St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-19


There are two interesting gentlemen
! at the Merchants who are brothers.
| One is j. Rs Burton, of Abilene. Kan,
and the other.G. L. Burton, of Choteau +,
| Mont. They are Interested in a great
irrigation scheme in Montana. A
GLOBE reporter visited them in their
rooms yesterday afternoon, and learned
great deal about subject on which
the public generally has little knowl-
| edge. 81 am glad to meet the repre-
seDtatives of the press at all times"
said j. r. Burton. ~ will gladly give
you any information l can, for we have
nothing TO conceal in our movements.
My brother and have a system of
canals and reservoirs near Choteau,
Teton county, Mont. which lies about
forty miles northwest OF Great Falls,
near the line of the Great Falls 81 Can
ada railway. This company IS
tributary to the Great Northern
line. We have already constructed
canals and reservoirs covering ab,ut
$4,000 acres Of land. These are all u Ii
In the most careful manner, as this class
OF work is our special BUSINESS, and
ole In which we have had great deal
OF experience. Our organization is
known as the Montana Land and Water
company. The object of our visit to st.
Paul is to establish in this city our
Eastern Office. BY this means it is our
intention to colOniZe and settle up these
lands. Our main canal was completed
about two years ago. On the arid lands
thus redeemed by irrigation. we have
farmed for several years, and the result
has been highly gratifying. 1t is a safe
and accurate statement for me to make,
when L say that twice as much can be
grown. on irrigated lands as upon
those lying within the rain belt.
We are also interested in the Arkansas
Valley, Col" Mr.. Burton remarked
that he was the president of all irriga-
| ton company, which. six years ago put
in the longest canal on the Eastern
SLOPE" as it is called. This, he said, is
116 2-10 miles in length.
1--WE will locate our Office in st. Paul."
| said he, .sSome time next week, as we
are now arranging the preliminaFies.
! st. Paul is certainly the capital of the
! Northwest. and we shall operate our
business from this point. From st.
| Paul we can more, conveniently reach
the Eastern land buyers than from any
! where else, Chicago not excepted. An
| objection TO establishing an Office even
at New York City, is evident. No one
! would care to inquire there for Western
lands. They would naturally consider
st. Paul the proper place to get their
| information from, so we will place our
| Office here.
| Montana has more water than all the
rest Of the ARID region. In few years
irrigation will become the greatest in
dustry of this same arid region. 1t has
more water and requires less water than
either Colorado, Utah or New Mexico.
1t grows the most nutritious grass on
earth. Where we are operating it is
! ten degrees nearer the coast than the
| places mentioned. There are points
l like Greeley or Denver, and our section
| is, on an average, 1900 to 2,000 feet
| lower altitude. These two items-the
| one giving us the warm winds from the
| Japan current and the one giving us the
| low altitude together conduee to make
a milder climate than one would natur-
ally expect to find so far north. This
makes milder and more equable winters.
six years ago, when l went into the
| irrigation business, l could find scarcely
anything written upon the subject,
| though it is one now attracting wide
spread and universal attention"