
certainty whom seeding just what he
will reap in the harvest, and If that be
forty bushels of wheat, seventy-ive
bushels OF oats and other crops proper
tionately, the result would be most ex-
ceptlonai. He has unlimited free %pastur-
age IN the mountains so nutritious that
the abundant grass IS hay and oats com
blned' He has the blessings, positively,
Of good foods, beautiful scenery, the
healthiest and pleasantest climate in
world and good markets at home for
all productions, negatively, in the free
dom from insect pests and danger of
Hood or overflow. His stock is rela- J
lively safe from disease or epidemic and
all possessions protected by wise laws
Justly administered.
If the eastern farmers had the faint
est conception of the advantages of agri-
Montana. there would NOT in
years be an aero left unclaimed.
Those who struggle for the worthless
Of Oklahoma and cultivate with
hopeless future the stony fields of New
would join in a rush which
would quickly populate every valley in
Montana.