Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1902-07-30

0N $50 80 oS0Ah ~ Nae AhhaN NV
After we have provided for the pre-
%servation OF the trees-for the tree
Is the mother OF the fountain-let
the national government come into
this western country and Duild the
great reservoirs and the great main
line canals that are necessary to get
these waters up high enough, so that
those who want to settle upon the
land and build homes upon IL can
bring the water down from those
great government dams to their land,
instead of having to run to waste in
the rivers in the bottoms of valleys.
Milk River Valley.
Let us illustrate by n project.
Take the Milk River and the st.
Mary's projects. There is an oppor-
tunity to take a source of water sup
ply which today runs away in Canada,
and from which we get no possible
benefit. and bring II across the divide
and turn il into the MIX River drain
age. BY putting a dam In the outlet
OF the st. Mary's lakes and carrying
that across the divide into Cut Bank
creek, and taking a canal into the
Marias and carrying It north until 1t
runs into some of the tributaries OF
the Milk river. you can unite those
three sources of supply and you can
provide water for the irrigation of
more than five hundred thousand acres
Of land, and | Cont know but more
than that in the development of the
| HlnnfFU If anNnnn ~ ttatt ka. tu,,.
eled the length of the Milk river val
ley and seen those rich plains there
dry and bare and u~nproductive, and
then go see what they have done with
water Is they have around Chinook,
you can realize what II would mean
Instead of having the sufficient sup.
ply that they have in Milk river, they
could have the increased supplies
which would be created by storing
these three sources of food water
supply and holding it back until the
time came when it would be needed
FOR use by the farmers of that valley.
Now, you a go there today and sur
yey the canals and dams and esti.
mate how many acres of land you
will have water for. and very likely
1t will be less than 500. 900 acres. But
| want to call your attention to n
OF the most remarkable developments
OF irrigation that very few people
give any thought to. We have n
river in southern California that is
taken out absolutely dry four times.
The Santa Ana river is diverted,
where 1t comes out Of the river, to IT.
rigate R%edlands; there is a return
seepage to the river and 1t is taken
out again at Cotton to irrigate River
side; again there Is a return seepage
and II is taken out at the Rincon to
irrigate the Rincon country, and clear
on down below you ONE to the Mar
rows, where they have taken the riv-
er out again the last time to irrigate
the Anaheim country, and there is
more water in the Santa Ana river
today than the river has had in the
history of the country before, and in.
stead of quareling over a decreased
supply, the Anaheim people had to
dismiss a suit a while ago, for al
though they could prove a diversion
wv 'phi w BloNN any ulililutloll
in their supply, and they are litigat.
ing today to determine who owns the
surplus.
You don't get something for moth
ing. The fact that there is more wa
ter in that stream at each lower por-
ton than above Is due to the fact
that there is a large seepage from
the cultivated soil which, II it wasn't
there. would take away this increase,
and the result would be that at each
lower place of diversion there would
be less. but the statistics show that
when the whole country has become
filled with water that in the neigh
borhood of two.thirds of that supply
will eventually come back into the
stream.
In other words. take a long stream
like the Milk river. flowing with a
very little fall and irrigating a long,
narrow valley on both sides of that
river. and you may take the water
out at Havre and ii will seep back
again, and take it out again and II
will seep back. and | believe that
you can irrigate from n end to the
other of Milk river in the course OF
Is or 20 years just as much more
land as you estimate today you have
a supply for. Now, | know the en-
gineers would consider my estimate
was unreasonably high, but | venture
to say that If there is a visible supply
for 500, 900 acres Of land at the upper
end of Milk river valley. that. from
the drainage, there is water enough
there to irrigate a million acres of
land from one end of Milk river to
mean? That means the production
of more wealth in Northern Montana
than all the mines of California pro-
duced ten years ago; II means the
creation of a state: il near that the
towns that are there today will be
cities; ii means that town lots that
could be bought today for 800 would
be worth into the thousands; 1t means
that everything that goes to make up
a great civilized community will be
there, and it will all be territory trib-
utary to this city. Great Falls, in it's
future development. depends no more
upon the immediate tributary terri
tory than Chicago. You have a trade
center here; railroads will radiate
from Great Falls in the future just
as the spokes of a wheel radiate from
the hub, and you will draw your COM
mercial strength from all this great
country, from the Milk river valley,
as far as the Dakota line, through
that country here up to the moun
tains. 1t is something that affects
every man in this town. A man. |
don't care what his interests in the
community may be. whether he is
working for wages or holds a town
lot on speculation or has a store or a
home or a farm or anything else, he
is interested in the development Of
this great project; and that is only