The weekly tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1891-1894, 1893-12-15

iut buDJcCt VI HIiShtiOu Hu5I INV
claim the attention Of our people. o.
the 18th Of next month the state conveu
ton will meet in this city, and it SHOULD
be the duty Of our people to read up
little on the subject. From a bulletin
issued from the census Office about
year ago o the subject OF irrigation il
the western states we learn that out o.
l24, sos farms enumerated in the arid re
gion 52,5Si, or 42.13 per cent, contained
land on which crops were raised by the
artificial application of water. The en-
tire area of land irrigated was 3,564,41f
acres, which constituted 20.72 per cen,
Of the total area of the 52.jS4 irrigated
farms and 9.GG per cent of the whole
number of farms, and about one-half of
| per cent of the total land area of the
arid region. The average value of the
land irrigated, with improvements there
on, vas SS3.2S per acre. The average
value of the product for one year
amounted to 5ll.S0 per acre. The sta
tistics set forth in the bdlletin seem to
Indicate that the investment in irriga-
ton has been profitable in a very high,
show an apparent profit of 21S.Si per
cent, with an increase in the value Of
land and water rights amounting to
2s3.0o per cent. To put the matter in
another way, the land irrigated in
the year covered by the report was, IN
consequence of its development and i'm
provement by means of irrigation, worth
nearly four times what it cost.
Now let us see what has been done
nearer LONE. Cascade county has a
total Of ninety-six miles of irrigating
canals, which cost $4,000 to construct.
There are many more miles Of canals
and bitches under construction and
when completed thousands of acres of
land now unused will be made fruitful.
The soil is very rich and will grow any
thing with irrigation.
AS an illustration of what has been
accomplished we quote an extract from
the proceedings of the state irrigation
convention. 1t reads: Taken as an ex-
ample of whether irrigation pays or not,
the strip of the Sun river valley from
Great Falls to the town Of Sun River
shows without any assistance from other
sources. From the mouth..of the river to
where the Muddy empties into the valley
IS given up 20 prairie dogs and nothing
8 raised. This stretch is about fifteen
niles long. When one goes up the hill
1t Sun River Leavings what a sight
meets his eyes, and how entirely different
rom the one just left behind! Ahead
he valley is green with great fields of
timothy up to ones waist, fields of wheat
hrashing forty and often more bushels
Ier acre, oat fields where the farmer gets
lis eighty bushels per acre and more,
venues of trees along the roads and up
o the houses, the farms fenced, we'll.
'uilt houses and good barns, sometimes
# stone. and every evidence of prosper
ty. and the whole of this caused by a
title stream of water running a distance
I twelve or thirteen miles in a ditch about
ortwelye feet wide and applied to the
arms along its course. One Of the most
oticeablc places is that of r. S. Ford,
president of the Great Falls National
ank, and he vas laughed at when he
Iarted in to reclaim this unpromising
iece of land, all covered with sage
rush twenty years ago when he took it
p, and now one Of the prettiest places
the state and a profitable one too.
Cascade county has the water and the
'nd-more water than almost any other
ortion of the arid region and land Sec
to none. and what is needed is cap
al to go ahead and wise, energetic men
the head of the enterprises to build ,
10 canals and c~olonize the lands under I
,