The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-05-14

berries Il om the county each yenr 10 a source
Ct considerable income TO those engaged in
It. The Yellowstone berries mature late in
the season. 90 TINT when thoy are rendy for
market they have thu field to themselvcs.
and commands GOOD price, selling In Hell
ena and Butte for from 25 to 35 cents a Oas-
ket, and tho demand Is always greater than
tbs supply. Grape culture 10 still in ats In.
fancy, but it has been demonstrated that
II can also DO made a source of profit. On
both sides of the valley thefe Ia an e'eva-
tion called the rim rock. a term familiar TO
Montanians, but G:eek to the eastern read
.. The grapes are & own On the south
side of this elevation. thus being protected
from the north winds. A. s. Crawford has
a large acreage in small fruits. and in ad-
dition to selling the raw material. he has
built up quite a trade in currant wine.
which he manufactures himself, and also
in preserved berries Of various kinds.
A few illustrations will show how ptoGt-
able farming is in the Yellowstone country.
and how successfully mixed farming can be
carried on. The first man to experiment
with the raising OF alfalfa in Yellowstone
county was 3. +. Shunrt. In 1883 he took
up GAO acres of land near Billings under the
desert land act. end with no previous ex-
petiencs in farming, and a capital Of less
than $500 he began. He devoted his atten-
ton wholly to crop raising until 1897, when
he bought II band Of sheep and began feed
ing them alfalfa. In May, 1892. he sold his
ranch. buildings and stock fo7 $40, 900. The
foundation of his success WAS his ability to
raise alfalfa and feed it to his sheep. In
1891 the farmers within twenty five miles
of Billings had a surplus of 5000 tons of
hay. This they sold at SIS a
ton. bringing the farmers in that
email radius $4,000 cash. 10 cost
them So in the stack and So to bale and
deliver at the railroad, leaving q net profit
OF 50 a ton. The next year the market for
hay was q poor one; instead Of shipping
they bought small bands of sheep. fed them
the surplus, and by utilizing the hay in this
way they made the surplus hoy worth to
them $25 a ton in mutton and wool. In
the last five years the value of irrigated
land has risen from SIS to $50 an acre in the
county. The largest farm in the county is
that operated by Bailey & O'Donnell. con-
tanning 5000 acres. It is mixed farming on
q big scale, for in addition to large crops of
grain. hay and vegetables. they run 1000
or 8 5000 head of sheep. and are extensive
cattle and horse growers. Mr.. O'Donnell is
a practical farmer, and is the superintend-
emit Of the Minnesota and Montana Land
and Improvement company. He is thor
ouRhly conversant with everything in con-
nection with irrigation. having made q
study Of the systems in Utah and Colorado.
He is among the successful Yellowstone
farmers. In 1887 IS, 900 head of sheep were
assessed in Yellowstone county; this year
200, 600 head will be assessed, and there will
be $4,000 lambs that will not
appear on the assessment rolls. This
year Yellowstone county will assess 10000
to 100000 head of cattle and about 60. 600
horses. In recent years the horse growers
have imported the best breeds Of trottipR.
running and draft stations. and in a short
time the raising Of fine stock will be one of
the important industries of the county.
With the record of what has been ac-
complished by the farmers Of Yellowstone
county, those people who ars making every
effort to settle up the aRricultu al sections
of Montana will have something on which
to base their statements to intending east
ern settlers. and disabuse the minds of the
eastern farmers that mixed farming cannot
be carried on proitably in Montana. And
they can at the same time guarantee that
there ia room enough in that country for
many thousand moro sturdy, practical
farmers. No section of the United States
offers greater inducements for practical
farmers than the Yellowstone valley.
Statistics carefully kept for the last
three years show tina. with ordinary
cate and industry every culti-
waited quarter section of land In that valley
will yield n net annual profit of ST. 00. This
ia on the basis of h has been raised, aud
not what InieAt be produced in addition.
The dniry interest az we'll as poultry raising
is almost entirely neglected, notwithstand-
ing the fact that thousands of dollars q. Q
sent out of Montana into Nebraska. Iowa,
Kansas and Utah each year for butter. eggs
and Chickens. Hog raising could also be
successfully carried on by the Yellowstone
farmer. They DO sp'endidly on alfalfa, the
climate is all right for them, and a profit
able market is always assured. Another
advantage the Yellowstone farmer has lies
in the fnct that adjacent to all the ngticul-
tural land are bench lands. nffo.ding excel
lent feeding grounds for sheep. horses and
cattle. Every owe of q farm is thus
assured of a pasture for his stock. without
cost, either in the purchase of tho land, or
the feed, 80 that he can successfully raise
small bands Of sheer, cattle and horses.
Dame nature apparently determined, wheu
the Yellowstone valley was made, to
make q coln..sts thing of it. She
put ample water there. good soil.
an equable climate, and then lined
the bills with q good quality of coal. All
the surrounding elevations contain almost
inexhaustible bodies of coal. which is used
by the settlers. 1t ia easily gotten at and the
only expense is that connected with going
after it. Some time ago the Grow Indiana
ceded to this government 1000. 900 acres Of
their reservation, and this ia now open to
settlement. 1t is on the north aide of the
river from Billings md contains some of
the best land in the state. Five hundred
thousand acres can be irrigated. Already
numerous filings have been made upon il,
but there are homes there for hundreds OF
fnni les. These 10000 0 acres are we'll
watered by small, swift streams that have
their source in the mountains. There is a
running stream on every mile or two of the
land, so that it will be necessary to build
only short and comparatively inexpensive
bitches to utilize it. The streama on the
Grow reserve, like the are