The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-06
GOVERNORS MESSAGE.
CONCLUDED From Firth Page.

who remain In possese.O. sses $500
after having bsen notified that sueh land!
have peen appraised and are subject It
lease. Legislation 10 also required to eive
effect to she constitutional ptovisiol
authorixinR Tho sale Of timber on :sat'
lands, The magnitude Of the landed IN
tsrssts Of the state impsls me TO urge upon
ron the necssaity Of taking such steps e
viii strenrthsn and aid The state board o.
land commissioners in their Efforts 10 pro-
teot our heritage from the greed OF tres
passers, These splendid donations 10 the
educational interests OF the state are men.
aced BY selfish and Designing men. ana ~
becomes our sacred duty to protecs tne
our power. No question presses more seti.
ously upon your attention than tho careful
guarding of the public good by the protsc
tion of our public lands.
MINERAL LANDs.
In 1864 congress passed an act granting
aid. in land, to construct tho Northern
Pacific railway from Duluth, Mimi. to tide
water on the coast of the Pacific ocean.
This endowment gave to the railway COM
pany, in Montana. every alternate section
Of land, not mineral, In an area elgnty
area twenty-five miles in width n 1oO
miles in length, as indemnify for LANDS
fouud 10 be mineral or lands to which IT
was ascertained that private rights or pre-
yious reservation WAS attached. Inc CON
struction of the road through Montana was
completed September :, 1855; to-day we
find a railway traversing the length OF our
state. seeking q judicial perversion Of the
plain moaning Of the act of congress, and,
by technical construction. making every
effort to wrongfully obtain patent to apous
1900, 600 acres Of the mineral lands OF the
state. Failing in the effort to secure from
the land department of the United states
- l. A. .:-r~nI lnNlc nynuN rtaH Inv
act OF congress from it's grant, the railway
company resorted to the courts. seeking TO
obtain favorable legal construction. AT
tho Same time the people OF Montana ap--
piled to congress for the classification of
their lands, and q determination BY
authority of law, of what constitutes the
reserved mineral lands. There is now be-
fore congress q measure generally known
As the mineral land classification bill, which
has for Its object the separation of the min,
oral lands excluded from the grant, and
giving to the Northern Pacific railway only
those lands contemplated in the act OF con-
grsss. A case is pending IN the supreme
court. entitled. The Northern Pacific HALL
way Company W. Il. p. Barden, in WHOM
that corporation 10 seeking to anticipate
legislation favorable to the people of Mon
tana BY establishing the judicial point that
the company is entitled to all the ode num-
bered sections Of land within it's grant not
known to be mineral at the time of its deli
mite location in 1872. II successful in Its
mines may fall into the hands of the North
ern Pacific railway company. as we'll as
those yet undiscovered. Under existing
conditions it becomes the duty OF this leg
islature to take such prompt and effective
steps as will best protect the people OF this
state from a threatened calamity. The
legislation of the past, relative to the pres
of onr roinopal landa has hnen
moro fruitful Of earnest efortthan of prac-
tioal results.
The marvellous possibilities Of Montana
will be more fully realized only through
the inspiration Of numbers, which we can
secure through wise legislation encouraging
immigration. The multiplication of our
farms will bring to our. state every advan-
tage to be derived from numbers, with
none of the dangers of ~ overcrowdsd
population, reaching beyond the limits of
.self-support, No state less favored than
Montana could sustain the drain now I'M
posed upon our financial resources in send
ing abroad for farm products which should
be marketed from the idle acreage of our
valleys N plains. Vast sums of money
which should circulate in the channels of
products which could be grown more
cheaply at our very doors. Upon the
reclamation of our arid lands must largely
depend q substantial increase of popula-
ton. With nearly one million acres of
land brought into produotiveness, an hun
dred thousand immigrants would add their
to the industrial life of Montana,
enhancing the value Of real and personal
property, charging the volume OF business
and increasing..the revenues of the state. To
immigration for the development
of our agricultural resources, the first i'm
portant step to be taken is to make the
creation of communities possible by the ir-
rigation of our arid lands.
IRRIGATION.
Nature has supplemented Montana's
mineral wealth with vast areas of fertile
soil which need only the beneficial in
6uences of our mountain streams to enable
this state to add to Its population many
Thousands of industrious citizens. Linn
tied experiments in various portions of the
state justify every encout aQement that can
be given laudable irrigation projects within
the limits of the constitution. The potsn-
tial possibilities of our arid lands have
been demonstrated, the yields of cereals
have been secured unexcelled in quality
aud quantity. 1t remains only for these
lands to be properly prepared for the pillow,
to secure to the state a vast agricultural
It il evident that the magni-
tude of this undertaking makes impossible
the irrigation of any considerable acreage
through private capital. The work must
be carried on in large systems, with reser-
voirs, catchment basins and canals, the
construction OF which involves the invest
ment of vast sums OF money. Private cor
atoms can be relied upon only for the
performance of such work as gives promise
of prompt returns. For the comprehensive
and conservative use of the waters of our
streams in retaining our arid lands, soma
government agency must be enlisted. l
recommend hat this body memorabilia
to take such action as may be
deemed necessary to bring about the de-
sired result. While legislation should
deal literally with a question of such
supreme Importance to the future of the
state, too many safeguards can not be
thrown around the rights of the citizens, or
too ample protection given the settler who
is dependent upon irrigation system. Cor
porations encouraged by legislation to
push forward irrigation schemes, should
not be permitted 90 absorb the public
domain, on the one hand, or the income of
the settler on the other. The charges made
bv companies owning bitches and canals
should be regulated by Law.
FOREST AND PRAIRIE FIRES.
Everyone who travels much over the state
must be- impressed with the great loss we
annually suffer from forest and prairie
fres. l endorse the suggestion of ex-Gov.
Ioole for the passage of n law by which
railroad companies should be compelled to
burn their right Of way annually and thus
prevent a spread of fire originating not in
frequently from sparks from their engines
and the cleaning of fire hoxes. IL would
entail but little labor upon the railroad
companies and certainly would in the end
rebound to their profit. Efforts should be
made through vigorous Legislation to pro-
fapf nnr fntEpiI from arTIat. Ar 49, 1891 -.